Category: general

According to Salary.com, in this market, with my education and experience, in a position comparable to the one I currently hold, I should be making anywhere from $54,287 to $67,853.

Payscale.com says the range is $46,000 to $60,700.

Fascinating.

I watched the first episode of Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge today.

Yamatonadeshiko is a phrase referring to the ideal woman, who, in Japanese tradition, has the following characteristics (compiled by Ben Bullock):

• feminine
• chaste and devoted to her husband
• always respects and obeys her husband and never opposes him, even when she thinks he’s wrong (she should wisely find an indirect way to prevent her husband from doing something wrong without letting him know, that is to say without humiliating him).
• looks weak, delicate and gentle (like a flower) outside her family, but is able to cope with householding, raising kids etc.

Bullock goes on to note:

During the second world war, the Japanese government promoted the idea of yamatonadeshiko as a kind of national propaganda. A yamatonadeshiko should be gentle and delicate but also be able to endure all the pain and poverty of life for her husband (a soldier) and the country, to win the war, and should always be ready to fight with halberds (or takeyari, a spear made of bamboo used when you don’t have a halberd) and to die any time for her country, or to keep her chastity.

Fans of Kyou Kara Maou will remember this term from the “apple tree” episode.

Shichi means “seven”. The last part of the title will take a bit more explanation. You see, the kanji there, 変化, can be read henge, which means “ghost; goblin; apparition”…but it can also be read as henka, which means “transformation”. I’m not sure what the significance of the 7 is, but given the plot of the series, that double meaning for 変化 is most certainly intentional.

Our story begins with four guys living in a mansion. They’re challenged by the lady of the house to transform her niece, Sunako, into a proper young lady. If they succeed, they’ll be able to live at the mansion rent-free.

But if they don’t…their rent will triple!

(It’s not explained why or how the boys came to be living with a rich, single woman, and as soon as they accept her proposal, she hops onto a ladder and is pulled up into a helicopter, off on a voyage for free love. Cheri, anyone?)

When Sunako arrives, the boys are devastated. She has dry, splintered hair, a stained sweatshirt, and an “amoeba-patterned skirt”. Beyond that, she has long bangs that completely cover her eyes.

It comes out that Sunako is a very creepy girl. She collects grisly occult items and watches horror movies. Part of the terror she induces comes simply from the wall she has built up around herself after her devastating confession to her crush (voiced, amusingly enough, by series director Nabeshin). All that fear and self-hatred has made her extraordinarily anti-social and self-conscious…resulting in this:

The premise is really interesting. Aside from the “wow, she can cook traditional Japanese food!” thing that seems to be a prerequisite for any anime heroine (or at least the ones who are candidates to be yamatonadeshiko), Sunako is intriguing. It’s apparent that she’d be very attractive if she took better care of herself. The series has the potential to teach a strong lesson. I’m also interested in watching her grow and move past the pain of being called ugly to her face.

In all, this looks like a really promising series.

However…I may not be able to continue watching it.

And this is why:

Those are supposed to be boys.

I have no problem with bishounen. Surely you know this by now.

But.

These guys have pink lips.

After finishing up my part time job somewhere around 4:30, I decided that since there were a few hours of daylight left, I should go for a bike ride. And so:

Ah, the Augusta Canal’s Headgates. A constant in my life. No matter if the water is high or low, at least I always know the Headgates will be there regulating it.

Which is good, because in the nine months (!) since I’ve been to this side of the Canal trail, they’ve gone and changed everything else.

What you don’t see amidst all these tourists are: piles of dirt, taped off pits, and a construction crane. That’s right–their work here is done. People can mill about freely. On my way back from my ride I saw a guy standing out on the Canal side of the Headgates, fishing.

Not long into my ride I discovered two more new things. One of them had been rumored (though I don’t remember where I heard about the possibility), and the other was a complete surprise.

Here’s the former:

A new bridge! It’s still under construction. According to the plaque, it was built in May of this year. Scary to think that I hadn’t been here since January…

Here’s the latter new thing, situated directly across from the bridge.

Look sir, droids! Err, stairs! Down to a nice landing for fishing. I didn’t go all the way down there (didn’t want to leave the Maou up top unattended), but I did snap a few more shots. They start here.

Here’s my bike next to a bulldozer. Hardcore.

The rest of the trail was essentially the same as always. It was lovely and autumnal, and there were blossoms and leaves beginning to turn. I rode as far as I thought I could ride back, snapping pictures.

Upon returning to the Headgates I waited around trying to catch pictures of birds. I was marginally successful. But then the sun started setting and the trees across the river were bathed in this beautiful orange glow. So I took a bunch of pictures of that, swiveling at the waist to try and get a panorama, and when I got home I pieced some of them together.

The biggest flaw with these is the fact that the water is constantly moving and changing, so it doesn’t really match. But it was a fun experiment!

It was so good to get back out on the Canal again. I’ve missed it so much. And the weather was perfect.

It had been quite some time since I’d ridden my bike, so I only managed about 30 minutes, not including stopping every few seconds for photos. And my butt is still sore!

But it feels great. I’m glad I went :)

Agent Anderson calls this “Antimeme”, and I don’t know why. But here goes:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open it to page 161.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the coolest book you can find. Use what’s actually next to you.

This is pretty easy. The sentences on page 161 of Kodansha’s The Handbook of Japanese Verbs are numbered!

Mo kaigi ga _______ iru kara, ano heya ni _______ wa ikemasen. (hajimaru) (hairu)

もう会議が＿＿＿＿いるから、あの部屋に＿＿＿＿はいけません。（始まる）（入る）

Since the meeting has already begun, you must not enter that room.

Paradoxically, autumn for me feels like a beginning. The crispness in the air heralds a change, new and exciting. I wear long sleeves all year–here in Georgia, the omnipresent air conditioning requires it–but when I start to need them outside, it seems like the blood flows more quickly in my veins.

This morning the air was sharp and cool and it made me feel like I ought to be on my way to class.

We spend so much of our early lives going to school, I mused, that when we get into the workforce we have no idea what we’re doing.

As I drove to my part-time job I left the window rolled down and the radio off, enjoying the feel of fall. It’s been cool a few times before now, but never like today. Today feels like a day to go crunching through leaves in a forest to a cabin with a roaring fire. A day to ride a bicycle and wear a jacket.

Fall always makes me feel that something exciting is about to happen.

The difference now is that I’m the one who has to create the excitement.

When I was younger, fall was exciting because of things that were decided for me–trips, school. Now, I make my own decisions.

And instead of liberating, it feels confining. If I want to go on a trip, if I want to go to school, I have to plan for it and save money for it. I end up not doing a lot of things because it’s just not wise, financially.

Strange that at 28, I’m still learning what it feels like to be a grownup.

The chill breeze reminds me, makes me wistful.

Holiday Stamps Close-Ups of Snowflakes

I’m going to get some :)

I’m glad to hear that someone else is taking pictures of snowflakes!

This is one of the best things I have ever seen.

(Here’s a direct link, just in case.)

Don’t worry, Tom–some of us remember Wing Commander!

Malaysia to levy fines for poor speech

Malaysia will levy fines on those incorrectly using the national language, and will set up a specialized division to weed out offenders who mix Malay with English, news reports said Thursday.

Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Rais Yatim said fines of up to 1,000 ringgit ($271) can be imposed on displays with any wrong or mutated form of Malay, the Star newspaper reported.

The move was to ensure “the national language was not sidelined in any way,” Rais said, according to The Star.

[…]

“It has to be admitted that a mixture of Bahasa Malaysia and English sometimes cannot be helped, but we hope these measures can arrest the decline,” Rais said, according to The Star.

He said a national language unit will be set up in an attempt to reduce the English-Malay mix, especially at official functions.

Beyond how amusing it is whenever governments try to regulate natural processes…isn’t it a little late for all this? Dawn, care to weigh in?

Remember how I started watching Prince of Tennis because I thought the name was hilarious?

Well.

I got some free Braves tickets from work and Sean and I went together, along with two guys from work, Chris and Steven.

Ticket prices aren’t what they used to be, I discovered, as the Braves have had a pretty unsatisfying season. Unfortunately for us, it continued during this Saturday game with the Astros.

(Note: The Braves are wearing white and the Astros are wearing red in these pictures.)

The game started out pretty well. Both teams were fielding excellently, and the score was neck and neck for most of the game. But then an Astros player was walked when it looked to the crowd like it was a strike, which ended up helping the Astros pull ahead. After that the Braves started making errors. We got a homerun in the 8th inning, tying the score. But the Astros racked up three more runs in the 9th inning.

During the bottom of the 9th, the Braves rallied and picked up two more runs. But it was too late; they were living on borrowed time with two strikes and two outs, and soon enough the game was over. We lost 4-5.

Andruw Jones seemed desperate for a home run towards the end of the game, but he ended up hitting a bunch of fouls.

Despite the loss, it was a pretty neat experience. I’d never been to a professional baseball game before, and had no idea how theatrical it all was. When the Braves were at bat, pop or rap music would accompany each one’s walk to the plate, the LCD ribbons running around the stadium would flash his picture and name around, and the big screen would show his picture and stats. Sometimes, for the more popular ones, there’d actually be a video of the player swinging a bat inside a blue CGI field, with a yellow line snaking around.

When Jeff Francoeur first went to bat, near the beginning of the game, they did the Chop for what seemed like five minutes. This involves music and a row of bright red tomahawks all along the LED strips, chopping away. Unfortunately, he was struck out, as I recall.

The theatrics also involved a bunch of fan stuff. It was fan appreciation, so I don’t know what they do normally, but between at-bats and during other lulls in the game, an announcer would go out in the crowd and pick people to participate in contests. Also, towards the beginning of the game there was something called Kiss Cam, where the big screen would show various couples and those couples had to immediately kiss. I was kind of hoping it’d get me and Sean, but no, alas. It was pretty cute, though; there were a few couples who looked extremely embarrassed and didn’t kiss, and it ended with two guys, who were good sports and gave each other a hug.

The fans were pretty awesome in general, making noise when the screens said “GET LOUD” and doing the Wave about a billion times during the 8th inning. It just kept sweeping around and around the stadium.

Around the 7th inning, Sean and I went to get food: $16 for two hotdogs and two bottled sodas. Yow.

When we were on our way back to our seats, Sean’s Coke fell right off the tray I was carrying and bounced down the stairs. The coolest usher in the world caught it for me, and as he handed it back suggested, “Don’t open it!”

Later in the game he could be seen telling some kids to stop jumping around in the first row.

I wish I had gotten more pictures of the stadium. The place is huge, and it was kind of overwhelming. Our seats were in the Lexus Pavillion, which was on the third level and involved a nice air-conditioned lounge. We saw a press box and a couple other suites attached to the lounge.

But the place was amazing otherwise, too. Restaurants, shops, and apparently enough room for 40,000+ people, because that’s how many were there.

I wish the Braves hadn’t made so many errors and ended up losing the game, but I’m glad I went, and I hope I get to go again someday. Sean says if we lived in Atlanta he’d be interested in season tickets, and he also said he’d like to see the game from near the Braves’ dugout, or near home plate. We’ll have to see :)

This is the color Yaris I want.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Given our situation right now, I may not get a Yaris until the 2008 models are available. But that’s okay, as long as I can drive Sean’s Corolla. If I’m patient, I know I’ll get my beautimous Yaris.