My final final has been taken care of :) I did lousy, but that doesn't matter except slightly to my self esteem.
Now I have one week before my parents and Markus arrive. Most people seem to be fine with just hanging around in the heat doing nothing much (I'd use the word chill, except it's highly inappropriate in the japanese summer). I've decided to go and try to find a campsite called kamiwarizaki tomorrow. I've had my tent here in my room for my entire stay in Japan and haven't used it at all. There are a few minor problems with my plan of course (most importantly not knowing which train line to take), but nothing I shouldn't be able to solve with a visit to the tourist information tomorrow morning.
I have barely glanced at people's blogs these last couple of weeks, both because I've been somewhat busy and because the airH connection has been more unstable than usual. I'll try to get back to it soon, but since I'm cancelling the card soon it may be until I'm back home in Sweden.
Oh, I said I'd try to write a bit more about the Aomori trip. By now you may have figured out that when I say I'll write more later it usually means that I have more to say on the subject but probably never will.

Word of the day: Badass
noun: A mean-tempered or belligerent person.
adjective: Mean; belligerent.
That's what the dictionary said. But really, that's a very narrow way of looking at it. If you hear somebody shout "Badass!" it's not likely that he's warning his fellows that a belligerent person is approaching. More likely he's just seen something awesome, or maybe even totally sweet, and wants to make the world aware of this.
As for the adjective part, a badass programmer or skater can usually be quite nice despite being a badass. In this case the word means something along the lines of "extremely skillfull"
Related links: badass1, badass2

Listening to: Soviet national anthem
Feeling: Bored

The bus trip to Aomori is over. I had a great time, I'll try to remember to write something about it when I'm less tired.
I've realized that it's time to start getting things it order to leave the university, my room and the country. My last couple of finals are next week and I only have about two more weeks in Sendai and three in Japan before it's time to go back to Sweden. As usual I have no real overview of what needs to be done and will probably end up forgetting something important.

In any case, I'm back again. For awhile at least.

By the way, it is miserably hot tonight. It's past midnight, but I'm sitting here sweating. Icky. The climate here is one thing I'm sure not to miss.

Well, I suppose I'd better sleep a bit so I can study much Japanese tomorrow (since it's my only day to study for my Japanese II final on Monday.

Listening to: Haibane Renmei Soundtrack - Ailes Grises
Feeling: Tired, so very tired.

Woke up 30 minutes ago because my stomach is trying to tell me something. It is very insistent that I listen. Though I'm not entirely sure what it's saying, I think it's something on the lines of: "If you want to put this much fiber in here you should have gone with the bigger model". Various activities normally aproved of by stomachs have so far failed to appease it.
 
*self-pity*

What's up with the explosions outside this morning?? Is somebody testing fireworks at seven in the morning? Sure sounded more like fireworks than any construction work I ever heard at least. But on the other hand, workmen are famous for waking up early and trying to force everybody else to do the same, while the people who shoot off random fireworks are more likely to do so late at night and wake people up then.
 
Current wisdom: When your eyeballs feel too big, get more sleep.
Listening to: Hoodoo Gurus - Waking Up Tired
Feeling: Untimely awoken

Is what I say after a longish post with a half dozen links to interesting articles related to global warming is lost as I try to post it. I should have learned by now that this connection is anything but stable.
Sorry, I'll remember to copy before posting next time. See it as saving some time, not having to read it. Get up from the computer and do something positive with that time.
 
Listening to: Blue Öyster Cult - This Ain't the Summer of Love
Feeling: Frustrated

I promised Monica to post a link to this article about neural implants in monkeys.

Feeling: Half blind

As always, advanced physics find new ways to be useful.

Current wisdom: Reduce local cooling to help prevent global warming.
Listening to: Weezer - Knock-Down Drag-Out
Feeling: Tired but cheerful

Hmm... I've been considering changing style lately. Doing something drastic. Like cut my hair... or why not get a full suit of samurai armor, since it's on sale. Just like this one.
Not that I have 200.000 yen that I feel like spending... but what self respecting samurai would buy his armor on a sale? Picture:

Samurai A is out drinking with his sword wielding samurai buddies, B and C.
C: This armor was handed down to me from my father, and he got it from his father who in turn got it from his father who... ...who got this dent right here when he protected the emperor from a horde of charging *harrumphfangirlsatchoo*
B: That's so interesting, my own armor doesn't have nearly as honorable a history. It was given to me by lord thisorthat for killing the great warrior badassname during the battle of famousplace.
C: Really? I didn't know you were that powerful. Consider me duly impressed.
B: I'll admit to having been somewhat lucky. How about you samurai A?
A *gulps down his drink*: Boughtitonsalefromaninternetshop *deep breath* anybody want another drink?

Yes, we lost. That would make me a loser. Perhaps the first among losers, but that doesn't really mean much. We really didn't deserve to win since we simply couldn't hold up under pressure. Even with a two arrow lead before the last round, we got our asses handed to us. Kind of irritating when we had been doing better the whole time up 'til then.
Bitter? Not really, but a win could have helped make this week a little less dull.

Listening to: ...
Feeling: blah

Will we be able to beat them? Wanting to win can so easily play against you if it's at a frequency that resonates with your nerves.
I'm speaking of kyudo again of course, we will be up in the final today. But I'm confident that we will win. We'll walk in (or out, depending on where we're shooting from today) and inspire fear in our opponents and targets! They will see that, even though we may not look as cool doing it, the gaijin can hit the target as well as any japanese!
Right now I just need to calm down... still wish I had a bit of face paint around though.

In other news: I've realized that I have quite alot that I need to write and study over the next couple of weeks. I suppose it's time to get efficient.
Tonight I'll write the Global Warming thing for Geophysics and tomorrow I'll try to get the paper for Cell Biology done. If I manage to do that I'll have plenty of time to finish my presentation and maybe even to put in a ninja or two.

Listening to: Sepultura - Rumors
Feeling: Bit stressed, bit nervous

I overslept, this is unusual for me. But with the heat this weekend I ended up getting about five hours of sleep per night. I know this may be normal for some people, but I'm used to at least eight, especially on weekends.
I don't feel too bad about it, if two alarm clocks can't wake me I probably need to sleep, right?
It's blessedly cool today :D. I'm off to take a shower and then to see if I can still be on time for the second half of Japanese.

...
The answer turned out to be no. By the time I reached the shower (not long after ten) cleaning was already in progress. Left with the choices to get to Japanese late and smelling like a troll or to stay home and continue animating ninjas, I naturally chose the latter. Whee! Fireballs!

Current wisdom: Smoke trails can look weird from behind.
Listening to: Adiemus
Feeling: Dirty and unshaven

What to do with a perfectly good Sunday? I was asking myself this morning. There were things I should do, several of them were piled up on my chair, one or two sat on my desk and a few more were just floating around in my head. The stuff on the chair was thusly moved onto the bed (from which I will shortly move it back to the chair before going to sleep), the things in my head were flushed out and I sat down and bent right over the papers on my desk in order to reach my computer and get to work on figuring out how to animate a ninja. This has so far resulted in two half decent walk cycles. I also read quite a bit of the Cryptonomicon while doing test renders of said cycles.

Current wisdom: Don't pull nosehairs while brushing your teeth.
Listening to: Death in Vegas - Death Threat
Feeling: Unshaven

Ah, this is what having wireless internet is all about. I'm hanging out in one of the first floor lobbies in A block because my room, at this time of day, is too hot for any life form except possible a few species of archae. I'm reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon (yes, I have things I really should do instead and yes, I'm a lazy bum). Coming upon the term "Van Eck phreaking" I get curious. So I pull out my pda and look it up.
Ah, another reason to be paranoid. I think a pda is probably too weak to spy on from any useful distance. Otherwise some guy with an antenna sitting in the bathroom across the hall from here might have the password for my mail and blog by now.

Kyudo today, in the infernal midday heat. As usual the gaijin squad showed up early to practice. Today our instructor had put out bows with a heavier pull than usual, so I shot with an 11 kg bow instead of the 8-9 kg ones we've been using up 'til now. Either I was just focused today or the heavier pull did wonders for my aiming... possibly the "samurai" kanji on the back of my shirt had something to do with it too. I didn't do too bad last week, but during practice today I just felt like everything was falling into place. Shot 20 arrows and hit 18, then I stopped since the sun and heat was getting to me and I didn't want to get my arm tired before the competition. Unlike Andy I managed to hold on to some of that focus during the competition. Not perfectly, I missed two out of ten arrows. One of those misses came in the crucial last round against team nr 4. We were ahead by one arrow, if we could beat them we were going on to the final.

I shot first... hit! second arrow... it's stuck in the sand at least a decimeter outside the target. Well, Yuta's been been doing good so we should still have no problems. They don't seem to have more than one arrow in their target either... wait, they just got another one in there. As it stands now we're in a draw, but the round has only started and they're two arrows ahead of us. Yuta takes aim in his usual, carefully unhurried way... miss, strikes very close to the opponents' target in fact. Next one... another miss. We're on a streak of bad luck when we can afford it the least. Monica's turn, she's been hitting earlier today, especially during practice. But hasn't gotten more than at most half her arrows in. We need her to be steady now, Yuta and I have just managed to make this round interesting. Monica's first arrow flies wide, hit's team 4's target (it won't count as a point for them though). Still only one arrow in our target, but the enemy seems to have run out of arrows. How many have they managed to stick in the target? tow? three? I think two. That means that just one more arrow could win this for us, and we have three left. Sitting back in the shade, I pray to hear the sound of arrow piercing cardboard as Monica lets it fly. And there it is! the sound! Look carefully, YES! We've won! Now Zen can shoot his two arrows without feeling the pressure. And he does so admirably, two solid hits! Not only have we won, we've done so by a fair margin!

Sorry if I got some of the details wrong, but that's more or less how it went.
Turned out they actually had hit with three of their arrows, so the margin wasn't as wide as I thought. And if Zen had missed both his arrows we'd have been tied and had to do a final round. But we're in the final next week... against team nr 5 I think.

Hitting the target is all about getting the form right, concentrating on the form calms the mind and when all the parts click together there is no way to miss something as big as the beginner's targets we're shooting at. I don't think I've ever missed a shot when the bow has rotated properly in my left hand when i let go, getting the little wrist flick just right is kind of hard since concentrating on it too much can ruin it.

Listening to: T. Rex - Girl
Feeling: Mostly harmless

edit: Whee! It's only 30 minutes past midnight and I've already received my first birthday greeting ^_^

for the liveliest birthday party I ever had. Hey, what can I say? at home this is the time of year when all my friends are usually out of town.
In a minute or two I'm going down to the lobby to partake in the making of tanabata decorations. I've always liked stuff like that, so it should be fun.

listening to: Skip James - Hard Times Killing Floor Blues
feeling: not too bad, really

Like mosquitoes and the sound of water over rocks. And of course the general suckiness of windows messenger, how hard can it be to understand the command "delete contact"? that means I don't want that contact anymore. Don't want to be contacted, set the bridge on fire and shoot the messenger. But no, doesn't work that way apparently.

listening to: John Lee Hooker - Mr. Lucky
feeling: pathetic and self pitying *kicks desk*... and my foot hurts

Sunny, breezy, not yet too hot. I've written the abstract, not very well mind you. But just doing anything useful at all has gotten me feeling better than I have in weeks. I get low when I'm feeling useless (and the gods know I've been that lately).
After finishing up last night I felt, rather annoyingly, tired without being sleepy. Decided to cure this with a quick walk. The walk was delayed by running into Jeff and Tom outside Tom's room downstairs. Stopped and chatted about biking, skiing and snowboarding for a bit. When I finally got out walking the empty nighttime back streets I didn't get more than a block or so before my mind turned to the horror movie I saw with Joey, Yuki and Jeff last Friday... Juon? Yuon? something like that I think. In any case, walking alone at night is not nearly as pleasant when you have little red eyed children staring at you when you're not looking. So I soon turned around and went back home. I should avoid horror movies from now on.

... ah, here it is: Juon

Listening to: Blue Öyster Cult - She's as Beautiful as a Foot
Feeling: Alive!