"Team Markstar is making their dark in RedZone! Oh, dear, I've gone cross-eyed."
I. Intonation Hell
Friday's listening exercises were HELL. At least, the first part, where it's one of those evil intonation things, where you have to figure out which of two words that sound exactly the same except for the intonation they're saying... Such as:
あっ、よんでくれましたか？
A) はい！その本、面白いですね！
B) はい！タクシーは１０分に着くはずです。
(aka guess whether it's 読んで or 呼んで)
or:
もっとのむ？
ふ〜ん…もういっぱい。
A) はい、どうぞ。
B) ああ、そう？
(aka guess whether it's a "one more glass" もう一杯 or an "I'm already full" もう一杯)
No context to help you out, and it's not like this is Chinese where tones are always supposed to mean something... Guh.. But then it went on to "are they saying だれが or だれか?" which was ridiculously easy...
II. Transportation Hell
Went to a show tonight for one of Girl's school's club's guy's bands (said guy is known by everyone as "Fiji", since he spent 3 years there in high school). Which was way out on the Chuuo line, which, it just so happens, the Tozai subway line magically transforms into when you go past a certain point.
Keep in mind that the Chuuo line is JR, and the subway is not. Also keep in mind that for people who can't be bothered to buy a ticket every time they go somewhere & prefer to use pre-paid/rechargeable cards, JR uses Suica, which is a proximity-based card, while everything else uses Passnet cards, which you stick through the machine & it prints stuff & punches holes & probably does some other magnetic shit to keep track of where you got on & off so it can charge you. Also keep in mind that in almost every case, when switching from one system to another, you either a) exit one system completely before entering the other system, or b) go through a special transfer gate where you can stick both methods of payment in, and it'll finish charging you for the first route w/ the first method, and charge the base payment of the second route on the second system.
Note that this doesn't happen here.
Also note that Girl had us go all the way out to the station at 5ish, only to find out just as we were about to exit the station that Fiji's band doesn't go on until 8:30.
So there we were with nothing to do, and way out on a line we didn't know, and 3 hours to kill, so we decide to head back to Shinjuku. By getting back on the Tozai/Chuuo line. Note that the Tozai subway line doesn't go to Shinjuku, so when you get out there, you're in JR Chuuo territory. And having paid to get in with our passnet cards, this meant that going out through the gates that are set up to assume you're only using one system didn't work. So we had to go to the adjustment window & explain to the guy there what happened. So he took both cards, deducted some stuff from both, and gave us 2 little receipts- one to show the other guy at the gate to get out, so they'd know we paid, and another to show the next time we used our passnet cards, since we used them to get ON, but not OFF, so the card will be all confused & think we skipped out on a payment somewhere & raise a stink & block the gate & flash the "Please see station attendant" light.
Oh, and then on the way back to the show station from Shinjuku, I only ended up with ¥10 left on my Suica card after the base charge, so I had to charge it again to get out- only the machine I was on was apparently a fare adjustment machine (as opposed to a normal ticket-buying/suica-charging
machine), and I must've pressed the wrong button, because for the ¥80 I owed, it gave me a ¥70 ticket, took the last ¥10 off my suica card, and gave me the rest of the change from my ¥1000 bill. ALL IN ¥100 COINS. Which I already had a bunch of from lunch (no ¥500 coins for change there either)- even after using 2 tonight I still have FIFTEEN of them in my wallet. Oh well- laundry time.
So, guess what happened again when we went home? Yep- paid to get in at the Chuuo station w/ Suica, then had to go to the subway window again when I got out at Waseda & say I got on on the Chuuo line, & he had to manually adjust both cards again, and then gave me YET ANOTHER slip of paper, apparently to show the next time I use my SUICA card. GAR.
I remember reading somewhere about how much of a pain it was that the public transportation here wasn't all owned by the same company, & thus required different payment methods, and I also remember thinking "it's not so bad" when using one at a time, or going through the transfer gates w/ both cards. But damn, for shit like this, it's like going to the grocery store and having to pay for all your fruit in cash and your vegetables by credit card.
III. Camera Indecision Hell
AAAnyway... the aforementioned time-wasting-in-Shinjuku was spent mostly looking at cameras. Wherein I realized something I'd read before, but it hadn't really hit: DSLRs don't show you jack shit through the main LCD panel- you HAVE to use the small viewfinder. The panel is only for menus, and to show you the picture AFTER you've taken it. Oh yeah... which kinda explains why none of them have the cool little flip & twist LCD panel- no use for 'em. Which is kinda irritating, since there are many times when I want to take pictures from either really low (and don't want to lie down on the floor to look through the viewfinder or at the non-flippy LCD screen), or really high (like when there's a fuckload of people in front of you & you have to hold the camera above everyone's heads to get a good, clear shot, er, view, of Kathie Lee). But then again, those kind of shots aren't generally as time-constrainted, so you can check it afterwards, or at worst, leave it at a wide angle & crop it down later.
Also found something cool- YodaYodobashi was doing a couple extra special bundle deals other than the standard body only/lens kid/double zoom kit ones (the double zoom kit one being the one I was looking at, which comes with an 18-50mm wide-normal lens and another 50-200mm normal-telephoto lens)- namely including a Tamron 18-200mm lens instead, which ends up being nearly the same amount as the double-zoom kit (although the lens's US list price is nearly $730 (tax not included), the JP list price is ¥69,300, which at the current rate of nearly ¥120/$1 is about $580, tax included) , and a helluva lot more practical (same range w/o having to switch lenses all the time).
So. We have a camera that's DAMN nice, and REALLY fucking fast (it's pretty much instant-on, and takes pictures the MILLISECOND you hit the button, none of this wait-a-full-second-or-more bullshit like most normal digitals), but goddamn expensive (i.e. over $1k if I go w/ the 18-200mm lens). It'll also be my first "real" camera, as in, one with real detachable lenses (I got my current camera with the intention of getting the lens adapter & more lenses, but never got around to it)... I've never really felt like a "professional" photographer, and have never taken any classes on it (only reason I know about f-stops & film speeds & stuff like that is from film-as-in-motion-picture classes, and I only really took the first entry-level practical-use class for that)... Not that I don't think I could learn it all by reading or just messing around with it & seeing what ends up working well, but it's a bit daunting.. esp. with money being somewhat limited. But damn- I need a nice big toy every once in a while, and I haven't gotten one since.. well, my laptop, I guess. And that was in JANUARY FEBRUARY! ^^; But gar.. My only other option is to send my current one back in AGAIN, hoping they'll actually fix the red spot problem and REPLACE THE FUCKING BATTERY this time, and/or get a(nother) new battery, & just deal w/ this one.
So what's everyone think? Drop possibly too much money on a really fucking cool camera, or deal with the current slow-ass crappy one with the 20m battery life?
Poll camera canon
IV. Video Game.... hm, no hell
Anyway, in other news, I finished the first playthrough of Ratchet: Deadlocked. Overall I'd have to say it wasn't as good as the others, and that there was a lot missing... like, oh, I dunno- CLANK? Kinda weird playing through the entire game without him on your back at all, and while the 2 new battle robot sidekicks are somewhat more practical at times, they can get annoying (although not quite Daxter in J&D1 annoying). And yeah, they threw the grind rail back in, which was missing from 3, but there were no cool side-quest stuff- the hoverbike & hovership stuff in this one were too mission-oriented, and the land stalker thingies were HORRIBLY unbalanced- the first or second one took forEVER just to make it all the way to the end without getting killed first, only to not have enough points for the goal- the last one, OTOH, had NO enemies shooting back at you (ok, maybe like, 3 total), and I ended up with WAY more than enough points the first time through. WTF?
Didn't really mind the slightly narrower selection of weapons as much, 'cause you really end up only using a couple of them anyway... and the mod thing is pretty cool (and looks even cooler in the 2nd playthrough). Just not as much humor in this one, either. And (possible spoiler, mouseover to read)?! Oh well. Looks like there's a couple extra things in challenge mode (beside the super-superweapons, of course), so we'll see how much else there is.
V. Closing humour
Girl pointed this out. Just goes to show the difference in cultures- Japan gets people finding cranes in their radishes, we get nutjobs finding pictures of Jesus in their tortillas & tree trunks, & Mary in their grilled cheese sandwiches.
K, that's about all for now- need to figure out if I have any homework due tomorrow.. >_
Friday's listening exercises were HELL. At least, the first part, where it's one of those evil intonation things, where you have to figure out which of two words that sound exactly the same except for the intonation they're saying... Such as:
あっ、よんでくれましたか？
A) はい！その本、面白いですね！
B) はい！タクシーは１０分に着くはずです。
(aka guess whether it's 読んで or 呼んで)
or:
もっとのむ？
ふ〜ん…もういっぱい。
A) はい、どうぞ。
B) ああ、そう？
(aka guess whether it's a "one more glass" もう一杯 or an "I'm already full" もう一杯)
No context to help you out, and it's not like this is Chinese where tones are always supposed to mean something... Guh.. But then it went on to "are they saying だれが or だれか?" which was ridiculously easy...
II. Transportation Hell
Went to a show tonight for one of Girl's school's club's guy's bands (said guy is known by everyone as "Fiji", since he spent 3 years there in high school). Which was way out on the Chuuo line, which, it just so happens, the Tozai subway line magically transforms into when you go past a certain point.
Keep in mind that the Chuuo line is JR, and the subway is not. Also keep in mind that for people who can't be bothered to buy a ticket every time they go somewhere & prefer to use pre-paid/rechargeable cards, JR uses Suica, which is a proximity-based card, while everything else uses Passnet cards, which you stick through the machine & it prints stuff & punches holes & probably does some other magnetic shit to keep track of where you got on & off so it can charge you. Also keep in mind that in almost every case, when switching from one system to another, you either a) exit one system completely before entering the other system, or b) go through a special transfer gate where you can stick both methods of payment in, and it'll finish charging you for the first route w/ the first method, and charge the base payment of the second route on the second system.
Note that this doesn't happen here.
Also note that Girl had us go all the way out to the station at 5ish, only to find out just as we were about to exit the station that Fiji's band doesn't go on until 8:30.
So there we were with nothing to do, and way out on a line we didn't know, and 3 hours to kill, so we decide to head back to Shinjuku. By getting back on the Tozai/Chuuo line. Note that the Tozai subway line doesn't go to Shinjuku, so when you get out there, you're in JR Chuuo territory. And having paid to get in with our passnet cards, this meant that going out through the gates that are set up to assume you're only using one system didn't work. So we had to go to the adjustment window & explain to the guy there what happened. So he took both cards, deducted some stuff from both, and gave us 2 little receipts- one to show the other guy at the gate to get out, so they'd know we paid, and another to show the next time we used our passnet cards, since we used them to get ON, but not OFF, so the card will be all confused & think we skipped out on a payment somewhere & raise a stink & block the gate & flash the "Please see station attendant" light.
Oh, and then on the way back to the show station from Shinjuku, I only ended up with ¥10 left on my Suica card after the base charge, so I had to charge it again to get out- only the machine I was on was apparently a fare adjustment machine (as opposed to a normal ticket-buying/suica-charging
machine), and I must've pressed the wrong button, because for the ¥80 I owed, it gave me a ¥70 ticket, took the last ¥10 off my suica card, and gave me the rest of the change from my ¥1000 bill. ALL IN ¥100 COINS. Which I already had a bunch of from lunch (no ¥500 coins for change there either)- even after using 2 tonight I still have FIFTEEN of them in my wallet. Oh well- laundry time.
So, guess what happened again when we went home? Yep- paid to get in at the Chuuo station w/ Suica, then had to go to the subway window again when I got out at Waseda & say I got on on the Chuuo line, & he had to manually adjust both cards again, and then gave me YET ANOTHER slip of paper, apparently to show the next time I use my SUICA card. GAR.
I remember reading somewhere about how much of a pain it was that the public transportation here wasn't all owned by the same company, & thus required different payment methods, and I also remember thinking "it's not so bad" when using one at a time, or going through the transfer gates w/ both cards. But damn, for shit like this, it's like going to the grocery store and having to pay for all your fruit in cash and your vegetables by credit card.
III. Camera Indecision Hell
AAAnyway... the aforementioned time-wasting-in-Shinjuku was spent mostly looking at cameras. Wherein I realized something I'd read before, but it hadn't really hit: DSLRs don't show you jack shit through the main LCD panel- you HAVE to use the small viewfinder. The panel is only for menus, and to show you the picture AFTER you've taken it. Oh yeah... which kinda explains why none of them have the cool little flip & twist LCD panel- no use for 'em. Which is kinda irritating, since there are many times when I want to take pictures from either really low (and don't want to lie down on the floor to look through the viewfinder or at the non-flippy LCD screen), or really high (like when there's a fuckload of people in front of you & you have to hold the camera above everyone's heads to get a good, clear shot, er, view, of Kathie Lee). But then again, those kind of shots aren't generally as time-constrainted, so you can check it afterwards, or at worst, leave it at a wide angle & crop it down later.
Also found something cool- YodaYodobashi was doing a couple extra special bundle deals other than the standard body only/lens kid/double zoom kit ones (the double zoom kit one being the one I was looking at, which comes with an 18-50mm wide-normal lens and another 50-200mm normal-telephoto lens)- namely including a Tamron 18-200mm lens instead, which ends up being nearly the same amount as the double-zoom kit (although the lens's US list price is nearly $730 (tax not included), the JP list price is ¥69,300, which at the current rate of nearly ¥120/$1 is about $580, tax included) , and a helluva lot more practical (same range w/o having to switch lenses all the time).
So. We have a camera that's DAMN nice, and REALLY fucking fast (it's pretty much instant-on, and takes pictures the MILLISECOND you hit the button, none of this wait-a-full-second-or-more bullshit like most normal digitals), but goddamn expensive (i.e. over $1k if I go w/ the 18-200mm lens). It'll also be my first "real" camera, as in, one with real detachable lenses (I got my current camera with the intention of getting the lens adapter & more lenses, but never got around to it)... I've never really felt like a "professional" photographer, and have never taken any classes on it (only reason I know about f-stops & film speeds & stuff like that is from film-as-in-motion-picture classes, and I only really took the first entry-level practical-use class for that)... Not that I don't think I could learn it all by reading or just messing around with it & seeing what ends up working well, but it's a bit daunting.. esp. with money being somewhat limited. But damn- I need a nice big toy every once in a while, and I haven't gotten one since.. well, my laptop, I guess. And that was in JANUARY FEBRUARY! ^^; But gar.. My only other option is to send my current one back in AGAIN, hoping they'll actually fix the red spot problem and REPLACE THE FUCKING BATTERY this time, and/or get a(nother) new battery, & just deal w/ this one.
So what's everyone think? Drop possibly too much money on a really fucking cool camera, or deal with the current slow-ass crappy one with the 20m battery life?
Poll camera canon
IV. Video Game.... hm, no hell
Anyway, in other news, I finished the first playthrough of Ratchet: Deadlocked. Overall I'd have to say it wasn't as good as the others, and that there was a lot missing... like, oh, I dunno- CLANK? Kinda weird playing through the entire game without him on your back at all, and while the 2 new battle robot sidekicks are somewhat more practical at times, they can get annoying (although not quite Daxter in J&D1 annoying). And yeah, they threw the grind rail back in, which was missing from 3, but there were no cool side-quest stuff- the hoverbike & hovership stuff in this one were too mission-oriented, and the land stalker thingies were HORRIBLY unbalanced- the first or second one took forEVER just to make it all the way to the end without getting killed first, only to not have enough points for the goal- the last one, OTOH, had NO enemies shooting back at you (ok, maybe like, 3 total), and I ended up with WAY more than enough points the first time through. WTF?
Didn't really mind the slightly narrower selection of weapons as much, 'cause you really end up only using a couple of them anyway... and the mod thing is pretty cool (and looks even cooler in the 2nd playthrough). Just not as much humor in this one, either. And (possible spoiler, mouseover to read)?! Oh well. Looks like there's a couple extra things in challenge mode (beside the super-superweapons, of course), so we'll see how much else there is.
V. Closing humour
Girl pointed this out. Just goes to show the difference in cultures- Japan gets people finding cranes in their radishes, we get nutjobs finding pictures of Jesus in their tortillas & tree trunks, & Mary in their grilled cheese sandwiches.
K, that's about all for now- need to figure out if I have any homework due tomorrow.. >_