January 31st, 2002. Vive la France.

I've finally decided to download a small program that allows me to size pictures better than MS Paint does, so things will start to look a little more normal.

I don't always update on the date indicated above. What I mean is, this is the Jan 31st entry, yet I am writing it on February 6th. Makes things a little confusing since I don't know whether I should write in the present, past of future tense. Bear with me, children.

So, it's my day off tomorrow and I am sitting here at the computer, armed with two cans of cold coffee and a fistful of chocolate. I'm going to start a new site soon, as I am running out of disk space here. That requires work, and I am determined to get most, if not all of it done today.

I woke up with numb legs this morning. I have no idea why. It was strange because I was sleeping on my back, legs fully extended and arms at my size. I sleep like a corpse in more ways than one.

Japanese is funny. Well, I suppose all foreign languages are funny. I don't speak the language, but I am picking up bits and pieces of it each day. A word here, the odd sentece there. And I understand none of it, it's just pure memorize and repeat. Kinda like a Nova lesson. Anyway, this is funny because I will go up to a Japanese local and blurt out some mangled jibberish and the desired result usually comes about. For example, if I want my hair cut shorter, all I have to do is spit out "Motto miji kaku shite kudasai" and it will be done. I have no idea what part of that sentence relates to which word in English. It just works. Magic.

I saw this film on City TV a few years back. I think it had something to do with the French Revolution. At any rate, there were rebels running about a grimy town and they were French. There was this one scene that has always stuck in my head. A French man from another city comes to this little town and somehow overhears the pass-phrase to get into a secret rebel meeting (the rebels were called the Faction or the Coalition or something snazzy like that).

So he saunters up nervously to the wooden door and knocks. A little window slides open and a pair of eyes peek out, waiting to hear the right words.

Vive la France. And in he went.

I've been reading a lot fo war-related books recently. I just finished The Prince and am currently reading Gates of Fire, which is about the Spartan stand against the Persians at Thermoplyae. The Art of War is just something that I brought with me, planning read that after I finish Gates.

So I went to Jiugaoka for a bit of shopping today and look at this. You know those rip-off games you see at the CNE that have a little claw you have to manouver over top of prizes? Well, this is the same, but instead of a crappy stuffed Bart Simpson doll or a plastic whistle, you can get a lobster or a fish. Click on the photo to see a clip of someone playing.