My mom sent me this by e-mail, so if you are on her mailing list you may have got it already, but I thought it held a lot of truth. Enjoy.
George Carlin's Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.
You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.
You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Crappy DaVinci Code Exhibit
In my big update, I forgot to mention the DaVinci Code Museum thing I went to. Cal mentioned that it was on and it sounded interesting, so decided to go with him. We hit it on the last day of the event... with a fair number of other people as well.
That is one thing that drives me nuts about museums and exhibits in Japan. There is no such thing as crowd control. If they limited the number of people it would make the experience so much better. Personally, I am not good with crowds and in museums I want to just go from display to display as they catch my eye. Well, that is pretty much impossible here because you have to wait ten minutes until you can get close enough to see anything over everybody's heads. And what kills me is that poeple will crowd around stupid things (as in only worth a minute.. 30 seconds?... of viewing time) and spend 10 minutes looking at them. Drives me nuts.
Anyway, this was no different in terms of people. The exhibit basically showed some of the scenes from the movie (in the Louvre and the chateau's living room) and the famous paintings on giant televisions. Now, would it surprise you to know that Sony sponsored the exhibit? In other words I think I paid 1500 yen to see Sony's new televisions. Nice TVs but I could have gone to Bic Camera and seen them for free.
So, my overall review is that it sucked. I think even if there were no other people, it would have merited some interest, but not 1500 yen worth. I think Cal found it much more interesting than I did, however, he has not read the book yet so got a bit of a storyline from going.
Oh, by the way, the movie sucks too... read the book. It is a quick and entertaining read. Don't expect brilliance - it is entertainment, which is exactly what I want from a book. The book gets a thumbs up from me, but the movie and the DaVinci Code exhibit get definite thumbs down.
That is one thing that drives me nuts about museums and exhibits in Japan. There is no such thing as crowd control. If they limited the number of people it would make the experience so much better. Personally, I am not good with crowds and in museums I want to just go from display to display as they catch my eye. Well, that is pretty much impossible here because you have to wait ten minutes until you can get close enough to see anything over everybody's heads. And what kills me is that poeple will crowd around stupid things (as in only worth a minute.. 30 seconds?... of viewing time) and spend 10 minutes looking at them. Drives me nuts.
Anyway, this was no different in terms of people. The exhibit basically showed some of the scenes from the movie (in the Louvre and the chateau's living room) and the famous paintings on giant televisions. Now, would it surprise you to know that Sony sponsored the exhibit? In other words I think I paid 1500 yen to see Sony's new televisions. Nice TVs but I could have gone to Bic Camera and seen them for free.
So, my overall review is that it sucked. I think even if there were no other people, it would have merited some interest, but not 1500 yen worth. I think Cal found it much more interesting than I did, however, he has not read the book yet so got a bit of a storyline from going.
Oh, by the way, the movie sucks too... read the book. It is a quick and entertaining read. Don't expect brilliance - it is entertainment, which is exactly what I want from a book. The book gets a thumbs up from me, but the movie and the DaVinci Code exhibit get definite thumbs down.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
update
So, I have finally gotten around to putting up some entries. I had been holding off because I have an entry about the new IKEA that opened back in April... only I haven't gotten around to actually writing it. So I haven't written anything on the blog. I figured I had better get back into it, and I can post the IKEA thing later.
I suppose the big news is that I have moved into my office part-time. This was supposed to make my schedule less hectic, however, I seem to as busy as I ever was. Something about having a couple free mornings or afternoons a week which seem to be taken up with other work projects at the moment. I am surprised at how little energy it takes to work in the office compared to teaching. I had no idea I used so much energy during my lessons. It is nice to have a bit of both worlds actually because I still like teaching... but the regular hours of working in the office are also great.
Japanese lessons are coming along slowly. I am actually studying between lessons (as opposed to doing my homework just before class) and it is helping a lot with remembering words and speaking a bit more fluently. Things are starting to click a bit better, so that is good. I still can't have anything more than simple conversations, but that's ok.
I had to renew my alien registration card this week. Five years have gone by since I moved into this apartment. WOW! I was surprised at how easy it was. I stopped into the city office, filled out a form and was out of there in 15 minutes. I was wondering what was wrong, because I was expecting to spend the whole afternoon there... then I remembered it was just the city office and not immigration. Immigration being hell on earth because there is only one office for all of Tokyo area now. The city office is a dream in comparison. So that was a relief - I hate bureaucracy.
World Cup is in full swing and everyone is walking zombie in Tokyo. Well, a lot of people are, myself included. The games are on in the middle of the night here so staying up to watch certain teams play is a killer. Everyone is sad that Japan is out of it now, but no one really expected them to make it anyway because of the strong competition in that group (Brazil for one).
So that is the update. Will try to write more often ... and get the IKEA entry up!
I suppose the big news is that I have moved into my office part-time. This was supposed to make my schedule less hectic, however, I seem to as busy as I ever was. Something about having a couple free mornings or afternoons a week which seem to be taken up with other work projects at the moment. I am surprised at how little energy it takes to work in the office compared to teaching. I had no idea I used so much energy during my lessons. It is nice to have a bit of both worlds actually because I still like teaching... but the regular hours of working in the office are also great.
Japanese lessons are coming along slowly. I am actually studying between lessons (as opposed to doing my homework just before class) and it is helping a lot with remembering words and speaking a bit more fluently. Things are starting to click a bit better, so that is good. I still can't have anything more than simple conversations, but that's ok.
I had to renew my alien registration card this week. Five years have gone by since I moved into this apartment. WOW! I was surprised at how easy it was. I stopped into the city office, filled out a form and was out of there in 15 minutes. I was wondering what was wrong, because I was expecting to spend the whole afternoon there... then I remembered it was just the city office and not immigration. Immigration being hell on earth because there is only one office for all of Tokyo area now. The city office is a dream in comparison. So that was a relief - I hate bureaucracy.
World Cup is in full swing and everyone is walking zombie in Tokyo. Well, a lot of people are, myself included. The games are on in the middle of the night here so staying up to watch certain teams play is a killer. Everyone is sad that Japan is out of it now, but no one really expected them to make it anyway because of the strong competition in that group (Brazil for one).
So that is the update. Will try to write more often ... and get the IKEA entry up!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
moving 3D picture that I can't see
You know those 3D pictures that were popular about 10 years ago... the ones that are a bunch of colours with a random design that when you make your eyes go out of focus turn into a 3D picture? Well, I could never see them. When they had them in the comic section in the Saturday paper, I would sit for hours with the picture close up to my nose and slowly move it back, and I might have been lucky one in ten times and seen the actual thing... after trying forever. Well, apparently there are moving 3D pictures now. You will either jump up and down at how cool it is, or want to scream because you can't see a darn thing (like me).
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