Entries this day: About_Rei Awesome_code Niggy_Tardust_pimped_by_Trent_Reznor Work

About Rei

7:21am JST Friday 26 October 2007 (day 13729)

This morning, my meditation was punctuated with thoughts of Rei from 52nd PB voyage. I want to have a final lunch to say goodbye or at least make sure that is in fact what she wanted. I haven't forgiven myself for (what I see as) my mistake that blew it.

Basically, before the 52nd voyage, I hadn't cut ties with Hitomi definitively enough to know that she wouldn't be at Yokohama port when we returned, with some hopes that she could connect with me.

I explained this to Rei, with the added PS that "as I'm telling you this, my worst fear is that you'll stop seeing me."

Worst fear realized.

Was it all just a misunderstanding? Am I better now? Obviously not, cause now, (by writing this entry,) I'm creating a similar situation with Ami!

But I believe the truth needs to be free.

Awesome code

1:55pm JST Friday 26 October 2007 (day 13729)

Oh sweet. I am really happy with this awesome code I put together. Basically it will nicely set start and end month/date fields based on the setting of the year field.

Here's the javascript code: I'm going to go to lunch before I explain it or make a working example.

function changeMonthAndDay(nameID,start_bool)    // yearID is something like "regist_start_year
{
	if(start_bool == null) { start_bool = true; }    // start_bool == true means start of year / month.  false means end of year / month
	
	var name_prefix = nameID.substring(0,nameID.length-4);   // regist_start_year  => regist_start_   ||  regist_start_mnth = regist_start_
	var yearID = name_prefix + "year";
	var monthID = name_prefix + "mnth";
	var dayID = name_prefix + "day";
	var year = document.getElementById(yearID);
	var month = document.getElementById(monthID);
	var day = document.getElementById(dayID);
	if (year.selectedIndex > 0)
	{
		// change the month to the first or last month depending on start_bool
		if(month.selectedIndex == 0) 
		{
			if (start_bool) {	month.selectedIndex = 1 }
			else
			{
				month.selectedIndex = 12;
			}
		}
		
		// change the day to the first or last day depending on start_bool
		if (start_bool) {
			if (day.selectedIndex == 0)
			{
				day.selectedIndex = 1
			}
		}
		else
		{
			var dd = new Date(document.getElementById(yearID).options[year.selectedIndex].value, month.selectedIndex, 0);
			if ((day.selectedIndex == 0) || (day.selectedIndex > dd.getDate()))
			{
				day.selectedIndex = dd.getDate();
			}
		}
	}
	else
	{
		month.selectedIndex = 0;
		day.selectedIndex = 0;
	}
}

Niggy Tardust pimped by Trent Reznor

I haven't listened to it yet (available on 1 November), but it's free for 192Kbps or $5 for higher rates to download. I'm really happy with the way they're distributing this. (I hope it catches on soon.) I'm going to buy bought a copy just cause I want to support this mode of distribution.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: the spiral <update@nin-thespiral.com>
Date: Oct 26, 2007 7:08 AM
Subject: NiggyTardust!

NiggyTardust!

As many of you know, I've been working closely with Saul Williams on his new record. We've spent
many hours together in hotel rooms, busses, backstages and studios around the world working on
something we knew was great. This is the most involved I've been with any project outside NIN since
Antichrist Superstar, and I've been impatiently waiting for the chance for you to hear
it. Well... guess what?

The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! has arrived! After my own recent dealings with
record labels we decided to release it directly to you. Head over to http://www.niggytardust.com for
all the details. Register now and you can download the record November 1st. Working on this project
was a real pleasure. Saul was interested in breaking boundaries / crossing genres / defying
expectations and we learned a great deal from one another in the process. When asked about the sound
of the record, I've had to resort to "... I really don't know HOW to describe it." That's a good
thing more than ever these days.

A word on the way we've chosen to release this. There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just
released their new record and the way we've chosen to. After thinking about this way too much, I
feel we've improved upon their idea in a few profound ways that benefit you, the consumer. You
obviously will be the judge of this in the end. One thing that IS very different in our situation is
that Saul's not the household name (yet!) that Radiohead is, and that means we need your support on
this more than ever. If you like what you hear, spread the word.

I hope you enjoy the music,

TR

(he means Trent Reznor, not Thunder Rabbit)

Work

8:41pm JST Friday 26 October 2007 (day 13729)

Huge awesome day at work. Was able to get the proof of concept done for the bulk of the main thing for today (checking to make sure the before-date is not greater than the after-date). Remaining are just trivial changes to be made (don't check unless both dates exist, print the correct error messages).

Also, we had a welcome party for three new people at work, including me. Me, the cute cute cute interviewer girl and another guy.

I believe I wrote in here that I work for a company with some sibling companies, including a fruit/vegetable distributor and a video recording studio. There are often guests who come in (I have no idea who they are, but usually either old guys or young performers) and they are interviewed by one or two cute interviewer girls. One of them is cute and the other is cute cute cute wow super cute.

Well, I have never known their names, but, being presented to the group along with the cute cute cuter of the two, I learned her name: Nami.

I talked to her for quite a bit, staying away from questions about "are you famous? can I see you on TV?" but more normal topics. She's been in her profession for 4 years, been working here since about 2 weeks after I started, she likes to cook healthy food, and does yoga. I worked as programmer 8 years before coming to Japan, worked 3 or 4 years teaching English; I've traveled a bit, including breaking my shoulder on a bike ride around Honshu.

After chatting with Nami, I met Mika (美香) who had distractingly beautiful contacts. I can't really remember what we talked about. As people milled around the party, I got to flex a lot of Japanese brain cells, and for a brief moment, I had the superlative 面白い moment of not being able to switch back to English. Wow. I count that as a breakthrough on my Japanese ability.

Spoke with a woman named Yumiko who I had met twice before, though I didn't remember. She came in as the friend of a prospective student at EV, and she works the desk of the parent company for my company. She greeted and directed me to the interview when I came for what I thought would just be handing in my resume to Akira. Her English was pretty good, but we mostly chatted in Japanese. I realized after a bit she may be the perfect person to ask about renewing my visa. So I did. She said she'd ask the right people [and get back to me (?)], so we'll see how that goes.

Stepped out of the party for a bit to call Ami to tell her I'd be later getting out of there than I had previously thought. Stepped back into the party to where Nami happened to be, so I stayed. Three guys were talking about various reactions to being drunk, and one guy was saying he was soon going to open a bar in Aoyama, which is pretty close to work. He works there at night and has some sort of massage therapy thing going on. Not sure really what all that's about, but he seemed earnest in inviting us to the opening.

We talked about music and who listens to what. I like to rap Eminem tunes at karaoke. Nami likes to dance hip hop style. We were like, "見せて!" and she was like "やだ！" and didn't, but I made a mental note.

Near the end, I met a guy who had come in fashionably late and is some kind of big boss guy. I don't know his name, but after his little speech, people clapped. When he saw me he said "nice to meet you" and then when I happened near him at the end, he was like, "you have good energy, a good aura." Wow. Um, wow. I wonder who he is.

I packed up my stuff and as I headed out, saying bye to everyone, I made it out *just* in time to catch Nami as she was leaving the outer door of the building. Turns out that we live on the same train line; she hops off at Hiyoshi, the station after mine (Motosumiyoshi). We ended up walking out together, but when it came time to get on the train, I chose the back car so I could meet Ami, and she chose a middle seat so she could sit.