So fast, in the blink of an eye it is another year
Post Structure
-
Input
Learning: books/novels/good articles, videos/podcasts, any format, anything that feels rewarding after finishing
Anime: new shows / old shows, TV season / movies, notes on what I watched
Others: movies, TV series, etc., put here -
Random Thoughts
Maybe I will write down whatever I’m thinking -
Output
Maybe a blog, but I’m not good enough, so maybe I have no output for a whole month (lol) -
Travel
If I went somewhere, I’ll jot it down. If not, then whatever -
Misc
Small things that don’t fit in the categories above
Input
Learning
Eloquent JavaScript
Still reading it selectively. Basically using it as a reference: read whatever I don’t understand.
Regex in 30 Minutes
I’ve been using regex frequently lately. This beginner tutorial has saved my life.
Together with the regex chapter in Eloquent JavaScript, my browser devtools console regex skills are flying.
Turns out it’s not that hard once you learn it, and it’s genuinely useful.
つまづきやすい日本語
I occasionally read it, but lately technical books have squeezed out my Japanese-book time.
Learn Functional Programming with Elixir
The advertised advantages of functional programming: short and concise, no side effects, easy to debug.
These always attracted me, so I wanted to see how magical it really is. I asked AI for learning resources, found this little book, and it seems well-reviewed.
Elixir, here I come
Anime
- Watching
- 青之箱
I’ll definitely watch it later.
- 青之箱
Can’t keep up, can’t keep up. I haven’t watched anime for a month.
This is the wage slave life .jpg
Others
Recent TV/movies. I try not to spoil.
Robot Dreams
The sweet time at the beginning, the roller-skating dance in the park, was so beautiful.
The flower-field segment in the middle felt like flying leaves, very imaginative (
The final scene where the two dance together is great, echoing the earlier skating scene in the park: beautiful times you can never return to…
That smile the robot shows at the end, I don’t know if it’s sincere or forced…
Hard to let go after finishing. A great story. The music is also excellent and has strong presence.
楽園追放
Recently there was a 10th anniversary re-screening. I watched this years ago, but I’d forgotten almost all the plot details. In the latter half where the heroine breaks out and the fleet dives into the atmosphere, I had zero memory.
Watching again, it doesn’t feel like a ten-year-old work at all. Similar to the Summer Wars re-screening I watched “some time ago”: not outdated at all. (I flipped my blog and realized Summer Wars was back in July. Almost half a year ago. Yet my sense is still “some time ago”. Terrifying. Why does time pass so fast.)
Some lines in the film are interesting. Before the final battle, the male and female leads talk under the stars.
The heroine says the male lead’s achievements are enough to ascend to the virtual world, to be liberated from the bodily “cage”.
But the male lead questions it: you claim you’ve escaped the constraints of the body and gained unlimited freedom. But in reality? The virtual world’s memory is limited, so to fight for limited resources, doing useful things and becoming a useful person becomes everyone’s primary life goal. Absurd. Using memory as bait/threat, violently dividing people into useful and useless; the useless get Archived. It’s not a utopia, just a more efficient machine.
What is the meaning of life?
Does life really have meaning?
What should I do with my life?
How should I live this life?
Recently, no matter what I do or watch, I can’t help thinking about these questions. But the result of thinking is: “I don’t know.” The more I think, the less I know.
But one thing is clear: selling my time (8 hours of work) for money (monthly salary) is something I don’t want to keep doing forever.
Compressing the time I sell to maintain life: that’s a short-term goal.
Back to the film. At the end, the robot goes into space. The male lead says: you understand music, you have emotions, you are more like a human than humans. In that case, just treat yourself as human.
When humans on Earth or in space abandon those “useless” things and live only to survive, the robot instead becomes more “human”.
Random Thoughts
Work drains people
I don’t know if I can adapt to this kind of work style in Japan IT anymore…
Maybe it’s not just a Japan or IT problem. Maybe most jobs are this fucked…
So, why do humans go to work? (
Output
None.
Travel
Ueno National Museum: Haniwa
The national museum had a haniwa exhibition. はにわ written in kanji is 埴輪. Looking at either the kana or the kanji, I have no idea what it is.
As a metaphor, it’s like the ancestor in The Demon Girl Next Door.
Okay, that’s not a qualified explanation. Let’s look at pictures.
This is what the poster looks like.
Two little guys at the entrance. They kind of look like the prototype of the ancestor… maybe?
Long sword, belt. Quite delicate, and you can see traces of time.
Poster girl poster brothers: the five clay-figure brothers reunited (one of them is in the US). Behind them is a background like an X-ray projection. The exhibition design is thoughtful.
Two simple face drawings carved out of the wall.
A little deer looking back.
After exiting, I found the rain was much heavier than before. Before I even left the museum gate, my pant legs were soaked, and my shoes got some water in.
At this moment, two girls walked by. Maybe they didn’t bring umbrellas. They hurried through the rain with a little handkerchief above their heads… the kind you use to wipe hands.
It’s very immoral, but I almost laughed out loud (maybe I did?
That’s some serious self-deception. (Also, with a handkerchief on the head, it kind of looks like a tanuki with a leaf on its head?)
Today’s merit -1 (
Japan Self-Defense Forces Marching Festival
I was lucky enough to win the lottery for this performance and watched a super high-quality music show for free. Someone uploaded the video on YouTube: 「令和６年度 自衛隊音楽まつり」 JAPAN SELF-DEFENSE FORCES MARCHING FESTIVAL 2024 【ノーカット版】
I decided to apply because I saw recordings of previous years on YouTube. They played several anime songs, for example last year they had Cowboy Bebop’s Tank, and music from Suzume.
This year was The Witch from Mercury (they actually played Gundam Unicorn too, but I haven’t watched it so I couldn’t tell), Godzilla’s execution music, and Zelda (never played Zelda, so I couldn’t tell either).
First time going to the famous Budokan. Photo for the record.
Stage effects like smoke and lighting feel top-tier.
The big guy on the far right was so happy he did a “Houbun jump”. So energetic.
At the end, a light spot hit the upper-left of the red circle on the Japanese flag. It looks like a highlight on an egg yolk (
One more shot of the road sign and Budokan before leaving.
Misc
Nothing in particular…
Closing
The November recap got delayed by almost two weeks again. Work drains people.
As early as the end of November, there were already Christmas trees all over the streets. Two weeks later, the Christmas atmosphere grew stronger and stronger, but it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with me (I don’t have a habit of celebrating Christmas anyway).
The only thing that makes me happy is that I get a full 9 days off for New Year. I can be a shut-in at home for a week. My current plan is to write the December Monthly Log and the annual review that I shout about every year.
After accumulating 12 Monthly Logs this year, I should be able to squeeze out an annual review, right?
Second year since landing in Japan: I feel my mindset changed a lot. I’m still confused and still troubled, but this drifting life so far seems to be gradually getting some direction.
じゃあ、良いお年に〜