Weekend Trip to the Kyushu National Museum w/Grandma PT II - the temporary collection.

The Kyushu Museum's big draw was a Japanese historical collection on loan down from Tokyo.


Standard "no picture" taking rule in the museum.

Standard "ignore the regressive, ignorant, self-important museum regulations by shooting pics from the hip until caught." Cause once they've made you, they watch you. Hey, it's not like I blend in.

But honestly, the no pictures in museums thing pisses me off. I can understand banning flash photography in order to preserve artifacts and prevent damage, but no pictures at all? Rubbish. Bullshit nonsense to pump up gift shop sales while abridging your freedom to record your own life experiences. And doesn't "no pictures" seem contrary to the whole concept of museums - appreciating and learning about history and art? People who attempt to control the flow of information and experience piss me off. If your "product" is worthwhile, exposing a greater # of people to it = profit. Treating your "customers" as potential criminals for trying to maximize their experience by doing something they're always doing [taking pictures] is insanely stupid. Okay, rant over.






The only pic I snapped from the permanent collection... prior to actually entering the exhibition hall... so it's possible I wasn't violating the no picture rule here. Oni rock.

Weekend Trip to the Kyushu National Museum w/Grandma PT I - Design.

So we headed up Daizaifu way to check out the Kyushu National Museum w/Bachan. The building design was kinda clever - I dug it - hence my too many pictures of not much at all. At least I've spared you the pic I took of the floor. Seriously.

I have no idea what "Nostalgic Cafe Baby Face Planets" is...

...but it sounds like a magical place.

The Bachan Breakfast.

Eat your hearts out, gaijin.

I don't know how grandma does it, but her eggs rock. Always.

Training 104-106.

3 day weekend + 2 days at Bachan's + Costco trip = total collapse of low carb dietary discipline.

Ah well, back on the train today. At least as soon as I can pick up some cream from the grocery. Stuff in the fridge went bad over the wkend so I'm reduced to milk for the coffee. Because black coffee isn't an option, as apparently I don't really like the taste [oh, the smell of that first morning cup is glorious though.] But I prefer to think of coffee as my caffeine-delivery-system anyways... and a morning without caffeine not only makes life not worth living, but seems a damn near physical impossibility these days.

I did manage to squeeze one PT session in on Sat AM though - 30m Rutten MMA/Thai Boxing 2m rounds.

Onwards...

I have done every "wrong" financial thing in this article.

...but I'm working on it. [Great article.]

The Dirty Secrets of Debt Reduction (and What to Do About Them) ∞ Get Rich Slowly:

"When I was a sophomore in college, I got my first credit card. I thought it was awesome — it was like free money. Soon I got another credit card, and before long I’d maxed them both out. I entered the work force with a handicap. I had the start of a nasty credit habit.

[The wrong things - Rob]

I had no goals...

I didn’t establish an emergency fund...

I didn’t track my spending...

I tried to pay high-interest debt first...

I led myself into temptation...

I treated mistakes as if they were the end of the world...

I spent raises and windfalls...

I didn’t seek help...

The final secret
The biggest secret of debt reduction? Getting rid of it feels awesome. After living in debt for twenty years, I’ve spent about eight months debt-free. The sense of freedom is euphoric at times."

"...if the stuff you accumulate isn't actively helping get you closer to a life you truly want, then it's getting in the way, and it needs to go."-YES

My mom was a bit of a hoarder. Not in an OCD-the-house-is-an-unlivable-mess kind of way, but a let's-hold-on-to-this-half-broken-thing-because-you-never-know-we-might-need-it kind of way.

Our garage never had room for the car because it was filled with stuff. Filled up the garage, filled up the attic. Built a storage shed/house out back that rapidly became filled up and unavigable.

I could never get rid of stuff that I no longer wanted or hadn't used in years because "you might want it or need it again someday" or because "great-aunt somebody who you met once when you were 3 gave it to you." The packratitis is something I still find infuriating and annoying, though having been around it all the while growing up, I sucked up some of the habits. It used to be kind of bad with comic books, and I still do it to some extent with them and regular books now. I tend to binge and purge though, which is actually an improvement over the constant accumulation. The moving every few years helps with the purging as well. I understand the whole "let's not be wasteful" aspect, but on the other hand, the keeping stuff you'll never use aspect rubs me the wrong way even more.

So, in short, this book sounds awesome.

Merlin Mann reviews It's All Too Much, a book on decluttering - Boing Boing:

"...It's All Too Much is a terrific book that inverts the typical approach to dealing with existential kipple. Rather than helping you find new places and novel ways to "organize" all your crap, author Peter Walsh encourages you to explore why you ever kept all that junk in the first place. Does it reflect a fantasy waistline or a long-abandoned career? What about this "priceless" relic of a late loved one that's been sitting in a moldy trash bag for 10 years? Be honest: what place do these things have in the life that you imagine for yourself? Because, if the stuff you accumulate isn't actively helping get you closer to a life you truly want, then it's getting in the way, and it needs to go. Period.

...Imagine the life you want to live. I cannot think of a sentence that has had more impact on the lives of people I have worked with. ... When clutter fills your home, not only does it block your space, but it also blocks your vision.

...Most things that you save for the future represent hopes and dreams. But the money, space, and energy you spend trying to create a specific future are wasted. We can't control what tomorrow will bring. Those things we hoard for an imaginary future do little other than limit our possibilities and stunt our growth. When I urge you to get rid of them, I'm not telling you to discard your hopes and dreams. It's actually quite the opposite. Because if you throw out the stuff that does a rather shabby job of representing your hopes and dreams, you actually create room to make dreams come true."

From the comments - apropos - Merlin Mann reviews It's All Too Much, a book on decluttering - Boing Boing:

"Lose the stuff and free your mind.

And even if you're thinking 'no, I still want to make use of it!' -- if it's been more than a year and it's collecting dust, you've really already made your decision. You're not interested, even if you want to be or feel you should be. Own that and let it go."

The glow of superiority - it feels good.

Overheard in New York | And Getting Better Every Minute:

"Girl (sobbing): I'm sorry... I know cheating is never the answer... I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you.
(long silence)
Guy (chuckling): Sorry for laughing. I'm just thinking of what a better person than you I am.
(five minutes later)
Guy (still chuckling): You know you're hot and guys hit on you all the time but what you forget is that I'm hot. Girls hit on me every day. But I'd never cheat because I'm a good person.

--Metro Cafe, 57th & 5th"

Training 102-103.

102
PT - 30m Rutten MMA/Thai Boxing 2m rounds
Nutrition - lg coffee w/equal, cream - 6 eggs w/chs - Starbucks Espresso - 2 diet sodas - 2L water - steak

103
Nutrition - lg coffee w/equal, cream - 2 shakes w/6 eggs, peanut butter, inst coffee, cream, equal - 1.7L water - Subway 12" club
PT - PHA circuit 3x - Set 1 - Squatsx10 Situpsx25 Curlsx10 Side Bendsx25 Neckx25 - Set 2 - Pushupsx10 LegRaisex25 BodyRowx10 Twistx25 Calfrsx25 - Set 3 - SLDLx10 Crunchx25 Pressx10 BntTwistx25 TriExx10

Solid relationship advice.

Overheard Everywhere | It'd Be a Match Made in Heaven If She'd Only Stop Stealing My Watch:

"Girl: Who are you dating now?
Guy: I don't know if you'd call it dating, but I met a stripper that comes over around midnight, gets me high, sucks my dick, we fuck, I fall asleep and when I wake up, she's gone.
Random eavesdropper: Dude, marry that bitch!

Open Bar
San Diego, California"

Nothing and no one is anything.

"Is" is a verbal construct bearing no witness to reality.

[For bonus points you can spot the logical fallacy in that last sentence.]

Rule # 13.

It is what you think it is. It isn't what you think it is.

Both of these are true. Dualisms aren't.

Rule # 12.

The best and most moving thing I've read in some time - "Experiencing Grief" by John Ostrander.

Comic book writer John Ostrander writes about the death of his wife. Extremely touching. Definitely worth reading.

Experiencing Grief, by John Ostrander

...and that's all you need to know about religion.

Overheard in the Office | But I Prefer to Think Of It As "Filled with the Holy Spirit":

"Waiter: Did you get laid on vacation?
Busgirl: It was church camp.
Waiter: So 'yes' then?
Busgirl (quietly): Yes.

Circle Centre Mall
Indianapolis, Indiana

Overheard by: Shatmandu"

The Official Watchmen Movie Trailer.

TOTAL. GEEKGASM.

Warner Bros seems to be pulling these off YouTube as fast as they go up [I don't know why WB... why do you hate impassioned fans and free publicity? Besides, small decentralized groups will defeat your lumbering monoliths. But only always.] so I don't know how long this clip will last... But it is awesome.

Watchmen (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"In an alternate 1985 where superheroes exist, Richard Nixon is still president, and tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union are at an all time high. The vigilante Rorschach is investigating the murder of the Comedian, and uncovers a plot to discredit and murder various heroes. Rorschach discovers a far wider ranging conspiracy involving his colleagues' past which could completely change the course of history."

Watchmen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987... and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of 'the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.'

Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who - with one notable exception - lack anything recognizable as super powers. Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film."

"...with liberty and justice... oh wait... not so much."

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > The Massive Federal Criminal Code:

"...The Constitution lays out just three federal crimes, and for 200 years, criminal justice policy was mostly left to the states. That began to change in the 1970s.

Today's federal criminal code is enormous—and growing. Baker also finds that Congress tends to add more laws during election years (surprise!), that federal judges and prosecutors exacerbate the problem by interpreting federal statutes as broadly as possible (sometimes retroactively), and that new federal laws are increasingly lacking a mens rea requirement.

So we have a bewildering federal criminal code that no one person could possibly completely comprehend, the fact that you can be charged for breaking one of those laws even if you weren't aware that what you were doing was illegal, and increasingly leeway and discretion afforded to prosecutors to interpret all of these laws as broadly as possible. Throw in the problem of selective enforcement (there aren't nearly enough resources to prosecute all the crimes on the books), and you have a system where everyone's a potential criminal, but prosecutors can pick and choose whom to target..."

Ha-Ha, I say - Catholic Elementary School Principal in Homosexual Group Romp.

Of course. You wacky, repressed Catholics.

[With a name like De Jesus, it has to be good.]

wcbstv.com - Catholic School Principal Caught In Gay Tryst:

"A Westchester County Catholic school principal is in serious trouble after he was arrested for allegedly going on a naked sexual romp with two other men in the backyard of a vacant home in the Orchard Hill section of town on Sunday.

Gabriel De Jesus, 41, of Ossining told police he was the principal of Sacred Heart School for the Arts, a Catholic elementary school at 71 Sharpe Blvd. in Mount Vernon.

DeJesus was still running the elementary school Monday when he was reached for comment. He would only said he made a mistake..."

He finally wins one.

Overheard in New York | Hey, Wednesday One-Liners Can Dream, Can't They?:

"Old man: Hah! I fell asleep at her funeral!

--3rd Ave, b/w 10th & 11th

Overheard by: j"

Training 101.

Nutrition - lg coffee w/equal, cream - 3 shakes/10 eggs, cream, peanut butter, equal, inst coffee - 2L water - 1 diet soda

PT - DB bear complex [clean/press/squat/press/squat] 60x10 70x5/4/4 - One arm DB snatch 52.5x8x3 - One arm full range swing 2x25x10 - 2 arm DB 1/2 swing 2x35x20 - Calf raise x50

Indeed.

Sinfest: The Webcomic To End all Webcomics