Today's lucky number is "beaver"

In Japanese there are 3 basic types of verbs. The first type are verbs that end with an "u" sound like iku hanasu and shinu (to go, to speak, to die). The second type are verbs that end with a "ru" as in taberu and ageru (to eat, to give). The last verb type is for irregulars which consists of suru and kuru (to do and to come).

The above are all examples of what is called the dictionary form of a verb. This is also a more colloquial way of speaking. When conjugating these verbs its just a matter of changing the end of it. For type 1 the "u" is changed, for type 2 the "ru" is changed and irregulars have their own rules.
-私はバーに行く。
watashi ha baa ni iku
I am going to the bar

One way to conjugate the verbs is to put them into their long forms. The long form is more polite then regular dictionary form. For type 1, replace the "u" with an "imasu". Iku becomes ikimasu, hanasu becomes hanashimasu, and shinu becomes shinimasu. Type 2, just drop the "ru" all together and put masu at the end. Taberu becomes tabemasu and ageru becomes agemasu. As for the irregulars, just remember that suru becomes shimasu and kuru becomes kimasu.
-私はバーに行きます。
watashi ha baa ni ikimasu
I am going to the bar

When combining two verbs (to say you did "X verb" and "Y verb") the "te" form is used. Type 1 verbs can be a little difficult at first because depending on what's before the "u" determines how it is conjugated. Please consult the chart at the bottom for specific conjugations. Type 2 is easier, replace the "ru" with "te". With irregulars suru becomes shite and kuru becomes kite.
-私はバーに行ってビールを飲みます。
watashi ha baa ni itte biiru o nomimasu
I am going to the bar and drinking a beer

The short past tense form is very similar to the "te" form. The only difference is "te" is now "ta". Pretty simple and doesn't really need anymore explaining.
-私はバーに行った。
watashi ha baa ni itta
I went to the bar

If you want to say you do not do something, the present negative form is used. For type 1 the "u" is changed to "anai". Iku becomes ikanai, hanasu becomes hanasanai, and shinu becomes shinanai. In type 2 the "ru" is replaced with "nai". Taberu becomes tabenai and ageru becomes agenai. For the irregulars, suru becomes shinai and kuru becomes konai.
-私はバーに行かない。
watashi ha baa ni ikanai
I am not going to the bar

The past negative form is used for when you want to say you did not do something. Type 1, "u" becomes "anakatta". Iku: ikanakatta, hanasu: hanasanakatta, and shinu: shinanakatta. Type 2, "ru" is replaced with nakatta. Taberu: tabenakatta, ageru: agenakatta. Irregulars; suru: shinakatta, kuru: konakatta
-（昨日）私はバーに行かなかった。
(kinou) watashi ha baa ni ikanakatta
I did not go to the bar (yesterday)

Graffiti

I had a busy day today. These images don't do any justice to the little details. Better come see me if you want to see the real thing.

Handle-oke

Welcome friends.

Let us review the handles and screen names we have used over the years of our lives. History is something we shouldn't forget, and even Jay can agree to that.

I'll start (in no particular order):

-Kaicho (who the secondary name is "Koganei", but I never use it... brandon might remember)
-Terminal (thanks kurchael!)
-Evrei Daei
-Shiroi Kitsune
-zPinoy (zP for short)
-Father Astaroth
-Fikwakotasta (HAHAHAHAHAH hangley)
-Zoomfire
-Arden
-Jun

That's all I can remember. Now GO FORTH, and recall those names that you might have forgotten!

Just because I'm bored

Since I’m learning this crap I figured someone else might want to know it as well. This first one will just be over the very basic sentence structure. In English we structure our sentences by having the subject first then the verb then finally the object.

e.g. John likes Mary. The subject is John, the verb is to like, and the object of John’s affection is Mary.

In Japanese the sentence structure is simply: subjectは objectを verb. The は and を are particles. The は (pronounced wa) is a subject marker and を (pronounced O) is the object marker. So the above example would look like this:

ジョンさんはメリーさんを好きです。

Jon-san ha Merii-san o sukidesu.

John likes Mary.

If you can remember this simple structure and be able to manipulate it you will be well on your way to speaking Japanese. Next lesson, verb types and conjugations

A kind of religious experience

Yesterday I had a song stuck in my head. The usual remedy for this is to listen to the song enough, and it will disappear. The problem is, I couldn't. The song was a hymn from my early days at Catholic School. Where would I find such a song. I tried to overwrite it by listening to black metal, but I failed. It's still kind of there, even now, as I write this. I need to find out how I can listen to it again. It's a very nice song. All I can really remember of it though is the refrain and one verse:

"The heavens are telling the glory of God
And all creation is shouting for joy
Come dance in the forest, come play in the field
And sing, sing to the glory of the Lord"

"Praise to the wind, that blows through the trees
The sea's mighty storms, the gentlest breeze
They blow where they will, they blow where they please
To please the Lord"

I wish I could include the melody so it could get stuck in your heads too.

The many terrors of mortal life(part 2 of a series)

Today's vocabulary word: necrotic arachnidism. For those of you too lazy to click the link, it means tissue death due to a spider bite. Yes, the bites of some spiders can cause your skin to erupt in lesions, become gangrenous, and simply fall off. The spiders known to due this are the brown recluse, the yellow sac spider, and my personal favorite the hobo spider.
I am in no means justifying arachnophobia or the killing of spiders. Oh wait, yes I am. Just like the box jellyfish, it's us or them. Unless you like having your skin fall off like a leper.








This cute little fellow wants to turn your flesh into a rotting heap of septic mayhem.

Bored at GTC

Here's an article that helped me keep myself entertained.

For Sale

One Opteron 165 CCBWE0551UPMW Dual core processor. - $225
One DFI Lanparty Ultra-D Socket 939 motherboard. - $ 80
One Dual Channel OCZ Platinum memory kit. 2x1gb - $250

$525 takes the bundle.

I recently purchased a shiny new processor and am parting out my six month old system. I doubt anyone will want any of it, but it's worth a try and I don't have anything else to blog about.
Love, CP.

One of many terrors that keep me awake all night(part 1 of a series)

The box jellyfish. From a giant species with 3 meter tentacles to a tiny one the size of a thumbnail, they all have some things in common. They kill. Without mercy. They are nearly invisible. They have sophisticated eyes and brains, and actively hunt food. They have a complex society that seeks to dominate all aquatic life. They are sadists who enjoy poisoning humans(no antidote exists for the tiny irukandji's venom). They are currently working on inventing tools to destroy the nets that we have created to protect our beaches. If you ever want to swim in the ocean, ever, I urge you to reconsider. We are outgunned by these devils of the sea.

Weigh, hey, yo, ho.....

Buy this cd. Seriously. Support pirates. Don't pirate it. But buy it. It is awesome. If you like Nick Cave and/or Bryan Ferry, they have tracks on it. But seriously, fucking buy it.
The only disappointment was the lack of the lyric fold. Guess I have to learn to sing them the old-fashioned way.

Can we keep him?

we call him walter

I have a feeling that he's gonna metamorphasize into a dragon....yeah that'd be awesome.

Functionless art is simply tolerated vandalism

And I am the vandal


Intelligent Designs is beginning to release its fall catalogue of shirts. Pre-order now!

Lots of blog worthy shit going on at my desk.

Sometimes you have to freeze bugs with canned air. I don't make the rules, I just follow them.

It was meant to be.

I purchased a book based on a passage read by the gentleman while reading at the keno apt. This series of photos is proof that I have in fact made the correct choice by purchasing it.

Today is your lucky day Ryan!

go get you some!

two things about yesterday...

you should all see the documentary Dam/age, (or just plain Damage, i dunno). i saw it in class last night, and it was fucking amazing. seriously, it would not be a waste of time. also i would just like to reiterate that i am constantly amazed at the depth, complexity and perspicacity of both M. I. A. and Saul Williams. i really feel grateful that both of them have been so generous as to allow me/us into their creative/informative spaces. lyric by lyric it is so far reaching. but i would say that the voice, perspective and messages from M.I.A. are the same if not even more illuminating on certain topics. (the hidden track that follows the final track is fucking awesome) so if anyone out there who knows what i am getting at with these artists have any others to suggest please do.

and remember see the documentary if you are: interested in post-colonial/neo-colonial studies, interested in India, if you are a writer/artist/journalist/musician/etc., if you are a woman, if you want a preview to what it will be like when the world is no longer fighting over fuel but instead over water, and finally if you are a human being. find it, watch it, DO IT.


IN OTHER NEWS!!!

yesterday, i had a meeting with an english professor. he met me in the hallway and told me to wait in his office. it was small and cluttered beyond cluttered. amongst the many dusty anthologies of browning, darwin, the brontes, swinburne, etc. i was surprised to see such a presence of stephen king books. anyhow, he squeezed passed me and into his desk area, then he mentioned he had forgotten something in the main office. as he squeezed passed me again i turned to make more room and pulled my legs in. right as he was closest to my face i heard a noise. a shoe squeak? a floor squeak? no, it was a series of small fugitive farts. right in my face. nothing was said. by the time i realized what had happened, it actually began to smell. i panicked at the thought of him returning to the smell of his own undignified release so i hurriedly tried to flail my arms around and open and close books to dissipate the smell. it worked he returned and we took up with our meeting right where we left off.
once again, neiu never ceases to amuse me.

More Bangzilla for your Buck

Today there was a coup in Bangkok; does anyone out there coo Bangzilla?
(alternate title)

I started saving quarters shortly after Grampa Napolean made this gallon of Bangzilla. If it wasn't for a failed attempt to make hard apple cider, I wouldn't have this juxtaposition. I don't know what really is in either container. I'm guessing the quarters come close $900. And I'm guessing the wine is closer to arsenic.



I have 2 jugs of Bangzilla. I don't know what we should do with them, but I think we should make a night of it.

What it is to be hangley

Every tuesday and thursday I have a class at 8AM, Network Administration-MS. Since that is an early time for me to be doing anything but work, I usually just go to sleep right after class. Which means that I don't perform any of the usual daily routine things I might do before I start my morning at work. I arrive at the class with uncombed hair made freakish by my tossing and turning in bed. My teeth are unbrushed: my breath, fetid. The odor of my sweat is beginning to make its way past the waning power of last night's deodorant. My eyes are bloodshot, my voice gravelly like a 60 year-old smoker. I am the epitome of hangley
I was fine with this arrangement for a few reasons

1. I didn't care who saw me there
2. I was just going home to bed afterwards
3. I figured a few of the students were doing the exact same thing

I was fine with this, until last saturday. After getting home from work I crashed hard, taking a good long nap. I awoke and decided to go to Woodman's with Andy. And who should I meet at the store? My instructor for Network Administration. And in what condition did I meet her? After the nap my hair was messed up. After a day's work both my teeth and armpits were beginning to ripen. In short, I was just as hangley then, at Woodman's, as I am every morning in her class. But to add even further embarassment, she reminded me that I forgot to turn in my homework online the previous night! So now she must think that:

1. I am a hangley bastard all the time, not just mornings at class
2. I am a fuck-up who forgets classwork

But it gets even better. After meeting her there, Andy said she had a very strong midwestern accent. He said he liked the way she talked and would sign up for a class with her just to hear her talk*. Suddenly my pity shifted from myself to her. Haunted by hangley students was bad enough. Now she was going to spend the rest of her days chained to a pipe in the basement reading to Andy.




*He did not say these things to her face, thankfully. Although a few more drinks and who knows?

What I am now working for

I feel as though I have a new purpose.
Or, if anyone is wondering what Christmas gift would earn my eternal love and respect......

Trailer Park Lovin

As a connoisseur of fine trailer park living, I find it to be my duty to explain the certain etiquette that surrounds being a card carrying member of this subculture of civilization. One can not just drive their fancy vehicle (anything made after 1995 counts as fancy) into the “Park” and hope to fit in. There is an unwritten constitution that must be obeyed at all times-rather you prefer to be ousted from this society and be laughed at by every toothless, fat moo-moo wearing grandma in the tri-state area.

1. Be racist. Regardless of race, hate someone, everyone, or even yourself. The Asians that live next to me look at me with a surly demeanor because I‘m white, or because my confederate flag faces their trailer and their mom was a big black fat slave woman.

2. Never put anything where it was meant to go. Garbage does not go in a receptacle, rather it belongs on the lawn-hell, maybe it will decompose into some fertilizer 10 years down the road. And speaking of fertilizer, apparently toilets aren’t for pissing or shiting. The guy across the way will walk out of his trailer at night just to pee on the sweet gum tree and then go back inside.

3. At all times, when listening to music, play it as loudly as possible. Its always lovely to hear Puff Daddy come cruising on by at midnight on a weekday as well as hearing the not so soothing sounds of Prince bleeding through the walls of my neighbors trailer. Don’t get me wrong, When Doves Cry is a good song, but not when all I can think about is Prince in his assless pants.

4. Cleanliness is not godliness. Skuzzy hair, shirts with holes in them, and being covered in grease are staples of living in a trailer. I also believe there is an inverse relationship between the number of teeth one has to the amount of clout one has established.

That is all for now. I have to step outside to take a dump.

Bawls to the walls

A wise man warned us not to toy with the nectar of gods. Our hubris, he said, would be paid for with eternal wakefulness. We chose not to heed this warning. Surely we, who had drunk heroic beverages before, were near enough to the gods, if not their equals. Alas, this was not the case. Now the curse is upon us. No amount of projects is enough to keep us satisfied. No amount of time is considered an acceptable delay. Our eyes have been opened wide. When, if ever, they can be shut and we can give way to the peace of slumber or a merciful death, I cannot say.

I'm Decomposing, yo

It got cold 1 day last week just to show it could and then it warmed up again. I always take this change in the weather to signal the start for when I clean up my yard. I tend to keep it better combed than my hair. Instead of letting my pears and apples lay on the ground, I've been insisting that the fruit fall far from the tree. I started an Autumn compost heap last week. But rather than wait to gather all the ingredients--fruit, sticks, worms, water, bouquet garni--and cook the dish, I've just been pitching everything on my raspberries and under my mulberry trees and in my current bush and over my rubbarb as I collect them.

To attract more insects to my many heaps, I'm thinking about putting some meat products in the heaps. Also, to help the compost, I've been playing Mozart backwards. Anyone got good ideas.

Starbucks Store in Chicago

Here's a link to watch, yes, watch, about union organizing at a Satrbucks store in Chicago by none other than the IWW.

The Fellow Worker who started the campaign is Joe Tessone and he can be seen in the video.

The video is short and sweet, like my favorite drink from Caribou, the Type 2 Latte.

http://www.firstbusinessx.com/features/0609/0912feature.html

Tragic Transmission Tales

All of my life I have vehemently avoided manual transmission vehicles,
be it in real life or even within video games. Something about it drove
(HAH!) me away. I had always felt an aura surrounding the shift knob
that very clearly exclaimed "Verboden."

Seemingly out of nowhere I started to desire an unexplainable feeling of
control when it came to cars. I had originally planned to run my poor
Pontiac into the ground, and viewed it merely as a method of
transportation. I am no way, shape, or form a car enthusiast... but
epiphanies tend to be enigmatic when it comes to trivial matters such as
the transmission of your vehicle.

This is what led me to the sporatic purchase of my new car. Even while
test driving some of the cars I could feel the evil pull of automatic
attempting to lure me back into its relaxing and familiar grasp. I
remained adamant, however, and went for MT.

One can not truly feel the personality of a car (if you even care about
that sort of thing) by allowing it to drive itself. Now I understand how
motors and drivetains can differ so wildly. To be honest, its a fucking
blast to drive manually~ I implore you to not listen to those who say
"driving in traffic is a nightmare," and "you'll get tired of it after
awhile." I don't think any of that holds any merit.

The point of this overly dramatized blog is simply to say that one
should not be afraid of manual, or its implications. Give it a try
before you purchase your next car, it won't hurt. Sure, you'll probably
fail to shift correctly or kill the engine uncountable times, but there
in lies the charm! Happy rowing~

The mask of death

If you ever wanted to know what Beethoven, Oliver Cromwell, Dante Alighieri, and other famous long dead people really looked like, go here.

For more info on the process go here

That is all.

One More...

Timmy finally got the internet up and running in his trailer and he found a favorites link to the Blog that he put there about a year ago. He enjoyed the seals and made one just for you guys. Enjoy.

I may be a lousy employee, but urethankless boss

Word from the molehill (Mole = person in management who keeps workers informed about all the fixins) is that I pretty much have a week to turn around my production levels before I'm fired. How the heck can I do that? I don't own the means of production! Even though the boss man doesn't need to give a reason to fire me (re: employee at will), I know it's because I stick up for my coworkers.

Anyhow, sometimes I wish I had more than a locker to clean out on my last day. I wonder what I would have to pack into a box before given the bum's rush by hired goons had a desk.

To celebrate my almost certain termination, I took the advice Diane gave me (Diane = a former music recyclery gal). She told me that the next time I bring a beer into the shower with me, that I should pour some on myself. My god man, it feels like an angel spitting up on your chest. If I had a water-proofed camera, I would start this new photoke: Watersports.

** Edit

What I think sealed my fate (and I won't make this into a seal) is when I told the production supervisor, who's maybe 25, to "Take it easy, Japanezy."

We made pizza dough today.

The dough is currently chilling in the ol' icebox and will probably be made into pizza tomorrow.

I'm so, so sorry...

Pizza Power

I just saw the best local commercial ever. It's for a pizza place and in it a chubby boy does a really bad Indiana Jones parady. God I'm such a sucker for bad commercials. Between this and all the old ninja turtle episodes I've been watching its nothing but a strict pizza diet for me. Not to mention in my economics class all the examples have to do with pizza and beer. I'm eating pizza and drinking beer right now. Is there an AA for people who are easily influenced?

Love, Kurt

how I feel about posting

I dug up your great-grandmother....

I know I posted one already, but I just thought of that Mc Chris skit and I had to make this.

The popularity has led to this spin-off

Pretending to work at work...

By your powers combined

I'm just the founder, I'm also a member!

but whose tastes best is a secret...

If I had to support something it'd be this

Not those joke videos you sometimes see on the internet. I'm talking about tasteful, artistic skeleton erotica.

Anything more than a minute is too long.

Quick and dirty, emphasis on dirty.

Seal Your Doom

Site is stolen from SE but incase you don't go there: seal generator

Now go and make your own lame seal.....losers

Victim Iced

Today's funny conversation snippet from work. Dave was cleaning and he found some old parts to a shelf this morning. Let's listen in:

Dave: Look Ryan, I found your loose screw.
Ryan: That's a bolt Dave.
Dave: Well I found your bolt.
Ryan: Good, now if we can just find your nuts we'll be in business.

It was unanimously voted that I had the best burn of the day.

Some people are just fucked in the head

Now I'm not someone that will make fun of people for their religious views but this guy I met has a really retarded outlook on life. I was at the bar and I was meeting a friend of my roommates for the first time. We got into the discussion about tattoo's because his girlfriend was going to get a new one. So I told them my idea of a zombie bird.

"You should put a red ribbon in the mouth, I've been really into religion lately and that ribbon could mean something"

"Well the dead bird itself represents unattainable dreams"

"Thats not true, I believe that every dream or goal can be obtained in some shape or form"

"Not when you have medical reasons for not being able to do what you want to do"

"There's always another way, like achieving your dreams through your kids"

"Are you fucking serious, you would force your kid into doing something just to make yourself feel better?"

I can't remember the rest of the conversation because after that I pretty much ignored the guy. For the rest of the night he wouldn't shut up about how into religion he is. His girlfriend wasn't any better. She talked about how every tattoo on her body represents something and that she had a tattoo around her waiste line to represent her promise to god that she'll save herself for marriage or whatnot but then she would go on about how glad she is that she's having sex with her boyfriend. She told me that her boyfriend believes that there is only one person that which you were meant to fall inlove with and that she was that person for him. But he would openly talk about having sex with other girlfriends from his past. So who were those people to him at that time? I guess they just weren't "the one". These two are a perfect match for eachother, lets just pray that when she gets pregnant and he skips out that the kid will get adopted into a halfway decent family, or even better a miscarriage.

Carpet Diem

I can't even explain what drove us to start and/or complete any of this project, but I know that it's done now and it's majorly half-assed... the only ass I like. So I present to you a belated photographic chronicle of past events:

This is what happens when you don't have a girlfriend:

SWM looking for a replacement hand for various "activities"

So I was grilling brats and corn the other day and I noticed that I didn't put enough charcoal down and only the center brats were getting cooked. So I picked up the screen and laid out more briquets and lit them on fire. I waited for the flames to go down then I put the screen back on the grill. Soon after the flames got bigger and some of the brats started bursting open. So I regrabbed the screen because I didn't want to loose all of the brats to this fire. Unfortunately the screen got hot as well and I got a little burnt. The brats turned out good and now I got a huge blister ^__^b.

I really like this shirt. I bought it because it is the closest thing that I've seen to the tattoo that I want to get.

Rumors

I've been hearing a lot of rumors recently about a particular person and its been getting to me. So this started to make me question the nature of rumors itself. The fact of the matter is it is all hearsay and should be treated lightly. But what does the person telling the rumor gain from doing so, especially if he tells one of the people involved in the rumor. If there are no facts then why do I, even if just for a little bit, believe them. Also what really bothers me is why does the pursuit of the truth tend to be seen as the greater evil. Am I supposed to just try to forget about these things and just trust that everything's ok.

Because I saw validity behind the rumors, because I could see a situation in which it was possible I had to know the truth. Because of this I destroyed a relationship. For better or for worse, I really don't care anymore, I'm just tired.

It's an invitation ya'll

This is an open invite to whoever wants to come visit. You guys are all more then welcome to come down to Carbondale whenever you want. You might want to bring a blanket and a pillow because I have none to spare. Just let me know ahead of time if you're coming, or not...it doesn't really matter. Turtle Power.