♥ CLUB JOE ♥

My Renaissance

2009-08-12T19:06:40Z

(It just struck me how the first five letters equate to [恋愛] - れんあい - romantic. That elicited a smile.)

I'm still running off the high that was Japanese class. People always seem impressed when I tell them that I work full-time and then took class and was out of the house from 8:30AM - 9:30PM. It was no big deal. In fact it wasn't a big deal to have a 3 and a half hour class, and I thought it felt kinda short.

After it concluded, I realized that there was an enormous amount of time after work that was just empty and that I could use this time constructively to keep learning, and that I still wanted to learn Japanese.

The fruits of my labor found the website AJATT - All Japanese All the Time which advocated a "revolutionary" way of learning a language. I suddenly found myself enamored with the teaching techniques he described, notably SRS using Anki, using subconscious learning, and doing a little at a time over a long period of time. SRS actually really helped hammer home the Woody Allen quote: "80% of success is just showing up." It practically shows up for you!

I study about 2 hours of Japanese a day, actively, spread throughout the day with a morning RTK session and Anki on for most of the day. There's some passive learning in there like when I attempt to read Azumanga or some of the J+E magazines I picked up, listening to Japanese music, and occasionally downloading a podcast. Only 2 hours a day spread throughout, and yet I still have tons of time to do lots of other things.

So what's next?

1: Photography
I think I've read all that I need to read. There are only two things I need to do: Take pictures (preferably using a theme for each session) and look at good pictures. A photo shoot every now and then will brush up the technique.

2: Fitness
I've definitely read all that I need to read. Rule #1 of fitness is consistency, get my ass in the gym 3 times a week. Even if I use lighter weight or don't do all the reps, as long as I'm there I'll get there.
Additionally, I forgot about my goal to become CSCS-certified. I want to do it just to say I did it and tell everyone I'm a certified PT. That'd also be hilarious if I got a few clients. Just gotta order the book and read it.

3: Education
I'm getting more and more interested in the science of learning. People have often accused me of picking up a hobby, getting just average at it, and then quitting. You know why? I love learning. I love learning about new learning methods. I love learning about how people become great. I'm tempted to apply for an MS in Cognitive Psychology or Cognitive Science, but I'll look into it some more.

4: Gaming
Tetris 30 minutes a day at least. I also want to take a shot at making a game for once instead of programming an RPG for 3 hours which was just Arn Anderson and the 4 Horseman killing you. I'm thinking about picking up Neverwinter Nights and scripting in that, or finding some game where I can build maps.

5: Blogging
During my time of trying a bunch of random stuff and attempting to achieve a level of expertise, I want to chronicle it properly and create blog entries that actually mean something. No more of this "LOL I WENT TO THE BANK TODAY ROFL, I HATE SO-AND-SO BECAUSE THEY R DUMB AND THEY LIKE THE TACOS BUT I DUN LIKE THE TACOS" but to actually write something that people want to read, that people can take something out of. It probably means I have to move off LJ, and I'm thinking about buying a host again.

So that means this is my last post here. Time to stop writing a journal that makes no sense, never did, and probably not too entertaining to read.

-Joe

Monday Morning Quarterbacking

2009-08-10T17:27:18Z

On Japanese:
I started Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. Basically you attach a meaning (in English) to a Kanji, and you learn that as well as how to write it. So far I have 172 in my Anki deck and I try to do a lesson or two every day.

"WAIT! That's not helpful at all! You don't know the readings anyway!"
I know, I know. But here's the thing: I only use kanji to help me remember vocabulary. Take for instance, the prefix "pre-". It usually designates something as "before" so you can use it to help define words. "Preconceive", "predetermine", "premature." Just by knowing what pre means, as well as conceive/determine/mature, you can take a stab at what it means in context. On that same note, "premium" does not mean "before -mium" and "preamble" does not mean "before the amble" so it doesn't solve everything.

I think of Kanji as an expanded version of that system in which almost everything is like a prefix. It's how I remember "airplane" ［飛行機］ is "flight-go-machine." Now if I see [飛] followed by a verb conjugation I can futz around for the meaning. Heck, even using the dictionary you find some fun stuff: [犠飛] is a sacrifice fly in baseball.

薬物 - "Drugs+things"
So if I learn the meaning of all the kanji, it makes it that much easier to remember vocabulary.

I've been slacking on the sentence mining though. I should be using Tae Kim but I've been working at a snails pace of 3 sentences a day. Also I need to learn how to use a J-J dictionary.

---

I *think* I'm starting to get back into weight training. Who knows, I always say that I'm going before slacking. Either way I'm starting Waterbury's TBT again. I got all my protein again. I also started taking ZMA (Zinc and Magnesium) again, which so far has just given me trippy dreams like this morning, when I dreamt I became a high school student again just to try it out but I wanted to drop out because it was really boring learning Algebra when I knew Calculus.

The problem so far is that when I workout I get freakin' hungry for the next few days. All day. And I don't like buying fast food/eating in restaurants (when I don't explicitly want to) and I don't want to eat what I have at home so I just stay hungry like an idiot.

---

I'm sad to say that the CoH win streak of me and Wizzy's ended at 17. I still call BS because we played Annihilate / no ToV units but whatever, I should've back-teched to WSC and counter-sniped or mortared instead of going with tanks.

S3 in Tetris at AI:

Got my tripod and flash. Don't have batteries for the flash so I bought Eneloops, but the tripod is pretty sexy. Finally I can take ridiculously long exposures at night!

I think I'll head to PV after work on Thursday and snap some pictures.

---

I'm hungry now. I want sushi.

Another Monday Morning post...

2009-08-03T19:29:07Z

I spent Friday night at AI. I was there from 7 until 12, playing TGM only. They changed it to a quarter and no one was playing, so I just sat there constantly playing. I only managed to get one S1 though. The next day I got an S2 on Texmaster, although I think Texmaster is more strict on the grading. I've been playing quite slow and since speed matters more than survival I need to focus on that.

I want to play BlazBlue, but I hate waiting in line. That, and, everyone who plays BB is so gangly looking at AI. They all have scummy hair and greasy faces and hand-me-down oversized clothes... is this something I really want to get good at? Hmm...

---

I began using SRS with Anki to study Japanese. I'm learning all the vocabulary from the textbook we used, except in kanji, as well as learning what the individual kanji means. I ordered Dr. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji so I can begin that system as well. I started watching J-Dramas without subtitles, specifically MR. BRAIN featuring superstar KimuTaku, and I'm gonna pick up the GTO DVDs at Bookoff for $40. I ordered a magazine which writes articles in both English and Japanese, and I'm gonna sentence-mine that to put into SRS. I also bought more music and Volumes 1 and 3 of Azumanga Daiou. Yep yep, time to kick this into overdrive... no screwing around. I'm also using SRS to study chess puzzles!

Umm, that's a little too puzzling...
SRS is so useful. I remember not having to use flashcards until I had to learn vocabulary in Honors English 2 in high school. And I was impressed with how fast I retained all the information. Then I was not impressed with how quickly I forgot some of it, and only some of it. SRS sets times for your flashcards so even when you know something, it'll still put the old stuff in to refresh your mind. So you might not see a flashcard for 2 weeks, but it'll just be there for you to remember. I noticed that when I do the daily chess puzzles on ChessGamers that I'd forget them the day after or even several hours after. With SRS I feel confident that I won't forget and can actually see them OTB, even though I haven't played chess in forever nor do I really feel like it, but it's a nice exercise.

Seriously, SRS is just... incredible. Like, it's so obvious when you think about it, yet it's a relatively undiscovered teaching system. Heck, if I ever take the GRE, I can SRS all the vocabulary too and have it ready. I do need to do a better job of putting in more stuff in it every day, though.

---

As for other hobbies...
-Wii Sports Resort Bowling makes me wanna go real bowling again. I can't stand Wii Bowling anymore.

-I just bought a tripod/flash, so now I'll have a complete photography system. I think I'm good for everything as of now: the kit EF-S 18-55mm lens, my dad's old EF 28-135mm, and my EF 50mm gives me a good range to shoot with. Tripod + Ballhead to capture landscapes and all that, flash for indoor photography, yup. Now I actually have to go shooting, which means I actually have to have a life and all that. Can't be taking high quality pictures of me playing CoH with Mike online or me playing Tetris all night...

-Bought Dynasty Warriors 5 and 5XL because I was inspired by "Red Cliff." They don't feel as epic as DW4 though. And DW6 sucks anyway so I didn't want to buy that.

The DW Zhao Yun doesn't seem as badass as Red Cliff Zhao Yun....
-I did, in fact, make chicken stock last week. Now to give homemade curry a go without using trans-fat laden bricks. I also want to try making Unagi Kabayaki from scratch, and I might go on that pizza tour of the city on Friday.

-I haven't even started learning swimming. I should get around to that.

Learning Japanese... the right way

2009-07-30T19:57:42Z

Since I have a lot of free time, I really want to attempt to learn Japanese.

My Japanese final is today, which should be ridiculously easy. With my grade in class, I can not show up and still pass. When I do show up it's a guaranteed A. But the class had problems that I think really impeded my learning. But there were also some good points, and the teacher was very good... when I could hear her.

1: 高校生はうるさい!

There were a lot of students in there who would just talk all throughout class. It was annoying and I couldn't hear the teacher. And by the way 90% of the class that was like that.

2: 英語をつかわないで下さい。
Seriously, no one really tried. Everyone reverted to English when talking, before switching back to Japanese. It was kind of jarring.

One thing I noticed while learning is that you can't think in English and then translate it back to Japanese. It's slow and inaccurate and causes you to fumble around trying to make sense in your brain.

For example:
私は魚を食べました。
"I ate fish."

In Japanese, it says (I) (Fish) (ate) with whatever grammar needed to tie it in. You have to train your mind to think in that order, by thinking of the ideas first and then in Japanese.
If you start from English then you think, "Okay. "I", that's watashi. "ate" is tabemashita, and "fish" is sakana. But I gotta flip sakana and tabemashita in the sentence order, then I'll have a working sentence."

I've noticed that bilinguals who aren't trained translators, they struggle to translate on the fly. Why? Because they don't constantly think in both languages, they think in one. And that's what it takes to learn grammar and how to really speak: Separate English as much as possible from Japanese. Define Japanese words with more Japanese words. Allow yourself to make mistakes when talking in Japanese, it's the only way to learn, just make sure you're being corrected by an actual native speaker and not your friend who watches anime all day. I feel like I definitely learned a lot more when I would stay after class for half an hour and just talk to the teacher in Japanese which leads to...

3: Interaction levels were low

During class there wasn't much actual conversation, and the ones with our classmates were often unsupervised. For one exercise we had to ask people if they did things like drink coffee at Starbucks, and apparently I was the only who asked in Japanese while the other slackers did everything in English.

It sucks because... the class is very influential and if not enough people speak Japanese, then no one will, and I took the class because I thought group learning would be beneficial, not detrimental.

---
On the plus side:

1: It was a good refresher. I learned sentence structure again, which is important. Language is just picking away at sentence patterns, so it was nice to learn some again. Learned some vocab and overall just regained my interest and motivation in actually learning the language.

2: Talking with the teacher in Japanese, even at my low level, was both interesting and helpful. Last night I was talking cooking food and unagi, I asked about unagi season, and all that. And then as I learn more words and more about sentences, I can put it in practice.

---
In the meantime, I'm starting to see that the majority of learning needs to come outside of class. I found this site which outlines a good program to learn, as well as using SRS (NOT Super Rotation System, but Spaced Repetition System) to learn Kanji and sentence patterns.

Also, gotta learn all the Joyou Kanji to really start putting vocabulary at the forefront. And I need to start listening to random Japanese things (like the news, music, books-on-tape) and watching Dramas without subtitles. Even if I don't understand it, it's helpful because it breaks the ties from English.

Yep.
Goal: Fluency in 2.5 years!

la la la, weekly update

2009-07-27T17:14:41Z

On Friday, I hit up AI! Yeah! Unfortunately there's one thing I don't like about arcades which is that it takes forever to get a game in for a fighting game. I managed to get in one game of BlazBlue. Shoulda won it but lost in the clutch.

The rest of my time, I spent playing Tetris...

I swear, I kick ass for a while and then I make 2 mis-drops in a row and I either never recover, or I spend the rest of the time clearing singles so I don't get a high score.

After I went home, I saw Ip Man on the recommendation of Airon. It was good.

Easily the best scene in the movie.

On Saturday, I don't remember much other than taking a nap. At night my download of Red Cliff finally finished so I watched part 1 at night and part 2 Sunday morning of the 4-hour film. Holy crap, what a good movie. I loved the whole Three Kingdoms story and this film basically depicts the Battle of Red Cliff. It's just epic in every fashion, and it should be since it was the highest budgeted film in Asia, ever.

I mean, just look at Zhao Yun demolish everybody with a baby on his back.

There are 3 epic battles, all of them great. You get to see Zhuge Liang do his thing, you get to see Guan Yu jump on top of shields and destroy people, you get to see Gan Xing go crazy with firebombs. It's awesome. I know I should be ashamed to not see 300 but who cares now, I have Red Cliff to make me feel manly.

Also, Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi-ling) and Sun Shangxiang (Vicki Zhao) are hotttttttttttttttttttt.

Mmm. They make my cliff red.

Awesome movie, go watch it, the only people who I can't recommend it to are those who hate subtitles. And the names are kinda confusing if you don't know who's who.

---

Yeah, and then I spent 5 hours cooking random crap, including Indirect Grilled Short Ribs, flat iron steaks, an assortment of fish, and homemade chicken stock. I'm feelin good.

Also feelin' good that my weight is at about 168. I was about 180-185 in March / April. I attribute it to the following:

-Since I shop for produce at the farmer's market, that means I actually eat produce. I eat a vegetable with each meal and fruits throughout the day.
-Greater attention to protein. I eat more fish (every other morning for breakfast), and the majority of my red meat is grassfed beef or bison, with chicken occasionally from Mary's chicken.
-School after work means no binge-eating as soon as I get home.

Note the lack of exercise; I've been exhausted from school and it's been pretty much going twice every 2 weeks. But I still made it happen. Good stuff.

Addicted to gaming...

2009-07-20T18:52:10Z

BlazBlue, TGM, and Halo 3 are all going to contribute to my downfall, I swear.

BlazBlue online has done a lot for me to get interested in the game. When I wanted to learn GGAC, I learned the Jam loop and the setups, and then I never played against people because I had to go out and find people to play. And when I did get the chance, I was always terrible because I never had practice against people. With Blazblue online, I get the chance to get on the learning curve and learn the right way, and now I'm ready to go to AI to play a couple games since I feel fairly confident in my Noel... though it still needs to go through hard knocks against good people.

This guy also feels confident in my Noel.
My biggest problem characters are Taokaka and Arakune. Taokaka because I don't know what the hell is going on and Arakune because it's a naturally bad matchup. I noticed that some people try to countercharacter me by choosing Tager. Fine, you get off an Emerald Tager Buster and take out 75% life, but until then you're in for a world of rushdown pain. I'm also trying to learn Rachel as a secondary, it's so difficult switching characters though. But damned if I don't like pumpkins flying all over the place and crazy combos and lockdown.

I also like hearing the complaints of noobs on the internet. Things like how Noel D-spam is too overpowered or that zoning characters like Arakune / Rachel / Nu aren't rushdown oriented so they're not as good (ALL 3 are top tier).

Last Friday I went to AI to play TGM3. Oh man. That game is so fun. It's so pretty, the graphics are right up in your face, joystick control, everything is just great. I unfortunately stalled at Rank 2 and towards the tail end of the night was in Rank 4-5 territory because I kept misdropping. Also, I noticed that the game can tell if you're good and adjusts itself appropriately. Dang. No more breaks at level 200.

(For those don't know what TGM is, it's the most intense/exciting marathon mode of Tetris out there. Playing at 20G is completely different, but unlike the DS version, there's no infinity, so you actually gotta think before you drop a piece. I literally played TDS level 20 in my sleep. I can't even take a breather in TGM. There's a MAME-able version of TGM1 and TGM2 and clones of TGM3 like Heboris and Texmaster for the PC.)

Both Blazblue and TGM are giving me very good reasons to start frequenting AI again.

On the other hand, Halo 3 fever is coming back; at least, when the crew comes together to play...

Still busy...

2009-07-13T21:02:36Z

This lack of time is really getting to me, but I kind of enjoy it. Being busy makes me feel like I'm actually doing something, and I have to dig deep to really do something I want, like say, going to the gym at 5AM.

Unfortunately I have fallen behind in a lot of things because I haven't diminished in my unwind time. I'm still playing TGM (and doing horrendous, might I add), and running console room inspired me back into fighters so I'm into BlazBlue at the moment.

Mmm, my new main...
So far, BlazBlue feels really solid to me. It feels like a much simpler game than Guilty Gear but with the crazy features of it. Plus with only 10 characters there's a lot less matchups to learn than GG. It's a bit frustrating learning though, since everyone has such eccentric moves compared to SF. In SF, you can recognize punches and kicks, but in BlazBlue you have people jumping awkwardly and airdashing every which way and random objects come out of the ground and hit you, it's quite confusing.

I'm still at low-tier though since I lose to Noel D-mashers and Jin scrubs. *sigh* Losing to Jin online is like losing to Ken online.

Familiar much?
Online play is pretty good though, I have to admit. It's a bit frustrating when I can't block overheads or miss combos, but still it's nice to come home and relax and play a game competitively instead of driving 40 minutes - 1 hour to AI / FFA for competition that destroys me and has wait time in between each match.

Learning photography has been more stressful than it needs to be. I devoured two books on Friday (400 pages in 3 hours! zomg!) and it's given me a lot of insight on perfecting technique but now I can just readily pick apart flaws. It's like, I'm always needing new gear or my lighting is wrong, and then there's the woeful composition problems. This isn't a cheap hobby. =(

The blank space on the left of the picture irritates me."
Food blog progress has stalled. I find it a bit irritating to bring a camera with me to every decent meal and to take time out to photograph everything. Plus I find that photographing meals is both difficult and boring, and that I'd rather capture the expressions of the people at the table while eating than just a picture of food.

And that's it so far. I need some more saucy things in my life.

Weekly update

2009-06-23T20:57:07Z

-Oh man, Bigmista's BBQ is the truth. Just good old fashioned BBQ, with the right amount of smoky flavor and great sauce (served on the side so you can douse it like a typical American). I thought Jaybee's had better baked beans and the sausage was just okay, but everything else like the brisket, pulled pork, ribs were superb.

-It was so good, it inspired me to try making my own BBQ Brisket. I bought the Bicentennial Rub from Penzey's Spices and some hickory wood chips and got some Bison brisket from Lindner Bison. It turned out okay, but I think I smoked it for too long. The crust tastes like beef jerky.

Lovingly hand-carved... not really.
(Speaking of which, I thought it'd be funny if I had an "M" Bison party and served Turnaround Punch and Buffalo headbutt wings and other foods. On the other hand, maybe I should keep my jokes to myself.)

-As you can see by my photo, all I can say about getting the new camera is that it just horribly exposes my lack of technique and composition. Guess it's a long way up, but as long as I get on the learning curve it'll be fine. The other thing is that things get sooo expensive. I have to buy a bag and another lens and a new SDHC card. I can only shoot 16 RAWs with the 1GB card I have, that's LOLtastic. And there goes another $250.

-Gearing up for AX continues. I feel baller after buying a bunch of 360s and monitors. On the other hand, I'm already getting swamped with work there. Ohhh well.

-I started Japanese class yesterday. Feels good to be back in school. The downside is that it's pretty much the same class I took at UCSD, even though that was 7 years ago. But the good thing is that I'll at least get practice again and continue learning. And I'll be a curve breaker, hahah. But there's a weeaboo in the class -_-;

-I didn't go bowling last weekend. I feel pretty mad about that. But I did waste the entirety of Sunday playing Tales of Vesperia.

I consider this a good reason to play Vesperia.
-We'll see how fitness holds up after this week. Cooking everything yesterday was already a pain, I didn't even get to make my fig bars or cherimoya sorbet, hopefully staying on top of nutrition won't be too hard with the busy schedule.

Quick life update

2009-06-16T22:24:04Z

-I begin Japanese class at El Camino next week. M-Th, 6:30p-9:30p. Looking forward to it. Might mean I have to start working out in the morning... could be fun, busy times. Or I could follow status quo and NOT work out.

-When I get paid at the end of this month, time to buy a ticket to Japan. Timeline is around October 13 so I can catch Rei's birthday. Tickets right now are $580 round-trip on Singapore Air, that sounds like a good deal. Then I'll hostel it around in Tokyo / Osaka / Kyoto with a Rail Pass. $2500 should be good enough for this trip. Stashing $500/mo. for 4 months is easy, especially since I'm due backpay for the raise I should've received in December.

I can't wait to visit Japan!
-Bowling practice on Sunday. Just playing around for now. I got a referral to a coach who I'll call next week.

-Currently in the market for a camera and read up a lot today. The Canon T1i impresses me because it can record HD Video as well, 30fps @ 720p instead of the 23fps @ 720p that the D90 offers. Also might be looking into a film camera just to learn. Or I can go D40 and upgrade later when I need to. Who knows.

-I still need to hijack Daisuke's pool to learn how to swim properly.

-AX in only 2 weeks. I'm not even up to speed with most of my stuff, I still need to acquire 360s and configure them.

-I think I found the answer to my cardio woes. I should just play basketball to lose weight. Yes, I'm a fatass.

Hmm. This could be me soon.
-Food blog to come up soon. I still love eating at "nice" places. I was thrilled to eat at Animal (review pending) for only $25. $25 for a Foie Gras + sausage biscuit, pork belly sandwiches, meltingly tender ribs, and veal shortbread. I don't know where else you can get that kind of deal. I plan on tackling Chez Melange next... after checking out Ramen California and Big Mista's BBQ, that is.

-Gaming still remains my Achilles heel and the quick way to not get things done. Vesperia, Company of Heroes, Sims 3 have also sucked my life away in the last few weeks. And I'm playing Halo 3 with the guys again. After the first 4 frustrating games getting my aim back, the games mostly evolved into "Can Marc and Joe's ridiculous +7-12 K/D spread make up for everyone else's negative K/D spread?"

A typical game.

See you all in a month! If all of you haven't moved to Twitter by now...

My thoughts on visiting Dallas

2009-06-01T21:37:09Z

-Texas is the land of short shorts. Great if you have a shorts fetish, but bad if you have a skirts fetish.

-Rei would always tell me how he liked to visit LA from Japan because of how he could look out and see the landscape and the skies. Dallas was way more scenic in that regard.

-People are a lot friendlier. Even the fobs were and it was easy to start up random conversations.

-...except when they're in their cars. Everyone I drove with had immense road rage.

-I hate it when I meet people who do more with their lives when they have less time and talent than me. Then the competitive fire kicks in and I feel like crap for not taking advantage of being me. Well, at least I'm inspired now.

-Food was decent. My favorite restaurant had to be Potager in Arlington, a locovore and organic restaurant. I actually finished a salad. However, eating out all the time made my stomach unhappy. I can't believe my diet at home is actually that healthy. I guess all that steel-cut oatmeal and brown rice regulated my digestive system too well.

-I'm not so sure I like meeting people online. Especially when I travel. If they're cool, I get sad that the friendship lasts only as long as the vacation. If they're not cool, then plans kinda get lost and uninteresting.

-I got tired real fast. 5-6 days was enough. The 8 days I spent, kinda overstayed my visit.

-At least I had time to watch basketball. The immense hate for the Lakers is starting to make me like them again.

Hmmm...

2009-05-15T08:15:34Z

Urasawa: The best Kaiseki in the US

2009-05-01T22:44:36Z

As an avid Chowhound reader, I noticed that whenever sushi came up, the restaurant "Urasawa" would always pop up, with the caveat "if you can afford it." With at least $300 for the prix fixe (depending on the seasonal ingredients), it didn't come cheap. But I live my life as a value-oriented person, not as a bottom-line person, and with the general opinion that it is definitely worth it, I stashed a small amount of savings each month just so I could go.
On April 4th, I finally went, bringing along Daisuke and Gilbert with me.

*pictures courtesy of Gilbert*
Urasawa is located in Beverly Hills, right on the famous Rodeo Drive. Valet parking was $5. I couldn't help but feel intimidated by the classy surroundings driving, but the actual restaurant building seemed really... weird. It felt like I stepped into my office building, but behind one of the doors was a Michelin 2-star restaurant.

The venue itself was very simple--an L-shaped wooden sushi counter that probably sat about 11 total. For what it's worth, the counter seemed very nicely constructed, but I'm not a lumberjack nor a carpenter so my opinion isn't very qualified. Asked for drinks, they had complimentary green tea, $8 Evian/sparkling water, and a liquor menu that I didn't even bother to look at. I'm not paying that much for Evian, so complimentary green tea it was for me. Behind the counter you could see a basket filled with fresh wasabi root and some sort of Japanese citrus (not sure if it was Yuzu or something else). There was also this sexy piece of beef sitting on the counter, aging. I don't ever call beef sexy, but that beef was so sexy that it need to be said.

Chef Hiro came out in his cool Japanese chef clothing, ready to do battle and mix it up with his ingredients. Well, maybe not, but those authentic threads were pretty cool. He asked us our names and if he was allergic to anything. From then on, he'd address us by our names. Pretty cool service, and the one thing I really liked about Chef Hiro was just how down-to-earth he was. It's kind of comforting watching a master chef cut the sashimi so precisely and effortlessly, and then tell us how much he loves Chinese dimsum or that people grow up weird when they don't eat their mother's food. (He said that to Daisuke, who claimed that he did eat his mom's food. But I have to disagree about him being weird...)

We were served our first course, a Bluefin Toro roll with daikon and shiso and monkfish pate, and topped off with caviar. I've never had bluefin toro or caviar, so I already had this huge smile on my face--and it delivered a great start to this meal. Bluefin toro is indescribeably phenomenal. At best, I can compare it to when you eat good piece of maguro (tuna) nigiri, but with the good tasting part jacked up 100-fold and the texture being as smooth and slippery and just... pure.

The next course was Goma Tofu: Made from sesame seeds, and silken tofu stuffed with Uni, topped off with freshly grated wasabi and served in dashi. You know that scene in Ratatouille when the rat talks about the combination of flavors? That's exactly what I got here. All incredibly simple, but yet combined it produced this crazy delicious new flavor.

The sashimi was served to us on a hand-carved block of ice. I had taken a piece of the Toro from Spain and was ready to eat it when I heard "WAIT!" I looked up to see our waitress Yoshie and Chef Hiro tell me to smear wasabi on the piece of toro that I was eating. For some reason, that really impressed me. He's so damn good that he absolutely insists that you eat it the way he wants you to eat it to get the best flavor. It wasn't FO-style "GTFO-if-you-want-to-modify-the-burger" but more like a genuine care for his ingredients.

Of all the non-sushi courses, my favorite had to be the Hoba Yaki, which featured shrimp, Wagyu beef from Saga, and scallops, mixed in a Miso paste and served over hot coals on a Hoba leaf. The Miso paste had this really interesting sweetness to it that I really liked, and the proteins had that fatty (umami) taste that I normally like, and they matched perfectly, which I totally didn't expect.

After some other courses, including my first taste of truffles in a truffle risotto that made me think "That's it? A slight subtle earthy taste costs this much?!" it was time for sushi. It started with Chef Hiro taking out a fat piece of that Bluefin Toro. He explained, "This Toro is the best in Japan. If you were to get it there, it would cost $30 just for a bite." He also said, "After I make it, it tastes the best after 10 seconds. So you have to eat it really fast." Great sushi doesn't wait for us, I guess. But it was true. It was ridiculously good. Combined with the excellent rice, it felt like the most unfair food in the world. Nothing should taste that good. And then right after he gave us slightly seared Toro, which was a different texture but also unfair.

Watching Chef Hiro work at this time was mesmerizing. With surgical precision and exacting movements, he would slice each piece of fish, form each ball of rice, take a bit of the freshly grated wasabi, place exactly the amount of sauce needed, and shave a little bit of citrus zest on each piece before serving it to us. The crazy thing about it was that each piece of fish had that same smooth luscious texture. Nothing was chewy at all; NONE of it. Some of them had some crunch but there was no chew at all.

The standout cuts that I remember were the Aji (delicious stuff and probably the most flavorful of the sushi), the Uni (great texture, very creamy, NO fishiness at all), the Amaebi (the HUGEST amaebi I've ever seen), Shiitake Mushroom (really showcased the quality of his rice), and the Ika (a creamy texture unlike most Ika which is usually chewy).

The trademark Tamago, the end of the sushi course, was cooked more like a castella. And it was delicious. I wanted to ask for another one, but that wouldn't really make any sense. At least now, I understand why Tamago is so revered to sushi enthusiasts.

We finished dessert with a papaya jelly and mountain peach, a delicious sesame pudding with azuki served with bitter matcha, and after-dinner hojicha (roasted green tea). What was kinda funny is that when I saw the hojicha I thought "Man, hojicha?! That's some cheap stuff, and I'm paying baller prices, wtf!" But then it's not about how much you pay, right? Yeah. So I shut my yap and drank the tea. And then I drank more of it.

And it was over. I was kinda sad because I wanted to keep eating. I believe the bill came to $450 per person. Gilbert was worried so he brought cash in an envelope and Chef Hiro laughed when he saw that. "I like your style."

Well said, Chef Hiro. I like your style too.

A hot beverage -- Coffee: Part 1 (The Failure)

2009-03-04T05:29:36Z

Recently on Chowhound, someone made a post decrying the lack of good drip coffee in Los Angeles. He had his epiphany at Blue Bottle in San Francisco, and took those memories back to LA where he found the coffee lackluster.

It reminded me of when I used to read about coffee. I knew about the difference between Arabica and Robusta, or a city roast and a French roast. I followed the production process, from farming to drying, to selling at a coffee market, to the final roasting process. I knew about the regional differences, from a full-bodied Sumatra to the smooth, almost fruity acidity of a Kenya, to the mild and clean Kona coffees.

There was only one problem.

I never tried any of them. It just so happened that the coffee books were next to the tea books during a summer vacation where I would just plow through books at the library.

Something I didn't have.
The extent of my coffee experience had been the occasional cup fully doused in cream and sugar. I then progressed to the cappuccinos at Denny's. And then, finally, on a trip to NorCal with Bryant while I was pouring in my 5th creamer and 4th sugar, he remarked, "You should probably drink it black to appreciate the actual coffee." From then on, although I rarely drank coffee, I always drank it black, getting the occasional blend at Peet's or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf whenever my friends wanted to get coffee.

So after that post I thought, I owe it to myself to actually try some damn good coffee. I found a local microroaster by the name of Cafe Klatch. Being headed by one of the Barista champions was good enough assurance that I could have fresh roasted coffee beans packed with care, and I ordered their Kenyan AA, the highest grade of Kenyan coffee. I bought myself an electric kettle to heat up boiling water efficiently and easily, and tried in vain to secure a single cup coffee manual drip but I couldn't find one despite visiting all the major household stores and coffee vendors in my area. I'd have to improvise... which would end up being a terrible idea.

Taking notes from this helpful video, I set off to work to prepare my coffee that I had received as soon as I got home.

I stuck a heaping tablespoon of the coffee beans into my blade grinder and grinded away, pulsing as I went, taking in the aroma of the freshly ground beans. For my brewing device, I removed the coffee funnel from my automatic drip machine and stuck it over my mug.

I followed the steps, presoaking the filter. Only there was a problem when I got to the presoaked coffee stage, and later, the drip stage. Maybe you can tell by this picture.

The funnel was clearly too big for just one cup of coffee. The water dripped through in a mere 30 seconds. I took my coffee, expecting a grand transcendent experience... and all I got was brown-colored water. Where were my wine-like notes, my acidity... anything?! I stared at my brewing vessel, having only myself to blame.

It's like if you pooped in a toilet and kept the color and none of the flavor.
And so ends my first day of gourmet coffee--in straight failure.

back from the midwest swing

2009-02-17T07:32:22Z

whatchu think i live on a farm? nigga be for real

it was fun.
pics and silly videos to come later

Asa Ramen: 2nd Mix

2009-02-12T06:12:35Z

Before I leave for Michigan tomorrow and explore the midwest, I thought it'd be nice to go get some ramen. Santouka is obviously my favorite, but I've always wanted to try Asa again. Last time I went was after the ramen article in the Times, so it was really crowded and maybe their quality slipped.

I went in and ordered their Kotteri Shoyu Ramen with butter and extra chashu, and mochi cheese takoyaki. After taking a sip of the broth, I was like, WOW. This is some strong ass stuff! But after a while it got kinda annoying because it would keep hitting you with that flavor, and it kinda hurt after a while; I'll try the assari broth next time. I still maintain that their noodles are the best; unlike other ramen places, these are locally sourced and hand made. The chashu was kinda disappointing. It looks pretty with its ribbons of fat, but it seems overcooked and not very tender. I wanted to get an egg, but it wasn't on the menu; but then I heard you could've requested egg. Ah well. So in my bowl was some negi, 3 pieces of chashu, some butter, and 2 bamboo shoots. Once you start adding more toppings, it doesn't seem as cheap anymore.

Oddly, after I was done with my bowl, I was still hungry. A bowl of Santouka Chashu or Toroniku Shio fills me up right, but Asa's did not. Either Santouka's broth is richer, or that bowl is much deeper than it looks.

Takoyaki was decent. I think I made a mistake getting the mochi cheese. I liked it in my monjayaki but it didn't really taste like anything in the takoyaki. Still, I love the texture, so next time I'll just get the regular style.

I want to come back just to try the Assari-style Ramen.

The plaza itself is pretty nice. You got Sanuki no Sato right next to it, the best Udon place in LA. There's Sen Nari sushi, which is pretty average (and average in LA is pretty hard to get) and I also discovered Bonjour Bakery, a French-style Bakery not unlike Chantilly Patisserie. I got a sublime mocha cake from there to share with my family. So at the very least, you can pick up great dessert.

Actually, at this point in time, I could even go back to Asa Ramen for round 2, but that ain't gonna happen.

Finished Valkyria; back to Brood Wars

2009-02-10T07:30:16Z

I finally finished Valkyria Chronicles on Saturday. I don't remember the last time I grinded out game that quickly, especially nowadays that I'm working and not in school. Plot and story discussion behind the cut with spoilers:

There were a lot of clever twists, none really "OMG WTF" like a KOTOR with you as Revan, but they were all pretty well executed, except for one glaring one that I will address later.

Isara dying came out of the blue. At the time I was playing, I was wondering who was gonna die because things were too happy-go-lucky and then BLAM, Isara goes down. It was pretty jarring because Isara seemed least likely to die with her playing the typical gentle, strong-willed girl. That totally shocked me and made me feel all sad =(

I had a feeling Alicia was Valkyria because she was an orphan and because she opened the door in those ruins. Those ruins obviously have been explored already and there's no reason for Alicia to not know that. It was cool how it was implemented, though, with Faldio having to shoot Alicia. That was pretty nuts.

I didn't like the part when Alicia wanted to turn Valkyria to destroy the big ass tank at the end, and Welkin convinced her not to because it's not real fighting or whatever. That part made no sense. The silver haired, big breasted girl turned Valkyria and she turned out alright except for that whole nuke thing. It seemed to me like a subtle dig at the US for using nuclear weapons to win WW2.

The twist of the Princess being a Darcsen, to me, was not like "oh damn" but more "uh oh, now she's useless, that lance ain't gonna do anything for her."

I really liked the ending, it was simple and they wrapped everything up.

There were two scenes that I thought really didn't belong and made for some disjointed story. One of them being the Alicia / Valkyria scene and the other being the part when the Imperials caught Alicia and Welkin in the cabin and let them go. What? Why? Take 'em prisoner, you nut. There's no reason for fighting honorably in war.

I accurately predicted Randgriz holding the secret weapon and the Valkyria being the cause of the Darcsen incident (interesting ties to the Holocaust and the Rape of Nanking, IMO), although I was wrong on the Darcsen having secret powers.

The characters kiiiinda bothered me. Alicia was like "Durrr, I wanna be a baker" and this kind of one-dimensionality is so typical for game and anime by making them stereotypical like that.

Definitely enjoyed the story elements of the game, though, and I'd like to see them expand on the engine. I would NOT like to see a direct prequel / sequel though, I hate how it's the thing in a game to make sequels when the story wraps itself up perfectly.
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Gameplay-wise, it was pretty fun. Towards the end it got kinda imbalanced once you got elite scouts. I played it pretty conventional though, and I was surprised to learn of the brokenness of Awaken Potential. And for whatever reason, brokenness can be cool as evidenced by FF6.

I found that a lot of missions were hard at first but after losing the first time the strategy gets dramatically easy. It'd be nice to have a mission preview of where everything is and what you can see in the beginning. It'd also be nice to see where the enemy spawns during the later missions because towards the end I got caught many times with lancers spawning and spearing the back of Welkin's tank.

Still, as far as gameplay design, it was really refreshing. Nothing's really been done like that and I would love to see a balanced multiplayer version come out. Unfortunately, I heard the game bombed in the US (and people are saying it's gonna be a rare title), and DLC probably won't come out here. Dang. And I wanted to play as Big Tits McGee and wreck everyone.

------

Starcraft. Ohhh man. I started playing on iCCup which is basically a third party server where people actually play real games. It is tough as hell and I find myself making noob mistakes all over. Even when I know the obvious counter, I fail to really capitalize on it. My game sense is getting a little better but my multitasking is still bad and I really struggle in TvZ because my MnM group management is god awful. Especially when I try to go SK Terran and I have to manage MnM and multiple Sci Vessels. The learning curve is definitely MUCH higher and learning game sense is one of the most arduous tasks out there.

Believe me, I'm used to this screen.
They say if you get a 50% winning record in the first year, then you're talented. *sigh* I have a long way to go...

At least watching pro matches are entertaining. It's amazing to see them manage multiple bases at once while coordinating multi-front attacks.

Also the cool thing about iCCup is that... I've played 21 matches (and I'm sitting at a cool 7-14... =\) and only two of my opponents were American. Pretty nuts if you think about it. I imagine my progress in this game will be MUCH slower than SF2.

I'm bored

2009-02-07T05:06:11Z

What's happening tomorrow night, anyone

More Valkyria Chronicles

2009-02-02T22:44:49Z

I spoke too soon with the magic tanks, as the battle after I mentioned that, some chick appeared and fired lasers out of her lance (which surprisingly, doesn't do any damage against my tank). Also, she deflected a tank shell with that lance. Just... wow. Ugh. And here I was giving it props for that World War feeling and without any ridiculous anime crap. I have a feeling that the story will eventually be something like this:

-Randgriz has some super powerful Valkyrur weapon that Gallia will fail to hold on to and concede to the Empire.
-The Darcsen Calamity was a sacrifice to purge the Valkyrur from this world because they unlocked some superpower, and whatever they used to invoke it, they'll probably use it again.

WTF is this shit?!
Things I don't like about the story:
-The game sets itself up as a small country versus the big superpower, and if there's a weapon that can change the course of the second Europan War, they should have way more forces. This is like the other 49 states going to war with Rhode Island.
-Don't like how the Imps are set up to be evil, dressed in all red and with mean looking characters.

Things I do like:
-The characters. Although I think Alicia and Welkin are a little bit one-dimensional they still make for good characters. Welkin is pretty cool actually, it's not often you see a nerd as the starring main character.
-The setting. I can't mention it enough. The WWII-esque setting is awesome, sets up great gameplay and a good story.
-The format. I love the book format. It just works so well and seamlessly integrates the side stories, and I like how all the scenes play out.
-Short skirts and stockings are military-grade. Yep.

"The short skirt adds to mobility. Yeah. That's it."

Things I like about the gameplay:
-Minimal classes, and no counter classes. One thing I hate about most strategy games is that it breaks down to RPS. Here, a scout can't necessarily beat an assault guy up front, but if they sneak up from behind or use grenades they can. And then it becomes a matter of how effective you can use your guy, should you use get rid of the sandbags or just plow through people, positioning people so they can't run on you, etc.
-Perfect leveling system. I hate games where you level your guys based on individual performance, because it usually leads to several guys way stronger than the rest. Assigning EXP seems to be to way to go, and it doesn't unbalance any character either because they're all the same level. Brilliant.
-Because I keep talking about WWII, the addition of weak points on the back of tanks is a nice touch. Just like in real WWII where an anti-tank unit to the rear is game over, because it was the least armored (if armored at all). Although one has to ask, why put a radiator in the rear, it doesn't make sense because there's hardly any airflow back there. =D

The weakpoint isn't obvious at all!
-A great mix of real time and turn based gaming. The turn based stuff gives you things to think about, like how to position your units, movement points, which units to move, base control, orders, etc. The real time stuff injects a little bit of action with twitch movement, positioning and aiming, deploying against a stationary force and trying to find their weak spots. It's a really, really good mix, as you feel equally tested mentally and physically. I also really like their cover system.
-Epic battles. The first battle against a massive tank feels like you're fighting the Death Star. Awesome, awesome stuff. (although again, who puts their radiators boxed and facing upward? Where's the airflow?)
-It looks gorgeous. The animation is top notch, the way people move and articulate seems flawless. It could use a little more anti-aliasing but to me, really, the quality of the animation just stands so far above and beyond most RPGs. When the game is still it doesn't look impressive, but watching it in motion is a real treat.

What I don't like about the gameplay:
-The AI. The AI is retarded. I've seen them try to outrun my tanks and that's free kills for me. I've seen them leave my units on the brink of death with CP to spare. They tend to just stand in open fields waiting to be picked off or rushed behind corners. They don't calculate any headshot risk/reward so you can be pretty much assured that you won't get 1-shotted to the head by a sniper or a shocktrooper or anybody. It'd be nice if the AI pulled off some brilliance or took advantage of its guaranteed kills.

Someone doing their best AI impression.
-Kinda wish there was something more to the equipment other than timed upgrades. I haven't hit the equipment forks yet but it's kinda lame to be like "Yay, next chapter, buy better gun, repeat." In a game that lacks unit-specific abilities, there should've been some variance in equipment. And I don't think the unit potentials are really something that sets them apart.

There's also a nice little Skies of Arcadia fanservice, but I wouldn't know because I never got far in that game. I just use Aika and Vyse in tandem because I know they get along well and therefore, will assist fire more often. It sure beats remembering that Dallas goes well with Claudia, or something like that.

Overall it's just a great game. I'm really hoping that the story doesn't let me down even if it seems that way.

Valkyria Chronicles is pretty fun

2009-02-01T04:49:52Z

I thought it was gonna be one of those weird steampunk games with magic tanks and whatever...

But instead it's like a World War II strategy game that mixes the fast pace of an RTS with a turn-based strategy. I really like the setting.

I enjoyed the second mission when you have to protect the gate. Two times in a row I missed shooting the tank and hit the gate instead. o_O;

It's too bad the AI is dumb as bricks though. It'd would've been nice to have some multiplayer.

boo starcraft

2009-01-30T21:24:00Z

I'm getting better even though TvZ is my weakpoint right now. Managing groups of M&M and dealing with muta harass is too much.

Anyway, in one game last night I had two expansions with a third on the way, and I set up a full contain on his base. This one guy is clearly going for a lurker drop. I set up turrets way beforehand, and he keeps pushing for it for some reason even after he kept losing lurkers. Finally he broke through, so I just moved my SCVs to my other expansion. Then he said "gg" as if he won. What a wiener. I smashed him with the rest of my troops and reinforced my expansion with more units, then he wants to ally for the win. Bitch, please.

starcraft woes

2009-01-27T20:34:54Z

I don't know what it is but I've been doing really bad at Starcraft. And when I actually do well, I drag 6 minute games out into 25 minutes because I don't have finishing instincts.

For example, I stopped an overpool rush with 14CC. That should've been game, but nope, even with my 90 food army, 2 sunkens and a lurker at the ramp stopped me cold.

This sucks.
Hopefully I can break out of this slump.

on competitive balance

2009-01-26T22:32:48Z

Played Halo last night, and man, for some reason is was really entertaining, although for some reason my skill level dropped a lot at the end. It was like my BR lost its reticle magnetism. Also, I thought it was funny how the callout on Valhalla went from "under the arch" to "McDonald's", that had me laughing the entire time.

Anyway, while playing on Sandtrap and bitching about the map for the billionth time (to the point where Marc bitched back at me, hahah) I actually took a step back and thought about why it is such a shitty map and how this would lead to something like MLG-style.

The biggest thing about Sandtrap that bothers me is the lack of cover. Because it is a vast open field, any man-to-man fights are either luck based on the spread of the BR, or whoever has the distance weapon will win. There are 12 people, and only 3 power weapons (2 lasers, one sniper), so we know who's going to win those fights. The only indoor fights are in long tunnels, so the cover isn't as dynamic. The rest of the fights take place in vehicles, which IMO are extremely unbalanced and / or lacking in skill. Warthog vs. Warthog is nothing but point-and-click, with pure randomness. Warthog vs. Banshee basically depends on the skill of the Banshee, as in, he better not fuck up. And I don't even know what the other thing is. Also, because the map is a giant open field, any vehicle vs. a Spartan is insta-win for the vehicle, you won't see any daring sticky grenades, brute shot flips, or even well placed power drains.

The next thing that bothers me is that it's purely symmetrical and hardly memorable. Callouts are impossible because everything looks the same and there's no real distinguishing marks. I think that's what makes FPS maps more memorable, they need some unique feel or unique identifiers.

I thought more about MLG settings, which would appear to take a game and strip it down to a lot of basic stuff with no vehicles, 4 weapons, no items. I think the reason being is that you can create a better competitive atmosphere by limiting everything first, and then slowly expanding it. A game HAS to be released and tested by thousands of people before it can be truly mapped out, at which point changes can be made; this almost never happens with videogames, and I get the feeling that designers throw in all the features they can think of with little regard for playtesting. It's one thing that I think Blizzard does extremely well, they know how to balance their games and the features are carefully implemented, with input coming from the top level and not the battle.net forum scrubs.

I think even more interesting is the clear split in H3 between MLG and the other Halo Matchmaking players. MLG players think that Matchmaking people are garbage AR / Vehicle whores, Matchmaking people think MLG players bitch and whine about anything that doesn't add up to their system of competitive values. And sadly I think Bungie sided with the Matchmaking people.

And yes.
This is what went through my mind as I said out loud,

"FUCK SANDTRAP"

are you kidding me

2009-01-25T19:03:37Z

i got denied from entering j-lounge because i had white designer shoes. the bouncer wanted dress shoes. i saw some fools roll up with $30 black basketball shoes. seriously?

oh well. 25 degrees in hollywood, roosevelt hotel has an awesome burger, good spot to hit up for late nights since they're open 24 hours. $12 for a top tier burger and fries.

back to starcraft.

japanese food

2009-01-21T19:24:55Z

I don't know what happened but I just got an incredible craving for Japanese food. Which is strange because normally when I go out to eat, it's just Japanese food and I get tired of it.

I made a ton of curry the other day, even though I haven't even began to eat it, but it's probably like, 20 servings at least. I had ramen yesterday and I've been enjoying ajitsuke tamago on the side with it. That, and the chashu in the ramen is usually oh-so-delicious. Oh, and I've been wanting to go back to GaJa for some okonomiyaki (NOT their monjayaki, which I thought was terrible food. Delicious, but too liquidy for my tastes). And then I think about the fried chicken and buta kakuni at Musha, the creaminess of sake and amaebi sushi, kurobuta pork cutlet in demiglace from Cafe Hiro, the takoyaki at Asa Ramen...

I should probably learn how to cook some of these things.

on starcraft

2009-01-21T09:48:03Z

-the games on youtube are still highly entertaining. right now it's like watching a good basketball player play. you can't do what he can, so it's impressive. and yet, it's highly easy to understand, just hard to grasp.

-still practicing against the computer. i'm just trying to get my build down, and to counter things. usually the comp goes 3 gateway zeal rush, and by that time i have to be able to micro with 2 vult + 1 tank + 2 rines and mines without really losing anything. i can get away with some ghetto vulture micro but in a real game they'd just kill all my scvs.

-played mike, went 2-2. one loss, he went cannons on me, and i thought range upgrade would beat it. i thought wrong. sad, because i had a factory and all i had to do was pop a tank and support my bunker, then siege. also, watching the replay, i had enormous advantages that i was too scared to capitalize on. like, freakin... 140 food against 70 food, mike had a siege tank and a bc, i had like 8 siegetanks and 20 vultures, and i didn't feel like i could win. just poor closing play in general.

-reviewing more replays, i'm too scared of not knowing what their entire army looks like, because i've been in so many winning situations but fail to capitalize. need to remember to use scan to recon the army, and i need to get in the habit of looking for expansions more often.

-avg. apm is around 130-180. just played with some bnet scrub who had an apm of 20. jesus. no more 3v3 bgh anymore, really. i feel a bit faster but i need to manage my expansions better because i have too many loose drones. i also almost always feel cramped for space. would also help if i learned to rally units to battle locations faster. in one game against mike, i had like 10 tanks and 8 vultures sitting in the middle of nowhere, and i thought i lost a battle, then i found my units. need better management -_-;

this game is fun. it's nice to play a competitive game, even if i'll never be able to get to the top, or even a very high level. just getting on a path to improvement is fun enough for me.