Archive for Uncategorized
October 9, 2006 at 3:53 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I have no hotspot luck in this country. In six months I have not found a single hotspot but I know they are there. Will I have to go to McDonalds to get my fix? Even more amusing is that in my search for a hotspot today I ended up in an Excelsior Café (was hoping to find something unique but my growling stomach forced me to choose between this and a Starbucks) and there is actually not even mobile reception in here.
In Japan, I am wifi starved, likely because I do not know where to look. Which brings about some interesting thoughts on navigating in a city. Urban areas have arrays of services (food, bars, police boxes, public transportation, shopping, gyms, etc.) and there are varying ways a person can navigate an area to look for desired services (on foot and reading signs, word of mouth, magazines, maps and guide books, internet, etc.). Here my methods for seeking and navigation are limited given the language barrier and me just not being in the know. But I am slowly getting it. The thought of asking someone for a recommendation is not so scary anymore, I am learning better Internet search terms and have a kanji translator tool installed in my browser in case I hit a Japanese site, I don’t hesitate to pick up a Japanese guide book and I am actually starting to play around with the navi services on my mobile. However, a lot of this is in the domain of food/drink establishments and accommodation/transportation. Wifi is another thing…due to its invisibility? It is invisible to me but is it really not invisible? Am I missing something because I don’t know the logos, the signs, and the names of companies offering services? Or is Japan really hotspot limited? There is likely an online hotspot finder and I probably could go to one of the provider’s sites and search for hotspots…but for now, being in transit, I am hotspot lost.
Later: found 2 bars in a Doutor…yeah!
September 1, 2006 at 6:43 pm · Filed under Dreams, Japan, Travels, Uncategorized
I was going to finish writing about last weekend…but it is almost this weekend so it looks like that might not happen. To summarize: Sunday morning we woke up at 5:30am to amaaaazing breakfast prepared by Yuko’s mother, then we drove to Kujikuri beach, I had a surf lesson, it was fun, I left in pain, we bought omiyage, went to BBQ at the surf shop, got back on the bus, got off in Tokyo, I got my haircut, then I hobbled home and passed out. Monday I woke up with battered knees and it hurt to laugh but I want to go again.
Tomorrow I leave for Nagasaki and I will not be back until September 11th. Waffles will come with me…last night (s)he finally got some Internet love courtesy of Roz’s connection…so I will post if I can find wifi during my trip. I was hoping to set up moblogging and I am *almost* there but the last part is discouraging…I have to have some “iconv” module in my web server’s PHP installation. I think dreamhost’s wiki has instructions on how to do this…but they seem headache-y. But, I would really really love to moblog so I might give it a go while waiting at the airport tomorrow.
I need this time away I think. My head has been feeling saturated lately. I feel like I am accomplishing a lot and at the same time, like my life is marbles on the kitchen floor and I am a three-year-old kicking them around. Does that imagery work for you? I know this cause I had a “no grip on life” dream last night. These often take the form of me being in my residence (whether real world or a past place or a made up one) and there being something chaotic about the space. In this dream “my landlords” (whoever they were…it was a made up place and they were a made up couple although vaguely familiar) admonished me for letting things go. When “the landlords” enter my dreams…I think that reflects my feeling that my irresponsibility is letting someone down - something that has been present lately. Although I don’t know who…likely no one because ultimately we are only responsible for ourselves. Thinking that can bring some relief and some (hard to help it) feelings of loneliness.
Oh it’s Friday - why am I being such a downer! Super excited for the trip ahead.
And one funny story: When I went to get my haircut last Sunday, I was carrying a full backpack and a bag with omiyage in it. The receptionist gave me the key for a locker and my backpack fit inside but not the omiyage bag. So I went back to the counter and lifted the bad as if to say “oh it doesn’t fit”. She immediately nodded in understanding and put the bag behind the counter for me.
In the final stages of my haircut, the stylist came around and asked me “oh…so did you leave something for us…” and I looked at her strangely…”…a gift?” she said, and then it dawned on me that the receptionist thought I was giving HER the omiyage. Ah language barriers - you gotta love the awkward situations. I felt so bad explaining that I couldn’t fit it in the locker but needed to take it to work the next day for my colleagues. Totally wished I had brought something for them but unfortunately it is not in my cultural instincts to bring gifts to the salon.
Some interesting background from what I know (FWIK…yes, that will be the new acronym): the department / gift shop bag has significance. Gifts are often handed to people still in the bag. The bag can indicates place of purchase thus value of the gift. What I don’t know: what are the facial expressions and hand gestures that signify “I am giving you a gift”. Few words are used.
July 12, 2006 at 6:43 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I drank some really good sake last night. Also had the opportunity to eat horse meat but I passed. I don’t think I can go there, not after riding one knowing the whole time that it was strong enough to throw me off. Good thing my spidey-senses made me ask what it was I was being offered. Still, the sake was really really good and I hope I can find it again.
Today I am really tired but somehow (miraculously) I was able to finally get a number of plug-ins and tools that I needed for development all running and working on my computer. Why oh why was it so much effort? I don’t know but I hate config files.
I’ve been trying to get a few winks in as I walk to and from the washroom and I was just thinking (on the way to) - what if I fell asleep on the loo? Worse yet - what if I died on the loo? I would be caught for sure! That made me realize that I don’t fear death as much as I fear dying in certain ways…not for the process that I would have to endure while dying but for the humiliation of being found dead like that afterwards. The top two: Elvis-style and Mama Cass-style (okay that last one is just a myth but it still carries the symbolism). You might say, “oh but why would the humility matter? you are dead”, but who knows! What if there is the other side and it is not shaped by how you acted your life out but by the final great event of it.
Yeah I am tired. I am going to go home in a bit and make something instant to eat and then I will sleep. I hope I have good, deep dreams. Maybe one where I am floating around my neighborhood and it is dusk like in this picture:
May 29, 2006 at 12:45 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
This weekend I completed phase I of operation meet people and successfully too!
Operation background: I am one to fall back on doing things on my own. Even if I feel utterly lonely, and actually especially when I feel utterly lonely, I feel safer if I accept being on my own rather than changing the situation. It’s my comfort zone and maybe even a source of pride (ack! I hate saying that but it is true) that I can be independent and capable and detached. But you know what…it sucks doing things alone all the time…especially adventures in foreign lands. I felt myself slipping into I will a the loner mode and was like NO! not this time. Of course, the people I have met here through work are super friendly and there are many upcoming activities that I have been invited to. Still…I am only here for a year, I want to pack an abnormal amount of excitement in that year and I feel that the way to do that is by meeting as many people as possible. This feeling probably stems from me knowing that this goal or desire is the only one that will really challenge and test me. Sure, new countries are exciting with their process and signs and systems and food and formalities and customs but I think that the most valuable things you can take home in the end are the connections that you made with people.
Actually, I am going to end with that and I will write again later today or tomorrow about what I did this weekend. I think that thought was enough of a post for me. That and lunch hour is almost over. Later.
April 18, 2006 at 10:17 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I am not going to say bored because I don`t feel bored with my work of course :) …but I am reading and reading and reading and I feel saturated at the moment. My eyes are glossing over, getting watery. I am sighing every 5 minutes. I need a break, need something light but I don`t know what yet. I guess I could take a walk somewhere. I was trying to play Cat`s Cradle by myself but I don`t know if that is possible. So I tried to invent a new form of looped string manipulation but it is pretty hard. It`s time that I learn the protocols for distracting people from their work. I think people need distractions (preferably non-Internet ones) every few hours, whether related to other work or not. *YAWN* ok my eyes are glossing over writing this so it`s obviously not an effective use of my time. Later-
UPDATE: I am excited again and I want this guy`s job. (After this one of course).
March 8, 2006 at 7:55 am · Filed under Japan, Social Technology, Uncategorized
Kissui has a very interesting post on Japanese style blogging - what a teenagers blog looks like and what some of the common “protocols” are. She illustrates this style by or course, mimicking it in her post.
Kissui herself (real name Yuki) is only 20 years old but she’s been blogging for four years. A lot of me does not believe that she is only 20. Not because she’s been blogging for four years, but because of the dedication she puts into her artwork and her writing. Ok so yeah, it’s not like we blossom once we hit 25 and life after that is this driven, passionate, creating machine. Many of us create partially through the desire to return to the age of 15-21, pick your favorite one. Adolescent energy can make marvelous things happen.
But check out her site and you might agree with me that there is some aura of maturity and accomplishment there - she also has some amazing graphics and photographs.
December 6, 2005 at 2:19 pm · Filed under Uncategorized, Work
I am reading several papers on methodology used for the evaluation of interactive artworks (this is where my thesis has gone, I will elaborate more soon but not now). The works that I am reading have been fairly good with recruiting users who are not in the interactive arts or the HCI field, and are of varying ages and occupations.
It’s common to see HCI studies (and this probably happens in other fields as well) where subjects are recruited from a University’s student body. Many times, those students are even in the same department and sometimes they also study HCI. I’ve been a user several times. I’ve also had fellow HCI students participate in my studies and I can see that happening again in the future.
So, has anybody studied the biases involved when your user is an HCI researcher him or herself? For example, if I am led through some interaction task, I often find that I’m thinking less about the interface and what I should be doing and more about how they have structured their study and what tools are being used for data collection. During interviews I feel I have more to say about my experience being a subject than my experience with the interface or application in question. If you know of anyone who has studied this - I would be interested in reading that.
