EdoinTokyo 3.0

coming 2011.8.1

lol

Yes, hello, hi, its been a long time.

So as a brief recap of the last 3 months… Stuff happened, and if you read the past posts on this site, its the usual that you can expect from me, so I will spare you the details. I got a PS3, my second moped is 50% done, classes are hard, I didn’t study at all for JLPT, because I was advised not to by Morri-sensei and its a good thing I listened. Other than that, here I am.

Now to the point of this post.

As we all know, this site is dead, and has been, for years. Since its launch in August of 2006, I have barely reached the 5000 hits mark, and I bet 50% of those are spiders (search engines like Google detecting my site). Now I don’t care about numbers, but this just explains how bad this site really is. My Facebook profile probably has more traffic. On top of this, about half my posts are something relating to this topic. So what does this all mean?

Nothing

This site will not be brought down, just not maintained well. Hell if I can help it this site will stay up for as long as I have a computer, internet, and a spare $130 a year to blow. Someday down the road this site will finally be developed properly and the posting I’ve always wanted to do will be a weekly occurrence, or perhaps more.  For now, I can guarantee you that not much will change in this site for probably another year or so. I will be too busy finishing up the last 8 months of Japanese classes or finding a job in Japan and settling down and studying even more. Then who knows I might even take night classes for my M.A. in computer science at Toudai or something.

There are a few problems I have with this site besides not having the time. The first is obviously the sites graphical theme. Its difficult to find or create a theme that reflects my blog, or that I will not get bored with in 3 months. I need something that pops, but doesn’t over do it, and it shouldn’t direct itself into one subject. For instance an anime, computer, or car theme would be horrible and place me into one subculture or category. At the same time that is exactly what I want at times, depending on my mood. What I’ve realized is that I need a very customizable theme where I can change the colors and images of the theme on the fly, but the layout stays the same. A semi-minimalist layout might be necessary for this.

The second issue is content management. The fact is, everyone is going to see this; friends, family, employers, co-workers, and other readers I don’t expect. I believe I have this issue solved by managing subscriptions, but I might be forced to launch a sub-blog for the really ridiculous stuff. I’ll deal with this when the time comes.

The third issue is site functionality. I almost have this part figured out, there are just a few quirks I need to figure out. The first is refine the gallery layout for smoother navigation. The second is incorporating communication between social networking sites like twitter and facebook. Third is a better search engine. The rest are too small to even mention.

These issues aren’t that bad, most are are easy to solve or complete quickly. The only tough one is the design, and the potential second blog for the ridiculousness. I could just start posting what I’ve always held back on, but I know if I do, it will be a nightmare to sort it all out later on. So I am suck like this for a year or so. Expect the site to be screwy at times when I play around with the code. Here’s the fake debut date.

EdoinTokyo 3.0
coming  2011.8.1

JLPT Registration Confirmation

JLPT Administration Committee

 
       For those of you who don’t know what this is, go here. JLPT ^(wiki)

       One month left before classes begin, and I can’t wait! This is my last year at UMass and then I’m off to Japan again. By this time next year I’ll be in Tokyo again walking out of ICU with my BA in Japanese. I only hope I can find a job while I’m over there, so I don’t have to return to the states.

       My summer has been pretty busy and my studies have suffered a little because of it. Although I never did expect to reach my goals I had set out for myself, so there is no let down. Regardless, my Japanese has improved in ways I never expected. This final month I have set out to finish the Intermediate Japanese workbook and finish reading the rest of my Buddhism books for fall semester; an easy task. Once those tasks are complete, I’ll return to translating and memorizing vocabulary and kanji.

       Besides studying this summer, I’ve been busy rebuilding my friend’s 1988 Kawasaki Ninja 600R sports bike. His bike sat for two years in the shed and required some serious repairs. It wouldn’t even start when I first looked at it. The bike needed a new ignition control unit to keep it running, a complete carburetor breakdown, rebuild and synchronization, and a full tune-up. Next weekend it should be finished hopefully. The bike is scary fast, and sounds like a monster thanks to all the modifications. I anxious to finish it since it’s killed more than half of my summer weekend time. Granted I was paid a handsome sum for fixing it. Pictures will be posted later this month.

       As for my sports bike, It took a spill over a month ago no thanks to crappy road conditions and a lazy highway department. Fortunately, I was going less than 10mph when the bike loss traction. I obtained a few scratches and bruises, but nothing serious. Once again the bike was deemed unsalvageable for idiotic reasons and made good bank on the insurance check. So forty dollars later and it’s on the road again with a few cracks and scratches on the right side of the front fairing. It’s funny really, that bike has paid for its own insurance and then some. If I play my cards right when I sell it this fall, I should break even with all my expenses. It will be as if I never owned the bike and just paid for gear, gas, and tune-up parts. Pictures of the damage will be posted later as well.

       Besides sports bikes, I should probably mention that I bought two more mopeds that are identical to mine. For two hundred dollars I obtained one junk moped, one decent moped and a ton of spare parts and engine blocks. I don’t know if I can get both mopeds working let alone looking as nice as my red one, but I hope to at least get one running. I have yet to being work on them, but I plan to repaint one yellow and put some Pikachu logos on it! :D Also I should mention briefly, that I crashed my red moped again and obtained many lacerations, and opened both my palm up. My moped that day was more red than usual that day. Within 20 minutes from the crash, I had the moped back at my place and fully repaired; cosmetic and all. As for my hands they are still healing. I wear gloves when I drive now.

       Finally leaving the motor stuff behind, I am now left with my purchase of an Xbox 360. There is a horror story behind how I’ve obtained a functional one, but I’ll leave that for another day. So far the money I’ve dumped into thing has not been worth it, but I expect to play more as time goes on. I own three games thus far: COD4, BlazBlue, and Castle Crashers; fortunately I’ve only had to pay $25 in games. If you want my gamer tag contact me via IM.

       So that’s my summer so far! More to post about later! Weeks later…

Still to come:

• TGA Gathering
• ITG Pad
• Kitsune
• XBox
• Trips

       I totally deserved it. I forgot all about what moot said until this friendly reminder popped up. I could just change my IP address, but I’d like to see how long I can last. I’ve been going to 4Chan since its birth; more than 5 years ago. I’ve never missed more than 3 days in a row. Can I last? Only time will tell!