October Thoughts

 

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I had a day off from work today and decided to jot down/share some ideas. 

First, ever notice that time is moving way too fast? I spent some time in between jobs and it was like a blur. Now I'm in a new job and every workday just zooms by. I feel like, especially as I get older, that time is increasingly escaping me. Even now, I'm writing this at two in the morning on a weekday day off from work. I usually don't get to stay up this late anymore and its been more difficult to get into the mode for writing asI prefer to do writing late at night. 

There's been a time loop thing ever since covid. Ever since covid time just seems to fly by. I'm struggling to keep up with all my old hobbies and work seems to get even more in the way nowadays with changing shifts from closing nights to opening mornings the next day[s] after. As the Grateful Dead ask in a song, "Where does the time go?" 

Second, I've seen better days, like the song by Smashmouth. "Missed the bus, but I'm in no hurry." It's been harder to stay consistently happy all the time because it seems like everything is turning, "We're turning again," -Zappa. The truth of the matter is that I'm actually doing very well and have most of what I need but there's always that sense that something's missing, or that I'm missing out on stuff.

For example, I like my new job but overall, its somewhat more stressful than what I was doing previously. Also, it's less pay, more responsibility, more stuff and details, and more intimate work setting with co-workers. Not exactly fan favorites of a work environment, especially when you're not running the place yourself as manager. But I'd rather be optimistic about things that aren't going well in this moment. I do realize that I'm doing well, have decent health, and a roof over my head. Sometimes you have to be grateful for what you have even if it could be better. For example, even when I wasn't working for a little while, I wasn't really struggling as much as other people I know, even when those people were employed working at their jobs, they were still doing worse than I was. "Back in the USSR, you don't know how lucky you are, boy." 

Third, I realize that I've kind of been procrastinating and squandering a lot of time. I've been way too involved in online video gaming. However, I've also been reading a lot too. Just before writing this now, I finished reading Leon Battista Alberti On Painting, an amazing historical document written during the Florentine art era. It is an eye-opening read, albeit very intellectual, but difficult to understand because of the historical translation from Latin and Italian into something a modern English reader could understand. Yes, it's readable, but not all of it flows easily into a modern english meaning. Prolix, and way too intellectual in describing art, however, Alberti was almost more of a humanist learner than a painter, and was better at doing architecture. 

Another book I read before that was Herzog by Saul Bellow. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and the Prix International. This was a great book as it describes the downward spiral of a very Jewish intellectual professor as his wife and kids leave him to shack up with his psychiatrist, ouch. Herzog goes somewhat crazy, manic, and at one point puts his father's old loaded gun into his pocket and goes to visit his ex-wife and pick up the kid. He doesn't do anything with it, but he gets caught with it and booked by the cops. The book even ends on a manic note when he's back at his estate in a remote area, and he hires this nanny to clean up his house, and he's just watching her clean. I had a Jewish best friend that reminds me of Herzog. He had everything he could have wanted at one point and it all just went away and he went into a manic episode. Never saw him again after that. This book was very realistic. 

Lastly, I've been trying to stay focused. I've been reading a lot and listening to a lot of jazz music. I do think I need to lay off the video games for a while to make more time for more creative arts, writing, and music. For example, I'm still interested in AI but have yet to make much progress in AI art or video, mostly because I haven't been devoting too much time to it and I feel like AI has been eclipsed by the commercial state of American advertising through media on the internet, TV, smartphones, and in real life. 

We're so programmed to just buy and consume to make up for our lack of happiness, why would anyone think using AI would make them happy? In a way I would say AI has already been eclipsed by consumerism, even the overconsumption of say right-wing and left-wing news that taken a toll on our society. I do think we as a people, as The Culture, need to become more self-aware of things we're buying and the media we are consuming. 

I know that sounds like a intellectual outsider sort of rant but I think there's something to it there. Like for example, when I mentioned earlier that I've been playing too many videogames, I think the first step is being aware that you're spending too much time on that sort of media consumption, and then going forward you can adjust your plans to do other things and not give all your attention to it. In addition, I mentioned that time seems to be speeding away from me, well, in a way, yes it is. I'm getting older and my health is getting worse here and there. I will use that as motivation to do more of what I really want to do, and spend less time overconsuming digital content. These are basic ideas but not always discussed. Watch this space. 

The owl of Minerva appears at dusk. 

Summertime, and The Living is Easy

Good evening, ladies and gents. Back at it with another writing experience, writing about life.

Times have been rough. I've been unemployed for about five months. I was recommended a cashier job at a grocery store from a co-worker from the job I got let go from and it ended up not working out. In addition, I went on an interview for another cashier job at a different grocery store and didn't get the job. I'm trying my best but getting a little discouraged, realizing that getting a job will be a lot harder than I thought. The job market is getting increasingly more difficult and I'm finding that AI is involved in the hiring process, making it harder to land the job. 

The first couple months I got let go, or technically, fired, from my retail grocery job of twelve years, I was pretty depressed. I started sleeping in till 3 or 4 PM and although I was still applying and going into businesses to checkout jobs, my mind was in the gutter. I was finally able to overcome that depression by setting up an earlier schedule and staying consistently busy throughout the day.

Usually this entailed waking up, cleaning up, and searching for jobs online everyday and applying to as many jobs that were suitable to me as possible. Then I make lunch. And do some reading and going out to the library. Then coming home and getting some dinner with family. At first, my stepdad was upset I got fired and he was almost equally mad at the fact that my managers I worked with for twelve years didn't have my best interests at heart. But you know, as they say, c'est la vie. Nowadays, my stepfather is more easy going about what I'm going through right now, because he knows that the job market is tough, and doesn't want me to end up working in a warehouse breaking my back or flipping burgers at McDonalds, lowering my ranking on a resume. He still believes in me, oddly enough, and that I can pull myself into another decent cashier position. Luck of the draw, he says.

As for myself, I'm not really quite sure. I have enough cash for food and rent for now but I'm noticing more and more that as gen z'ers say, this job market is cooked. We're cooked. Things are so bad that my co-worker from the last job that tried to get me a job at this different grocery store says that I should try to apologize my way back to my old position, which sounds like a terrible idea, although a manager said I was probably blacklisted when my brother asked them about it. So I'm not really sure when I'll land a job or if I will find employment anytime soon. Things are sad right now in that aspect. I'm pretty upset at the entire situation but being angry or trying to get back at people who misused and abused me in the old workplace isn't the answer.

In the meantime, I'm trying to find peace and balance in the universe. I'm reading a lot, going to the library, still searching for jobs, and now finally tonight, getting back into writing. In addition, I created a Substack, which is sort of like a social media for intellectuals and sharing ideas and writing. At some point when I build an audience on there, I'll probably charge a small subscription fee per month, try to add some coffee money to my wallet. 

Lastly, in other news, this second Trump administration has been the worst years of my living in the United States, and in my life. My actual life is comfortable and I have food and rent money but the future is more and more uncertain and I have no means of employment, most of my friends are marginals, my only good work contact couldn't help me out as much as she wanted to, I can't afford to move out or strike out anywhere on my own, we're basically in world war 3, there are Ice Raids here in LA and I have a hispanic name, I live with family, and I can't get a job. Things could be a lot better and I wonder what will happen in even say three months time. But hey, it's summertime, and the living is easy. [I got it so bad, I got it good.]  

Beware the Ides of March

Well, here we are. 2 13 AM on a Wednesday morning. It's March 19, 2025. Something like day 60 of the Trump recaptured White House. Here, I'll go into some details about life, music, AI, and politics. the usual subjects as of late. 

First, life is what you make it. Regardless of the fact that the United States has entered unchartered territory, life is still somehow amazing. Why? Because I have the capacity for happiness. That's not to say that bad things won't happen, I mean, that's Murphy's Law. But, what I mean to say is that regardless of all the bad things that are happening in the world, or possibly even in our lives and in our loved ones' lives, we should all learn to have the capacity for happiness, and realize, and see/acknowledge, that regardless of how much or how little we have, we all have a lot to be grateful for, in one way or another. Even if you don't believe in God.

Case in point, I'm not necessarily in the best position right now. I'm currently unemployed, after working as a retail grocery cashier for the last ten years straight. This is a mega-change for me, as I'm used to working nonstop 5-6 days per week. And now? Nothing. No weekly paycheck, no cute girl coworkers to talk to or hangout with, no affirmation from customers [mostly beautiful women] telling me I'm doing a good job, no steady schedule of any kind. The biggest problem is that I lost a good form of structure in my life. I miss it and am trying to get back into the job market as soon as I can. 

So, the response to this has been to create a new sort of order to my life. In whatever way I can. For me, this has meant turning more inwards towards books, music, AI, exercise, and cultivating a good clean headspace for me to be in as much as I can. I've found that a lot of my friends/associates from the retail grocery world are much more miserable than I am. Not only that, but they have a lot of health problems like drugs/alcohol, behavioral issues, they don't have money, and the ones that do, they tend to not enjoy their lives because of various reasons like: relationship troubles and lack of purpose working within retail grocery. On top of that, most of them whine and complain like there's no tomorrow. So what's the issue, doc? They simply lack the capacity for happiness. That's right! 

Second, music. I'm finding that music has more often than not, has become more of a background experience for most listeners. Like how all these years I've been going to the bar for music, almost all of the music never mattered, because the audience just uses it as background to drink beer to. This has been true for a long time now, but I think it will become even more so in the coming months and years. 

Why? Because of the advent and widespread usage and acceptance of AI by intellectuals, techies, nerds, artists, musicians, writers, and even the GOP itself, we're finding that AI content is not only accepted, but people are more and more willing to use it for, well, pretty much anything and everything. This includes using AI content for music generation and video generation. And once that content becomes more commonplace and accepted, I think real, live, musicians will be in trouble because people will say, "If I can get an AI orchestra to play Mozart, why would I need to pay a real orchestra?" It sounds a little off but I think it's already happening. Case in point, music production software that increasingly replaces live musicians, although that's been happening for a long time now.  

Third, going back to AI. Right now we live in a world where the Tech Bros are winning at everything and anything. Contrary to popular opinion, while I think AI is a gamechanger and a must use tool for creatives of any kind, I also acknowledge that AI is another weapon in the tech oligarch toolbelt, that can be potentially used to intentionally AND unintentionally harm people who don't use it and understand it. So yes, all this AI stuff is mind-blowing and amazing and it will make you more creative and techy and more computer savvy, but what about all the people who are opposed to it, either they don't like it or they just don't want to use it or acknowledge it? 

Well, unfortunate to say, those people will simply get left behind. People that don't acknowledge, use, or stay informed on AI will find that other people around them will eventually start using it more and more, adding it to their daily routines, and they will catch up to where the Culture is on AI. Right now I think most people are still asleep at the wheel when it comes to AI, as I also believe most people are asleep at the wheel in terms of politics. It's especially important to keep in mind that right now, in some aspects, AI and politics are interlinked, as some liberal thinkers believe that it's because of AI's algorithms that Trump was able to recapture the White House. That's right folks. Beware the Ides of March. 

Lastly, politics. So you see all these things are interlinked [Bladerunner 2049, Ryan Gosling: Interlinked]. The Tech Bros were at the White House inauguration. That's because technology has always been a tool in electing public officials, probably starting with the printing press back in Europe over hundreds of years ago. But now, with the power of AI algorithms, we're finding that controlling the flow and access of various forms of media, in fact, controlling ALL of the flow and access of media, has been very easy for the Republican and Democrats to do, utilizing the new emerging technologies like AI algorithms created by these Tech Bros like Open AI's Sam Altman, who was at the inauguration at the White House when Trump was re-elected. 

It would be nice if people who were using AI were all nice well-to-do dandy intellectual techie guys who want to make the world a better place. But increasingly, more and more, I'm finding that its usually always the opposite, especially when you tune into the media and the news daily and are really reading and paying attention to what's going on. In a truly fucked up way, I think, increasingly, people who use AI look down upon people who are unfamiliar with it and/or don't know about it or don't use it, they're being looked down upon, as like cavemen, as country hicks, or lesser than, simply because they aren't in tune with what's going on with the emerging tech and how it's being utilized to help destroy our late period capitalistic society. 

But for the most part people are asleep at the wheel. We still believe in the Rule of Law. We believe that as long as we go to work, listen to our bosses, do a good job, come home to our families and take care of our wives and kids, that everything's going to be alright, as long we got cash, a car, a home, a wife, and our 2.5 kids and a dog. Well, what if we're asleep at the wheel and we're Caesar and we're about to get stabbed? "And you too, Brutus?" 

Good news for people who love bad news. Watch this space.

[image AI generated] 

Summer’s Last Caress: A Final Embrace of the Season

Happy August, everybody! It's nearly the end of summer, although summer is the hottest month in California, but the good news is here, temperatures are cooling down a bit, here and there, more or less. 

Here, I wanted to jot down some notes on the current state of affairs going on in my life, work life, recreational life, and the political affairs of the worldhood of the world. 

First, the democratic convention has been off to a great start. Trump failed to capitalize on his convention after he got shot at by an attempted assassin. I actually think Trump could have got much more leverage out of the shooting than he did. He could have appeared as a savior figure coming to face the United States of America but instead he played his same old playbook, yelling, complaining, and name calling any and whoever of his political enemies like a whiny brat. 

On the other side of the divide, the republican convention was a bore because it lacked star power other than Trump and Vance themselves. Here, with the democrats they really went all out. Even Oprah's speech was good. Bill Clinton. Obama. Michelle. Biden. And tonight at the end Tim Walz himself, the VP pick, who is now everybody's coach. I was trying to not really listen to every speech and everybody because I get tired of politics especially right now before the election but I have to say, some of these people and some of these speeches demand to be heard. I don't think you can say the same for the people who spoke at the republican convention. It's not an equal performance, the democrats looked, played it, and spoke much better with more depth, warmth, eloquence, and intelligence. Anyone who doesn't see that I reckon just isn't that bright. 

Moving forward, I'm not really the biggest Harris fan. I think she's what the democrats needed in the moment in order to keep up the momentum against Donald Trump and the MAGA wing of the republican party. However, I do think she represents the next step in the democratic party, she's the natural evolution, she's not an outsider, she's been in this politics business a long time, and she already has the skills to be a great president having served as Biden's VP. We know she's smart enough, we know she has the leadership skills, she speaks well, she appears in public, people like her, and she's a big hit with every crowd. 

In addition, Harris is definitely the choice. And if you're undecided just look back at what Trump did during his term. He barely built small sections of a wall, he did the Muslim ban, he called immigrants rapists and criminals, he did this stupid tariffs, he blamed covid on the Chinese and was very racist about it, he tried to persecute his political enemies even though he's the one who did all these crimes, and last but not least let's forget the Carroll case where he turned out to be a rapist, or slept with Stormy Daniels and paid her hush money, or said about John McCain being a soldier, "I like people who don't get captured, he's not patriotic," or the guy who said that soldiers who died were, "suckers and losers," the guy who helped cause the January 6 insurrection, and the guy who has 34 felony count indictments. This might be the worst guy ever to run for office ever. You don't have to be genius IQ level person to know that Trump doesn't care about working people and their families, rather, he cares about staying in office in order to hang onto control of his fate, because otherwise, he's probably going to be spending his final years in a prison cell with secret service watching him outside the door. 

Lastly on politics, I think republicans know that the Trump wave is over. They come out at the grocery store and when people steal they yell, "this is Biden's America," "only in Biden's America," they're quick to blame any of American's societal woes on the President when in reality that's not why people are going out and stealing groceries, they're stealing because they're struggling. Donald Trump isn't going to make things easier for the hard working families, rather, he's going to cut taxes for the wealthy, slap on tariffs, and increase your taxes. Donald Trump has promised to be a dictator on day one. We're here to make sure that doesn't happen. 

In other news, I've been working and reading a lot. I took a vacation a few weeks ago that was pretty satisfying. I read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and now I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities, so I've been catching that early 19th century British novel feeling. I think Dickens is sort of a genius inspiration. All his characters are relatable, mostly working class, although there's always a few rich people here and there, but for the most part he writes about everyday people of that era, and he sort of brings them life through the page in a very inspiring way. It's definitely not modern writing but the writing is so good that I'm surprised I haven't quite checked it out all before. I had always heard of Dickens but never checked him out until now. I know that his work is mostly assigned at the high school level for English courses. I might go through his catalogue, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield are on my list.   

Also, work has been on the usual side. Nothing exciting, but hey, no news is good news. Management still tries to get in your face and tell you off here and there, but you just can't let it get to you. There's a lot of internal politics there because lower management is union and upper management is not union, so there's always that us versus them element within this work environment. You have to lay low and sort of stay lowkey in order to protect yourself and try to keep rising in the company. It's a slow grind, a long burn. I've probably worked with over 100 employees going back to 2013, I've worked with over 6 upper management store directors and assistant store managers, so in a way that's a great sign, if I can't beat them in the game, I can surely outlast them, inshallah. But the work gig isn't really as important as the other things I'm doing, mostly reading. I've even been getting better at Spanish too, which has become very helpful at work with a lot of the Hispanic people that come through at self-checkout. I sort of see that with languages knowing the basics is easy, but most people talk about things using the basics, so I sort of see that other languages can be pretty easy sometimes, but not all times. 

Lastly, I think the hardest thing to do right now is to be successful. Most people are not successful. Nearly every guy I know or have known through work [mostly all retail people] or via mutual people and friends of mine are not successful and are not at their best at this point in their lives. I've been lucky enough to have found a little success in this cruel world and the truth of the matter is that once you get a little success in this world, most people are going to sort of bad mouth you or try to undercut you or devalue in some way, they want to bring you down, they don't want to see you rise higher and higher, especially because you're rising above them. 

I see men my age sitting inside in high AC just playing video games all day without a care in the world, they waste their creativity on being couch slugs, slurping down soda, energy drinks, booze, and smoking marijuana, and wondering why their wife or girlfriend is mad about them playing video games all the time. 

If you're anything of an intelligent man who's successful, even in a small way, these other types of not-successful guys [also women] will sort of hate on you via different ways; they'll bother you at work about your job performance or try to get you into some sort of trouble there, they'll belittle or give you back-handed compliments, they'll try to add you on social media and never post or comment on anything but try to watch your every move because although they don't like you, they want to keep tabs on you. 

I suppose what I'm saying is that once you find success in whatever way, shape, or form, you'll find that its very lonely because oftentimes, people don't want to see you, particularly you, in a better position than they are in. This goes back to the green-eyed monster. This goes back to the Trump thing too. The America that the media and more importantly, the right wingers are portraying is the us versus them America, yeah that theory works if you're not that smart, but the reality is that the worldhood of the world is much more nuanced, complex, and grey than what is normally seen in media, especially in right wing media. So yeah, if you're successful, you'll find that people around you won't be, because it's you. But more often than not, other successful people will find you and lend a helping hand here and there, because they're successful enough to do it. 

Fin

Live Jazz Trio! 9/14/2022!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC4eRvDbS88&t=218s&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RhMMStW7-8&t=1715s&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

Live Jazz Trio, recorded live from Facebook on 9/14/2022

Feather Robley on percussion

Jason Tomas on alto saxophone

Orlando Figueroa on 7-string guitar 

Thank You

Live guitar jam! 7/7/2022!

Howdy, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU-1HPMk3SU&ab_channel=MegaFigueroa007

This is a livestream from yesterday. I was suppose to jam with my friend Jason Tomas, who plays saxophone, but there was some kind of mix up, so I ended up jamming half the set jazz improv, and the rest more rock and roll. Thanks, enjoy!

Peace and Love

Luditas y Tecnócratas

The world today is a machine of chaos. The virus is running rampant, killing 2700 in one day. Social media sows discord and division in our populace and politics. Things aren't the way they were before, you'd hardly even recognize it anymore. We, as an organism are so attached to our technology that most of us couldn't live without it, or even imagine a world without it. Would it be like the Utopia or New Atlantis or Sir Tomas More and Francis Bacon? Maybe. Maybe not. Would I even be writing this if I knew that nobody would read it? Without the support of the internet to share my ideas, would they still be worth writing about only for myself, or just family and friends?  

Everyday is a new construct in which technology is used to maximum effect. We leave our smartphones in our pocket all day long at work and even go on them when at home at night. Our computers, televisions, and video game consoles are bastions of the shiftless biomass, the state of nature in America right now, especially under quarantine. Social media is used to no end and will probably continue to be ad infinitum. 

But not all of it is bad. Tech can be used for the good of society but more often than not, when tech is left unregulated, it becomes a tool of the super rich, powerful, technocrats. They use their mathematical scientific abilities to create apps, or websites, or algorithms that potentially can last forever until eventually replaced by another one. 

You are not a gadget. It isn't normal for a human being or animal [for man is but an animal with sense of virtue of what is good] to walk around with a computer in their pocket, forever connected to a fantasy mini universe [the internet] at all times of morning, day, or night. But we let these things happen because we're moving with the spirit of the times. If everyone has the new iPhone, then it means it's time to upgrade my old iPhone and get the newer one. Is that what you should do?

The luddites that exist in society today are borderline living on the fringe types. They might live in the woods, on a farm, or Wisconsin, or Alaska, or a wood elf type of forest area with big houses enshrouded in darkness. Isolation and loneliness isn't as much of a problem for the luddites, for they always have the natural world, the natural order of things that makes them happy. On the other side of the equation, in comparison, the technocrats have their money, power, and grand influence over the emerging world to make them happy. Who am I to deny any of them happiness? 

The way of the old world is dying and/or already dead. Language learning isn't a focus in America. Music learning isn't a focus. We no longer read books or get our kids to be interested in them. Math test scores are very low. Science scores are very low. Kids from other countries come here to learn and learn more than our kids do, taking their knowledge back to their own countries and doing good things in their worlds. We focus on getting our kids through college and getting them to work, a very fine venture but if they don't actually learn anything, are we really doing a good job?

The old world is nature, animals, music, books, art. The new world is television, video games, movies, social media, and constant overuse of technology. There are good and bad variables regarding the characteristics of the old world versus the new world, but it can't be denied that the way of the world is shifting into a deified technological statehood, being and time of the digital age. 

The cyberpunk aesthetic of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is already here. Fundamentally, most Americans [most humans with smartphones and computers] are cyborgs. We're attached to our phones, computers, and tv's like they're an extension of our body, an extension of ourselves. Who needs to play Cyberpunk 2077 when we're living through it everyday of our lives. This is why it is important to always take time to reject technology, set it down for a set period, and come back to it at a later period. If you're interested in what a true gritty cyberpunk world looks like, read William Gibson's Neuromancer. In the Trump era, it goes without saying that we are living in the realm of science fiction and far right political ideology that is so fringe that it reminds us of Nazi Germany. The past is reminiscent of the future. When we stare into the abyss, it looks back at us. 

Will the future remember things like Plutarch, Homer, Mozart, and Charlie Bird Parker? Or will they focus more on what happened during the 2016 to 2020 elections? The world lives another day but tomorrow never knows.    

Thoughts on Language Learning

-These are my thoughts on language learning after learning Spanish for three weeks, he estado aprendiendo español por solo tres semanas pero planeo aprender de por vida.

-You're brain is actually learning something so new, so different, that it's teaching you to think differently, think differently in another language.

-It's like that science fiction movie from 2016, starring Amy Adams, Arrival, in which she learns how to communicate with aliens. 

-Her brain gets rewired, she learns to think so differently, that she learns to think like the aliens and communicate with them.

-The revolutionary philosopher Wittgenstein says, "life is language games," well the more different words in different language that you know, the more you see that this is the case.

-Sometimes when sleeping and upon wakeup, you're thinking about all the new words, phrases, and accents that you've learned. At first this freaked me out because I wasn't used to a cacophony of words of different languages in my head, however, you soon realize that you'll become used to it, and that you've begun to learn to think in those other words/languages.

-It's a fun activity for me, I learn on the google translate app or google translate on my computer, sometimes I learn for 5 minutes a day, sometimes for over an hour, and sometimes 20-30 minutes. Because I'm not being forced to learn against my will, my mind is open and I've even begun to become something of a miniature polyglot. 

-The vast wealth of beauty that exists in language appear to me in the form of Spanish, Italian, and French. However, I do find a different kind of beauty in the languages from the Far East like Chinese and Japanese.

-Upon reaching my fourth week of Spanish language studies, and learning bits and pieces from other languages, you soon realize that all of the information will be forgotten unless the material is consistently repeated and reworked over and spoken aloud with others, speaking the words aloud is the most consistent way to reinforce your memory. 

-Once you learn more words in other languages, the sound of the languages, the sound of the culture becomes a part of you, thus you are able to articulate and understand English much better as a result.  

-Spanish is the best language for me because it is the first language I wanted to learn, then next in line is Italian because it sounds muy bonita, then French because its very useful and also sounds great.

-There is somewhat of a correlation between the thick European languages like German, Russian, Swedish, and say Chinese [Mandarin, Cantonese] and Japanese, although it is very small.

-The root of all my language learning, as what Wittgenstein would call language games is all based on Latin, the godfather of Romance Languages; Learn Latin, and I can finally read Ovid's Metamorphosis in its original format, a true worthy goal of artistic expression and understanding. [Very difficult and would take years]

-The case is that once you start learning you can't stop otherwise your vocabulary of phrases, words, grammar, visual memory of the words, and accents will slowly fade away, so don't give up. 

-An end goal would be to travel across the world and speak whatever languages I need with ease. 

-A much more difficult goal could be to learn Spanish, Italian, and French, and become a translator and do that as a career.

-An easier goal, move to another country that speaks Spanish, Italian, or French [or even China to speak Mandarin], and get a job teaching English, and learning their language from the locals. 

-You're brain is rewired and overloaded with so much new information every time you learn, you must remember to always get plenty of rest. Day naps and night naps are both needed!

-Sometimes upon wakeup you'll think thoughts in Spanish as you get out of bed, at first it's a bit scary and unusual, but you soon get used to it, and recognize the fact that you're thinking in another language but that you're fundamentally the same animal. 

-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's Don Quixote is one of my primary inspirations for my Spanish learning, as Cervantes' has been called the godfather of the Spanish language, for good reason, his Spanish language style is unmatched. 

-After quarantine is over, I want to visit Mexico, and have a blast with Spanish.

-What better way to spend your time in quarantine than learning other languages and appreciating other cultures? The world doesn't revolve around just America or just English. In the brand new emerging world, the times they are changing. 

The Tale of Genji

The Tale of Genji is a Japanese masterpiece of literature [considered the first novel] from the Heian period, roughly (794-1185). Written by a woman named Murasaki Shikibu. She was born into a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan. Her father was a governor. Men wrote in Chinese. Women wrote and read in Japanese, which led to female writers of Japanese, highborn women. She started writing this novel, which is over a thousand pages after her husband died. Scholars tend to disagree on the writer. Some say it was the work of many authors, as says Royall Tyler, who's translation [only 300 pages] I read. Others say its solely Muraski's work. The actual story itself has a continuity that suggests there is only one writer, her. 

The original manuscript is gone. This brings up the issue of translation. Heian Japanese is so different from modern Japanese. Translating Heian Japanese into English is a daunting task unto itself. However, a literal translation of Genji is impossible. Not only that but each English translation of Genji is so remarkably different. Consider these renderings of the same sentence by different English translators. 

In Chapter 4, titled “Yugao,” Genji comes across a run-down house, the abode of a young woman he is about to seduce. Waley describes the entrance like this: “There was a wattled fence over which some ivy-like creeper spread its cool green leaves, and among the leaves were white flowers with petals half-unfolded like the lips of people smiling at their own thoughts.” Seidensticker: “A pleasantly green vine was climbing a board wall. The white flowers, he thought, had a rather self-satisfied look about them.” Tyler: “A bright green vine, its white flowers smiling to themselves, was clambering merrily over what looked like a board fence.” Washburn: “A pleasant-looking green vine was creeping luxuriantly up a horizontal trellis, which resembled a board fence. White flowers were blooming on the vine, looking extremely self-satisfied and apparently without a care in the world.” [newyorker] 

Each version is so different, yet say the same thing in their own inimitable way. It's remarkable. The act of translating itself is a science. One could write an entire treatise on the art of translating. It would be worth the read. Genji made me realize how important a good translation of a book is. Before that, I was in the dark about it.

What is The Tale of Genji about? A noble and his concubines. It's about the art of seduction. But even simpler I would say it's about relationships. A man and his relationships with women. In this society, the way to a woman's heart was through poems, delivered by a go-between, who was elegantly dressed, and of appropriate social standing.

Courtly lovers didn't see each other face to face often, certainly not naked. Women of the upper class sat behind screens, and sliding doors. Women were protected by screens even when they spoke with males in their own family. A guy could be driven wild if he saw a woman's sleeve spill out or the sound of silk rustling behind the screen.

But people still got it on. Nobles and their ladies were promiscuous. Affairs with court ladies and ladies in waiting were perks of an aristocrat's life. So was adultery sometimes. Genji, when he's still young, has an affair with his father's [the Emperor] mistress. And both father and son lust after a young girl, that Genji adopted as his daughter. 

The requirement of a gentleman was style. You could be forgiven for seducing a man's wife. But you had to know how to write good poetry, have good handwriting, and wear the right perfume. Despite the influence of Buddhism, Heian society was governed by style rather than virtue. Good looks meant everything, virtue be damned. 

The ideal man wasn't too much different from the ideal woman in Heian society: highly perfumed, smooth-skinned, moon-faced, extravagantly dressed. The decadence of the times led to what Genji called a time “where everything seems to be in a state of decline." A state of decadence.

All of this had a strong sense of hierarchy of course. Also, Heian politics was marriage politics.  

Three important takeaways from reading Tyler's translation of Genji. 

First, this book gave me my first real look at Japanese culture that wasn't from anime or movies. I understand Japanese culture and society a lot better than I did in the past, and am grateful for the experience of reading world literature. It opened up my mind to the literature of other cultures [non-western canon], and that is an amazing gift to oneself, and for anyone who cares to discuss the book with me or listen to me explain it.

Second, the idea of translation. Lost in translation is a big possibility here. But the fact that the first novel can be somewhat preserved and rendered into modern readable English from Heian Japanese is fascinating to me. How do they do it? It's like nuclear physics. The translations in English are all vastly different. The book is 1300 pages, and the version I read and bought is only 300 pages. Obviously, Tyler's version is heavily edited, abridged, and he took out many passages, but I still found the book to be thrilling. 

Third, the sense of style. The elegance of this book is vast. You don't need action and fast-paced fiction writing to create a sense of depth. As a writer, this is very liberating to see, read, and experience. In fact, I had to read this book very slowly because each page is annotated, there's more than one poem on every page, and if you don't read the footnotes at the bottom of the page, you don't quite understand the poems. However, when you realize that the poems aren't literal translations, and don't quite mean much to you, the reader, you realize that you should focus on the story itself, rather than trying to find meanings in the poems. Going through that was a tedious yet rewarding experience. 

I plan on going back through Tyler's version again. Because I was so impressed with it, I bought my own used copy. Definitely worth it. Although the book took me almost a week to read, it was a very fruitful experience. At the very least, now I know where Overwatch's Genji got his inspiration. Of course, the real, yet fictional Genji is so much cooler. 

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The epic of Gilgamesh is a trip. Dating back to Mesopotamia around 2112 BC, it's one of the oldest works of writing in human history. Older than anything I've ever read. Of course, the original story was written on clay tablets in Akkadian, but today we have these English translations that may or may not be a direct translation. This makes for interesting reading for the modern reader like myself. 

The story is about a ruthless king named Gilgamesh. This guy is such an asshole that he rapes any woman he wants, and even rapes a woman on her wedding day. Gilgamesh is on the war path, treating his subjects like crap. The old Babylonian gods are mad at Gilgamesh, who happens to be 2/3's god but still a mere mortal. So they decide to create an equal to go up against him and show him whats up. Nobody is equal to Gilgamesh in strength or wit until the gods create Enkidu from clay. Enkidu is first a wild man, living with the animals in nature. Eventually, a hunter finds him and takes him to the city, where he joins civilization. After he realizes that the animals don't like him anymore he sees that he has become apart of mankind. 

Enkidu hears about the bad stuff Gilgamesh does so he challenges him to a fight. They wrestle for a long time until Gilgamesh gets the upper hand and defeats him. After that, they see each other as equals and become fast friends. Sounds like the fight I had between my first bully in middle school.

Later, they decide to take up the mantle of heroes. The two embark on a voyage to this forest that is forbidden to mortals. They just want some trees and show off that they are heroes for going where mortals aren't allowed. They go there and find the guardian of the forest, a monster that guides the forest for the gods. They kill the monster, take some trees, and build a boat out of it and go back home to Uruk as heroes.

Later, the goddess Ishtar attempts to seduce Gilgamesh but he's not interested. She gets mad and has her father, Anu, the god of the sky, creates a monster called the Bull of Heaven to fight Gilgamesh but together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the beast. However, as punishment for killing the Bull of Heaven the gods decide that one of our two heroes must die. Enkidu draws the shortest straw. Enkidu gets sick and tells Gilgamesh of visions of the afterlife before he croaks.

Enkidu's death causes Gilgamesh grief, something he had never experienced before, experiencing the death of a loved one. This causes Gilgamesh to seek out a way to cheat death and live forever. Gilgamesh goes through many trials on his own but finds his way to  Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim is the first Noah as in Noah's ark. The gods created a flood that destroyed all of mankind but Utnapishtim ended up creating an ark that housed two [male/female] of every animal, to save life after the Deluge. After the gods saw that he did this and ended up living after the flood they granted him eternal life. Utnapishtim offers to give Gilgamesh the gift of eternal life but he has to do one thing first: He has to stay awake [without sleeping] for an entire week. Gilgamesh foolishly attempts to do it only to fail spectacularly. He prepares to go home in shame and sorrow. But then Utnapishtim's wife feels sorry for Gilgamesh and has Utnapishtim tell Gilgamesh where he can find this plant that will restore life back to its vibrant youth [pretty much eternal life sort of]. Gilgamesh finds the plant easily, but when he's sleeping a snake comes and steals it [echoes of Satan of the Bible], sheds its skin, and regains its youth, leaving Gilgamesh defeated. 

The story ends with Gilgamesh going back to Uruk and coming to terms with his mortality. He realizes that the city he has will be his everlasting legacy. He realizes that although he and the city may be forgotten the human race will live forever [sort of].  

Well, where do we start? In terms of themes, there's a lot going on here. There's love, friendship, and loss once Gilgamesh becomes best friends with Enkidu, and then Enkidu ends up dying. This is a theme that continues throughout literature even today. When Enkidu becomes a best friend Gilgamesh changes, starts to feel compassion for others. In fact, he had changed so much that when he got the plant that restores youth, he was planning on giving it to the elders of Uruk. I did not see that coming.

Another major theme is the inevitability of death. This is a theme that continues throughout literature today as well. Here we have a guy who tries to overcome death but inevitably realizes that he's a mere mortal like all of us. He comes to grips with reality and sees that the life he has is the only life he will ever have so he should make the most of it and live a fulfilling life. Although Gilgamesh is part god he's still mortal too after all. 

It should also be noted that there are parallels here between Gilgamesh and the Bible. The flood story [called the Deluge here] is completely identical to the story of Noah's ark in the Bible exempting the fact that God didn't make Noah immortal for doing that in the Bible. Also, the poem makes a serpent the thief of eternal life [the youth-restoring plant]. This is identical to when Satan takes the form of a snake and persuades Eve to eat the apple from the forbidden area of the Garden of Eden. It's remarkable that Gilgamesh and the Bible are so similar especially because they were separated by so much time. This shows the legacy of literature. Once something is written down it may last forever [or 4000 years in this case]. And that really shows how important the epic of Gilgamesh is.

Closing thoughts 

This is a fast read but an interesting adventure. It's a classic because it's one of the oldest surviving works of fiction and its themes are still being rehashed today. The gods of these ancient times are still talked about today [usually in conspiracies] and they resonant with the Greek/Roman/Norse gods as well. You see a pattern here with the way the gods behave here as well as in the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid. You see a pattern with the savage violence of monsters here as you do in say, Beowulf. However, I'm just comparing these things to each other because I read them all in one fell swoop. They are all very different of course. I think I would understand Gilgamesh better if I knew more about those ancient times but for now, the long introduction of the translation I had [Penguin Classics] will have to suffice. This is a grand tale worth your attention and time. If you like epics, poetry, fiction, and classics then this will definitely take up space on your bookshelf. You don't forget a tale like this easily because it's just that damn good. 

Floating Worlds

Floating Worlds is a terrific science fiction novel from 1975. Written by historical fiction writer Cecilia Holland, this is her first and only science fiction novel. The book is about a biracial woman named Paula Mendoza, who at the beginning of the book gets tired of her lame boyfriend, dumps him, and gets a job working for The Committee, a group of Anarchists who help manage Earth's government. This all happens thousands of years into the future by the way, where pollution has decimated the Earth, resulting in humans living protected in domes. 

Enter Styths. Paula's job is to get the Styths to agree to a treaty, which lasts ten years. The Styths are descendants of the first humans on Uranus, except they've changed, they're mutated. They're eight feet tall mutated humans [aliens], that speak a different language, live in a patriarchal society, are disgustingly racist [use the n-word all the time], and are complete savages who raid Mars and enslave thousands of people. They are described as black skinned mutants with long mustaches. Paula's means of getting the Styths to sign the treaty is a bit scandalous. She seduces their leader, Saba, and has a Styth baby by him, goes to live with him on his home planet, and engages in the politics from there.

Saba is a brutal alien. He beats Paula and at one point even rapes her. However, Paula comes back to him in order to do what she wants, which is whatever she wants, whenever she wants it. She's the idea of the female man, she's the perfect anarchist because although she's working for the Committee, she's also working for herself, and for the Styths, all at the same and sometimes different points in the novel. In a sense, we never get to know whats going on in Paula's head, but we can infer from the prose.

Floating worlds has two very important quirks. First, the prose is very short and simple sentences. Second, Holland never explains anything. There's no legendary or epic grand science fiction exposition here. This isn't Man Plus, with its eloquent and long exposition, a book I read recently. She doesn't explain how any of the technology works, the world of the space opera itself, the psychological state and/or feelings of the characters. Instead, we get a point of view of the character told from these short simple sentences that explain whats going on, and the dialogue between the different characters. It's a unique way to write, a very inspiring one as well when you realize that sometimes all you need is to be simple and straight to the point. In a way, this book taught me a new way to approach writing. I realized that technically, I don't have know the scientific facts that exist in the world of science fiction. You could just have incredible technology and just have it work, that's what Holland does here. None of the tech is explained, the characters just use these advanced computers and they work fine without any fine details.

There's space combat, tribal duels to claim the Styth throne, romance, lesbian sex, lots of sex in general, seduction, betrayal, politics regarding gender, race, and class, war, a fallout Earth that feels like the 1970s, contemporary. The ending itself is almost the same as the ending for Schismatrix, which came out ten years later, which is the main character walking away from the entire space opera in a state of experienced zen-bliss? Perhaps something like describes it.

There are many reasons why this novel is important. The biggest reason is that this is a science fiction novel with a powerful female protagonist. Another important female protagonist I can think of is Lady Jessica, of the Bene Gesserit Order, from Dune. Also, this is a space opera on a grand scale that takes place over twenty years. You're going to be going through long reading sessions to finish this novel [465 pages]. However, you get in a rhythm, pacing if you will, when you learn to enjoy the simpleness of the sentences, and the uniqueness of the prose. I can see how the 80's of writers like Bruce Sterling may have been influenced by this. If not influenced then at least definitely aware. Schismatrix Plus comes to mind especially. Lastly, because of the writing style and lack of psychological detail and exposition, this is a very unique science fiction novel, which makes it worth reading, dusting off the 1970's dust and brought into the light of 2019.

I liked this book so much that I ended up buying a used copy from a third party on Amazon for eight bucks. This is going to be one of my prized SF novels on my book shelf. It's so good that I'm planning on reading Holland's historical fiction at some point in the future too. This is a work of great lost art from the '70s, it deserves to be on anyone's book shelf. 

[my copy has this book cover, the original book cover, pictured top]

Why there's no excuse for stupidy in 2018

I've gone through a vast reeducation, learning about everything from jazz music history, to philosophy, to ethics, politics, journalism, propaganda, and government. My friends aren't interested in any of that stuff and they don't want to hear about it. I have a friend who is even against reading in and of itself. The rise of anti-intellectualism has been timed perfectly with the rise of Trump. With anti-intellectualism comes racism, and prejudice, like the neo-Nazi rally last year in Charlottesville where one person died to to a neo-Nazi driving a car into the crowd. However, in today's modern technological golden age, there's no excuse to be stupid, uninformed, or uneducated. You don't have to go to college to be an intellectual. But it sure helps to go to school and come from a rich, educated family.

First of all, because the internet is pretty cheap (or free if you go to the library or a coffee shop), that means that everybody has constant access to free information. This free information is indispensable right now. I wouldn't be able to order the books I want to read without being able to look titles up through the library's servers. I wouldn't know whats going on in government if it weren't for the news websites. Its a given that you can learn a lot because of the free information on the net. Use it or lose it. Don't use it just for Instagram and Twitter. The modern thinker uses the internet to strengthen his wits and to engage discourse in ideas, art, and culture. Most of the music I listen to is on YouTube for free. That is how I know so much about music, by listening to it online for free.

Next, the archaic media known as books. Reading wasn't something I was attracted to for nearly twenty years. I did two years at the University of Wisconsin system and the entire time I was there I dreaded reading and preferred to play guitar in the guitar club and hang out with my buddies in the computer science club. It wasn't until the ripe age of twenty that I began my reading career. Technically I'm behind my peers, some of whom already have Bachelors, Masters, and even PhD's. When my dad was my age he had already read most of the best that science fiction had to offer whereas I'm still somewhere in the beginning of it.

Reading isn't something you can force yourself to do. You have to learn to enjoy it, to enjoy the process of prose, and gain intellectual understanding of the text, as well as empathy within the narrative. Its a powerful force. Literature may be more important to mankind than music, and I love music dearly! To finish on this subject there's no excuse to be stupid because books are free and you can learn about nearly anything and everything, provided you have a library card and dedicate the time to improving your mind. You might find that you have a greater appreciation from the world after you've read a lot. I've found that my thinking has become more linear, concise, and forward. It also helped me to become a better writer, something I strive for, especially because I have aspirations of becoming a writer.

Lastly, your peers, friends, co-workers, bosses, and even customers at your work affect you in some ways. Sometimes they can change you for the better, to become smarter by giving you advice, sometimes even when you didn't think you would need it. This guitar player customer taught me a lot about jazz guitar comping when he told me I should play the chords with the pick and fingers rather than just using the pick all the time. Such a simple thing but I never figured that out on my own in my ten years of playing the guitar. Its not rocket science but its helped me a lot.

The more people you know the more advice you'll get. Most of this you can take it or leave it. However, I find that when I look into things that people tell me to do or look up I find myself enriched by that said thing, even if its something small like,"you should write everyday", "look up this political writer", "listen to this classical composer", etc, etc. The list is endless. At the end of the day something your peers or customers tell you isn't going to change your world but it may help you somehow.

These are the reasons why there's no excuse to be stupid in 2018. Maybe instead of lurking on Facebook or Instagram or playing video games you should finally crack open that novel that you bought but haven't started yet. Your mind will thank you later.

The Beats

The Beats: A Very Short Introduction by David Sterritt is a cute one hundred and twenty six page book about the Beatnik writers and poets from the 1950s. The lives and works of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S.Burroughs are covered with great detail in addition to Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Clellon Holmes, Gary Snyder, and Kenneth Rexroth. I must also mention LeRoi Jones, Anne Waldeman, and DiPrima too, as they are mentioned near the end.

My dad found the short book at the library and thought it would give me a better perspective on the true Hipsters (not the Arcade Fire fans), the Beatniks, as I formed an interest and I've been reading Kerouac's On the Road, which I found out is one of the most important works to come out of this movement.

I learned that the Beats mostly came from middle class and sometimes even bourgeois background, which gave them the comfortable life, which enabled them to becomes Beats in the first place. You can't become an artist and dissident of society if you are struggling to survive or pay rent. They were mostly white males who explored with sexuality, drugs, and religion. Ginsberg and Burroughs were gay in a time where being gay could get you beaten up or possibly killed. The Beats were avid readers of Oriental religious text, and were heavily inspired by Buddhism. Interestingly enough I had a book on Zen Buddhism that I read everyday for a while until I could understand the hermeneutics  of it. I can leave the gay sex and drugs (especially hard drugs) behind though (lol).

Another important influence on the Beats was jazz music, particularly bebop. Ginsberg had a name for Kerouac's improvisational writing style where he would write and write without stopping, creating the sensation of a saxophone player blowing on the bandstand. I like that very much. I'm beginning to see jazz's influence on literature a lot more now after reading this book whereas before when I was just reading about the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a book by George Lewis) and biographies (Kansas City Lightning by Stanley Crouch), I couldn't see that correlation. But now I see that jazz has an even longer extended reach than I previously thought, interesting indeed.

I especially liked the ending of the book where Sterritt makes a bold universal claim; nearly all the movements that sprang up in recent times owe something in part to the Beats. He makes references to the Tea Party Movement, Occupy Movement, Cyberpunk (of which I am definitely apart of) Movement, and more. In a lot of ways I can see that he's right. In order for various movements to be started people have to reject society in a certain way, to create their own form of society through art, in this case through artistic literary works. It's quite wonderful.

All these writers will be legends in the future. The world won't forget them. It seems as society has become more conservative (the Reagan years and now in the Trump years) the ideas of the Beats have never sounded so universal. Sterritt says that there are Beats (in a different sense) in other countries but especially China, where there are people who are different kinds of Beats that might come to important and historical light in the upcoming years. All interesting things to think about.

Its quite a good book and if you want to learn about these great writers, their works, and the Beatniks in general this would be a great place to start. Very informative, engaging, and most importantly fun to read.

Lastly, learning all this stuff about the Beats makes me realize that most of the young people today who believe that are true outsiders are actually quite conservative conformists. The idea of young people today believing that they are 'different', 'cool', outside of the norms of society is quite wrong. Most of them will never truly be outsiders because they will never have to deal with status inconsistency. These writers did. That's the difference.

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jack_kerouac_119789

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion. -Kerouac 

Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/jack_kerouac_119789

Music-Metal

     Lately I've been listening to a lot of music-mostly metal stuff. I've become a really big fan of Suicidal Tendencies and I see them as one of the best metal bands. I've also been listening to a lot of shred stuff like Jeff Loomis, metal-core, and technical death metal stuff as well. It's great to just turn on some metal and relax. Right now I'm listening to Black Sabbath's tune End of the Beginning. I must say that it sounds like classic Sabbath except better because of the enhanced sound of modern guitar tone and technology. The lyrics are pretty interesting, the riffs are pummel you with sonic energy, and the drums are as heavy as a truck. And Toni Iommi has become an even better soloist on the guitar, its remarkable. I still recognize his trademark licks. I might even wanna get a Suicidal Tendencies shirt soon. They always have such cool shirts!

Little Tokyo

     Today was a great day off. My friends and I went to Little Tokyo, which is downtown LA, somewhere around there. It was the first time I've ever been there and it was a treat! The drive wasn't too bad but there was a lot of traffic going both ways. The first thing we did when we got there was eat at this place called Mr. Ramen, this tiny whole in the wall sort of restaurant with all this colorful artwork all over the walls. It was so colorful to the point that it looked tacky but my friends said that all the artwork was something new that they added to the restaurant recently.
     When it came to my meal I ended up getting the beef ramen. It had slices of shredded beef, cilantro, those vegetables that's always in pho (see through veggie), and noodles. The broth was so good! I ended up eating/drinking all of it. We ate a bunch of great snacks today. We got these things called Pocky's at a grocery store and there were all kinds of flavors. It's basically a chocolate/other flavor sweet cookie sort of snack. And then later my friends got tacoyaki, this fried bread-like ball with meat and sauce inside. Really tasty stuff. I really enjoy Japanese food as well as other aspects of Japanese culture-anime, gaming, waifus, swords, women, lol.
     We ended up walking all over the place. It was a little hot under the sun but we endured it. In terms of appearances Little Tokyo doesn't look very Japanese. It looks like a rundown area of LA. We saw plenty of homeless people, one guy even coming up to us and shouting,"Give me some money" lol. The shops we went to were all great but at same the time I thought I didn't have very much cash so I didn't buy anything substantial like a toy model or other bric a bracs. Instead I just got this cool black and red Japan rising sun head band that said kamikaze. I only hope it doesn't stand for kamikaze pilots lol. I won't be wearing it, its just something I wanted as a neat souvenir.
     The best part of the trip other than the great food was the anime/hobby shops we went to. I saw great anime model toys, waifu pillows(!), keychains, pins, anime, posters, shirts, manga, and trading cards. What really caught my eye was this Kirby (Nintendo's very own pink marshmallow) toy model. It was very detailed and if I knew I had the cash I would've definitely bought it. Oh well, maybe next time. It was a fun experience and I would definitely want to go back in the future, this time looking for things in particular that I can't find elsewhere.
     After we came back we played some smash. I've reconciled the fact that I'm going to be a Bayonetta main with a strong Zero Suit Samus secondary, sometimes even preferring to use Zss over Bayonetta in certain match-ups. For the time being I want to focus on Zss until I can master the Bayonetta 0-death combos that are so popular. I've got a tournament tomorrow at Fire and Dice, we'll see what happens. I'll probably use Zss if I feel like Bayonetta isn't as strong in whatever match-ups I get thrown into. I've been playing a lot of smash with my friends but they like playing free for all with the three of us, and that's just not going to help me in a tournament setting. We do have days where we just play 1v1's and take turns but that doesn't happen nearly enough for us to keep improving at the game. I've definitely got to get us out of playing those dumb free for alls.
     Hope you're all having a good work week. In other news I'm going on vacation next week but I'll probably still be blogging with my laptop. In addition, Pokken Tournament comes out on Friday, March 18 so I'm definitely excited for that. Wish me luck in the tournament tomorrow!