Takoyaki Journals

BAK!

2011-12-18T02:28:09Z

Back from Japan where much work and shopping was accomplished. It felt really good to be useful, and to know that my Japanese hasn't faded out. I'm just as sharp as I ever have been. This has been a huge worry since I can go two weeks at my job without having to use any language skills.

I am glad it only lasted a week though, since I was about ready to kill my coworkers by the end of it. But it's a shame we had to go right home and I couldn't find time to visit with Soranokumo, or anyone else I still know in Japan. We had one day of play...and I did get some shopping done, but I had to play tour guide so it wasn't really a good time to slip away and go find doujinshi or anything.

But I did get the one thing I really wanted to but couldn't on my last trip, which is an itunes gift card so I can get some new Japanese music. Which of course means I'm hoarding it and spending all my time on youtube trying to figure out which songs to get, since even 5000 yen isn't going to buy very much.

All this means that I ended up finding out that one of my favorite Japanese groups, Rip Slyme, did the ending theme for the Japanese dub of Spongebob Squarepants.

You're welcome.

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Rollercoaster

2011-09-29T11:51:51Z

What a rollercoaster morning. I packed a delicious lunch (sage roasted chicken with glazed turnips and apples) got in the car, and Kate Beaton was on the radio!! I was so excited. I made viking hands.

And then I got to work to find out that the phone conference with the customer this afternoon...it's not a phone conference, we have to go there.

My coworker who's also in the meeting came by while I was making oatmeal, and I was so surprised that I poured all the water into the oatmeal packet. Luckily I had another packet at my desk, so all was not lost.

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Audit Part two...

2011-06-01T17:12:33Z

Ann, you're a translator. Can you translate this from French?

.....Yes, because Japanese and French have SO much in common.

(Today is not going nearly as bad as yesterday.)

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Oh my dear aunt sally

2011-05-31T22:14:59Z

Shoot me now. This audit sucks.

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You fail at compliments

2011-04-19T11:52:38Z

So the orange macarons I made for Boston were a bust. I'm not sure whether it was the fact that not all my egg whites were properly aged, or the orange essence screwed up the balance, but they ended up being all lopsided and hollow in the middle.

But they still taste pretty good. So I put a plate of my oopses together and brought them in to work.

My boss tried one and said. "Wow, these taste like circus peanuts."

*sigh*

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What did you get out of school?

2010-12-06T20:34:21Z

I was talking to soranokumo the other night, and we somehow got on the topic of school, and what did you learn that was actually useful for you in the real world. I thought about it some, and my answers surprised me. I mean, yeah, taking Japanese in school obviously got me into the auto industry. But other than that.

I'd say #3 on the list is Art. The art classes I took in High School, and that one Web Design class I took with twigcollins in college were some of the most valuable things I ever did in school. I make one classy Powerpoint. No, really! I know how to use fonts and effects, how to use clip art and such without looking completely dorky. How to layout the text so it's clear and easy to grasp. That sort of thing. And the same thing comes into play in designing work instructions and checksheets.

#2 is Essay Writing. Specifically the kind of essays you write for high school AP classes and tests. I wouldn't say that I really learned a lot about effectively analyzing or anything like that. But writing like it's a surgical strike, get in, make a point, get out because you have no time to do anything else... That's really important for report and e-mail writing. Make your point, and make it clearly.

But #1 is easily Bullshit. That is by far the most important skill I learned in school.

Oddly these are almost all things I picked up in High School, other than the one web design class.

So, what did you learn in school that helps you in your job, or life, today?

Oh! Before I forget. The most important thing I ever learned in my entire life was from my mom when I was in the seriously annoying 'Why?' phase as a kid. Whenever I asked a question she said, 'I don't know, let's go find out,' and took me to the library.

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