Pocky Central

Well, today I turn 32.

I figure since it’s been a long time since I’ve updated, I’d give a report on how things have been for me recently. A ‘State of the Richard’, as it were.

In July 2007, I moved from Maryland to California, to work for a video game localization company. I am a ‘Assistant Project Coordinator’ for Atlus U.S.A., which is just a fancy name for ‘Assistant Producer’. I’ve worked on three projects so far, and the one we just announced is “Rondo of Swords” for the Nintendo DS.

Around the same time, I started dating a wonderful woman, who many of you know. Katy and I are currently living together here in SoCal, and are quite happy. She somehow manages to put up with me, which is still occasionally surprising.

Otherwise, things are pretty static. I go to work, I play WoW, I spend time with Katy. I also write for Spwug.

My family is doing well, and we miss each other terribly. I hope that in a couple of years, once I’m earning more annual leave, I will be able to see them more often. I am an uncle again (my family treats cousins’ children as nieces and nephews), with three nieces and three nephews so far, and more on the way, I’m sure.

I suppose that’s it, really. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I reserve the right to refuse to answer any questions I don’t feel like, and to delete posts I find inappropriate.

Welcome to the 32nd year of the life of one Richard S. Kim.

I apologize for the long, LONG delay inbetween my last post and this one.

Things have been quite hectic for me since this past June. I’ll go into more detail when I can, but for now, let’s just say things are going pretty good for me right now.

On the writing note, I HAVE been writing. Just not here. I’ve been writing for a quarterly magazine called Spwug, and I’ve started writing for its blog as well.

I will try to write here more often, too. But with the way life is right now, I can’t promise much. Keep your fingers crossed!

From Saturday (June 23, 2007):

Setup: I’m in line in a Starbucks in a Barnes and Noble. I see an Asian couple walk in. The guy is wearing a ‘Looking for a Japanese girlfriend’ t-shirt. After speaking to my friend, K, for a second, I decide that I need to ask a question.

Me: Excuse me, do you know what your shirt says?

Guy: Yes.

Me: (to the girl) Are you Japanese?

Girl: No.

Me: Ahh, thank you.

I turn back to talk to K, and then I hear:

Guy: If you know any, send them my way!

I have no idea if he made it home.

From Monday night (June 25, 2007):

B: Do you know what I’m going to do with my new car, after I move?

O: F*** it?

Everyone: *Chuckle*

B: No, I’m going to illegally mount-

Everyone else: *ROARING LAUGHTER*

I love my friends.

This is a quick translation of a Japanese fan song, called ‘One Hundred Ten Million Memories‘.

(I first heard about this at my friend Jamie’s site, Angry Zen Master.)

The music is by Family Comcert, and my preferred version is sung by Mao Komiya as part of C.H.S.
–

It’s something I did when I was a kid
The faded memory of when I put a red and white hat on my head
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

It’s a nostalgic memory from my childhood
When we had curry or the like, I would put the silver spoons on my eyes
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

But now I’ve forgotten about that, too
And I live everyday like I’m being chased by something

Even if I turn back (in the album that I forgot)
I can’t go back (to my foolish self) to that time (smiling with my friends)
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

Where is he right now? What’s he doing?
The answer remains hazy
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

But now I’ve forgotten about that, too
And I live everyday like I’m being chased by something

The courage that you gave me numbers one hundred ten million, one hundred ten million
The passing seasons are dramatic

It’s something I did when I was a kid
I put on the 3D glasses that came with the magazine
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

The memories I forgot when I became an adult
It’s coming back to me clearly, I formed an L with my arms
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

But now I’ve forgotten about that, too
And I live everyday like I’m being chased by something

Even if I turn back (opening my timeworn diary)
I can’t go back (on the faded pages) to that time (was the name of the first girl that I loved)
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

Back then, I turned around and smiled innocently
Still not knowing about corruption
Ultraman, Ultraman Seven!

But now I’ve forgotten about that, too
And I live everyday like I’m being chased by something

The scenes that I watched numbered one hundred ten million, one hundred ten million
The passing seasons are graffiti

The courage that you gave me numbers one hundred ten million, one hundred ten million
The passing seasons are dramatic

–

I am rather fond of this song now.

I need to remember to email this to the people involved as thanks for making something that made me smile this much.

(Apologies for the hasty translation, it was just a lark.)

Apologies for the long delay. Again. Things have been kind of hectic.

Some people have asked me, “Why aren’t you going to cons anymore?”

The answer is simple, yet complex.

The simple version: A lack of time, a lack of money, and a desire to avoid the fandom for a while.

The complex version:

I’m trying to devote more of my time to me, and those close to me. While I love my friends at the cons, I would rather see them in a non-convention setting, so I can spend more time with them. This may sound stupid, but because I know so many people, I have to try to divide my time amongst a lot of people, and that’s not fair to them or me.

Money-wise, I want to try to save more. I want to eventually get my own home, and that means spending a lot less. Cons, for me, are huge money sinks, even if I don’t buy anything in the Dealer’s Room or the Artist’s Alley. Hotel, travel, food and such add up quick.

Finally, the fandom. Contrary to what some believe, and to some of what I’ve said, I don’t hate my fandom. But at the same time, I’m kind of tired of it. I need a break, a chance to get back some of the excitement I used to feel. I will admit that some of the recent changes, on top of my growing older, have changed some of my views on the fandom.

I think, once I get my life on the track I want it to be on, I will be heading back to anime cons in a year or two.

First, my apologies for the long delay between posts. A variety of things has kept me from putting my ideas down on ‘paper’.

Before I get to the other posts I’ve had brewing in my head, let me talk about why I’m keeping this blog at all.

The main reason is that I wanted to have a place to post my writings that wasn’t a publically owned set up, like LiveJournal. Nothing against LiveJournal or the people who post there - it’s a good set up. I just wanted more control, and the ability to archive.

The second reason is that I wanted to give myself a reason to post - my original idea was to post once a day, everyday, barring emergencies or complete lack of access. This has, unfortunately, fallen to the wayside, due to a variety of reasons.

So I’m going to redefine my ‘mission’ slightly. From now on, I’m going to try to write at least one post a week, preferably more.This will help with my dry spells (which come from my own forgetfulness, laziness, and scheduling issues) and my occasional tendency to go on writing jags.

I will hopefully have a number of posts up in the coming week, to make up for my missing the past week and some. I apologize to the people reading via RSS for the incoming flood. (The posts will be post-dated, just like before)

Nature and I don’t get along very well.

It generally goes like this:

Richard: Hi, Nature! You look very beautiful today.

Nature: I hate you. Die.

Richard: It’s such a lovely day, and you’re in full splendor.

Nature: *chokes Richard*

Richard: *is choked, dies*

I am unfortunately very allergic to most flowering plants, along with animal danders and apparently dust. This means flowers, cats, dogs, and my own apartment are my mortal enemies.

A good dose of antihistamines helps, thankfully, but it only holds off the symptoms. The best way to deal with my allergies is to avoid the allergens as much as possible. This is one of the reasons I don’t go on nature hikes and such, and why I don’t keep pets.

Ironically, I love cats, and used to want one as a pet. But the allergy thing kind of keeps that from happening. I’m not so fond of dogs, though I’m not afraid of them like I used to be.

Eventually I will either get allergy shots, a medicine that will really help will be invented, or I’ll burst into flames. We’ll see which happens first.

When I started college, I experienced a great many new things. College scheduling headaches, good and bad campus food, and of course, alcohol.

I have never been anti-alcohol or smoking, though I’m not really for them, either. (I used to smoke, too, but that’s another story) I enjoyed a drink or two when I was in college, and afterwards, too.

But these days, I drink very little. This started just before I graduated college, and has continued since. I’m not entirely sure why, though part of it is because my doctor recommended that I cut back.

This normally isn’t a problem. But when I moved to Japan, where a big after-work activity is drinking, “I don’t drink” is met with wonderment and confusion.

“You don’t drink beer?”

“No, I don’t drink alcohol (anymore).”

“Oh, so no (sake/vodka/etc.). How about beer?”

“No, I don’t drink.”

“Oh, is it because of your (health/religion/etc.)?”

“… yes.” (This depends on the question, of course)

It took some doing, but I managed to convince my co-workers that I didn’t drink, and nothing they could do would change that. Then again, these are the same people who boggled at me drinking Coke with my lunch.

I think that alcohol is a fine thing to partake when you feel like it. I do worry when it’s something that is drunk every night “just because”. Or when it’s the only way to “feel good”. Granted, I feel that way about any type of vice.

As for me, as long as you’re okay with “Nah, I’ll have a ginger ale” or something similar, you can drink all you want.

Just don’t throw up in my car.

And by recent, I mean the past ten years or so.

There used to be (and still is, to a point) a large multitude of game genres. Adventure, sports, role-playing, shooting (the side-scrolling kind, not the first person kind), you name it. Lots of different people were making games for lots of different audiences, and chances were you could find something you wanted to play.

Fast forward to today.

These days, there seem to be four major game genres, for both PCs (and by this, I mean Windows machines, Macs, and yes, even Linux boxes) and consoles.

Those four genres are First Person Shooters (FPS), Real-Time Strategy (RTS), Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), and Sports (sorry, no need acronym here).

Let’s look at these, one at a time, in no particular order.

Sports: there is no way to get around the fact that the sports genre is possibly the highest selling one of them all right now. Look at Madden, look at the NBA games, and the various driving games. I don’t know exact numbers, but I do know that there are tournaments dedicated to Madden with big prizes. That’s got to count for something.

MMORPGs: World of Warcraft. Everquest 2. Ragnarok Online. City of Heroes/Villains. There are hundreds of MMORPGs (and similar MMO-(type of game)s) out in the world now. Some are pay-to-play. Others are free-to-play, pay-for-neat-stuff. In the end, they’re all ’social’ games, where you play with other people. And some call them the ‘wave of the future’.
RTSs: Starcraft. Warcraft. Command and Conquer, Age of (noun of your choice). There are a lot of real time strategy games, some good, many not so good. While they’ve waned in popularity, they’re still fairly profitable. Some of the games are still very popular, like Starcraft, which is played at world level tournaments.
FPSs: There are simply too many to list. But since they’ve been called ‘killing trainers’ by some, I don’t think I really need to go into them. (If I do, let me know, and I will, though)
Of these, I only personally enjoy one - MMORPGs. I’ve never really liked sports games on consoles or PCs, with the exception of goofy ones, like Mario Tennis or Need For Speed. FPS games give me headaches, and unlike most Koreans (or so I am told), I suck at RTS games.

So what about puzzle games? Role playing games? Platformers and the others? I’ll get to those some other time. (But I will say - I love them all)

I bought my first cell phone when I was attending school at Chiba University in 1997. It was, for the time, pretty sleek - a clamshell style phone with a decently large screen.

When I got back to the U.S., and started school again, I found that I missed being able to call people whenever the hell I felt like it, instead of having to look for a pay phone or whatever.

So I bit the bullet, and dropped a fair amount of cash for my second cell phone. It saw a LOT of use, and when I decided to upgrade, my father took it for his phone.

I am now on my seventh cell phone. It’s a Cingular 8525 (a rebranded HTC Hermes), which is a combination of cell phone and PDA. It’s become a major part of my life, and I really find it helpful. I use it for fun stuff, I use it to communicate, and I use it for work (both office and personal). My phone has become a part of my brain.

It’s not perfect, though I’ve yet to run into a device that is. But it does everything I need, for the most part.

I sometimes find myself wondering what would happen if my cell phone was taken away and I was kept from getting another one. One friend joked that I would vanish, and another said that the world would stop spinning.

Either way, kind of frightening.