James Wynn

Some time has past since I last posted anything and this has been due to many factors. School and work keep me busy, but not quite as busy as one might think. This is my last semester, so I get to deal with all that goes along with graduation. Also, I have a new job this semester which I enjoy quite a lot. I happily and with a small amount of pride can say that I make video games. Sure these things keep me fairly busy, but the real distraction has been the same thing it has always been, namely girls.

I try to keep my rants on here as far removed from my personal life as I can. I do this mostly because I hate reading other people’s rants about trite drivel that everyone else goes through, and can therefore not abide subjecting others to this as well. Occasionally though, I break this rule if something personal is the main source of my ranting and frustration.

I’ve learned quite a few things lately. Most important is that my first instinct with girls is 100% correct. I can tell within minutes whether they are worth the time, and usually it seems that they aren’t. Perhaps I should search for better stock. I’ve been told I should check libraries and churches, but I’m hesitant to disturb those ‘good folk.’ Another thing that I’ve noticed and I cannot seem to get past the accuracy of this generality, is judgement based on name. They can say you can tell a lot about a person by their name, and I agree. Is this societal? Or does it perhaps say something about the type of people their parents were? Nicknames seem to be even more telling.

This has been very general ranting about girls thus far, but really its one girl in particular that has gotten under my skin. I cannot abide flaky people, and I CERTAINLY cannot abide flaky girls. People that cannot communicate; people that cannot respond; people that cannot speak their minds; people that do not have the strength to say what they mean. Apparently she didn’t really care as much as she said, and apparently she didn’t find it important enough to say.

“Sometimes it takes a hard lesson to teach something already known.”

It seems recent times are abound with interesting turns.  I’ve just been hired by my university to work on a educational games, and they said that if I stay for graduate school it will count as a graduate assistanceship and thus provide a tuition waiver.  I had all but decided to put graduate school off for a couple of years, or at least until I found a program that suited my interests, but now if they are going to pay me to do it the prospect seems much more tractable.  I don’t officially start until next week, but the project sounds quite intriguing; its something about mobile educational online games.

As I recall there is also a program in its infancy for combining fine arts and the sciences, with one obvious application being video game studies.  If this program gets off the ground I may bind myself to Oklahoma for another few semesters to get an extra piece of paper.  I’m rather curious if a graduate degree will really help me find employment, or whether it will instead just provide a higher cap to move up to later.
In other news I finally bought my plane ticket to D.C.!!!  I’ve never been to the capitol before, and I haven’t seen the gorgeous girl who lives there in far too long.  Only six days now…

Since returning from Japan I’ve had terrible jet lag; stay up till 1am only to wake at 4am followed by an energy crash at 3pm. Luckily the crash is short lived. This insomniatic state has given a chance to work on things though.

For instance, this morning I added OpenID to my blog so that people from livejournal, deadjournal, or any other OpenID enabled blog can comment more easily. This also allowed me to comment on any of those blogs without having to be added to their communities. Few things irritate me as much as having to sign up to new networks every time I want to comment on a blog. So instead of spending 5 minutes creating a new account this morning, I spent 30 minutes implementing OpenID on my server. Hooray for wasting time.

My morning have also given me a chance to get to know my new BlackBerry a bit better. Its nice being able to read the morning mail and news from bed, or anywhere else for that matter. I was totally psyched when I finally got a phone with AIM, email, and a decent keyboard, but my head exploded when I realized that I could use Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Maps on it. Handiest damned phone I’ve ever used. Now I just need to get one of those nice bluetooth earbuds so I can talk without holding it. And yes, I promise not to wear it in public, that’s just creepy looking.

Aside from the mid-afternoon energy crash, the only other downside to this new allotment of morning is having much more time to think about D.C. Just being on the same continent as Jessie makes it so unbearably tempting to jump in the car and drive to her. But I will be visiting soon enough… well not soon ENOUGH, but soon…

I need more distractions… Please people, send me your blogs so that I may be entertained by your drivel.

Ok, I’ve been having an utter blast in Japan. I’ve met some amazing people and have seen some awesome things. All of the people I’ve met here (save two, which I wont go into right now) have been great. Im not sure if its just being in a strange environment together or what, but everyone I’ve met has been great and I’ve made so many friends. I hope sometime they will come visit me in Oklahoma (especially Yuko and Ayumi), but for right now Im just glad to have made such great friends.

BTW, if you havent noticed I’m currently typing off a wicked drunk. Was having a not so on-day so I decided to kill it with some good drink and better friends. I dont think I will ever bitch about how Japanese beer is so expensive in America, ITS MORE EXPENSIVE HERE!

I’ve noticed some very interesting things as of late. 1) I knew last summer when I left Japan that I didnt want to leave yet, but upon returning this summer I have realized that the reason that I dont want to leave is because (to me at least) it feels like home. Not just like MY home, but there is some quality about it that just makes me feel comfortable here. I dont really even notice most of the time that I’m in a foreign country or that people speak a different language. 2) Girls are generally the same all over the world (or at least America and Japan, as my experiences are somewhat to these places). I’ve heard skinny girls here in Japan still complain about needing to go on diets, and I’ve seen girls here just as crazy as any American girl. But, yet there is something that is a bit different about the girls here. As much as I would hate to fall in to the stereotype of ‘that American with the Japanese girlfriend’ I find that there is something strangly intriguing about Japanese girls. Its beyond the Japanese ‘look’, its something about the attitude, or possibly the personality that the society breeds — I’m not sure. Or perhaps I’ve just met one or two exceptions, the few random girls that are particularly ‘good’. Who knows. I’ve never claimed to be good at such evaluations.

Now for part two of the synopsis of my trip:
After a few days of aclimatization (real word?) I finally began my Japanese classes. These started slow, but with activities with the buddies wherein I spoke almost exclusively [bad] Japanese, my skill with the language slowly progressed. I can scarecly say I can always get my point across, much less that I am fluent, but I can often say what I mean to now. I visited various shrines and temples with the buddies, some of which I was able ot snag pictures of. We also attended a party, and subsequently hit up some karaoke action (pictures of neither [zanen]). I made some interesting friends and got to talk to many very attractive girls , but the party was too short to talk to any one person very long, so I went to karaoke with but a few friends. I’ve also eaten at some awesome restaraunts too; its amazing how little you want certain food when it just isnt available. But maybe thats just me, other people have been complaining.

BTW, I finally got a phone up here. If you want to email me hit up: jameswynn@k.vodafone.ne.jp
And when I say, ‘if you want to’ I mean ‘you god damned well better’

More Pics forthcoming…