March 7, 2013: My Two-Year Anniversary of Arriving in Japan, and I Won the 2013 ELI Pedometer Challenge
Today at 11:55 AM, I passed the two-year mark! As for other recent news:
I won the NVCC ELI Pedometer Challenge, walking 1,163,345 steps in just 28 days (i.e. approximately 508 miles in 28 days — let's see you beat that). I am in the process of writing a lengthy, four-part photo essay about it here (Parts 1 and 2 are complete, but Parts 3 and 4 will come online tomorrow and Saturday, respectively):
The 2013 ELI Pedometer Challenge
During the course of the Pedometer Challenge, I walked vast distances including:
- Yokkaichi to Tsu
- Yokkaichi to Nagoya
- From Yunoyama Onsen Station to the peak of Mt. Gozaisho in winter, with snow coming down and a temperature of -6 degrees Celsius
- An epic trek from Yokkaichi to Kyōto Urban Prefecture that led me through Kameyama and Iga (the home of the ninja) — on this trek, I got lost in the mountains of Kyōto and had to spend the night in a farmer's tool shed next to a frozen rice paddy and some tea farms.

So yeah...it has been an action-packed last week, really. Stay tuned for further updates to the account of my epic treks!

March 2, 2013: I'm Alive
For anyone who was worried about my safety, you can breathe a sigh of relief. I just returned from Gozaisho. After over four hours of hardcore trekking in ice and snow, I reached the summit. The temperature up there was a bone-chilling -6 degrees. I took a ropeway car down. That is all. I won't be able to respond to e-mails for about the next 48 hours because I am doing one last mega trek to Nara, the first capital of Japan, which will take approximately two calendar days. Don't worry. It'll be very safe. There should be sidewalks protected by guard rails the entire way, much like the treks to Tsu and Nagoya. So don't worry. It'll just be a test of endurance, that's all.

One of the things I did in my designated block of free time was eat McDonald's new special, the Texas Burger. It had bacon on it and tasted good. I was still hungry after eating the Texas Burger combo (¥590) so I paid another ¥230 for an Oreo McFlurry. Then I went to Gasuto and had some pizza for ¥575. So I ended up spending ¥1,495, but got some really delicious food and tried some new things (I have never had these restaurants' versions of these items before). I played over five hours of Paper Mario: Super Sticker. One problem with having fragmented free time is that it's tough to play RPGs in little, roughly half-hour fragments. I designated several hours to play this game, and ended up making significant progress and having some fun. I beat Worlds 2-1 and 2-2, got my maximum HP up to 35 (from 20), got the ship's wheel, and cut the rope so the ship can sail, but unfortunately, there is a boss (the bukubuku, a large fish), so I'm unable to proceed since I can't figure out any way to defeat that boss (one of the kinopio characters claims I need a fishhook). I also learned 12 Norwegian words. Norwegian has absolutely nothing to do with my career goals, so I consider this particular type of study to be a fun free time activity. I learned color words today. Random Things from January Some Kimchi Jjigae I Cooked Last Week Late last year, I learned how to cook omurice. My omurice is pretty ugly, but quite edible. One of my students (who will remain nameless in this post) writes a diary and I make corrections... I see that sixth grade life is fraught with many of the same problems the world over... McDonald's has this promotion going on — when a person places an order, they start an hourglass. If the hourglass finishes before the order is ready, the customer can get a free Big Mac. Although this has resulted in a massive upswing in McDonald's efficiency (I have tended to find this McDonald's very slow and inefficient in the past), it must be very stressful for the workers... ...speaking of stressed, exploited workers, the Communist Party was downtown near the Kintetsu Yokkaichi Station making announcements on loudspeakers two weeks ago...

February 3, 2013: Designated 6+ Hours of Free Time I decided to designate six hours of free time in one block and just have fun. The problem is that normally, my free time is fragmented and I just end up watching Hulu, getting in flame wars on message boards, playing Tetris, or doing something else that is neither particularly fun nor rewarding. So I decided that this week, I would set aside six hours on Saturday as "quality free time," for which I would actually plan in advance what I was going to do. See left for pictures of what I did... I also posted some pictures below those of various random things from January... Sorry if this is a dry post...

January 27, 2012: Progress on the Norge Android App
Yesterday, I obtained The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen for $9.62 for Amazon Kindle (I can open Kindle ebooks using my Android phone). I have reached Chapter 3.

I also did some very, very rough sketches using one of those cheapo multi-lead colored pencils that I bought at the hyakkin for ¥105. Here they are:

On the left is the basic "underway" screen. Note the two big triangles; these will be overlaid over the play screen with transparency so they do not obstruct the view. The player can tap either the up or down arrow with his/her finger so the airship can move up or down. The airship must dodge obtacles like icebergs, flocks of birds, storm clouds, etc. Collision with one of these may result in damage to the airship or even all the hydrogen exploding! I also intend to give the player the option at the beginning of the game to refill the envelope with helium instead, which will cost a significant portion of the player's money and have slightly less lifting power, but will not have the risk of exploding when hit by lightning. Note that below the graphical airship maneuvering screen, there is a status screen showing vital stats. And the player can access the game menu by tapping the Menu button.

In the middle is a hunting screen. The player will be able to hunt game in various environments. I wasn't sure about it, so I researched it a bit, and Amundsen did hunt on expeditions and in fact enjoyed seal and penguin meat. On his first expedition from 1897 - 1899 to the Antarctic, he in fact killed many seals and ate their meat almost raw because it contains Vitamin C and this can stave off scurvy in the absence of fruits and vegetables. I am not clear whether the Norge crew hunted, but I may leave hunting in regardless because it is so much fun. In the real Android version, I doubt there will actually be crosshairs. The player will just tap an animal, there were be a loud bang, and a bullet will issue forth a moment later...

On the right is the ice fishing screen. I'm thinking of allowing the player to catch many types of fish (it's up to random chance) and there will be an in-game catalog of the fish and game the player has shot/fished for, which can be viewed at any time and may even be factored into the score.

So yeah... Some rough sketches. Nothing to get too excited about, yet...but it's a start.

January 25, 2013: Somewhat Detailed Plans for My First Commercial App (for Android OS)
I have decided not to shoot for JLPT N2 in July. I will postpone that goal to December, instead. With the time that is freed up, I plan to spend 300 hours on my first commercial app (for Android OS). Click below to download the initial doc, which I hacked together tonight using vi and gedit on Linux:
norge_plan.txt: 7.5 kB, 1,237 words

Works Cited:

UPDATE

I feel I should mention one more thing.The reader might wonder why the heck I'm putting all my precious ideas out on the Internet before implementing them. I figure that it's relatively safe to do this for several reasons:

1. This site has low traffic, so very few people are even going to see these ideas.
2. Most of my readers, I believe, aren't jerks who would rip something off from me.
3. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and besides, the ideas don't look 1/10th as cool in the design doc as they do in my head.
4. I think I have something to gain by publishing the design doc online — I have made a statement about what I plan to do, which means I have an infinitesimally smaller amount of accountability, and am that much more likely to finish this project.

January 7, 2013: JLPT N2 Study Plan
As of right now, I have just over 180 days to prepare for the JLPT N2. I expect test preparation to take about 487.5 hours. This is based on calculations I performed using the facts that 1) I have passed JLPT N3 with a fairly solid score, and 2) that the Japanese Language Education Center has posted numbers of study hours for each level which have allowed me to make this rough reckoning. When I made this list of things I need to do, I realized that some of my time estimates were very, very optimistic, so my guess is that actual preparation will take longer than 487.5 hours, so oh well. Here is my schedule of how I plan to spend those 487.5 hours over the next 180 days:

Scheduled Things:

Related to Sections of the Test:

Test Registration/Test Taking:

Review Stuff:

Misc.:

That's the schedule. Some of those time estimates are quite optimistic, and realistically, I expect test prep to take more than 487.5 hours.

Other things I plan to do outside this schedule: