Are you a leader or a follower?
“Lead, follow, or get out of the way!”
I obstruct.
As George Carlin said…
May 15, 2024
Can I answer “all of the above”?
May 10, 2024
What public figure do you disagree with the most?
Actually, I would say Marjorie Greene. She is vicious, spiteful, bigoted, homophobic, racist, stupid, and mean-spirited even against members of her own party. It must be a lot of fun to live in her constituency. They might as well ring their towns with “keep out” signs. I’d agree with that.
Yet another Gen Z vague question?
May 8, 2024
What was the last live performance you saw?
Last live performance of what?
I saw a baseball game last September. That was live. Does that count?
Oh. Do you mean “live” in the Japanese sense, i.e., a live performance by a musical artist?
As in a live concert?
At a club?
Or just that the musicians were alive and actually wrote their own music and played their own instruments rather than danced around and lip-synced?
Yes. I am a snarky Gen-Xer. Wave the flannel.
(FWIW I think the last live musical performance I’ve seen was in a Japanese club in Osaka around 2000 or 2001, and before that in mid-1999 in a club somewhere in Boston. It’s hard to get out when you have a family and need to actually go to work in the morning.)
More quotes and quotes about quotes
May 1, 2024
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
I don’t think I “live my life” by a quote (too busy surviving), but I do think a lot about:
“Keep on keeping on.”
“Keep on trucking.”
“何とかなる (nantoka naru – “it’ll work out”)
“Das lassen sein (let it be)”
But also oddly:
“Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!”
The first thing?
April 19, 2024
Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.
No mind.
Um
March 31, 2024
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?
Hey, I came first.
Short sharp shocks, please
March 27, 2024
How NOT to look at their smartphone while zombie walking on a train platform or stairs.
Smartphones should be programmed to send tiny electrical shocks into your hand when you walk while reading them. Put the thing in your pocket until you clear the field.
Techie here! (Aka geek)
March 26, 2024
How has technology changed your job?
How has it not?
I’m a TESOL teacher. Learning to use technology — appropriately — has always been a part of my job.
It’s the “appropriate” part that has difficult to deal with the past few years.
Yeah. Hi, Chat.
Forget about Zoom, LMS, video editing software, and all sorts of online sites that don’t need any knowledge of programming language.
I was making my own web pages in basic HTML and JavaScript back when people still though InternetExplorer was a good browser.
But tech is nothing more than a tool. And tools can be used well and badly.
And often the simple tech of a piece of paper and a pencil are all you need. No bandwagon mentality here.
So if anything I would say that, although I have always used technology to some degree for my job, I have had the luxury of experience (and a lot of mistakes!) to figure out when technology can help my job, and when it just gets in the way.
(FWIW I also teach a one-semester class about language, identity, and technology. And yes, we do analyze our selfies.)
My secret embarrassing childhood desire…
March 24, 2024
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?
When I was in junior high, I sometimes tried to will a book to fly into my hand from a bookcase across the room.
Yeah. I wanted to be able to use telekinesis. Like Jean Grey of the X-Men.
Not surprisingly, my characters in Bringer of Light wind up being able to do it.
“It’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” (Satchel Paige)
Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better…
March 23, 2024
What is your favorite type of weather?
It depends on my mood.
I like cold weather in winter, especially on the weekend when I can take it easy and enjoy coffee properly.
I don’t mind rainy weather when I feel like being contemplative and writing.
I prefer clear sunny weather when I want to go watch a baseball game outdoors with friends and family.
I enjoy cool and dry windy weather in autumn when the falling leaves decorate the nearby temple and shrine.
What I don’t like is when the weather changes from winter in the morning to early summer by mid-afternoon, and I especially get irritated when people can’t tell the difference between weather and climate.
“You don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows…”
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