Colorful life

Nice sunset today!

 

 

Here’s one straight from camera, no processing, but slightly recompressed. Note the horizontal banding in the clouds to the right

Wakaremichi

Wakaramichi can mean crossroads, but thanks to the double meaning of some kanji it can also be likened to ‘the road to understanding’, with a little imagination. This was the title of my previous blog, on my beloved blogspot address. Alas, web life is not just blogs, and I needed a place to put more than just daily ramblings about life, and I moved to wordpress. I changed the name to the colorful wolf on a suggestion from a friend ,who told me that it means something funny in modern Chinese slang. I still don’t know how much of that is true, as nobody else seems to know the meaning, but I’ll get to ask her at the end of this month, on my trip to Beijing. As far as blog titles go, I feel that Wakaremichi still fits me better. I haven’t quite gotten tired of finding the path of life yet. 

Today is the day I left. Three years ago, I embarked on a crazy adventure to Japan, I country I knew only from anime, to work for a company I had never before heard of, and without any previous work experience worth mentioning. Needless to say it was quite a shock. Japan is the country that activated me. It allowed me to experience life, to see things I never thought I would see, to make friends from impossible places around the world. But most importantly, during my time in this country I experienced the greatest moments of joy, and the worst moments of sadness. I live here. 

Every year new people come. It’s hard to believe that I’m now interacting with the fourth group of interns since I arrived here. The first year was too new for me, and I didn’t quite fit in yet, but it gave me a chance to experience many new things. I never learned so much as I did in that first year at AK. The second year was my favourite. I became good at my job, and the group of people was amazing. So many people I could get along with so well. When the third generation came I thought I’d gotten used to seeing people come and go, but it didn’t stop me from going on crazy trips again and seeing even more of Japan. Especially places that the average tourist would not go to, like abandoned theme parks or monkey hot springs. 

So how about the fourth generation? It has become a routine now, I am sorry to say. As I stay longer in the company I become more and more important, and I get to manage more and more people. The amount of work increases, and so do the stress levels. Part of me wants to hang out with the guys, but for me to take care of my inner stress level I have to be short with them and concentrate on working, and I need to rely on them to work for me, too. Very soon the last two guys from the third generation will leave, and then the fourth year can really get started. There’s a lot of great things yet to be done at work, and even more boring things that need to be done. But I’m confident that I will create a chance to learn new things. I’m working on the creation of something beautiful, and I am in complete control. What more could a software engineer want?

At this time three years ago I was at the aiport, getting ready to board the plane. I never thought my life would change this much when I first decided to come here. Every intern that I talk to tells me the same thing: “This year in Japan changed my life. I am a different person now”. Now, multiply that feeling by a factor of three and you know how I feel

Next time

No, the weather is not that good right now. The above movie was made a couple of months ago, but I found it today on my laptop. I guess I just forgot to process the pictures after making the time lapse. I found it while processing a time lapse movie that I made today with the 400D on 10mm, but the weather did not prove cooperative, so I posted the movie from a couple of months ago, which is much better. 

Canon likes to create a new charger for each new battery that they create. For a while I was lucky, because the G7 and the 400D use the same battery pack, but the 50D’s battery is bigger. This is what it looks like when I need to charge my batteries:

I don’t really know what to write on my blog anymore. I’m planning some trips and daily life is very busy, so I should have plenty of things to think about, but for some reason I can’t find the impulse to share anything here right now. All I can say is that my brain is clear. This year has been an interesting year for me, with some amazing surprises, but in the end I had about 5 months of really good luck and 5 months of really bad luck. There’s still two months left in the year, let’s see how this year will end. 

I guess next time I can talk about my obsession with information, my desire to contribute to Java (the programming language), my winter plans, my experiences with the 50D and the 18-200mm lens, or perhaps about buddha and sinfest

Next time.

(There’s always a next time!)

Surf’s up!

Ok, I chickened out today! I was planning to take a train to Fuji and then cycle back through the mountains to Atsugi, but at 7AM my willpower gave up and I slept till 11…  Oh well. In the afternoon I went to the beach, and played with the 50D. Autofocus is so much better than the 400D! It’s great fun to play with, and I shot some photo’s of the surfer dudes, who were enjoying the waves. The wind was quite strong today. As usual, the pictures are on Picasa, and maybe I’ll post some on my photoblog later

This is a picture of two Shinkansens passing each other. The sun is reflecting quite strongly off the windows.

Random

Lately music is affecting me a lot! A while ago I would put on happy music when I am feeling happy, but now when I put on happy music I will feel happy. Interesting. Total mood control by music. Until my ipod battery runs out anyway

Not yet

I am withholding any comments about my life until my life figures itself out. Please wait for life to decide itself and refrain from making any conclusions until the conclusions have been made. Thank you.