Okay, so its my time of glory, to be selfish when I usually am relatively reserved (ha! you say). So I don’t recommend you to read this if you don’t like other people showing off (mind you, this isn’t forever).
A. I am Christian and proud to be one, although there are moments I admit I don’t act as one, which is one of my greatest faults. As an aside, I go to a Portuguese Catholic church where I’m a member of the choir and possibly the only Asian in the entire congregation and community. How messed up is that?
The Basics
1. I am almost Swiss and I love to carry the Swiss flag. I have a giant flag adorned in my room.
2. I’m a Libra, but I don’t believe in astrology. It’s just coincidence at the right time. (Wait, isn’t coincidence about the right time? Oh well.) Just gives you an idea around when I was born.
3. I have lived in 5 cities in 5 different countries on three different continents.
4. Of the cities I’ve lived, Paris would not be my favourite. In fact, it’s my least favourite, after Sao Paulo, New York, Geneva, and Tokyo.
5. I can speak and read 4 languages and write in 3 of them.
6. I’m Japanese but I feel, as they would refer to them in Japan, like an ‘alien’ (foreigner)
7. I like all outdoor (non-collective) sports except windsurfing. I like skiing, running and swimming a lot.
8. If I could, I would spend substancially more time online, and more money on tech gadgets.
9. I have a tendency to live in the past, dwell, teeter, and muse over the present, and forget about the future. It worries me.
10. I hold a lot of secrets, some of which no-one knows, all of which God does.
11. I’m a (completely) hopeless romantic.
12. On top of that some people call me a perfectionist. But only in some things, I assure you.
This is going to be a long list. If you’ve read this far, I congratulate you.
Friends
13. I like people who smile and laugh a lot, or at least express themselves via their emotions. I’m not picky about what kinda person is “my style” or to “my liking", except it would be nice if we had things in common.
14. Differences are exciting, but I like similarites more.
15. I’m not an extravagant spender when it comes to clothes. Some of my friends know my wardrobe.
16. I have two sisters and quite a few brothers. None of them are related to me.
17. None of them are in Paris.
18. Most of them are in Brasil.
19. I had one girlfriend I had never met or seen (and to whom I’m an entirely still grateful for have been with), and I have several other contacts whom I’ve never met but talk relatively regularly to.
20. And yes, that unseen girl and I were strong friends for 3 years. We still are good friends. It proves to you how love sees no borders. I guess she had to move on, though. Someone tangible. I completely understand.
Blog
21. I strictly use Notepad and Wordpad to edit all my websites, even with CGI or PHP. Sue me.
22. I admit I sometimes steal ideas from well-designed pages.
23. I wish I could master CSS better and clean up my cluttered HTML a bit more.
24. I’ve been using the Internet since late 1999, early 2000. I started with a Geocities website. (*yells, pokes, jabs: no Geocities! nooooO!*)
25. For my weblog, I know of at least 10 designs: (the varied blue colors with Geocities, the Perl template box with the forest background, with the Antarctica background, with the stamps template, with the blue and white snow trees background, with the blue Petrified Words background, with the stamps background, and the present one. That makes eight. I’m missing a few. Woops. Anyways, you get the point.)
26. My blog has had at least that many names.
27. Some people, like Michael, have been putting up with me for quite a while now with my Internet antics and “how does my site look?". Thank you for supporting the torturous (idiotic) questions.
Me
28. I have a weakness for Italian food, but Japanese and French food comes in close as well.
29. If you thought of sushi, you weren’t too far.
30. I like walking in the woods. To think.
31. If you stuck a hidden camera in my room, you’d be scared at what you’d see. Don’t try to imagine (*looks worryingly around, checks under desk and at bookshelf*)
32. I’m relatively clumsy and disorganised but not when I run. Which is why I like running.
33. Strangely enough, I like catergorising things (mind you, not people, concepts or ideas). Hence the division of this list.
34. Some people say I complain a lot, so I’m working on fixing that.
35. I use a lot of sarcasm. Sometimes it’s not appreciated.
36. I tend to think about what other people think rather than my own opinion. I’m trying to fix that too.
37. I like the color blue. So much so that it’s often you’ll see me wearing at least one item of clothing that’s blue.
38. And yes, while the Dabadee dabaday song by Eiffel65 (”I’m Blue“) is an addictive (albeit misheard) song, I am not that blue obsessed.
39. I love animals. If I were to have one to take care of, I’d probably ask for a golden retriever, but any animal is fine by me. Except, perhaps, a cub. (any cub)
Entertainment
39. My favourite book is “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. The “Griffin and Sabine” series by Nick Bantock comes in close. The “Redwall” series by Brian Jacques was an ancient favourite. I still haven’t finished “Wind in the Willows” and “Sophie’s World".
40. I did have a penchant for *ahem* (coughs, sputters) Helen Hunt.
41. I stress the did part.
42. I don’t watch a lot of TV except shows and movies that are interesting. Which nowadays is relatively rare.
43. I’m not that big a moviegoer, although there are tons of movies I’d like to watch. Budget constraints.
44. I have all but one single CD of The Corrs. You should listen to them before making prejudices about an Irish pop band.
45. I like techno, pop/rock and some symphonic metal.
46. That’s further evidence of how messed up I am. Sometimes I feel like a patchwork quilt or a mosaic. Except in my mosaic, most of the pieces don’t fit relatively well together.
47. I used to play Magic: The Gathering. I kinda lost interest though after friends kept pressuring me to play.
48. I like photography. If I had a digital camera (another thing on my wish list) , I probably wouldn’t be here writing this list down.
50. I love the radio. Tis the reason why I opted for a world-band reciever over a computer for my 16th birthday. Now I’m suffering the consequences, but I guess doesn’t matter. I made a small broadcaster once too. Too bad it only ‘broadcasted’ to a periphery of 10 meters.
51. I like to be part of a choir and to sing. When it comes to solos, however, I bow out.
52. I used to play the violin for 5 years. Why I quit is completely bewildering, but it’s a pity, since I had started at the age of 5. I think I might’ve been more suited to the flute. I like wind instruments.
53. If it’s a movie on TV and Steven Seagal is in it, chances are I’ll watch the film to the end (Okay, enough with the “you crazy or what?” look on your face". At least he’s better than James Bond.)
Wierdnesses
54. I traveled all the Metro stations in Paris.
55. It took me 14 hours 54 minutes and 18 seconds to do so.
56. I collect old newspapers and postcards. (Yes, I have two copies of the New York Times when the Towers fell on 9/11. I have all the copies of the Yankees-Mets World Series game back in 2000. Perhaps it started with my mum keeping the newspaper that was published on the day I was born, with a small piece on “Kines was born on this day")
57. I also collect Non-Sequitur cartoons, clipped from the International Herald Tribune (but at present all newspapers stacked precariously above my wardrobe)
58. I have well over 100 Readers Digest magazines dating back to January ‘81 (not all of them), courtesy of Mr. Mackinnon. I love reading the old “Atari” ads and car ads of older boxed Chryslers. And I catalogged the whole thing.
59. I have a thing against Macintosh, despite the fact that it was the first computer platform I ever laid my hands on, and at the time I thought it was cooler. Just so happened Windows was more user-friendly. I admit, though, that Windows is becoming quite haughty over its control over the PC market.
60. I’ve been eyeing the Apple iPod Shuffle so I decided to go ahead and by myself another different mp3 player so that I wouldn’t be tempted.
61. I don’t support Bush. He’s tricked the world using the weapon of fear, leading his own people into war and putting the Middle East in a heck of a turmoil, completely forgetting about North Korea. WMDs in Iraq, my eye. Bush should see the weapons in Iran or North Korea. I think they’re more evident than those in Iraq, no? And what about the “terror alert” levels: orange and green and all? Just a manipulative tool to get everyone scared. Bush was dastardly enough to propagate on the occurence of 9/11 to promote his agenda, and I’m standing by what I’m saying. The day the Bush administration does something good for the world, I’ll eat my hat. (read: Deception Point by Dan Brown)
62. I don’t write in pencil except in standardised tests.
63. I mix English and American spelling at times. (You could spell standardised as standardized, but the z looks about sharp and out of place, if you know what I’m saying)
64. I live in a world of metaphors. Welcome aboard. (See what I mean?)
Health
65. I’m not that strong in the cold, but work me up with some goal or task and I’ll do it without a gripe. I stand the heat better though. I think.
66. I had a wooden splinter removed from my arse cheeks in second or third grade. *ehem*
67. I broke my wrist in 5th grade landing on my hand when I collapsed over a hurdle. I finished the race though.
68. I haven’t been in a hospital since.
69. I have glasses. Since Oct 96. Hence relatively strong. I remember my mum saying it was a birthday present and I nearly broke out in tears.
Sports
70. I ran in the New York Road Runners Team. I won two third place awards and a whole lotta ribbons. I made a lot of good friends too, some of whom I’ve lost contact, like Nicole (and her mum) and Mr. Stiefel.
71. My successes in swimming competitions have largely been overshadowed by my failures.
72. I work out a lot. Yo tengo una six-pack.
73. I’m not tall, but I’m not short either.
School and Education
74. I don’t like my current school. But I do generally like school. And no, I’m not a nerd.
75. I loved Pan American Christian Academy in Sao Paulo, and loved my brief career at Bronx High School of Science and East Side Middle School, and even Saint Mary’s International School in Tokyo was cool.
76. I like History and English. This is a bit wierd, because I’m vying for an Engineering major. If I get into Swarthmore, though, I might shift courses.
77. And yes, I want to get into Swarthmore.
78. I’m Student Council President.
79. I’m also in Harvard Model Congress, which is fun stuff.
80. I’m the only senior taking four Higher Level courses in IB. I’m somehow manageing to keep afloat.
Miscellany
81. I’ve been mugged once, in 6th grade in Japan. I freaked out and ran, and when the thugs tried to get my bag, I just shouldered it off and kept on running . Call me a wussy, but hey, he who runs away lives to fight another day. And when a knife (or what I saw to be a knife) is involved, it ain’t a pretty thing.
82. Some of my nicknames include: mushroom head: (back in 3-4th grade, don’t ask); muffin man: (I still don’t know where this came from, but I assume its from Shrek [say in squeaky voice:] “Have you seen the muffin man?”); riri: courtesy of Linnie, this name has now stuck with one of my friends; rivero (Olivia); but I prefer to go by Kines (read to rhyme with times). (Kines as in kinetics, movement) .
83. I made a few music loops and had a heck of a fun time making them. Check them out in the radio (You’ll need to scroll down though: Midsummer’s Eve, Pandora’s Dance, Stars Above, and my fav: Teardrops from the Sky). I’m thinking of going back to making ‘em.
84. I’ve realised when you say “Don’t ask", people generally do. Oh and when you say “You can’t lick your elbow", 9 out of 10 people try to.
85. I want to learn German. Strange, you may say. I’d agree with you.
I’d much rather wait for the next train rather than run and make a fool of yourself, except when I’m in a hurry
86. I have a wierd interest in North Korea, and have written a short story, read a book on the gulags there, listened to a radio broadcast by the BBC on a journalist’s trip there, and have seen a movie on two gymnasts training for the Mass Games held there. I was rapt to attention in all of them. It’s not the ideology that I’m interested in, but rather why such people unwaveringly support their “Dear Leader", and how underground societies are coping with the regime. And yes, I do have a thought for those thousands of people who die because of famine.
87. If I had the opportunity to go there as an exchange student, I might waver. My parents would strongly disapprove, and I’d be worried sick that they would be worried sick about me.
The Future
88. A job as a social anthropologist (studying human behaviour) would be a great asset I’d love to have.
89. Then again I might want to become a computer scientist. Or even make a living by blogging, like Jason Kottke.
90. But then again I think I might excel at history or English.
91. I get confused and flustered easily. I have spent so much time doing things I wouldn’t have done if I had made the right decision once. Instead I always take a detour. (Make a wrong path, redouble and head onto the right path).
92. Sometimes I wonder why there isn’t a road map for life.
93. But I realise that there’s one road map that I can’t necessarily see. But I believe in it.
94. I want to marry someone who shares a lot of interests with mine, who is active, joyful (or at least has a positive outlook on life), smiles, and who is also at times random enought to bring that spark into life. See? I don’t ask for much. But believe you me, I only know two people who fit this category, out of the thousands of people I must’ve come across in my life. Honestly. (I said “honestly” because some people I know might be rolling their eyes right now and thinking “now I wonder which two it is he’s referring to?")
95. Don’t think too hard about what I just said in #94.
96. I’d like a few moments of fame, yes. I guess we all do, sometime in our life. I only had my 3 seconds of fame when I got an interview published in a Nippo-Brasilian newspaper. The article was the size of business card.
97. Perhaps the idea of International Weblogger’s Day will finally take off this year.
98. I admit I might see myself buying some tech gadgets I *rightfully* (he says, with angelic wings on his shoulder and a halo above his head) deserve.
99. This list is half the length of my Extended Essay and has 2,734 words and would span 6 pages single-spaced if seen under Microsoft Word.
100. I am exhausted.
Friday, March 4, 2005
Tuesday, March 1, 2005
