You all recognize this. It's a screenshot from Explorer. It displays your files in an efficient and organized manner so you can access them with ease. I can organize them alphabetically, by size, the date modified, file type, and because these are mp3s, album, artist, track number... We've had this on computers as long as I can remember because it fucking works.

Somehow Apple didn't get that memo and I've noticed as the years pass, they move away from that. I've been complaining about iTunes for awhile, but this in particular is probably the most fundamental problem. The whole point of iTunes is to manage your music, specifically on your mobile devices. When I first started using the program, it looked a lot like that screenshot above. And that was fine! That's what I'm expecting. A fucking list of my music that displays as much information at once so I know how they're tagged.

Someone at Apple thought icon mode was the way to go, and it's driving me nuts. All that information is gone. And now because so much space is dedicated to this picture of the icon, I have to start scrolling to look at my files when I could've just seen it on one screen. Some people like icons better, which is totally cool, but at least give me the fucking option to return to a list!

In the early 100s BC, Rome went to war with the North African kingdom of Numidia, where they had a really difficult time due to guerilla tactics and corrupt generals. It took six long, painful years before the leader of the Numidians was captured and they placed a puppet king in charge.

During the nadir of the Iraq War in about 2006, I kept on hearing people say the US' military was weak. No, it's not. It just isn't as good at fighting guerillas, which is a completely different type of fight than two armies clashing on the battlefield. Because if that's the case, then the Roman military was weak back in 100 BC, when Julius Caesar was still a six-year-old, before Augustus was even alive, and before Rome was even an empire. Yeah, we need to get our shit together with guerilla tactics. It fucked us over in Iraq, just like it did in Vietnam and the Philippines. But we're still some of the fucking best if you have two nations battling it out. Remember that "shock and awe" part of the Iraq War? If you didn't, I forgive you because it was so damned fast. We completely annihilated the Iraqi army. They didn't stand a chance. If our military was weak, they would've had one.

I went to the ophthamologist today and had a test for my periphery vision, in which I had to press a button whenever I saw a flashing light. The tool was long and slender, and clearly was meant to be gripped in the hand like you're holding a penis, and then the thumb would click the button on the top. I however could not be normal:

Technician: Why are you holding the instrument sideways in both of your hands?
Me: Oh, it feels like a game controller like this.
Technician: ...
Me: ...

Gardening season has begun. For those who aren't initiated in the gardening life, there are two types of plants: perennials and annuals. Perennials will come back year after year but annuals die after the first year. If you're good, you got them to seed and can plant them again, but most of us just have to rebuy it again next year. About 80% of our plants are perennials because that is a pain in the ass. We have one exception, and it's the flowers on the porch. If you've ever seen my backyard, you'll know we have these impatiens lining up along the railing. Those are annual. You're probably thinking, "Wow, there are dozens of those. Do you really have the replant those every year?" Yes, yes I do. And that's what's gonna happen in a week or two. I guess I should thank god it's only that and nothing else.

Also, my neighbor has recently started parking his car in his backyard as opposed to the garage. This is the neighbor that shares a wall with us, and that means his car is butting up against our property line... right next to our porch. When I water the plants up there, that shit is gonna get soaked.

Language changes a person's perception of the world. The Navajo have five different words for various stages of a sunrise because that is important to them, whereas I as an English speaker would just say, well, sunrise. Maybe dawn, but it's interchangeable. Australian aborigines have an acute sense of direction because instead of saying, "I'm next to you," they use, "I'm north of you." In English we prefer to use the active voice, which in turn makes us focus more on the actor, whether for blame ("John broke the vase" instead of "the vase was broken") or praise ("Margaret fixed the problem").

I was thinking about this when I look at the phrase "gender fluid" or "genderqueer." That community is trying to push for a third singular pronoun "ze," "ey," "hir," or honestly dozens more, none of which I think will become dominant any time soon. But the fact that people in English-speaking countries feel they can move between genders I think is a reflection of the language because our adjectives don't have a gender themselves.

In French you can instantly tell what sex the person is by the adjective ending:
Je suis heureux — I (male) am happy.
Je suis heureuse — I (female) am happy.
Same with German:
ein glücklicher Lehrer — a happy (male) teacher
eine glückliche Lehrerin — a happy (female) teacher
Or with Latin:
laetus sum — I (male) am happy
laeta sum — I (female) am happy

People in English complain about binary genders, but it really is built into European languages that can't be avoided. You can't just make up a pronoun in French that's gender neutral. You have to change an entire adjectival system. And considering literally every single noun in French has a gender, male or female and nothing else, that's whole language you have to fight against.

So does this mean being gender fluid as a concept is more receptive in an English-speaking context than in a gender-based language context? That would require an academic study with research assistants. From my small room I can say based off of Wikipedia, "genderqueer" is the word that foreign languages use, i.e. they never made one up themselves, possibly because it's not an issue that's pertinent to them. Even French, which hates using any word that isn't French, has genderqueer as its term, and the article itself starts talking about English, gender-neutral pronouns without mentioning any proposed for French. German doesn't even have a wikipedia article.

I doubt language is the only factor behind the indifference Europe has toward transsexuals in the same way the United States constantly talking about it now. But I wouldn't be surprised if it contributed to it.

I've been following this manhwa called TAL off and on for the past five years or so. When I tried reading the most recent chapter I realized I had no idea what the hell was going on and decided to blast through all 137 chapters of it. I have a bit of a mental block on Korean names, so I maintained a list to keep abreast of who's who:

Little did I know this shit would be useless. At one point they started talking about this dude "Paekchong" and it took me a few panels to realize they were referring to Baek Jeong, the dude who eats a lot. As I said, this series has been out for about five years. It's rare for a scanlation group to keep the same translator the entire time, so people have shuffled in and out, working on this series with their own transliteration method. Why the hell can't Korean get its shit together? Most Japanese follow the Hepburn system and China's pushing pinyin. I admittedly don't know anything about Korean, but there is a significant difference between "paekchong" and "baekjeong." And it wasn't just that one name. Almost every single one on that list has some other deformed variation. I've heard "Revised Romanization of Korean" is the most commonly used, but if that were the case I wouldn't have to deal with this shit, not only with this manhwa but practically every single one I've read in my life.

When I moved to Ireland, I noticed they used the 24-hour system for their clocks, i.e. 15:00 for 3PM or 22:00 for 10PM. This was helpful because I had changed my sleep schedule dramatically from late in the afternoon to about midnight. I did this to be able to dominate the TV for video games without interruption and to accommodate the time different to chat with people online. With most people if someone said, "I'm eating dinner at seven," you'd understand it was nighttime. That no longer applied to me, who often ate at 5AM. To avoid confusion I started to write with the 24-hour system as well, a habit that continues to this day.

Unfortunately my brain really started to think along those lines, to the point it's starting to fuck me up. For example my clock has a 12-hour system, with a little dot on the side stating whether it's morning or evening. A little while ago I had to wake up at 6:00 and set it accordingly. Unfortunately I forgot a few days prior I set it to wake me up from my nap at 17:00, meaning when I adjusted the alarm time for one hour I had actually set it to 18:00. I can't tell you how often this happens. I've nearly been late to gatherings, weddings, and flights. This wasn't a problem before — I always paid attention to that little dot — but now I see 6:00 and just automatically think it means morning.

After a discussion with Greene, here is a list of my favorite Tales games in order from best to worst in the Mothership Titles:

1. Abyss
2. Vesperia
3. Eternia
4. Symphonia
5. Xillia
6. Phantasia
7. Destiny
8. Hearts
9. Graces
10. Xillia 2
11. Zestiria
12. Legendia

Destiny 2, Rebirth, and Innocence weren't added because I feel I haven't played them enough to say for certain. I'd also like to note I said favorite and not best. You know, while we're at it here's Final Fantasy:

1. VII
2. IX
3. VI
4. IV
5. XIII
6. V
7. XII
8. X
9. III
10. VIII

...Wow, that list looks weird because it's just roman numerals. Same disclaimer as for the Tales games, also I didn't play enough of I, II, XI, and XIV to give an opinion. You know what? Last list, this time for Zelda:

1. Minish Cap
2. Twilight Princess
3. Ocarina of Time
4. Majora's Mask
5. A Link to the Past
6. Wind Waker
7. Skyward Sword
8. Legend of Zelda
9. A Link Between Worlds
10. Adventure of Link
11. Spirit Tracks
12. Phantom Hourglass

Sorry, busy today with Ate Neneng's birthday celebrations, so here's a vine:

Miitomo is a iTunes app that basically allows you to create an avatar, dress it up, answer questions, and read your friends' responses. It's aight but not amazing. Every now and then they give you photos featuring your avatar, which I'll admit are somewhat amusing:

Why is the anchor wearing pancakes?

Me: One of the Philippine candidates for the presidential election is Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Mom: Oh, I went to the University of the Philippines with her. What does she look like now?
Me: (shows picture)
Mom: She's still ugly.

*update*
Dad: Well... she's on the verge of unattractive.

Let's go back to 2004 for a moment. It's Bush vs. Kerry. One of the main attacks Bush launched was Kerry changed his mind depending on the political mood, that he was a flipflopper. Many of Bush supporters stated then and even now that they appreciated him because he stayed the course regardless of difficulties. Democratic supporters were indignant, saying it's better to have a president who can assess a situation and change his mind accordingly.

I think about that now as I look at Sanders and Clinton because one of the charges leveled against her is similar to what Bush was saying about Kerry, and people in the Sanders camp gleefully say he's been consistent throughout. That Clinton voted for the Iraq War but now says it was bad. Do we really have that short of a memory? I mean, it was over a decade ago, but we were pissed at Bush then for what he said and now many of those same people are parroting the same shit? Are we thinking before we open our mouths? Do we have no self-reflection?

In case you haven't been following the news, about 11.5M documents were leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which detailed the shady business of offshore accounts, hidden wealth, and shell companies. Many high-level politicians, businessmen, and celebrities worldwide were named and scandal after scandal popped up. Because "Mossack Fonseca" is a clumsy name — I'm going to forget it the moment I finish this post — the leak was dubbed "the Panama Papers" since the company was based there. Literally everyone referred to it as that: "Panama-Papiere," "documents panaméens," "papeles de Panama," "パナマ文書," even fucking Latin.

Turns out one place wasn't happy about it, and it's Panama.

When I first initially read about this I thought the Panamanians were overreacting, but then again what else do they have? What is it known for? There's the canal. Jungles. Street gangs. Uhhhh... uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

I guess if your claim to fame is a canal that wasn't even built by your country, you'd be a little touchy that the only other thing people can list is your status as a tax haven. And I suppose if Mossack Fonseca were based in say Delaware instead and the leak was known internationally as "the US Papers," that'd be pretty weird to read as an American, although if it did happen on our shores, our news organizations would probably create some snappy term that the rest of the world would follow. Panama doesn't have that luxury. If their papers desperately call this "the Leaked Papers" scandal, no one is going to listen. Living in an important country and in an important city, it's hard for me to relate to this. It doesn't just apply to Panama. Even in the United States places like West Virginia or Idaho are sensitive because they've been in the shadow of bigger players for so long. It's gotta be unsettling to wake up one morning to find the entire world is talking about you, and it's saying that shitty things are happening in your home.

We definitely need to come up with a better word than "Panamanians."

During the Bush years, I used to feel slight confusion about the message that was put out: less government involvement that would lead to bigger growth. Ideology aside, I felt that opposed a huge portion of their base: working-class whites. They were the union workers who received the benefits Republicans mocked. They were the ones whose jobs were disappearing overseas thanks to the globalization. They were the ones who needed unemployment, Medicare, and Social Security help from the government. So I couldn't understand why they were allied with Bush other than this demographic tended to be religious. Two terms later, I'm finding lots of articles trying to explain Trump's rise and some of them attribute it what I've been saying: Alienated by the Republican cause for the past few decades, they turned to someone who's against the Trans-Pacific trade agreement and promises to bring back the working-class jobs.

Some of the sources in these articles are high-ranking officials in the party, and they admit being blind sighted. It surprises me because I'm just some idiot sitting in her room and somehow none of them realized what I've been thinking about for over a decade. Perhaps because the Republican states were so loyal to Bush and his administration seemed so united that the bigwigs in the party assumed everyone agreed with Goldwater, Reagan, and Bush economics. (Who all admittedly were totally willing to increase taxes or government spending when it suited them.) And I fell for it too; if you asked me eight years ago about the Republican party, I'd say it wasn't a big-tent community and was more or less in agreement on most of the issues, just to what extent; in contrast the Democrats were just a mess of ideas amalgamated. Now I see what's confused me were actually tensions bubbling under the surface, finally coming to light. In a way it's somewhat of a relief to know the Republicans can also be a collection of different view points, but I just wish it didn't accumulate into someone like Trump. Well, it's definitely a low point for the party.

Why the hell are fountain pens so expensive? Like, thousands of dollars expensive. Even just a decent one is in the hundreds of dollars range. Before ballpoints appeared, people used these all the time. How the hell were they affording it? Or was it that fountain pen manufacturers realized they lost a large portion of the market share, so they turned their product into a luxury item? It's kinda crazy when you consider technologically ballpoints or gel are much better; no blotting, no having to deal with ink bottles, nothing. So they should be the more expensive ones. The pros a fountain has is mostly calligraphy, an art form that's lost amongst the masses. And is it worth it?

Rizhall: Okay, here's the issue.
Rizhall: I wanna go to the kitchen.
Rizhall: But the floor's really cold.
Rizhall: I have slippers.
Rizhall: But they make a growling sound whenever I take a step with them.
dundun: A... growling sound.
dundun: Not a sqeaking noise.
dundun: A ... "growling" ... sound.
Rizhall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKGr8JAQtMc
Rizhall: Specifically this sound.
Rizhall: I guess it's kind of a squeak.
dundun: Why the fuck is nothing in your life normal?
Rizhall: Come on, man.
dundun: I want you to go to that video you just sent me.
dundun: And think to youself
dundun: "If I played this for anyone in the world and asked them what they thought it was, would 'sound slippers make' be on the top 25 guesses they'd make? No, no it would not be, because that would be insane if anyone's slippers made that."

Professor Johannes Haushofer of Princeton University's CV of Failures

Ilike his meta-failure at the bottom. It reminds me of a professor who talked about the physics behind comics and was upset that he wrote several academic papers but he got the most publicity out of that.