Saturday, September 13, 2008

Eaten Alive


Eaten Alive
Originally uploaded by listenyellowlova
I don't usually post just pictures, but this is by far the coolest picture I've ever taken. I was coming home, and I heard a "bzzz....bzz ...bzzzz" sound. I looked down to see this orgy of insects, and I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. With a closer inspection, I realized that a poor cicada was being eaten by a wickedly large praying mantis.

Luckily this was all happening right outside of my neighbor's driveway, so I ran upstaris, grabbed my D40, and came back down to snap some shots.

Damn, people complain about dying, but how about death by having your face eaten off?

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Stepping Up

Over the past month or so I've given up the following:

-Anything English; movies, music, books, etc. If it has English, I don't get near it (with exception to my job)
-Alcohol. Of course I never had a drinking problem, but being in an altered state at any time makes me that less sharp
-Dating
-Going out on weekends
-Pretty much going out at all
-Social networking sites (myspace, mixi, facebook, etc)
-Video games


Why? Quite simply, I want to be good at something. I want to feel like I actually did something with my life. After this conquest, chances are I'll spend the rest of my life punching and punching out, find my way to retirement, grow old and die. But at least I can die knowing I worked towards a goal and completed it.

I've seen too many people live wasted lives, ignore their potential and turn out to be average (or less than average) Joe Slob who is content with mediocrity.

Not me.

Other than staying fit by going to the gym and snapping the occasional photo, I've cut out any part of my life that could be spent otherwise bettering myself at Japanese.

This isn't for a test I want to pass.

This isn't for getting job with a Japanese company.

It's for me.

It's to look back years from now when I'm bald, wrinkled, and fragile, and be able to think, "I did something. And I did it well."