Today's Hearty physical

Just came back from the physical required for all city employees. Apparently there were these two tubes left on my desk Monday, a test for intestinal cancer, which I was supposed to turn in today, and into which I was supposed to shit. No one told me where to shit so I just did it the usual way for the past two days. I will have to wait until the second half of my physical on the 29th to turn in the shitty tubes.

Other tests included urine, blood, blood-pressure, ECG, eyesight, hearing, and a X-ray for tuberculosis. Everything took about just an hour.

While waiting I tried to read my ECG results. My heart rate is a strong and steady 57 bpm, which confirmed the comment of the doctor who took my physical before I left US ("You've got a big heart!"). But on the printout there was a computer-generated diagnosis saying that I have partial blockage (不完全ブロック) in my right atrium (右心房; this took some effort to figure out: when I pointed at the kanji 心房 and my heart at the same time and asked the doctor if it is small or big, he said it was small; in the dictionary ventricle is 心室). The doctor who did the once-over in the end checked my charts off under 差し支えない, which meant no interference/affect. But still...

Partial blockage!? Just how partial is it? I tried to ask the doctor about it but he just laughed it off, saying something like "Don't worry, your body is fine." Do I need more tests? "Your heart is strong, don't worry." Can I exercise normally? "Certainly. Don't worry." That's about the extent of questions and answers I could handle in Japanese at the time. But still...is it a fat/evil cholesterol blockage or is it a natural defect blockage? Is it the 3 cups of coffee I drank this morning or is it a irregular heartbeat? Or worse?

Am I going to die in the locker room like Thomas Herrion? Am I going to collapse on the hardwood floor like Reggie Lewis? Will I have to wear a pace maker while shooting baskets like Fred Hoiberg? Will I miss out on my max contract like Eddy Curry?

(problem or not, it is strangely self-gratifying to compare myself to professional atheletes, dead, alive, or lazy)

Come to think of it, didn't Jason Collier's autopsy say that he had an enlarged heart...!

Japanese double negatives

いり口で荷物を　あずけては　　　いけません。
Literally: Leaving your luggage at the entrance is not okay.

入り口で荷物を　あずけなくては　いけません。
Literally: NOT leaving your luggage at the entrance is not okay.

In Japanese, the 2nd sentence means the same thing as the first, but with more emphasis added by the double negative, i.e. the meaning (non-literal) of the first "Don't leave your luggage by the entrance." becomes "You MUST not leave your luggage by the entrace!" with the double negative added.
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(updated 11/15/05)

Oops. Actually the second sentence does not mean the same as the first one.

1st: DON'T leave your luggage by the entrance.
2nd: You MUST leave your luggage by the entrance.

Double-negatives actually changes a request/command into an imperative. I guess this isn't so different from the literal translation. Another example:

行かなければ = If I did not go
ならない = it does not become, it isn't the case that.
行かなければならない = It isn't the case even if I didn't go = I must go.

It is interesting that in Japanese there doesn't seem to be another way of saying "must" other than this double-negative form (with just one negative verb you say "must not") using しなければならない or しないではいけない (both mean it is not okay that I/you/one does not do, or I/you/one must do).

Chiefed in Japan

After the pool last night I drove to the local supermarket for some late-night snack and pre-emptive grocery shopping. I bought:

1) some breaded fried chicken, packaged in a clear plastic box.
2) some sea weed salad, packaged in a similar clear plastic box.
3) leeks, wrapped together in rubber band.
4) celery, also rapped together in rubber band.
5) a 2-liter bottle of sports drink.

I went to the counter, and the cashier put everything except for the sports drink in 4 separate plastic bags, and then put the four smaller plastic bags into one big one. They always do this at Japanese supermarkets. As far as I can tell, the rule is that unpackaged produce, cooked foods, raw meat, and cleaning supplies always go into their own separate plastic bag before being put together with the rest of your purchased grocery. Is it to prevent leakage? Fear of contamination? Whatever the reason, it always bugs the hell out of me.

So, I did what any environmentally-conscious consumer would do, I pulled everything out of their small plastic bags and just lumped it all in the one big one with the carrying handle, and said to the cash register,

"そのままのほうがいいですよ！”(sonomama no hou ga ii desu yo)
I think what I said was, "Just the way it was is okay with me!"
I looked it up afterwards, and I think actually said, "It should be the way it was." or "The way it was was better."

The cashier was a guy in his late twenties--which I thought was strange because the supermarket cashiers are rarely male. He replied,

"わかった、たいしょう。”(wakatta, taishou)
I thought he meant "I understand, it's okay." But I was a little bit confused as to why I heard taishou and not daijoubu, which meant "it's okay."

I looked it up in the dictionary:

大将　たいしょう　taishou
n. a general(army), an admiral(navy), a boss.

Enter that one into the chiefings database.

To all the ex-A-Beamers

if you're looking for that comfortably androgynous easy vibe in your Friday night locale, try this new bar across the street from Kaba.

(take a left right at the intersection of where the main asahi-machi street meets hi-hi and then look to your right across the street from Kaba, the sushi shop/isakaya with the live fish tanks, the bar whose name I've forgotten is very un-Yonago-ly trendy and shiek)

I know for sure one of the bar-tenders is from A-beam. It just opened in September. Although Toshi, whom I thought was the owner, never worked at A-beam, he has a star-shaped beauty-mark and his right earlobe tatooed (and for the ladies: handsome as anime). And they have a music collection from Jimmy Hendrix to Sasha on request (and for the gentleman: pretty ladies kept pouring in throughout the 1.5 hours I was there).

But make your own judgement because this info is coming from an extremely drunk and unexplicably horny post-enkai ALT at 3AM.

Feel freet o spread the word.

Trade results

Pulled the trigger on the Yao/C Butler and Pierce/R Jefferson deal. The league approved it too. What are Jimmy and the rest of the league smoking? Only Eddie apparently agreed with me that it was a lopsided ripoff.

My new roster:

PG M. Bibby (Sac - PG)
SG P. Pierce (Bos - SG)
G J. Richardson (GS - SG)
SF R. Jefferson (NJ - SF)
PF D. Nowitzki (Dal - PF)
F R. Wallace (Det - PF,C)
C M. Camby (Den - C)
C J. Przybilla (Por - C)
Util M. Jaric (Min - PG,SG)
Util A. Iguodala (Phi - SG,SF)
BN R. Alston (Hou - PG)
BN B. Simmons (Mil - SG,SF)
BN A. Jefferson (Bos - PF)

Back for more analysis of the trade. Bunkasai time.

(updated 11/5/05)
The obvious upgrades here are points, assists, 3pt and steals, and huge category upgrades at that. The FT% is not much of an improvement since Yao is such a good FT shooting center. I fell behind in blocks, but my team is already loaded on blocks. I also lost a little rebounds and FG%, but not as much as one would expect by trading away Yao since both Pierce and Jefferson grab rebounds and shoot at high percentages relative to their positions. The only troublesome downgrade in this trade would be turnovers.

Looking at the per-game numbers (from last year), with this trade I get: +9 points, +1.6 3pt, +6 assists, +.8 steals, -1.4 blocks, +2 turnovers (that's bad), -4% FG, -1.2 rebounds, -1.6% FT.

When it comes right down to it, I traded a 2nd rounder (Yao) and a 9th rounder (Butler) for Pierce (2nd) and Jefferson (4th). I think I made it out like a bandit in this trade.

The moment we've been all looking for...

Oh yeah. Without the games on TV I can still sit back and watch the stats roll off my yahoo fantasy team. Just like the real thing.

Belated Halloween Party invite from Kayvon to my gmail

Can't tell it any better than sister Ben has below, but the bottom
line is that this might be the final episode in a demonically
rhapsodic tradition.

......

Like a moth to a flame, burned by the fire, we once again find
ourselves drawing ever closer to that most unholy day of the year,
Halloween.

As we approach this night so often ruled by Satan and polluted by
carnal desires, the men of the Mitchell Brothers Mansion in San
Francisco have decided to make a stand and take back the night by
force. And we are bringing in the big guns -- perhaps God's biggest
guns. That's right -- we are bringing in Nuns with Guns.

We invite you and your friends to join us on Saturday, October 29 in a
night of celebration of the epic battle between good and evil. A
party in the Priory. An all-nigher in the Abbey, with kegs in the
convent. We will be serving drinks all night (feel free to bring your
own chalice) and dancing until the holy ghost strikes us lame.

Details are in the attached invitation, but here are the vital bits:

Third Annual Mitchell Brothers Mansion Halloween Bash
Saturday, Oct 29, 10pm
2045 16th Ave
San Francisco, 94116
Plenty of street parking, but bring a designated driver if you're
gonna get twizzled.

Though your hosts will be nunnified, this is meant to be a general
Halloween party, so no need to adhere to a religious theme. Still,
why not let a drink from Mother Superior rearrange your interior? And
wouldn't it be fun to shake the junk in your trunk side by side with a
monk?

We hope to see you there, and friends are welcome. Apologies to those
who don't think nuns are a joking matter, or those whose mothers are
nuns.

Kayvon Bina
Ben Allen
David O'Steen
David Chang
Ev Meagher
Andy Smith