Do you use del.icio.us?  It's a social bookmarking site.  I  really like it because not only do you have access to your bookmarks from any computer in the world, you can also share bookmarks with others and discover sites that you would probably never find on your own.

I found this link via del.icio.us:  http://fsilanguagecourses.com/

This site by the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has resources, in the form of PDF textbooks and MP3 audio files to go along with the texts, to learn foreign lanuages, all for FREE.  Actually I only tried the Cantonese section and that's what I found; I assume the other languages are the same. 

Load up some MP3s on your iPod or DAP and learn a language! 

If you decide to join (or have already joined) del.icio.us, let me kow.  I'll post my username in a PP.
 

[gaming/geek entry, move along if you don't care about games] and POTENTIAL SPOILER about MGS 4.

So I was watching the 2nd disk of the Famitsu Wave DVD, and they had a Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer, from TGS 2006!  You can use a metal barrel to hide in, and then if an enemy spots you, you can roll it on its side, and use it to knock them down.  You can blend in into almost any environment, be it nature, or some man-made wall. 
The coolest part was this mysterious ninja in all black.  He was near some rock statue, and he turned himself into rock to look like the statue.  When the enemies left, his suit turned from rock, back into the black suit.  He then took off his mask (POTENTIAL SPOILER)-- and took a puff of his cigarette.  It was young Snake!  Looks like young Snake will be in the game!

Too bad I can't add more "currently gaming", so it would be like the EGM editors.  In addition to Dead Rising, currently gaming: NBA 2K7, New Super Mario Bros.

So I was driving to work this morning, in the left lane when I saw a car in the right lane attempt to cut me off.  I honked on the horn, but the driver cut me off anyway.  It was one of the awesome driving techniques where the driver has to cut over 5-10 lanes to make a turn.  Basically the driver cut me off, then got over one more lane, so that he/she could make a left turn.  I guess he/she was driving too fast, because the driver didn't stop in time, went up on the median, and hit the left side of the car that was already there, waiting to make a left.

It's like I live two lives: weekdays, I'm really busy, and I tend to eat really healthy and work out.  Weekends, I just want to be this bum  who sleeps in late,  doesn't care much about diet, watches TV, and  spends most of the day on the computer .  Yep, it's 10:51 PM  and I didn't even go out all day . I'm still in my pajamas.  What is happening to me?!!!

Since today was a holiday,  I didn't have Japanese class.  What  to do with all the free time? 
Instead of three hours of Japanese, I decided to go to tae kwon do class. For THREE hours straight. 
How do I feel?  Just really hungry.

check  PP.

wedding
Last Saturday was my friend Phil's wedding.   It was my first
time being a groomsman at someone's wedding, and  it really wasn't
that bad, maybe because the wedding was relatively short.  The
bridesmaids were  pretty.  Only thing I didn't like was
dancing, because I suck at dancing.

japanese class
So the Japanese class I am taking at USDA was too easy for me,
according to the teacher.  So she suggested I go to the advanced
class, which was tonight.  Now, I usually wouldn't mind playing
"catch-up", but there is a lot to catch up on.  The first lesson
was the "te-form", which I was trying to avoid.  How can you
conjugate a verb if you don't even know the rules, nor the verbs
themselves?

The new professor said "you'll do fine; don't worry. you managed to get the te-form."
I
totally guessed in class, and I was right. However, I don't have the
confidence that I normally would, assuming I had started from the
begininng.  It's been SIX freaking years since I've studied
Japanese.  I like feeling PREPARED for class, not like some
ill-prepared idiot, guessing at stuff and not knowing what's going on.

I'm gonna go back to the beginning, even though it's
too simple.  Yeah, I'll "learn" (in quotes because I already know)
ten (10) hiragana per week.  Better than rushing through the book,
trying to remember the difference between wa and ga, he (e) and ni, etc.

So it seems that Bleach premiered on CN last Saturday at 12:30 AM (technically early Sunday morning).  I have no idea how it was since I dont have cable, but I am aware that the opening song and ending was kept intact. Normally, when an anime is shown in America, they change the opening and ending to some heavy-metal type song that is annoying, like they did w/Dragon Ball Z.

Anime in America is really boring IMHO -- especially when US companies try to cash in on a popular anime.  Like Naruto... they make stuff like Konoha baseball caps, Naruto wristbands, etc.  Stuff that doesn't seem as cool as the stuff they sell in Japan.

So anyway, I went to pick up New Super Mario Bros. for the DS and the guy there asked me if I wanted to put down a deposit for any games.  Initially, I thought "no, I don't like US games; I import most of my stuff" but then I decided I wanted FF III, so I put down $5.  Buying games in the US has no advantages compared to Japanese games.  If you preorder a game from Japan, it usually comes with some kind of neat preorder gift.  Naruto 4 for GC game w/a Pakkun pouch.  Naruto Portable for PSP came with a konoha PSP case.  What do I get for preordering FFIII in the US?  NOTHING! 

I know this was a geek post.  I've become such a geeky gamer in the past few months, because work can get boring and I'll just daydream, reading videogame sites on the internet all day.  J doesn't like me playing games (my PS2 was collecting dust when I first started going out w/her) so this is an addiction I have to control.

ひらがな！
This is so freaking cool! I used Windows XP to type the word above!!!

So after a six (6) year absence from studying nihongo (Japanese), I finally decided to go study again.  Most of the local universities have already started class or are starting next week, and it's too late to register. 

So... I decided to go to the local community college.  The feeling there was kinda weird.  I mean, I'm used to being around older people from not only work, but my graduate school courses (I graduated w/a masters in '05.)  Anyway, the prof. said I should come by and sit in in her 201-level class.  Big mistake for me.

I was so freaking rusty.  Although I could still read hiragana and katakana, I forgot a lot of the vocab and verb conjugations. Worse, I guess she didnt know who I was and asked me to stand up and have a conversation with another classmate, and I freaking froze. I had no idea what was being asked and I couldn't even reply....  Later, I explained who I was, how long ago I took Japanese, etc.  I figured I should just start over from 101. 

Community college classes aren't really convenient for the working professional.  Who has time for MWF 10:00-10:30?!  So anyway, my boss recommended this university called USDA.  I was like "USDA?"  Isn't that the organization that grades beef?
Believe it or not, yes it is.   And best of all, they have weekend/evening classes. They also have shorter semesters, and they have one semester per season.  I like.

So yep, come September 18th, I'll be learning Japanese again! 

Now only thing is to decide on which textbook to get.  One uses romaji almost exclusively (based on the Amazon.com review) and the other one uses hiragana and katakana right away.  For those who know or have studied Japanese, what do you think is better???