The Kumachan

In 1998 I was in Okinawa, Japan when I received my Metallica fan club magazine which informed me of the bands upcoming tour. It was actually happening, Metallica was coming to Japan. I knew immediately I had to get tickets. So I checked with the Metallica club to see if I could get tickets through them for their Tokyo show. Unfortunately they weren’t sending tickets to fan club members overseas. So I did the next best thing, I went to a ticket office in Okinawa and purchased tickets. Next I had to get time off work and buy plane tickets to go to Tokyo from Okinawa. Once I got that squared away, then I just had to wait for the time to arrive.’, ‘The time finally came, I left for Tokyo on May 5th, 1998. Upon arriving at Narita airport I had to make my way to Ginza where I was staying. I went to the hotel and checked in. Dropped my bags off and took a shower. I decided to relax the first day because on the 6th is when I was going to the concert at the Tokyo dome in Budokan. I had purchased an extra ticket because I had a Japanese friend who wanted to go to the concert with me. So I went out to meet him and give him his ticket. When I met him in Shinjuku he had some troubling news. Because he was in a band called Janus and they were part of the X-Japan family. The lead singer from the band X-Japan had died and he had to attend his funeral, so he wasn”t able to make it to the concert. So I had this extra ticket and I didn”t know anybody else to give it to.

The following day I wore my Metallica fan club t-shirt and was pumped and ready for the concert. During the train ride I decided it would be best for me to try to sell my extra ticket outside the stadium. I stood around for a little while and nobody wanted to buy my extra ticket. Since I didn”t want to wait any longer I decided that it was a lost cause trying to sell it. So I decided to just go into the concert. As I was walking around the stadium to find the entrance there was a bouncer standing outside. He saw my t-shirt and asked me if I was a Metallica fan club member. I told him I was, then he told me that if I came back the following day I would be able to get backstage to meet the band. I thought this was some pretty cool news so it made me more pumped to go in an see the concert. Once I was in the stadium I was anxious for the concert to start. It was unbelievable, I was half way around the world from where I had seen my first Metallica concert in Ionia, Michigan, and I was about to see Metallica live again. Fifteen minutes into the concert I had already lost my voice from yelling as loud as I could. The concert went on and it was a kick ass show. After the show I took the train back to Ginza voiceless and wore out from attending an awesome performance.

The following day I went back to Budokan to see about getting backstage to meet the band. I walked around talking to some staff who pointed me in the right direction to get in line. Since I was so early I decided to buy some pamphlets to get autographed by the band. Then I found the line and I was the 2nd person in line waiting to get backstage. I started talking to Japanese guy in line in front of me and he was from near Osaka. He then asked me since I came from so far away that if I wanted to be first in line. I said, “Hell yeah” and he let me go in front of him. While waiting to go backstage Nicolas Swunland (writer for the Metallica fan club magazine) came out and told us what was going on. He told us that because the band was conducting interviews with local radio stations and tv stations, only Jason Newstead would be coming out to meet us. I must admit, I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to meeting James Hetfield, the lead singer. Nicolas Swunland went on to tell us that Jason doesn”t like flashes from cameras. So if we had a camera we needed to cover the flash. Since all I had was a $10 disposable camera this was no big deal I would just cover the flash with my finger.

They escorted the line backstage where we waited for Jason to come out. When Jason finally came out I was surprised to see that me standing 6 foot 1 inch was taller than short little Jason who was only 5 feet 10 inches tall. As he walked out I snapped a picture with my finger over the flash as he walked up to me. When he got to me I gave him my pamphlets for him to sign and I told him that I was from Michigan too. He said, “Oh yeah, where abouts?” I told him I was from Saranac and before I said anything else, he said, “Oh yeah, that”s up near my aunt in Ionia”. After he signed my pamphlets he started working his way down the line to the other fan club members. He made it to the 4th person and he paused for a second. He said, “Where am I?” I blurted out, “You’e in fucking Japan man.” He then glanced down and said, “I know that dude”. He then proceeded down the rest of the line when a guy came out and took Jason outside to show him a Harley Davidson motorcycle that had Metallica painted on the gas tank. Once he came back in, he was walking on his way to the concert. I was so excited that I just met Jason Newstead from Metallica I wanted to say, “Rock on” before his show. As he was walking by, I blurted out, “Jason!” and before I got to say “rock on”. He just shook his head and I heard him mumble to the person he was walking with, “These fans” then I couldn”t hear what else he said. It was as if he was getting an attitude because I wanted to let him know I appreciated their music.

I ended up venturing back to Okinawa where I told my coworkers about my experience of going to the Metallica concert and getting backstage to meet Jason Newstead. I didn”t forget to leave out the part about him being a little guy with a big attitude towards his fans. I brought in my pictures after having them developed and the picture of Jason did not turn out since I wasn”t able to use a flash, but my picture of Nicolas Swunland and me did turn out. After that one experience I never looked at the band quite the same so in 2001 when I heard news that Jason was leaving the band I was not heart broken. Once I heard Metallica”s 3rd bassist was going to be Rob Trujillo, previously from Ozzy, I knew the band was going to rock again.

I went to the bookstore today and I was looking through the computer books. The thing I noticed when I was trying to find the right book was that there are a million books and half of them are about the same things, but just written by different people who are asking way too much for their books. These money hungry whores don’t seem like they are concerned about actually writing good material because by the time you sift through a 500 page book only about 50 pages contain information that is actually useful. That means you have to buy their whole series of books just to get the relevant information that you were looking for in just one book. Not to mention they mark the prices of the books up to about fifty bucks per book. I am no math genius, but when they say knowledge is power and they are charging 50 bucks per book, but only 10% of that book is relevant information that means you’re paying 90% of the total cost of the books for just bullshit.

Occasionally when I’m out drinking with friends there is a stranger who will walk up and want to tell you his life story. I’m always more than 100% willing to listen to what they have to say, but it always comes at a cost. I consider it good etiquette that if you are going to tell me your life story and I’m going to have to listen to it, then you are going to be buying me drinks. I’m always willing to listen to what you have to say, but in return you’re going to refill my glass. The same goes for if I’m the one telling stories, then I’m the one buying drinks.

The logic behind this is that one is not as willing to talk as long if their pocket book is getting smaller. That way everybody is more apt to have a turn at telling their tales. This is just food for thought the next time you are out and a stranger comes up and wants to tell you their life story.

I recently received an e-mail from a girl I knew in high school. She was trying to get updated contact information and trying to find out if I”ll come to my high school reunion. It was neat to see some of the names listed on the contact list. She also sent out this e-mail saying, “Getting to know you”. I figured this was an ice breaker so everybody could start contacting each other. So I filled it out and sent it back to everybody on the contact list. Then the following day she sent another one. I hate these e-mails like this because thier whole intention is to clog an e-mail server. So I replied back saying that if you haven’t stayed in contact with people from high school, there was probably a good reason for it and these “Getting to know you” e-mails aren”t going to make up for lost time. Naturally she replied back saying that if I don’t want the e-mail then just delete it and that I shouldn’t reprimand when I reply back to everybody. I say, “the hell with that”. I don’t have to be politically correct anymore because I don’t have to be around you. Nice time is over! You should have gotten pleanty of nice time in high school. Now that high school is over, so is nice time. I don’t give a shit about who is doing what and who is making more money and stupid irrelevant stuff like that. I’m not out to please anybody, but myself. Call me selfish, but I don’t care. I”ll get you a nice warm glass of “Shut the hell up!” The thing is, the people I stayed in contact with from high school are the only people I really care to stay in contact with. These stupid e-mails aren’t going to make me like you any better now, especially if I didn’t like you in high school. That is just unwanted spam. So I added her to my black list and I don’t have to worry about her e-mailing me anymore.

The Dell saga has ended. Finally today Dell gave my money back after initially placing the order on March 3rd, 2004. The product was shipped back last month and this month I was finally refunded my money. It seems they are much quicker at taking your money than they are at giving it back. It only took 8 phone calls and numerous e-mails. If you call that good customer service I would hate to live in your world. At least it has ended and I can go buy a Mac.

It is going to be interesting to see what kind of punishment the soldiers in Iraq will get. The interesting thing won’t be the example the military is going to make out of them, but instead because they are enlisted soldiers, will they get imprisonment? This is interesting because we know the only thing US Navy did to Commander of the USS Greenville, Scott Waddle was forced him into early retirement and he killed 9 Japanese fishermen. The soldiers in Iraq only abused Iraqi prisoners and their punishment will probably be much greater. You can’t tell me that the enlisted soldiers who are going to be punished for abusing prisoners were the highest ranking in this scandal, but they will probably be punished much greater than anybody else.

What does that say about the US military and their rank structure? Does that mean they think enlisted are expendable? Does that mean their careers are valued much less than that of an officer? Don’t get me wrong, what they did was humiliating to the entire US as well as the Iraqi prisoners, but should they be punished worse than that of Scott Waddle who actually killed 9 people as well as sinking a ship and damaging a US submarine, while trying to impress some guests on his ship? His crime was much worse than theirs, but they will probably be punished much worse. This is just one of those things that should open your eyes and make you scratch your head

You would be surprised how many people out there have wireless networks running at home or at a place of business. You would be even more surprised how many people do not change the factory default settings. I recently set myself up on a wireless network before I even set my router up I was detecting other networks. The hostnames were the router version and the passwords were the factory default passwords and of course their wireless networks had no security. I was amazed to see this, so naturally I had to do something about it. Just what though, ‘I’ll keep it my little secret.’, ‘For all people considering putting themselves on a wireless network, be sure to change the factory defaults. Unless of course, you would like somebody else to take control of your network. It’s not hard to do and takes very little time. If somebody else can control your network, they can see what computers are on that network. Then to get files off those computers it’s even easier. Just a word of warning.

You would be surprised how many people out there have wireless networks running at home or at a place of business. You would be even more surprised how many people do not change the factory default settings. I recently set myself up on a wireless network before I even set my router up I was detecting other networks. The hostnames were the router version and the passwords were the factory default passwords and of course their wireless networks had no security. I was amazed to see this, so naturally I had to do something about it. Just what though, I’ll keep it my little secret.’, ‘For all people considering putting themselves on a wireless network, be sure to change the factory defaults. Unless of course, you would like somebody else to take control of your network. It’s not hard to do and takes very little time. If somebody else can control your network, they can see what computers are on that network. Then to get files off those computers it’s even easier. Just a word of warning.

I contacted Dell again because I placed an order on March 3rd, 2004 and I cancelled that order the same day. Everything in that order was cancelled except the monitor that had already been shipped. Once I received notification of the product being delivered I noted “Return to Sender” on the package. With my handy Fedex tracking number I tracked the package to make sure it had arrived back at Dell. They have had this package for over a month now and still I have not been refunded my money. Once I called the Dell phone number I obtained from their website I had to go through a series of automated phone features, then I finally got some Indian sounding woman on the phone. After telling her my situation she put me on hold for about 5 minutes. When she came back on the phone she said it should take 7 – 10 business days to be refunded my money. For crying out loud it has already been 2 months, how much longer does it take to put my money into my account? Anyway it is companies like this that turn me off from recommending others to do business with them. I’ll keep you posted on what happens next.

My coworkers have been talking about how great Xbox is and how much fun it is to play online and since I’m still playing Mario cart on Nintendo 64, I decided it was time for an upgrade. I went out and bought an Xbox today. It was fantastic I got 3 games that came with the system, a remote control, and the Xbox itself. I brought it home and was excited to play. After fighting through all the packaging for 30 minutes I finally had my Xbox set up and ready to play, but which game would I start with? I had chosen Grand Theft Auto – Vice City It was great I was learning the game, running people over in my car, stealing a new car after I crashed one, aaaaah the fun of this game. After about 20 minutes of playing I turned the game off because I had an appointment to go to.

After my appointment I was all excited about playing again. So I raced home, came in, and powered on the game. While the game was loading there was a number 7 on the upper left hand side of the screen. I thought, “That’s odd I didn’t see that before.” Then an error message popped up saying my Xbox needed to be serviced. So I called the customer service to see if this was a common problem. They advised me to pack the game back up and take it back to the store because this game could have been damaged in shipping. I felt let down, especially after all this hype from my coworkers. I took the Xbox back to the store and exchanged it. Then I came home and spent another 30 minutes fighting through the packaging to get the Xbox out. When I connected this Xbox up I was anxious to see if this one would work too. Once I hit that power button it started loading. This Xbox works, but I only got to play this one for about 30 minutes before I went to bed. Oh well, all in a game player’s day I guess.