the corioblog » Massachusetts

steam cake ginza kimuraya

coriolinus — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 16:48:00 +0000

The english text at the top reads as follows:

My lasting memory of that first trip to France in 1952, is of sensuality. Today, one would have to step off an aeroplane on the other side of the world to experience such an impact on the senses. There was a strangely exotic smell which hit me as soon as I set foot on the quay at Calais, later identified as a mixture of strong tobacco, expensive scent and fresh garlic.

This is followed by another block of english which appears to have been overlaid with the bag graphics; at least, it breaks strangely where the graphics are. It reads as follows:

As well as producing unbeatable bread, French bakers also service the nation’s sweet tooth with a cornucopia of pastries and cakes. One French customs is the visit to the boulangerie-patisserie after Mass on u attended the service or not! — returning home with a baguette in one hand and pyramid-shaped parcel in the other containing a shle heavy creme patisserie.

It is worth noting that this was a sweet cake, which smelled of none of the things listed in the first paragraph. It may be that cakes such as this originated in France, but I’ve only ever seen them here.

The presence of blurbs like this imply that it’s fashionable to use English text in advertising efforts; the contents imply that the fashion is more for aesthetic reasons than for any real hope of edifying the reader. It’s an odd habit, but it’s one I’m kind of glad of; it brings a refreshing touch of nonsensicality to a country otherwise steeped in the efficient and logical.

more good news

coriolinus — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 03:07:00 +0000

I am now officially a yellow belt in Bushido-Zen Kenpo Karate. This is in fact the lowest belt they offer, but it’s better than no belt at all. Also, it came up in conversation that about 90% of what I’ve been learning is completely illegal in Massachusetts mixed-style fighting tournaments. That’s always good to know.

Your brain: 0% interpersonal, 100% visual, 60% verbal, and 240% mathematical!

Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy
doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than
average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing
about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers.

Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious:

Don’t date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%.
Don’t be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%.
Don’t have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 0% on interpersonal

You scored higher than 73% on visual

You scored higher than 69% on verbal

You scored higher than 97% on mathematical

Link: The 4-Variable IQ Test written by chriscoyne on Ok Cupid

I’d like to note that I’ve broken all three of the lifestyle guidelines proposed by the test creator…

Anticipatory Repudiation

coriolinus — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 07:10:00 +0000

Let’s say that I accept employment with a company. Let’s say that for various reasons, that company fails to pay me. Let’s say that my job for that company involved writing code. Let’s say that I am given responsibility for a fairly major project for a client.

After a while, after several requests to meet and resolve the payment issue (which are ignored), let’s say that I remove all code that I’ve written from the company’s servers with the notice that it will be restored in full when I am paid. Postulate that they are months overdue and owe me several thousand dollars.

Let’s say that their response is to claim that my action is criminal sabotage and to threaten to take me to court. My goals in that situation would be to come out of this paid for my work and without a criminal record.

Does anyone here know for exactly what my legal position would be? Legal advice would be greatly appreciated, especially as it pertains to the laws of Massachusetts.

Personal Infor

coriolinus — Fri, 07 Mar 2003 16:56:00 +0000

You want some personal information about me? Can’t get enough Coriolinus?

survey taken from

// series one – what’s your
– Name: corilinus
– Birthdate: January 26, 198~
– Birthplace: Washington DC
– Current Location: Worcester, MA
– Eye Color: Brown
– Hair Color: Brown
– Righty or Lefty: Right-handed
– Zodiac Sign: No idea. Never seemed relevant.

// series two – describe
– Your heritage: about 50% british-american, 50% french-canadian
– The shoes you wore yesterday: boots.
– Your hair: crewcut
– Your fears: personal failure, primarily
– Your perfect pizza: buffalo chicken
– One thing you’d like to achieve: a regular daily schedule that I stick to, to include exercise, schoolwork, and sleep.

// series three – what is
– Your most overused phrase on aim: …
– Your thoughts first waking up: curses! late again! (even when I’m not…)
– The first feature you notice in the opposite sex: build
– Your best physical feature: i’m told I have a nice smile. I don’t agree, but who am I to argue?
– Your bedtime: whenever I realize, “oh, shit! I have to be awake in n hours!”, with 3 < n < 8.
-- Your greatest accomplishment: being accepted into various prestigious groups and organizaitons.

// series four - you prefer
-- Pepsi or Coke: Coke. Actually, make that Dew, which is referred to around here as 'engineer fuel'.
-- McDonald's or Burger King: Burger King. McDonalds.
-- Single or group dates: I'd be happy enough to have a date at all.
-- Adidas or Nike: Neither of them have a strong line of heavy boots. Recently I've been wearing Magnum.
-- Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: I actually can't remember which I prefer, though I know I have a preference. Lipton, maybe? That's the one with the snowman... and it's the brand of hot tea I buy.
-- Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
-- Cappuccino or coffee: Coffee, if pressed... but more often I drink hot tea.

// series five - do you
-- Smoke: no
-- Cuss: depends on whose company i'm keeping
-- Sing well: i'd like to think so, but i can't think of anybody who can confirm or deny.
-- Take a shower everyday: of course
-- Do you think you've been in love: no. in lust, sure... but not yet in love.
-- Want to go to college: I'm there now. It's a hard time, sometimes, but I'm sure I'll look back on it with longing after I get into the real world.
-- Liked high school: Not the particular one I went to... but I didn't get into the one I wanted to go to, and the other options were all worse. The friends I made there were nice enough.
-- Want to get married: eventually
-- Type w/ your fingers on the right keys: apparantly. I don't really think about typing, at this point... I kind of think into the computer, and the details get taken care of automatically.
-- Believe in yourself: If I didn't, would I have refrained from suicide?
-- Get motion sickness: not a bit
-- Think you're a health freak: hardly. can't stand most health food...
-- Get along with your parent(s): depends which one you're talking about
-- Like thunderstorms: mixed feelings. I love them personally, but they do all sorts of crazy things to my computer...
-- Play an instrument: I know the basics of at least five, but I can't play any of them well at the moment. I could get back into the hang of things in a month with any of them, I think...

// series six - in the past month, did/have you
-- Drank alcohol: yeah
-- Done a drug: no
-- Made Out: i wish.
-- Gone to the mall?: yes, but it was for one specific thing, and that's all I got! Honest! And maybe one or two other things I picked up that i just had to get...
-- Eaten an entire box of Oreos: no
-- Eaten sushi: no, though I had some pretty decent steak at a japanese place a week ago...
-- Been on stage: not this month
-- Been dumped: ::checks watch:: no, not this month
-- Gone skating: no. skiing, on the other hand...
-- Made homemade cookies: you must be kidding. the thought of me cooking should be making most of you shudder, at this point. If not, see two posts ago.
-- Been in love: no
-- Gone skinny dipping: that'd be a dubious decision at this time of year... though I have been swimming once or twice in the last week...
-- Dyed your hair: no
-- Stolen anything: no

// series seven - have you ever
-- Played a game that required removal of clothing?: no. came close, once or twice, but the other people there were either not drunk enough or a little too drunk.
-- If so, was it mixed company: of course! what sort of person do you think I am?
-- Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: two words... actually, one word, as the other one is my name... anyhow: tasmanian
-- Been caught "doing something": depends what sort of something
-- Been called a tease: no
-- Got beaten up: yes. it kind of sucked, not so much because of the pain, but more because I wasn't at all in control of what was happening to me.
-- Changed who you were to fit in: well, if a deliberate and thorough personality overhaul counts as changing myself... yes.

// series eight - the future
-- Are you hoping to be married: well, I want to have kids, and I want to raise them well... that usually implies marriage...
-- Numbers and Names of Children: heh. depends on the circumstances
-- Describe your Dream Wedding: one that I don't have to worry about until I'm walking down the aisle.
-- How do you want to die: it's not how I die that counts; it's the funeral: I want at least a four-star general there. Or maybe the President of the US. I suppose the Pope would do...
-- Where you want to go to college: WPI's a really cool place. I still wonder how I would have done if I had gone to the AF Academy, though...
-- What do you want to be when you grow up: pilot of combat aircraft for the USAF. Ideally, I'd like to get into space, but that depends on how well the space program progresses.
-- What country would you most like to visit: I want to spend at least one vacation in Japan; I've read far too much megatokyo to really want to go elsewhere.

// series nine – opposite sex
– Best eye color?: green
– Best hair color?: red
– Short or long hair?: long
– Best height: between 2 and 10 inches shorter than me.
– Best weight: so long as she’s reasonably trim for her height… I define ‘reasonably trim’ as ‘twice as plump as I am, but preferably less’.
– Best articles of clothing: got me
– Best first date location: I dunno. I try for the less usual places, in the hopes that it helps me stand out better in her mind…
– Best first kiss location: I would guess on the lips. That’s where my first kiss with any girl has always been…

// series ten – number of
– Number of girls I have kissed in my life: 2 outside the family
– Number of boys I have kissed: 0
– Number of drugs taken illegally: underage drinking I guess is an illegal drug… other than that, nothing. I wish I could say ‘underage drinking’ without the clear implication that I am a drunk, because I am not.
– Number of people I could trust with my life: You never really know until you put your trust in someone… I would guess something less than 10.
– Number of CDs that I own: many
– Number of piercings: 0
– Number of scars on my body: major ones, none. Minor ones depend on how you count them: does it count if you’ve injured the same place twice or more, re-scarring each time? what about scars that are still healing? I’ve got quite a few scrapes and cuts that each left a minor scar; too many for me to count right now, at least…
– Number of things in my past that I regret: It’s hard to say. Not many, but at least one.

225

coriolinus — Thu, 26 Dec 2002 07:47:00 +0000

So. Christmas has come and gone, and with it the gifts, experiences, and whatnot.

Drove a few hours today to Mass, to see my new cousin get circumcised. It’s a ceremony that, as important and holy as it may be, still gives me the jitters. Other than that…

Driving back home, it began to snow. After dinner, my dad and I tried out the new (to us) snowblower, which may as well be a christmas present even though it was never really announced as such. It took off the top six inches without stuttering, and though I expect that we’ll have to go over it again tomorrow morning to get rid of the other six inches, the total effort expended will be much less than if we had tried to attack the snow with shovels. It’s very wet… great for snowmen, denser than sand…

I’m happy. I’m also going to sleep now, in an effort to get back onto a more ‘human’ schedule (as my mother so discretely puts it).

Merry christmas! (this actually does still apply, if you happen to live around England…)