Get mad, listen to death metal, rage down the subway

One of the best things about living here has got to be the public transportation system. It is highly amusing watching so many humans, unnaturally packed into trains everyday everyone so dead to each others' presence, unless it involves an elbow in your spleen.

I invented a new game/system for learning Japanese: Pick whatever words/characters I want to learn each day, and fill a whole sheet. This will usually involve 3-4 compounds, which are like "compound words" in English except with kanji (Japanese characters), so multiple pronunciations are prevalent, and meanings are rather non-literal and unintuitive. I will write each compound 15 times or so to hammer them in. Then, the fun part: Try and find them in the masses of advertisements, signs, and kanji-overload that I see everyday!

Turning problems into solutions: Pro-active Belcher!

As for the title of this post: Without going into unnecessary detail, someone/something/some culmination of both made me angry, and in typical Ben-fashion I used music as my catharsis, as my self-therapy to get out all of those "bad vibes." I mean, of course dealing with said problem head-on would be ideal and much more satisfying, at least temporally, but realistically confrontations only get you into trouble in our modern world. Not to mention that I have other interests to protect, reasons not to confront it etc. etc.. So in rationale, I am not a coward who is running from my problems, or a kid who hates his parents (I love them dearly in fact), I just really like heavy music.

No, that sentence is misleading: I like music that fits my mood. Sometimes, the music can shape my mood. Other times, I need it to conform to me. Tonight was an example of that last one, and I listened to Suffocation's "Pierced From Within" whilst storming through Shinjuku station like I had somewhere important to go. And no need to worry about that pesky road rage either! What a city.

Incidentally, tomorrow is my first day of teaching. MY FIRST DAY EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TIME TEACHING ANYONE ANYTHING PROFESSIONALLY. I'm a little nervous, but rightfully so, even though I think I'll nail it for the most part...Sometimes though, I build up my hubris so convincingly that even I am fooled, and that shallow pride is stricken back just as quickly as it was made when I realize that I was never that confident to begin with! I feel about 65% good about teaching lessons now, and from what everyone says who has been doing it for a while, after I've developed a routine in the next month, I should feel 85-90% good/great/awesome.

So.

Today also marks the point in time when me and all my fellow trainees split up. We were like a big team of naively happy newbies in Japan, and now we all go on to different schools, and aren't likely to see each other unless we plan something outside of work, which will surely happen eventually. Such is life: everyone goes their own way.

I've had so much bogging me down as of late, but at the same time I'm always keepin it as "posi" (remember ye olden folks, this is slang for having a positive attitude!) as I possibly can. I really have no reason to complain, I'm just longing for some kind of routine or groundedness in my life. I thrive on it so. Once I have that, along with the proper amount of adventures, I should have a recipe for living relatively comfortably here in Japan.


"Do you believe that you are the solution, when you're just contributing to the problem?" - End of Line.

The smell of cooked meats while running can be very distracting. Subheading: Kitamachi Town Festival! BANZAI

Tonight I was running down the path near my house, and smelled barbeque and it made me hungry. I saw a picture of a wolf creeping up on I think a cat, with its paw stretched out, and it read: "Beware of Perverts!" (literally "be careful of bad-touchers!") I ran/walked about 2.5km which I think is something close to a mile. But that was at night, at 7:30, which must be national Japanese dinnertime, because salarymen walked through the streets toward their respective homes, and the smell of delicious food wafted through the air.

After returning home and taking a shower, I made myself some well deserved dinner. I fried up some salmon and pork links and put it over some rice with carrots that I had prepared earlier:

The facts are out: I can actually cook!

And now I am going to become unstuck in time and travel backwards, in honor of the late Kurt Vonnegut and his amazing writing talents. 32 hours ago, it was around 2 in the afternoon on Sunday, and I was enjoying a day off after having to go to Shinjuku for training 6 days in a row. I was finally sitting down with my Japanese textbook when I heard the clacking of wooden objects and whistles, along with an organized chanting coming from somewhere outside. I thought it must have been a dojo or some big martial arts thing or something, but the sound kept coming closer, turning into a huge crescendo of: "CLACK CLACK WHISTLE OYAAH CLACK CLACK WHISTLE OYAAAH!" It got to the point where the sound was right outside, but I couldn't see anything since my street turns at an obtuse angle and many building obstruct ones vision. At this point, I grabbed my camera and sprinted out the door to see just what was going on.

When I got to the bottom of the street, I saw a stand with green beans/lima beans/asian beans of some kind in a bowl, popsicles and beer and cups all laid out with a few attendees at the bottom of my street, which is a T intersection. On the opposite side of the table were at least 60 or 70 people in purple, ceremonious robes, all sounding jovial on that beautiful Summer Sunday. Here is what it looked like from that angle:

The sound had stopped, and so did the cameraman.

A massive feeding frenzy!

"ONE BEER OVER HERE!" "POPSICLE!" And various other cries I didn't understand immediately replaced the clacking, whistles and OYAAAHS.

At this point, I knew I had to get a better angle, and not wanting to be incredibly rude and disrepectful (which I already felt I was doing by invading this bubble of pure Japanese culture with my foreign presence), I didn't push my way through the crowd, but went the long way up the street and a few blocks over and back to see things more clearly. On the way, I met a man who was blocking off my street for the festivities, and we had a conversation that went something like this:

"Uh, excuse me, but what is that over there?"

"That is Kitamachi's town festival."

"Oh, really? Cool! Do you know what it's called?"

"Well, not really, sorry."

"That's OK, um, how often do they have it?"

"Twice a year."

"Thanks!"

So, even though I don't know much about the traditions of festival-related details, I extrapulated that much from the random road-blocker-guy. And, when I finally reached a good vantage point, I became unstuck in time again, slipped back into the present moment and said to myself: Enough with the descriptions and words and such, just show them.

OK!












It's not obvious from the pictures, but whatever that "ark of the covanent"-looking thing was in the middle, they began dancing around with it and moving down the street again. They had apparently only stopped at the T-intersection for a snack break at a preordained stand.

So, that was random and cool, and it really brightened my day. Afterwards me and my house-mate Dayn went exploring the town, where we found a bunch of cool stuff that I didn't know existed, including: An arcade, a video game store, a big used book store, a gym and a pizza place. Awesome! I bought HD cables for my 360 too, mwahahahahaaa...

And that's about it. Thanks for reading, and to close, here are some pictures from the roof of my building, which is only about 3 stories. Still, it gives you an accurate, if somewhat miniscule, idea of the clusterfuck of Urbania which surrounds me. Check it out:




"This isn't me, I never asked to feel this way. I can never justify why every dream has to end. The morning's coming, so now we're falling, in and out of things we've said, in and out of dreams we've let die!" - Dead Hearts.

P.S. A few extra shots from Karaoke last weekend, courtesy of my new friend Claire:

Language is the liquid that we're all dissolved in

At my training yesterday, I noticed that I was starting a class on 9/11, and I said to the trainer (who was from Canada):

"9/11, never forget bro."

"Forget what?"

"..."

So maybe it's just my cultural ignorance showing here, but I thought 9/11 was a big deal to everyone, not just to Americans, right? Somehow it makes sense though, since we've had these numbers shoved down our throats and upon them a foundation of lies and propaghanda has been built, so the tower of lies is in much more recent memory to the world as a whole than its initial base. Fair enough but still, to think that people don't make the same association with 9/11 as I do is a bit unnerving. I mean, I lived only 180 miles from NYC when it happened, and my Mother was only about 80 miles away from there when a giant plane smashed into a huge building, both full of people. Shit is bananas.

But I digress.

So last night, I went out to a shindig to which I was invited to by some of my co-workers. I left around 7:30 only to find out that it had begun torrentially downpouring a few minutes before. By the time I got to the station, despite having my umbrella out, I was pretty soaked. I actually took off my shoes, took of my sucks and rung them like washcloths. Must have been a good cup of water in there! Using my quick wit and McGuyver-like skills, I wrapped the socks in my handkercheif which I put in a small plastic bag as to keep them from getting my shorts any wetter.

So after about an hour of travel I made it to said party, which was in Shimokitazawa, a hip spot in Tokyo where I saw Melt Banana two weeks back. However, I would have rather gone to a show. The bar was packed, hot, and just reminded me how much I generally don't like bars. The music was unnecessarily loud and not very good, the beers were minimum $8 a pint, and as much as I like Guiness, that is just absurd. So after saying hi to everyone I knew there, me and a few of my friends split, went to McDonalds for the very unhealthy but satisfying Greasefest 2008™, and went our separate ways. Kind of a lame night, so I thought I'd share it with you! :)

Daily J-Fact to the Rescue! Bread here is an inch thick per slice, I kid you not. They sell loaves of 8 slices, and it's got a strange texture to it. Wheat products are also really hard to find.

In other news, according to Japan Probe, the Japanese are incredibly interested in Sarah Palin, McCain's new running mate. This interest is a mirror of their fascination with Hillary Clinton though, and has nothing to do with issues of health care or pork-barrel politics in the States, so much as the fact that they are women running for the oval office. Huh. I guess since Japan does tend to maintain that "women should be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen" motiff quite strongly in contrast to feminism-liberated America, it would be interesting to them. Still comes off as a bit odd to me.

But what isn't odd here, really. I heard at weddings they use dry ice machines. ?

I'm going to clean my place up today, and possibly explore town a bit with my friend Dayn. That's all for today, going to see a crazy show next weekend so hopefully I'll get some good stories for ya.

Me and some other trainees, fulfulling Gaijin stereotypes such as being loud and boisterous.

"I've been affected by your lies and I've let that hold me back, I wasn't thinking for myself, I wasn't living for myself! I will not be a victim, I'll choose my own!" -Hatebreed

Everyday I wake up, drink a bowl full o' honey and let the locust fly in

Good morning from the Future, Americans.

It's Saturday over here, and I have just set up my new fan, which is tiny like everything in Japan. I bought an iron the other day that's about a foot by a foot, and my coffee maker is only a foot tall as well. Even containers of shaving cream, soap, spaghetti sauce, everything is miniature here! For better or for worse....

I am almost finished with job training. This makes me excited not only because I start teaching on Wednesday, but also because I don't have to role-play as a 6 year old anymore during the other trainees' demos. Yea, it's weird, but that's how we practice before we do it for real. Go figure.

I'm still trying to squeeze my pennies (yennies?) since my first paycheck has about a 6 week delay, but it's hard in a country like this. Especially when your bosses and fellow staff invite you out for 200 yen ($2) beers after a long hard day. Work hard, play hard, that's how the Japanese do things.

Small size! Efficiency!

Speaking of small, I'm still a little freaked about doing kids classes but LUCKILY I only have one per week (I know people who've gotten 4 or 5) and I have a bunch of more advanced ones which makes me exceedingly happy. I can in fact hear a little girl yelling "HIDOI! NEE NEEE!" ("No fair! Waaaahhh!") outside my window right now, hah. Anyway, what those advanced classes mean is that I can actually use all that crap I learned in college for my job! Who would have thought I'd be doing anything with an English Bachelors besides managing a Starbucks?

Y tu, brute?

Speaking of money, I got an offer to get paid about $120 for 2 hours of proofreading and correcting an article from Japanese into English using an automatic translator. If you don't already know, automatic translators are incredibly flawed, especially with Western -> Eastern languages because the differences are incalculable. Asia is the place where my English knowledgde comes in incredibly handy.

That being said, I really ought to study more Japanese. I took two years and can speak OK, but there is so much written stuff I don't understand yet, and it's frustrating! Once I get into a routine, I will study everyday and get better!... Or just become another English teacher who gets comfortable and stops trying. One or the other.

What else what else.... nothing really. I'm going to enjoy my weekend by relaxing and resting my throbbing feet as much as possible. Walking miles in dress shoes and a full suit in the middle of Summer can really get to you. But first, I have to go to work for an hour. Yarg!

Until next time hombres


"Be bop a lou bop a wop shamoo and Domo Arigatoh if I got to!" - Clutch

Today i became an official non-fan of "ume" sour plums

Hello again. It looks like people are still reading, so I'll keep on writing.

Keep on keepin' on.

Today was overall a good day. I found out that the sour, mushy crud call "ume" is a sour kind of plum that the Japanes like to put in sushi and rice balls, God only knows why, it tastes like custard gone bad. I also had my credit card (kind of a lifeline right now) rejected at the exact same convenience store that took it yesterday, which was a scare. Luckily it worked later at the local Department store, seems that their machine was just messing up.

Weird J-Fact of the Day: To name a completely B.S. statistic, probably 1 in every 200 businesses in Tokyo takes any kind of credit card. In other words, Japan is a very cash-based country. Why? Well, I don't really know. To speculate, perhaps after the economic bubble burst in the mid-90s (they've supposedly been in a recession for 10+ years now) they decided not to embrace credit, on the fear that it might drive people into debt. Maybe it somehow violates some intrinsic Japanese cultural factor, I don't know. All I do know is that I've only found 3 (out of dozens and dozens) of convenience stores that will take credit cards. Restaurants, forget about it. The Department store, OK. Karaoke, OK. Everything else is very cash only, which is a bit frustrating right now, but I can deal.

Anyways, training was fine, quite fun actually. We were a bunch of full grown adults, role-playing as kids to practice giving them lessons. I also observed a real lesson today, which was a tad strange. For one thing, the kids definitely seemed just as wild and uninhibited as any 4-6 year olds I've ever seen before, but somehow they were slightly more disciplined. They cleaned up their messes afterwards which completely blew my mind. And they did look like a fun group, if challenging to teach.

More interesting was the gathering of Japanese mothers that I was sitting in a room with, as we all sat next to a glass window that looked onto the class. They didn't really seem too interested in what was going on in the classroom, and who could blame them? They probably watch their kids all day and night, and they pay good money for these English lessons, so why not enjoy a break? I listened to the fast-spoken chatter, a characteristic of women that seems to be transcultural: Put em in a room together, and they'll talk a mile a minute.

And if that last bit offended you, well, I'm talking about transcending culture here! If that ain't worth sacrificing Political Correctness, I don't know what is.

Most of their banter I didn't understand, but bits and pieces here and there I did. When I first introduced myself, I explained that I was a new English teacher in Japanese, and they all seemed astounded by my ability to speak. "Why can you speak such good Japanese? That's amazing!" They said, with wide eyes echoing "amazing" in Japanese several times. I explained to them that I took it in college, and had a great teacher. Whether they were impressed or bewildered by this 6 foot tall white anomoly that could speak their languages mildly well, I couldn't really tell.

Toward the end of the lesson however, I told the one Mother who was sitting next to me that she had a very cute and energetic child. The conversation went on, mostly with me speaking Japanese and her speaking English, as happens so very often in this country. The reason is simple though: We both want to practice a language that we feel we don't get enough chances to speak. The conversation was quite interesting though, and hit such topics as why I came from New York to here (money and teaching opportunities and experience), why I liked Japan, partly because it was so different from home (she echoed me on the "sooooo different!" Which was pretty funny), and eventually we even talked about the difference between Japanese and American kids. This subject was brought up by her, not me mind you. I expressed my opinion as stated earlier in this blog that, well, they just seem more disciplined here, and though American children tend to get more chances to be creative and free which is a great thing, perhaps they get too many of these wonderful opportunities. Too much to understand stability, order, etc. I explained it was a difficult thing to think about on a personel level; If I ever had a child, would I want to raise him in a more American or a more Japanese way? And I had no answer, and still don't, of course. Not like there is really such a black and white difference, but I would like him/her to have some idea of respect and values that the new generation seems to have left so in the dust. End rant.

Oh, and I mentioned how I have no younger siblings or real experience with kids and am terrified of teaching them classes, hah. But, I'm sure I'll be fine....probably.

Anyway, that was the big event of the day. I ate a "Moon-Viewing Burger" from McDonalds, simply because I had to try it: An egg over two beef patties with bacon and special sauce. Oh decadent treats. I also ate at a delicious pork place earlier today, which had some kind of amazing sauce with pork that was cooked right when you got there, with lettuce, rice and miso soup. The food people, THE FOOD. I cannot stress this enough. Food is what makes you go and what can make your body feel many different ways, and if you eat good food that's like 70% of the battle of Life, in my opinion.

I also listened to more of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" on audiobook, and man what an intriguing read/listen. I can't believe I didn't appreciate this in High School, I must have had no attention span...although I do think I tried to skim it, and that of course doesn't work in a book where you jump through time.

CD of the Week coming next week, I chose to opt out this time around due to current time constraints.

Until next time treasured lurkers!

Love you Mom & Dad!


"Lets not praise the past, just the facts: BUILT TO LAST. Old school or the new, doesn't mean a thing if your heart ain't true"

"All mirrors hide... Failure inside
That's maybe why they take so much time

Big money lies, big lying eyes
Eyes are the soul of big dollar signs

What is the force that drives the superficial
Tell me what keeps their minds remaining little
What is the force that drives the superficial
Tell me what keeps their minds remaining...
So afraid of what they'd see underneath the fantasy
So afraid to actually SCRATCH THE SURFACE!"

-Sick of it All.

Last night in Sam's Town

Hey everybody! That has to be the longest I've gone without posting since my flight, huh. Well, what can I say, I'm a busy man. Straight to brass tacks:

Last Saturday I went out to Karaoke with a bunch of my fellow trainees. We were all exceedingly happy to get out of the stuffy classroom and into a slightly more stuffy (but much more fun) private Karaoke room! I suppose this needs some kind of explanation, since singing your favorite tunes and drinking is almost a whole different animal over here in Nippon.

Even though I've never participated in it much, if it all back home, I can tell you what Karaoke is like on a Friday night at a bar in New York: People singing terrible country and pop songs you don't want to hear, along with self-proclaimed musical prodigies who just never got their "big break," and those people who heckle you mercilessly because you couldn't hit that solo in B flat. Basically, it sucks, in my honest opinion.

Over here, Karaoke isn't a drink-special-Thursday-night kind of deal; It's big business. There are multiple story buildings in almost any major area with huge neon signs for it: KA-RA-OH-KEH is how they pronounce it, in big, bright, phonetic characters. In these buildings, you rent a room with a TV, a few huge songsbooks with an impressive selection of both Japanese and English songs, and a food and drink menu. Like most red-blooded Westerners, we also paid extra for the all you can drink deal! Granted this was a little pricey due to us hitting the place up during peak hours on a Saturday night, but if you're willing to go earlier or later (and pull an all-nighter/fall asleep in the bar) it's actually really cheap.

So you get your room, and in it there are two mics and some random crap, in this case tambourines. There is also a telephone, and when you pick it up it instantly puts you through to the desk downstairs, where you can order more drinks, or food. Oh, the convenience! I won't get anymore long-winded than that, but I had a great time and seeing everyone sing songs they knew like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the like. It was a great time, not to mention the difficulty of trying to do Japanese songs (lyrics all in Japanese remember) and keep up with the pace of the vocals!

It's all in the hips.

So that was a fun night, and I was utterly exhausted by the end of it. The usual.

On Sunday, I was able to call my Mother, Father, and Ian over Skype, which was nice. It was my first day off since Monday so I enjoyed it thoroughly. I also found a running/biking path near my apartment, in the opposite direction of the road-with-no-sidewalk that I had been jogging on before. *Wah wah waaaaah* I was in a good mood all day, and I bought an iron and a fan from the department store, which was packed! The lady behind the counter seemed utterly amazed when I spoke to her in Japanese and told her I had come from New York last week. Sugoi yo! (Amazing!) She said.

At this point words like "amazing," "ridiculous" and "compact" are all starting to seem a tad trite though, regardless of what language they are said in.

Later on was the show! It ended up exceeding my expectations, and was well worth it despite me being so tired and feeling out of it (the intense night of Karaoke was still hanging over me, I think).

Okubo Hot Shot. Dungeon Doors seem popular around here...

Me and my friend Chris missed the first band, and in a completely normal move the headliners played 2nd! Why they do this so much in Japan, I am unsure; Perhaps they are trying to curb people who are just "too cool" from showing up fashionably late? Regardless, Defiled completely blew me away. Real technical death metal with insane drumming, real interesting to listen to, and hey, their 14-years-and-going-strong repetoire ain't too shabby either!

Shred!

"Sank you, zat was very fucking metal." - the Singer's exact words.

"Breep orp eep"

They played the longest set of the night, and I talked to a few of them afterward - they were all pretty cool. I told the bass player that they should tour the U.S., since my friends back in New York would love this stuff!

I didn't know any of the other bands, so I was suprised by the wide array of genres on just one bill. We got some Judas-Priest-Power/Hair metal dealy with Hellhound. Despite this not being my normal cup of tea, it was pretty damn entertaining. If you like Dragonforce, you'd probably like these guys.

"WAAARRRIIIAAAAA, METALU METALU WARRRIIIAAAAA"

I'm usually vehemently opposed to the fashionable side of music, but these guys did what they did pretty well!

Next up was Scarlet Garden, and they were some well-played death metal. Despite some serious shredding and solo-action from the other bands' guitarists, these guys killed it:

Shredtastic!

And finally, Concrete Experience. Yes, that was their real name. They obviously sweat bands like Pantera and Biohazard a lot, and there is nothing wrong with that! I told them I'd buy a CD next time I saw them, but I was broke that night.




The singer kept looking at me and nodding during the set, maybe because I had a Recon shirt on? Speaking of which, I complimented him on his Eyehategod shirt and we got to talking after the set; He knew Recon, but agreed that the latest album was pretty subpar. I explained that they are my friends and have went through some, er, member changes and junk... "but maybe the next cd will pound bro!"

Anyway, they were fun. What a diverse show!

There was also a guy at the show who insisted on talking to me and my friend there, despite us having nothing at all in common and nothing interesting to talk about. This was a classic case of the guy who just wants free English practice, plain and simple. I was nice in talking to him for a few minutes, but left shortly afterward. I was tired anyway.

On the way out:

Okubo. That big shiny building is a Pachinko Parlor, a form of gambling that is so huge here that these babies exist every mile or two on main roads, if not with greater frequency!

This was a fun weekend, and the last two days of training have been good to me. Oh, and after training on Monday we all had a few drinks and ate some chicken-on-a-stick (for lack of more refined Japanese terminology) along with some kind of amazing beef stew, all at a little shop down a sidestreet from a huge main road in Shinjuku. The food the food the food... Later, I went home and watched a poor-quality telesync rip of Tropic Thunder. Pretty funny overall.

For lunch today, me and several of my co-workers ate at a little Indian place. Indian and Japanese curry are worlds apart after all - and I was even informed by a Scottish member of the staff at my job that curry is the national dish of Scotland! Who knew? Anyway, this place was great and despite a small selection, they offered unlimitied naan (Indian bread) with your bowls of curry. I hadn't eaten Indian Food since I had been in New York, and it made me feel nostalgic for just a moment.

The food, people!

And, with no particular segway, it is time for the now regular weird J-fact of the day: Most restaurants have fake, plastic food displays outside their doors. Yes, stuff like this is actually supposed to attract customers, not send them screaming in the opposite direction:

Um...yummy?

Sometimes, I feel lost here. Sometimes, I feel like I could take on the world because I made it here. Mostly, I just take life as it comes at each moment; The more I try to imagine and plan the future out, the more implausible such plans actually seem. Despite some routines like taking the train and walking the same routes, everyday here is unpredictable. Everyday is some kinda adventure!

A visual tour of Downtown Shinjuku

Huge.

DVD and Terebi (Television)

Downtown Shinjuku, as seen from a land-bridge.

More tall buildings.

The Engrish never ends!




WHERE DA WHITE WOMEN AT??




So many stores, restaurants, etc.. It's not unusual to find really busy little side-streets like this.

I like 'em!

Some traditional-style Japanese drawings.


View from the east exit of Shinjuku station.

And that's all for Shinjuku pictures. I live conveniently close to one of the busiest train/subway hubs in the world, and have been commuting there regularly for job training. I'm over some of the tougher parts now, and once I start working I'll be rollin' in cheddar! I'll give all you all more details later on. I'm going to see Defiled and Hellhound, not Hellchild. Pretty disappointing since Hellchild is an amazing band but yea they broke up like 7 years ago. Also keep an eye out for my (probably late) CD of the week!

OK, here's a few more fun pictures and I'm out:

An ad for yet another English Conversational School, GABA. What a fake-looking cop.

The crowded train I mentioned in a previous post. It actually gets worse than this too!

If the coffee keeps you relaxed, isn't that bad??

Tonight's dinner: Fried eel over rice!

Actually taken from a kid's English textbook! :)

Oh, and random, weird J-fact of the day: there's a place Ikebukuro called Nekobukuro, a pun that sticks the word "cat" in the city's name. The reason being that it's just a room where you pay an hourly rate to play with kittens. Not a bad idea, especially since most apartments do not allow pets in this country. Pretty wacky though.



"Although we often wonder, it was no thing of wonder, the shit that flew from our minds! ...It took so much effort, not to make an effort, oh, what a flawless design.
It was always worth it
That's the part I seem to hide
And the busy ant empire
Put up the closing sign" - Modest Mouse.