Secrets of time

or should I say secrets and time? We live our lives based on the clock, yielding to father time's inexhaustible might. I now hold several secrets that would make for exquisite blogging material, yet can't let out the spoilers for fear of those who may read before Christmas. Looks like this post will be shrouded in mystery.

Remember that test, the one I was studying for for, oh I dunno about 6 months and stressing over for so long? I think I passed it. I have a hunch anyway, and if I failed it then it had to be by an obscenely minute margin. So I must have passed. Yes. Nothing to do but try to forget about it anyway, I won't get the results until mid-February. =/

I also need to send a letter in this week to make sure that the JLPT Association doesn't make out any certification to Benjamin. Le Roy Belcher. Yes, they put a period in my name. Yes, I probably accidentally made a mark when filling out the application form. Yes, it's a pain and a hassle, especially when I'm so busy! Packing, banging out a last week of work, blah blah grumble grumble...

4 days from now I'll be somewhere in the sky. That's a strangely reassuring thought. There's a new movie coming out which I may see when I'm back home called "Up in the Air" which deals with the idea of living in the surreal world of flying, where we are truly alone with ourselves and a hundred other strangers. People get really reflect during these kinds of travels, I for one have undoubtedly always enjoyed them. Sometimes more than when I get to the destination itself, but that won't be this time of course.

My bag is full of things that should make people I know smile. I bounce between vehement anti-capitalist and completely giving in to the beast, as I abstain from unnecessary shopping most of the year but fall into a vicious cycle during Christmas. And I like to give people presents, better to give than receive and all that stuff. It's more fun this year than any other, since I live in a place with tons of cool albeit expensive stuff, and I have the best paying job in the history of my life.

Oh and I'm getting my right thigh tattooed, probably take 5 or 6 hours. Ouch much? But dang it will be awesome in the end. Oh yes. The onsen's (hot springs) will be putting up my picture saying don't let this guy in under penalty of blank stares.

Bruce Belcher memorial fund is HAPPENING, attention NY people:

I hope for a good turnout to raise lots of money for the cause (you can learn more at www.nbiadisorders.org) and if facebook doesn't lie than there should be at least 40 people there. Hip hip hooray!

Maybe my last entry before I get back home.

Hello vacation.

Please fill in all the blank spaces

Posting will definitely decrease the next few months. T-minus 7 weeks until JLPT Level 2 test. 8 weeks until my epic return to Upstate NY (for a much needed 3 week vacation). I have to put my nose to the grindstone until I have nothing left. I must succeed.

I've been getting a little sick the past week, might be the change in weather, which is actually quite favorable. 70 degrees and cool in mid-October does beat NY this time of year, I'll give you that Tokyo. Otherwise the summers here.... Lets just say that next year I'm getting some astronaut-style suit with internal cooling mechanisms or just never leaving my room. Winter on the other hand will most likely be rainy and chilly, usually in the 40s consistently which isn't so bad. That's Fahrenheit (damn you and your difficult to spell name) to any of you who didn't grow up in the States, where we still practice backwards measurement systems such as miles and pounds.

Perhaps it coincides with the sickness, but I've been feeling a bit down on life lately. This place is a "roller coaster ride," (props Nick), one day it's all love the next day it's seething hatred. I cannot make up my mind. Days like today I'd feel better just relaxing and reading some comics and having a quiet day, but it's off to work in an hour. Sometimes my job can energize me a bit though, and Tuesdays are usually good, so we'll see.

Went to an amazing Okinawa-style restaurant the other night with some friends after band practice, that was a great experience. Tried 海葡萄, or "sea grapes," a kind of seaweed with little green balls that are sweet like grapes. Really strange. The pork was exquisite though. And the end-of-meal soups are always great at these specialty izakaya places. Would go again.

Not much else to report, gonna try and throw in a few last hurrahs towards the end of the year, but things will be slow on the blog front. Duty calls.


"Don't ever think you know why" - System of a Down

We are entering dimensions beyond space

So I've been back from Korea for well on 5 days now. I'm just now feeling refreshed and ready to get back to the routine - which will in fact last me for the next 3 months until I see another holiday! This is the first time in my life I haven't been counting the days until finals were over and eyeing the upcoming summer vacation, but I am rather staring at a seemingly endless daily grind of sorts. Growing up is weird, dude.

I made the terrible choice of stretching my vacation to the max and got back home around 7pm the night before I had to work my first shift of the week. It might not sound so bad, but 12ish hours of trains and planes can leave a man quite bedraggled. Quite. I am definitely going to do a bit more research into where exactly my airport is located in correspondence with my locations of interest in the future. Live, learn, repeat ad nauseam (just been looking for an excuse to bust out that last one)

What's new - what isn't new? I'm already tired of talking about my vacation and yet I have only orally reported it (ad nauseam), so the best may not be yours for the reading, sorry internet people. Let me throw out some highlights:

-I ate so many delicious dishes. Panjyong (kimchi baked into bread), Jya jya meong (Black bean noodles), Jim Dah (an incredibly savory, spicy dish of noodles and chicken), kimchi chige (kimchi stew) and a lot more things I don't remember well enough to mispell. (pics on the bottom folks)

-I had the pleasure of a friend as a guide, so my inability to do anything at all in Korean was less debilitating and more of a nuisance. It did bother me a bit, and if I'm ever going to any foreign country that doesn't speak much English again, especially on my own, I'm going to devote at least some portion of time to learning basic phrases, at the bare minimum.

-Witnessing a police drill in Seoul with what must have been over a thousand cops all swarming in and around the station. At one point they started pouring in in lines from both sides of a subway exit, and it strangely felt like being in a movie.

-South Korea, being 1/3-1/2 (I've heard both statistics) Christian, had giant crosses outlined in red neon everywhere, so that it was all you could see floating in the night sky. ??!!!?

-More bootleg stuff than you would find in the heart of Shanghai. Seriously. Their biggest brand is called Banc, and it's a complete lego-ripoff!

-Everything there is really cheap compared to Japan. I got lots of ties, some shirts, Korean spices, bottles of sake as omiyage (presents for my bosses), and other stuff.

I'm really too tired to say much more. I should weave in pics to make this look good, but hey, nobody's paying me! So go here for pictures and whatnot. I will try to update my blog with more, smaller updates in the future instead of sparse and generally longer ones. :)

"First we get some surgery, lose the kids and our identities. One thing I know for a fact, mustache stays, right where it's at." - Clutch

"Life is pain princess. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something" - The Princess Bride.

"Like dancing with a dead body"

The title of this blog comes from my neighbor and good friend Nick, from California. He did TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) in California for something like 7 years before coming to Japan, and is not only a good teacher but an all around good dude. I was venting about how unresponsive and unwilling to learn some of the kids I had to teach were last week, and he compared trying to each those who don't want to listen (regardless of age) to "dancing with a dead body." You try to drag them to and fro, but they never put forth any effort of there own, except maybe to resist, and drag you and everyone else down a bit. I get students of all ages like this from time to time, not just little kids who'd rather be playing their DS or baseball or Virtual Kancho: The Arcade Game or something. It's a pet peeve of any and every teacher I'm sure, and it's one of the biggest reasons why I will never ever become a high school educator. If I'm going to teach long term, I want at least the majority of those I'm speaking to to actually want to be there. To want to learn. Because when the student tries, and you struggle together, it forms a great bond and is an excellent and rewarding experience. When the opposite goes on, it's tiresome and discouraging. My current "dream" is to teach at the University level someday, not only giving me the ability to teach higher level material that I and the student should each find more engaging than a study of basic grammar ("What did you do on your last vacation" x1000 = my average week) but also reserving me the right to say: "Hey buddy, you don't wanna pull your weight? Then take a different class and quit wasting our time."

When I first began to get somewhat serious about academics, way back in the year 2004 - ahem - I took Philosophy 101. It was mostly a study of classical philosophy, which some find to be quite boring, loaded with abstract, archaic rhetoric and so forth, but I found it really interesting. My professor was one who took absolutely no nonsense, didn't allow students to voice their baseless opinions (even driving a few of the cockier space-wasters out of the class right from the start, which I greatly respected him for), and insisted that the only way to properly understand the subject was by reading old books. Old, dated, dusty books.

I learned a lot from that guy.

But there is always more to life than just the classroom. If there wasn't, this would be a trite and boring blog... well, maybe you think it's boring, but then why are you still reading?

Last Saturday I saw Melt Banana, Slight Slappers and a few other bands who failed to be nearly as good as the aforementioned two. SS put on the craziest live show I've seen in a while. Case in point: I brought my friend Andrew to his first real underground show. He's a lower classman from the same college as me who just began a study abroad in Tokyo this month, and also an all around good dude. When he finished his tallboy of Strong Seven half-way through SS's set, and seemed at a loss as to what to do with it, I, feeling the complete chaotic nature in the air, chucked the can in the air, and it landed on stage. The singer - a spazzing guy with sweatpants and a face that looked like it belonged to a mental patient - picked up the can and shook out the last drops of it before somersaulting off of the stage. There were guitars flying and people too, no exaggerations here. Those are the kind of awesome sets I love to see here, and one of the greater advantages to living in the Tokyo area.

I reached 1000 learned kanji the other day, a mini-conquest in my Japanese studies. I jumped for joy at 1 in the morning. I also recently found a 10-story bookstore in Ikebukuro, from which I've bought some useful study books and will probably get some English novels at some point too. (It was entirely strange, walking through an aisle with English language books after I've scantly seen any outside my room in the last 8 months. I'm not sure you guys can follow me here, so just take my word for it)

I skipped cherry blossom viewing (a huge deal in Japan) for overtime a few weeks back, but didn't really regret it. There are a lot of beautiful trees near my apartment, and I got to stroll through them from the budding stage to the peak of blossoming, to that lovely half-green half-pink phase which truly signals the arrival of Spring.

Oh, and talking about Spring, allergies are still kicking me hard in the ass. Sinus headaches ahoy. It's just like being back home!

Oh, home. With my birthday fast approaching this week, and having spent well over half a year here, I'm starting to miss it a bit. This is a beautiful time of year in New York as well as Japan, and while I'm grateful to be experiencing the latter, I still miss my all my friends back home. I can however look forward to taking a nice, lengthy 3 week vacation (!!!) in NY next Christmas, as I just secured a roundtrip ticket for only 1000 pesos. Thank you, declining economy!

Last week was the first week of new classes and my new contract schedule, as the first two weeks in April had been a buffer for job training and such. How was it? Incredibly busy, slighty disorienting. All around good though. First day of 3 kids in a row involved one crying profusely upon the very sight of me and hugging his Mom for dear life (he warmed up to me by the end though). Another, a 7 year old actually starting bawling after losing at shoot the basket, to which I panicked slightly but managed to handle. I thought to myself: What was it like to cry in front of others at that age? Most likely you wouldn't want to be seen. So, I pulled in the staff member, and on a whim said: "OK guys! We're gonna play "guess-how-many-fingers-Ikko-is-holding-up," and proceeded to dump a huge colored parachute-toy over his head. This with some pictionary managed to take attention off of the kid, and by the end he was dry-eyed and fine. I think things should go much smoother next week.


Oh, I almost forgot! On my first day of work last week, I got up at 7:30am on Tuesday to visit the Immigration Office in Shinagawa to get my "re-entry permit" so I could go to South Korea over Golden Week. Long story short is the rush hour trains were dumb crowded, people falling over like dominos when the train would come to a halt and the one hungover businessman standing up half-asleep would tumble and cause an effect that put the majority of the car in pain. I hate rush hour here. Long story short (too late) I caught a bus out of Shinagawa, and it was the wrong one, me being in a hurry I didn't bother checking. I walked a bit, caught a different bus, walked more after receiving directions, saw some huge construction machines while walking through what was obviously a serious industrial district, until I arrived at the glorious Immigration Office.

They say that people at these kind of offices are rude. We Americans complain about our DMV service, I've heard from others it's just as bad at X public office in Canada, Britain, New Zealand etc. Japanese people seem to think this the case with the Immigration Office as well (assuming they ever have to go there for travel purposes), but I disagree. For government employees, they were really friendly and polite, compared to some of my past experiences in America. Besides having to wait in line twice, since the middle step involved walking to a convenience store conveniently built inside the Immigration Office to buy a ticket and go back in queue, I was out fast enough. I hightailed it to the bus, the station, already feeling the stickiness of 97% humidity (I was wearing my suit, as I had to work later), got off at Kawasaki instead of Yokohama for some brain-fart of a reason, came back, got to Yokohama, and went to do a job involving monitoring of certain hardware for a certain company I'm certainly not allowed to discuss on the internet. It's not as cool as it sounds, but I did make my normal days salary in 2 hours for bug-testing hardware and software, and that's pretty cool.

Two curry buns and a train ride later, I was in Ginza for my normal job. It was busy and somewhat stressful, my e-mail failed and I had to prep a lesson plan for 2 of my new classes, but I managed to triumph in the face of adversity. I liked my new students and I believe they had fun as well. I was however so overly caffeinated by the time I caught the train home that I had the shakes for a bit, and literally collapsed in my bed, but hey, all in a days work.

What else. I could go on. I can always go on. It's my job, in fact, to go on when there's nothing to go on about, simply for the sake of filling empty space with vibrations that sound like a coherent conversation until the clock strikes a certain time. This is also known as rambling.

Today, I went to Japanese class, and invited my fellow students and teacher to come to my birthday party on Saturday. I (for some reason decided) I should have one, at a cheap bar with lots of good food, just my kind of low-key place. Maybe some Karaoke afterward.

I also visited my friend Ann who is sadly bedridden in a hospital, no fun at all. Unfortunately on my way to deliver her something besides hospital food (an Avocado Veggie sub to be precise), I was the victim of the most severe migraine I've had in, quite literally, years. My head felt like it was going to split open, I sweat profusely, got the chills and felt waves of nausea. I have no idea what triggered it, I had been feeling fine up until that point. I don't think today's lunch of garlic pork was to blame, anyhow.

So there I was, visiting my friend in a hospital, but in miserable shape myself, and she ironically enough was quite peppy and in a good mood (happy to have a visitor of course). I laid down on her bed, borrowed some headache medicine and veritably filled in as a patient for a few hours. It was a strange experience to say the least. But good to see a friend and see her get all embarrassed when the nurse asked her "did you stool today?" =D Love ya Ann.

The migraine did pass after about 4 or 5 hours, but man, what a whopper. If that happened during work I'd be pretty useless. Here's hoping it doesn't.

I'm fresh out of material so let's call it a day. South Korea in 9 days, and I can already taste the kimchi.

"Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it." - Big Trouble in Little China Town.

Margarita Pizza has got to be one of the greatest things ever invented

I mean, mozzarella cheese, big pieces of tomatoes and basil? How much more right can you get?! Or gluttonous, for that matter. And to anyone who talks smack about pizza in Japan, sure the portions leave a little to be desired and the sizes are smaller, but everything is smaller here! You really don't get eggs, mayo and squid pizza unless you ask for it, so don't believe the hype.

So what's new with me? A whole lot of nothing, that's what! 日本語ばかり勉強している = I feel like I'm doing almost nothing but studying Japanese. Not that that's a bad thing, but I've honestly kicked it into high gear, sacrificing most of my leisure time toward studying. I may be generally lazy or mild-mannered, but when I stubbornly set my mind on something, I see it through 110%, just so long as I don't lose interest. Which hasn't happened yet, as languages are a lot like endless puzzles, where exploring one nook leads you to a whole 'nother vista of inquiry you knew nothing about beforehand.

Case in point: rude Japanese. I love speaking rude Japanese, it's fun and people are even more shocked than when you speak in an overly polite manner (us foreigners always seem to achieve one or the other, it's an endless struggle). Naturally I only talk in such rude language among good friends... Although I've already once made the regrettable mistake of trying to be jovial with one of my bosses, only to be reminded by the look of sheer, audacious shock on his face that the respect hierarchy is not to be to be tampered with, in language or in action. In or outside the office, a subordinate speaks to his boss in keigo ("humble form"), bows him off of trains, etc. etc.. Of course I am not as subject to these standards as most Japanese, since I'm not expected by any of my fellow staff to speak Japanese, and am conversely expected to carry the aura of "native speaker" around with me, like a floating cultural orb. (It's one of the selling points of the company) If I do however decide to try and speak it, it's a "tread lightly" kind of situation. And just like in any country or culture, some people are way more lax than others, it really depends.

As should be obvious by my lack of formatting, I'm completely winging it this week. The theme was finding unexpected surprises in languages... ah yes. naname means diagonal. Whenever I record a word in my notebook, and subsequently place it into my flashcard program, I always double-check a second source to make sure I have not only recorded the meaning correctly, but also that I am not ignoring other potential meanings. I thought that diagonal surely couldn't mean anything but just that, but checked it on principal anyway. Glad I did, because I now know that gokigennaname means "in a bad temper." I'll be sure to use that one as soon as possible!

I had band practice today and it was rather by the numbers, except that now I've learned the majority of the songs and I'm beginning to get a chance to write my own stuff. It's always the most fun part of the being in a band for me: everything is still fresh and new, anything one wants to alter is still subject to change, and one can get useful feedback from fellow band members. The writing phase can be truly magical, as you are only limited by your own imagination, and you never know what shape things may take. It's as if the music sometimes becomes it's own living, breathing entity! And I don't feel that any of that was over-dramatic in the slightest. At practice, myself and the ladies of F.I.D. were surprisingly enough both in the same boat, as neither of us have had a "real band practice" (one with a drummer) since last summer! Josh, I know you won't read this but I miss jamming with you.

As well as practicing the songs, I also greatly enjoyed the chance to hang out with my band mates - they are not only a few of the best friends I have over here, but they're also Japanese, meaning I can practice my language skills, we can bounce our cultural nuances off of each other, and most always have a good time. Maybe their being Japanese wouldn't seem like such a big deal, but being an expatriate with mostly fellow expat-friends, it is. That point about language practice goes two-fold, since our bass player doesn't speak English much but definitely wants to improve. I even agreed to help her study for the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), a bar of measurement almost all Japanese use to weigh their language skills, the single most important exam for careers and all that too. Hopefully if I can coach my friend a bit and get her thinking about it the right way, she can study hard, do well on the test and get an awesome promotion or something.

Oh, and by the way, on the subject of bands, instead of saying "check, 1, 2" or "testing, testing," Japanese people go: "ah ah ah ah" into a microphone. I still find it very amusing every time, without fail.

I have had the weirdest dreams lately. From nightmares of terrifying kids' classes (as I'm nervous about the new ones I will receive in the new contract year coming in April) to surreal dreams of Gabe shooting some arch rival and chopping up the body and hiding it in a closet....no, I can't make this stuff up. I'll level that back home, I used to indulge in a certain, er, plant which has the effect on me of not remembering my dreams. Here, I remember something vivid and strange almost everyday, for better or for worse.

So this was a random post, was it not? I have toyed on and off with doing VLOG's (Video-blogs), and they are just so popular nowadays, but I think I express myself much better through the writing process. Besides, what do I really have to say that's so important you need to watch a streamed video of my face for ten minutes? The real thing is hard enough to take for ten minutes, and the virtual equivalent would most likely transmute me into some kind of demented Lawnmower man, choppin' up yer brains with my virtual-lawnmower.

Later!

"What an extraordinary situation is that of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he feels it. But from the point of view of daily life, without going deeper, we exist for our fellow-men — in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all our happiness depends, and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy." - Albert Einstein, "The World as I See it."

When I was a kid, I was the most positive kid on the team

I was also the worst baseball player.

I used to be looked at by other people as different and weird by my teammates because I would clap and cheer for my team in the middle of games, and encourage people even though I myself was a terrible baseball player. Little League was definitely not my thing - I would often be falling asleep standing up in the outfield, or become entranced by the dandelions rustling in the wind and the heat smothering by body. I often struck out, blinked right before the ball went by and was in general not a good player. I remember being blamed for losing a game and sobbing like a little girl, running off the field. I remember accidentally hitting a kid in the knee when I was in the batters box; I'm fairly sure that was an accident. I even remember throwing my bat in frustration, one time mere feet from my coach and still getting the sportsmanship trophy (because everyone on the team had to get a trophy for something).

What am I getting at you may wonder. For one thing it's all true, and for another I want to write today about some things for my sake and yours, such as what am I doing living in Japan and why do I take fairly well to existing in such a foreign environment? Why do I like teaching?

I remember feeling isolated and different pretty often as a kid, usually being treated as the outcast of the group. Whether it was to try to make friends, a reflection of my Christian upbringing, or some other thing that inspired me, I was always really enthusiastic and positive when the other players did something right. I don't remember ever receiving this treatment back, and somehow I think I knew I wouldn't (because if I did something right it was a total fluke anyhow), but it felt like the only contribution I could make to the team without messing up. So I clapped or cheered from the lonely right field, regardless of everyone else's attitudes.

I realize looking back that I was a kid who didn't think like a normal kid. What the others prioritized was winning games, hitting the hardest or running the fastest, maybe even showing off for their parents or friends. My priority was surviving practices and games for the hot dog or pizza at the end. But in all seriousness, it usually was. That and trying to contribute something, show some love and maybe get something for it in return?

The point in all this, besides getting a few good laughs as I am content with myself and even the more unflattering bits of my past, is that I like giving to other people. I receive some elusive and deep pleasure to be unconditionally encouraging towards another who is trying hard at something. I know that this idea of treating others as you'd like to be treated is a very Christian one, and even though I'm not a practicing Christian I consider the morals valuable and worthy to live by. In the classroom and in the real world I like to be brutally honest (not always a good idea) but also as supportive as I can be in general of other people's ambitions. I'm sure I slip here or there and I'm not always 100% in the giving mood, but most of the time I base my actions along these lines. Say what you want about the flaws and paradoxes of religion, the tyrants who've ruled by it and the people who've suffered due to these writings and in the name of God, I think there are some innate moral truths underneath all the fog and smoke.

But enough about my past, religion and baseball. I recently taught a lesson which had, as a conversational question: "Is it better to have a lot of acquaintances or a few close friends?" This is a question perhaps you've heard or thought about before. The student in this case actually read my mind, saying that a few close friends is better, but the advantages of an extended social network are abundantly self-evident (those weren't his exact words of course). Ever since I've moved to Tokyo, I've had to shift from being more set on just hanging out with these 3 or 4 close friends to being more flexible and social. I think this is good for me, as it has forced me to come out of my shell a bit and I've got to meet interesting people from different parts of the world - mainly America, the U.K., Australia and of course Japan. I did maintain such social networks when doing bands and such back home, but I always had my real friends to look to and fall back on. Here I don't. Here I have a few people I feel I can trust 100%. Fewer still are those who I simply get, feel comfortable around and like their personalities and the feeling is mutual. I know lots of people who I just don't click with like that - Was it Plato who said the deep, philosophical friendships were the best and rarest kind, Greg? - but I still like talking to them, or having someone to shoot the shit with in between classes or at the bar or on the trains. It can be stifling though, hence part of the reason I felt so down the last time i posted on here, to only be friends with people you don't really know. I can't expect the same things I do from people I've known for years or shared my passions with or my soul with - but I find myself wanting to do just that. To put my trust in people I don't know well enough, and to open up because at times I'd give anything to just be myself and speak my mind without having to filter and consider and re-word every little thing. Sometimes this gets me into trouble. Actually depending on what you call trouble, you could say it gets me into something every day. I wish I knew where I stood with like 8 different people right now, but that story will be told when it happens. I'm sure there'll be comedies and tragedies abound.

Not very Japan-related today, gomen ne. (sorry) I started taking Japanese lessons last week, twice a week, 2 lessons per day Monday and Wednesdays a bit earlier than I would like, but that will force me not only to study harder but to sleep in less. All positive things. I have no real long term goals here in Japan except to become as fluent as possible. Ganbatte! (I'll do my best!)

I went to Ian's place on the military base in Fussa for a quick dinner after work on Friday (quick because I live 70 minutes away and the last trains come all too soon when you get out of work at 9). He made burritos, and subsequently made me the happiest man alive. I have a real passion for mexican food, but hadn't eaten burrito shells, corn chips, refried beans, guacamole or sour cream in easily 5 months. All of those things are hard to find here, and if you find them they're expensive! Luckily for Ian the military base provides a grocery store with everything Americans could want to keep them happy.

I went to my friend Renee's birthday party last night, and at the risk of incurring feminine wrath I'll go ahead and post this picture of me looking way cooler than I actually am:


As anti-photogenic as I am, that is probably the best picture of me that will ever be taken. The party was great, went to the famous 100 yen bar (100 yen draft beers, that's like $1 a pop folks) in Shinjuku and took the place over, must have been 40-some people there just for Renee's party. They ran out of proper mugs and started giving out these little baby glasses. They ran out of pitchers and got slow for a while which prompted me to make a quick run to the convenience store out of sheer impatience. I had an awesome time and wish last train didn't always hang over our evenings and end such great parties so prematurely! Although some people choose to go out all night, I just don't pace myself like that... plus 12-5am is a looong time.

Ok, that's it! I'll try and get back to my normal posting habits, although I've been keeping busier! Keep reading and hey, if you like what I write, tell a friend or something and spread the word! I'm puttin my all into this thing, might as well tell the world.

"I know you, but I don’t know you, You can not tell me what’s inside, why can't you swallow your pride?" - H20

"Cross out the eyes, Blur all the lines, Tearing this canvas from the wall" - Thursday

We live in a MAD world

Watching someone so drunk try to walk up the platform stairs that they fall flat on their face is a fairly common spectacle here. The throngs of Shibuya's hachiko-exit area are like a giant, pulsating mass of bodies and wills, all with different places to go and not enough time to get there, unless they have too much time. It's the same every Saturday night, and is bound to make you feel like you're part of the bustling city life or conversely isolated from the human race. Depends on the day you're having. Three-year-old children love colored balls, tried, tested and true by yours truly. If all else fails, chuck the lesson plan out the window and give them something to shoot into a basket. F.I.D. had our first band practice in a month and we have been unofficially dubbed B.B.B., for Bilingual Baka (idiot) Band! This is in reference to how stupid me or Kana can feel when we are using Makiko as a translator between us. Speaking of which I'm going to start taking Japanese lessons for the first time since May, tomorrow! There may be hope for me yet. My tiny room is once again my room as my mate went back to the States. Some motorcyclist almost ran me down on the little sidestreet I live on the other day. He was easily going at least double the speed limit, not at all uncommon.

These sentences careen into one another without reason, much like the pace of life outside my apartment doors. Things happen nonsensically, randomly, at fast speeds and with complete disregard for innocent human life (not to mention complete disregard for the welfare of mankind). There are all sorts of pictures I will upload soon but it's been an unsual weekend. I've slept maybe 8 hours in the past 48. I just ate some rice, marinated duck, kimchi and broccoli, because who needs recipes when you can just make random amalgamations?

"When my day is through all I wanna do is slow down" - Ignite

"I have been awake for several days with time to think. It has been so long since I needed sleep to dream" - Bloodlet

Vacation Recap - Days 2 and 3

Day 2 - Miyajima Island

[More pictures available at my Photobucket]

After getting up and heading downtown to Okonomura (a famous building with 30 Okonomiyaki shops) for lunch for the second day in a row, we set off on our trip to the luscious island of Miyajima. After finding out that the Passmo train-fare card that Kevin got was Kanto-region only, and subsequently buying him a ticket, we made our way onto a train. 30 minutes later we were in the port-area of Miyajima, a beautiful city with an indelible view of the island (and vice versa from the islands mountain tops).


The short boat ride across the waters was quite enjoyable - it's nice to see JR (Japanese Rail) has not only the biggest train network in the country, but also its own ferry! The first thing you see in detail upon approaching is the famous orange torii gate - a symbol for a gateway to holiness in Shinto. If you see it in the morning it appears to be "floating on the water," but I preferred this shot I took later on in the day:


There were many touristy shops of course, and even a fairly big residential area away from the main streets. I wonder how much a house there runs for! I also tried the Momiji-Manju, a kind of maple-flavored bun with sweet beans inside. It was OK, but nothing to exceptional. The real novelty of the island however was its massive deer population, perhaps rivaling even Nara:

Some real gorgeous sites.

We eventually started increasing our elevation, but opted not to take the cable car, since that's for old ladies and little kids in my opinion. It was quite the steep ascent though, and there were stairs, stairs and more stairs the whole way up. It was a bit tiring but well worth it, and after a few kilometers we had the pleasure of the gorgeous view from the mountain's top:

There was a rickety old shop at the top of the mountain so I bought some chocolate, sat on a bench and soaked in the breath-taking view. After so much time in the city, this was just what I needed. I took copious amounts of pictures of course. On the way back down we took an alternative route with seemingly less stairs and more windy paths:

Finally we got to the bottom and we were bushed. It was a fun hike and reminded me that I really should check out more of the mountains in the Tokyo area. Not much more to say than the pictures can tell, I believe.



Day 3 - Last Day in Hiroshima

[Photobucket]

I was honestly a bit sad to be leaving Hiroshima. The place we stayed, "K's Guesthouse" was very nice and the whole city just had this mellow vibe to it. I suppose it would get rather boring after a while though, and I'd have to make trips to Osaka see bands on tour and stuff like that.



We had lunch at Okonomura for the 3rd day in a row. I suppose I should explain a bit about Hiroshima's famous okonomiyaki...or maybe just copy and paste a wikipedia article:

"In Hiroshima, the ingredients are layered rather than mixed together. The layers are typically batter, cabbage, pork, optional items (squid, octopus, cheese, etc.), noodles (yakisoba, udon) topped with a fried egg and a generous dollop of okonomiyaki sauce. The amount of cabbage used is usually 3 - 4 times the amount of Osaka style. It starts out piled very high and is generally pushed down as the cabbage cooks. The order of the layers may vary slightly depending on the chef's style and preference, and ingredients will vary depending on the preference of the customer. People from Hiroshima tend to claim that this is the correct way to make okonomiyaki. This style is also called Hiroshima-yaki."

Yep. It's really delicious and seems relatively healthy, with all that cabbage in there. I am sort of craving some Hiroshima-yaki so I may have to find a shop somewhere in Tokyo. Here are some snaps of Okinomura, the famous building full of okonomiyaki stalls:

3 floors devoted to one kind of food.

The lunch rush.

Here's a crappy little video I took with my phone of the stuff being made. Honestly there are better videos on youtube if you are at all curious.

We started off the day by going to the modern art museum, which in all honesty was kind of a mistake. I mean the place was fine and as advertised, but so much of "modern art" is complete wankery. There was some before-after shot from 1973 of a guy falling asleep on the beach with a book on his stomach, so that he got suburned everywhere but there. The coolest thing we saw was a room where you were encouraged to pick up and place various instruments, and a doorway to nowhere in the middle would light up at the vibrations. Anyway, here's a few snaps:

Groundbreaking?

Our next stop however proved to be one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen in my life. I didn't have such high expectations and honestly we only went there because the other museums were closed for the holidays, but wow. Shukkei-en is a traditional Japanese garden that might numb you with awe if you have the chance to see it in real life. Everything is completely still except when a coy fish jumps out of the water to snatch a bug. You can see the sky in the water so clearly it looks like another world, it's just amazing.

I think tranquil may be the perfect word for it. Anyway, that's just about it, we killed time for the rest of the evening in anticipation of yet another fun night-bus, only this next one proved to be the worst of our 3 trips. No arm rests, no reclining seats and being squashed together, along with stops every hour that include announcements and lights being turned on, and to top it all off a bunch of girls from Osaka being really chatty all made it a pretty miserable journey. We were happy then when we finally arrived at 5:30am in Kyoto...

To Be Continued...

I'm back! - Vacation Recap Part 1.

12 days later I'm a little more well traveled, a little tired of riding night buses, and very satiated on good food and good times. The vacation was a big success with very few hitches overall. I'll spend the next couple posts giving a breakdown of my vacation, along with a selection of the copious number of photographs I took. (All photos eventually will be accessible via photobucket)

Day -1: Kevin arrives

As you all know my friend Kevin who is usually so on top of things slept through his original flight (which he will never hear the end of from me). What you don't know is that he managed to catch a flight out of Chicago mere hours before some huge snowstorms hit, so it's a wonder that he managed to get here on time at all. As it happened, he was arriving on Christmas Eve, my last day of scheduled work. I didn't know exactly what time he was coming in but gave him the a list of my break-times when he could call my phone, since I can't answer in class and he would be calling from a pay phone.

After spending the whole day sort of worrying about whether he even made it out of Chicago or not, whilst I was helping a staff member move some items for New Years cleaning, I finally got a call around 8:55 from Kevin telling me he's in Shinjuku station. Sweet relief. I met up with him there and was happy to see he opted to use the luggage-moving service I recommended him (just hauling your carry-on through the subways here is troublesome enough), and coincidentally I ran into a few of my co-workers and students who were going out for ramen, so we tagged along with them. Kevin got to try his first authentic Japanese ramen and learned how the coin-based ticket machines worked. He kept saying that it was so surreal being in Japan, it didn't even feel like he was there - with all the creature comforts like a plethora 7/11s and Starbucks that seem to follow one halfway around the globe.

Day 0: Bye bye Tokyo, Hello Hiroshima!

Showed Kevin around town a bit, got our bags ready and left for the bus station around 7. Me being slightly paranoid and extra cautious as I always am, I gave us ample time to find the bus station. We were standing outside for roughly an hour before people started to converge into our area with luggage and whatnot. I asked a girl in Japanese if she was going to Hiroshima, and she said "yea, we're probably taking the same bus." So all seemed well enough.

10 minutes before we were supposed to leave, wondering where the bus and where the rest of the people who were riding it could be, that same girl comes up a flight of stairs and is saying something that I don't quite understand. Something about going down, and finally I get that she's telling us to check in with the bus people downstairs in the concourse. Naturally when we got there there were nearly 100 people standing around waiting - the night-bus has gotten quite popular as of late, considering that it normally runs around half the price of the shinkansen (bullet train). We checked in, and not a moment to soon, since we only waited about another 5 minutes before we boarded. The bus was decent, comfortable enough and we could recline somewhat despite the curse of our tallness leaving something to be desired for leg-room. It was a 12 hour ride though, and I only managed to sleep for about 2 of those hours, but survived nonetheless. Kevin however could sleep through an earthquake measuring 10.5 on the Rickter scale.

Day 1: The Peace museum, the A-bomb Dome & Hiroshima castle.

It was a nice feeling after that long bus ride to be greeted cheerily by Mami at the bus station around 8:30am. Mami was the T.A. (Teacher's Assistant) for my Japanese class in my last semester of college, and I told her I planned to visit her if and when I moved to Japan. There's one promise kept. Her energy seemed contagious, and after dropping off our bags at the ryokan (Japanese-style inn) we were staying at we made way.

En Preparacion.

Hiroshima is, to me, a beautiful little city. It's so small-time compared to Tokyo that if it wasn't for the unfortunate events of 1945, it would scantly be on the radar, paling in comparison to the other monstrous metropolises I've seen thus far. The visible mountains in the distance and the sheer openness of everything was like a breath of fresh air to me. The rivers and bridges integrated with the city were also quite beautiful. Still more unlike Tokyo, Hiroshima has a tram-line that goes through some major parts of the city for easy access. Our first stop was the Atomic Bomb dome, a dilapidated building which was directly beneath the a-bomb and was therefore spared from complete destruction.

Atomic Bomb Dome.

A city view.

The Peace Park begins with the A-Bomb dome and leads to the much visited museum, so we went there next. It was big and quite beautiful despite our sleep deprivation. Mami said that she had been to the museum several times when she was younger on school trips, but was most often chatting away with her friends or not really paying attention, so this would be her chance to really learn something. After a failed attempt at a tour from a volunteer guide who seemed to be looking more for free English practice than anything else, and subsequently ditched her as fast as possible without being blatantly rude and took a subsequent sidequest to experience Hiroshima's other claim to fame: Okonomiyaki (literally: "Cooked as you like it")

Okonomiyaki

Sidequest complete and bellies full, we returned to the peace museum. As it turns out they systematically structured the museum to get gradually more and more depressing as you go through the thing. It starts off innocently enough, with a rather truncated history of events before, during and after the war. Then things get gradually heavier until you're seeing pictures of melted bodies and actual tongues and other actual bodily components kept intact to display the havoc that radioactivity reeked upon them. The most moving thing to me was the stories of individuals, broken lives and people scrawling names on bricks in vain efforts to find information on family members. I'm glad I made it through there but have no plans on going again any time too soon. There were also other cool bits to the museum like a letter from Einstein, and information such as leaflets dropped by the U.S. Government and destroyed by the Japanese during the war.

After all that we needed something lighthearted to take our minds off the monument to tragedy we just witnessed, so we went to Hiroshima castle! The place was beautiful and offered numerous photo opportunities.

Hiroshima Castle.

The moat!

Our ever-vigilant female Samurai guide, Mami-san.

After all this we were pretty beat, but still we pressed on since Mami was leaving for Grandmother's the next day and wouldn't be around to hang out with us anymore. We had some delicious Kaiten Zushi (Rotating Sushi) - you know the kind of place where they have fresh-made plates you can choose from rotating on a conveyer belt - and finally did a bit of Karaoke. I passed out some time around 8, knowing that going to Miyajima island the next day would be equally as exciting, even without Mami: less atomic stuff, more wild deer!

To Be Continued...

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For more pictues, see my future site for hosting pictures (since blogspot has a cap), Photobucket.

Old dead white guys and me

Hawthorne, Lovecraft and Tempura.

Lately I've taken to reading a lot of Lovecraft and Hawthorne, and I can soon feel a stint of Poe coming on in their wake. What makes these dudes who lived and died 80-170 years ago so darn appealing to me? Maybe it's the fact that 2 of the 3 were native New Englanders. Maybe it's the dream-state obsession which I myself possess, and which Lovecraft even took to the extremes of speculating odious and cacophonic worlds apart from our mere existance on earth (and talking spacecats that lived on the moon). Maybe it's just my addiction to big words and good writing, but I'm a fan of classical American literature. Being a late bloomer I didn't really discover this until College, but what they made me read really struck my fancy in a way that I have felt at times is superior to fantastical fiction or contemporary writing styles.

Novels today... as much as I enjoy Bukowski and the trends he and some other dudes I can't name set, they are all straight-forward punch-whizz-bang stuff and often read like movie scripts. Delving into this post-post-post-post-post-posto-modern style can be fun at times, and even downright enjoyable, but it plays to a mind which can't sit back and take in 15-sentence paragraph of pure detail. Over the last few years I've really developed an appreciation for an artist who can paint a picture in my brain, or take me on a journey into somewhere far away. Sometimes I want a gritty, real pciture of life and all it's mundanities, sure - but sometimes I like to think about what it was like to be alive 400 years ago in an era of brutal religious persecution; or perhaps I long to experience ghastly supernatural horrors which would make those around me deem me mad; or maybe I even desire to fall through the spheres and experience a world strange and surreal in contrast to my own.

While the modern-day narratives of movies and video games do give the new generation a clever, even at times superior substitute - certainly more colorful than staring at a black and white page - they will always in my mind be second to the power of a good short story or novel. And while we're on the subject and though I'm like 9 months behind in saying this, Disney somehow didn't butcher Prince Caspian! They made it rich and lively in detail, and far superior to their first Narnia adaption which wasn't even that bad, besides its complete bloodlessness. Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be a visual cornucopia of Disney magic.

I got a Lord of the Rings audiobook with my name on it, but after I finish Harry Potter I might just switch gears to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or perhaps Salman Rushdie if I'm feeling adventurous enough. (I consume audiobooks by train, and words on paper at home) Upon completion of this post however I will probably dork out on Blue Dragon or Megaman 9, so I am at least a partial hypocrite with this whole BOOKS ARE SO MUCH BETTER thing.

In other Belcher-related news, I have my first band practice with F.I.D. this weekend (which if you've forgotten is the grindcore band I'm joining) so I am very excited for that. Also only 12 more working days until Christmas break! The suspense is killing me. Today in my Junior High class I was also asked my age by a 13-year-old kid whom I needed to show my I.D. to get him to believe I'm only 23. He also kept saying "YES WE CAN," impersonating Obama as the lesson was about "I can such-and-such" sentences.

Speaking of Christmas, my phone starting showing this screen:


I am enjoying my first Holiday season in relatively comfortable whether - it's been in the mid 50s to lower 60s for the past few weeks - and although temperatures will eventually drop some more, and although it might hit *gasp* freezing some time in January, this winter should be a veritable breeze compared to Upstate New York. Until we meet again, oh ye thespians in the melodrama of life!


"You speculate on the luxury of wearing out a whole existence in bed, like an oyster in its shell, content with the sluggish ecstacy of inaction, and drowsily conscious of nothing but delicious warmth, such as you now feel again. Ah! that idea has brought a hideous one in its train. You think how the dead are lying in their cold shrouds and narrow coffins..." - Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Haunted Mind

"You make good mosh"

This last week was somewhat busy and very fun. Granted I've also been lazy about updating, but for the 10-20 hardcore followers I have on this thing needs fear not, I'm gonna keep this going even if posting gets sparse on occasion.

I found out that when I take my trip with Kevin next month, I get to meet up with Mami (the T.A. of my last semester of Japanese in college) in Hiroshima and Akira (also a good friend from college whom I gave the ridiculously big pizza leftovers from my job on the regular) in Kyoto/Nara. I am mega-excited for this trip, although it consists of collectively 24 hours of overnight bus trips, it should be well worth it. I'm also not planning on bringing Most Precious Lappy with me since I baby the thing, so I'll just make a giant post when I come back. December 25-January 4, couting down the days!

On Tuesdays I have an 80-minute class of roughly 3 regular members, with usually at least 1 substitute students and occasionally a model-lesson student. The latter is, as you may have guessed someone trying out the class to see if they like it, so there is a little extra pressure on yours truly to give a bangin' lesson. It's called "Advanced Media" and its the highest level class there is at my school, and frankly I love teaching it because I get to do things my way and I find it more challenging and rewarding. We talk about news stuff and I often explain very some big words and engage in some really good discussions. Last class was good but a bit stressful at the start because my book had "disappeared" (actually had been accidentally picked up by another teacher) so I was five minutes late even though I had a substitute student I never met before and a model-lesson student. I started off right away with explaining that I'd have to look on with the new student's book and said: "are you impressed yet?"

Students really seem to enjoy my sense of humor for the most part, which makes me happy, since I can be myself and I thrive best in that element. We talked about animal rights and other various moral dilemmas, such as life longevity and if machines could ever take over the world Terminator 2-style. Suffice it to say not only was the class good, but the new student enjoyed it and signed up for my class, which made me feel pretty elated at the end of the day.

Thursday was Turkey Day, and I celebrated by eating curry! Unfortunately Turkey is quite hard to find in Japan, although I heard of a palce caleld Fujimamas that offers American-style meals for relatively cheap, I didn't make it there. Oh well. It really is just another day of the year, and like I told a few other people my Mother cooked me a fantastic Thanksgiving-style meal right before I left home, so that was my T-day.

That night however had three firsts: I went out on a work-night, which I surprisingly hadn't done yet. I chalk this up to getting out at 9:30-10:00 and having to catch the last train by 12:45, but also because I'm lazy. I also went to Roppongi, famous meatmarket of Japan which was, as Ian so correctly and succinctly put it, a shithole. Nothing but tons of silly gaijin and dudes hassling you to come to this and that bar (Some guy even grabbed my arm which pisses me off A LOT). Some people like it but I could probably due with going there again some time never.

Now I know that all sounded very bitter and negative, but here's the upshot and 3rd first time event: the bar me and my friend Cristo went to was having a Grand Opening special of free drinks all night. Naturally it was packed beyond belief but somehow we managed to get in and worm our way to the bar. Getting noticed by the bartender was tricky and time consuming but I managed to get 6 frees which was nice. Bars aren't really my scene but I met some cool Filipinos and some dude from Miami there on vacation. There was a "fire show" (apparently the signature act of this particular chain: Wall Street Pub) and some girls dancing on the bar. The music was lame though. All I ever want to hear when I'm drinking beer is something in the vein of D.R.I. or Metallica. I had a pretty good time, regardless.

Friday I met up with Ian in Tachikawa before work - actually I had told him "I'll meet you at the station" so I spent 36 minutes pointlessly on a train to his home station and back - and got the package I've been waiting for from me mum: over 400 dvds and cds of mine, clothes, and lots of books. The only downside was that I had to lug a 42 pound box across 3 different trains during a pretty busy time. I did live to tell the tale, however.

Saturday night I saw Loyal to the Grave, Midgardsorm (who are fucking GREAT and are kind of like a Japanese-version of Irate) and some other bands in Shibuya. I really should have taken some pics but I was being lazy that night.

Some more cool white dudes

Sunday I saw my buddy Ian's band, Second Hearts, and they sounded umpteen-times better with him playing drums. It was a show full of heavy hardcore bands and people being drunken maniacs. Some guy jumped on my back while I was dancing, sending me into another guy who fell over and spilled his beer all over the stage. Everyone had a pretty fun time, and I think it was my friend Chris' first real "hardcore show." He liked it. The singer of every band stage-dove; And the best part of it all is when you stage-dive here, people actually try to hold you up. The Wall is definitely a sweet venue and I'll be sure to go there again some time soon. I took the mic for some band I didn't even know and was like "MOVE THIS PLACE, NEW YORK STYLE!!" Because I love doing mosh calls.

Today is just a Monday like any other (my Sunday if you've forgotten) and I took it easy. My ankle is still a bit sore from something I did to it last night. I've been enjoying my 360 which just came back from Microsoft, and between that and my personal library this place is feeling more and more like ye olde dungeon back home.

My over-the-top setup.

In other news I ate some really good Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki for breakfast. Yessiree. Oh, and one more thing that happened today: While I was sitting in my chair I felt a sudden slight but distinct shaking underneath me, and it must have been a really small tremor. I've never experienced an earthquake before and it was just weird. I certainly hope a full blown one never hits Tokyo, although the seismologists say we're long overdue!

My first Christmas away from the family is just around the corner, but I'm feeling pretty good about everything. I'm not too big on the holidays anyway but the Japanese sure are! Here is a glimpse of what it is looking like on my side of the world:

Downtown in Shibuya late on a Saturday night. Xmas stuff everywhere

The convenience store near my apartment.

My street. There's even a blinking Elmo-sign!

"However, I'm really fascinating to the letter, my English grammar gets better and better" - KRSONE

"She's half-way listenin', to what she thinks she knows. We're like children drifting in our parents clothes" - Mewithoutyou

We have a saying in my family: eat.

Even if it isn't actually said by anyone but me, the fact remains that I come from a family of eaters. We love food and life itself, but especially the food part. I always have and always will eat quite a lot. That is just another reason that Japan is great: the diverse selection. I had Indian curry with all-you-can-eat Naan yesterday and tried something called bibin which was a surprisingly good combination of kimchi (korean spiced cabbage), pork, seaweed, rice and ginger, with a cold egg on top last night. Both delicious!

I have come to find that even the canned tunafish is better over here.

On the subject of food, I talked about Thanksgiving in my Jr. High class today. Even though they are usually pretty uninterested (I even heard one girl say "I'm SOOO tired" in Japanese), I attempted a warm-up exercise of asking what Americans eat for thanksgiving. The only actual answers I got were turkey and fried chicken (har har) and I'm not sure that they understood what mashed potatoes were.

I was in a rotten mood yesterday which seemed to stick with me overnight, so naturally I wasn't feeling very motivated today. My funtastic kids class seemed to pacify me of this grief however, as I got to play my weekly games of pictionary and "shoot the basket." I know not all kids classes can be this fun (or well-behaved) but I'm sort of hoping for more kids' classes next year. They are very enjoyable and hands-on, a great break from what can become a rather tedious human-tape-recorder shtick at times.

Everything is becoming pretty habitual, from catching the same trains at the same times eeach respective day (bear in mind I work at 4 different schools each week) to buying bread or milk every couple of days at the store. I always drag my Japanese textbook along with me, and lately have taken to either studying on the longer train-rides, playing Final Fantasy 4, or listening to music or audiobooks. I've never lived on my own before - much less in a big city - and besides a few hickups here or there I'd say things are going rather smoothly. I think too much time in the concrete jungle can seriously embitter some people, and I understand this now much better than fore. At times, It feels like you are surrounded by nothing but strangers, and the people that do know you only do so for the sake of the almighty dollar....er, yen. Today the only people I saw who I knew were my students and the Japanese staff at work (quite a friendly bunch on the whole), and this kind of "isolation" can really get to anyone if you're not careful. Despite my periodical reclusive tendencies, I do value human companionship (and I miss you blowholes back in the 518). I'm grateful to have made some good friends in such a short period of time here, and am excited to go to Ian's place this weekend for some BBQ! (yes, and to pick up my 360)

I dropped my guitar off at BIG BOSS in Ochanomizu on the way to work the other day, as it had a few dead frets and needed repairs. Ochanomizu (literally "tea water") has a main street full of guitar shops, it's pretty damn cool. I can't wait to get my baby back and get to practicing these FID songs and writing more. Speaking of music, my former band-mate Justin started doing some Elliot Smith-style acoustic songs, and I think they are really good. Check out Justin Joseph.

I am also greatly anticipating Kevin's arrival next month and a Japan-tour via bus (the cheapest way possible) to Hiroshima, Kyoto and Nara! (that'll be 20-some hours of transport too, by the way) Should be a time to remember.

Until I feel the urge to post again folks!

"Ice-age heat wave, can't complain.
If the world's at large, why should I remain?
Walked away to another plan.
Gonna find another place, maybe one I can stand." - Modest Mouse

"I drank a river to forget
To forget about the coming storm
The curtains are down
The lights are off
And the doors are closed
I think about this life I've known
And I hope this time
I won't let it go

Will you catch me when I run
Will you stop me when I'm done
When the day is through
all I want to do is slow down." - Ignite

Act first, think later.

While not my philosophy, when I'm in a rush I sometimes suffer from this unfortunate ailment; My body sometimes acts quicker than my mind. And so, on what would have been an ordinary Saturday morning, I found myself locked out of my apartment, full suit on and bag in hand with no key, no wallet, no money. Sometimes I amaze even myself - maybe I just have a subconscious need to give my blog readers something interesting to look at?

So naturally I started panicking a little. Dayn, my upstairs neighbor and good friend has a spare key, but he had left for work already. I tried calling around to see who if anyone wasn't at work that I could bum 500 yen from for the train, but to no avail. I felt like such an idiot, but there was no time to be sulky about the situation, so I did the thing that I feared most: I called my job for help.

After responding incredulously to my situation, the guy said he would call me back in ten minutes. I looked out the window, wishing I knew more people in this town, or kept a spare bill in my work bag or anything, when a neighbor I have never met before walked past me to attend to his laundry. A lightbulb went off in my head. I swallowed whatever pride I had left and addressed the guy nervously in my best polite Japanese, fully aware of how rude it was to ask for 1000 yen ($10) from a stranger no matter what country you live in. I stumbled over my words and he seemed confused, until he said in English: "You need money?"

And so I was miraculously saved by the kindness of a neighbor. I was also saved from making one of my superiors take a 45-minute train ride just to lend me 5 bucks, which is an experience that i'm sure we are both better without. I promised I would pay him back tomorrow and sprinted out the door faster than I have ever ran in dress shoes. When I got to the station (usually an 8 minute walk, I cut it down to about 3) my train was already pulling in. I would have caught it on a normal day, except my Passmo card (swipe card) was in my wallet back at the apartment, and I had to print out a ticket from the machine. This meant another 8 minutes of waiting to see if I could somehow squeeze not getting to work late and salvaging what had been a trainwreck of a morning. Everything did work out though, and despite how much I stressed about my stupid mistake I was really grateful my neighbor (whose name I still don't know) was willing to help me out. I wonder if the same situation would have played out much differently in New York? Perhaps.

I was at a school I had never been to before doing a "sub duty a.k.a. twiddle your thumbs for 6 hours" shift, and it turned out the staff were very cool. It was a smaller school than the busy places I'm used to working at so I was actually able to talk to the staff, not just watch them working franticly and feel slightly guilty about my veritable hours with nothing to do. The school manager was a riot though, she kept commenting on the Japanese I was studying and asked me how to say Mendoukusai in English, a phrase that literally means "troublesome." Of course no one actually has "troublesome" in their vernacular anymore, so I suggested "what a drag" or "what a pain" on the vague recollection of an anime character who had that word as his catchprase.

After work Dayn was back at teh building and therefore unlocked the gates to the small room I call home, and made a move to Shinjuku where I was to meet Makiko the singer of FID! I found out a few things that night, firstly that if you walk out the wrong exit in Shinjuku station, re-enter and try to cut across to the other side without bording/coming from a train, they will charge you a 130 yen entrance fee. Highway robbery! But going around the station is like a mile walk and rather confusing, as opposed to 1/4 of a mile going through the meat of it, so what's another 130 yen anyway.

Secondly, Makiko is just as awesome as the rest of FID. She speaks great English so we were able to communicate with ease, and talked about everything from Neglect to their shows abroad to musical ideas to Mucopus etc. etc. That last one being that FID played with Mucopus, a death metal band from my area in NY that features the current singer of Skinless, in the Czech Republic at a grindocre festival. As it turned out I also booked one of Mucopus' first shows when I was like 16 and lost around $200 to a touring death metal band from Texas due to a low turn out.

It's a small world.

At any rate we got along great and we are all really pumped to write songs and practice soon. Things are a bit on hold because (as I may have mentioned before) the drummer is currently with child, but we should be able to start having real practices and playing shows in the Spring. Until then, it will be practicing to a pre-recorded drum track. Should be interesting. I've already got loads of ideas for writing anyway. I have to go get my guitar fixed at a shop some time this week though, I've got a few dead frets. (dead frets are when you get a buzzing sound on the fretboard) I also need to invest in proper strings since this band tunes to B.

And that's it, today has actually been incredibly uneventful and I am totally OK with that. I could have seen Melt Banana but the ATMs are closed on Sundays so no go for me. My sore throat is still coming and going a bit so I need to take it easy anyhow. Para el post de grande finale, here are 3 variations of curry-based foods I have made in the last few weeks + 1 Italiano. All delicious:

Curry Udon - Udon are those big fat noodles. It's cheap, easy and delicious!

Eating spaghetti in my underwear makes me feel like a man.

Simple instant curry, rice and veggies.

Todays meal: Tomato-curry with broccoli, carrots, red peppers, beef and a potato cake.

"M! A! D! We live in a MAD world. So they call this progression, feels like world regression" - Stigmata

"Welcome to the new dark ages, yea I hope you're livin right these are the new dark ages, and the world might end tonight" - Bad Religion