the vestibule of success

Life is good. Almost finished with the post-Golden Week (Japanese Spring Break) push and onto Obon (Japanese August holiday), which is my favorite time of the year, as much as I hate the icky-sticky-greasy-sweatwhileyou'restandingstill-summer in Tokyo. Why? Two weeks of paid vacation baby! You can't beat that. The battle plan is an absurd 20-hour ferry ride from Ibaraki prefecture (neighbor to Tokyo) to Hokkaido, followed by a week of kicking it.

The northern-most island in Japan, once disputed Russian territory, including a city designed by an American architect and more country roads than you can shake a stick at, Hokkaido is a far, far cry from the cramped lifestyles of Tokyo. I'm eagerly awaiting going there with a few of my dearest European brethren, whom I shall refer to in abbreviated fashion: L, a sassy girl from somewhere in England that is not London, is a close friend and my bad influence a.k.a. drinking companion. We recently drew omake (4-panel comics) about two of our favorite school staff members at work, seeing as how we agreed they both deserve their own cartoon or something. Next is S, originally my Japanese classmate, a computer programmer and an altogether good-hearted individual with a passion for traveling the globe. Finally, a Welsh fellow I don't know well except that he seems cool and is in good with the others. Two of those three also happen to be licensed drivers!! If I miss anything from the States besides good pizza, it is most certainly roadtrips.... although roadtrips around islands aren't exactly an option where I'm from (and don't even open yer yaps, Long Island does NOT count by any stretch of the imagination) Should prove to be an interesting journey.

Before that, 3 more weeks of the work-crunch; although in reality a lot of my part-time work (namely kindergarten-stuff) from my second job is almost finished until September. I'm currently sifting through Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged when I have time for it. I recently caught up with Gantz, my favorite horror/action/pulp comic full of vampires and alien invasions, and am now reading JoJo, a cult classic of Japanese comics full of quirky and unique characters and superpowers named after bands. And lots of blood!

Musical taste has taken an unforeseen dive into screamo, post-hardcore and hip hop lately: At the Drive-In, Wu Tang, Eric's Trip, Modest Mouse, Maudlin of the Well, Small Brown Bike, End of a Year and Ceremony (the one hardcore band on the list), just to name a few. I feel like 11 years of metal is finally starting to burn me a bit and I need to look to other things. Why can't more bands just have good, unique vocalists like all of the above? Such is the way with anything I suppose: If there's a lot of it, most of it sucks.

I think I rocked the N2 JLPT, (new-format level 2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test) a few weeks back, but I won't know until September. The whole experience was worlds apart from the autumnal/winter isolation and late-night crams that went into Decembers finger-of-god, skin-of-teeth passing grade, and was in the spirit of summertime an exciting romp through the land of new things, namely being able to listen and read a lot better than I could 6 months back. Dating someone native in Japanese might have helped the former, and no question my addiction to text and imagery definitely aided the latter. But really it teaches me the greatest lesson of all: all things take time. I want to be better at Japanese today, and I can be, but only by seemingly invisible increments. So inch by inch I crawl towards some unknown vestibule of success. What is success? And why on earth is it contained within a vestibule? Such are the questions that no man can answer.

Other topics of relevance to my life which remain yet unmentioned: discovering a good American crime-drama a.k.a. The Wire (8 year late-pass please); coming to find hipster-infested, gyaru (blonde-hair barbie-doll type girls)-ridden Shibuya is my favorite hangout spot in Tokyo; a slight grimace at (but overall of) enjoyment of the single life; a dive back into some junkier foods and not having enough time to do proper workouts as of late; thinking what a shame it is the days can't be like the nights in the summer in the city; and wondering why other countries don't have genres upon sub-genres of comic books for every conceivable notion from robotic monsters to making a band to raising children to old people exploring the moon to whatever else the imagination can whip up.

That's all.


"Everything flows; nothing remains." - Hermaclitus

Little worlds

"Little worlds inside pages
save us all from each other
from the speech of another.
Little words inside places
without substance disguising
our discontent rising,
we hold fast to the pages."

For a change of pace, there's something I wrote to start off the entry. Like it or leave it, I know I most likely couldn't be bothered to read someone else's poetry. Maybe that's why I usually write short poems, and have usually failed at short stories or novels... or maybe it's my short attention.... span.

The other day I came home to an unexpected guest. Or rather several dozen of them. But let me backtrack: The week before I had seen a cockroach rear its ugly head in the corner of my room, and sprayed him down with the quickness of Apollo. This foe was simpler and slower, but much more ubiquitous and took some thinking to kill. That's right readers, after a long day of work and such I came home to find around 40 or 50 tiny black ants mulling around in different places on my floor. I only noticed one or two at first (I had seen a few the day before, but had foolishly thought little of it), but when I sat down at my desk and felt one crawl onto my foot, I knew it was a problem that require immediate attention. I began frantically squashing them one by one, until finally I found the source: A tiny hole, perhaps the size of a pencil point, behind my dresser (I live on the 2nd floor of my building). I gassed the hole with my roach-killing spray, and after a quick trip to the convenience store came back and glued the thing shut with super industrial glue.

The only problem was I did this last bit too hastily and glued some small pieces of tissue paper to my fingers. Wah Wah Wah. I managed to get them off with some hot water though. All crisis averted. There's your anecdote of the month.

Things I've been reading:

-American Psycho. A thoroughly disgusting but intriguing book. Could have done without the graphic descriptions, both of people being dismembered and of suit jackets and name brands. But it was interesting to see where the movie came from, and some of the dark humor was particularly amusing.

-The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn has been an informative and enlightening learning experience for me (big props to my favorite blog, Audiobook Corner, for providing the goods). It focuses on the rebellions, the Government corruption, and everything else they try and make light of in textbooks. Despite having been brought up in a post-"Cowboys killed Injuns because they were bad" society, I know my school history books were bias, as any are. Zinn said something along the lines of: "Any history that portrays a people's mentality as united is disguising inner conflicts and struggles of ideology." He denies the idea of the consciousness of a state, and basically tells history from the lesser heard voices. While inevitably romanticizing the plight of some of history's less fortunate, it's definitely well-worth reading, and reminds us all of the important academic, but also real world-applicable lesson: Never trust just one source.

-Lord of the Rings. An awesome version on audiobook I'd recommend to any fan. Just been doing a few chapters a week after the gym, really helps clear my mind of crapola.

-Various manga, probably not worth delving into in detail: Eyeshield 21, Yotsuba, Azumanga Daioh, Higanjima (a vampire horror manga that my friend turned me on to), and some others in a monthly manga called Gessan (Get the Sun) that my friend also has generously lent me. Thanks Dayn.

- Textbooks. Grammar, Kanji and Vocabulary textbooks. Can't I just know like 20,000 words already and get it over with?

-Dialogue boxes in Dragon Quest 9. I keep my dictionary handy at all times, but general comprehension is pretty good!


I'm almost done with this month of 6 day weeks, and in roughly 2 weeks my 2 week vacation will start!! I'm earnestly looking forward to all that. And band practice next weekend. Speaking of the band, I had my last lesson with Kana last night before her big TOEIC test this week, and I think she'll do well! We've been doing lessons for something like 6 months now, maybe longer? Also speaking of the band, I should really record and mp3 these song ideas before I forget so we can have a more productive practice next week. じゃね！

Archery, ping pong and fencing in a one room apartment.

I picked up Wii Sports Resort this weekend, and I am really satisfied with it! The new "wii motion plus" controls definitely make up for where it was lacking before - now movement is less constricted and more natural. And I can finally have a sword fight in my dinky room!

Yesterday I had these students who come every week - they are two middle-aged women who laugh at almost everything that is said for no real reason. They're both very pleasant and we talked about Wii Sports Resort and the last One Piece movie (that's a super-popular anime/comics franchise in Japan). One of them was saying how the "voice actor" for Chopper and Pikachu is the same. Total nerd stuff, but only in Japan would you hear housewives saying something like that! My own otaku-like interests often give me good talking points with students. I had an 8 year old bring up Bobobo yesterday, and I asked her if she liked manga. "Yes, but my parents won't let me read it" is roughly the equivalent of what she said. I've also met other parents who say they don't let their children read comics at all. I find it surprising, and although some kids out here are so obviously spoiled rotten, others really have to earn their chips, to make the grade. Otherwise they won't get their new life-size gundam or samsung 50-inch t.v. or designer 5000 yen t-shirts.

I read an article that Tokyo is "the most expensive city for expatriates." Yea, but it's also one of the coolest places to live! Even if the trains smell like... unmentionables. And since the economy is generally strong, the yen is also worth something compared to the dollar, unlike the Korean Won or Chinese.... what do they use?

Hmmm. Well that encompasses everything I wanted to say. I have Japanese class today, then work in bustling Shinjuku. So here's hoping that today is a good day like yesterday. As I'm sure I mentioned before, this month is all 6-day weeks, so between work and studying I'm on the run a bit. Feels good to be busy. Good night America.


"I wish I could be the name on your lips, for only one moment of bliss. I wish you could see the paper thin-scars" - Blood Has Been Shed

Who says I'm a dork?

HHRRMMMM????

Long story short, due to aforementioned "New (Fiscal) Year," time has been short, and I've been filling my free time with things besides the blog. I haven't abandoned it, just put it on the back-burner for a while. My schedule this year is full but awesome, I just worked at a school 15 minutes away. 15 FREAKIN MINUTES! After almost 8 months of 40+ minute commutes, I at least have a short one to look forward to each week! And on the whole travel time has been reduced quite a bit compared to last year. (Incidentally, said close school happens to be my favorite)

I wish I had a thousand interesting anecdotes to share about my exciting double life of rogue English teacher and being a wacky foreigner who cannonballed into some ojisan onsen (old man's hot spring) but alas, it's been rather quiet outside of work. I saw Watchmen the other ngiht and was greatly impressed; it was cool to see a movie in Japan, (almost felt like home with the amount of white dudes there), just like America save the Japanese subtitles at the bottom. Those provided an interesting "subtext" (if you will) to see how certain phrases - namely vulgarities - were translated. My favorite part was when the hot female lead said "Let's go," and it was translated as "iku wa yo." To give any non-Japanese readers context, that's a super-girly interpretation (the gender qualities of language are a great dichotomy here) which could be accurately translated back as "OMG, let's like totally go." My friend said she thought an older man must have translated it.

The sound system was also absurdly loud. I don't know if it's me or it was just that movie or the projection guy fell asleep on the volume button or what, but my ears were ringing afterwards.

Completely unrelated, I highly recommend "Freshness Burger" for anyone seeking a good, cheap, American-style hamburger in Japan.

I recently read Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, and excellent suggestion (thanks Kerri), and am currently reading Making Sense of Japanese by Jay Rubin (same guy who has translated the most recent works of Haruki Murakami, the famed Japanese author). This dude has some really profound essays about the problems we Westerners face regarding understanding of Japanese grammar and nuances, and he's pretty funny. Highly recommended.

My blog momentum just died. Like a hamster running on his wheel at full speed until his squeaky little self gives. Get back to you all shortly.

P.S. I made my facebook public, featuring new pictures from a recent Kamakura trip. Enjoy.

"I think I'd like to go back home and take it easy, there's a woman that I'd like to get to know, livin' there, everybody seems to wonder what it's like down here... Gotta get away from this day to day runnin' around, everybody knows this is nowhere" - Neil Young and the Crazy Horse