Allister & ElleGarden

The concert totally rocked! We were packed in a small livehouse that only holds 300 people. I pushed my way close enough to get a good view while keeping away from the jumpers and crowd surfers. Ellegarden was supposed to be the main show, but I was more looking forward to Allister and wish they had more time. I absolutely love their music - it fills me with energy and my body just starts moving. And I still can't believe they came to Japan and played here of all places!

I was the only non-Japanese person in the crowd and I think the only one who knew any of their songs, which makes sense since they're American and were here as the opening band for Ellegarden. Allister played all the songs I was looking forward to hearing and after they got off stage I was hoping to get a chance to talk with the members, but they didn't come out to mingle in the crowd. Don't get me wrong, I like Ellegarden too, but a lot of their songs sound the same to me so in my opinion Allister is the much better band.

After the concert I went outside to the booths selling shirts and stuff. Everyone was congregated around the Ellegarden section giving me the chance to leisurely check out the Allister merchandise. Then when I looked up it was the bassist standing at the table! It took me off guard. I got so nervous that I couldn't think of anything to say and ended up blubbering a bunch of nonsense that probably made him think I'm some weirdo. I love these guys so much it was like meeting a superstar and my mind just went blank. What I wanted to say was "I absolutely love you guys and can't believe you're here!" but what came out was "You guys are good." He introduced himself as Scott and instead of saying "Nice to meet you" I was busy thinking "I know" and didn't even respond.

I ended up asking him how he learned Japanese (he did all the talking while Allister was on stage - his Japanese is fantastic!). He said after the band came to Japan for the first time four years ago he started studying on his own - must be some kind of language genius. He asked why I'm here and I muttered something about teaching English. I mentioned living in St. Louis and he said he's from Chicago. All in all it wasn't the conversation I wished I'd had and I felt like a dolt. And yes, I know putting them on a pedestal is dumb when they're just humans like you and me, but I really like these guys. And did I mention the lead singer is hot?

After my failure with the bassist I lingered around waiting for the whole band to come out so I could accost them and take a photo with them or something before they got into the van. A half hour of waiting in the cold passed. Ellegarden came out and went straight to their van, then waved to the few of us waiting outside from the van window. That's all? I would have stayed longer for Allister to come out but I had to rush to the train station for the last train back to Beppu. Darn.

Well, if the bassist is studying Japanese they must be planning on having more Japan tours. I just hope they come this far south again!

Tomorrow World in Japan?

After yesterday's entry I got to thinking about how Japan and Korea are suffering from decreasing birth rates. There's all this hubbub about what's going to happen when the current generation retires, like how there won't be enough people putting money into the pension system to support all the retirees (it's already running out of money so pension checks are being reduced and cut).

America's birthrate is decreasing too, but there isn't much of a labor shortage thanks to the influx of immigrants. Japan is pretty xenophobic that way. People who aren't racially Japanese can't become citizens even if they were born and raised here, which seems so weird to me. There are tons of Koreans in this situation - they've spent their entire lives in Japan but aren't recognized as Japanese, and neither are their children nor grandchildren because they're racially Korean. I think the mindset of the people is changing and people are becoming more open to the idea of interracial marriages and having foreigners in their midst, but there's still a long way to go.

So how do you increase the population without accepting immigrants? The government gives monetary bonuses to families when a child is born, and a while back there was a mayor who suggested increasing taxes for single women as a penalty for not having children, which would be completely unthinkable in America (I picture rioting women burning the guy's house down). Call me crazy but I don't think that's going to solve the decreasing population problem. As if people are going to have children for a tax break, especially when educational fees and the cost of living totally outweigh whatever monetary bonus you'd receive.

The population decrease is easy to see in this area . . . schools are closing every year because there aren't enough children to justify a full staff of teachers, and some towns don't even have high schools anymore (the kids commute to neighboring towns). Take the school I work at for instance: ten years ago there were 400 students per grade. Since then the school has had to substantially relax its admission standards (there are some real lugnuts in class) while having a student body of only 160. There's talk about merging with another school across town that's having the same problem. If the two decide to merge there'll be 320 students per grade, but it would only be a temporary solution seeing as the population is steadily decreasing.

How can there be half the number of students in only ten years? It seems this area is additionally suffering from the emigration of people who move to big cities like Tokyo and Osaka to find better jobs, then stay there to raise families. From a teacher's point of view I'd have to support that move; children who live in bigger cities seem to get a better education. I know that sounds like a terrible stereotype, but it seems to be true - almost all of my top students are those that were raised in big cities like Fukuoka or Tokyo, then moved here recently. On the other hand my students on the lower end were all born and raised here. Could just be a coincidence though.

Anyhow I'm curious to see how things turn out. Forty years from now Japan might implode in upon itself from labor shortage. Actually if the ocean levels keep rising there might not even be a Japan in forty years, like the situation with Palau now.

Tomorrow World

The previews looked interesting so I went and saw a movie called "Tomorrow World" (I think it's called "Children of Men" in the States, but I'm not sure). The premise reminded me a lot of one of my favorite books - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

I won't give away anything that can't be discerned from the previews . . . No children have been born in 18 years, and naturally the world has had to change in order to accomodate this unfortunate circumstance. Then a pregnant woman is discovered, and it becomes imperative to keep her hidden from the government while trying to get her out of the country to keep her safe from the chaos. The movie takes place in England and we can see how the country has reacted, but I kept wondering how things came to be this way and how the rest of the world compensated for this change in humanity. I guess the movie itself was well made but I had so many questions that remained unanswered and left without any feelings of closure.

The previews for Aragon looked good so will probably check that one out in a couple weeks.

Nothing like the smell of gas

Everyone complains about it and here's me saying it one more time: Japanese winters suck. It's not that the winters are very cold, or that the weather is especially terrible. Living in southern Japan means that winters are actually quite mild and we hardly ever get any snow, but thin walls, a lack of proper insulation and no central heating mean there's no escape from the cold. I come inside only to feel the same as if I were standing outside in the garden. In the beginning I relied on the electric fan heater I had set into the living room wall. I spent the entire winter trapped in the living room. Then last year I bought a carbon-filament heater (kind of like a long halogen bulb) for when I'm sitting at the computer in the other room, but that was a letdown. The heat is really concentrated and feels great, but only extends far enough to heat up half my body.

So this week I bought a new heater. I love how it looks! You fill it with kerosene and enjoy the warmth of an open flame. It's like having a portable chimney. And if there's ever a blackout, I don't have to worry about freezing to death because it doesn't require electricity! It even boils water for tea if you place a pot on top. The downside - having an open fire means I'm using up all the oxygen in the apartment and releasing fumes into the air. You're supposed to keep the window cracked to let fresh air in, but doesn't having an open window take all the heat away as well?

There was no crystal ball.

It was nice to get out of the prefecture last weekend even if it was only just across the border into Kumamoto. My friends are really into fortune tellers (who I personally believe are all gypsy swindlers) and they found one that tells the future through "dowsing". They'd visited before to try a sample session, where the fortune teller encouraged my friends to buy special bracelets that match their auras. The bracelets were chosen through the mysterious art of dowsing, which can be explained as the scam artist figuring out how much someone is willing to pay, then letting their powers lead them to a bracelet in that price range. But my friends truly believe in these bracelets as being "chosen".

This time they wanted a full reading, so we drove 3 hours through the mountains and into Kumamoto Prefecture to get there. I went to a nearby cafe (the upscale kind with fancy desserts and all kinds of teas) to wait for them to finish and tell me all about the crazyman stealing their money. The fortune teller asked what they wanted to know, then started shaking his head back and forth while tapping his finger on the table (they were pretty certain he was calling forth his powers, and not afflicted with Parkinsons disease). If you ask me, the suggestions and advice they got seemed more like a counselling session than a reading of their futures . . . since you work at night you can use your mornings to find another job and supplement your income . . . you're not attracted to the man that is after you so it probably wouldn't work out . . . the 18-year-old doesn't seem to be a very good dating prospect . . . All stuff I could have told them myself, but without the head shaking and finger tapping.


I was only along for the ride but it was a nice day for a drive and we stopped off at a really nice restaurant on the top of a hill. They make their own cheese and use natural spring water. It was nice; spring water tastes kind of sweet and doesn't have any aftertaste.
The wood-burning oven was near the entrance so you could peek in and see the pizza baking inside as you walked to your table. And the food was good, too!
Just hanging out in the cafe.

Heroes

I got a tape with episodes of the new TV series Heroes and am loving it. The theory is that the human race is still evolving and a few select people are discovering abilities that normal humans lack (the same idea as in X-Men but there's no mention of the mutant X-gene just yet). In a freaky coincidence I happened to catch a program on TV tonight about people with super enhanced senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. These people could be the next evolutionary step.

Sight
The Masai tribe in Africa has super-enhanced sight. The men were pointing at zebras and giraffes that the cameramen couldn't see until they used binoculars, and they could see 1cm-sized pictures of animals while standing 35 meters away. Doctors tried testing their eyesight using the standard eyetest and they read the bottom line easily, even when the chart was placed at the opposite end of a basketball court. Not quite as good as x-ray vision, but pretty good if you ask me.

Sound
A blind man named Juan Luis uses echo location (like bats) to see the world around him. He was walking down the street making clicking noises and saying stuff like, "There's a trash can on the left, a parked truck on the right and a yard with a large tree in front." He can tell how high, wide, and hard things are by clicking his tongue. And he's not the only one! A blind American boy does the same thing, and runs around chasing his brothers and sisters without any problems. You'd never know he was deaf by seeing him walk down the street (without a cane of course) swerving around bicycles and people. Watching him spar in karate class was pretty impressive. And chase basketballs while rollerblading.

Then they tested an orchestra conductor who can hear everything at once. The 22-person orchestra played a 30-second piece, then played it again with 5 differences. I couldn't believe it! The two pieces sounded exactly the same to me, but he rattled off all 5 mistakes as soon as they finished playing. The cello played a note that was an octave different from the first time, the oboe skipped a note, the violin played a note in b-flat, the flute played a note softly. . . How could he hear it all??? They also dropped combinations of coins on the floor and asked him how much they dropped - a fun game to try at home. But quite impossible for normal humans.

At this point there was a break where they explained how our ears lose the ability to hear high-pitched sounds as we get older. They played sounds at a range of frequencies and what I heard (or actually didn't hear) bothered me. 60-year olds can hear frequencies up to 10,000 hertz, and the annoying, high-pitched squealing sound made me turn the volume down. The frequency that 50-year olds can hear was also loud and irritating, and thank goodness they stopped that one quickly because it was starting to hurt my ears. Then the 14,000 hertz frequency that 40-year olds can hear was white silence. I heard nothing. The previous two were ear-piercing, and then there was silence. I couldn't hear any of the frequencies they played after that. I discovered that I have the ears of a 40-year old. It explains why I'm having a hard time catching conversations in a crowd and have to ask to repeat what people say more and more often. I'm really quite disturbed by this, but apparently there's no way to reverse the process to make your hearing better. Very depressing.

Incidentally one of my students can hear dog whistles. I secretly tested her and she made me stop.

Smell
A normal human can distinguish 8 different scents if you mix them together. There are about 400 people on record that have the ability to smell a mind-boggling 200 scents (they work for perfume companies around the world). The interesting thing is that 25% of these people all come from the same village in France. They interviewed someone from the village, and when he was younger he liked to test himself by taking random mixes of scents and exactly reproducing them. He said that he can't stand going into cities because the flood and intensity of smells are sickening. When we were younger my sister used to complain about the same thing. I think she might be a super-smeller, too.

Touch
They interviewed a guy who has an amazing sense of touch. He can discern how flat a surface is, up to half a micron (5/10,000ths of a millimeter). They gave him a large, flat piece of plastic to run his hands over, and the places where he said were slightly raised matched up with the computer images. I don't exactly see how this could be used as a super-power, though.

The other people were mostly just weird. Like the man who sees colors when he hears sounds. Or the lady who can smell sickness off a person. Or the artist who sees everything in color - including black and white newspapers. The CAT scan pictures were interesting. Their brains were lighting up in places that shouldn't be active.

So I guess our species is still evolving and some of us are already super-human. As for me, I'm still waiting for those latent abilities to take effect. Any day now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If my sources are correct, today is Thanksgiving in the States. It happens to be a holiday in Japan, too (Labor Day). I was just sitting around the house because it's all rainy and cold out, then decided to get into the Thanksgiving spirit by making more food than I could possible eat and pigging out as much as I could. I pulled some carrots from the garden and added sliced eggs and cucumber to an enormous bowl of noodles. But that didn't seem like enough to make my stomach hurt so a few small cakes and a bread roll seemed in order. And to warm myself up a bit, a green tea latte (something new I had for the first time yesterday and instantly became my new favorite drink). It might not be a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but after finishing it all I went into the food coma that no real Thanksgiving would be without.


And I thought about the things I'm thankful for. Which turns out to be everything. I love my life. I love every day. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I'd chosen a different path or done something different, and I'm glad that this is how things turned out. All the things I've done have led me here. And it's such a great place to be.

Sometimes people ask if I regret giving up on a career in medicine. Not at all. If I'd continued studying, I wouldn't have taken the job in retail where I met one of my best friends, and wouldn't have lived with Aska nor met Ken - two people who played a vital role in fostering my curiosity about Japan. I wouldn't have applied for a job here and wouldn't be living this adventurous life making friends with people from all over the world. If I'd gone to medical school, I wouldn't have spontaneously thrown some clothes in the car one day and taken off for three months to drive around the States nor would have had enough free time to travel the world and leisurely explore countries that I've fallen in love with (you absolutely must visit Thailand and Cambodia).

I used to daydream about what it would have been like to have studied abroad for a year back in university. But that would have most likely been during my junior year, and I wouldn't want to trade all the memories from that one year: all the people I'd met and the experiences I had. That was the year I met so many of the people that I truly value and often think about (Speck included). I learned how to develop film and spent all that time in the dark room with Alicia, became friends with StevieD and Sona while volunteering at the orphanage in Tijuana, studied with the man who wrote Il Postino and got to examine records of plant species that Charles Darwin himself collected and catalogued. So I'm glad I didn't study abroad. The memories I made are too important to give back.

A few years ago I applied for a job and was devastated when I didn't get it. But because I didn't, I continued working at the job I hated and made connections with people that allowed me to have the life I live now. Thank goodness I didn't get that job. I was crushed at the time, but am so glad for it now.

Thinking about it now, if I could turn back time and relive my life while keeping all the memories I've made, I'd probably do everything exactly the same just so I can enjoy it all over again. Well, perhaps a few things would be different. Like, all the time I've spent playing video games could be used to play different video games. And if I could memorize a few lottery numbers before time got turned back that might come in handy. And I wouldn't leave the pots of dirt outside so they could harbor nests of centipedes.

Well, that's enough for now. Time to lie down and continue digesting. Yay Thanksgiving.

I can.

It's embarrassing to admit it, but I'm a super-dweeb when it comes to Buffy. Are you mentally prepared to experience my dweebiness (is that even a word) at full force? I've been going through the series again (thanks so much for the videos, Speck!) and the episode where Willow turns Amy-the-rat into a human again hit home for me. I am exactly like Willow. Except for no magic and rats turning into humans and stuff.

Willow couldn't reverse Amy into a human because she lacked magical ability. Through time Willow continued to grow stronger, then one day realized she could and turned Amy into a human again. She could have probably tried sooner, but she'd been so used to not being able to.

After coming to Japan there were so many Japanese videos I wanted to see, but I never understood what was going on and always got lost because I lacked Japanese ability. I had to constantly replay scenes to look words up in the dictionary and was still confused. Going to the movies was completely unthinkable.

It's been over a year since I've watched any videos. Unless I have someone next to me to explain all the difficult bits, watching them is pointless. But I REALLY wanted to see Death Note and even though I'd be confused the whole time, braved the movies on my own (yeah, I saw it by myself - loner with no friends, poor poor me). Then halfway through the movie I realized, hey! I understand everything! So you see I'm just like Willow. I suddenly realized I can. And you're probably thinking this is a flimsy comparison, but for me this is life-changing. Actually not really.

This opens up a whole new world for me! I can go see Japanese movies now! And I can also rent those movies that I've been wanting to see but haven't because they're in Japanese. All those ninja movies. On top of being a Buffy dweeb, I'm going to become a ninja nerd. Oh I can't wait.

Death Note

They turned it into a two-part movie! I missed the first part but went ahead and saw Part 2. The main plotline followed the book so I wasn't too confused, and I'm really glad they didn't just redo the book. The movie threw in new characters and had a different ending which was nice for the surprise value. The trailer is in Japanese but you can kind of get a feel for the weird characters and the funky Japanese style. (Light is the Killer, L is the genius investigator, and Misa traded half of her lifespan to gain the ability to know people's true names simply by looking at them).

Here's the short of it: Ryuk (a god of Death) is bored and decides to drop his notebook into the human world to see what happens. A high school student picks it up and discovers that if you write a name in the book, that person dies. He then decides to alter the world by killing off all criminals but unfortunately law officials consider him a mass-murderer and the attempt to hunt him down (and find out how he's killing people) commences. While they're trying to discover who he is, he's busy scheming how to get rid of everyone in his way without being found out. There are so many twists and turns to keep it interesting -- the kid's father is head of the team hunting down the Killer; another Killer emerges and tries to locate Light (Killer) to team up; the new Killer turns out to be a ditzy bimbo movie star . . . um, I guess it sounds kind of dumb. But really, it's a gripping story.

As proof of its popularity, they've decided to create a cartoon version as well. I'm quite upset that the cartoon isn't broadcasted here in Oita. Dear Oita TV, you suck.

I gave it a search on YouTube, and someone posted the first episode! It has English subtitles so I'm guessing it's being broadcast in other countries. You can watch it in other countries, but not in Oita. Really and truly, Oita TV, go to hell.

The first episode is split into three parts if you feel like checking it out. Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3

New additions to the family

It's been about 5 years since I've bought shoes. I know my shoes are grubby, peeling, and ready for the trash bin but they're still wearable so why buy new ones? Shoes are for walking; life isn't a fashion show. (I know I'm kidding myself with this - life IS a fashion show). But something came over me yesterday. I walked past a shoe store and was called into it, then suddenly found myself heading home with two new pairs of shoes.

Before coming to Japan I shopped at cheap outlet stores and bargain basements and stayed away from name-brands because of what they signify. I don't even know what that means anymore. If you want nice things, buy nice things. I guess over the years Japanese consumerism and the worship of name-brands has been wearing me down like a file on a heinous toenail. With enough effort, even the ugliest toenail can become shiny and beautiful. Anyhow I got my shoes at the mall and threw my card down for the first two pairs I liked.


These are them (Did you know that grammatically this sentence should read "These are they" - how ridiculous is that.) The orange PUMAs were $60 and the black Adidas were $100. Back in university there's no way I would have paid $100 for shoes, but like I said I'm a toenail that's been filed down.


Speaking of shoes, last week I was watching my favorite program about rich people who have nice things when last week's guest opened her shoe closet to expose 288 pairs of shoes. The cameraman was astonished and began picking out shoes, asking how much they cost. Of course I expected them to be expensive, but I nearly pooped my pants when he pointed at a pair and she said $20,000.

Then they checked out the room that she uses as a closet. There was a bunch of purses lined up on the shelf, and she casually mentioned that the row of purses on the right side cost more than $100,000 each. That's when I really did poop my pants. So you see, Japanese consumerism is simply out of control. And that's why I didn't think anything of spending $100 on a pair of shoes, and in fact thought they were pretty cheap.

To compare myself to this woman, I decided to take all my shoes out and see what kind of collection I have. It's not enough to get invited onto the program just yet, but I'm almost there.

Please don't judge me by my footwear. I'm keeping the nasty old ones for when I go hiking or tromping through rivers.

And they couldn't find him?

Ever hear that the government can spy on people using satellites powerful enough to read the license plates off of cars? Well now I believe it. I looked up the house I grew up in using a public satellite, and you can see the white Pontiac in the driveway and my sister's blue Trans-Am parked on the street. If we can see this much using a public satellite, imagine what they can do. The mysterious they.

But isn't this cool? I looked up Punahou School and Washington University and my old apartment and houses of friends. And the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall of China. Man this is awesome. You have to download a program first then you're free to roam the world.

Damn cramp

Just got back from the pool. In the middle of my 20th lap I felt a growing tightness in my calf that grew into a paralyzing pain. Probably would have drowned if I'd been swimming in the ocean. It's been over an hour and it still hurts, making me walk all gimpy.

The other day it dawned on me that swimming is just like meditation. You take a deep breath and slowly let it out, clearing your mind of everything and concentrating on minute physical sensations. The regular, timed breathing is so relaxing. For me it takes about 7 laps for my body to get used to the increased heartrate and find a good pace, then it just goes on autopilot and I get lost in my breathing rhythm.

Except today there were a bunch of people pushing themselves in my lane, so I kept up with them and ignored the tightness in my chest and arms. And then that damned cramp made me cut the workout short. Not enough leg stretches, I guess.

The good news is that after a few weeks of protein supplements, I'm not a walking skeleton anymore. There's a layer of something covering my upper arm, and I'm hoping it's a muscle.

Check me!

I absolutely LOVE my hair salon. The 90 minute experience is worth every yen. Let me share.

The chair goes down so your head can rest over the basin. A thin piece of cloth with a dab of aroma oil covers your eyes, then a towel is laid over that to completely block out the light and leave you in darkness. You can hear birds chirping and the trickle of a river from the speakers near your head. While you're growing relaxed and enjoying the sounds of nature, the basin gradually fills with bubbles that rise slowly to your head so you never get that shock of hot water on your scalp. The bubbles are massaged into your hair for a calm, quiet shampooing. Then the fingers start gliding through your hair and begin pressing your temples, sliding along the sides of your head, pushing against your forehead and different points all over your scalp and neck. I wish that massage would go on forever. For the final rinsing water is slowly poured over your hair instead of an abrasive spray from those shower-head faucets.

The cutting is all done by scissors and an electric trimmer never touches your head. When the cutting's finished you get another delicious shampooing and a hot towel to clean your face. Then another, firmer head massage with something that smells minty. Sometimes I get a back and shoulder massage, too, but not this time.

When it was all done the staff stood outside to wave me off and bow. Back in the States I was paying 50 bucks for a regular shampoo and haircut, and this costs LESS than that!

Just to see what actually happened to my head, I took some before and after photos. Believe it or not, it takes time to make my hair look dirty. I found this great wax that makes it look oily and clumped together.




I swear I wasn't giving the camera the mack-daddy eye. It just came out like that.





Incidentally while getting the haircut my phone rang. It was an unknown Japanese cell phone number and when I checked the message it was Jean Muraoka from high school! Whoa, blast from the past. Apparently she moved to Tokyo two weeks ago and got my number from Gina Colburn. She obviously doesn't know how far down south I live since she asked if I could take the train up for a visit sometime. The train?

And I'm so glad cyano found this blog! In a crazy coincidence I've been trying to look him up recently!

I named her Martha

The garbage men took Martha away today. It was her time. She was getting too wrinkly and spots of mould were collecting all over her body. Her sad face seemed to cry out to me, but that didn't stop me from chucking her into the burnable garbage. Goodbye, Martha. Have a nice burning.

Oh, us kids

I went to a friend's house last night for a little get together, and we played a game that I have only played once and never thought I'd play again: Spin The Bottle. Oh boy.

It started off as a joke while the 8 of us were just sitting around wondering what to do when someone said, "Hey, how about spin the bottle?" and we all laughed when a bottle suddenly appeared in the middle of our small circle. To my surprise the bottle started spinning.

In the beginning it was just innocent little pecks on the cheeks and forehead. But since we aren't kids in junior high school a "mouth only" rule got formed. It was weird kissing friends. And watching friends kissing friends. It didn't matter who the bottle landed on, you had to kiss 'em. But surprisingly you get kinda used to it after a while and the rules evolved into 5 second make-out sessions the first time, and 5-more seconds added on everytime the same two people had to kiss. I think the longest anyone had to go at it was 15 seconds. You know, a second can feel like forever. Or sometimes not enough time at all.

It was such a great learning experience. I now know what a REALLY good kiss feels like. You bet I'm gonna try to copy it the next time I get the chance. There was actually someone there that I'm pretty attracted to, and when we made out it was really good. Oh man, I feel like I'm in high school.

Somehow or other Spin The Bottle got ditched and we moved on to another game that I'd never played before 'cause it's just too scary: Truth or Dare. We still used the bottle to pick out who we could abuse when our turn came around. It was kinda fun having people sit around in their underwear or make them reveal which one of us they felt like getting with most. The great kisser had to grope someone they wanted to feel up (me) and it ended with an amazing bite on the ear. Another great experience I intend on copying; that one bite felt absolutely insane. But I think the bottle liked me too much 'cause it landed on me like 5 times and the girl next to me not once. I'm a wimp and was scared to pick Dare each time mostly because I know what kinda dares I felt like making people do. When I finally chose Dare it turned out to be "Make out with someone you wanna make out with. Here's your free kiss card. Pick whoever you want." So of course I picked the ear-biting, perfect kisser. Too bad we live on different islands. Nothing further happened and I have NEVER had a one night stand but with this one, I don't care if that changes. If a moment ever comes, I'm just gonna have to take advantage of it. But who knows when (if) we'll see each other again.

Happy Halloween!

I know it's technically not Halloween yet but it's Japan and no one knows when Halloween is anyway. I miss Halloween parties. Crazy costumes, walking around the town, fun cakes and treats.

A friend was having a little Halloween party for her students and I went to help out. The nostalgia of carving pumpkins . . . I had the kids make monster balloons and ghosts out of lollipops and tissue. Then made them put their hands into paper bags to guess what was inside. Most of the bags had simple stuff like pens, rubber bands, and bananas. I thought I could gross them out with a tupperware full of pasta and a little oil to make them slippery like worms, and another had a peeled grape. I thought the grape would feel like an eyeball or some kind of animal guts and gross them out, but they smelled their fingers right after touching it and realized what it was. Too bad.

We went trick or treating to a few houses that my friend had set up beforehand. She got friends in the neighborhood to prepare snacks for the kids when we stopped by. The kids knew that costumes were mandatory but some came in their regular clothes, so she ripped holes in garbage bags and told them to wear those. I guess it was a humiliation tactic so they'd come in costumes next year? When we were about to leave a couple kids looked like they weren't going to wear their garbage bags and she threatened them with, "If you don't wear those bags you know what's gonna happen, don't you." I guess the threat worked 'cause they wore those garbage bags. It's not the Halloween back home, but it was enough of the Halloween spirit to put me in a good mood.

Oh the days. Back in St. Louis I went to a party dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood and passed out lollipops from my wicker basket. Most people didn't know I was a guy. I guess they thought I was a really ugly Mexican girl.

Allister and a popping tire

Alright so here's another entry after a whole month of nothing. Thanks to pandora.com I've come across a few bands that I absolutely love: Allister, Bowling for Soup, and Jettingham. So far I've liked every song I've heard by these guys.

Here are some YouTube samples:
Allister
Somewhere Down in Fullerton
A Lotta Nerve

Bowling for Soup
1985
Emily
Almost

Jettingham has already broken up and I couldn't find any videos of 'em. Too bad.

I was talking to Hiromi (the girl who's selling me her extra ticket to Elle Garden) and she asked if I knew a band called Allister. It was kinda out of the blue so I asked why she wanted to know. It turns out she'd never heard of 'em but they're touring with Elle Garden and wanted to know what kinda music they play. No way! I'm hyped up to get to see Elle Garden but TWO of my favorite bands? It's gonna be the best concert ever!

On another note my tire exploded today. It sounded like a gun went off and freaked me out. I'm pretty proud of being able to change to the spare all by myself. I made it to the repairshop and shelled out $200 for four new tires - I figured it was best to change 'em all just to be safe.

Since I was already there I asked for an estimate on my safety check since it expires next month. It came to a whopping $1400. Holy mackerel. When I saw the list of things they had to change to pass the safety check I had to wonder if it would be better just to get another car. But then figured $1400 is still less than buying another car so am going ahead with the repairs. Man, I'm gonna be poor next month.

Elle Garden

They're playing here on December 16th and tickets went on sale last week. But I was too late! They're already sold out!!!

Luckily Hiromi bought two tickets and is willing to sell me one. She took all the best songs from their 5 albums and made a CD and copied all the lyrics for me. Hiromi's the best!

I need to eat

Yesterday I saw a picture of myself and realized I look totally anorexic. Gotta eat more!!!!!!

Everyone's been telling me how skinny I am, but it never really occurred to me how awfully boney this body has become. Even today a woman I work with told me how her daughter thought I looked good before, but now I'm just too thin.

I'm worried about withering away into nothing.
That's why right now I'm eating donuts.

Fun Times and Typhoons

What a busy weekend! I'm totally wiped out.

Saturday after teaching a class I met some friends for karaoke. Luke wanted to have some kind of get together for foreigners in the area so he posted on a Stonewall message board inviting anyone who wanted to come for good times this weekend. We figured just a couple people would turn up, but when I walked into the karaoke room there were 17 people packed in there! Surprisingly only 6 were from Oita, the rest came from other prefectures. One guy came from Yamaguchi (7-hour train ride away) another from Kagoshima (7-hour drive) and yet another from Shikoku (3-hour ferry ride). Wow, who knew so many people would brave the trip out to Oita for a party.
Later we went to a bar but most everyone was pretty tired from travelling all day to get here, so we figured out who was gonna stay where and all split up. Kevin was putting people up at his place even though he had to go to work for a few hours in the morning, and he didn't want a bunch of people he'd just met hanging around his apartment on their own while he was out. I got convinced to spend the night and hang out with everyone till he got back from work. I'd only met him a few times myself but I guess that was enough to trust me not to wreak havoc in the apartment and steal all his stuff.

We got to bed around 430am and after a couple hours of restless sleep (I have a hard time sleeping in new places and usually don't sleep well after drinking - amazing I could sleep at all) we all got up and waited for Kevin to come home. In our zombie state most of this time was spent sitting around the living room staring at each other. I hadn't had anything with me and had to sleep with my contacts in. Boy were my eyes dry and red in the morning.
Except for the eating part, lunch was fantastic. We pretty much forced ourselves to eat. Then sat around sharing dead baby jokes. I'd never heard them before! It was so morbid and shocking. But I couldn't stop myself from laughing. If you know any dead baby jokes, please share!

It was time for everyone to get back home but all the trains and ferries were cancelled because of the approaching typhoon. No choice but to stay and party one more night!

We all gathered at Luke's to brave the typhoon. It wasn't as crazy as we thought it'd be. Branches were scattered in the road and the wind was kinda crazy, but I haven't heard of any damage yet. We spent the night playing all kinds of games I'd never heard of before. They were pretty fun, but with everyone so tired from the night before and drinking on top of that, I think the guy explaining the rules was getting annoyed having to explain the same thing over and over. I know I woulda been.
After the typhoon was over I absolutely had to get home or would die of exhaustion so sometime around 3am I started saying bye. People were exchanging contact info and inviting each other to come for a visit to where they live. Everyone was so great and I'd love to see them again, but I already know that the likelihood of me making a trip out to where they live isn't very high, so I just sat on the side like an antisocial hermit waiting for all the number-exchanging to get done. Does this make me an unfriendly bastard? I guess if there were people a bit closer to me and it was more convenient to visit I'd totally try to get in touch and hang out, but anything more than a 3-hour drive is just too far. I do have to say though that there were a few I'd love to get to know better and wish lived in Oita.

I imagine everyone else is making their way back home right now. And here I am tired as hell even after a night's sleep in my own apartment. So glad today is a national holiday.

Thank you presents

I thought of something else I really like about Japan. Presents. Today Hiromi gave me a little yellow trash can with a happy face on it because I went to her concert last week. I love it when people give presents to say thank you.

Last week I got a package with all kinds of teas and at the beginning of summer a box full of cheeses and another one with three tins of cookies. They were from parents of students to say thanks for teaching their kids. People here are so lovely!

I still haven't figured out on what occasions it's appropriate to give presents to people; there are so many!

Summer has officially ended

For a lot of people, the end of summer means the start of school, the closing of local beaches, and no more summer festivals. But for me, the end of summer occurs when the last of my kabutomushi beetles dies. He passed away this weekend. I found him upside-down and unmoving.

They generally live until the end of August, but my last beetle survived well into September, may he rest in peace.
The larvae born in early summer are getting rather big so I transferred them into uncovered garbage cans instead of paying for proper beetle aquariums. I don't have the exact number but I estimate somewhere around 50 larvae, about half of which will pupate into beetles next summer. Right now they're as long as my middle finger and as thick as my thumb.Here's a better picture where you can kind of see their cool orange heads and pincers. I keep 'em in the entrance hall of my apartment. Sometimes they burrow out and rest on top of the dirt, waiting for me to come home.

I love Japan

One of the best parts about Japan is it's so SAFE. On the main part of the busiest street in Oita this guy was passed out with his phone resting on his ear, obviously in the middle of talking with somebody when he lost consciousness. If this were anywhere else, he'd have been robbed of everything worth taking.

On the same night I walked past people taking naps by the coin lockers of the train station, in the covered mall, and in the middle of the bar district. Ya gotta love Japan.

This past Saturday was one of those rare nights I went out drinking in Oita City. Cool Bananas was having a Traffic Light party that seemed worth checking out and a friend offered to let me stay at her house so it was all set! What's a Traffic Light party? Wearing green means you're looking, yellow means great if something turns up but not really looking, and red means "no thanks". So of course I wore green.

There was such potential for disaster. After a three-year relationship my ex and I broke up a few months ago. And who did I see as soon as I walked in? I got a tug on my arm leading me outside and a plea to pretend like we don't know each other. It wasn't hard to figure out the new boyfriend was there, too. So we stayed away from each other and stuck to opposite sides of the club.

I ran into all kinds of people I hadn't seen in ages. Someone gave me a strong hug from behind that lifted me off the ground, and when I turned around it was my old roommate! I didn't have a place to live when I first moved to Japan and had to live with a Korean guy for a few months. I assumed he'd moved back to Korea after all these years but he's still here and got a job in Beppu!

During a break from dancing I ended up next to a girl and thought, "Her name is Naomi and we haven't seen each other in five years. But how do I know her?" She recognized me and we were both shocked to suddenly see each other after all this time, but I still haven't figured out how we know each other. I didn't have the nerve to just come out and say I don't remember a thing about her.

Sometime around 4am I was introduced to a guy who started complaining about the relationship he's in. He's dating someone Japanese and apparently they're going through all kinds of cultural differences and constantly fighting. After hearing a few stories I could totally relate to everything he said. Then it occurred to me, this is the new boyfriend! Well wouldn't you know it turns out they'd been dating for a year and a half. Which means that for half of the time we were together, I was being cheated on. Which I kind of already figured and for my own sense of well-being it was finally nice to have proof.

It did cross my mind to go ahead and say all kinds of terrible things to ruin their relationship, but that would just be spiteful and mean. So I just let it go. Things are over and done with and no business of mine anymore.

It was a good night. Saw old friends, got some sense of closure, felt great dancing. What a nice weekend.

Never too old! Never!

Lately I feel like everyone around me talks about how old they're getting. They can't do this or that because they're getting old. That they just don't have the energy to go out dancing like they used to. Used to? They make it sound like a couple years is a whole generation ago. We aren't rolling ourselves around in wheelchairs, people! Age is just a number! The rest is all in your head.

Now Hiromi here is proof that age means nothing. She spends her days quietly filing papers in a law office. But on weekends, she hops around live-houses and keeps me up to date on all the cool up-and-coming bands. Then a few months ago she decided that Korean lessons weren't doing it for her anymore and decided to take up the electric guitar (aside from her weekly kickboxing lessons). Let's be a Hiromi!

The guy she studies with had all his students group together into bands and they put on a concert last weekend. It was pretty good! Amazing how she started from scratch and got good enough to play three songs on stage. Proof that we're never too old to learn new tricks. Of course she had her eyes on the guitar the whole time and was so nervous she felt like barfing, but what a great effort! And the guts to perform when all the other bands were made of high school kids.

One of the bands she likes is coming to Oita in December so I looked them up on You-Tube and found a few videos. They're good! Got the kind of sound I love. It's still kinda early but will see if I can reserve myself a ticket. Here are some videos . . .

I like this one a lot. The band's called Elle Garden and I think the lead singer used to live in San Francisco. In the last week I've listened to this song about 80 times I like it that much.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JBGfyKqOOcs

This one gets played on MTV but I can't seem to make much sense of the lyrics.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=e4OoVZcvJgk

Kanchan's house in progress

A couple weeks ago we went down to visit Kanchan's new "project". A small hotel never got finished and Kanchan decided to turn it into his home. For the time being it has no windows and looks more like an abandoned crackhouse than a partly finished hotel, but he's working on it. This is just half of the building and each room has its own parking space underneath.

None of us had been here before and didn't know what to expect. If we had brought better shoes apparently we could have gone hiking up the stream a ways to another pool.
Just the same, the little waterfall next to the building was fantastic! So nice on a hot summer day. We made boats out of leaves and tried floating them down the stream. Every single one instantly plummeted to the bottom.

John had a go at the drums while the rest of us frolicked in the woods and danced in the river to the beats coming from the building. For now the room with all the band equipment is the only one with proper windows and lighting.



And this little critter followed us around everywhere (the cat, not the creature holding him). Kanchan didn't really want him, but got attached after Tango stuck around for while. He's just so friendly how could you not like him!




The building's just off the road and feels so remote. Can't wait to have some nice barbecue's out there! But this time we had to head back once the thunder and lightening started. In a second we were faced with a sudden downpour.

Cheap fish with short lives

I heard another story that made me think, "Only in Japan." I was talking with someone who bought some cheap goldfish. They died a few days later. He went back to the shop and asked why they all died so soon, and the shopkeeper explained that these fish are supposed to die after a couple of days. Huh? And why would you sell fish that die after a couple days? The answer: to teach children about death.

Naturally the next question was, "Why would you sell these fish to me?" The shopkeeper replied, "I thought you needed to learn about death, too."

Thankfully I have never had this experience of being sold fish that were meant to die. All my fish died from poor water conditions and from eating each other. Here are some pics of my dear ones that have passed on before their time.

My expensive blue and beautiful. He turned out to be a bully and had to be dealt with. To my dismay, the smaller tank I transferred him to had poor filtration and he didn't make it.


I don't know why but Apple's shell got thinner and thinner until he had nothing left to live in.
African Aphyosemion - a $60 birthday present. I didn't notice the filter had stopped up and ammonium nitrite levels skyrocketed. He got a bacterial infection and puffed up like a balloon. By the time he saw medical treatment, it was too late.
My lovely albino medaka . . . One night I woke up to a frantic splashing occurring in the tank. The Aphyosemion had one halfway in his mouth and they were thrashing in unison. The few survivors were promptly separated.


Golden loaches. They were scared of the other fish and wouldn't come up to eat. Poor things died of starvation.



Sadly, I have no photographical record of the many others that are no longer with us. And what happens after they pass on? Some make their way underground via toilet. Others head for cremation mixed in with the "burnable garbage." When I was a kid, we turned them into dried fish mummies and put them in a plastic ziploc bag. We had a nice collection of dried corpses. Until the cat ate them.

Concert in the middle of nowhere

Malcolm's been playing in a band called Baobab for the last couple years, and today was their last gig as a trio. It's hard to believe he'll be moving back to New Zealand and we'll likely never meet again (Malcolm's on the drums in the middle).

The other two members - Mirai and Maika (brother and sister) live out in the middle of nowhere on a hill surrounded by rice fields, a really good venue for concerts. Their music is a relaxing mix of violin, guitar, and percussion, and fits so well outdoors with all the greenery. Kind of like Irish folk songs with Japanese lyrics. Here's a pic of the surrounding rice fields. What a beautiful place!

When I showed up one of my favorite high school students (in the red) came up to say hey. I was like, "What are you doing here???" She simply replied, "I live here." Huh? It turns out Mirai and Maika are her brother and sister. I had no idea she commuted to school every morning from such a rural place! She was pretty busy the whole time dishing out curry, selling cookies, and making drinks.

I've known Midori (on the left) practically the entire time I've been in Japan and the strange thing is we've never exchanged phone numbers until now. She's one of the few people around that can speak Italian. Unfortunately her teacher moved back to Italy and she's in search of a new one, so if you're Italian and living in Oita, I know someone who'd love to meet you.

I love these guys. They live miles away but always come to hang out. I've never met brothers that were so inseparable. Hiro (up front) just got a mohawk and is the only person I know that wears traditional wooden clogs wherever he goes. Yusuke's a fireman in the town where they live. Two cool guys, and it's a wonder they're single.

Baobab will go on without him, but it'll never be the same without Malcolm in the middle.

The Japanese are kinky.

Yes, I'm sure you already know about Japanese comic porn and slave clubs and hostess bars. But I heard about something new today!

Some friends were talking about something called "NyoTaiMori" which is sashimi (slices of raw fish) being served in a restaurant. Pretty normal, right? Except instead of the sashimi being served on a platter, they're served on a woman lying on the table. Supposedly this was pretty popular in big cities a few years back, but one friend was talking about how her brother works in a sushi restaurant and this was actually ordered, so that's how they served it. Which means they have women on-call to do that sort of thing?
The girl on the right with sunglasses on her head is the one who started talking about NyoTaiMori. She's constantly increasing my vocabulary of naughty Japanese.

The one behind her has the brother that serves sashimi. I haven't met her brother yet, but when I do, you can be sure about me getting all the details on this sushi-on-a-lady thing.

My pets

Last night while I was watching TV, something crashed into my living room window. I opened the sliding glass door, and a rhinoceros beetle was turned upside-down. I flipped him over and was faced with a dilemma: Do I bring him in and add him to the aquarium with my other rhinoceros beetles? Hmm . . . he might have mites clinging to his legs and I didn't want them spreading to the beetles I've been so carefully raising for the last three years, so I just put some food out which he enjoyed. Here's a picture of him snacking on the beetle jelly I placed in the hanging planter outside my window.

I'm so lucky. Downtown at the pet store these little critters sell for $5 each, and here they are flying into my living room window! So you're probably wondering, why on earth would I start raising beetles?

A few years ago a friend was talking about how he used to love them as a kid and carried a net and bug-carrying case wherever he went. After reminiscing about how much he loved them, he wanted to go into the forest to go looking for some (at 4am, I might add. Yes, this was unbelievable to me, too, but I went along). A few days after we caught some wild ones, I realized that they're flying around my neighborhood, too. In fact, one night I heard something bumping against the window and when I opened it, a beetle flew in! Anyhow those first beetles laid eggs, I raised the larvae, and a good number of the babies pupated into adult beetles. Then those beetles laid eggs, I raised the larvae, and so on and so forth. For the last three years. You know, I used to think they were pretty scary with their spiny legs and beady eyes, but after watching over them for a while they've become like any other pet.

I just peeked outside to check on the beetle jelly that I left out last night, and he's back! He remembered me. And he brought a friend with him.

IQ Tests

I don't understand the purpose of IQ tests. There are so many different ways of thinking so how can you measure intelligence and turn it into a number? And what good would it serve to take one?

Still, I'd always wondered how I'd do. But what if I got a low score? I mean, I know taking these kinds of tests don't amount to anything and besides, they only test one particular way of thinking, but what if it told me that I'm way below average? So I'd always been too scared to take one. Until last week. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I wasn't thinking at all. I came across an on-line IQ test and found myself taking it.

http://iqtest.com
I know that IQ tests differ and results vary depending on what kinds of questions are on it, but I did pretty well on this one. I scored 140 which supposedly is within the top 2% of the population (just a few points short of Genius level). Go me!!!

I mentioned this score to a friend and she felt like taking it, too, but the one I took was meant for native English speakers, so she got on-line and found one that doesn't rely on language ability whatsoever.
http://www.unnmei.com/iq.html
What a surprise when she scored on the lower end of average intelligence -- 90. I consider her pretty smart, so this score proves that these kinds of tests can't possibly be accurate. I tried this one, too, and scored the exact same as before -- 140.

http://www.allthetests.com/tests/iq-test.php3
On this one I scored 141, which supposedly is "Brilliant".

I got lucky in having taken three tests that happened to test a way of thinking that I would score well on. I don't plan on taking any more. What if the next one scores low?

Earthquakes

There haven't been any noteworthy earthquakes around here for the last few years, but we had a nice one last week. I woke up at 5am with the bed banging against the wall and the entire apartment creaking. The light fixture was swinging back and forth and I thought to myself, "This is a flimsy apartment made of wood and I live on the first floor. If everything comes crashing down on me, I haven't got a chance." But instead of running out the door, I stayed in bed and waited for the shaking to stop. And fell right back asleep when it did.

Later after getting out of bed I checked the news and discovered that the earthquake felt so big because the epicenter was right here in Oita! They're usually far away and we only get a level 1 or 2 tremor around here, but this one was a 5 and lasted for about 15 seconds. Felt like a lot longer though.

Out of curiosity I just checked the national earthquake information site and it looks like there are minor earthquakes on the island almost everyday. I wonder if that means another big one's coming up.

1500m

It's been about two years since I'd been to the city pool and for a while now I've been thinking that it's about time to get back into shape, and I FINALLY got around to going for a swim last week. Surprisingly the lady at the front desk remembered me even though we'd never spoken. When she looked up and saw me, she greeted me with a "Long time no see!" I said that yup, it's been about two years and she seemed pretty surprised herself. She replied with a bewildered "Has it been that long?"

I went to the pool again today, and a different lady was at the front desk. Again I was greeted with a "Long time no see!" And when I mentioned that it's been about two years, the same response . . . "Has it been that long?" I wonder if it's some kind of greeting they say to all the customers.

After a two year hiatus I expected to be totally weak and practically drowning after a couple laps. Astonishingly both times I swam my usual 1500 meters without even going short of breath! Go me!

Hamsters

Today I went with a friend to the new Home Center downtown. There was a fantastic petland full of cute dogs and bunnies and fish and parakeets and guinea pigs and beetles and HAMSTERS.

They were absolutely adorable! The sign said not to put your hand in because they bite, but the lady working there didn't say anything when she saw me put my hand into the first hamster aquarium, so we went ahead and played with practically every hamster in the place. Some didn't seem to notice when we touched them, but this fat gray one turned its head around and glared at us, seeming to say "Leave me alone! Can't you see I'm busy burrowing??" It glared every time we touched it. If it weren't 3o bucks, I would have bought it on the spot. We must have spent more than an hour playing with hamsters.

I want a hamster. No, not one hamster. I want a whole bunch of hamsters. They're so cute!

But after asking the lady working about how many babies they pop out, it got a little scary. Apparently 2 hamsters can have about 30 babies a year. So in a few years, how many hamsters does that make?

Year One - 30 hamsters. Let's say 15 girls and 15 boys, and the next year they all have babies, too. And just for simplicity's sake, let's say the parents die after a year.

Year Two - 450 hamsters. Now that's a lot of hamsters in just a couple years. A few aquariums filled to the brim with hamsters?

Year Three - 6750 hamsters. I might need to convert one room into a hamster playroom.

Year Four - 101,250 hamsters. Not only have we grown way past infestation level, but the previous hamsters would be dying off and I'd need a shovel to pile them up in the backyard for burning.

Holy cow. Perhaps I don't want hamsters.

The photo

Just got a call from the Fukuoka Consulate saying the photos were too small. I got them done at a passport photo booth, but apparently the Japanese passport photo size is 0.5cm smaller than the American one. Hmm . . . wonder where I can get bigger photos done in a jiff . . .

Passport issues.

My passport expires in two weeks.

I filled out the passport renewal documents, paid a hundred bucks for a money order of $67 US dollars, assembled the self-addressed insured envelopes, attached two photos and sent the whole packet off to the Fukuoka Consulate today. Supposedly it then gets sent to America for processing, and I'm hoping that the whole procedure is completed within two weeks.

I had the forms filled out 3 weeks ago, so why did it take so long for me to get around to sending it all? Those darn pictures. I'm gonna have this passport for ten years, so of course I want a good picture. I waited until I could get a haircut. Then waited until I had time to get dressed up in a suit and make my way downtown to the photo booth. I figured a suit looks more professional, and less likely to get questioned in the customs lines while travelling (my current passport with the photo from my long hair & eyebrow ring days caused worrisome delays in Cambodia). I spent $20 on photos and thought I looked kinda weird in all of them, so decided to ask around to see which photo looked best. It took several days to collect a nice sample of opinions.

Everyone liked the non-smiling serious face. Which I didn't. So in the end it didn't even matter if I asked what everyone thought or not, because I went with the photo that most people said they DIDN'T like. But I'm smiling big, and that's why I chose it.

Does the renewal get processed in time? Will my current passport expire and make me an illegal alien? Oh, the possibilities. Nothing to do but sit back and see what happens.

9 months of memories

Rolls of film were piling up waiting to be developed and I finally got around to it. 168 photos on high quality photo paper cost about a hundred bucks. Yikes!

Looking through all these photos made me realize that I take pictures of friends, places, and events, but never of myself. I'm getting older . . . my face is changing . . . my hair goes through different phases . . . fashion evolves. What did I look like a few years ago? I know I looked younger, but how?

Then I started thinking about the collection of photos I do have. None from my childhood; none from high school. It's like I never existed until I became an adult.

But I didn't intend to suddenly get all sentimental. I started writing just now because I thought it'd be nice to spice up this blog with some of the photos I just got back. So . . . here are a couple from the Hot Spring Festival held back in March. There was a parade, lots of food stalls, singing, dancing, and all kinds of events throughout the city. Mostly it was just fun being part of a big crowd and running into friendly faces.

I was surprised to find one of my favorite students part of a group of guys hauling a portable shrine down the road. Yes, I know it's bad to have favorites, but what can I say, some are just more likeable than others.

Something's growing!

A few weeks ago I planted hundreds of seeds and some bulbs in a range of planters and pots. Unfortunately it then rained for several days straight and nothing came up, so I assumed that they all drowned. But something's growing!

Two planters have haphazardly sprouted a bunch of little green stems, which look suspiciously like weeds. The planters sown with carrot seeds have sprouted shoots in tightly arranged clusters. A promising sign!

Half of the 26 marigolds have started growing, and the gladiolus pots have stems peeping out from the dirt. I am now officially a gardener.

Cute Furry Creature

This afternoon when I looked out my window there was a cute furry creature moving through the garden. It looked like a tan-colored ferret. So cute! Its fur looked so soft. I hope it comes back.

I think I'm turning Japanese

So I've been living in Japan for almost 6 years now, and at first I had a lot of native English-speaking friends to hang out with. But people go back to their home countries, and I've made little effort to make more foreign friends. It was kind of a conscious decision; I wanted to make more Japanese friends and improve my Japanese. I guess it worked. I feel confident in my speaking ability and feel very comfortable hanging out in completely Japanese social circles. It's even gotten to the point where my daily thoughts and even my dreams are totally in Japanese.

But last night I discovered a downside to this.

I went out with some friends to a restaurant-bar, the kind where everyone sits on the floor in a long row and talks to the few people around them. Some friends of friends had brought a couple of American guys that had just moved to Japan and they ended up sitting near me. I had no idea how to talk to them. My English was stuttery, I didn't know how to carry on a normal conversation, and I felt awkward when they didn't give expected responses. I felt socially inept. Is it really that easy to forget how to act around people from my native culture? I've grown so used to reading social cues from Japanese people and these two Americans caught me off guard.

So I moved away from them and kept myself among a group of Japanese guys that I'd met once. It was relaxing. Entertaining. Non-confrontational. I could overhear the American guys talking about fraternities and trying to explain what they're all about. If there was a chance of me giving it another go at conversation with them, that turned me off. I moved even further from them and immersed myself in conversations that I used to find boring, but somehow came to love. What Chinese characters do you use to write your name? What foods do you like? What is it like growing up in the countryside?

Talking with the American guys made me feel uncomfortable, inadequate, on-edge. I didn't know how to read their facial expressions to tell me how to move forward with the conversation. Were they even interested in what I had to say? How do I know if they're listening if they don't encourage me to continue speaking with polite nods and questions? I didn't interact with them again for the rest of the night, until they stood up to leave and I waved goodbye.

But on a completely different note, I spent the night talking with a hot firefighter and was impressed with his taut biceps and chest muscles. He let me touch them.

I know Japanese!

Sure, anybody can say that they know Japanese, but I have proof!

Last December I took the highest level of the Japanese Proficiency Test and the result finally came in the mail . . . I passed!!!! Woo-hoo!!!!

To tell the truth there was a pretty good chance of me failing, considering I haven't studied for the last few years and have only been picking up spoken Japanese. And this showed on the test . . . the Listening Section turned out fantastic. Reading/Grammar was so-so. Writing/Vocabulary absolutely sucked. I'm surprised they didn't fail me for having such a low score on that part.

The test is only given once a year, and at specified locations throughout Japan. On this entire island (southern island of Kyushu) only two cities were designated, and one of them happened to be Beppu (population 123,003 in December 2005). In fact the test site was so close to my house that I walked there in the morning. Lucky me!

Valentine's Day is for me!

Today is Valentine's Day! And in Japan that means girls give chocolate to boys. I got lots of yummy chocolates! And not just any chocolate. For this one week a year, you can find the good stuff in department stores. Note to self: next year have a party on Valentine's Day, and invite all the girls I know.

Must pace myself. At this rate I'll be diabetic by morning.