wooZ is upside down...

Good news!

2009-11-06T18:55:00.002+09:00

After a long time in the making, I finally finished my latest film.

Actually, it only took two days to make the whole thing, what took long was getting an open weekend to film it on. Unfortunately, I cannot post it yet, I'm waiting to see if it will make the top 10 and be shown in the film festival. I sure hope it does, it's actually well made for a change. It's silly and has no point, but then when have any of my little films had a point?

Keep your fingers crossed! If it is selected to be shown on Kochi's Film Festival then I won't post it until the end of the month, if it's not selected than it gets on here faster.

For more information go here, it was made for this: Chobitto Japan!

The Four Jacks' Story

2009-10-31T09:53:00.003+09:00

This story was written by four of my junior high school students, in a very small school. They wrote it in Japanese, and had the teacher help them translate it, then they memorized it, and performed it for the rest of the school. I laughed so hard, it was awesome. So here it is.

It starts off with the four students, two boys and two girls, lining up on the stage to introduce themselves.

"I'm Jack Sparrow." Says the first boy.

"I'm Jack Bauer." Says the second smaller boy.

The first girl introduces herself as, "I'm Jack-o-Lantern."

and the last girl shyly states, "I'm Michael Jackson." The audience at this point is already laughing quite well.

They set up the stage, Jack Bauer sits on a chair with a corded phone in front of him. Jack Sparrow is behind the audience, and the other two are hiding off stage.

Act 1

Ring, Ring.

Jack Bauer: Hello, This is JAck BAuer.

Jack Sparrow: [while shaking uncontrollably, and with a very high pitched voice] Hello Jack...I will see you tonight. At the Halloween party...

Jack Bauer: Halloween panty?!

Jack Sparrow: No, no. Party! See you there. [and hangs up].

Jack Bauer: Hello? Hello?! Who is this?! Hello?

Act 2

It begins with Jack-o-Lantern and Michael Jackson facing off on stage.

Jack-o-Lantern: [with a very nice American accent] Wow! Your costume is great! Are you Michael Jackson?

Michael Jackson: Yes, I am. What are you?

Jack-o-Lantern: I am [pulls out a pumpkin carving] Jack-o-Lantern! Do you want to play bobbing for apples?

Michael Jackson: Yes, of course.

They bring out a tub filled with water that has mini fake apples in it. And they stand across from each other with the tub in between them.

Jack-o-Lantern: You. [as in, you go first]

Michael Jackson: No, you.

Jack-o-Lantern: No, you!

Michael Jackson: You!

Jack-o-Lantern: You!

in the mean time Jack Sparrow walks in to the party, he is wearing a coat, and is suspiciously holding his hand inside it, like hiding something. Jack-o-Lantern and Michael Jackson spot him and invite him over.

Jack-o-Lantern: You there, do you want to play bobbing for apples?

Jack Sparrow: Me? No, no.

Michael Jackson: Yes, come on. [as she drags him over to the tub]

Jack Sparrow: Oh, ok.

Jack sparrow attempts to bob for apples while still holding on to whatever it is he has in his coat, unfortunately, because the apples are so small, he ends up snorting a bunch of water and starts to cough in the back corner of the stage, while everyone laughs, and Jack-o-Lantern and Michael Jackson, start to argue again as to who is next.

Michael Jackson: You!

Jack-o-Lantern: You!

Jack Sparrow: *cough cough cough*

Michael Jackson: You!

Jack-o-Lantern: Ok.

Finally, Jack-o-Lantern starts to bob for apples, but she does the same thing as Jack Sparrow and snorts a healthy amount of water, keep in mind that's not part of the play. But as they say, the play must go on...

Jack-o-Lantern:" *cough cough* You! *cough cough*

Michael Jackson: No! [the girl does not want to get wet, or snort water, so she decides she just ain't gonna do it!]

Jack-o-Lantern: YOU! [like, "WTF?! I did it, you do it!"]

Michael Jackson: NO!

Jack-o-Lantern: YOU!! YOU!!

Michael Jackson finally gives up and mimes bobbing for apples, to the displeasure of Jack-o-Lantern, and the audience.

Jack-o-Lantern: No, no! You!

after another round of "no" and "you" Michael Jackson again attempts to mime bobbing for apples, but Jack-o-Lantern forces her face all the way down to the water. And after wasting all this time, the play continues. Jack Bauer has made it to the panty...err party.

Jack Bauer: [walks up to Michael Jackson and Jack-o-Lantern showing his police badge, while Jack Sparrow makes himself inconspicuous] Have you seen a strange man?

Jack-o-Lantern: No, I haven't.

Michael Jackson: No, I haven't.

Jack Bauer: You, are you enjoying the Halloween party?

Jack Sparrow: Of course!

Jack Bauer: What's that you got there? [reaches for the Jack Sparrow's coat]

Jack Sparrow: [Pulls out a Desert Eagle gun, and aims at the other Jacks, who have gathered on one side of the stage]. Freeze!

He then points the gun at the audience, "freeze!" and continues to yell freeze until everyone has their hands up.

Jack Bauer: What do you want?

Jack Sparrow: I want money.

Jack Bauer: How much money?

Jack Sparrow: I want nihyaku niyu en.

Jack Bauer, Jack-o-Lantern, Michael Jackson: What?!

Jack Sparrow: Nihyaku niyu en [220 yen].

Jack Bauer: What for?!

Jack Sparrow: I want coffee!

Jack Bauer, Jack-o-Lantern, Michael Jackson: You're kidding!!

The end.

My good deed of the day.

2009-10-14T13:51:00.003+09:00

Every once in a while I have to be useful here in Japan, and that sometimes is simple things like making phone calls in Japanese for other people, finding directions, and such things.

But there are some that are even more rewarding for me, this are the ones I really look forward to. Not only because I can help, and make some one's day better, but because they crack me up for days afterwards. ;)

And it's even better yet when I don't even have to type it myself! Here is one of the new local ALTs recap of the story of her apartment, bugs, and my rescue efforts, it's worth reading, and rightly tittled "Japan Fail." Even the comments are a hoot.

Sex, Love, and Legal Rights.

2009-10-13T18:13:00.004+09:00

I had a really interesting dream during a short nap that I was in dire need of a few days ago. In this dream, I was a few years older, mid to late 30s I think, and I was also working in my chosen career of psychologist/therapist that also doubled as a university professor of psychology, in Texas of all places. I’ve never been in Texas for a long enough visit, to actually be able to say “I have been to Texas.”

This is a bit long, you've been warned ;)

As to where the dream content came from, well part of it was thinking about my deceased gay brother and his rights, plus that other post I wrote a few days ago. What he wanted to accomplish in life, and wondering if he ever would want marriage or children. Another part of it is probably from a discussion that I read in a yahoo group, about Texas and some marriage laws.

Anyway, in this dream, I was having a family dinner with people that were not actually my family. I think I was visiting a family friend, in a totally made-up environment, since I didn’t actually know anyone. In the dream, I was quite comfortable around those present, and quite eloquent in regards to my field of practice. The dream was a very philosophical and all-encompassing type of dream. The timeline was around a Thanksgiving dinner, and I was pulled into a family debate.

Since it probably will be relevant to the explanations that came about this dream, I will give some background on the family in the dream. The family I was visiting was kind of huge, the mother and father, at least four older offspring with families of their own, and the kids of those offspring, so something like 3 generations present. One of the older offspring was gay, the daughter of another was also gay, and a third offspring was totally against any sort of same sex relationship regardless of the fact that his sister was married to a woman, who was also present. Can we say a bit convoluted?

The debate centered on three main points: love, sex, and legal rights. Shorty after the debate started I realized this was actually a dream, so in a way it was a semi-conscious dream, but I let it run its course on its own without directing it, it’s a very weird mental sensation. Like filming a movie that you have no idea where it’s going.

Somehow, I was debating with the young man that was against same sex relationships, while the rest of said family looked on, but kept their comments to themselves. For every point he made, I made a rather nice counterpoint, for every counterpoint I made, he would say something that I can only be described as close-minded.

Here’s what came about from the dream, or at least the bits that I can remember.

On a logical plane, who am I to tell another individual what they can or can’t do? So long as it doesn’t hurt another person it’s really none of my business. Who am I to deny someone else their happiness? I would be really pissed off if someone tried to deny me something that is a right to most everyone else. For example, we all have a right to freedom, who am I to enslave another and say that it is OK? Who am I to say who another person can or can’t love? Before it was interracial relationships that were considered wrong, is there really much difference in saying “you cannot love a black man/woman” and “you cannot love another man/woman?” Lastly, my personal favorite, do onto others as you would want them to do to you. If I deny you a right, then it is because I don’t have that right either.

The counter argument from the young man was rather weak, something along the lines of, “but it’s just not right!” So I switched gears and somehow entered the realm of evolution and biology, sort of. Interesting since it’s not one of my more thoroughly researched subjects, though I do remember my class of evolutionary psychology. Anyway, continuing, as to whether this makes sense or not I do not know, like I said this came from my dream. I had explained the evolutionary importance of sex, mainly as a means of reproduction. In this way, sex and love are two different things. Love just wasn’t in this picture of sex and reproduction. The purpose of sex was purely as a means to an end, and propagation of a species, human or otherwise.

In more modern terms, still keeping sex separate from love, sex became a tool not only in reproduction, but in most areas of life. Sex can be used as a tool for control, power, advancement, recreation, entertainment, and other things; I remember listing about 15 different uses for it, I just can’t remember what it was I said. Now add love to the mix of sex, in this case sex is a tool used to express how one feels, it is a tool used to convey love, let’s go ahead and call it making love instead of having sex.

If we were to argue that sex was only for the sake of reproduction, then homosexual encounters of it would have no actual purpose, if under any other use of sex – not counting love yet – then it could have purpose. If we are talking about sex as making love, as a physical expression of love, then again its purpose is valid. In this case, gender would be irrelevant. Consider a car, it has its purpose of transporting you somewhere. If you decided to take a Sunday ride just for fun, then the car is not being used for its original purpose of just transporting you, it has now become a means of entertainment. The new purpose of the car, does not devalue the original purpose of said car, nor does it mean that the new use of the car is wrong. In fact, the new purpose of the car has actually enhanced the value of the car. In the same way, the act of making love has enhanced the value of sex. And just as any person capable of driving the car, can drive the car as transportation or entertainment; anyone capable of the act of sex can use it for any of its many purposes; again both regardless of gender.

Anyway, before I get too repetitive here, the young man brought up a religious counter argument to my evolutionary delving. The bible says it’s wrong, God says it’s wrong, you will burn in hell, etc, etc. In most of the dream, I was really fuzzy about what the young man was saying, everything he said was rather short.

Ok, so the bible, that was written, and rewritten by humans, then translated from ancient languages, and then rewritten and combined, expanded, and whatnot in yet more recent languages, is telling us that same sex relationships are wrong. Would it be a fair assumption to say that perhaps it was at some point mistranslated, copied wrong, or even just misunderstood? And not only in regards to same sex relationships I mean. That is a bit of a weak argument coming from me though, so instead I went for what little I remembered from the bible.

God is love. God made us in his or her image. Point number two, “his or her image.” No one can say that God is a guy, or a girl, or if God has a gender at all. I would say God is genderless, but then having made us in his or her image would not have given us gender. So just for the fun of it, let’s say God was actually two people, two people that loved each other very much, and decided to one day have children –in the form of humanity - so that they could share that love with them, and let them grow into their own people that could in turn love other people, and have children of their own to share their love with, and so on. So they made us, and loved us, and let us be; kind of just watched us become who we are, maybe a little guidance here and there, but just left us to learn on our own, and then let us go; kind of like what parents do, nurture and guide us into adulthood then let us be on our own. So God did that, and he/she loves us all. So if God can love everyone equally regardless of their gender, and God is love, why can’t humans – who were made in his/her image- love equally regardless of gender? If God made us to love one another and coexist together in peace – we still working on that one- then why is it wrong to love one another when it is same sex?

Let’s kick it up a notch. If God is love, then who or what is hate? The devil? So if we hate people that love others [because they love someone of the same sex], then who are we supporting here, God or the devil?

Throughout all this, the rest of the family was kind of just nodding their heads, or following our debate as if it were a ping-pong match. I also went into reason as to why I would go to hell anyway, and it had absolutely nothing to do with sex. Cursing God out and denying of his existence probably is more of a sin anyway. But you know something? Even if I don’t believe in him/her he still loves me, or so I’ve been told. So why would God not love me for loving someone else?

Totally randomly, at the end I added that there are a number of other species who engage in homosexual acts (today, I found an article that put the number roughly at 450 species). So it cannot really be considered solely a human deviant behavior, when other species readily engage in it. How would the bible or a religious point of view explain that? How does biology explain that actually…?

It was around this point in the debate that I realized in real life that I was really hungry, and thus brought this highly engaging dream to an end. I also realized that had this kept going it probably would have gotten into a debate about same sex parenting as well.

For a loved one.

2009-10-09T15:11:00.002+09:00

Been lazily MIA, despite a lot of interesting stuff actually happening. Will update sooner or later. For today, two things.

One is about the anniversary of the brother's death, and the other will follow in the next post. Which is rather long, so maybe tomorrow for that.

Today, being the anniversary of Daniel's death, I wanted to take out a moment to come closer to understanding him, and remember him. Though I do spare a lot of moments in each given day to thinking about him and the rest of my family, today is only of him. The questions that I wanted to ask him, and possibilities for his life had he been alive, and basically a bunch of things that just can't be now. I still like to think about these possibilities.

He was 25 when he died. I am 25 now, he would be turning 28 next month. Had he turned his life around, what would he have done? Would he have become a photographer? He was really good at that, and he enjoyed doing it. He was also a really good sales person, he could probably get you to buy something totally useless and convince you that you really did need it. He was a smooth talker, and could charm his way through certain types of situations.

Had he not become involved with drugs and alcohol, would he have gone back to university and studied business? Would he have traveled more of the world? Was he even interested in seeing more of the world?

Would he have fought for his rights as a gay man? I remember I asked him once what he thought about gay marriage, I was totally surprised when he said he didn't care either way. That got us into quite a bit of a debate, "how could you not care?!!! What if you find some guy you want to marry some day, but can't?!" It still doesn't make sense to me that he wouldn't care. Even if he never wanted to get married, why would you not care being denied something like that?

I wonder if he ever would have found his other half? Gotten married? Did he want kids? Would he have adopted? Would he have been a good father?

Despite everything, he was a good brother, and a good friend. He made a lot of mistakes and bad choices. We offered all the help and support that we could. But I discovered that no matter how much you want to help someone, if they don't want to be helped, if they don't want to better themselves, if they believe they can't help themselves, or if they don't even know there is anything wrong, then you cannot help them. You cannot help someone that doesn't want your help. You can force them, you can deny them certain things, you can disown them, you can do a host of things, but if they don't want to change, then they won't. Like that whole thing of leading a horse to water...

All I could do was try to make him see that he did indeed need help, and needed to change his life. I tried to show him ways to go about it, I think we all did. I was patient about it, but I always feared that one day we would get a phone call that said he was shot dead or something. Not sure I would have preferred that. I would have preferred for him not to have suffered much on his way out, in a way that is what happened, he was only in the hospital for two weeks.

I have a lot of good memories of him, and I have a lot of bad memories of him, but that's normal for most people I know ;)

I remember all those after school days we would spend terrorizing the other residents of the apartment complex. The group of us would always be playing chase games like manhunt, tag, hide and seek, or just practicing our pranks on the bicycle doing 'knock knock run run,' or even running away from the complex's security.

I remember driving him and his friend to a convenience store, where he got into an argument with the cashier. I believed him when he said he didn't steal anything, so I defended him. When we got out to the car he showed me his loot. I was supremely pissed off. I told him off for it. Part of it was just because he stole, part of it was because he lied and lied to me, and part of it was because he was too selfish to realize that had he been caught I would have been an accomplice.

Close to the end there, all I could do was offer an ear to listen to him. He would randomly call when he felt guilty for doing something, when he finally knew he needed to change but couldn't fathom how to do it, when he was scared of what his choices in the past led him to, the consequences of his action that lead to his illness, and ultimately his down fall. He only brought suspicions of having AIDS, but he did it in such a round about way that I had no idea that's what he was talking about until after he died. Hindsight can be a bitch.

Overall, what really hurts me now is that he died alone in the hospital. We weren't there. I wasn't there. What must that have felt like? I would have felt utterly abandoned, alone, not loved, uncared for, so many things and it feels like I'm piercing my own heart with a pen. If I could change anything from what happened, that is the one thing that I would change. I had said before that I couldn't have gotten over it had I seen him in his broken state, but that is not true, specially now that I think about it. I would want him to know that he was loved, and I would want him to know the importance of having him in my life. I loved him, I love him, and I will always love him. And in a way, though I didn't say it then, I know he felt it.

Today in this third year anniversary I've had a rather good day. I remembered a lot of funny things we used to do together, the mischief we accomplished, the fights we go into, our time in school, and in Dominican Republic, and so many other great things about him, that I cannot really be sad. I can only be glad that he is not suffering, and that he is at peace somewhere.

My new tattoo.

2009-09-21T14:38:00.002+09:00

Hellz yeah!

Where has the excitement gone?

2009-09-14T12:21:00.002+09:00

Nothing overly interesting to report. Did grape picking with the Boy Scouts, followed by a campfire cooking of curry and rice. I make a mean fire circle, stone thing. With help. We also swam in a really cold river, it felt frozen. Here comes autumn damn it!

Here, since there is nothing else to say.

LOL dog..?

2009-09-09T14:52:00.001+09:00

Year Two Review.

2009-08-31T13:08:00.000+09:00

I spent most of today going through my Japan entries on the blog. I didn't read them all, more just of a reminder of what kinds of things I've done since I've been here. It was quite an interesting mental trip there.

The first year I was all excited and surprised by a lot of what I saw, I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, even though my boss was a total dickhead. I remember a lot of things I learned that year that had nothing to do with Japanese culture or language, and everything to do with me. By the end of that first year, I was in a very good place.

In that second year things changed quite a bit. It was drastic, and though most of my posts were happy and not much different than the first year ones, I was having a really hard time adjusting. I knew that the only way to get over it was to keep doing the things I had to do, and to keep being social and participating in ALT events and such. It helped, but sometimes it would frustrate me more. One thing I didn't really put in very direct terms was my annoyance at my new people, after spending my entire first year with Tuk, and GiD, and Kiwi and how easily we had become friends, I kind of expected the second year to be similar in that regards just with different people.

How wrong I was. Close to the beginning of the second year I discovered, despite previous experiences, that I cannot possibly get along with everyone, no matter how patient I am, or how tolerant. Around the same time close to the end of that first year, and the beginning of the second I discovered the monumental gap between loving someone, and being in love with someone. I discovered how wonderful a feeling it is when being in love goes right, and how much you want to die when it doesn't go or goes wrong. And both of those situations being close together really made the first few months of my second year rather sucky.

So I "gaman" as they say here, I dealt with it and moved on. I learned yet more about myself and life in general this second year now that it's coming to an end. Including that falling in love bit, it takes a shit load of time for that feeling to go away, the good and the bad of it, and even now I just ignore it since there's nothing else to do for it. I have grown more patient, and more tolerant, and more moody, bitchy, and anti-social too as a result of coping with incompatible people. I actually didn't do half of the events available in the area due to that incompatibility. I changed, other people changed, things changed.

This second year taught me about love yet again. A kind of love that I would have thought to be different, that's actually the same thing. I fell in love yet again, I would have thought I learnt my lesson the first time, but there's no accounting for the heart, or the people you fall far. I did however, have the satisfaction of not falling as hard this time, but I wasn't sure how to react to this second time.

I have always believed that love is love and people are people, but I was still a bit surprised when I fell in love with a girl. But not so surprised that I would run away from it. I was happy for a while, things worked, but time was not on my side yet again. That too came to an end, and I learned that really what the JET Program is all about is learning to leave things you love behind, as much as it is about culture exchange and growth. First, you leave your country, your family, and your friends and come here to teach. Then every year you see friends and loved ones leave back to their home countries, and lastly when it's your time to leave you say goodbye to more friends and loved ones, and say goodbye to the life you built here for however long, and the family you made here. It's a tough lesson to learn, that's for sure.

On to the beginning of my third year. Now. So far I am really happy about the new people for this third year. I have a feeling they will make this last year here quite enjoyable and unforgettable. These are my kind of crazy people, very compatible, and totally hilarious. I will probably be really sad to leave them behind along with my Fuzzy Bunny (no, I don't have rabbits), but I have a full year to worry about that and now certainly is not the time. Now all I have to do is make sure my heart stays clear of any deep kinds of feelings, and I know I will survive the end of this year too. Looking forward to it!

Here comes the end.

2009-08-21T08:33:00.002+09:00

Actually, the end has come and gone, and the beginning is here again...

It's once again that time of year when I get all depressed about endings and new beginnings. That time of year where the ALT contracts ends and friends leave and new people come.

Last year it was devastating. I had no clue it was going to happen the way it did. After my three most constant companions left I was mildly depressed and anti-social for quite a few months afterwards. Even a trip to the States didn't fully help. Finally, in my winter depression I found some light in that cold, dark tunnel: the Genki Musical. Despite the cold and that damned two hour ride, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and even forged new connections that otherwise wouldn't have happened. After all, the west side is freaking far, far away.

But the cycle is making its rounds and it's right back in that crappy part where I will loose half of my friends. Well, technically not be in touch with them for a while or forever other than internet, and that alone is rather depressing. Some of you will say, "new people will come..." New people are great and all, but I don't replace my friends with new people, they have to make their own space. If I could just replace them this wouldn't be an issue. I guess third time of rebuilding networks is enough, three years is a very nice number for experiencing Japan, but after this it's time to move on. Time to start planning WTF I will do and where. Where is very important...

In other news...

2009-08-20T14:58:00.004+09:00

All my goals for this year are slowly unraveling... some of those goals came to be rather impromptu though. Here are the major ones, which I think are all the ones anyway:

I will be getting my tattoo (upper back, left side) on September 19th. It's a bit big, but I like it! It's about 10cm by 12.5cm, the tattoo guy is doing final design modification/customization so no picture of what it will look like yet.

I got my hands on a guitar and practice everyday, I got me some video lesson course as well, and so far so good, other than hand cramping from the awkward position.

I kind of exercise regularly. Gotta work on that one a bit there...

I will be buying a new digital SLR while getting my tattoo in Osaka (probably), and take classes from my wife (Facebook Wife), who is as close to a professional photographer as can be without being a professional photographer.

And I will be taking a trip to Australia in the winter holidays (which will be summer there), to visit friends and travel around.

Let's get this over with.

2009-08-20T14:37:00.002+09:00

So, yeah. I'm in super lazy mode. I can't say I haven't had time, because as you can see by the animation I posted a few days ago it simply isn't true. So on to the mother's trip summary.

As you saw, it had a very rocky start. The rest of the trip was very smooth as only trips can be, which is to say didn't go exactly as planned but it went. We traveled to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and my area Kochi. It was 10 days of travel from Tokyo to Hiroshima, and about 5 days in Kochi. Overall, awesome trip. Took lots of pictures, walked a thousand miles, enjoyed my time with the mother, and was very happy to return to my town after those first 10 days.

I was utterly sick of trains by then, as was the mother I suspect. Here are my impressions...

Tokyo: Too fucking big! Too noisy, too complicated, too everything! It was cool, but not cool enough for me to like it. We both loved the Tokyo Tower, it really shows you how freaking huge the place is. I could have done with less subway rides. New York is tiny compared to Tokyo, thus I can actually enjoy NY. While in Tokyo we visited the imperial palace (which was closed), all sorts of famous shopping streets, we went to the zoo, and saw perhaps 10% of all there is to see in Tokyo.

Kyoto: My least favorite place to visit during travel in Japan. Once you have seen one temple, you have really seen them all. But since the mother hadn't seen them I figured she should. She didn't seem too impressed with the shrines and temples, the highlight of Kyoto, but she thoroughly enjoyed shopping, which was true for the entire trip. I hate shopping... While here the two temples/shrines we visited were my favorite two, Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion), and Kyomizudera (Temple of Pure Water).

Osaka: My favorite city to visit in Japan, minus the shopping. A lot smaller and more maneuverable than Tokyo, and more high-tech and laid back than Kyoto. We went to it's famous aquarium and got to see two huge whale sharks among other things. We also rode the biggest Ferris wheel in the world, the view from up there was freaking amazing. Took us about 15 minutes to do a full revolution on it.

Hiroshima: The mother's favorite city to visit during the trip. A lot of WWII history here. We visited the A-Bomb Dome, which is the building that was almost directly underneath the epicenter of the explosion. We visited Peace Park and the museums there. Followed by a night of food, drinks, and finally karaoke.

Kochi: Talk about doing everything and anything. We did lunch with my office, fireworks and festivals, dinner with JETs and karaoke, watched acrobatic Chinese people, toured around town, and spent a day in Kochi city for another JET dinner and drinking gathering.

Of course, the end of the trip there I was super irritated. I had never spent 24/7 with the mother for two weeks, non-stop. Even when I lived with her, I had my space to retreat to, there was none of that this time. I think I was moody on several occasions, but believe when I say it was justified. It was time and money well spent though, made some really nice memory of just me and the mother, and gave her an opportunity to see parts of the world that she would otherwise not have.

This summary is the super cheap version of everything that went on, but really I can't be bothered to type up 20 pages worth of stuff. Writing it in a letter once is good enough for me.

And yet another video made at work...

2009-08-17T18:48:00.001+09:00

...I mean "NOT" made at work. Shhhh don't tell anyone.

Zoomy vs Japanese food, round 2!

2009-08-14T22:13:00.001+09:00

I think the facial expression I made in here are too funny... if only they were intentional =P

Is...Classic.

2009-08-12T22:48:00.002+09:00

MIA and Lazy for a bit longer. Forgiveness great ones...

In the meantime... My classic jump pic.

Is....

2009-08-04T21:13:00.002+09:00

Back home in Nakamura loving it!

No more trains, no more people bumbing into me. Finally, some peace and quiet =D I am such an inaka girl! More updates from the trip to come.

Today's impressions.

2009-07-27T22:14:00.001+09:00

Short post as I sit here enjoying dinner with the mother...

After all the train and subway travel I did today I feel positively like an ant! Like an ant in a tunnel. Following other ants. And then when it rains, and all the ants go running around like crazy, with umbrellas. What I haven't figured out yet is where the queen?

Murphey's Law...?

2009-07-26T08:27:00.001+09:00

(7-26) I apologize in advanced for typos etc, I'm typing this on my phone...

The mother's trip started out spectacularly, of course. There's something about being a Matos and being always late, and complicating things, and complicated things in general. I've been preparing this trip for her for over a month. Plus, I've called at least three times this week to make sure everything is in order. I even emailed the flight itinerary twice, made her print it out, and yet this happens... The mother's trip to Japan starts thus.

Saturday evening, after having dinner with Martin, we had a decision to make: go to the last West side sayonara party, or not go and stay home and relax. My decision was a selfish one. A close friend had left Japan that day and I was feeling a bit depressed about it. I had also been talking to Tuk about "what if's" and "maybe's" and "could be'" which also wasn't making me feel very good. That day I had also watched a movie called "Harimayabashi" which is about a foreigner in Japan, whose ALT son was killed in a car accident. The theme was mostly tragic and about regret. It was a well made movie, but very painful to watch. So, add to my Tuk and other friend depression the brother's death. I was feeling pretty low by that evening.

Dinner with Martin was a means to not be alone, and have a distraction from myself. We had several TMI conversations about sex, shaving, and something I'll call lipsmacking, which constituted the most jokes. By the end of dinner I was feeling better, but by no means ready to face another sayonara party mob. So we went back home instead, unbeknown to me at the time, it was a very lucky thing.

At 7pm my time (6am Florida time) I decided to call the mother to make sure all was well with trip planning. No answer. I figured that meant she was well on her way. I put it out of my mind for a while, but something didn't feel right, so I called again at 8pm (7am Fl). No answer again. I called the sister's number since she was visiting. She picks up the phone in a very hushed voice and says I should call back because everyone is sleeping...WTF!?

"What time is it?" I asked. She answers 7am. "What day is it?" I asked next. It get confusing at times this whole 13 hour time difference. Her response,"Saturday..." um...wasn't her flight today I thought.
"As in, Saturday the 25th?"
-"Yeah".
OMG."As in, Saturday, twentyfive!!??"
-"Yeah..."
"Dude! Her fucking flight is in an hour and a half!!" a definite sense of urgency took over my voice.
-"No, it's tomorrow..." She was still in sleeping mode by the way.
"No, it's now. Check the paper. She needs to leave NOW!" The hour trip to the airport could make or break the deal here. "Is she packed?" In the mean time, the sister woke up the mother, and thankfully she was packed.

Next thing I knew was the mother was on the phone panicking...
"Ay Dios mio! What do I do? What am I gonna do!!!???"
"You need to leave in the next five minutes and you should be able to make it."
-"But, what if I don't make it...I thought the flight was tomorrow!"

She hands the phone back to the sister, and all hell breaks loose at the house. I can picture it quite well in my mind because this is not the first time this has happened. In the mean time, I go over all sorts of back up plans with the sister and her husband, anything I can think of.

I was told the brother would take her to the airport. That was my one ray of hope, if he drove surely they would make it there in less than an hour. I know I've made it to Miami in 35 minutes, that was some serious speeding and absolutely no traffic.

Back in Japan, I was fucking pissed off and in need of some serious venting! Of which Martin was the recipient, thankfully. He lent me a listening ear to all my bitching, mostly about how many times I emailed the itinerary and discussed it with her, and how the sister started the blame game with me, "you should have called sooner. You should have called my phone." WTF! I shouln't have to call at all!

The only good thing I could think of was that skipping the party meant I was home to make the call and get everyone moving. But thankfully the mother made the flight and is inbound as I sit here typing. This was a very stressful way for me to start this trip, so I can only imagine how stressful it was for the mother.

If she had missed her flight it would have done all sorts of fuck-ups for my plan. Which, for a change, was carefully constructed. Usually, I just wing it and enjoy, but I don't think the mother would appreciate that.

First, if she had missed her flight it would have been either a crap load of money to fix her a new one, or a waste of almost 900 dollars in nonrefundable flight waste. Second, if she hadn't made it to Japan, I would still have to pay 700 dollars worth of hotels. It's the main reason I never book in advance to begin with. Basically missing that flight would have sucked!

Third, imagine for a second if you will, what it would be like to arrive to Tokyo after 9 hour of trains, getting to the airport, and then waiting forever for the person to show up. To then find out they weren't in the plane...where are they? what happened? I would probably loose my mind, and involve the police and whatnot. It's not funny at all...

Anyway, besides the rocky start, so far so good. I'm on my train, on time, and should arrive at Narita airport just as she lands. I would love to be there to see her speaking English to the Japanese people at immigration. Her with hes Spanish accent, and them with their Japanese accent, I don't think anyone would understand anything.

End first transmittion.

Rainbow Cloud.

2009-07-25T18:48:00.003+09:00

I got to this this lovely phenomenon on my way to Kochi city. It was random, and odd, and totally awesome.

Marathons and Camping

2009-07-23T15:34:00.005+09:00

Continuing on exactly where I left off...

Saturday morning found me with a bit of a hangover, which got progressively worse as the day went on. Isn't that kind of thing supposed to get better as time goes on?

The plan for the day was simple, kill time and enjoy! But that's the plan for just about everyday, so let's narrow it down. Martin and I drove to Kochi city with the hopes of watching the new Harry Potter movie, as such I invited Mitsukaiten to go with us as a going away gift. I think she convinced herself the day before while drunk to accept my invitation, because she too had a night of heavy drinking and watching a movie at noon is kinda early. I had to do the 2 hour drive before hand though!

I thought, considering how much had to be cut and rearranged, that the movie was well made. The effects were awesome, and D's death was almost as I envisioned it. A lot of important subplots were missing or only touched upon briefly, but still, well done.

The rest of the day didn't start until about 7pm, so we barged into Mitsukaiten's place and watched her pack, which was super depressing for both of us, but which I think was better than doing it on her own.

From there we drove to Sakawa town to start off the massive three day Stargate Marathon! Talk about debauchery and decadence! A full weekend spent, every minute, watching TV, eating, drinking, and a tiny bit of sleeping. Saturday night's kick-off was the Stargate movie, followed by selected stand alone episodes which were extremely amusing, especially when we ran our own commentary. I think the people present, the commentary, and the booze made the series more appealing that it normally would be.

We watched so many episodes back to back that we actually finished the list by Sunday night! So we watched "Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog" (an internet movie of sorts), and enjoyed a last evening of togetherness. Followed by Monday breakfast and a few other episodes of Stargate chosen on the spot. We said a round of goodbyes and drove to the city, for another round of goodbyes, this is after all the end of contract-year and a lot of my friends are leaving. Goodbyes suck by the way.

The drive back to Nakamura was uneventful, and for me a bit depressing, but we made it and started watching more TV, plus final plans for camping. That's right, after a whole weekend of vegging out, three of us went camping, in hopes of catching the eclipse on a mountain top.

As plans usually go, they don't go! We drove to the camping site on Tuesday, to discover a cloud filled sky, we set up our tent and other camping gear, and went off to climb Mount Sasayama. It was a 1k hike, in a thunderstorm! Kinda creepy, foggy and misty, and crab filled. It was still an enjoyable adventure, and it turned into a type of escort quest, like in WoW. We got to the top and picked up a swarm of flies that followed us all the way down the damn mountain. By the time I got back to my car I think I still had one following me.

The weather sucked all day, rained just about the whole time, with a miraculous clearing up that allowed us to cook dinner. But after that, it was all rain. We stayed inside the tent, that thankfully was entirely waterproof, we played scrabble and the Dominican Casino game with a pack of cards.

Wednesday, Solar Eclipse day, was still raining, not just any rain this was pouring down, the heaving split open, god's wrath type of rain. I thought the tent was going to fly away with us in it! Needless to day, we didn't get to watch the eclipse, and we eventually drove home, for more movie watching fun.

I loved my 5 day weekend, with 7 days of events! I love Japan!

I am one with the universe in this shot, find me!

Canoing and Enkais.

2009-07-23T14:51:00.010+09:00

Let's see if I remember this correctly, it's been a while, and a lot has happened! Gambarimasho!

Thursdays evening we made an impromptu girls night, and went off to eat, drink, and karaoke. The three essentials of Japanese social life, and in that precise order. For the first time in forever I got to hear Lina sing karaoke, she sings really well. I am envious of Japanese women, it seems that all the ones I know can sing really well in karaoke, is it the alcohol? The years of practice? who knows...

Needless to say we got pretty wasted. The following day, lovely Friday, was a half day at work followed by an invitation to canoe with my students. This event also took place last year, and in which I jumped off the damn bridge and scared about 10 years off of my life. This year, watching the jumping kids was good enough. It was a fairly relaxed event, thankfully, I was still recovering from the previous day. This year, though, the kids were more receptive to our presence there and enjoyed playing with us and trying to drown us. Good times.

Soon after all that, was the welcome party/enkai for the new big office boss. He has been in the office for a month now, and

I've yet to actually meet him. Awesomeness... Anyway, the party got started with drinks and Japanese foods, and speeches of

all sorts, and more drinks, and even more drinks, and yes! more drinks! There was the standard Hempai happening, of which I finally got to do hempais with the office ladies. I had never seen them drink in two years, and suddenly they did! Hooray for Fridays! I was pretty toasty by the end of that gathering, beer and sake mix, plus sushi, sashimi, and other random foods, makes a bit of a time bomb I'd say. Really yummy food though.

The gaijin available during the enkai, and two more close by, opted for a karaoke after party. At the same place I had it on the Thursday night. Oh well, good drinks. The drinking continued, the

partying continued, and a bit of irritation started. I always consider karaoke a place to relax and have fun, and we all know that we can't all necessarily sing properly or hit the right notes during the songs, but we do our best and enjoy. So when someone says, you are doing it wrong, you need to hit a higher octave, "do it like this" I get really irritated, and it takes some of the fun away from karaoke. Everyone survived that anyway, and I finally managed to get home. I thought I was on the safe side and that I wouldn't have a hangover because of how nice I was feeling. But, of course, I was wrong.

Beer Float the Third

2009-07-14T18:14:00.003+09:00

The best way to tell you about it is to show you... so here is a video!

one of the things that I didn't get a video of, is of course the funniest thing that happened on Saturday. We were floating down the river, and had already received a few surprises from K. He loved to swim underwater and suddenly either yank on your leg or touch you while you weren't paying attention, producing some of the best screams I've ever heard.

On such an occasion, three of us noticed that K. had disappeared, so we held on to our floats tenaciously waiting for him to surface. He was underwater for quite sometime, when suddenly we heard a very high-pitched, girly scream! I looked around to one of the closest girls, nope not her, I looked at the other girl, nope not her either. Eventually I panned over to this very muscly Florida guy who was screaming at the top of his lungs like a little girl! It was the funniest thing I've seen in months! We of course cracked on him for the rest of the day, and my image of him has been forever changed to this squealing little girl. I would have done the same if it was me, except that I am a girl.

Here are some more pics. Full Album here!

Chilling with floats, cokes, and friends...

Float surfing is way harder than it looks, specially when it folds in half...

poor planning, stuffing people and floats in the car, plus holding one on the roof oops!

Nor rain, nor shine stopped this beer float! Thankfully the skies did clear.

me being silly...

Another Target Women, my new fav?

2009-07-09T17:59:00.000+09:00

Haiku

2009-07-09T15:48:00.000+09:00

At all the lovely, and not so lovely, JHS's in my city, the standard English textbook is One World. Not sure if I should be thankful for that considering what I've heard about the character Anne Green from the other text book, whose name escapes me.

Anyway, lesson three in One World is studying and writing Haikus, in English of course. And I always get asked to write one along with the students. I'm not sure how many I've actually written, since I never actually kept them before. Here are four of the nicer ones, and by nicer I strictly mean shareable, PG, etc. Don't expect greatness here...

Sticky fingers:
The end of a long day.
Watermelon peel.

An ALT's Job:
A beautiful flower.
They do nothing.

(this was at a reallllllly boring school)

A rainy day:
The beginning of summer.
Drip, drip, sweating.

and lastly, my personal favorite.

All surrounded.
I'm the beginning and the end.
Blue, green force of life.

Target Women.

2009-07-07T17:16:00.002+09:00

My two favorites!