Letters to Mom

odds and ends...

2008-07-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Just have some things I want to throw out...

1. AD and Article BLOOPERS...

Check out this most funny ad and the article.

2. WHERE GOD LIVES!

...and if you can find the secret door it leads down to the small corner room where GOD lives in a shoe box full of hay and shinny trinkets.

3. Kids drawing made real by artist..

This guy took kids drawings and acted them out.

4. The Banana: proof of GAWDS existence

I was reading this blog that had a short video clip from a pastor who was talking about the banana and how it's ergonomic features and ease of edibility was proof of a loving GOD who cares for his flock. There was a back and forth and finally the minister had to concede. The banana, as it turns out, is MAN MADE. The banana is a bit of bio-engineering and what we currently eats is a product of man cultivating an edible species. The real banana is football shaped with pumpkin like seeds and a watery inside.

5. News in my life: IT IS HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT! I have the aircon on AND the fan. But still sweating.

Welcome to my Life!

2008-07-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

1. Check out the JIB JAB video below if you haven't already. Very funny. See if you can find WALDO. He's hidden in there somewhere.

2. THURSDAY BAND...

Caught this cool little band up in a cozy little cafe. Good times. Notice she is putting on a puppet show. But she is wearing this BLACK HOOD (!?!?) Luckily the puppets heads stayed on for the whole show.

3. oh did I mention..IT IS F-ING HOW HEAR! I went for my job this morning and by the time I was finished my body felt like the underside of an iron. One more month in J-land till we peak out at the hottest day of the year. Then the temperature starts to slide back down.

4. My UNI classes are bubbling along. I have my VOCAB class tonight. I have had this same teacher for THREE other classes. So this is my FOURTH class. Sometimes I know what this teacher guy is going to say when he says just a few words. "OH..this is going to be the TENOJI girl's story.." to myself before he even completes the first line.

5. My first week of unemployment. Where to now? Well, I am going to be looking into UNIVERSITY gigs. Haven't started applying but will soon start. Until then I will do some part time private teaching and kindi (kindergarten) gigs. But I will probably start doing this small time work when I finish UNI in mid August.

6. 4 of my house mates went to THAILAND. No surfing. No water sports. Just laying on the beach.

7. FRIDAY SURFING...

Went to my favorite restaurant down the road, an OKINAWA styled restaurant that serves a kind of porridge. The guy there is a grizzled surfer dude who has surfed in all the major modern American conflicts, including Vietnam. This map shows a TYPHOON coming in, and when a TYPHOON is in the neighborhood the surf is up. We are talking a TYPHOON off the cost of TAIWAN by the way, not a TYPHOON 30 miles off the cost of JAPAN. SO I found this girl to go out with me. Her name is NATSUMI and she is very nice.

The surfing was wicked hard. The first thing I saw when I came out there was this huge wave land on top of this surfer. He flew out to the right, his swimming trunks to the left and his surfboard shot straight up in the air. So I went swimming and had a very rough time. I can't tell you how many times I was picked up and thrown. Hours later sea water was dripping from my nose. My sunblock washed off and I was burnt a bright red. There was so many people out there but FRIDAY was not even the weekend. On F there was 150 people. On Saturday there was 500, or so I heard.

We finished up by relaxing at this reggae themed cafe. Peace and love mon...

8. Some random beach concert...

Kinda nice.

9. Beach party

On SUNDAY there was a big beach party out at SUMA. Wack fun. Lots of people and girls in these incredible small bikinis. J-girls have this weird habit of hanging out in packs and adopting some crazy fashion, but it isn't crazy anymore because they are all doing it. Then they walk around making a lot of noise and making these loud honking laughing sounds. BUT again, if you are wearing an incredible small bikini you can do anything you want and no one will mind.

Then on the beach I saw these kids. Why are kids here? This was a bar. But then the 12 year old was swimming in the buck. Then his 5 year old sister took a pee right on the beach. Your man on the scene captured it all via his cell phone.

Was slated to see a friends band but then it got too late. Missed it. Felt bad.

10. Thanks for tuning in and thanks for the letters.

MARC You rock. I miss you.
MOM THanks for the SUNBLOCK.
CARLOS Have fun at camp! Tell me all about it!

Latest JIB JAB Video...

2008-07-16T06:37:00.001-07:00

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

The final Chapter..

2008-07-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

1. Why is this post called THE FINAL CHAPTER? Stay tuned. Answer later..

2. Still have no plan to go surfing again. It is brewing. Hope to go soon...

3. My new addiction:

I have started having a little wine with my meal. One cup.

4. SATURDAY night's band...

Went to Musica Japonica and dug this act. The guy on the left is named Johanis. Also my friends TAKUMI and SHINOYA were there. It was so nice to see them again.

5. SUNDAY BAND..

This lead singer I do know. She is a girl who works at the pool and does singing and accordion playing on the side. I came to the pool and she asked me to go. I was most sold. She put me on the guest list so I got in for 500 yen.

This is her publicity shot. No I didn't take it with my camera. The music was reggae and she really has this great voice that carried the day.

The act was in a club called noon. It had several rooms with funky art for people who just want to hang out. Then it has the main stage. The music was really loud and although I met some really cool people it's hard to communicate in Japanese and even harder when you can barely hear them.

You can really know a lot about the place by how the bathroom is. I went to a club in London once where all the toilets were flooded and clogged and vampirish looking girls hung out by the urinals. Judge that club.

6. My RUN.

I have been running three times a week. I do interval training. Basically, if you are running a 5k you break it up into shorter runs and take a cool down break in between of maybe 30 seconds. By doing shorter runs you can break the larger problem (running a 5k) down into achievable bites. These days it is really hot and I come back, drenched in sweat. A cool shower would feel nice but I have to run off to my 2 hour J-lesson. I am looking forward to my next race. I can't imagine any race this summer. It is much too hot in Osaka but come Autumn it will cool down and it will be prime time.

7. Japanese lesson.

My J-lesson is going nice. I am working on writing (see my J-blog) and vocabulary. The Japanese Proficiency Test is coming up in December. It will be interesting to see if I have really improved.

8. The Final Chapter.

This is the most important post in maybe 6 months. The above is my release letter. With 7 months of outstanding debt I have quit/stopped/walked-off/etc.. I looked in my bank account all Friday and there was no money. I called and mailed my boss. he called me back later and said that this was the end, he couldn't meet his financial obligations and that he would give me the release letter. He came Monday morning while I was in my J-lesson. I returned some of the outstanding material I had at my house. Also I gave him a list of outstanding payments. I offered him debt forgiveness if he paid me back 33 cents on the dollar and paid it by putting in $200 every month. I am being nice. BUT one thing I have learned is that you can never be nice to some people.

So I have no job...

It is bitter sweet. I liked my job. I liked the kids. The job really made me grow as a teacher. Before I was a real terrible kids teacher. Through trail by fire I have learned about preparing and presenting materials, songs and discipline (the latter being a subject most hard to the author of this post). Now I do not have a job. What next? Will be looking for some UNI jobs. Stay tuned for the NEXT CHAPTER...

THE NEWS YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR...

2008-07-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

1. Well here we are again. We are on the 519,345,2....th installment of the series called WILL I GET PAID. As you well remember, MATSUI (my boss) had another deadline. He is to pay TWO paychecks today. This deadline, by the way, is actually an extension of two other deadlines.

So I finished work today. Don't forget to pay me, I told MATSUI. He nodded and said yes but he looked nervous like a gambler at the table who has lost more money then he has and is looking for an exit. But he assured me that the money would be in the bank.

The money wasn't.

Now it is back to the same old game. I try to contact him. He doesn't answer. I call. He doesn't pick up the phone. I am wondering if this really is the end of the road. To be honest. I am ready to move on. Besides, how many more lame posts about my truant boss do you want to read?

2. RHEA! Are you there. Are you thinking about INDONESIA? I am.

3. Heather. Been waiting for your story. Thanks girl!

4. MOM! I will need some high powered sun block. They just don't have it in Japan. Will search some more but I may have to have it shipped from the States.

5. OMBAMA! You ROCK!

6. Invitation to the world: COME TO THE SUMA BEACH PARTY.

7. My Lunch.

Got up early and went to work. There was some sort of bus accident/breakdown/banana-in-the-tailpipe-incident and the start time for the class was postponed for 30 minutes.

Did my classes and only got punched in the nuts twice. This really happens by the way. If you get punched in the nuts, do not show any reaction. This will only encourage them.

Finished my class and had a talk with my nervous (ex?) employer and then head to OSAKA. Had this great little meal served by a beautiful girl. She had this very cute way of putting on the mayonnaises. Usually an old guy will mix this up and he'll just plop it on. This girl was decorating a birthday cake.

Then went and bought an expensive shirt that cost me 60 bucks! YOWZER. It is a shirt that will keep me chaff free on my many surfing adventures. I liked this other shirt that was blue. But it was so tight and it made me look like I had a pot belly. I am fit BUT when you wear really tight stuff every little fat ripple is accented. Since I am single I care about these things.

Went home and had a swim. Made it home and was really hankering for a nap. I really needed one. Alas. I had my class and off I went. During class I drank 2 green teas and an energy drink to stay awake.

Tomorrow is another busy day. Running, J-lesson, class, meet my SURFING FRIEND and then another live show.

8. SPEAKING OF SUN TAN LOTION...

Today I bought some SUN TAN LOTION. No big deal right? BUT, notice my receipt. I bought the lotion and a green tea and the price came to 4 something. NOW look at the price ON the lotion. It is a HIGH 4 something. The lady rang me up and said, "WHOOPS THIS IS OVER PRICED." And I ended up paying a lower price. Usually retailers..

9 JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MY EMPLOYER. He will stop by and give me my letter of release on MONDAY.

10. Sighhhh....

HI MOM!

2008-07-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

1. HI MOM-STERS! How was the 4th?

2. I made some wildly kick-ass IRISH STEW. Simmered some garlic, fresh basil, lime juice and a bay leaf.

3. Been thinking about Korea. I usually go once a year. But this time I am asking my self, WHY? It's a simple question, but it just hit me: Why? So next year I am thinking SURFING DESTINATION. It just came to me in a flash. Philippines? Indonesia? The world is mine for the surfing. Maybe I can meet up with my good friend RHEA who would love to have an excuse to go to Indonesia.

4. Tomorrow is Friday. My boss will drop two pay checks into my account. Or not. The drama continues. Stay tuned for tomorrow's broadcast.

NEW GAME!

2008-07-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

1. Hay everyone. NEW GAMES. This one is called FIND THE COCKROACH!

2. In honor of NEW GAME day, my students invented a new game. it is called THROW THE TEACHER's MATERIAL IN THE TRASH

This is a very fun game and everyone should play it.

My life: Music, Surfing, School, Screaming Kids..etc

2008-07-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

1. WELL...

2. Don't know why I just wrote the above comment. Totally meaningless. Just ignore the man behind the curtain.

3. TODAYS REQUIRE VIEWING:

This is RICHARD SIMMONS on one of my favorite shows called WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY. They do IMPROV COMEDY and really, this one is over the top.

4. MULTIMEDIA CLASS AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY

On Friday and Saturday I have a class at TEMPLE University. Last Saturday our teacher showed us a MILITARY linguistic training program. You can see it here. It plays like a video game and you walk through different levels much. In every way this game is designed like a shoot-em-up game except in this particular game you have to "make friends with the Iraqis." This is typical American solution to a problem: if you have a problem just throw a lot of money at the problem.

5. My other class..

I am taking a class about VOCABULARY. On the first day I brought my Japanese Vocabulary cards and I wanted to show the professor and talk about the methods of vocabulary learning I am using. I have this whole movie in my head where he would look at the cards and there would an interesting conversation. Instead, when I showed him the cards he took one look at them and said, "Don't give those to me!"

6. So....

I have decided to build a new building and I will put a large penis shaped thing on the front.

7. SATURDAY CONCERT

I saw a concert on Saturday and took a picture of this violin player, just because he was so interesting looking. There was another white person at the concert. I think he was my evil twin. The place was crowded and when I got up to go to the bathroom he took my seat. So I stood. Then I saw this beautiful girl. But before I could make my move, he was on her. I hate white guys.

8. SWIMMING

On Sunday I took a swim. Then I went to my favorite restaurant.

This place is a little place owned by a Japanese surfer dude. Next time I go I will see if I can remember to take my camera so I can get some pixs of the inside. This dish is called OKAYU and it is basically porridge made with brown rice. It is really healthy and a swim and the food made me feel like a 100 bucks.

9 KYOTO CONCERT

I went out to Kyoto which was about an hour and a half away. I didn't mind going so far. Subway travel is always a good time to study for me. I arrived at the place and they told me to go away. I came too early. SO I went for a little while until the place open up.

I saw this old house, of which there are many in Kyoto. The outside had worn away and you could see the installation which was mud and hay.

There was another house too that was falling apart.

This is actually cement covering wood.

This car is the ultimate SURF VEHICLE.

Lots of little Buddhist shrines in Kyoto.

NOW, about the concert. It was actually a real nice place. Not too many people. Nice atmosphere. I came because there was a girl I liked in a band. When I first met her we got along great and I thought it would be most cool to see her again. BUT as it turns out she found her self a boyfriend, a chain smoking 40 something guy from Tokyo. I forget his age although he repeated it several times to me. I guess I should remember something that is repeated to me several million times, but then again, is it really that important? Back to the drawing board. Sigh. It'S 2:19 now. Must sleep. Big day tomorrow.

10. FAT MONKEYS..

It's because everyone feeds them human food. STOP IT PEOPLE!

11. Cute student...

12. The lone cup..

13. It's number 13. Make a wish.

KITTENS AND MONEY...

2008-07-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

Holly WORLD. It is FRIDAY.

1. KITTENS....

(surprise ending)

2. MONEY...

Worked out a payment schedule with my boss. One paycheck this Friday (the 4th) and another paycheck the following Friday (the 11th). Came to work. Told my boss that I was going to the bank today. Going to check, that's what I said. No, no, no he said. Two paychecks on the 14th. You misunderstand. So, what is going to happen on the 14th? ore games? Stay tuned.

I GOT WAVE!

2008-06-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

1. SURFING!

Full story below.

2. PAY

Will check bank account tomorrow. Expect to see TWO paychecks. If the boss coughs up the money he will only be three months behind.

3. The book I am reading.

He mentioned HUMPTULIPS in Washington. It is a small city just above Aberdeen. I actually wanted to jog out there even though it is 25 miles up and then once I got there where would I be? Humptulips has a population of 300 ad I think I would be very much lucky to find a small store.

4. River.

By Arthur Lauritsen

5. Dare to be different.

Dig this BIRDS most rad dance.

6. Goodbye to my friends FERRA AND JASON. F-girl is finally heading back to Canada where she will go to school and live with her parents. JASON is starting up an internet based business consulting service. He spent a lot of time developing a program and designing the kit. Last week he headed back to UTAH where he will make non-virtual contacts for his business and also do some hunting. He got a especially rare license that will allow him to hunt deer in a specially designed area.

7. FIRST DAY OF CLASS.

Had my first day of class at TEMPLE. My teacher is a rosy cheeked guy who loves to talk about his daughter. The class, at this point, seems relaxing which is most good to me. The last thing I need to be doing this summer is carrying my books to the beach to go...

8. SURFING (story continued from above)

TODAY was my first official day of SURFING. I caught the bus out from OSAKA. Luckily my SATURDAY class was canceled and I showed up to the bus station with plenty of time to spare. I bought my ticket and waited for the bus. I kept waiting for something to go terrible wrong, but nothing dig and soon the bus was on it's way to IKUMI beach.

The bus trip was 5 hours. I brought a whole lot of things to keep me busy on the bus but as it turns out, but before I knew it the bus was creaking along twisty raods making it's way to the last stop, IKUMI beach. When I arrived it was pitch dark and pouring down rain and there was no light of any sort to indicated civilization. Just as I was starting to get worried about this TIN pulls up in his van and gives me a lift to the hotel. He was tired and didn't really say much to me. He just showed me to my room and then split. Here is the room:

It was actually quite large but the futon had a stank to it. Remind me to bring my own covers next time.

My friend had gone to sleep. I met CHRIS through the internet and he proved to be super cool. We first met in person last THURSDAY and he showed up with his girlfriend and this Japanese guy called YOUSHI. Everyone was upstaged by this Auzie guy with a pointy beard and some wild Yacht Japanese coast guard stories. But that's another story...

So Chris had gone to bed even though I just arrived at 11 at night. The rain poured all through the night and into the next day. I woke up and had a breakfast. Eggs, rice and toast. Must bring my own breakfast next time. Well, I had arranged for a tutor to teach me surfing. Because of the rain the appointment was delayed so in the meantime we watched a "how to surf" video which consisted of professional surfers demonstrating the toe technique where you walk to the front of the tip of the board while you are surfing. Both me and Chris laughed about this later. Why was he showing this to a first time surfer. So me and my instructor went out in what proved to be a lesson in how to waste your money ($30). The instructor basically took me to the water and told me to go out. Once I did he told me to get up on the board. But the funny thing was that I learned. By the end of the day I was standing on the surf board and catching the waves.

Surfing is not in any way an easy sport. First you need to paddle out. Next you need to catch a wave, quickly size it up and then jump on the wave and ride it to the beach. Catching the wave is just right and it gave new meaning to that phrase "catch a wave." In life we are given opportunities and you need to seize the moment and ride it out. Hesitate and all is lost.

SO, I caught the wave a few times which felt really cool and is actually a pretty good achievement for a beginner. No toe riding thought...

Chris has several contacts and we will be going out again soon. Stay tuned for more pixs!

Saturday Night!

2008-06-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

Saw my friends kick out the jams...

This is SHINOYA and TAKEKU. Most fun and happy time spent by all.

Rainy season and a not so lazy Saturday...

2008-06-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

1. PAY

A few things in my life: I told my boss that the 30th of this month two paychecks are due. It's either the paychecks or my walking papers. Last month, I was hoping it wold be my walking papers. But he did. Both paychecks were a little late but they did show up in my bank account. To be honest, I was hoping he wouldn't come through. This is a pain in the butt.

2. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

This is the latest trend in Japanese as featured in TIME magazine: ELDER PORN.

3. SURFING

Set out to do surfing and of course it ended up to be a disaster. On Friday I got up at 7:15 and hoped out of bed and made it down to the train station where my friend was meeting. We had it all planned out. Catch the train to TSU (10 minutes) and transfer to the express train that would take us out to the beach. Well, we got to TSU and I lost my friend and he managed to get on the express train, and I didn't. In confusion I got on the next train. Bad move. For about 30 minutes I had no idea where we were going. It was weird. I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. An hour and a half later we back together. We staggered on by taking the regular trains which take longer, yet alas.

So we were on the trains and both of us fell asleep ad we missed our stop by about an hour. This turned out to be a blessing since we ended up at the beach side town. We went to the information booth and got some info about surfing. Yes, we had no clue going out. But that's how Japan works. Earlier I went to a surf shop (a SURF SHOP mind you with boards and wax and whatnot) and asked about surfing. No one had a clue. NONE. No one could tell me anything. So you just have to jump in and hope the water is warm enough.

By and by it was getting on at about 1 o`clock and I was getting real hungry. So we found a THAI restaurant that opened in 15 minutes. I couldn't wait. I needed something in my stomach NOW so as my friend waited in front of the restaurant I walked around for about 20 minutes. NOTHING. The THAI restaurant was sill closed so I walked around again and managed to find a little cafe and got rice. By and by I returned and the restaurant turned out to be a clothing store. (!?!?!)

It was about 2 now and there was no way we were gong to do surfing. So we went out to the TEMPLE. It was some sort of fox themed temple. Here is an extra pic here and here and here but NOT here.

So I still have not had a chance to surf. One reasons surfing isn't so popular in Japan is time and expense and climate. It takes at least 4 hours to get out to any sort of beach. My Auzzie friend was saying that he hops in the car, borrows his room mates board and is out at the beaches in 30 minutes. Cost too is another factor. Train fair costs $30 and board rental costs $30. Then there is climate. Right now it is rainy season and the waves are not so good. So basically there is a one month window where you can go out and hit the waves.

4. What I am reading:

Thomas Pain is quite an individual. He wrote the Rights of Man which turned out to be a blueprint for the American Revolution. He was a a major player in the American Revolution and just when the revolution comes to a close you think the story of Thomas Pain is going to wrap up nicely in a final chapter. Instead he has more mountains to climb. Now I am reading about his treaties on religion.

5. SUGAR FREE KID

I got a spam from a friend. This kid is growing up sugar free. Pretty amazing. I think one of the problem with American kids nowadays is all the junk and crap that is shoved down their throat.

6. Where is the head?!?!

I dare you to find it. DARE YOU!

7. $3.50 salad.

This says everything you wanna now about Japan and food prices.

8. UNIVERSITY CLASSES

Uni class start next week. I will have classes Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. M/W/F is from 6 till 9 and Saturday is from 2 till 5. Two classes: Teaching Vocabulary and Using computer technology to teach English. After this I will have ONE CLASS left till I clean off this MASTERS degree and get my MASTERS!

HELLO WORLD!

2008-06-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

1. Today is MONDAY. Be that what it may.

2. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Called my dad via SKYPE and talked with him. Then he got mom on the pone and off she went, talking about her grand children and the snow (snow in JUNE?!?!?!) and she even had time to give me advise about University. They didn't go to the buffet at the Indian Casino. I have no idea. The kids really love that place! ALSO, Carlos and Nicholas are going to go out to MINNESOTA. That should be an adventure. I always loved going out to MINNESOTA when I was a kid. There was always so many things for a kid to do on the farm.

3. My neighbors think I am running a wood cutting business in my room. I am always making smoothies that I guess they jumped to this conclusion.

4. Saw this musical act 2 weeks ago:

Saw this act two weeks ago when I was going through my sick spells. Couldn't talk. Too knackered. The flute player gave me an invite to her gig. She seemed really interesed in me... More on that later.

5. Chris is better. He didn't go to school and he is just kicking it. For awhile he couldn't even move and he was worried whether he was EVER GOING TO WALK AGAIN! He was actually that worried. But he has been improving ever sense. At the end of this month he is headed off to Thailand. What better place to recover?

6. FRIDAY. Went jogging in the park behind my kindergarten. You take a bus and about 20 minutes later you arrive in this park that is tucked away in the Japanese backwoods. I did a run and went home. I am not used to hill running so my calves hurt.

7. SATURDAY saw a band called the CREAM CHEESE INCIDENT. As I said earlier in this post, the flute player invited me and I am actually good friends with the leader of the band, a funky guy named SHINTALO.

I thought everything was cool and wonderful and I would be able to talk to the flute player again and get something going. But no. In fact, nobody really wanted to talk to me that evening. I know how it is, so I hold it against them. When you are the foreign student no one wants to listen to you because you talk half a mile and hour and unraveling the grammar is not unlike being a World War II code cracker. Alas my Japanese is still really low and it is hard to get a conversation going.

8. SUNDAY was a cool day for me. I swam in the morning and at lunch I had lunch with my good friend KAKI. We went to this surfer restaurant that serves JAPANESE OATMEAL which is super good and super healthy. Also it is REALLY cheap. Only $5 which for Japan is unheard of. The owner is this grizzled surfer dude and he gave me some great advise about catching the waves.

Then that night I trooped out and went to HARD RAIN which, as my sister has pointed out, is a name that makes a lot of sense to us English speakers because Bob Dillan used it.

The name of this group is "...and young." I don't understand what the name mans either. It is probably a Bob Dillan code word for crack cocaine.

9. NOW FOR THE MOMENT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR...

Went out to a beach called WAKAYAMA and did some wind surfing. Even though we got up bright and early we arrived late. It was all cool. Surfing culture over rides Japanese time-punctuality-panic-nervous-breakdown-must-never-be-half-a-second-late culture I guess. We got on the suits and jumped out of the locker rooms looking like idiots. The suits were on backwards. Embarrassed but not deterred we changed and soon were heading out to the beach.

We spent 4 hours out there not including the lunch break. I got rope burn and sunburn and salt water in my nose but overall very fun. The waves were small and there was no wind but we did manage to have fun.

Our guide showed us how to catch these little critters. There are tiny holes in the beach and if you did them out you will find a bigger hole underneath. Sprinkle a little salt around the edges and out these creatures shoot. It is a little like alien. Our next plan is to go surfing. Stil trying to figure everything out and work out the schedules.

10. WORK GOSSIP.

Well my boss came through. I got paid for MARCH. That leaves APRIL AND MAY plus three outstanding paychecks. Then of course JUNE is rolling around. SO this Wednesday I will once again give him a deadline. This JUNE 27th, two paychecks or my release letter. We will see what happens.

WIRED!

2008-06-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

WOW! Took a hard core nap today and now it is 2:00 and I am TOTALLY WIRED! No way I can sleep.

Cool North Korean Video Alert!

2008-06-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

Click here to see a cool documentary on North Korea. My favorite episode was when they came into a big banquette hall and the North Koreans pretended like they had a million people coming and set out plates with food and such.

HAPPY SQUEEZIBLE TUESDAY

2008-06-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

1. Happy TUESDAY everyone!

2. FATHER'S DAY ALERT. F-day is coming up this JUNE 21st!

3. Here is a nice little movie clip I grabbed from the internet about Obama's life. His life story is so extraordinary. Well worth a look if you have time...

4. CHRIS UPDATE.

My friend Chris has a SLIPPED DISC. A slipped disc has nothing to do with a disc or with anything slipping. It has to do with the fluid in between the vertebrae leaking out. Chris has been on his back since last Sunday and he plans to just just it out. He really can't move. I see him going to the bathroom and he takes these kinda sliding baby steps. He is still chipper as ever and when I ask him about his life he tells me excitedly about his new hobby: people watching from his room. "There is not a lot of people to see in the morning because everyone is out" he reports.

I am a little worried. This THURSDAY he needs to go to TOKYO for passport stuff. He will take the SHINKANSEN which is the bullet train and it will take him only 2 and a half hours. Once in Tokyo he will taxi it everywhere. STILL he should be at home resting and recovering.

In about 3 weeks he is going to go to THAILAND. I think the R&R will be just what the doctor ordered. He will be able to do nothing and still enjoy himself.

5. The "What does this MEAN" game...

OK KIDS....

Here are several signs I have snapped here and about in Osaka. The cartoons are always funny although many times they are not explicit in the meaning. Guess the meanings and read below for the answers.

The first picture says, "HAY. Don't crawl onto the track. If you lost something call an attendant and have him retrieve it for you with his nifty little beaver trap thing." The next sign means "don't stroke the escalator. PLEASE. People are watching!" I don't know what the next sign means and the following sign means don't enter. The next sign means NO VENDORS and the very last sign means TOILET.

6. Three views of ME!

7. Love your comments. Don't forget to say HI. Tomorrow it is early to rise, jog, work and return home. OH and don't forget: awesome windsurfing pictures coming soon!

SUNDAY MORNING...

2008-06-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

1. CHRIS IS IN THE HOSPITAL!

Chris lives down the hall from me and you may have seen his picture on my page. I have posted his pix quite a few times and for quite a few different reasons (most of them girl related) but for those of you who need a reminder I present to you this picture:

So last night Chris wrote me an e-mail saying that he hurt his back but that he was going to go out drinking with the buds. Today I came back from swimming and they told me that an ambulance had come and taken Chris away. He just sneezed and that is what had hurt his back and he was hoping it would get...

2. NEWS FLASH

Chris just came back from the hospital and is fine.

3. WENT WIND SURFING!

You know that cool guy in the T.V. ad who is catching the waves? That's me! Pixs and full story later. In short me and a friend went out to the beech and spent all day wind surfing. It cost us $50 plus another $20 in transportation (yea Japan transportation is really expensive). I got all sorts of weird burns like rope burn and sunburn and salt water in my nose but mostly it was all fun.

4. SATURDAY I went out to a little bar that was by my house. As soon as I entered I knew it was trouble. Everyone was smoking and it had the "Beehive" smell of old cigarettes. Beehive is an old restaurant in my hometown that got shut down for health reasons. I never did or could go in the restaurant but you could smell the place from abut 50 feet away. The old farty cigarette smell is unmistakable. I came in and was the youngest by about 20 years. They were all friendly enough but the smell was driving me crazy so I faked like I got a call from a friend, went out the door and never came back. The rain started falling when I was scooting home but the cold fresh air felt good after being in the bar so long.

5. SUNDAY is now. No good music going on so I will stay at home and study.

6. I weigh 67 kg now which is disappointing because the number 67 is not the number of anything, much less the beast.

7. Handed in my SOUND SYSTEMS test yesterday. I failed my SOUND SYSTEMS test and I had to redo the test. It was a terrible feeling, kinda like rolling a bolder up the side of a mountain and having it fall right back down.

8. My boss called me. He was going to put TWO payments into the bank. BUT he said only ONE payment was going into the bank and the next week the NEXT payment was going in the bank. Grumble.

9. PARENT'S ANNIVERSARY IS JUNE 16th!

10. Gratuitous GINA picture:

11. This picture is called ISOLATION!

12. My JAPANESE blog. An entry almost EVERY day. GO and see it!

My latest trip...

2008-06-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

MY LATEST TRIP is to eat salads. I had some salad when I went out to Musica Japonica and now I am on a salad kick. I just cut up a lot of veggies and start munching away. I am now down to 66.6 KG (which taps out to be about 146 lbs) which is really cool because that is the weight of the beast.

Work tomorrow. I haven't quit. My boss said that TWO pay checks will be in the bank by THIS FRIDAY.

Tomorrow is also the day my point man in America, OBAMA is going to pull over the top. Map props to you America for electing someone so great as your democratic representative. ALSO, please catch some of the Scott McKelin (sp?) interviews. The Daily Show was nice, but any of the interviews were really good. He basically tells us that this whole weapons of mass destruction act was a sideshow and the real game was dominance in the Middle East. But you already knew that...

It's 12:10 Sunday night...

2008-06-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

1. I have a sore throat. Feel terrible. I had two days of no energy. 2 days of stomach aches and diarrhea. Now I have a sore throat. I can barely talk. I have been guzzling vitamin C drinks but alas. I have no idea what hit me but it just won't give up. It keeps on morphing into some new aliment.

2. SAW SICKO.

Let me tell you right here and now, this is a great film. Sometimes I tag Moore for his preachiness but there is nothing in this film that I find fault with. He starts the story by talking about people in America and what happens when you have health problems. What a great man this Moore guy is, just for standing up and saying NO to the system.

3. Saturday was FUN. Went to KYOTO with a girl. Took a side path and saw this little temple.

BUT EVEN MORE INTERESTING was the assortment of trash.

The golf club and umbrella were my favorites.

4. On SUNDAY I saw this live act.

Sunday is now by the way. There was very few people in the live house so I got a seat. I blessing since I was sick. But then there was some smokers, a most non-blessing. I glared at them through the haze but no one ever notices. This particular picture is of my friend SAKI who played a kinda folksy amature hour guitar, most fun and happy performance. Now I gotta hit the sack. Freakin tired.

I MADE IT!

2008-05-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday.

I woke up and was not in a good shape. Had green tea and vitamins. Still not happy. Went to work without a shower. I was waiting in the line for the sub. Got queezy. Went over to the drain and heaved. It wasn't noxious liqueur and 1 day old ramen but it was green tea puke so as far as pukes go, this was the Odessa Springs of puke. I boarded the subway car with sweat running down my face and snot dribbling out my nose and dripping down my color. I made it to work. Finished. Made it home. Hit the bed. Woke up at 5. Made potato soup. The potato soup held. For the first time in many days the food actually didn't diarrhea out. So now I feel chipper.

Relaxed. I was hoping to see a friends band. It was just down the road and I was really looking forward to it. Instead I thought it would be better if I just kicked it. So I stayed in my room and saw NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN a movie that really didn't seemed to have an ending. The good guy got killed and the bad guy got hit in a car accident and then walked away. I was waiting for the Hollywood ending where the bad guy gets blown to a million tiny little pieces. Alas no. This left me with an incomplete feeling.

In other news: TODAY WAS THE BIG DAY. My boss was to either give me my letter of release or TWO pay checks. He didn't have either today. Instead he was going to visit a lender and get together enough money. I asked if the lender was the Yakusa (the Japanese gang). Close he replied. So I still don't have a final chapter on this problem.

EXTRA NEWS:

TODD'S WEDDING DAY PIXS: CLICK HERE.

The wedding and more...

2008-05-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

1. The BIG NEWS here: TODD gets married.

More Pix: Here | Here | Here |

The wedding was held in an open hall about half a block from my University. I showed up and was of the two representatives from Orange House. As skavey as Orange House is, it was where Todd and his wife first met. There was a crazy singer girl who lived next to me and she invited a lot of her Chinese friends over. The next weekend or so they had this big camping trip. After two years (is it really that long?) they got engaged. Next month Todd will head back to America and settle down to his studies at MIT.

At the wedding at a table with about 6 other people. I didn't really get a chance to talk to them. I did chat with ANNA sitting next to me but that was about it. People were busy eating and posing for pictures. I was ravenous since I skipped last nights dinner and the morning breakfast so I attacked the food. Luckily I took enough the first time around because the food had been cleared out by the time I looked up again. Even the sauce had been suctioned up.

Then it ended. I walked outside and they gave me a gift. I opened it later and found two Chinese-ish dolls with round heads and yarn for hair. I will put them up in the lounge as a MEMORY of where TODD and his love-thing first met.

2. THREE THINGS IN MY POCKET:

exhibit A:

exhibit B:

exhibit C:

3. Had a great time on SATURDAY with this girl. Really fun. Hope to see her again next weekend.

4. The 4 AM story. Well, SUNDAY morning I was going to the convenience shop. Yes, 4 AM. If any of you have ever been up at 4 AM then you know how eerie it can be. I was up at 4 AM not because I stayed up late but because I got up early (strange but true). I was going to the convenience shop and I suddenly I saw this guy I knew (!!!). He is a big guy with a military hair cut who teaches kindergarten and there I saw him in this leather (hard gay?) uniform. Wow, some people look really different at 4 AM. We joked for awhile before he shuffled home to no doubt sleep off any shenanigans that had conspired during the previous night.

Arthur is back with more news from the ghetto!

2008-05-23T03:41:00.000-07:00

1. Parrot to world: YES WE CAN!

2. My Japanese friend made this model. It is made entirely out of paper. This sums up the Japanese in one short cell phone picture: dedicative, detail orientated and innovative and also, dare I say, qwerky?

3. My main man back on the home front, OMABA, is being criticized for not picking up the "white" vote. People are neg-ing on Hilary. She is just picking up votes because of the racists (although they don't use this word. They just say, "Boy no white people are voting for Omaba. What could this possible mean?"). In reality, Hilary has connections that goes back many years. Northern Arkansas is at the tail end of the Appalachians and the Vice-president (Gore) heralds out of Tennessee. Is it any wonder then that Hilary is strong in this area?

4. RIKKI!

Riki is from California. We hang out sometimes. Cool guy. He did some translation work for STING. Says the hanger-ons where much more interesting.

5. Pull up a chair and sit on the floor.

6. Where I was yesterday..

This is a bar. It got really weary near the end. My Japanese isn't notch-up so most of the conversation whizzed by me and I spent most of the time trying to figure out when to smile so I could pretend like I am somehow in a remote way understanding the conversation. Then I looked at my watch it was AFTER TWELVE! OH NO! To my despair I missed the last train. It only took me 45 minutes to run home though. I was quite surprised. I thought it was going to be another 2 hour trek across the barrens that is later night Osaka.

The bar was funky cool. Lots of toys and Japanese nostalgia. My friend SHINTALO is mega-cool and you have seen his pix before as some of the bands that I have gone to.

7. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Running in the morning. 2 hr. J lesson at 10. Then I need to meet my UNI prof at 3. Then it is off to a date at 4. We are going to be at the foot of the Osaka Castle. Sunday is a WEDDING! YEA!

MY LIFE STORY (from Thursday at leaset)

2008-05-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY: My friend SHINTALO invited me out to a live concert. It was 2,000 yen with about 5 acts AND great food. I suctioned up a lot of food including the fried shrimp and curry bread. Sometimes the most dangerous place in Japan is between me and the food. one act I really liked was this accordian player. She is the cutest little girl. Really short. I think she could wear the same clothes I wore in 5th grade. The funny thing is, is that I MET THIS GIRL BEFORE. She is a life gaurd at the pool I go to so when I showed up, she recognized me and came over to talk with me.

FRIDAY: I hate it when I can't remember what I did two days ago. It seems like a really simple task but for the life of me, I can't think it up. Wait one moment. While you are waiting, check out this paining.

COOL PAINTING BREAK:

FRIDAY: Oh yes, how could I forget FRIDAY! FRIDAY was an amazing day. That is the day me and Johno headed out to the beach to do some surfing. We headed out of TENNOJI and made it to WAKAYAMA in about an hour. Johno had heard of this beach and reckoned we ought to check it out. So we took the train and half way through the trip a conductor comes moseying down the isle. He stops in front of us. Then he took my ticket and typed some numbers into his hand pilot. Theh he showed us the number. It was 3,7000 YEN or about $37. "ONE WAY" he said. "3,700 YEN each?" I asked in Japanese. "Each" he replied. So there was no way we were going to make that bill so we jumped off the train and headed back to WAKAYAMA. From there we went to the info desk to finally get information. It is hard to live impulsively in Japan. Too many high costs. So we got some information at the information ooth (my first idea by the way). We found out that there is a surfing beach but also a WINDSURFING beach. "Lets try that" said Johno and off we went. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and by this time we had spent the whole morning and the lesser part of an afternoon taking some form of transportation. So when we arrive we kinda wanted to kick back. There was this great beach side cafe and we enjoyed some drinks, walked aimlessly for about another hour. The beach was completely deserted and in the distance we could see some windsurfers but that was about it. It was a real desolate feeling. We did find some WINDSURFING stores and got some cool info. WINDSURFING is going to cost us about $50 for one full day and that comes with lessons. Pretty reasonible. So we will be going down in TWO WEEKS!

Here is a pic of JOHNO on the beach.

SATURDAY: I went to MUSICA JAPONICA and saw a friends band, TATEFUJI.

SUNDAY: Went on a date. Whee! We spent about 4 hours in a McD's.

MONDAY: That is now foo!

THANKS: Thanks again dad for the wonderful gift package! Thanks LIZZY for mailing me. I MISS YOU!

POLITICS: HAY FELE! I heard B-Man came to PORTLAND and set a record. 75k came to see him speak. Will you be seeing him?

Life in 6 short bullet points...

2008-05-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

1. This is so funny...

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

2. My FAJITA fry

3. WORK UPDATE

Well, my boss called me last night. Gave me a sob story. Ha had to call all his friends and he managed to come up with enough money to pay off one months salary. The ultimatum I gave last week was TWO MONTHS. Oh and he also said that he had lots of medical bills for his aging mother. So I told him that I would come in on Wednesday and talk. On Wednesday I will offer tell him that on the 30th of this month he can give me either one of two things: two months of back salary or my letter of release.

4. SURFING

Tomorrow I have a tentative plan to go surfing. First time. Sharks beware.

5. MY PRESENT

My dad sent me a little gift box with the scrum-dum-sicle salmon spread and the gift I also need, hair dye but he also included this curious little item. I am not quite sure what I am going to do with some luxury pens. My layout here in Japan is just one small step above being homeless. So the pens are kinda an odd addition to the Arthur household.

6. MORE WORK UPDATE

It is now a THURSDAY. I went to work yesterday which came as a surprise. Up to the last minute I really didn't think I would be showing up to work. I gave my boss an ultimatum. Two pay checks or I wouldn't be showing up on Wednesday. Monday evening, after much prodding, he called me back. He had ONE pay check. With this sign of goodwill I gave him until the end of the month. On the 30th I will expect TWO paychecks. We will see.

Today's questions: WIll I loose my job? How cool was that temple? Anyone want some meat?

2008-05-08T04:17:00.000-07:00

1. This is ギャル曽根（そね）. She ate 184 pieces of sushi.

2. お尻ペンペン. Yes JAPAN has a whole WIKIPEDIA page devoted to the topic of SPANKING. Check it out here.

3. American Politics 101 as explained by Batman; a must see for everyone who wants to know why AMERICA is so f-ed.

4. MY WORK STATUS

As I sit at my desk typing these words, the time is 12:23 on a Sunday night. I wrote my boss again about my paycheck and how the check needs to be in the bank by TUESDAY morning. As I have said before he owes me 7 PAYCHECKS. Yes, 7. As of now, this doesn't look promising. I gave him an ultimatum: 2 paychecks by Tuesday or I walk. The reason I have said that this doesn't look promising is that as of now he has ignored two messages I sent to him.

5. FRIDAY AFTERNOON: THE JOG

On Friday after I taught kindergarten I took the bus to the hills and got off at the park to do a few laps around the mountain. The last time I came here I got terrible lost but this time around I managed to keep my bearings (unlike McCain who has lost 'em). I ran the track backwards and so I didn't have to worry about finding the entry trail. Well the park was in full bloom and I spied this big horkin' butterfly like creature. Click here to get another shot of him.

6. FRIDAY NIGHT

Went to a club that I didn't really like. Last time I went there some Japanese guy grabbed my balls. Luckily I have my super-anti-ball-grabbing field up and ready and I managed a quick deflection. Nonetheless it was a bad experience. This time I went at the behests of a girl I know. I was hoping she would spend some time chatting with me. But she was always busy.

7. MORE WORK STATUS

Will be calling my employer. Today is Monday. Sent off a few messages. He is completely ignoring them. This tells me that that he is unwilling/unable to pay up and the end is coming. I am sure he is sued to this routine. He goes through a lot of teachers and even someone as easy to please as me (note: is this a fair thing to say about me since I let 7 paydays slide by?!?) has to go a separate way.

8. KIMIZULA TEMPLE

Visited a temple yesterday with two girls I met. Originally I had planed to make fajitas but that fell through (more on that below). The temple is possible one of Kyoto's most beautiful temples. To get another view of the temple click here.

The place was crowded. It was worse than a shopping mall. See more pictures of people elbowing past each other.

There was sacred water. I didn't drink. Seemed to disease infested to me, with everybody dipping into it. I'd probably catch some sort of AIDS/Ebola hybrid and not even make it out the gates of the temple before blood would come spouting out of every orifice in my body.

For more cute girl pictures click here and here and here.

9. Happy MOTHERS DAY MOM AND FELE!

Sorry. No MOM DAY CARD. Hope this will do.

10. made FAJITAS.

Here is a sampling of what I made. You can see the lower plastic Tupperware container has meat in it. About $15 in meet to be precise. THe first day was raining. The second day was too cold. Now I have all this meat. What to do? I could freeze it although my freezer is really small and I already have the freezer taken up with my two ice cube trays (sounds pretty lame hunh but it's true). Plus I am not sure I can freeze this and still preserve the spices since I marinated the meat in fajita sauce.

11. NOTE TO ANA.

Be strong little girl. It's always tough when you first move into a new place because you have to develop a whole new social group but it will come.