Bushu and Fractals

La

2006-12-30T16:56:00.000+09:00

Whenever I throw I away a plastic bag I feel funny because I invariably put it in another plastic bag.

Well Fuck Me Runnig

2006-12-22T21:07:00.000+09:00

I heard a speech by Robert Fisk the other day on Democracy Now! that talked about how Britain invaded Iraq during the 1920s. The simliarities to the USA's claims are absolutely amazing. Even the wording comes close. If you get the chance, listen to his speeches on the Democracy Now! website.

One example: in the 1920s, when Britain invaded Iraq, they claimed that if English troops withdrew from the area, it would lead the region to a state of civil war. The actualy speech is well worth a listen, just to hear how closely that situation EIGHTY years ago resembles the situation we are in now. Truly history repeats itself.

You Make the Call

2006-12-22T20:51:00.000+09:00

So, I know it has been ages since I wrote anything, but this is something that has crossed my mind recently and I have been thinking about writign it on here.

I read Guns, Germs, and Steel a while back and Jared Diamond really stressed the importance of the East-West axis in the spreading of materials, foods, culture, etc. So I was thinkign about that and I am kind of fascinated by it. But then I thought of something.

The region at the head of Modern Culture as we recognize of it started in Mesopotamia, with a stint in Egypt, then spread East to Greece, a little more East to Rome, went through ages of stagnation (or Dark) and then moved a bit more East (and North) to England. After that came a big move East to the USA, the current leaders. I know I left out China, but I am thinking in terms of the culture that defines and changes the entire world, not just it's region or continent (no small feat).

Though I look at the USA and I see a nation at the tip of crumbling. I really see the US power and influence waning as the world realizes the extent of the US government's meglomania and the bad affects of US culture and the US way of life (US included). Talk of other countries coming to power and becoming major forces on the world stage in recent years has really focused on one country: China. China lies East of the US. I hope you are catching my point here.

As technology expands, so the power necessary to span great distances decreases. With travel becoming less and less expensive, shipping of goods becomes cheaper and cheaper, meaning the country willing to produce goods for the least amount of money get sthe most production jobs. The internet also helps people produce and create monies without even the hassle of transportation.

Sadly, I am not trying to produce any theory here aside from noticing that World Dominance seems to be moving East bit by bit and the available technology allows that Power to span greater and greater distances. Natural resources are becoming less and less of an obstacle.
I just noticed how World Culture and resource Dominance moved East with the years, though never South (I attribute this to most of the land mass being located above the equator. Think how long it takes to fly from London to L.A and from L.A. to Sydney).

Just some brain candy for you.

Killing My Legs for Beauty

2006-07-17T17:00:00.000+09:00

This weekend I took a hike that I had to take before leaving Biratori. The mountain is called Poroshiri-dake (Mt. Poroshiri) and is absolutely fabulous. It was two nine-hour day hikes taht really killed my legs and made me sweat, but the view, as you can see, was spectaculor. The fog kind of hurt the view, but I actually kind of liked the way you see the tops of some mountains sticking out. Plus, I am happy am time I am above the cloudline.

I'm a little sore and I'll write more elaborately about it later, but it was really great and a fantastic way to spend a long weekend.

Obtuse Female Vocalized

2006-07-13T07:48:00.000+09:00

Well, the World Cup is over with and it was a month of beautiful football and a real show in the best football humans can make (well, male humans, but the Women's World Cup is in two years!). But the thing I am most happy about is that Italy won. A big trend in football (propogated in large part by Nike's Joga Bonita ad campaign) is to look only at offensive play. With the big intesst in freestyle football and the dance that can be done with the ball I don't think it is too much of a shock, but to totally ignore everything else is foolish.

A great example is a DVD I bought called FIFA Fever that highlighted 100 years of the World Cup. They had a section on the best defenders of the World Cup and their best players were all high scoring. But high scoring defenders? That's not their job.

But my point in this is this: Italy won by having a pretty regular offense and a fantastic defense. They only allowed two goals in the entire World Cup, one an own goal and one a spot kick. They never conceeded a real goal in the entire tournament and that is just a phenomenal feat. That fact is being overshadowed by a tired, desperate player lashing out uncharacteristically because he really wanted to end one of the best modern football careers with a World Cup win.

Speaking of that, I've been reading people's ideas about what exactly Materazzi said to Zidane and my favorite one so far is "If I were a ball, how would you put me in the net?"

While it is Technically Pronounced Blaz

2006-07-07T22:03:00.000+09:00

So, Congrees (or, the Senate or representatives to be more specific) wasted time debating falg burning, a perfectly good, protected-with-good-reason right of free speech in the USA. I'm sure everyone has their opinion about this matter, so I figured I would give my two cents as well and follow the herd.

I really do love the USA, or its potential given the state of the nation currently. It allows its citizens numerous freedoms, including the freedom to criticize it publicly, which is a massive freedom that shoul dnot be taken lightly nor ever negated. One of the great things about the USA is its rights anbd its willingness to realize the inalienabiltiy of those rights toevery citizen withint the state.

The flag is the symbol of those rights and should be treadted with respect. I do like the tradition of not letting the flag touch the ground, for example. I think the citizens of a state that allows them such freedoms (on paper at least, seeing where the USA might go to) should tkae some care to show respect to an institution that allows them those freedoms. But as this paragraph states in the beginning, the flag is symbol of those rights, ont thoe rights themselves. If we let a symbol of our rights overshadow our rights, then we aren't appreciating our rights as citizens of a free state, and that is far more of a crime to me than disrespecting a mere symbol of those rights.

So, all in all, I am and have always ben for flag-burning. Expressing discontent or the state of our nation can be the most patriot way to support a nation, provided their is honoralbe intent and worthy criticism behind the protest. I tihnk now more than ever flag-burning should take palce, not as a sign of disrespect towards the USA, but as a sign of repsect and desire to keep the freedoms that said state offers its citizens. That the Senate is even discussing making the idea of expressing an opinion of the state illegal to its citizens infuriates me more than anything and causes me to lose more faith in the nation than any act deemed unpatriotic by media of Congress. They have lost all perspective.

A Wonderful Way to Kill an Hour

2006-06-21T00:07:00.000+09:00

Search on the internet for a game called Luxor. It's grand. I only got to play the trial version, which one only gets to play for an hour, but it was an hour well spent in my opinion. Something about it just gets me. I want to play.....and play......and play....

In other news, I started sleeping in the afternoons to catch the World Cup games. It took about a week and a hlaf to get used to, but it is oh so worth it. Huzzah for good football!

Been Down So Long

2006-06-15T07:26:00.000+09:00

Okay, so there has been no posting for a long, long time. There is a good reason, though, and that reason is the most entertaining sporting event on this planet, The World Cup.

Even though the games run from 10PM to 6AM here due to the time difference, I have only missed three games and now that my sleep schedule should be in order, that should be all (save for two games when friends from Tokyo will be up).

So far, The Wordl Cup has been phenomenal. The first of three rounds of qualifiers are over, so every team has played one game and it is a pleasure to watch. The first and foremost thing that makes this World Cup great is more a trend in football itself, which is it becoming even more of a world sport. Football is arguably THE sport of Earth and with media and foreign countries getting more and more accessible, the quality of football of smaller nations is skyrocketing. For example, pretty much all of the African countries are really kicking ass this year. Especially the Ivory Coast. Beautiful play!

The one country that does fall out of that is the US, though. Last year's World Cup and the great performances of the national squad all came to naught last week as they forgot how to play football and came out and played soccer. It was pathetic. I was ashamed to be a US footballer. Hopefully it is a fluke and they don't really suck THAT badly, but they played like the '94 or '98 team, not like a team of this century. If they planned on playing this bad, they should have put Adu on the reserves list and brought him out halfway through the matches to get him some World Cup experience for 2010.

So, if you aren't watching the World Cup, do it. If you aren't a football fan, give a couple of games a watch. There is a reason it is so popular, because it is fast paced, non-stop, highly tactical and very dependednt on various skills and the ability to improvise with a tried body. Just look at how much the players sweat.

Oh yeah, one thing that I noticed about this World Cup. A lot of the major teams gave bad shows (England, Holland) and a lot of smaller teams really came and kicked some ass (Ivory Coast). The gap between teams is really small this year and that makes for some great matches. Now, if only the refs could be consistent and fair, because I have seen about four matches I consider reffed competently.

Pele and Beckham Have Nothing on This

2006-05-31T23:18:00.000+09:00

Hehehe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGiw9dF-4j0&search=football

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

2006-05-31T23:07:00.000+09:00

I was bored and decided to look up football clips on Youtube.com and there is a whole series on the MLS. If you type in MLS 2006 there should be a whole series of highlights from the leauge. Quick sequiter, but the UsA is ranked 4th in the World according to FIFA (whose majopr sponsor is Coke, a US company) and I always thought that was total bullshit, but now I think it is less bullshit. The US doesn't deserve to be ranked 4th in the world, but the clips from the MLS - remember, this is without the overseas players - were pretty impressive.

What I saw was some really good through passes, some nice nice volleys, and some really nice attacking and passing football, which is right up my alley. I love good passing football. The only probelm is that such good passing came from horrible, absolutely horrendous defence. If the US really wants to get good on the world level, they need to work on defence and goalkeeping. There was some truly horrendous defence.

One guy who really stuck out to me and is sadly not a citizen of the US is New England Revolution Midfielder Shalrie Joeseph. His placement in the box and his heading was spot on. It's a shame he plays for Grenada on the national level, the US already has enough good forwards, they could use some more good midfielders. Though what they really need are some defenders. At least the national team defenders all play overseas. That at least means there is hope.

World Cup starts in two weeks!!!! I'm would love to see Argentina win, but the team I am most excited to see is The Netherlands. I doubt they will win, but they do consistently play solid football and their squad this year looks really nice. But, oh, no Davids. Other teams I want to see are Czech Republic, Australia, and Ivory Coast. Not that I think they will blow anyone's mind (maybe not the Czechs), but I think they are getting underrated (again, maybe not the Czechs. But leave it to a Blaskowsky to say that.)

M&M...and M?

2006-05-11T20:08:00.000+09:00

3M continues to be one of the coolest companies. The list of stuff they have invented (well, patented at least) is impressive, and it just got coller with Novec 1230 . Need a punk rock fire extinguisher? Look no further. I saw a video of someone dropping thier mobile phone in a tank of it and it still worked afterwards. It doesn't even soak newspaper. Tow words: Hell yeah.

Kind of More Lame than Cool

2006-05-01T16:59:00.000+09:00

This is the back jacket of the Cibo Matto CD. It's alright, but the best I could do before I have to give it to Miho. The guy getting his haircut comes from a notepad I have that has Hokkaido slang on it. It reads "indenaikai" (the first letter should be pronounced like the "e" is "she") So the cover isn't the best, but it works well enough. Hopes she likes it!

Whammy

2006-05-01T16:58:00.000+09:00

I wasn't quite happy with the front cover of the Cibo Matto mix, so I added two lines. I tihnk it is much better now.

Like Twix, but no Usher. Ever.

2006-04-27T22:57:00.000+09:00

I've been pretty bored with my nights recently and I'm cutting down on my video games. A feind of mine asked for music so I burned him some CDs and decided to make a mix. Well, I still had more time, so I decidede to make a fun cover. It's really enjoyable, actually. Just break out the magazines and some glue and go to it. He's a footballer too and inot movies, hence the footballers and Danny Darko. The Japanese reads "Yoroshiku", but the kanji are different, so it's kind of like a Japanese pun. They mean "night", "dew" (and Russia, becusae it makes to 'ro' of the kanji for Russia. If you think that is weird, the abbreviated kanji for the USA means 'rice country' It's a long story.), "death", and "hardship". The meanings really don't matter, it's just for fun. Japanese people (and kanji geeks) eat it up.

Back it Up

2006-04-27T22:55:00.000+09:00

Here's the back of that mix. It pretty much all comes from the bar code, which I ripped off a bag of popcorn. It's awesome, though. Congrats to the 100 en popcorn comany that decided to have fun with their barcode. I wish more companies would do that.

Way More than a Thousand Flowers

2006-04-27T22:53:00.000+09:00

This is the Cibo Matto one. I'm still working on the back cover. Something about this design I really like, though. The picture is of UA (an all out awesome Japanese female vocalist).

I'm not Trying to Brag, I'm Just Happy

2006-04-27T21:13:00.000+09:00

I was in my school today and was studying some. I got kind of tired so I walked around the very small office and do what I always do when I get bored (which happens all too often), which is try to read stuff. One of my favorite things to read is one of these, the monthly plan of events for the school. Well, today I realized I could understand every single thing on the board! I felt so in on events. Granted, there isn't much (but the school only has one student, come on), ubt I'm still happy about it.

Ummm......

2006-04-19T21:22:00.000+09:00

So, exactly how good is Ronaldinho? This good. (I don't really think he can do that. Something must be up. No one is that incredible at football. Actually, i just saw a higher qualiyt version and I'll be damned, but he can actually do that. Fuck me running.)

I know, no post recently. I suck. Actually, I'm too busy playing Final Fantasy.

Okay, quick tangent. I wish they would take the play clock off of RPGs. I looked at the play clock recently and it said I had played FF12 for 50 hours. That's an accumulated time of over two days straight playing a video game. Imagine how good one could be at any skill - drawing, Japanese, any instrumnet - if one spent fifty hours on it. Square Soft must want to make me feel like a loser. Too bad I'm addicted.....

Speaking a Language Never Before Studied

2006-04-05T21:33:00.000+09:00

I just saw The Excorcist last night again and in this scene I noticed sometihng. See the banner above the window that says "Tasukete!"? Keep in mind, too, that this scene is a couple of minutes before the scene where the preist, the rabbi, and the shiek all walk into a bar.... oh wait. Nevermind. It's before the scene where the girl has "Help Me" written on her stomach.

I mention this becuase "tasukete" is Japanese for "Help me!", so it's kind of a little joke they played for themselves. Haha. Hehe.

You Just Missed the Masochist

2006-03-07T21:06:00.000+09:00

If you want to see a great example of a run-of-the-mill fright thriller that kind of sucks (now, doesn't that sound appealing?) then go see Mindhunters. I watched it today, well, I won't ever watch it again.

You know when people do really stupid shit in thrillers? Well, all these people are really dumb in the movie (things like: "One of us is the killer, so let's make pairs and search the place.") and the worst part is they are all on thier last mission as CIA recruits. I hope it isn't representative of realy CIA agents-to-be, but the CIA does get headed by people ilke Henry Kissenger and George Bush.

Speaking of Bush - though not the fahter - there is news that some video footage is about that shows him being briefed about Katrina coming and warned that it could be very dangerous for the area. Maybe if they said an Al-Quedaian butterfly had flapped it's wings in Afghanistan he would have acted, who knows.

By the by, I think I decided on my tattoo, after years of thinking about it. I think it'll be the Mandelbrot Set on my left peck. What do you think?

Hebi Shit, Man

2006-02-23T18:56:00.000+09:00

This is it, the first novel I have ever read in Japanese. I finished it at work today (work was so goddamn boring, I hate Board of Education days) and I'm pretty happy to have finally read a full on novel in Japanese. I'm slowly working my way up to Murakami Haruki, which I could probably go ahead and start in on next, but I think I am going to try to read Narnia, since I want to see the movies and haven't yet read the book.

It did take me a chunk of time, probably five or six times longer than if I had read the translation, though I may still read it to see how passages were translated and mood was set and all that fun stuff. The only probelm with the book is that it kind of sucks. It's about a girl who decides at the whim of her boyfriend to get her tongue split like a snake and when she goes to get a pierce and tattoo, ends up going back and again and sleeping with the tattoo artist. A love triangle insues and she gets really wishy-washy about which guy to go with. But all in all, not realy worth the read, I think. Plus, the title should be "Snakes and Piercings", not "snakes and earrings", but in Japanese earrings and body piercings are both called "piasu", so one can see why the naming went awry.

But anyways, huzzah! More books to come and hopefully I will slowly get faster and faster. This was brought upon becuase on my Japanese Test, grammar and reading comprehension were by far my weakest spots, so this and reading the newspaper (I started reading at least one full story in the daily paper at school) should help me out come December for the next level. I will ganbaru!

Gap Phrase English

2006-02-22T21:20:00.000+09:00

Todya at my school one of the kids asked me if I was a "cherry boy". Then he pointed to a girl and said "she's a cherry girl." (kudos to him for pronoun agreement), then asked me if I thought cherry was delicious. Kinda of a wierd way to start lunch, if you ask me.

Now, he's only twelve or so, so he had no idea what cherry boy or cherry girl meant, so it was just something he learned from TV. It was funny enough, especially since it was the first thing he said after "hi".

On a side note, if oyu have never seen The Office, watch it. I'm completely addicted to it.

Now, if they had Some Rockets, Some Real Danger Would Exist

2006-02-17T07:17:00.000+09:00

Iw as watching Snowboard Cross on the Olympics last night and that is one fun sport to watch. The qualifyings were just time races, but for the finals, they race a track four at a time, just like Motorcross, but on snowboards (hence, Snowboard Cross). It's quite exciting to watch. The men's are finished, so check out the womens.

Just like Tupac

2006-02-16T23:48:00.000+09:00

If you haven't sene what The Daily Show is doing with Cheney's hunting accident, it is god-damn hilarious. I was cracking up last night watching it.

Check out the videos called "#2 With a Bullet", "Dead-Eye Dick", and "VP Firearms Mishap Analyst" and I suggest that oreder, too. It's all at

http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml

and it will have you laughing your ass off.

And The Winner Is.....

2006-02-13T20:47:00.000+09:00

So I got my results for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test today. I took the second-hardest test and am slightly proud to say that I have now "...mastered grammar toa relitiely high lvevl, knows about 1,000 kanji and 6,000 words, and has the ability to converse, read, and write about matters of a general nature." I might contest them on the 6,000 words part, though.

It was no grand victory, however. I barely passed the mark, and got about twenty points less than I thought I did on a conservative estimate. So, kind of "Yeah!", kind of "Fuck!" This means that I have to study really hard for the next ten months if I want t decent try at level one, which is mastered all grammar (my weak point) and knows 2,000 kanji (I can do) and 10,000 words (er, maybe). Pretty much, I need to find a tutor and buckle down on grammar. I need to watch more TV; it's really good listening practice, but I just don't find TV interesting very often. So, I need to develop a way to get better at Japanese in the next ten months, or at least enough where I feel confident to kick some ass on the hardest third-party assessment of Japanese language ability out there. Hahaha....

Five Rings for Seven Continents

2006-02-11T23:17:00.000+09:00

So the Olympics have started!!! I really like the Olympics, it's fun to watch. I did a survey of my seventh graders and only half of them planned on watching. I was kind of dissapoined. I am also slightly dissapointed at the TV stations' plans to show events. No ice hockey will be shown, nor bobsled becuase Japan sucks at them.
Now, I can understnad why stations aren't showing the events that Japan sucks at, but the Olympics, to me, are not about showing what your country can do well. To me, the Olympics are about showing the abilit of human potential and devotion. Fo rexample, the Women's mougls are on now. These women have trained for years, practicing really hard, to be given thirty seconds to prove themselves as the best. Anyone who is really good at anything will tell you it is somewhere around 10% talent and 90% effort. The Olympics, to me, are about showing how people can be so devoted to something as to spend so much time improving themselves to be considered the best in the world. To being recognized fort hat because a particular country sucks at that event is kind of egotistical to me.
Sorry, that was just on my mind. The whole idea that you have one chance to make your trainging culminate in a once-every-four-years event really speaks to the human ambition to me and I think can make people say "if that person can devote themselves to one thing so wholly, then I can too". Or so I hope so. I would hope that thought prevails over "Let's beat the shit out of Iceland!"

Both are Calssics

2006-02-10T17:00:00.000+09:00

While I would never actually buy the music, I will listen to it free. Think The Minibosses meets Beethoven.

http://www.videogamepianist.com./index.php?id=audio

Ummmm....DAMN

2006-02-08T23:35:00.000+09:00

My friend Blake clued me into this guy. Trust me, watch it. At first I thought he was a Capoeiratista who entered into a break battle, but I tihnk it's just a b-boy who learned his Capoeira well. Either way, holy shit.

My Ass-Kicking Sister

2006-02-08T23:33:00.000+09:00

My sister has just made awebsite, so go check it out here. If you don't know, my sister has an amazing voice and is just an awesome person in general. Go check out her website and pictures, but ignore the "My ultimate homeboys..." commment. She was obviously eating from the more fermented of the cheeses when she wrote that.

Not Checked Before Wrecked

2006-02-04T17:54:00.000+09:00

So, I like snowboarding, yeah? It's fun, I have a good itme. Sometimes I even have a good time, crazy that. Now I am good enough that I can start taking some of the smaller big-air jumps, so of course I try it. But this means that when I go snowboarding I now, in some aspect, pay someone a lot of money to let me hurt myself. Let me explain:

The usual routine is to hit trails and off-trail stuff for a couple of hours, then hit the jumps and practice before breaking for lunch. But I fall. Oh, do I fall. I can land straight jumps if I'm not going too fast and I am going to start trying for things like 180s and stuff, which will most certainy increase the attempt to Ow ratio signifigantly. But jupming up the air and landing it is so fun! I can't stop.

There was no real reason to this post, so feel free to skip it, but only after reading this far.

So, in summary: I'm an idiot becuase I pay people to let me hurt myself when I could easily do it at home for free, but I am carrying on a proud family tradition by being a Blaskowsky Bomber.

P.S. Mom, don't worry. Nothing is broken, just sore.

Listen Up!

2006-02-01T19:22:00.000+09:00

American Analog Set fucking rock! Listen to them!

You Can lead a Norse to Water,

2006-02-01T17:22:00.000+09:00

My brother sent me an article today, with a very bizzarre fact. Well, make that two. One for viking helmets, one for Bjork. But thor all it's worth, it could be norse, yeah?

I guess the lack of mass amounts of large-scale manufacturing and the reliance on imports would drive the cost up, but it still makes me think "Get the Val-hell-a outta here!" Okay, that last one was a stretch.

And the Pillows have Another Album Out, Indeed

2006-01-31T18:06:00.000+09:00

So I've been mulling about the idea of growing a beard for the last month (not mulleting about, thankfully) and I decided to just go ahead and do it. I was just kind of in the mood to do it, plus it'll keep my face warm for snowboarding.

Most of my students think it is neat, though they are probably more jealous than anything. One of my students saw it and immediately asked what I though about shaving it off. One person in my office said I look like a wild man, which is funny to me for some reason. I guess one could say I looked like a mountain man, which would be like Yama-otoko in Japanese. If I reverse those, it's Otoko-yama, a good brand of sake, so count me in.

The Pillows have a new album out I have yet to pick up, and you should check out Sufjan Stevens' "Come on! Feel the Illinoise" It's pretty rocking and he is trying to make an album for each state in the nation, which is a phenomenal goal that he can probably actually do. And he makes them good albums! Amazing. I wonder if he'll beat the quarters to completion.......

A Room with a View

2006-01-11T17:15:00.000+09:00

I went to Kobe for Chrstmas and one extra day, staying at my friend Miyuki's house. This is the view from her house (the thing blocking the view on the left is not a wall, as one would assume, but actually her father's wallet). Impressive, no? I had a fantastic time. I really like Kobe; it reminds me of a mix of San Frasisco, Souel, and Seattle. It's really fanshionable and metropolitan. I probably wouldn't ever live there, but I think I'll do my fair share of visiting in the future.

The next two shots are at night and my camera kind of sucks at night, so sorry they are a bit blurry. By the by, Miyuki is the one on the right, Atsumi is the one on the left.

We Don't Need no Stinkin' Night View!

2006-01-11T17:13:00.000+09:00

We didn't go to the extremely famous Kobe night view becuase, as you can see, there was no need. I've never really been too much for night view's anyways, but I still think i prefer Hakodate's. The whole city sprwaling about you form a central point is really nice. This just feels like "Damn, that's a lot of city." Perhaps if I were a Roman emporer things would be different....

Somehow It Still Does

2006-01-11T17:10:00.000+09:00

This is the view from Kobe Harbour. It might be the tower (you can see it from Miyuki's house in the first picture, it is abou tin the middle of the shot), but this really reminded me of Seattle. Again, check out Kobe. I'm looking forward to checking it out, as well as Osaka. If only there were time!

More Comics. Yes, I know.

2005-12-20T17:34:00.000+09:00

These two are funny. I have recently really been laughing at Killer Robots from Outer Space.

Another good one is Slow Wave. Some people have some really strange dreams. I have wierd dreams from time to time, but nothing like baker hooker cookies.

Oh, consequently, if you want to have some really bizzarre dreams, try this: go to sleep and set an alarm for two hours later. Wkae up and stay awake for about 45 minutes to an hour, then go back to sleep. You'll have some really intense, off-the-wall dreams. Quite fun.

Buyuden

2005-12-20T17:25:00.000+09:00

"Buyuden" (Boo-you-den) means epic tale or legend, but in a great warrior kind of way. Like, the story of King Arthur is most definitely Buyuden. It realtes to these two guys, the group known as Oriental Radio. They are two comedians who are fucking funny. It's really fast-paced, straight man / joke man humor, but the timig of the jokes is really tight and the jokes are pretty funny themselves.

The whole premise is that A-chan (the guy without glasses) says a line about something he has done (something from the incredible Buyuden that is his life), like "I went to a hip salon and got my head shaved" and the other guy (who before hand has been saying how cool A-chan is) says a line that makes A-chan look dumb, like "Wow! You could have just done that at home!" LIke anything comedic, retelling or analyzition kills the humor and it is best just seen. BUt I've been watching a lot of it and it's god damn funny.

Ohisashiburi

2005-12-19T17:16:00.000+09:00

Sorry it has been a long time since I have written anything, but I'm lazy. I did go snowboarding again yesterday and the snow was absolutely fantasic. Knee and in some plces waist high powder and nice steep hills. Ahhh, beautiful (and don't worry Mom, I didn't hit any trees. Juts buildings.)

In addition to that, there are only three more days of work before I get one more days of snowboarding and then the very same night boarding a ferry to go to Kobe ot see my friend Miyuki. I can't wait; I've heard really good tihngs about Kobe. It is suppossed ot be a really beautiful city and the night view is said to be the best in Japan. We'll see.

Christmas is coming, so I've had to do lots of speeches about Christmas and what it means and all that fun jazz. And how we don't eat cake for Christmas. Christmas cake is really big here, it's practically the stockings and eggnog (try to explain that to Japanese people. You get a very interesting face.) of the Japanese Christmas. Well, that and KFC.

Huzzah!!!!

2005-12-07T21:48:00.000+09:00

It's over! It's over! The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is over! I can now spend the next month goofing off on holiday and playing video games at nights! Yes!!!! My friend Katsuhiko also just lent me his copy of Shadow of the Giant, so I can spend every night playing it until my eyes bleed. Ahhh, the joy of it.

I hit my first day of snowboard up on Monday as well, which was really cool. I went to Niseko, which is known as one of the best resorts in Hokkadio (it seemed a fitting place for the first day of snowboarding) and had a nice day of it. It had been a few days since the last snow, so the top of the snow had melted and frozen over a bit, but the powder off the trails was still cool.

Aaaaaaannnnd, I did my first flip! It was completely on acccident because I hit a small tree, but I still did a complete backflip over the tree and landed upright on my board perpendicular to the run. It was pretty cool. Plus I got to try out the new jacket I picked up this year and it rocks. Canadian brand Dub Tribe, thank you.

Aside from that, there was two days of a JET conference, so I got to see all my friends and Karen, Laura, and I all went to see Kerd ma Lui, staring the absolutely insane Chupong Changprung, of Ong-bak fame. If you haven't seen Ong-bak, go rent it now. Today. Absolutely fucking amazing. These guys do some of hte most insane stunts I have ever seen. Kerd ma Lui (called "Born to Fight" in English) is more about stunts than Ong-Bak was and the stunts they do are just absolutely maniacal. Seriously, things like throwing people off of moving semis to throwing people into trees, kicking people off of platforms onto poles that they then spin around, and flinging themselves off of motorbikes into flaming walls. It is just draw-jopping. Just so you know, it does get rather violent, but it is completely worth it. Oh yeah, and during the stunts, there are no wires or CG effects, it's all done real as seen.

Yeah, so that was about it. For the next two weeks I'm just going to read, play video games, and do school until the 23rd when I catch a boat to Kobe to see some friends. I can't wait!

We Need Singing Penguins

2005-12-01T22:32:00.000+09:00

Do you know these two? They're getting married! Yes, my very own sister is getting married!!!!!!! Her fiancee's name is Dylan, and while i have only ever talked to him for about ten minutes over the phone, she has prime choice in men, so if he's the one, then the one he is (and he is, as Alexa's grandmother likes to say, quite a tall glass of water) and I'm excited to get to know my futyre brother....in....law. Wow, that sounds kind of weird.

Anyways, those are not the only two getting married; Caleb is as well! It's crazy, everyone who I am extremely close to is getting or is already married: Caleb, Sarah, Laurel, Jildo, and Blake might as well be married. I don't even have a grilfriend! Arghh.....

Anyways, the second best part of these people getting married is that I get to see them, a fact which makes me very excited. I'll get to see all my friends and family and spend some time just relaxing in the States.

As for what's new, Sunday is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, so wish me luck. I've been studying my ass off, so I should have a good chance of passing. Ganbaru.

By the by, Cristin, the musical is Guys and Dolls and I got the role of Benny. Not horrible, and the cast is full of great people.

As the Fields Sway

2005-11-21T18:00:00.000+09:00

Sorry it has been a long time since I have written anything, but there is a reason. I have been busy! Yes, with the Japanese Language Proficiency Test coming up, I have been studying like a man possessed. This month I am focusing on kanji and hopefully by Wednesday I will have all of the kanji I need to know. That leaves two weeks for review and practice and then the test.

The test happens on December 4th, so I am taking the next day off and going snowboarding. The test is in Sapporo and I figure after the test I will want a drink to either congragulate an effort well made or something to drown out sorrow. But I'm pretty sure it'll be the former.

Today at work, there was the Women's Conference. While I would usually be quite happy to be in the same biulding with The Women's Conference, since this is back-water Japan it means 70-year oldw omen gathering to listen to a speaker and eat lunch. After lunch comes the tradiaitonal two-hour karaoke fest. I brought CDs into my office and listened ot them instead, but the standards were all played, including Matsuken Samba. Listen to some of the clips and please do watch the videos. It's all this guy does now and old people eat it up.

This time was actually okay because they really rocked some variety. There was the tradiaitonal enka (what Englebert Humperdink would sing were he born a Japanese man), but they really worked the ropes this time and did both opera and yoddleing (I shit you not. It was so damn funny to listen to). They weren't back-to-back, but it didi make me say "Wait a second, is that opera/yoddleing?!?"

I'm going to sit down and watch Kung-Fu Hustle now, right after I read today's Joe and Monkey.

Oh! One more thing. My friend Jeb lent me Damian Marley's new album, and it is nice. Check it out. And he is touring, so check the live show out, too.

Nothing to Say at All

2005-11-14T19:41:00.000+09:00

Ummmmm, nothing really has been happening much with me. I'm in a musical and we had rehearsals last weekend. That was all good and fun and it'll be nice to get to performa musical again, even if I didn't get the part I was hoping for (cse la vie).

Snow hasn't come yet, and I'm just about out of virgins. I don't have too many lambs either, wso it had better fall soon. Plus the cleaning bill is just killing me.

If at any time you thought you were hardcore, then check this out. on a related note, I once saw on TV a short documentary about a unicycle dancer (i don't know what the sport is actually called), but pretty much he did what one does as a figure skater, but on a unicycle. If you have any clue what I am talking about or can find it, please let me know.

Lastly, this would rock. No doubt about it. It would just rock.

Ggggrrrrrrrrrrr.........................

2005-10-29T00:05:00.000+09:00

Sorry all, but all these spam comment things really irk me. Here I think that one of my friends or family has posted some nice comment and lo and behold, it is just someone i know not trying to get me to see thier blog about doghouses. Suck.
So to the two people who do actually write comments, my apologies. The rest of you, post damnit!

'Appy 'Alloween, Pip

2005-10-27T19:16:00.000+09:00

My job has good days and bads days to it, like all jobs do, but today was one of my favorites. Halloween being around the corner, I get to carve a jack-o-lantern. I get a free pupmkin and when one of my Board of Education days comes up, I get to get paid to make a jack-o-lanter. Make money money.
So, here is this years effort. I thought I would take the morning and carve it and then study in the afternoon, but this took me all days. from 10Am to 4 PM I was carving carving carving. What did I find out? I really like carving pumpkins and next time I am frying, not baking pumpkin seeds.

Deeky

2005-10-27T17:16:00.000+09:00

The Illumination. Ooooooooo.........

Huzzah to Internationalization!

2005-10-27T15:16:00.000+09:00

If you couldn't make the face out, this is what I copied. The pumpkin is just massive and one whole sideis flat, so I have a nice oval. I thought it would be fun to carve a kabuki jack-o-lantern (a toru-o-lantern, perhaps?) and what do you know, it was.

I'm pretty happy with it, save the nose is a bit too small for me. (P.S. check out The Rakes)

Happy Hallowen!

A Kitty? Not Quite

2005-10-17T18:51:00.000+09:00

I belong to a sake club that once a month gathers and drinks fine, fine sake. This past weekend we all traveled down to the main island to Akita Prefecture for a tour of sake plants. How could I pass it up?! Above is the gang of ruffians.

The tour was quite good. It was nice going to see the sake making process and tasting all the sake. Having four different types lined up next to each other really helped me understand how sakes can differ.

The people in my sake club are lushes that would make the Irish fumble, and the tour reflected this. I followed suit and the tour can be wrapped with this and the following pictures:

I Came

2005-10-17T18:48:00.000+09:00

I Drank

2005-10-17T18:46:00.000+09:00

It Conquered

2005-10-17T18:45:00.000+09:00

Wield This Fucker Drunk, the Try the Sword

2005-10-17T18:22:00.001+09:00

It was not all sake sake sake, however. One of the breweries (good luck telling people about this one, Mom) had a museum of either an old samurai who had ties with it, or something like that. I didn't quite catch it all. But that aside they erected (good luck telling people about this one, random 13-year old boys) a museum with all sorts of goods. Hairpins, pen holders, a suit of armor, and - in my opinion the best of all - this sword and stand. The stand just blows me away. As with all good things, the picture does it no justice, but if you imagine what this could have looked like behind glass, it was, ah ............ just, .................yeah.

Kind of Like Something at Dinseyland, but Completely Different

2005-10-17T18:21:00.001+09:00

In the back room of this museum, there was this book. Brought over from Holland in the 1700s, it is an anatomy book that goes into very thurough deatil of the human body. It was really cool and a nice document of the early contact beweet Japan and the outside world.

Adam and Eeeeeeewwve

2005-10-17T18:21:00.000+09:00

They went for the whole body. It was really cool to see all of this in Japanese and these really old documents. Some of the other people in the group, inspired by the man on the left, couldn't even bear to watch the photst; they didn't have the stomach for it, I guess.

Give 'Em a

2005-10-16T18:21:00.000+09:00

One of my favorite pictures was of this hand. The detail is just amazing and it just makes me wonder what the medical conditions were like back then. Probably about as good as my tool shed's (note: I have no tool shed), but at least the pencils were sharp.

It's not That I Have Nothing Better to Do, I Swear

2005-10-12T22:59:00.000+09:00

I saw this recently. Aside from the head getting cut off at the end, it is kind of scary how well coreographed it is. It's a dark kind of entertaining taht I kind of want to watch again.

Also, the invincible Locke told me about emusic.com. Check it out.

Okay, time ot go watch some football. Japan vs. Ukraine, my brotha'!

Lovebirds

2005-10-10T18:11:00.001+09:00

This last week, I was lucky enough to have a wonderful reason to take half a week off work to play with Andrew and his new bride, Ericka. After a month of an Asia-touring honeymoon they gladly let me impose on their honeymoon to play in Hokkaido. If oyu want to see pictures and hear about thier phenomenal honeymoon (you do), click here. It makes my travel bug run circles. We had three days of good Sapporo fun, eating, hanging out, and helping Ericka get over her cold.

Karaoke? No, it was Kara-fantastic

2005-10-10T18:10:00.001+09:00

The three of us started our night off with excessive amounts of bad singing. Karaoke it was, and even though they put us in the farthest room with shitty mics (I feel cheated), we still made the best of it. It's a shame I can't show videos through this blog, because the Justin Timberlake was oh so romantic and the Hammer was unspeakable. Just plain fun with watered down cocktails, who needs more?

Runny Noses Abound!

2005-10-10T18:10:00.000+09:00

Our last escapade of the night was to hit the streets of infamous with one mission: hand out tissues! One advertising tactic in Japan is to hand out tissues on the street to people with an advert for your company tucked inside. Well, ever since seeing these I have wanted to do it, just for one day. Ericka had a slight cold, which worked out well, since she accumulated 16 packs. Graciously giving six to me, I het the streets and accomplished the mission! It was fun,I got lots of statres, one guy saying "Are you for real? You have to be joking" (in Japanese), and one person just saying "no" (in English). Next step: to get the day job for real and make some yen!

Also going on: Harvey Danger put out a third album, which they are offering for free to download on their website. Nice of them and I hope their tactic works.

Also, I have been wondering if this movie was available in the states and it is. As bad as this title may be, ya'll must go see Ong Bak: Thai Warrior. The story is nothing to write about (even though I just did), but it's a Kung-Fu (Mui Thai) flick, what do you expect? What one should watch action films for is stunts and cool martial arts. This has both in excess. The stunts are just fantastic and the martial arts are phenomenal. And to boot? No wires, no special effects. Whatever you see is what this guy can do unasissted. Trust me, rent it.

A Harem of Discontent

2005-09-28T22:48:00.000+09:00

So, I've been not posting for a while. Bad Blaz, bad Blaz. But, at least I have two really good recomendations.

First, check the new Minus the Bear album, Menos el Oso. They have yet to write a song that I don't want to listen to (in three albums and one ep! Only Cake and Cibo Matto have done something so spectacular). The only way it really differs is that this is the only album where I'm not too sure how the song titles link up to the song's concept. That's the odd thing if you know anything about Minus the Bear, becaus while I know in what way "I Lost all My Money at the Cockfights" relates to the song, I have no clue how "Drilling" or "The Fix" tie into the songs. Who knows?

And if you are like me, this though has gone throuhg your head: "I love my hip-hop, but there just isn't enough polish in it. Where can I find Polish Hip-hop?" Sinner be saved! Grammatik is here to fill the dark void of your heart! I have no clue what they are saying, but they do kick much ass and I love a' listen' to 'em. You should too. Check them out!

Pacting a cRAFT

2005-09-25T23:45:00.000+09:00

So this summer I went white-water rafting for the first time. Does it rock?

HELL YES!!!!

Do it! Seriously! Even though the guide kind of made fun of me at first, it was still loads of fun! Next year's goal? Sky-diving (if my own mother has done and yet not me, well, then, I have no excuse, yeah?)
Rafting was loads of fun and one of the teachers I went with is going to go in the winter with me to go snowshoesing and build and igloo. How do you spell iglloo? P-U-N-K R-O-C-K. that's right.

Either that or blubber.

Another Boring Blog Routing a Not Boring Website

2005-09-21T22:11:00.000+09:00

Ingenuity be funny, yo!

Making 11-Year Olds Depressed

2005-09-20T23:05:00.000+09:00

There is no way this kid won't be famous.

2005-09-12T16:56:00.000+09:00

dggsafdg

Almost as Interesting as FInding Out How Much Andrew Webster Changed English

2005-09-09T19:38:00.000+09:00

I started reading a book about how humans acquire language and it looks to be pretty good. One thing I love about books on language is that they are chock full of interesting things. Here's some:

Bernarnd Shaw, in complaining about the haphazard spelling of English, made the claim that one could allegedly spell 'fish' as 'ghoti' ( 'gh' like in tough, 'o' like in women, and 'ti' like in nation).
Noam Chomsky is the only living person in the list of the top ten most cited writers.
Whereas English only has we, Cherokke has sperate pronouns for "you and I', 'someone else and I', 'several other people and I', and "you, one or more other people, and I".
In Kivunjo, a Bantu language, the genders (declentions) of nouns total sixteen, differentiating human, animal, extended objects, clusters of objects, body parts, and more. (Romantic language learners breathe relief.)
When analyzing grammatically (in common usage) acceptable sentences in languages, working-class people rate the highest, over middle-class speakers of a language. The most grammatically incorrect? Speakers at academic conferences.
Lily Tomlin kicks ass. Why? This is a quote of hers: "Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."

If any of the above are wrong, this is just what has been conveyed to me through a book, so I trust that the author did the appropriate researcha nd it was double-checked. Also, you should find out more about sign language. The more I understand the way it works, the more fascinating it is. If you think it resembles Enligsh in any way then you know nothing about it. It's truly fascinating.

Why was Oscar so Pissed All the Time? You Would too if you had a Hand up Your Ass All the Time

2005-09-06T16:44:00.000+09:00

Thanks to my rockin' sister's recommendation, I've been listening to the soundtrack to this musical. It seems rather bizarre and pretty much like if Seasame Street decided to openly make kids evil, instead of the more underhanded methods propsed by Mr. Chapelle.

Either way, I'm using one of the songs to audition for the Hokkaido Jet musical. Not sure which one yet, but either "What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?" or "Shadenfreude" (If you don't know this word, its a German word meaning 'taking pleasure in other people's pain". How entirely German is that?) I kind of want to do "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist"or "The Internet is for Porn", but both are team efforts (however much of a solo-act the latter may imply). Zannen.

Where are the Penguins?

2005-09-04T17:32:00.000+09:00

This must be said:

Congradualtions on getting married, Mr. Andrew Walters!!!!

Yes, the infamous Spokane rocker got hitched to a presumably wonderful girl. They're off on Monday to travel Asia for a month or so and all the best to them. When they swing by Tokyo I'll be there to meet her and see them both. Should be loads of fun, but painting a town that in one measly weekend? Surely impossible.

Far More thatn ConTENT

2005-09-04T02:19:00.000+09:00

Last weekend was all about camping and dancing all night. Some friends and I went and saw Goa Gil play a 23 hour set (apparently that is about his normal time for a set) in this wonderfully beautiful outside campsite. Everyone there was no nice and chilled-out; we met loads of very nice people and had an awesome time. Must do outdoor raves again. Quite the good time.

It's not the Treble that Makes me Tremble

2005-09-04T02:17:00.000+09:00

Two weeks ago I went to a three-day rock concert which was just primo. All the bands were just incredible (save Crazy Ken Band, damn them). A highlihgt for sure was this girl, the bassist for Losalios. She was, in fact continues to be, an incredible bassist both in skill and the fact that she does something akin to dirty dancing with abass while playing it. If there is anytihng that will make me fall in love with a woman, that's pretty much it. Basically, if they have a concert, I'm there, in the front asking for her number. I doubt I will be the only one.

As Mike D Said, I'm Comparable to Club Med

2005-09-04T01:57:00.000+09:00

Hi, sorry it has been so long since a last post (at least a month, yeah?), but my recent business combined with my laziness has compounded to only make posting stuff harder to do. ubt above are some pictures of the two festivals I went to this month. The states was just lovely; it was so incredibley nice to see my family and friends and reset in a sense.
Sorry there isn't much to write. I've met most of you reading this, so there is little to say. Just look at the pictures and have fun, yeah? If you want to know more, write a borther. Information you will get (quick by the by: in the Japanese language version of Star Wars, Yoda's sentence structure is just like everyone else. How is that Yoda? What the fuck? But trust me, translating that style of speech would be so damn hard, I understnad why they didn't bother. Even though, it is like buying a jelly doughnut that you thought had strawberry only to find out it is filled with cream-puff. Yeah, it's still good, but you were expecting something a little different.)

Blazie and the Dream of Horses

2005-07-20T15:45:00.000+09:00

Horsies!

I walked by a woman that I was literally twice as tall as today.

Find out more about peanut butter, then read more Joe and Monkey.

Everything has a Purpose

2005-07-12T07:13:00.000+09:00

If you haven't heard, The Great Wall of China has finally been jumped by unmotorized transport. How do you think it would have gone if he was Mongoliam?

The Sir Begs for More

2005-07-11T17:32:00.000+09:00

Many people I know claim to be absurdly wretched spellers. I, like a Monninite, am an excelelnt speller (recipients of e-mails, those are typos, not misspellings) but I do think English spelling is unnecessarily complicated. If it were my own utopia, I would do the following.
-I would take out all silent letters, they are redundant and useless.
-I would add more vowels and consonants. Yes, I would make more letters, many more. I'm talking about a one for one vowel/phoneme relationship. I realize that this would make for 18 new letters (14 new vowels and 4 new consonants) and for pepole who already know English would bitch until they learned French, but think about not five years from now, but fifty. It's like introducing the metric system into the USA (another thing that I think Americans are foolish to not do), it will take some time, yes, but the benefits outweight the fact that a lot of people will be midly inconvenienced. Just make two correct spellings for a while, teach hte new one in schools but aknowledge the former spelling, and then eventually weed out the former.
-No change to grammar. English grammar is awesome and it's versatility, I love it. The grammar alone provides one with wonderful subtleties.

That's it for the language for now, but they are solid ideas, I feel.

Lastly, if you are looking for good Polish Hip-hop (and who isn't?), check out Grammatik, they fucking rock. Kaliber 44 is not bad, but Grammatik are where its at.

Well, Perhaps You Prefer Wierd Shit

2005-07-10T00:24:00.000+09:00

If you are interested in a really wonderful, bizzare comic, check out Joe and Monkey. Start at the first strip and just take it all in for fifteen minutes. It's really wierd but just awesome/

When the Bridge Starts Burning

2005-07-06T15:43:00.000+09:00

I don't know if you've heard about this or not, but it is fucking ridiculous. Taking any funding away from non-commercial media is information suicide. Our access to information is already heavily biased by people with sharp ideas and questionable agendas and taking away anytihng that gives alternative points of view to those giants, however small comparitively, only gives the shadows of those giants more space to cover.
I know I have done more than my fair share to piss off NPR, and while I do disagree with hteir stance toward other non-profit radio stations, suddenly lacking NPR and PBS is not something I would like at all. They are still the major source of alternative media and in the places that the two would go missing, the next strongest alternative media source more likely than not can not compete in the slightest.
Since the beginning of republics, the ability of the public to acquire information has been noted as one of the most important aspects of a working democracy. If the informaiton we use to help make our decisions that we act upon is narrowed, then our opinions and our actions are narrowed as well. A misinformed democracy is a malfunctioning one.
If you want to do soemtihng (please do, I beg of you), then go here.

I Can Dee

2005-07-04T22:47:00.000+09:00

If you care to see a pretty decent movie and sound snooty and artsy the next time someone talks about Che Guevara, check out The Motorcycle Diaries. The film itself is neat, I quite enjoyed it. It's not the best movie or anything, but good and there is this one shot of the Andes (I presume) that is just fucking beautiful.

Aside from that? I've started sucking at Freecell. The record is going to shit. Damn.

A Day in My Garten

2005-07-03T14:55:00.000+09:00

My small but persistent garden. The flowers suck, but I won't eat them so it's okay if they die. I just hope the pumpkins can do it okay. Ganabre pumpkins.

This be it

2005-07-03T14:32:00.000+09:00

from the front.

A Tad Dirty, but

2005-07-03T14:29:00.000+09:00

this is it, the new car. It's a Mistubishi (yes Boo-Boo, it will exploed on me someday, I'm sure) Emurade. It reminds me of my mom's car a lot, so it's great! CD player, nice stereo, and manual transmission. Seriosuly, I love MT. Automatic just makes it feel like you're steering a car, manual makes you feel like you're driving. When I someday in the future buy my hybrid, I hpoe the make them manuals.

Your Doctor Does not Reccomend This

2005-06-20T06:59:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I did something I have never done before. I drank beer all day. Well, I've done that before, but this time beer was the only thing I drank. No water, no juice, just beer. The reason was becuase of the Sports Day at the local elementary school. I woke up, got dressed, walked there, and was immediately handed a beer. At 9AM. The beers just kept coming, all the way until 9PM when it was all too much and I had to sleep.

We spent all day eating massive amounts of food and drinking and smoking (Well, I wasn't smoking), at the playground of the elementary school. When I told everyone that in the US doing things like, say, drinking beer and smoking cigarattes on schools grounds or in front of the students is forbidden, everyone was surprised, including the kids. Not being able to buy fireworks anytime of the year also raised some eyebrows.

Anyone who finds it wrong or immoral will get some satisfaction knowing that we all got wicked sunburns.

When All One has is Hoes

2005-06-14T21:00:00.000+09:00

I hate mosquitoes. They are bastards. I've stopped believing that they live off of blood and am now convinced they live off of pure thrill. I imagine groups of them get together and see who can fly around the human's head longest. Whoever does it and not get killed is claimed Most Extreme Mosquito (MEM for short). Why do you think they fly near your ears all the time? Only to get bonus points by letting you know they are there and you must kill them so they shut up.

Also, they never are around in huge swarms. There only seems to be three or four around one at any time. Why? Our game explaination gives us the answer: too much crowding takes the challenge away. Imagine how easy King Kong would have had it if there were fifty planes flying around him. Four or five? Now that's a challenge. Another thing to consider: they never run out. There are always more mosquitoes that come and come quickly.

Which makes me wonder how scientists think they know how many of them there are? Do they go to picnics, count the average hourly kill ratio and multiply by the mean number of picnicers? I doubt they truly have any clue.

Numbers regardless, I hate those bastards. This is what I think about whilst I garden.

The Joyous

2005-06-13T20:40:00.000+09:00

Saturday afternoon was reserved for the wedding party of one of my colleagues (the guy). It was held on the 13th floor of a very large hotel and all were dressed to the nine-and-a-halfs. There was good food, wine, champagne, and plates! All you could drink (my favorite type), but weddings do cost in Japan. This one ran $130 to attend, but it was interesting to see. This was a Western style one, so it didn't differ too much from a US one. There was no dancing and no DJ playing all your favorites hits from the 70s and 80s commercial-free, just good conversation and lots of hodge-podging.

Guests are only allowed to see the reception as well; the ceremony is reserved for family only. This way the guests get to have all the fun and no long ceremony (but it being Japan, there were still speeches galore at the reception). Kind of like being able to have your cake...

...and Eat it Too.

2005-06-13T19:40:00.000+09:00

This was the fuck-off big cake they had. We all would have eaten cake, but it was plastic and the only part that was real was the back part. Having the couple face away from us while slicing into the wedge of cake that was actually real (do they save the rest of the cake for other weddings or do the staff get to eat it?) would have just looked silly. The way they did it made for much better atmosphere and that night was all about atmosphere. All the tom-foolery would come at the bar for the second party when we all got hammered beyond the abilty to adjust for gravity while walking.

The only flaw to the plastic cake theory is how exactly is the groom supposed to shove cake in the bride's face? I mean, isn't that the whole point of the cake in the first place? That's practically the only reason I want a wedding ceremony at all. Saying I love you, publicly declaring my love and devotion for one sole human, and then puclicly declaring my love of shoving cake in said person's face.

Some may shake their heads and go "Only in Japan...", but we tie empty cans to the back of our cars and actually drive away with them attatched. Which one, objectively, is tackier?

Phosphorescence

2005-06-13T18:40:00.000+09:00

This, by far, was my favorite part. They killed the spotlight while the couple poured glowing champagne into these cups. Glowing champagne. Many a style point was then awarded.

The One Actually Played with Feet

2005-06-09T22:29:00.000+09:00

Tokyo was grand, bank breaking, and the conference wasn't actually as bad as I thought it might have been. While I sadly did miss out on the Sports Days at my schools, I did take in one type of sport.

Italian football!

Yes! Come to find it was my lucky day as Juventus (Italian Champions) came to play a friendly against F.C. Tokyo. Due to time and missing the fast train, we arrived only for the second half, but it was great. Especially because I got the chance to see the above man, Del Peiro himself, play. Nedvez was also there, but sadly Buffon was absent (I really like keepers, lord knows why). Really, it was all worth it to see these guys play.
I'm going to the states on the 25th of July and am weeping, becuase the following weekend Man U. (my favorite English team) plays the Urawa Reds (my favorite Japanese team)! I would fly down to see it. I mean, to see both Howard AND Giggs play? Wonderous.....

Time May Change Me,

2005-06-02T18:04:00.000+09:00

"Ganabtte" or "Ganbare" are what the Japanese say for words of encouraagement. Like, when someone is trying to encourageme someone to do something to the best of their ability (like, in a soccer game or on a test), they would say one of the two. It's infective. I've found myself saying it all the time. Here's a small list of things to which I have said "ganbare!" or "ganbatte!" to:
-My students
-Myself
-My car
-The vegetables in my garden
-My computer
-My playstation
-My cell phone
-The weather

and all sorts of other ridiculous things.

Digital Evil

2005-05-31T22:02:00.000+09:00

This is how I've bene wasting my past few days. I would feel bad about it, but it is just so much fun. It's kind of like a big computerized stout and extra-cheese pizza meal, it's really bad for me but oh it is so good. At least I've been doing laundry and eating (studying too!), so it's not that bad. That is why it has been awhile since any posts. That and the stupid picture stuff. can you guess the reason why I haven't looked into fixing it yet? Yep.
Aside from that, I bought my plane tickets back to the states and I am officially going back in about two months! I finally found some decently cheap tickets, but it involves flying from Tokyo to Seoul and then to Seattle. That'll be fun.
I can't wait, though, and it will be wonderful to see my friends and family again. Anybody in Seattle or Spoakane want anything in particular?

By Far, a Punk Rock Man

2005-05-26T18:24:00.000+09:00

I finished Anthony Bourdain's book A Cook's Tour a couple of days ago and you must all read it. Food is an essential part of any culture, so he traveled the world looking for the perfect meal - something he admits is completely subjective - and travels the world, from Russia to Portugal to Mexico, eating some fantastic meals. You really should read it. He tries all kinds of foods in each culture and just reading it makes one hungry. If you plan to travel anytime soon, read it to get some good meal ideas.
He obviously ate some wierd shit, the last meal by far the most outrageous (one that I would love, love to eat), far wierdder stuff than I have, naturally. The wierdest I've eaten so far is a top up between fried pig uterus and fried pig penis (both not bad, but penis is kind chweier than I prefer for my meat) adn this guy blows them out of the water.
Speaking of eating fun stuff, I finally ate whale last week! Suprising chewey, no-surprisingly very fatty, but pretty good. A whale steak wouldn't be too bad, I imagine. I know they are endangered and I think Japan should cease hunting whale, so it may seem hypocritical to order it. But say I don't, the restuarant isn't going to take it off the menu. In one of the two countries in the world still hunting whale, indeed fighting for their right to hunt whale, me not ordering it won't make a difference. So whether I order it or not not making much of a difference, why not take an opporuntiy to try it? Call me Ishmael.

A Day in My Garden

2005-05-23T20:51:00.000+09:00

Sorry it has been too long sine I wrote anything. I still can't get pictures up, don't know why. Fukushima is still gorgeous. My family came up - mom, my brother, Rick - and we went around Hokkaido. To Matsumae, the last castle built in Japan, while the sakura (cherry blosom) were still in bloom.

Absolutely gorgeous.

Stunningly fantastic. They had over 100 different types of sakura and a couple thousand trees. All were in bloom and it was just incredible. My eyes were an orgy of pink. Wonderful. Three was one grove that as a tree each of different types of sakura. I hardly knew the three main types (and honestly, still can't distinguish them), but seeing all the trees next to each other, where one could compare them and find favorites, was awesome.

Today I was out in my garden, tilling the field to plant some lettuce, basil, flowers, and tomatos. The tilling took much, much longer than I thought because it turns out a shed burned down where I was trying to till. It made the going slower, but it was really interesting. Digging up rusted tin walls, finding broken clay pots, glass, and charred wood with nigh every dig. I started going through all the possibilites of how and why this burned down. Perhaps I would ask around and it would be some dark secret that Biratori has held for years, like some crappy, cheesy scary film. All fluff, of course, but something to till over in the mind while working.

In the Blue

2005-05-11T17:53:00.000+09:00

Umm, my picture provider decided to suck, so I don't have pictures of Fukushima posted. I was hoping to do it this week, but I have a garden to make, classes to teach, parents to look after, my wife to murder, and Guilder to blame for it. I'm swamped.
Fukushima rocked hard. Dennis' cabin is out in the middle of nowhere; his closest neighbors are probably half a kilometer away. That meant we could be as loud as we want and build fires to whatever height we felt, which was mighty high.
All sorts of fun adventures were to be had: we got Neolithic at a river, climbed in the snow to reach an onsen, farmed, went to hte beach, ate incredible food, and drank, drank, drank. It was mad fun and a wonderful way to spend eight days.
The day after I got back my Mom and Rick came, so I have family here now! it is soo nice to see them and talk with family. They went off for a couple days to tour Hokkaido and see Otaru and they'll be back in a couple of days. Then Chris comes on Satruday and we go to Hakodate, Matsumae (The last castle ever built in Japan) and a couple of days in Tokyo. Grand fun!

Unfreakin' Believable

2005-04-25T21:08:00.000+09:00

I just saw one of my kids buy beer. It was for his mother, but she was in the car. So how were the clerks suppossed to know that? One of the clerks' son is even in the same grade as the kid who bought the booze. I mean, he's fifteen. Amazing.....

Also, funny thing happened last week. My teacher wanted me to run through the alphabet with the sixth graders, so we went through the alphabet one letter at a time, repeating each letter three times to let it sink it. See where this is going?

Classroom of Japanese kids:
"...H,H,H
I,I,I
J,J,J
K,K..."

That's right up there with seeing "Fucking Bush" in huge letters at the back of an eigth grade calssroom.

Pity da Foo'

2005-04-19T16:08:00.000+09:00

My job is to teach kids both English and foreign culture, right? So today I taught my kids about The A-Team. I downloaded the theme song and some sound clips of Mr. T (whom they all thought was quite intimidating in a rather silly way) and talked for ten mintues about The A-Team.
Why? Last week one of the kids chose The A-Team as the name of their group, so I figured it is slightly relevant, so why not use calss time to tell them about it? It was fun, I got to download pictures and do a Mr. T voice. Couldn't quite get any of the kids to do it, though. Cse la vie.

The Good, the Bad, and the Big Pimpin'

2005-04-17T13:38:00.000+09:00

I was bored today, so I deciede to research Blaz. Two good things and two kind of bad.
The Good:
One: Turns out Blaz is an actual name, Old German for "Unwavering Protector". Points there, means I can finally start that home security business I've been thinking so much about.

Two: Blaz "Baka" Sliskovic was a legendary football player in Yugoslavia. However reminicsint of Handsome Boy Modeling School that may be, Blaz still was a fantastic fottball player and was able to score goals from hard angles, like corner kicks. He also played for Marseille, though he wasn't that good as defense. Still, great football player, so points.

The Bad:
One: Baka means foolish and stupid in Japanese. I really doubt his nickname is even marginally related to Japanese and it might mean something great in Yugoslavia, but when I hear baka I don't hear good.

Two: Admittedly not the greatest picture, but he looks like a bad seventies porn star. Or like he quit playing football and now sells tires or shoes, possibly door to door.

Today Tokyo, Tomorrow Kansas City

2005-04-17T13:09:00.000+09:00

I started watching a new anime series called Beck: Mongolian Squad. I've only seen one episode, but it involves a rock band, a famous guitar, and in some bizarre way the Pillows are related, I think. If only that they like it. Musically they aren't in it to my knowledge, but Beat Crusaders are. They do the opening theme, "Hit in the USA", the chorus of which goes "I was made to hit in America". The song itself sounds exactly like a pop-punk song that a high school drama would use for its opening theme.
But think about this: hitting in America is like the big test for Japanese bands. Even if they make it huge in Japan, there is still the US. If a band can break the US market, that's huge. Americans listen almost exclusively to American music, but not so with the rest of the world. Take any super idol - Brittney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, etc - and they have fans worldwide. The USA is one of the few countries that doesn't listen to foreign music, but they are the biggest supplier of foreign music to the world. So naturally, if a Japanese band can make it big in the US, that's huge.
Even Utada Hikaru, who is probably the biggest female pop star in Japan, is trying to break into the US scene. She is by no means poor or lacking fans. Staying big in Japan (like Tom Waits) would eaisly carry her carreer to the day she decided to call it quits, but she is still trying to break into the US scene. She has teamed up with Foxy Brown and done other guest tracks and is consciously trying to make her next album sell well in the US. She even lives in New York to help herself get established.
What I am trying to say is that I think it is interesting the way that current popular music - punk, rock, pop, hip-hop (all born in the USA) - came out, changed the way the entire world appreciates music, and its motherland is the big test for foreign musicians. I'm not saying all bands think "Damn, we've sold eight million records in our country, but we still haven't made it." But if a foreign band can break the US market (hard, since Americans don't listen to music in other languages), then that is a major accomplishment and in some ways overshadows any fame in that bands' home country.
I'm reminded of a dancer I saw in Otaru. This guy danced a hip-hop/kung fu mix to hip-hop beats and it was absolutely incredible. It was easily one of the five best hip-hop dances I have ever seen and by far the most original. I saw the guy later and told him it was one of the best I had ever seen and his response was that it meant a lot to him to hear that from an American, especially since he had never left Hokkaido. Could it be like the Beat Crusaders? He danced his dance and loved to dance that way. He had carved out his niche in the Hokkaido dance scene, but did he wonder if he could hit in America?
If I think about it, it would be roughly equivalent to an American studying kung fu. She may rock in the US, but if she can prove herself in China, that would seem to be the harder accomplishment.

The Left Hand Never Knew What the Right Hand was Typing

2005-04-14T19:07:00.000+09:00

I was just dinking around on the internet, procrastinating, when I came across this keyboard. Wouldn't it be fun to use? It came about because I remembered hearing about another type of keyboard a while back and decided to check it out. We use a layout called QWERTY (wonder why?), but number two on the popular list is the Dvorak layout. The diea makes sense, right? Kepe the left hand primarily for vowels and hardly used consonants and give high usage consonants to the right hand. Interesting enough.

Well, actually, the keyboard stuff came about because I needed distractions after I got home. I almost got in an accident driving home. I was on the main road and an eight year old on a bike just came right out on the street full speed without chceking for traffic. I missed her by about three of four feet and ran over some bushes. I thankfully didn't hit her, but it really jarred me. Bleh. Bad taste in my mouth, I need a beer.

So, that was today. Whee!

Uniforms with Long, White Sleeves

2005-04-13T15:30:00.000+09:00

I went to Nukibetsu today to meet, greet, and teach the new sixth graders. Goo dkids, regardless of the fact that they seemed to have injected all of the sugar in the kitchen directly into thier 40kg bodies intraveineously. It's going to be a fun year. They should be a blast in calss. The most hyper of the kids, in one of her first questions, asked me if I drank every night in the middle of the lesson. Good fun, that one.
Aside from that, there was a distrrict-wide meeting today, most of which I didn't understand. That's the real school stuff of today.

Art School still rocks. I'm working on translating their songs.

Wether it's Good for the Eyes or Not

2005-04-11T17:43:00.000+09:00

I started reading this book online, thanks to a link from Penny Arcade. If you like Sci-Fi comedy, this novel, Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, is available free for download. It's really not that bad. The premise is that aliens come to Earth and want to make sure they are accepted in a friendly way, so they contact a talent agent to get them positive representation in movies until humans are ready to interact with them on a daily basis. The writing is pretty good and its a neat enough premise. Give it a shot.

Nothing of Much

2005-04-10T21:14:00.000+09:00

The weekend was rather relaxing, I just stayed at home and went to onsena couple of times. I planned to go on a hike, but the weather was a tad crappy. The good point is, however, that the rain is perfect hot chocolate drinking weather and I have noth hot cocoa and marshmallows. Huzzah!

So I am off to drink hot cocoa and watch the rain, all th ewhile feeling oh so wabisabi (a Japanese term of apparently indescripable qualities. To go into further depth [forgot the right word], one person said that wabisabi means "watching the light rain on a Kyoto rock garden". Put simply, we just don't have one word for this in English.)

Tonight I am making banana bread and chocolate chip cookies for no apparent reason. I stared in on a new anime called Beck: Mongolian Squad and I'll let ya'll know how it is.

Now You Tell Me, are You a CANkokujin or a CAN'Tkokujin?

2005-04-06T20:48:00.001+09:00

It is finished! I've got lots of pictures of the trip to Korea. I probably did it the dumb and hard way, but the comments ar ein chronological order, even if the pictures neccesarily aren't. Korea rocked, but you can read about it, and running from the cops.

Coming back form Korea I had ot cathc a bus from Chitose to Tomakomai, then walk four kilos from the stop to the ferry parking lot to get Ichidaichi (my car) so I could get home. It was a nice walk.

Ichidai is the counter for cars and Daichi is a common male first name.

I did finish watching all of Samurai Champloo yesterday, which is a great anime, up there with FLCL. Think I could sell that to Adult Swim if I translated it?

School starts next week and can't wait. All new kids in the sixth grade and two new teachers. Plus Yusuke get to become a main teacher!

Aside form that, I've been watching lots of scratching competition movies. Incredible stuff from DJ Qbert and some absolutely mind blowing stuff from Sir Scratch (the Phillipino, not the US guy).

Dirty Boy

2005-04-06T07:12:00.000+09:00

Sorry Korea pictures are not up yet, I'm working on it. It is taking way more time than I thought it would. But patience! They come.
New neightbors moved in and yesterday they came to give a welcoming present to me. It's custom I am used to, but I was amused and surprised when they gave me laundry soap. Like Christmas, it's the thought that counts and I must admit I will use it, so the gift is very practical, I was just surprised to open the wrapping and see Tide. I'm assuming it will be the only time i will recieve wrapped laundry soap, but who knows?
So, sorry about the time it is taking for pictures of Korea, but it is in the works.