Yesterday I made a dish I haven't made since I lived in the States. It's this pasta thing I make with spiral noodles, mixed veggies, chicken, garlic, Italian dressing, and Balsamic vinegar. I'm not sure why I didn't try to make it before but I guess I assumed that I wouldn't be able to find all the ingredients. But yesterday at the store I came across the noodles and that put the idea into my head. So I went on a hunt throughout the store for the rest of the stuff. I figured the veggies would be hard to find and I did have to get something slightly different from what I used to get in America but it worked well. I even found the lima beans that I love so much. I already had Balsamic vinegar at home and then found a jar of garlic paste. Chicken was easy to find too. But the Italian dressing proved a little more difficult. I went to the section where they have all the salad dressings but, of course, everything was in Japanese. So I picked up each bottle, shook it and picked the one that most looked like Italian dressing.
First thing I did when I got home was to pull that sucker out, take the cap off, dab a little on my finger and taste it, and YEE HAW, it was Italian dressing. So last night I made my specialty. And it was good!
This dish is my friend, Gaylyn's, favorite. Amy likes it ok, but it ain't her thing so I made it for myself and only myself. And I made enough so that I can eat it again tonight. Goes good with red wine too, so I got some of that.
It's the little things in life that make it all fun, you know?

Kencho day today so I got caught up with a few things: bills, emails, studied a little Japanese, etc. I'll be here again Friday so I need to leave myself a few other things to do. And then soon, after the wedding (NO! not mine! for those of you who haven't been paying attention), I will have many days here at the lovely Kencho.
This week and last I have been saying "goodbye" to many students and teachers for the summer. As of now I don't go back to Minobusan, Shizen Gakuen, Tokai, or Yamanashi Gakuen until either late August or early September, depending on the school. Tomorrow is my last day at the academy until August and next Tuesday I go to Sundai for the last time until September. Yuda I am done with except that next Wednesday Yazaki asked me to come so that I can meet and talk with some American girl they will be getting as an exchange student. I know nothing more of her than that. Why I need to come to speak to a native English speaker, I don't know, but it gets me out of the Kencho for a day, so I ain't complainin'.
Anyway, all this is happening a bit earlier than I thought it would but I think the reason for it is because they have testing for the next week or two and then start the summer break. I know that summer break is really only about three weeks and begins closer to the end of July so I am a little surprised to be ending my job a bit early. But really it is all working out for the best as I am leaving in 9 days anyway. I thought Rigel's wedding would slightly screw me in terms of the summer break but as it turns out it's been placed in time quite nicely.

It is getting very hot here. Hot and humid and my ass is always sweating when I sit. Sorry to be graphic but it's the truth. If I lean back in my chair, my back sweats. If I bend my knees, I sweat where the skin touches skin. If I so much as walk around or ride my bike anywhere, I sweat. I was going to start exercising again but this weather is giving me a nice excuse not to. Of course, it's no excuse, I'm just a lazy mofo and being out of shape is making it hard to get back into shape. What's that physics quote? "A body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body at rest tends to stay at rest." I think that's it. And it works for people, too, in regards to exercising. I don't have a beer gut or anything, but I sure as hell couldn't run a 5k right now any faster than a three-legged cat. Pathetic, I tell you.
Ok, enough of all that.

Amy and I went out with Tomoko and Yuki, yet again, for another night of drinking and singing. I think I've now been to kareoke about 8 times or so. And if you had told me a year ago that that would be the case I would have laughed at you. But it's true...it's fun.
It was Yuki's b-day so we celebrated with songs of yore. Or I did anyway. Nothing like old rock and roll. I can't sing the new pop tunes as I don't know them. And I sure as hell can't sing the Japanese tunes because not only do I not speak the language, I can't read the screen telling me the words. It looks like a small miracle to me when Yuki and Tomoko sing along while reading words on the monitor in hiragana, katakana and kanji. I can make out the hiragana and some of the katakana but not nearly at the speed needed to sing along.
Anyway, after that Amy headed home and the two gals and I headed to a small bar. It was a cool little place with lots of alcohol I haven't seen in a long while. There were only eight seats in the place and they were all around the bar so it was very intimate. The bartender was a nice guy and I was able to make my drink orders understood so I had a shochu to start with and then a Corona with lime (been a while since I've had one of those) and then a martini. We were in there about four hours during which time we talked and laughed and listened to the music on the rather large tv/stereo he had in there. First it was a concert of some Japanese band that was pretty good. Then he played Eric Clapton's "Unplugged" dvd. Good stuff.
About the time we were getting ready to leave the bartender asked Tomoko to ask me what the stickers he had on the small fridge meant (they were in English). So we stuck around a while longer while I explained what "Porn Star" and "420" meant. That was fun to do and after I finished and Tomoko translated the guy looked at his stickers and then at us and said, in Japanese, "Hmmm...perhaps I don't have really nice things up there."

Ok, that's all for now. I might write once more before I leave for the Caribbean, but don't hold me to it.

It's pouring today. A typhoon is moving through. This morning I beat the rain to work but coming back this afternoon I biked for 20 minutes in a downpour. I find it rather fun as long as I remember to bring the appropriate gear with me--jacket, rain pants, a plastic bag for my bookbag, etc. I also have my hair cut really short so I just have a hand towel I use to wipe my head off. I can't stand putting the hood on my jacket up when I am riding. I loose a lot of peripheral vision that way and feel extremely vulnerable to cars. Anyway, fun fun.

Today I had an interesting pre-class conversation with one of my teachers. Here's how it went.
Nozawa-sensei--"Today we will do a lesson on Snoopy."
Me--"Uh, ok."
Nozawa--"Do you know Snoopy?"
Me--"Uh, well, yeah, sort of. Charlie Brown, right?"
Nozawa--"Ah! Yes! Charlie Brown......What do you think of Snoopy?"
Me--"Uuuhhhh.....well......"
Nozawa--"Just a cartoon?"
Me--"Ah, yeah. Just a cartoon."

Now, I show you this conversation not to make fun of Nozawa or Snoopy, but rather to illustrate the strange questions that ALTs sometimes get asked over here. That, and to make the point clear that you (we) must be ready (although that is impossible) for anything at any time. I've been asked about the war in Iraq, about what I thought of Japan before I came here, about my marriage plans, about different food, different songs, movies, sports, different events in history, about my favorite English word, and today, about Snoopy (and I am probably forgetting many of them). Usually the questions are about legitimate stuff, sometimes they are hard to answer, occasionally they are damn funny, and a few times I have wondered what the person asking me this strange question was thinking. But hell, it's fun and good to show some of these people that we, of countries far away, are human too.

That is all for now.

Today is my first day at the Kencho in quite a while. It is hot, humid, and my clothes are sticking to me. So I've decided that summer is the worst season of them all around here. And it's going to get worse before it gets better. Why would you not air condition a building where hundreds of people work many hours a day? I just don't get it.

Earlier this week we had a "recontracting conference" in Shinjuku (Tokyo). Got there Monday and was done on Wednesday. Parts of it were better than expected and other parts worse.
We stayed at the Keio Plaza which is a pretty upscale hotel and is where the conference was last year when we first arrived here. I really don't understand the reason(s) for having a recontracting conference but since there were a couple of good moments at the conference and since there were many good moments outside of the conference, I won't complain.
It was set up nearly the same way as the initial conference was with different presentations being done in different conference rooms. Names such as "Being a second year JET" and "Motivating your students" and "Lesson Planning" filled our schedule books. You might think that all of these sound interesting, and they do, but truth is that a few of the presentations last summer were quite bad and I wasn't expecting much from this conference either.
But hell, besides one presentation it wasn't all that bad. The terrible one was about motivating students which turned out to be more of a "how to motivate yourself" type thing and quickly morphed into a "you're not here to teach English so just have as much fun as you can." Which actually is about right on the money concerning my particular assignment, but the speaker's attitude, while being quite energetic and all, was one of "don't even try." So Amy and I walked out of there on Monday afternoon wondering what the next day and half would hold. Worst part was that the speaker thought she was being funny and it is true that much of the audience was laughing, but I don't think Amy and I laughed once (along with the guy sitting almost in front of us); we just found it insulting.
But that was the low point. Everything else was either quite good or just ok. The last day was the best. We attended two seminars by two different guys that really had something to say about things in Japan. The first guy talked about just living and working here--he's been here for 18 years--and the second guy's thing was about teaching in Japan. Funny thing was the two very different styles they had. The first guy just sat in his chair and talked to us, while the second guy was all over the place, running this way and that, using big gestures, and basically flying around the room. But, you know, they both held my attention, as well as the rest of the attendees, for the full hour and twenty minutes of each seminar.
Anyway, it wasn't a total bust after all, and although I was ready to come back home by Wednesday, it was a nice break from teaching. That and the evenings on the town were fun.
The first night Amy and I went with Dilek and her visiting mom to the Hard Rock Cafe. Her mother was very nice, had a good sense of humor, and best of all, matched me drink for drink. I liked her.
The second night saw a few of us go up to the 45th floor to a bar and have a few before we went out on the town. Drinks up there were quite expensive on the menu but we lucked out and hit happy hour so we only paid about $8 a drink. I had a martini and a beer, Amy had a daiquiri and a beer; total....about $25.
Then we headed out to an izakaiya (Japanese bar) and had more to drink and a few things to eat. There were six of us here: Sebastian x2 (and both from France), Jay, Dilek, Amy and me. We stayed there a couple hours and then the girls decided to turn in while we guys decided to hit the Irish pub.
So we walked over to it and proceeded to get a bit drunk. It was great fun with stories not fit for this journal. Nothing bad happened, mind you, just one of those nights that I'd rather tell you about over a beer in a bar (perhaps in St. Kitts). Eventually we all sloshed our way back around the train station and to the hotel.
Anyway, that's the story of our Shinjuku seminar.

Three weeks from today I will be boarding a plane in the next hour. Oh yeah!

Two weeks from today I will be coming to the Kencho after work (6pm) to go out with a few of the people from here for our "summer party" whatever that means. Apparently we will be seeing some flamenco dancing. Yes, I am still in Japan, not Spain, and am confused too.

One week from today I will be going out with Sebastian and his girlfriend to a French restaurant near where we live. He is from France and says the place is expensive but good.

Tomorrow I am going to a J2 (think triple A baseball level) soccer game here in Kofu.

Keeping busy and having fun.

This entry is all about sumo, so if you aren't interested you can stop reading now.

When we last visited our rikishi (sumo wrestler) friends, Asashoryu was what? about 34 and 0? Well, my friends, his winning streak was broken during the May basho. And what a blow it was when he lost. He looked shocked and I felt like crying.
Asashoryu is a 23 year old from Mongolia. I am not really sure how quickly a man who finally attains the rank of Yokozuna normally does so, but he seems to have done it rather quickly considering that the current Ozeki (the rank just below Yokozuna) have been ranked there for a number of years. It seems to me that Asashoryu must be a bit of a novelty. And what I mean by this is that at such a young age he has attained that much covetted highest rank. Just for kicks, let's look at the four guys currently ranked at Ozeki and then I will get to the recent developments that have no doubt transfixed your attention on this great sport.
Tochiazuma is a 27 year old Ozeki from Tokyo. He attained the rank of Ozeki in January of 2002, and he broke into the Makuuchi (the top tier of sumo rankings, about 40 guys are ranked here at any given time) ranks in November of 1996. He has won two bashos, the first coming in January, 2002, and the second coming in November, 2003. He is quite good and was up for a promotion to Yokozuna during the January basho of this year, but he had a lackluster showing and went 9-6. Since then things have gotten even worse for the guy. In March he lost his two first fights and then pulled out of the basho with a shoulder injury. He sat out of the May basho, too, and will most likely loose his Ozeki ranking for the next basho. So July should be interesting for this guy if he is back in the show.
Musoyama is the next Ozeki that will be discussed here. He is 32 and was promoted to Ozeki in May of 2000. He got into the Makuuchi rankings way back in September of 1993, so he's been around for a while. To date he has one basho win to his name. Musoyama is a big guy that tends to overpower his opponents but lately he hasn't been a very convincing winner. In fact, this last basho saw him finish with the unfortunate record of 6-9. An Ozeki needs two consecutive showings of at least a 7-8 or worse to be fair game for demotion, so in July Muso will need to turn it up a notch. In all likelihood he will never attain the Yokozuna ranking.
Chiyotaikai is a fierce fighter who often gives Asashoryu a run for his money. He was promoted into the Makuuchi rankings in September, 1997 and by March of 1999 was up to an Ozeki. He has three basho championships under his belt and nearly took his fourth in March of this year when he faced Asashoryu and lost, thus handing the basho over in the process. But despite that loss his showings over the last half year or so have been good enough for the powers that be to determine that the Yokozuna rank would be his depending on how May's basho went for him. The road to that rank was more than likely one that ran through Asashoryu but unfortunately for Chiyotaikai it never even came to that. He got off to a good start going 3-0 in the first three days, but then matched that with and equal amount of losses. On day seven he recovered from the disaster but by then it was already too late. A basho championship usually sees the winner loosing one or two matches, three would be hard to recover from. Although Chiyo finished with a winning record at 9-6, it was not even close to what was needed for Yokozuna status. If he is turn in his application for promotion again, he will need to do very well in both July and September's bashos. He is 28 years old and if it's going to happen for him, it needs to happen soon.
Kaio is the fourth and final Ozeki. He is slightly younger than Musoyama and will turn 32 in July of this year. He broke into the top ranks way back in May, 1993, and, like Muso, took a while to climb to the second highest ranking of Ozeki finally attaining that status in September of 2000. Kaio is a methodical fighter who seems to hardly break a sweat in defeating his foes. He has won four bashos during his career and is one of Asashoryu's best opponents. Over the last four bashos he has finished with records of 10-5, 10-5, 13-2, and 10-5. He is a solid fighter and was also up for the Yokozuna promotion in May's basho but his 10-5 showing was not good enough. And unfortunately for Kaio, that may have been his last chance at the top rank considering his age. If he can manage to put together a couple of very good showings in the next couple bashos, though, perhaps he will get another shot.
Returning our attentions to Asashoryu we can now compare his numbers to the four Ozeki mentioned above. This is not to take anything away from their accomplishments but is only meant to illustrate how quickly the Mongolian ascended the ranks of sumo. Asashoryu made it into the Makuuchi ranks in January of 2001. He then climbed to Ozeki by September of 2002, which in itself is an awesome feat. But he didn't quit there. He kept the pressure on and became a Yokozuna in March of 2003. That's just two years and two months, or 13 bashos, from the time he broke into the rankings of the top 40 to the time he achieved the ultimate rank. Pretty damn impressive.
Asashoryu has won seven bashos, finishing two of these, January and March of this year, with records of 15-0. Until he did it in January, no one had gone undefeated in eight years. At six bashos a year that's roughly 48 tournaments. And, of course, he didn't just do it once but twice, an amazing feat. But as mentioned before, the giant was finally defeated on the sixth day of May's basho, thus, ending his streak at 35 wins. He sits ninth on the list of consecutive wins, which may seem a bit unimpressive but we must remember that sumo is hundreds of years old; the number two guy on this list, Tanikaze, saw his streak begin in 1778 and end in 1782. In what is referred to as the "modern era" of sumo Asashoryu's streak gets him a ranking of number four on the list. When, exactly, the modern era begins I do not know; but it would have to be after 1916 at least, as the fourth ranked guy on the all-time list ended his streak then.
But, you might be asking, who beat Asashoryu, this modern day sumo god? Well, my friends, it was a guy that I had paid little attention to. Indeed, most fans of sumo paid little attention to this guy before May (the paper kept referring to him as "surprise package").
Hokutoriki is a 26 year old from Japan who broke into the Makuuchi ranks in May, 2002. In the three previous bashos to May's his records were 10-5, 5-10, and 9-6. He had never won a basho but was (and is) slowly improving his form steadily. Enter May's basho. On three of the first four days he was thrown to the lions and faced all three Ozeki competing in the basho. And get this, he defeated all three and also won his other match. Things were looking good for the man, but bashos are fifteen days long and he had a long way to go. By day six he was 5-0 and was put to the true test against Mr. Yokozuna himself.
Hokutoriki, 5-0, never won a basho against Asashoryu, 34-0, winner of six bashos, the last two at 15-0. Didn't seem like much of a fight. In all likelihood, Asashoryu would discard Hoku as he had 34 other guys and take one more step forward in this history making streak. But then the ground shook and the gods decided that enough was enough. Just as it looked like Asashoryu would force Hoku out, Hoku lowered his center of gravity, raised Asa's, and ran him backwards and out of the ring. And all of Japan erupted in a fury that would make Mt. Fuji proud. I, of course, sat in shock, knowing that I would soon be attending this basho live and feeling robbed of the chance to see a bit of history in the making.
But the story doesn't end there, fellow sumo fans. By day 15 Hokutoriki was sitting on a 14-1 record with Asashoryu one behind at 13-2. All Hoku had to do was win his match against a rookie to the Makuuchi rankings and the basho would be his. But, once again, the gods sneezed and Hoku faltered in his fight falling to 13-2 in the process. Now Asashoryu had to win against Ozeki Chiyotaikai in order to force a one match playoff. And as you might have guess that is exactly what happened.
So about fifteen minutes after Asashoryu earned the playoff match, Hoku, 13-2, and he, 13-2, stepped onto the dohyo to see who would take the championship. Could Hokutoriki beat Asashoryu twice in a row? Or would Asashoryu get his revenge? The basho title was on the line.
The fight was really nothing extraordinary and Asashoryu showed why he's a Yokozuna. He simply did what he does best and never allowed Hoku a second chance thrusting him off the dohyo in a convincing manner and, thus, claiming his seventh basho. Hokutoriki, on the other hand, was sent packing and probably thinking about that match against the rookie which he really should have won.
Anyway, Asashoryu's streak was impressive to be around for and considering his young age his career will no doubt be a fun one to keep an eye on.

One month from today I leave for that small island out in the southeastern Caribbean sea; my first time to leave Japan since I came here. Gonna be a long trip. I think from the time I leave on the train from Kofu until I get to St. Kitts is around 32 hours. Long long time to be on airplanes and in airports. Wendy better not run screaming from the wedding service, "No! No! I just can't do it!"
Should be fun once I get there though. I get to spend four or five days with only Ray, Judy, and Matt, which will be nothing short of fun. And then the rest of the folks storm the island and the festivities will get underway.
I still haven't worked out what sort of short toast I will be giving as the "bestman," but I am sure that whatever I come up with, most will walk away from that reception saying, "Hmmm."

I have to thank Matt and Rigel for responding to my pleas from the last post. It was mostly meant as a joke, but really I am not sure who is reading this thing anymore. I am glad they are though. I assume that my parents and Ray and Judy are still with me too. I mostly write this thing so that I will have some kind of document of my time here, but I do take a certain amount of delight in knowing that I have a few other readers.

Schools are going ok and the weeks are flowing by. Soon I will leave for St. Kitts and when I get back we will be on "summer break," meaning that the kids will be on break but the teachers will not. I will have about four or five weeks at the Kencho. Boring! But it will be better than last summer when I had to do that after having just gotten here. At least now I know that nothing is expected of me and can plan accordingly. Maybe during that time I will add many more words here.

Anyway, today I went to a new class and just talked about myself. One of the teachers at Yuda came to me and told me that I would not be teaching with Miki (the cute one) during fourth period and would instead be teaching with him. This was not welcome news due to the fact that I like Miki and look forward to teaching with her (did I mention she's a hottie?) and also because her students are just starting to warm to me and I need to go there as often as possible in order to make that class even more fun. But the decision was made and for fourth period I went to this new class. On the way he asked me if I could just introduce myself and then we would have a discussion, so I said, "Sure" and we went in.
This was a music class in the sense that these kids are specializing in music. There were only about 18 of them (all girls) and they seemed happy to have me there and were much more outgoing than most classes are upon my first meeting them. So I did my short self-intro and they asked a few questions and things went ok.
The funny part came when they asked me if I was married or single. I told them that I was not married but that I did have a girlfriend. I then went on to say, "She lives in Ichikawa." At this one I heard one of the girls say "Ichikawa koko?" (Ichikawa high school), so I said, "Yes, Ichikawa koko." But when I said this I noticed that there was a strange sort of buzz in the classroom all of a sudden; the girls all started to say things to each other in whispers and low voices. I was confused for about five seconds when the teacher laughed and asked me, "Is your girlfriend a student at Ichikawa koko?" And the girls looked at me like a herd of Thompson gazelles look at an approaching lion; not so much fear in their eyes as wonderment and expectation. So I laughed and they laughed and when the laughing died down a bit I said, "Yes, she's a student." At that the students stopped laughing and looked at me. I could see their thoughts in the air, "He's dating one of us!" "Is it true?" "How can I get such a suave boyfriend?"
But I only let that thought lie there about 3 seconds when I shook my head and said, "No, no, she's a teacher!" At this they all laughed again and we proceeded on with a short discussion of Amy and her nationality and where we met.
Dating a high school student? What do they think I am? Not that some of them aren't cute.

This week on the Discovery channel they have been running shows about WWII. I think they must be doing this because Sunday was the 60th anniversary of D-Day, as I am sure you know. I have always been a sometime viewer of historical documentaries, but I have to say that it is strange to see footage of the Pacific theater and then realize that I am in Japan.
Only 60 years ago we were at war with this country that I now call home. Men the age of my high school students were getting into planes with only enough fuel to get to their targets. I can't begin to know what was really going on at the time, and it is hard for me to imagine that guys like me were trying to kill them and guys like them were trying to kill guys like me. I can only be happy that I will never know the horrors that went on at that time.
These days it is someone else we are trying to kill and who is trying to kill us. And I still don't get it.
War is crap. And all the violence that humans enact against each other makes me think that we are not the superior species on this planet, if I may use the word superior. It proves to me that we really have not evolved far beyond the kill or be killed mentality that makes up much of the animal world. At least 99% of the time animals kill for food. We can't claim that.
Anyway, living in Japan and watching footage of WWII is a bit strange at times.

Ok, that's all for today. Time to make some dinner.

It is a warm, clear day with birds chirping, grapes growing, children playing, and Nascar on tv; with Japanese narration, of course. It's a strange experience to watch this all-American sport with Japanese commentary. They do use certain English terms, though. They'll say something like, "Cah numbah ju ni (12)" or "saido by saido arimas" (essentially "they are side by side"). It's really quite strange. Normally they are speaking straight Japanese with the names of the drivers thrown in, but they do tend to use as least one English phrase per minute. So far I have heard "trah-ficu," "cutto taiah," "pitto," and a few others. All in all, a rather interesting experience that I doubt most Nascar fans will ever have.
And by the way, yes, I do watch Nascar from time to time. Sometimes you crave a little piece of home. And not too much says "America!" like Nascar. Just ask Mr. Bush.

Last night Amy and I met Tomoko (our Japanese tutor and friend) for a few hours of drinking and talking. We went to an izakaiya (a Japanese style pub where you can get drinks and appetizers). It was our second time there and it's a great little place. They serve beer, sake, and shochu. Shochu, you might remember, is a distilled alcohol that can be made from many things: rice, potato, wheat, sugar, chestnut, and probably more. So I tried about four different kinds and ate good grub and we all talked about various things.
Tonight we might go see a movie with Tomoko. Not sure yet. It would be my first theatre experience since Oklahoma last summer when I saw Pirates of the Caribbean. We will probably go see Troy. I have read The Iliad about 4 or 5 times and would like to see it put into pictures. Although, I should say, I do expect to be a bit disappointed. I am sure the show will be good but expect the story to be sub-par. That's just what happens when Hollywood gets a hold of a good story. But what the hell? I haven't been to a movie in a long time. Amy, of course, wants to go so she can watch Brad Pitt prance around in his skimpy armor.

I called Gateway this morning and spent an hour on the phone going through the motions of trying different things in order to fix my computer. But, alas, the thing would not even come on. So after talking to two people I am sending it in. They seemed surprised to learn that I am living in Japan but we're very friendly. It's going to run me $66 to send in back after they fix it and I have to go to the post office here to see how much it will cost in the other direction. I assume that if I was in the States they'd pay the shipping considering that my warranty is still good but that since I am overseas my warranty might not cover those charges. I should have asked this morning when I had the lady on the phone but was more interested in just solving this problem.
She also asked my permission to, if need be, completely erase and reinstall all my software telling me that I would loose everything I had. And there, my friends, is the true bummer in all this. I have a strong feeling that that is what will need to be done and that means pictures, music and writings are all gone for eternity. Oh well. A fresh start it is.

This week was a good one in terms of work. Nearly all my classes went well and the week just gently flowed by. I was thinking, during a conversation with other foreigners last weekend, about how many teachers I've taught with since coming here. My friends were saying numbers like 3 or 5 or 7. So I dug into my inventory banks and came up with 25. That's right. I've taught at least one class with 25 different Japanese teachers. By the time I leave here I imagine that that number will be around 30 to 35. Lots of teachers. Lots of different styles. And lots of confusion for your humble narrator. Thus, my Japanese experience.

I can't remember if I mentioned that Amy and I applied to be volunteers for the newbies coming in to Shinjuku in late July/early August. We thought it would be fun to greet people at the airport, help them get to the hotel, teach a short seminar on teaching over here, and just generally help out for the three or four days. Not something you might think I'd like to do, but I was really pretty willing to help out as I remember what it was like for me last year and how great it was to have people there who actually knew what was going on. That and the fact that Amy and I honestly thought that as "older" JETs we would bring a different (and better) attitude towards the whole living in Japan experience. Some of the negativity I hear over here amazes me and I wonder why those people decide to stay more than one year (but I don't wish to preach).
Well, my readers, that girl we refer to as Amy was accepted but your narrator was passed up. Why? I have no idea, but they are making a big mistake--not in the taking Amy part but in the rejecting me part, in case you were confused. So now, instead of helping people and making their first few days in Japan easier, I will have to go to the Kencho where I will sit on my ass. Not that I'm bitter, mind you.
Ah well. As Mr. Jagger sung, "You can't always get...."

Ok, I think that's enough for today. I hope you people are still with me. It's hard to tell as none of you email me to say things like, "I enjoy reading your journal," or "That story about (enter subject here) was funny," or "You are my hero," or such things.
Anyway, matte ne (I think that means "see ya later").

No, my computer is not back up. I am still using Amy's. She doesn't have an internet connection at home so she doesn't use it there, so what the hell? But because I have this computer here I am taking my time (read: being lazy) about calling up Gateway and getting my problems solved. Have a free weekend this one so will try to do it then.

Anyway, all is still going well. Schools are moving along and my many of my classes (the new ones) are getting better. I still think that two years here will be enough for me but I don't feel as negative about it all as I did a couple weeks ago. All jobs settle in that familiar routine and that is when you really start to notice the little things you don't like. Such is and was the case with me. But that is just how it goes from time to time. I do think that seven schools is a little excessive, but this is the hand I've been dealt and I will get through. If I could limit my schools to the three or four I like best I think I'd be a bit happier with the job, but I understand that seven is my number (be it lucky or not) and I will do what is expected of me.
Understand, though, that this job is still a good one as far as I am concerned. It could just be better in my opinion and I could be more wisely used if a few things were changed. Also understand that life over here is still fun and going well. I miss a few things but I will be back in my own country soon enough.
Ok, enough ranting.

I have two stories/essays that I am working on, slowly working on, for this thing and will try to get them up soon. "Soon" as in relative to a Sequoia tree's life.

I ordered tickets for the Japanese Grand Prix (Formula 1) a couple days ago and made reservations for a hotel this morning. That will be an expensive weekend but I will only get to do it once. Those of you who know me well know that I absolutely love F1 and to miss it while here would be a shame. The race is over outside a town called Suzuka and the track is one of the best on the entire F1 circuit. I tried to get a room in Suzuka but, and as I figured they would be, they were all booked up. Then I tried to get one in a town outside of Suzuka and the guy wrote me back telling me that all rooms were already reserved by the F1 teams and race sponsors. Then he told me that he could get me a room in Nagoya (a large city) and that those rooms were going fast too. So I had him get me a room, telling him that I would be carless and would need one close to a train station. So this morning I got the email telling me that my reservation was made and that it was right across the street from the big Nagoya train station. So it all worked out at this late date. The race is not until October but I learned in Monterey--because of the Laguna Seca raceway--that rooms for races usually get booked the year before. So I feel quite lucky to only be about an hour or so away from the track. Anyway, this will be my second F1 race and I will be giddy by about September.

My brother's wedding is getting closer and I need to come up with one of those "bestman" speeches. A few years ago I would have been dreading it as I did not like to talk in front of that many people, but now....it ain't that big a deal. Of course, unlike here, most of the people there will understand what I am saying. I am not sure what to say as I have only been to...oh...about 3 or 4 weddings in my entire life. What does a bestman say? If you know, you can email me with your knowledge.

Ok, not really much to say at this point. Just wanted to let you know that your man in Japan is still alive and speaking slow English.

Speaking of which, here's a short conversation I had yesterday with a 2nd year junior high school student where I was trying to explain a game I play called "Row and Column."
Me--"Ok, a row goes this way and a column goes this way."
Student is not paying attention.
Me--"Hey, are you listening? What's a row?"
Student--"Yes" (with a big smile on his face)
Me--"No, no. What's a row?" (said more slowly)
Student--"Yes!" (smile still there)
Me--"No, no. Ok a row is this way and a column is this way. Now, what's a row?"
Student--"OK!"
At times it really does seem hopeless.