This, my loyal readers, is my 101st post to this journal. But I'll spare you the cheesy greatest outtakes review and just get on with things.

I lost a shirt the other day. Heh heh, I can hear you now, "What's that? You lost a shirt?!" Yup, that's right--I lost a shirt. How did I lose a shirt, you ask? Did one of my many female fans rip it off me during one of my stand-up comedy routines that we call "teaching English"? Nope. Neither did I lose it in a drunken brawl with some Bruce Lee looking teenager outside a kareoke club. No, the sad truth is I lost it off my balcony as it was supposed to be drying.
I had done the laundry on a weeknight last week and had left it to dry overnight. My balcony has a metal bar for a clothesline and after I do the wash, in the warmer months, I hang things up there to dry. We don't have dryers over here for those of you new around here. We only have washers that get things about half clean.
So I had hung it up around 6pm and figured it might be dry by the morning but figured if it wasn't I'd just leave it out there the next day. Ok, actually I didn't actually think all this. This whole routine has just become second nature to me so there is no thinking involved, just doing. But anyway, I hung it up and left it there along with other shirts, pants, socks, and undies.
The next morning I went outside to check on the status of these freshly washed clothes to find that they were nearly dry but not quite complete. So, I left them there and went to work.
When I got home I was walking my bike up the path behind the apartments (and under my fourth floor balcony) and noticed that one of my shirts was lying on the ground out there, an apparent suicide. But I picked it up, brushed it off, and took it back upstairs.
After I hung it in the closet (it was clean) I went out to the balcony to collect the rest of my clothes. I then noticed that some of my socks were still attached to the clothespins but had been blown around so that they were wrapped around the pole and also that one of my other shirts was on the floor of the balcony. "Hmmm," I confirmed in my mind, "Guess we did have some wind today." So I grabbed them all, brought them in and hung them up in a wind-free zone.
It was about this point that I noticed something amiss. Seemed that one of my work shirts was missing. So I looked around, back on the balcony, over the balcony, in the closet, and even in the dirty clothes basket. But nope, it seemed to be missing. So I went downstaris and looked around outside and up into the trees, but no dice. I then tried to bring in America's Most Wanted but was reminded that I am no longer living under their jurisdiction. So apparently I did indeed lose a shirt. Guess I'll have to go buy another.
Ok, not much of a story, I'll admit, but this wouldn't have happened if we had dryers over here.

Are you people watching the Olympics? I'm not. I've found out that the coverage in this country is crap.
Now first, I will admit that most of the good stuff at the Olympics seems to be happening during the evening hours, in Athens. This is usually the case, I presume, because those are the prime tv viewing hours. And unfortunately those hours in Athens make it about 2 or 3am here. Not exactly convenient hours for viewing. Yes, NHK is showing stuff at those hours and I could record it but that would involve getting up at the proper time and hitting the record button because I still can't figure out how to program a Kanji only VCR.
But anyway, my main point is this--and herein lies the true reason I am not getting up at 2am to hit the record button--nearly all events shown over here that I have seen focus 95% on Japan only. On the weekends I can watch the late afternoon coverage for a few hours, which makes it the mid-morning events in Athens if it's being shown live. And so far all I've seen are events which feature a Japanese athlete or Japanese team. Now, I have nothing against Japan. I rather like the country. And I have nothing against NHK as they bring me sumo every 6 weeks. But c'mon, let's see something other than Japan only coverage.
In America I have watched the Olympics and whoever is doing the coverage, while perhaps focusing a little more on Americans, does make an effort to show athletes and teams of other countries. Now, I will admit that the language barrier doesn't help and that that is not NHK's fault, but I will tell you that in every team sport competition I have seen over here, one of the teams has been from Japan. And of all the individual sports I have seen there is usually a Japanese athlete either in that particular race or perhaps in the next heat. Gets a little old after a while when you want to see how humans in general are doing.
But I guess this shouldn't be new or shocking to me. I've seen American baseball over here a few times in the mornings and each and every time it has been either the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Mariners, or the Mets. "Why those teams?" you non-baseball watching folk ask? They all have a famous Japanese ballplayer on the team. And what's more is that during the game while you may be watching and seeing the next pitch or a score or the next batter making his way to the plate, I am over here staring at Matsui cleaning his glove in right field or Ichiro sitting in the dugout waiting for his next at-bat. It seems a bit strange to me but then, I come from America where many different people make up the population and we don't really give a damn where a guy's from as long as he's good. Yeah, these Japanese players are good but I have a feeling that the feed I am getting isn't showing me them because of that.
Anyway, these Olympics are a wash for me. Bummer that.

On a brighter note Yamashita and I have scheduled an evening together at his house with his wife, two sons, his parents, Amy and, of course, the two of us. I haven't seen him in a while and am really looking forward to it. When I told him that if his parents were visiting that we could do it another time he answered, and I quote, "My parents do not mind your visiting at all, because they don't understand what we are saying at all. Our talk will sound like a kind of music." Now that shit's funny, man.

One more thing....I have fixed it so you people can comment on what I write. I am, of course, only looking for praise and accolades so if you have any negative feedback, keep it to yourself. No no, if you have anything to say at all you may now click on the comments at the bottom of each post and work it out from there. Just keep in mind that I know where most of you live.

Ok, over and out.