Been a week since Mr. Lappy has been sent off to the doctor. I hope hes doing ok, its the first time since we met that weve been apart. Its totally sad and I worry that he is lonely. Off somewhere in a cold dark place. I hope the other laptops are being nice to him. I mean, he really hasnt socialized much. Once at that network party we had…but…did he make any friends? I really dont know. Its like sending your kid off to summer camp. Cept, hes not really my kid and its closer to open heart surgery than summer camp.
And…now…my washing machine is making scary noises. Machines and me, we just aint getting along at the moment. Terrible.
Anyway. Im on a borrowed laptop for a little bit, not long though. I really should return it. Its very interesting writing on a Japanese keyboard. Lesse if I can do something trivial and childish.
はじめまして。私はかあたあです。えいごのきょうしです。さんじゅいちさいです。どうぞよろしく。
Ha, that was pathetic. Ive been here for almost a year and I can barely introduce myself. I should really work more on my Japanese. Damn, i lied in there about my age too. It really should have said…
にじゅにさいです。
Much better, im sure you all believe me now.
So, the whole reason that I decided to make this post was to show another funny youtube video a came across. Good chance youve seen it since its a little older, but I know a bunch of you are Eddy Izzard fans, so even if you have, you may get a kick out of it. The video part is work safe, but some of the language is not.
Thats right, there is swearing and several F-bombs in the dialogue.
I have warned you! Ma, cover you ears when he starts to swear, ok? Youre not old enough to be hearing that kind of language.
Not sure if that is gonna work. I dont have live writer on this laptop, and actually updating through the website is a pain in the behind.
Horray, it worked. Anyway, im gonna go …do…something. Maybe study some Japanese or something. That would be good for me…
This is gonna be quick, im using a friends laptop cause either the backlight or inverter went on mine and i cant see a damn thing on my screen. I just sent it in to get fixed, but im not sure how much its gonna cost or when its gonna be ready. I had thought that I had found a way to avoid dealing with Dell, but it seems the shop is just sending it to them anyway. I had hoped to get it fixed locally, but no such luck.
Long story short. Until further notice, I am MIA. I hope things are well back home and I hope to talk to you all soon.
Chris, you get into the FF13 beta yet? I havent! >_<//.
Oh, one other piece of news…I have facial hair! Bwahahahhah.
Found a catchy song (which im sure youve all heard already =_=) but here it is anyway.
No idea who she is really. Ima look into it, and I figure anybody else who likes the song will too.
So, how are things back home? Was nice talking to all you folks I was able to get in touch with. We should def do it again sometime.
I dont have any pictures, yet, but there is something here I have to tell you about. The roads here have little sprinkler systems to keep the roads from freezing. They pump out a fair bit of water and its just warm enough to stop any ice from forming on the roads and on the train tracks. Its pretty cool, but its like an obstacle course for pedestrians. Some of the sprinklers are somewhat….strong. I saw one shooting about 6 feet on my way home. Some of them shoot across the crosswalks, some dont. Most of the time its ok, but it can make for an adventure. Some of the sidewalks have these too. I think they are normally ok unless a piece of dirt or something gets caught in the nozzle. Then you have the water being forced out a smaller hole, creating more pressure and firing the water a longer distance. Exciting huh?
I was thinking. Your New Years is around 1pm in the afternoon my time. If you are having a big party somewhere that has a computer, and say…MSN or Skype or something like that and you want some digital company (no, not the kind youre thinking), then maybe we could arrange something. Drop me an email, or just comment here (I see those) and we could set up a time and we could all have a big long (long distance) chat.
Merry X-mas, yo. Hope everybody is happy and healthy and enjoying a wonderful x-mas this year. Its already that time here…so ima enjoy it first. Catch on up when youre ready!
Here is a link to the school where I work. All of the schools use a similar photograph style, and its a little different than what we would use back in Canada, so take it with a grain of salt. Enjoy!
Things here are going well, though the weather is starting to turn a little cold. Its nothing like back home, it wont get much colder than –3 or so I am told, but it sure feels cold after that stupidly hot and humid summer that we had here.
Im trying to think if anything terribly (or even remotely) interesting has happened to me lately…and im coming up kinda blank.
Oh, i do have a somewhat funny story. Because of the vast amounts of rain that seem to fall here (especially when I am planning on going outside somewhere) I have taken to carrying an umbrella. This thing is a beast. Big and strong and it keeps me safe, its like my knight in shining armour. Cept…theres no armour or horse. It survived the typhoon we had a few months back. I went out on my bike w/ that bad boy and we braved the winds! It stood up to wind that was strong enough to prevent me from going forward on my bike. This particular gust of wind, of course, hit me in the middle of the road, that was fun. Anyway, back to my story.
2 weeks ago we had quite a bit of rain and I took my umbrella to work with me. This was on a tuesday. It wasnt raining when I came home, so I stopped by the corner store to get some juice and put my umbrella in the little basket out front of the door. I went in, got my juice, went home. Weds was a nice day and on Thursday it started to rain again. So, as I walked out of my apartment I reached for where I usually keep my umbrella. Swooooosh. My hand found only empty air.
NANI!?
(Nani is the japanese word for “what”. Its really got a nice ring to it, pronounced na-nee, so ive adopted it).
My umbrella was gone! I mulled over where I could have left it and work seemed like the most logical answer. I went out, hopped on my bike and started my trip. About 20 seconds later it occurred to me that I might have left it at the convenience store. I went around the corner and, lo and behold, there it was, still in the basket out front. So I whipped my bike around and swung in between the parked cars, grabbed my umbrella from the and spun my bike around again to head to work. As my bike turned, I saw an older Japanese lady sitting in one of the cars I had pulled in beside. She was making this expression: . I can only imagine that she thought that i was STEALING the umbrella. A foreigner comes racing in, grabs a nice umbrella out of the basket in front of the store and then races off. Yah, kinda makes sense.
I have seen a couple of movies recently that were decent. I mentioned “This is It” last time, and I hope you all enjoyed it! I also saw Inglorious Bastards and The Hangover last week. Both were good in different ways. IB was predictable in the Tarantino sorta way. You knew the general outcome, you knew how some of the things were going to play out and you know there was gonna be some F’d up dialogue scenes. Nothing new when it comes to style. It was, however, a good movie. The “main bad guy” was great, i enjoyed his performance a lot. It was a bloody long movie, but it didnt feel like it, so it was cool. Worth seeing. It didnt change my life, but it was worth 1000 yen fo-sho.
The Hangover was kinda cool too. If you dont know about it, the premise is that a guy is getting married so his buddies take em out for a bachelor party…but get to wasted that they LOSE the bachelor. They spend the rest of the movie retracing their steps and trying to find him. Kinda like “Dude, wheres my car”, which I loved. As such, this one was a good time also. The closing scene of the movie is pictures from the “adventure” and they were very funny. They also had a very cool song playing while they were showing. All you folks back there with English Radio have probably heard it by now, but if not…its catchy.
Before I introduce that song though, I will remind you what it is…a pseudo cover of (IMO).
Hrm…wow. Thats…one…video. I…am somewhat at a loss for words after watching it. I love the song…the video may give me nightmares. Anyway, the new one that seems to be a play off of that one…
The quality is pretty crappy…but…the tune is kinda catchy. If anybody else has some music that I should check out, please let me know. I feel so out of the loop sometimes. My coworker is a big music buff, but too much so. Its like wanting a class of water and getting an ocean dumped on you.
I think thats enough for now. Ive got a few things to go and stuff yo. So like, have a good day or night or whatever it is wherever it is that you are reading this from.
Oh, and I might have something fun to post soon. So, check back occasionally. Nothing terribly exciting, but youll get a kick out of it…if i can find it \O_O/.
K, So yah…its been a while since ive updated, again. Im lazy. We go through this EVERY time, so lets just skip it this time around.
Things have been good here since the last time I updated, for the most part. I got sick for the first time since I came to Japan. It wasnt the swine flu, dont worry. I know all the gals were feinting just thinking that I might have been in danger. Fear not fair maidens, it was but a mere cold. A whole lot of sneezing and more nose blowing than I would really like to comment on. I also drank so much orange juice that I think I may have changed the ordering patterns of the convenience store around the corner. I was drinking like 8 bottles a day. It was stupid. I think i actually changed colour a little!
What else has happened since the last post…?
Oh yah, the typhoon. Kinda a let down. We were told that we wouldnt be going in to work until 4. Got called at 11 to go in at the regular time, 1. That was kinda sad, and wet. I got nicely soaked on the way to work. I…heh…rode my bike. Bike in one hand, umbrella in the other, what an adventure. I actually got stopped midway across the road one time because the wind was blowing so hard that I couldnt go forward. My umbrella is a beast though. it survived the outing and continues to protect me to this day!
My iPod headphones are pretty much dead. the left one has no sound =(. Im a sad panda cause its so damn expensive to replace those things. If i could afford it, id buy a friggin iTouch, those things are gorgeous. One of my students has one and im so jealous.
Oh…FFXIII. Damn that thing is a tease. It comes out on Friday here…and I cant play it. I have neither a PS3 nor the ability to read Japanese heh. It looks so pretty though T_T. I feel like its the end of an era. An FF game that I wont be playing. I guess its time for me to finally grow up. Btw, to all you people who are gonna play it. I HATE YOU. DIAF! Yah, that means YOU Greg! >_<//
We had a Halloween party at work and had almost 40 people there. Most people wore costumes and there were a few really great ones. I wish I could post the pics of them, but I cant. I can however post the pic of my costume, I was pretty happy with it. I put glow sticks in the head so make it all…well…glowey. I was pretty happy with the effect. The eerie green cant be seen in the pic, but when the lights were low…oh ho ho!
Im so cool huh? No “Tune in Tokyo” jokes please =_=.
Honestly, I could hardly see. No glasses under that getup.
Oh, I did see a couple of movies id like to mention.
This Is It. The Michael Jackson movie. It was actually really great. That would have been a fantastic show. It was kinda sad thinking about the extras and what losing MJ just days before the opening of the concert would do to their lives. If you go see it (and you should) make sure you check out the guitar chick. She is FRIGGIN AMAZING. That girl can rock. Seriously, shes got mad skillz.
Drag Me to Hell. The new Raimi movie. Very funny. Lots of things jumping out at you for startle points. Well, maybe “very funny” isnt the best way to describe it. Its in the same “style” of Army of Darkness, except there is like..a plot..and stuff. Couple recurring gags (no pun intended) are pretty humourous. Worth seeing.
Gonna go see the new Tarantino movie next week or the week after. It should also be good. Oh, and did you guys see the preview for Ong-Bak 2. New Tony Jaa movie. Rock on!
Oh crap, did “Men who Stare at Goats” come out in NA yet? I wanted to see that really badly, but I dont know if it will come out here. If anybody actually reads this…could you let me know.
Speaking of reading this, it was actually a student today who mentioned reading my blog that prompted me to update it. I felt guilty. This is such a bad example of English. Almost makes me feel guilty, but I am way too lazy to properly punctuate and spell check everything. Takes too much work.
I think thats enough typing for now. Im sure I have something else to say, but I cant remember what it is. Ill try to update again soon. I know I keep saying that, but its bound to happen eventually…right?
This, might be an almost serious blog posting. Be warned. Some onions MAY find there way onto this page though. Maybe.
So, why am i reflecting on the past year? Ive only been in Japan for uh..7 months. 7 =/= 12. Well, yesterday was my birthday and things are pretty different than they were 12 months ago, almost to this day.
A year ago I was happily living in Saint John in a nice little uptown apartment. I loved that apartment, I loved who I lived with and it was a good time for me. I was working something stupid like 5 jobs and going to school full time. I was going to the gym off and on (not as much as I should), I was gaming w/ the guys (and some gals) once a week. Gawd, what day did we play? Tues? Weds? I cant even remember. I had a great cat and a great girlfriend, and I was just about to get a super awesome leather couch. Gawd damn that was a great couch. I miss napping on that thing. I had a couple of expanding options when I graduated (for the second time with my business degree) and I had made a few good contacts.
I had a great business partner (JC, you rock) and we were, I think, doing pretty damn well. Our little consulting job turned out really well (I think) and the marketing stuff we did for the university was pretty successful. Chris D got one of his pics used for the MBA banner from the mixer we were part of, where our little video was shown. It doesnt look like that video has been used for anything really, which is too bad. It wasnt great…but we put a LOT of work into it and I was pretty happy with how it turned out for an amateur jobby. Some of the other work we did for them is still being used.
I got to do a couple of seminars, which I really enjoyed. I was doing some interview prep stuff and I think I coulda taken that a little further if I wasnt so damn busy. School itself was going well. I was playing badminton a couple times a week and I really liked all of my professors. Some of them didnt even hate me! Co-op had been a great experience and I dont regret any of it.
LIfe was pretty good.
So…why did I come to Japan?
Well, after I graduated from school the first time…I couldnt find a job. I could find little part time things, but nothing I was happy with. Nothing I was really proud of. I think we all go through that. I had already run away to Florida (haha) and that didnt go over so well. Even with as well as things had been going, I didnt have a lot of confidence in myself. Im smart, yeah…but really, thats all ive got. A few people accused me of being a “work-a-holic” but they didnt really know me. They only saw me at work. The people who knew me knew that I am a lazy, selfish sod. I was gonna say sonuvabitch, but then id be insulting my mom on my own blog…and I cant do that. Luv ya ma!
So…I was worried that when I got out of school, well…id be jobless again. I had really liked the jobs I had done over the past few years. I enjoyed the marketing stuff, the promotions coordinator, the consulting. I had finally done something I was almost proud to say I did as a job. I dont know if I was good at it, or if JC was good at it and I was just along for the ride, but I think we made a really good team. We didnt win the business plan competition, but damn we were close. We had that…too bad one of the judges had to pee =_=. We kicked ass at the business problem competition we went to (2 way split baby!).
Anyway. I wanted to have a job. And, I wanted to come to Japan. I had wanted to go abroad and teach English for years. Im pretty good at English, yo. Of course, now that ive said that, some grammar nazi is gonna go through my blog posts and find all the places where ive gone wrong. Well, F you! I dont care. Im good at English, just not very good at typing. So, I applied at AEON, the only place I applied for. They had a good rep and I really didnt want to get screwed over. So far, things are great.
So, whats different huh?
I live in an apartment that I could fit into my old living room, but I love it. Its…cozy. It has everything I need, though I would like to have a bigger kitchen. Actually, technically, I would like to have a kitchen at all. Im working ~10 hours 5 days a week, sometimes 6. Im eating fish (yes, im actually eating fish!), and all kinds of other crazy foods. Im biking something like 8km a day (and I have a folding bike! Bwahahah). Im working with some rediculously great people and I have some great students. Im writing a little again, though not as much as I should. Im slowly (very slowly) learning some Japanese. Im SUCH a bad student . My poor teacher. I almost feel bad for her.
I own my first EVER new vacuum. Its friggin awesome. I drink coffee cause I dont sleep enough and I have no pets for the first time in my life. I miss my girls more than I can say and I hope they are doing ok. I miss not seeing Robert growing up (he was such a cute kid) and I didnt even get to meet Tony and Kuna’s little one before I left. I was sick and I really didnt want to pass it on. I feel incredibly guilty about that. I hope all is going well for that family. Julie and Dale just had their first too, and I am gonna miss most of that. Ill miss Steve and Tara’s wedding, and thats something I really wanted to be there for. I wish you two the best!
I worry about Ma and Jordan. They need somebody looking out for them >_<//. And..I miss…Subway! I would kill for a friggin Sub right now. Maaaaan, they are sooo good.
Im very very happy where I am right now and im gonna be here for a while longer, I hope. Ill try to come visit the peeps at home sometime soon. Maybe. Money is tight, student loan peeps are, surprise, screwing me over nicely. My own fault though. Youre all welcome to come visit any time though. I have enough floor space to fit a few peeps. I dont have …like..a bed…or a couch …or…chairs…even really. So, be happy with the floor and stop whining.
There is a typhoon coming right now. Thats kinda exciting. Well, maybe. Ill let you know if I get blown away or not.
Anyway. Ive writting too much. Im sure there is more I could write, but im like..getting distracted by shiny things. So, I hope people are doing well. I am.
Next post will be back to being useless and inane. Dont worry! Talk at ya soon.
