So the cooler times have come again and now I am starting to spend more time inside where it is warmer... or err, "the beaches are closed so now wtf do I do?" is more like it.
Not too much to report. I had a wicked summer and work is on track. My good English friend is getting hitched. Kids in Japan are pretty good, and then they hit sixth grade. I really like making things with first, second, and third graders... it's more on my level, heh.
I have been going on runs at night and it is usually very clear out. I haul myself up to vistas around the city... it is really beautiful actually.
Meh, more will come more regularly now.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Mukade
I now have an unhealthy disdain for the centipedes of Japan. Mukade is centipede in Japanese, but when they say Mukade they are almost always referring to a specific type.... the type that is dangerous... the type that bit me.
I was asleep...maybe a bit drunk...in a lodge in the mountains for a frisbee tourney... I didn't feel anything till I woke up and it felt like a burn (normally it would wake you up most defiantly... alcohol and my heavy sleeping habits may have played a role here). Long story short it sucks; the swelling was pretty bad and is now going down however pain is replacing the swelling around my lower ankle and inside of my right foot. I'll live.
Frisbee is fun.
I was asleep...maybe a bit drunk...in a lodge in the mountains for a frisbee tourney... I didn't feel anything till I woke up and it felt like a burn (normally it would wake you up most defiantly... alcohol and my heavy sleeping habits may have played a role here). Long story short it sucks; the swelling was pretty bad and is now going down however pain is replacing the swelling around my lower ankle and inside of my right foot. I'll live.
Frisbee is fun.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The joys of slander.
Yeah, you heard me... slander.. and the joys associated with it...mostly by others.
Three perdicaments..
1.) Not relaying information clearly to me and then I take the blame.
2.) You don't know me, but you will talk crap about me.
3.) Judgemental zealots with closed eyes and minds.
1.) Basically what has happened here is a classic case of not actually informing me of what was really going on. Therefore plans were not changed to attend to such actual happenings and all hell breaks lose. Assumptions are made and stories created, stories quickly become lies, which become slander. Then I have to get out my snow shovel and clean up after you. All because information was not passed directly or though the normal channels to me on your behalf.
2.) Based on aforementioned slander. You do not know me. You have heard my name and maybe seen me around, but you do not really know me, let alone have ever carried on a conversation with me (even a casual one in passing). Yet you jump on said misinformation, add to it, and then pass it off as genuine. You have a right to talk, and to be an idiot, but you should have learned respect, prudence, and consideration in your words and actions. The resulting afterbirth from this marred conception of careless assumption and crass judgement have left me with both a laugh and a potentially annoying predicament to gradually clear my name (if it actually needs clearing). In short, you suck.
3.) Basically in this instance isoloated people judging others who are in a different situation than their own. With different values, wants, needs, etc. However, these people pass on rather final judgements of others without a whole lot of consideration for why people different then themselves are making such choices or to consider a situation different than their own. What make things worse for this type of people is the unique person in their ranks that not only does such things regularly but also has disrespect for the people they are judging who happen to have been treating them very well and helping them out up until this point.... and then rave about it publicly in blogs or to whomever will listen and that will agree with them... the other person that agrees is usually a candidate for section two mentioned above.
So basically this is a small rant about stuff you cannot get away from pretty much no matter where you are in the world. Everyone can learn from this, even me, we are all guilty at times. Some display this "ability" all the time or it has a propensity to arise and dominate thier behavior and relations.
I only apoligize to my mother for this because I am sounding rude and should probably behave better; at least this way she gets a blog post. So she cannot complain. The rest of you can deal or go find your "coping corner" as my niece would say.
More importantly things are great here. Other than dealing with fallout from morons and miscommunication (which I don't think is really all that bad) things are actually going well. Coaching basketball at a school, I absolutely love teaching first graders, getting back in shape, excited to see family and friends Stateside in May, my reviews at school have all been well and my schools like me, stoked about teaching swim lessons in summer, longboarding is fun (still painful at times), thinking about getting a road bike and riding with friends around the area, stuffed pandas are the best things for teaching lessons of all ages, only worried that I am involved with all my schools a little that I cannot be involved with any one school a great deal (I can only strech so many ways), and did I mention that my host family still rocks.
Three perdicaments..
1.) Not relaying information clearly to me and then I take the blame.
2.) You don't know me, but you will talk crap about me.
3.) Judgemental zealots with closed eyes and minds.
1.) Basically what has happened here is a classic case of not actually informing me of what was really going on. Therefore plans were not changed to attend to such actual happenings and all hell breaks lose. Assumptions are made and stories created, stories quickly become lies, which become slander. Then I have to get out my snow shovel and clean up after you. All because information was not passed directly or though the normal channels to me on your behalf.
2.) Based on aforementioned slander. You do not know me. You have heard my name and maybe seen me around, but you do not really know me, let alone have ever carried on a conversation with me (even a casual one in passing). Yet you jump on said misinformation, add to it, and then pass it off as genuine. You have a right to talk, and to be an idiot, but you should have learned respect, prudence, and consideration in your words and actions. The resulting afterbirth from this marred conception of careless assumption and crass judgement have left me with both a laugh and a potentially annoying predicament to gradually clear my name (if it actually needs clearing). In short, you suck.
3.) Basically in this instance isoloated people judging others who are in a different situation than their own. With different values, wants, needs, etc. However, these people pass on rather final judgements of others without a whole lot of consideration for why people different then themselves are making such choices or to consider a situation different than their own. What make things worse for this type of people is the unique person in their ranks that not only does such things regularly but also has disrespect for the people they are judging who happen to have been treating them very well and helping them out up until this point.... and then rave about it publicly in blogs or to whomever will listen and that will agree with them... the other person that agrees is usually a candidate for section two mentioned above.
So basically this is a small rant about stuff you cannot get away from pretty much no matter where you are in the world. Everyone can learn from this, even me, we are all guilty at times. Some display this "ability" all the time or it has a propensity to arise and dominate thier behavior and relations.
I only apoligize to my mother for this because I am sounding rude and should probably behave better; at least this way she gets a blog post. So she cannot complain. The rest of you can deal or go find your "coping corner" as my niece would say.
More importantly things are great here. Other than dealing with fallout from morons and miscommunication (which I don't think is really all that bad) things are actually going well. Coaching basketball at a school, I absolutely love teaching first graders, getting back in shape, excited to see family and friends Stateside in May, my reviews at school have all been well and my schools like me, stoked about teaching swim lessons in summer, longboarding is fun (still painful at times), thinking about getting a road bike and riding with friends around the area, stuffed pandas are the best things for teaching lessons of all ages, only worried that I am involved with all my schools a little that I cannot be involved with any one school a great deal (I can only strech so many ways), and did I mention that my host family still rocks.
Monday, January 25, 2010
2010 begins....
In short, I barely survived my New Years trip to Fukuoka... nuff said.
Life has been very busy, but is now settling back to normal. I am branching out more and aggressively trying to travel when I have time. I usually am at it alone which sucks, however, no one there to slow me down.
Had a quarter life crisis and got a long board skate board. One of the best damn decisions I have ever made. When it arrived I was so incredibly excited.. reminiscent of a Christmas morning when I was six years old. I was also scared shitless, being completely new to this and all... this thing could kill me. I actually got the knack of it pretty quickly. It is a lot like snowboarding. Pavement hurts more than snow though I have found out. Only one big fall when my foot caught on the ground while pumping down a street. Then today some lady cut in front of me and then continued to go in front of me till I had to jump off the board to avoid hitting her. I couldn't believe it. A whole topic to it's own; Japanese people are terrible walkers, runners, riders, and drivers for the most part... they do not pay attention or look around them at all. A few of my peers in Kure tried to clue me into this before, but only now am I seeing the light.
Last night was a wonderful occasion. My friend Sui who is a JET (English Teacher like me) in Saijo invited me up for a private Koto playing and dinner by one of the teachers that sometimes works in one of her schools. It was amazing! The woman who is now almost sixty has been playing her whole life and is absolutely amazing. For those of you that do not know and are too lazy to google"Koto", it is a large stringed instrument. Basically functioning in the same way an empty tissue box does when rubber bands are stretched over the opening and strummed. They are long! Made from Paulowina wood the instruments are about a foot wide at the thicker end and at least six feet long. Some can get much larger (she actually had one there that she played and it was simply divine sounding) and heavier. They are rested on the ground perpendicularly in front of the player and played by pushing the thumb index and middle finger "through" and past the desired string near the base/thick end. On the fingers they wear odd pics made of ivory.
She made us a wonderful dinner and entertained us with great stories and knowledge. She also gave us some home made Umeshu which her husband had brewed. It is a fermented plum concoction and it is wonderful. She even sent me home with some... and I am sipping it now as I write. Noteworthy: She had a psycho dog and a very beautiful cat named "Pi-chan".
I then took the trains all the way home and had a nice night time ride through the countryside.
Life has been very busy, but is now settling back to normal. I am branching out more and aggressively trying to travel when I have time. I usually am at it alone which sucks, however, no one there to slow me down.
Had a quarter life crisis and got a long board skate board. One of the best damn decisions I have ever made. When it arrived I was so incredibly excited.. reminiscent of a Christmas morning when I was six years old. I was also scared shitless, being completely new to this and all... this thing could kill me. I actually got the knack of it pretty quickly. It is a lot like snowboarding. Pavement hurts more than snow though I have found out. Only one big fall when my foot caught on the ground while pumping down a street. Then today some lady cut in front of me and then continued to go in front of me till I had to jump off the board to avoid hitting her. I couldn't believe it. A whole topic to it's own; Japanese people are terrible walkers, runners, riders, and drivers for the most part... they do not pay attention or look around them at all. A few of my peers in Kure tried to clue me into this before, but only now am I seeing the light.
Last night was a wonderful occasion. My friend Sui who is a JET (English Teacher like me) in Saijo invited me up for a private Koto playing and dinner by one of the teachers that sometimes works in one of her schools. It was amazing! The woman who is now almost sixty has been playing her whole life and is absolutely amazing. For those of you that do not know and are too lazy to google"Koto", it is a large stringed instrument. Basically functioning in the same way an empty tissue box does when rubber bands are stretched over the opening and strummed. They are long! Made from Paulowina wood the instruments are about a foot wide at the thicker end and at least six feet long. Some can get much larger (she actually had one there that she played and it was simply divine sounding) and heavier. They are rested on the ground perpendicularly in front of the player and played by pushing the thumb index and middle finger "through" and past the desired string near the base/thick end. On the fingers they wear odd pics made of ivory.
She made us a wonderful dinner and entertained us with great stories and knowledge. She also gave us some home made Umeshu which her husband had brewed. It is a fermented plum concoction and it is wonderful. She even sent me home with some... and I am sipping it now as I write. Noteworthy: She had a psycho dog and a very beautiful cat named "Pi-chan".
I then took the trains all the way home and had a nice night time ride through the countryside.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)