October 26, 2003

Kill Bill with a Toaster Oven

In my ongoing effort to expand my culinary prowess, I have exercised my monetary power today to acquire a... toaster oven! With this newly owned appliance, I can now expand my repertoire to include... toast! At merely 1,200yen (around $11), my new toy makes up for 33.33% of my ultimate triple combo of Fridge, Stove, and Toaster.

Speaking of cooking and crazy cooked up shit, I finally got a chance to slide myself into the moist interiors of a Japanese theater. No, let me rephrase that: I finally got a chance to watch Kill Bill (on opening day of the film here in Kyoto)! Oh. My. Goodness. That was some fucking crazy blood-filled madness. There were some incredibly funny parts (can you say, "lost appendages"?), but no one in the freakin' theater was laughing except me. I was later informed by my companion that Japanese aren't too fond of showing too much emotion; well, but c'mon, if something's funny you gotta laugh (right?).

Judah didn't end up coming down due to some strange tropical Japanese disease; however, I've begun preparations for a pilgrimage up to his lands next month.

I'm just happy I got myself a toaster oven.

Also, I may finally have found a student to tutor English. Awesome! (Money!)

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October 21, 2003

Missing all ye happy people

Believe it or not, I've actually gotten homesick. There's my bed, the perfect softness (or rather hardness), linted up pillow, and comfy blanket. When in the mood, I'd roll myself to Berkeley for a smoothie at Hummingbird Cafe, a latte at Espresso Experience, or a chat at the SPC. And the bastards of the Kanji Bushi are always around to talk smack and throw around testosterone. Mayhaps some stuff with the Voltron Crew would be afoot.

There are plans for Judah, who's also doing a study abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, to come on down to Kyoto this week. He's recently contacted me, informing me that he's become diseased and may not be able to arrive as planned. Hopefully, he can make it, and we can have a kick-ass time, Kanji Bushi style!

I've been making friends up the wazoo here, but there's nothing like getting together with great assholes and shootin' the shit.

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October 20, 2003

Tardiness

This past weekend as spent out every night again.

Friday night, a dude named Ben had an href="http://www.greggman.com/japan/okonomiyaki/okonomiyaki.htm">okonomiyaki party at his place. Man, the place was packed with gaijin, and I got pretty freakin' drunk (again?). There was a 50-ish lady there, and everyone first thought she was Ben's mother. After some inquiry, we find out that Ben actually invited her: she works at one of the small snack stores on campus! I give her mad props for coming to the party; she brought some great food and got real drunk on sake. I thought she was absolutely fascinating because she would ramble on about how she didn't like Japanese society, have another sip of sake, and go on about another subject. And she'd go around the room just chatting with everyone. She even invited us to her house for next time!

Ah, later that night, we watched Matrix: Reloaded which made for an ass-load of kicks and fun. New photos are up from the party for your viewing enjoyment.

Last night (Sunday night), I went to some sort of meat restaurant with Yukari. Without doubt, there was more drinking involved. And then we went to karaoke. By the time it was all done with, it was 1am, which spelled waking up late today. My first class is at 9:10. I woke up at 9 (like usual), decided I didn't want to get out of bed, and didn't get up until 9:30. I goofed off until 10:15 and then headed out the door... until I saw my classmate coming back from school. Curious, I ran over to him and found out... class was cancelled! So, I didn't have to worry about being monsterously late.

Score another good play by Ivan.

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October 15, 2003

To Infinity and Beyond!

China has hit space! And, damn, am I excited about it. I've been reading articles left and right about the launch. Check out how the boys at the UK Reuters decided to end their article about it. I couldn't stop laughing after that.

It's always been a secret fantasy of mine (no, not sexual you pervert) to become an astronaut. I still hope to someday set foot on extra-terrestrial soil, do a few back flips, and wave the peace sign around. Nonetheless, news like this pulls on the strings of my heart.

NASA, I hope you're getting excited too. All shaken up by the Columbia disaster? Still mulling over the Challenger? Get over it! Mistakes happen; now let's pick up the pieces and keep moving. Let's get this race rolling again!

China, you may all be a bunch of Commie bastards, but dog-gone-it, you go boyee! (or rather "mother" as those Reds like to call it)

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October 14, 2003

Stuff About School

Everyday, I have my "Basic Japanese" class for three hours (with 10 minute break in the middle). That's a horrendous 90 minute stretch of class each time. I keep myself vitalized with coffee and tea from nearby vending machines.

There's a noticable difference in teaching philosophy between the teachers at Gaidai and teachers I've been with in the past. The ones here seem to be lacking personality. As you folks are likely to already know, I'm a bit of a quack and enjoy pulling out jokes when possible. I make no exception in class; however, I don't think the sensei's here like that sort of thing. Also, I know nothing about them other than their names. I like to know about my teachers: it just makes things more interesting.

Another noticable difference is that students get less individual attention than what I'm accustomed to. Teachers are typically lecturers, assuming that the information is being absorbed by the students. I guess it would be nice if they tried a little harder making sure that we're understanding the information.

Nonetheless, I do my best to shake things up in class. To ensure my best loud-mouthed behavior, I make sure I'm well caffeinated for class and raise my hand to make outrageous remarks at every possible opportunity. Sometimes, it gets a bit difficult when the sensei starts spewing raging streams of Japanese (classes are, no doubt, all in Japanese).

Overall, however, classes are easy. There's homework once or twice a week, a vocab test here and there, and a quiz once a week. When not causing havok in class, I'm out causing trouble around the rest of Kyoto. Rawk!

Ganbarimasu!

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October 10, 2003

What, me update?

I was going to write something about how life Japan has been treating me, how school has been, and just general "I'm a foreigner" stuff. But then, I started going through Penny Arcade.

So, instead: I laff, and I link. :)

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