Sunday, April 25, 2004

summer starts to crawl this way

Reposted from other source in 2013.

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So I am reading this "scary" book in Japanese called "Monster Cat Restraunt"... and yes, it's only a middle-school book... I know a lot of people can read kanji better than me, don't make fun of me, but anyway, its nice to read just for fun. Let me explain chapter two to you, its a fairly weird book. So theres this guy who has the hots for this girl (he really likes her) and they see each other a lot, but she says to him "I like hanging out with you, but dont come over on Fridays!" So, like a dork, he gets the urge to see her one Friday night and decides to go over. Its one of those creepy moonlit nights, and when he gets near her house, he crosses a bridge... and on this bridge he sees a huge group of cats dancing and singing. He thinks its kind of creepy, and one of the cats comes over to him and starts meowing, and he thinks its annoyingly noisy so he pulls out a sword (that he just happened to have with him??) and he cuts off the cats leg! The cat screams in pain, and runs off. He thinks its kind of cool, so he picks up the severed leg and puts it in his pocket. He takes his time, but eventually gets to his lover's house. He opens the door and she is laying in bed groaning. He is worried about her so he rushes over, and (lets not think he was being horny at a time like this!) he pulls back her covers to reveal that her leg has been hacked off!! He steps back, startled, and reaches in his pocket to pull out the cat leg but instead he pulls out her leg!! (this is where the story lost me, how could you have a woman's leg in your pocket and not notice?!) Anyway, in a morbidly cool way, these stories are fun. (Its a collection of short, shocking, stories...) I also bought Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (in Japanese of course, but I havent started that one, a 100YEN at BookOFF!) I also saw Little House on the Prairie, but for some reason it was translated "Little House in the Big Forest" ... is this just a different story in the same book series, does anyone know? I was thinking maybe it was hard to translate prairie into kid Japanese, since there isnt really any places like that here... hmmm. (I looked it up, in Japanese it looks like the word for prairie also means moor which totally makes no sense in the context of the story I guess? Anyway, something like that. woo woo)

On Saturday I went to Yuco's birthday party. It was an all-you-can drink party, and she had invited a lot of people from her So-So club. I went to one of their parties before (remember hearing about that last Christmas?) and its always so fun... its like a frat-party with drinking songs. I was working the next day, and for some reason I am a responsible teacher, so I didnt drink that much... but some people drank so much. Whole bottles at a time, beer seeming like water... well, I couldnt even drink water that fast. The atmosphere, was very international, people from all sorts of countries speaking Japanese and English. Aaron is in Japan now, and I saw him there! (He looked genki as ever, and so did Yuco...!) It was a warm, interesting party, even if I had to leave early because I was working the next day.

Summer is getting closer, and so I guess the Matsuri festival season is coming...? Today I worked in Irumashi (sometimes known as Iruma) and they were having a big festival... a lot of cool old, traditional-style, drums and at night they had the cool chochin lanterns... it was cool. I put some pictures of it in my "day-to-day Japan" album, and I'm going to try direct links on my page today, groovy! (click below)

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Other than that, nothing much new to report. My life is alive. With the sound of music. Heeee haw! ..... Belive in peace. DAAG!

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

that sucked

I just typed about not knowing what to say, and then I pressed submit and it was eaten by the random chaos of the universe... my entry is forever gone. A quick summary of what i mentioned... on Sunday, I saw a very cool documentary about the Theremin instrument... if you dont know about Theremins you should follow the links to learn about it. It was an electronic instrument invented in 1919, its played by moving your hands around a box, in the air... its really freaky and interesting I think. I also said I was affraid of posting a totally boring entry (because I couldnt remember what i was going to say) so I would sign off with: Seth called me, he is coming up to Tokyo to visit on the 27th until the 5th! Cool... and also, the web is amazing if you let yourself sink into the surf... they think jesus died in japan...! and they are actually fighting about what to feed a rabbit!?! And this amazing painting of Japanese-American nisei babies in an American concentration camp (link ref). I love the net... its endless... SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI...

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

seeing friends and drinking goodbyes

Reposted from other source in 2013.

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Another week. On monday I saw Yuco, Satomi and Yuco's friend Kumi. It was really good seeing them again, I hadnt seen either for a long time. We just went to a bar named Soul Food in Seibu-Shinjuku. Me and Diana used to go there, so it was cool to see the place, which looked kind of different this time. I forced them to speak only English, I didnt say anything in Japanese, it was an English day... afterwards I felt a little guilty, because I am in Japan, I should be speaking Japanese, but its good English practice.... speaking Japanese in Japan brings me to another story, which I'll mention soon, but first I want to say I saw Marykoh again, on Tuesday, after I hadnt seen her for awhile. We talked about life, and ate pizza, but then I realized I would be late for Tanya's goodbye party... I need to try not to squeeze too much into one day, anyway, I ran to my station and when I got there, I ran into another teacher, Nathen. He asked me where I was going, said he would come along... first he suggested we get some beers at the convience store, and I was coming late to the goodbye party, and I thought everyone would be very drunk, so I thought having a beer first wasnt such a bad idea... but we get to the store, and he must have been drunk already, because he starts talking in weird English to the cashier "Can I buy this beer? Thank you very much, I dont want a bag please!" really loud, and (I thought) strange. A Japanese man (maybe he was drunk too) behind him said loudly (in Japanese) "Shut the f*ck up asshole, your in Japan, speak Japanese!" I didnt agree with the mean words, but I agreed with the idea, but Nathen just decided to go over and talk to the guy, comfront him in English or something. I decided to start walking to the party, didnt feel like being around that. Later Nathen caught up to me... we started to walk together, but he stopped at a bus stop and started talking to some Japanese people in loud English. I didnt wait at all this time, and I just told him I was going to the party. It makes me think. Is this rude of him? Is it rude of me to not speak to Japanese people (that I dont know)? Is he being friendly? Should someone speak Japanese in Japan? I think so, why do I think so? Anyway, this made me really think about my opinions and everything. I'm interested in what others think. I got to Tanya's goodbye party, and it was wild, so much beer and drunk people. It reminded me of college, and going to someone's dorm and sitting around talking in a drunken haze. I dont really do this so often here in Japan, I'd rather just have friends over at my house.. have a few drinks and watch a movie or talk or something... I guess thats my personality. It was a funny party though... the waitor came in to tell us we had to leave soon, and we (the party people) talked him into chugging (drinking at one time) THREE (yes I said 3) beers ... and he was still ok afterwards, I was impressed, his boss must have trained him on drinking with customers or something? I would pass out if I chugged that much. Life continues. DAAG!

Monday, April 12, 2004

Cool plans are bubbling!

Originally posted on a different server, reposted here for history in 2013.

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finally, an update!

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Well, I am finally taking the time to sit down and WRITE in my journal/blog/diary thing (whatever this is?)... I was using the computer the other day, but it was writting about Japanese adjectives for Trench (if you want to see, click the "do it here" link at that site) and making a board game for my students....

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Anyway, I am finally writting. So what has been happening? (I added a poorly compressed picture, I had to use a bad program to do it, of pretty clouds in Higashimuriyama, to my day-to-day Japan album!) Uhm... I had a lot of things I wanted to write about it, but I have that problem ... when you sit down you forget what you wanted to actually say.

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I have this kid's class, and the kid's are really bad (dont misunderstand, most of the kid's classes I have the kids are wonderful....! but not in this one...) The kids are really evil, they used to rip up my lesson plans and draw on each other (they are about 11 or so I guess)... Recently I have become strict with them and they aren't acting bad, but now they are talking bad. I of course always only talk English with them (once I forgot and said the Japanese "OK, ready!" word when I was making them something, I dont think they noticed conciously but it was amazing how powerful your native language controls you... they obyed me in that moment more than they ever had...!) Last week one of the students called me a "shit head" (in Japanese of course, loose translation) and one of the other student giggled/gasped and said (in Japanese also of course) "You shouldnt say that to a teacher!" and the little girl who had called me that name said "It's okay, he can't speak Japanese." I wanted to tell her a few things in Japanese about how she should behave, but I think they should be encouraged to use English and will get more lazy if I speak any Japanese. Anyway. Sigh.

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Cool plans... Evan (from my college in America) will visit me with his friend Nick, they are coming on the 19th (until the 25th)... less than a week! They will stay at my place....! Next week I will see someone who used to be one of my e-mail students, Sanda, and try out a cool resturant in Shinjuku, Wolf Gang Puck's resturant... ! And after that from March 30 to April 5th I will be out of the country! I am going on vacation with Yusuke... I dont want to jinx myself and say too much now before I finish the plans... but what you can know now... we plan to hitch hike where we go, we will be there for about 6 days and we plan to see most of the place, and it wont be super expensive... where do you think we are going?? ^_^*;; After that, Seth says he is still coming here to visit me too, he will be on a tour in Kansai area, but will make it up here to Tokyo area for Golden Week holiday. (And Christina, from my school in America, said she will be coming here to Tokyo with her mom in September...!) So many people visiting, so many plans... wooo! ok.. thats it for now...

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SAYA LUCU!?! DAAG!

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22:51:00 | permalink | comments (9)

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syrinx, there is no clear "rule" we cant, the strong rule of not speaking japanese with my students is my own. I'm a stubborn ox! ^.^; Dansen

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Here's an idea - don't speak Japanese to the students, but maybe say something in Japanese to a coworker right after class, loud enough for the students to hear as they are leaving. Enough to plant the seed in their minds that you know Japanese too, without breaking the rule of only speaking English with students. Syrinx

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I still agree with Trench and I. I think it's okay to let them know that you know. If they know that you know, then you will know that they know that you know and it will be less distracting. Aaron

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Dear "Joe"! Would you belive that I am such a freak that i WANTED to do that? Is it a flaw in my design? I like how it shakes up the pages on some browsers and on others causes all sorts of other havoic, it feels like the virus name in my neonvirus.com address... any other opinions on this matter? o.O thanks for the thoughts tho! Dansen

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You know how when you hover over a link and it gets bigger? You should change your a.hover to 12px. Joe

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I respect both of your opinions, but I think that its important to create a "you must speak English" atmosphere, so I only speak English with all my students, young or old, bad or good. And Diego, I agree with you... they are testing my boundries so to speak! ^.^; Dansen

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I agree with Trench. Let the little shit heads know that you know when they are calling you a shit head. Aaron

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Sorry to hear that some of your students are being disrepectful. That's kinda tough being a non-native speaker and they just automatically think you don't know what you're talking about. They're testing your boundaries - just let them know that they can't walk all over you. Tips from a parent! Diego

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I think it's ok to let a few well placed japanese words slip with your class, in an informal situation, such as parting or what not. Might help. Maybe not. Thanks for the help with Nihongo Trench

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Saturday, April 10, 2004

NZ Vacation Diary Update

This was originally typed up a few weeks after returning from my trip to New Zealand with my college friend Yusuke. I typed it up from a hand written diary I wrote in a "passnet" notebook. This was originally on a different server that has been lost to time. Reposted on June 25, 2013.
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...(long!) typed from written records...!

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March 30th - In Malaysian airport
Me and Yusuke woke up early, pulled sleep out of our eyes and forced ourselves to get on the train that would take us to the airport. Recently, I have lost all hope of being a morning person and so I was lost in a sleepy haze. We got through customs fairly quickly, and then up, up, up and away. Airplanes never stop feeling weird to me. Tons of people stuffed in a bottle thats hurtling through the air. We were flying on Malaysian Airlines, and I was surprised how nice they were to us. They had those TVs on the back of every seat, showing movies or allowing you to play Nintendo games. We tried to sleep while hung against the sky, but at least I had a hard time falling asleep... too many in flight snacks, and too many entertainment options. As we approached our first lay-over in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) I noticed several things. In the "arrival card" I wrote "Japan" in the "country of residence" box, which had some sort of effect on me, even more so because I am moving to Korea next year. After that, Yusuke opened the window shade and we could see the most beautiful cloud-forest I have ever seen. Huge, fluffy, columns, that somehow reminded me of exploding mushrooms. Our airplane slide slowly into this massive white forest, and any other words cant really explain the serenity of those moments. This serenity was separated by the quiet realization of flying into a new country when the co-pilot made an announcement, "I'd like to remind you that brining illegal substances into Malaysia is a serious offense, which is punished by a mandatory death sentence." I didnt have any drugs, but this was a strong enough warning that I would wonder why anyone would bring any. At the moment of writing this me and Yusuke are sitting down waiting for our connecting flight to New Zealand.... Only one more hour until it gets here!
March 31
Flying into Auckland was another amazing cloud experience. Rows of cabbage-shaped clouds quickly moving over the crystal teal-blue oceans and softly rolling hills. Then later, as we approached the city, a million houses topped with tile-roofs. It took awhile to get through customs, longer than I expected anyway. Afterwards we just stood in the main airport entrance, the wonderful fall weather shinning in on us. We could smel the new country. Since I was 14 or 15 I have had a pen pal in New Zealand named Annabelle. She'll be going to England soon, to be with her boyfriend, but since she was still in Auckland we arranged to meet for lunch. (She was working that day, so lunch was the only time possible.) After I figured out the local pay phone, I gave her a call and we arranged to meet "downtown." I had no idea where downtown was, but it seemed findable. Me and Yusuke got on a bus to the city, but it turned out to be an unlucky bus... it ran out of gas and had a lot of problems, and the driver would get out of his seat and talk to the passengers at red lights. Culture difference? Eventually, we got to what seemed like "downtown" Auckland with a lot of artsy shops and a giant phallus-symbol tower (think: Seattle space needle). We called Annabelle again and turned out to be calling from only about a block from where she was working. We met for lunch at a hip little restraint on K street, and also saw a friend of hers. It was good seeing someone who had existed mainly in letters grow, morph, into a real flesh and blood person imprinted on my memory. After lunch, Anna led us back downtown, through a beautiful park. Me and Yusuke decided to take a bus out of Auckland, to a smaller city called Hamilton... about 2 hours away. So we said goodbye to Anna and walked down to the bay, were the buses stop. We got tickets from a burly man and then sat down at the edge of the bay, sunshine streaming down and warming our cheeks. We were so tired by the time we got on the bus we fell asleep, on and off; endless green hills, and sandy tropical clumps, streaming past the windows. We got to Hamilton as light was fading from the sky. We found a local bus, with another insane driver (hed open the entrance door while driving) in order to get to a youth hostel. The hostel was on "stop 5" so we asked the driver to tell us when we got there. We sat on the bus for a long time, wondering what was taking so long. Eventually, the bus driver turned off his inside lights and looked back surprised. He said he "forgot" about us, and that hed finished his route. I told him we were new to the area, and didnt have any idea were it was. He felt bad I guess, because he dropped us off infront of "stop 5" on his way to the bus parking lot. We stayed at the Flying Hedgehog Backpackers Inn, sharing a room with two other guys. One guy was from Scotland, the other one from Australia.
April 1
The next day we were walking to the inter-city bus station again, and stopped at an intersection. While we were waiting at the light a sports car with a young guy pulled up. He rolled down his window, flipped his middle finger at us and shouted "Go home!" When I was a student in the states, I used to go on walks with friends from other countries, sometimes dorks would yell similar things at us, so this New Zealand kid didnt bother me at all. We decided to take the bus to Taupo. Once again countless green hills, pushed past the window, although this time we also cut through a beautiful pine forest. We got to Taupo about 2 o'lock, and walked to the lake. It was massive, soft translucent water stretching to the horizons. Me and Yusuke sat down on the moss-gross near the edge of the water, and soaked in the sun like two toads on a log. It was so relaxing to just lounge there under the massive clouds and sprawling tree branches. After awhile we walked along the pebbled beach, causing ducks to quack and slowly scuttle into the water. As we walked around, literal thick sun beams visibly streamed down from clumped clouds, they looked something like a UFO beam shooting down to earth. We decided to look for a hostel we had seen earlier and ended up walking through the town forever. Eventually, we stopped at a public pay toilet, called super loo, and after Yusuke paid NZ 20 cents to use it, asked directions. We found the place, checked in, and went to a local Chinese take-out (or "take-away" as its called here) and took away full boxes of various Chinese food, paying another 20 cents for the chopsticks. Right now, we cant decide where to go tomorrow. And while I was writing this a third hostel guest (me and Yusuke were the first and second in this room, which fits up to eight) came in. After a brief conversation, I guessed he was Australian, he learned I came in from Japan, and he said that his brother had lived there for 2 years. So I said that Japan is a nice place, and asked why his brother left, and he said that his brother "had to get back to reality." Which surprised me and made me begin thinking about how we humans divide "Real" from "Unreal" and about why we sometimes think foreign things are not real. Are foreign people in Japan living inside a dream? Which side of reality are Americans, Canadians, Australians, etc, in when they are inside their own home countries? Is this way foreigners in Japan sometimes do such crazy things?
April 2
We decided we had enough free time, so we stood outs beside the road for a long time, trying to hitch hike. Eventually, it started to rain so we decided to just take a bus instead. The bus ended up taking almost the same route as when we came to Taupo, so a lot of things looked similar. Although this bus was driving at night which felt a lot different to me. I would sit the watching the shadows of trees, bushes, and sometimes houses, float past the window, amazed that even in the dark I could sense that this wasnt Japan or the States. I looked to the right, and I could see the upside down moon appearing to be pulled along by our bus. Thin, wispy, grey clouds filtered over the its surface and a dark night, with visible stars. The stars, of course, looked different than my expectations. Tomorrow, we plan to go to an island near Auckland named Waiheke. Tonight, we went to a restraint called "Masato Sushi & Kebabs" and then after checking in at the youth hostel, we went to Auckland's large Korea Town and used a cheap PCBAN.
April 3
We got to the island in about 35 minutes. The water was so clear, and the island looked really tropical, green trees clinging to hills sharpened by cliffs. Once we landed we decided to rent a car to check out the island. Yusuke brought his international drivers license, so he was the driver. Shortly after getting on the maze of roads threaded through the island, we noticed that most of the roads were tiny one lane paths that wound around steep valleys and twisted atop tall cliffs. Lets just say that driving was a bit risky. We drove for awhile, and eventually stopped at a beach somewhere. The small bay was surrounded by old lava-rock flows, and the water, although a little cold, was vibrant. We wandered around the beach, collecting cool shells, and walking on the old lava rocks. Yusuke shouted into the wind (in Japanese) "this is so beautiful!" and accidentally disturbed a topless sunbather we hadnt noticed. We continued driving, winding through the island, and eventually decided to look for the hostel. Awhile later, we found it, but they were full. They told us about another one, on the other side of the island, so we took off looking for it. We drove for awhile, but couldnt find it. We stopped at a small general store, and asked directions, but they directed us to one that was closed. We asked a local old man, his accent was thick, but we tried to understand. We continued along tiny spider-web sized local roads until we finally got to the hostel. They didnt have any rooms left either. They offered us a tent setup in the back yard, and we accepted because we heard it would rain that night (so sleeping on the beach or something wouldnt really work). We returned the car, went back to "downtown" (a few restraints and another general store) and ate a very good pizza for dinner. We went back to the hostel (without the car of course) as it became darker and cooler. The bumpy ground of the tent was my bed.
April 4
We couldnt help but wake up early, because the tent was a bit cold. I hadnt slept so well, mainly because a couple next to us decided to consummate their love for each other, vocally, for a good part of the night. (or in rougher terms, they were jumping on each other all night long yo!) As we woke up, we examined our mosquito bites, and decided to take the bus back to the ferry terminal. We walked to a remote bus stop, and waited. Eventually a completely crowded bus came, and drove for a distance and stopped at the beach. We asked the bus driver why the bus wasnt going to the ferry terminal and he laughed, the side of his scared face shaking. Apparently we had taken the wrong bus. He said, "Enjoy the picnic boys, I dont leave for the terminal for another 30 minutes." So we walked over to the beach. We were just in time for some local festival. Locals were vending home-made food (we ate steak and onion sandwiches) and a few minutes after we got there they had a cool horse race across the beach. The sun was sparkling off the wet sand and you could hear the horses thundering past. Eventually, we got on the ferry back to Auckland. The wind was blowing against us, and we could see the multi-colored sea (teal in splotches mixed with splotches of dark blue). When we got to Auckland, we walked around downtown for a few hours then went to the hostel. We planned to meet Anna after her work, but Yusuke said he needed a shower and he'd meet us a few hours later in the park. I met Anna and we just got tea and walked around. Talking about whatever (New Zealand, the weather, stamps, her boyfriend, shoes, anything) and then we went to the park to meet Yusuke, but he wasnt there. We waited for a half hour, eventually we decided to walk down the road looking for him. We found him in a different park, he had been waiting and talking to a Maori man who was also in the park. It was late, and Anna was tired, so we said our goodbyes, and she headed home. I felt bad Yusuke had missed hanging out but walking back towards the hostel he excitedly told me about his conversation with the Maori man. It sounded like he had a really good talk, so maybe it worked out ok for him. We decided to go to Auckland's huge Korea-town again before going back to sleep. There were a lot of cool Korean restaurants, and when we finally ate at one, it was really good. (The old lady waitress just laughed and shrugged when Yusuke tried to use English, correctly, in the store, so I used my broken Korean skills, and got our beers and food.) After that we went to an Irish pub further downtown, and then came back to the hostel. Right now everyone in this room is snoring loudly, will I be able to sleep? I hope so! Tomorrow is Malaysia!

April 5
I barely slept at all. The snoring was so loud, and random, I never closed my eyes for long. In the morning, we took a bus to the airport, and were jetting into the sky before we knew it. The next 12 hours were spent watching movies (ohmygod! Was I the only one to think Pay Check was dull and predictable?) and playing videogames on the little screen the airplane provided. We got to Malaysia at about 8:40 in the evening. Customs was really easy, compared to New Zealand, and then we took the "Sentral Ekspres" (spelled that way because of the Malay alphabet) to what we thought was downtown. It wasnt really, but we walked around for awhile anyway, trying to find a youth hostel. We didnt find one, so we stopped by a hotel to check the prices. The cheapest room was listed as costing about Malaysian 90, but the manager said hed give it to us for 60, which is very cheap (I guess about US$20 or something). After we checked in, we went on a walk through the local streets, pulling more stares than I even get in Tokyo. It was dark, and we both felt really foreign. We didnt really know any local culture, didnt know the area, or much of the language (I speak some Indonesian, and Malay is similar so I could read some signs). It was cool to be surrounded by such a different culture, before returning home to Japan.

A little news about now, after my trip:
The other day I was bored on a train and wondered how long my cellphone calendar would work. I started flipping the months and years up, 2010, 2034, 2057... I started to have visions of setting alarms for the far distant future so that people in 3040 could read my advice on world affairs, written in 21st century Japanese, but then it stopped at December 31, 2099. Theoretically I could outlive my cellphone. That sucks. Also, Kayo's little sister gave me a Super Famicon (think "Super Nintendo") that I have been wanting for a long time. I dont really like video games that much, compared to some of my friends (you know who you are!) but I am really interested in old technology and how technology changes so as soon as I get the AC adaptors setup and find some game cartridges, I'm going to be happy. (If your wondering, Im not sure, because I never owned one, but I think the Japanese version looks a lot different than the American version.) The last piece of information is this took forever to type and now my internet cafe bill is going to be super expensive...ughhhh... oh well. oh yeah, you can see a quick preview of three NZ vacation pictures in my "anything else" photo album, but most of my photos (and videos) are on my Korean page because I dont have enough space here....! BELIVE IN PEACE! SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI !!

























Sunday, April 04, 2004

snow and dreams

This was originally posted on a different server that is now lost, reposted for history in 2013.

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but not snow in dreams

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First off, I want to mention snow. I didn't really snow hard in Tokyo this year (maybe we will get a hard snow later this year, but I dont think so...) However, today, in this area we got a quick surprize shower this afternoon. I was talking to my Korean friends about that, and apparently they got dumped on. It snowed so heavy today, over there across the ocean. Made me jump back into my memories again. Childhood was the first snow memory that came to mind. I lived in the country-side, forests, trees, and big hills. One year, me and my friend Samuel climbed up a steep hill behind his house. The air was bright, I remember the sun shining on the snow, and honestly, the day right now is kind of lost in the haze of my bad memory... but I do remember the thrill of being up on the top of a tall hill, and just dropping down down down over newly packed snow, roaring down, watching the trees slip past. The next snow memory that randomly slipped into my mind, is when I was in college... I think it was my senior year, and I was helping Nakayama with homework. Nakayama has a very impulsive personality and after homework suggested we try to slide in the newly fallen snow. We didnt have a sled, so we just used bags and slid down on our butts. It was such fun, being silly and just getting muddy and wet from the snow. I like snow.... so, I know the snow in Korea must suck, but I am somehow jelous... maybe I wont be next year when I have to go to school in it, live in it, push my way to the bus in it. Snow!?

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Dreams. I have weird dreams. A long time ago I stopped having scary dreams when I learned how to control my dreams. I dont always control them, but when something goes wrong in the dreams, my self-edit mode normally starts and I can turn off the bad part of the dream, or if its really bad I can switch it litterly like a TV channel, and sometimes I even reboot it. (all these words are litteral devices I use in controling my dreams.) When I really have to, I can even turn my dreams off and wake up. If you didnt think I was crazy before, maybe you think I am now? ^.^; Anyway, the other day I had this dream with the back of someone's head that seemed really creepy, so I changed it, and it changed back to that shot, so I changed it again, and it changed back, so I switched the "dream channel" and the channel switched back, and I was just annoyed, so I decided to wake up. I woke up and laid there and then suddenly fall back asleep and was back in that dream and the person turned around and started pointing at me. I tried to switch it again and it didnt work, so I turned it off and woke up. Once again I feel back asleep too quickly, so fast in fact. It was kind of weird. This time the person was pointing at me and laughing and saying I made a mistake. It was really creepy. I tried to change, and tried to do all my normal things... and then it hit me, why was I falling asleep so quickly? And remembering my dreams so clearly? I was asleep still, I wasnt really turning off my dreams, my sub-brain was tricking me! When I realized that I was able to really turn of the dream and wake up for real. Weird huh? Final creepy thought... if I was able to reprogram myself to control my sub-brain (control my dreams) could it reprogram itself to control my awaking time? Is that madness?? Ahhhh!! ^^; Anyway... thats enought about that. Any questions?

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SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI !! GUE LUCU!!

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23:54:00 | permalink | comments (11)

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Dansen-- I was just thinking, I think you've got the year mistaken, unless you're calling the year you graduated your super-senior year. Because the time that it snowed really hard was the year before you graduated. Don't want to sound nitpicky, just thought you'd want to be able to properly contextualize your memories. Evan

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It's not really illegal if no one knows right? It's like Yuka's theory that if we don't know how much we owe in loans, then we shouldn't pay them. I just need away to survive for a few weeks until I get my Visa and start working. The job in Kanagawa is with the same company, but the Yokohama branch instead of the Tokyo branch. If it's in Yokohama, or near, I will take it. I may have to commute a little, since I still want to live in Tokyo. The problem that Ai doesn't seem to understand is that if I go to Japan before I get my visa, I will have to go to Korea, which I can't afford. I also wanted to by a one year open ticket, but I don't know if I can get one of those without a visa. Aaron

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aaron working illegally? why? differetn comp? same? will they let you?? no time now, i promise cool update soon!!!! Dansen

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Looks like I might be teaching in Yokohoma instead of Machida. It's actually not much further, maybe even closer, by Ai's perception is that it is farther, and she didn't seem very happy. Then again it was 1:30am when I was talking to her and she wasn't very coherent. I'll probably be there in mid April. I might work in a somewhat shady fashon for a week or two if she can find me something. Aaron

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Ok I am now on JAN JAN JAN, posted a question there. I am going to ask my brother in law if he will let you distribute his learn kana program, it's very small and really helpful, think you would like it. Three months and some change....almost there. Trenchy

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Yeah, the fake waking up thing has never happened to me. Usually, if I start to dream about something I don't like, I'm able to wake up. That is a thought to ponder. . .. Xal

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aaron you lost track a long time ago ^^;; and i want that book, need to brush up i do... and xal, weird thing wasnt the lucid dreaming it was the mind tricking fake waking up thing that got me... and ted, same kind of thing triggered my lucid dreaming, wonder if its a trend! hmm! ^^ dansen

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I just found the Illustrated Dictionary of Japanese Onomatopoeic Expressions in the library. It's fun. Aaron

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That doesn't seem strange at all. in fact I belive it has a neme. yeah. . . lucid dreamer. it's a subconcious thing. Good luck with it! -Xal

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I will sometimes have dreams where it's bad, so I wake up, only I didn't actually wake up and it goes bad again. Or sometimes when I am awake and walking around campus or something, I will remember something that I did or that heppened or that someone said, only I have this strange feeling that it didn't really happen. Eventually I realize that what I thought happened was actually in a dream. It feels like I am loosing track of what's real and what's not when I am awake. Aaron

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I am the same as you in that I too can control my dreams. It just happened one time when I was younger and being chased be wolves in a dream and I just stoped running and said the hell with it what is the worst that can happen.. and as it turned out I did not die. From that day on I could control my dreams. Lucid Ted

 
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