Friday, August 25, 2006

trip to Niigata

Walking down from where the castle used to be. I gave my camera to Kayo and she took this picture. Click for big version. Kayo and her sister Mari invited me on a "one day trip" to Niigata. We left late at night, using a Youth 18 Ticket and got to Niigata in the early morning. Mari is a big fan of Japanese History so she talked us into going to a place where a Japanese Castle used to be. We took a local train (with me opening the window and hanging out as we zoomed past deep green rice fields) to a small station where we could walk to the site. We asked the local train station man if there were any restraunts in the area and he laughed at us, too small for that. We asked about atleast any convience stores and he said "I've heard of one over that way, although I've never seen it myself." We headed over that way, and found a small convience store where we got tons of food and ate it outside while watching ants scurry below us. Then we hiked up through a green mountain, along old overgrown paths. Semi bugs hummed in the trees, the summer sun burning our skin and sweat drenching us. At the top there was nothing but the top of the mountain, the castle was removed in the Tokugawa era long ago, but the view of the city below was beautiful. Glittery small town buildings cluttered together with puffs of green trees, leading to an endless gray-blue sea on one side. After that we made our way to a rocky seaside in litterally the middle of nowhere. Our guidebook said there was a bike rental shop, but it had closed years ago. We wandered around, seeing a few sport fishermen in the river leading to the ocean, and some huge electricity generating windmills. We stopped at a large local soveniour shop and got some drinks and sat and watched the ocean while drinking. After that we took the local trian back to Niigata for a wonderful sushi dinner. The only badmark on the vacation was the fight we got into about having fights. Its an ironic thing to have a fight about I suppose, and there were many causes, with the biggest being our sleep-deprived minds. It was quite a scene, two Japanese and a foreigner screaming in a sushi joint. That calmed down and we walked back to the overnight train and took it back to Tokyo. A blur of memories that arent quite captured here in the words I've thrown out of my head.

Monday, August 14, 2006

hot day trouble

Its super hot today, my brain is melting. I came to the internet cafe and the lady said all the seats were taken in Japanese, and so I said I'd wait, and she seemed surprized and said in a heavy English accent that the place was full. I said I'd wait. Her boss came over and told me to go away in Japanese because the seats were full, and I was busy checking my cellphone e-mail so I snapped at him without polite markers in my Japanese something like "shutup, I'm waiting" and so he asked me to leave the store. I said no, I was waiting to use the internet. He put his arms on me and pushed me to the door. I dont like people to touch me if they dont know me, so I pushed his arms off me and said something to the effect of "bugger off creep, dont touch me" in Japanese and he said he would call the police. I said something like "I'm not doing anything wrong so go ahead" in a very rude way because I was annoyed with this guy, and I dont like to be pushed around. He goes off and I hear him calling the police... I was surprized because I thought he was bluffing. A seat opens up, so the staff gives me a ticket to sit down and I do. The boss comes back and gets mad at her for letting me sit down for whatever reason, I suppose because it makes your argument weak to the police if I'm quietly using the PC in the corner. I use the computer. The police actually show up, one wearing a bullet proof vest and hand hovering over what I presume is a stun gun. I kid you not. The boss-man tells them that he's sorry but its all over with now. They leave, annoyed they didnt get to bust anyone. Wow. I almost got trashed by some Japanese cops.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

living in the future

Sometimes I get a little silly and feel like I'm living in the Future so to speak. Although I'm aware of time as something more complex than that bonehead statement, it felt a bit like that today. First, I got a free phonecard from my company that I programmed into my cellphone, and this morning I called direct to America to talk to my mom. Direct from my cell phone to half way around the world for a couple of cents (uhh, I mean yen), that was kind of cool when I thought about it long enough. (As a side bit of info, my mom wasnt home. I didnt recognize who answered so I asked who it was, he refused to let me know on the basis that I had called there instead of him calling here, so I said who I was and he introduced himself as my little sisters boyfriend and stuff. Time flies...) And another bit of feeling like I live in the future happened later today, Kayo is visiting Australia for a few weeks, and for no real reason I called her with the TV-phone option from my cellphone. Pres a button and up pops Kayo in Australia standing next to her host-dad, and then a bit of a backyard and some other people in vivid video. I dont know, maybe I'm being a bit old fashioned, but I thought that was cool. (as another side note, I couldnt hear much of what was being said because a train came by on my side, right when she answered. Thats the disadvantage of "use anywhere" technology I suppose.) And as a bit of final from the future thoughts, I want to make sure everyone knows my cellphone is the "keitai" that is referenced in the scroll graphic on the sidebar. So yeah its pictures sent direct from my cellphone to an online album, please check it out as much as you want. Oh yeah, uh huh uh huh.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

work and such things

And yes. I am part of the rat race again. I am a worker bee... only not female... and bigger and stuff. Okay. You got the idea. I'm getting off track here. I like working again, it feels great to be back in the room with students teaching after about an 8 month pause of nothing. Of course the company I'm going with doesnt offer too many options for full teaching, but so far I'm really liking it. They got new books, which are better than the old ones and really make it fun for the teacher and student if used right I guess. My coworkers seem good so far, the students have been a blast, and the work area is cool. Thats about all I have to say about that I guess, dont hit your head against the floor with boredom please.

14th vlog - my old cellphone

14th vlog - 19mb - click for file! ignore the file name it really is the 14th vlof!! ohyeah!
This is my old Japanese cellphone. It's about 6 years old. I pulled it out recently and recharged it. It still works fine, although it has one small visual glitch on the display. I decided to play with it, and heres the true result. And yes, that's me screaming like a dying cow.
 
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