Ok look basically what we're trying to say here is "fuck you"

here comes my 4th post for November, sliding in just under deadline, as usual. well whatever its up isnt it? the rest is details.

i tackled the 1st half of getting a Japanese driver's license today, but unfortunately i didn't tackle it nearly well enough, as I failed the pre-interview, which means i can't even think about taking the test until i pass the beuaracracy stage (did i spell that right?)

but why did i fail? basically, racismz. i walked in the door and cop 1 said to cop 2, "you wanna fail that foreinger? We haven't failed one since lunch." of course i didn't hear anything like that being said BUT I KNOW THEY WERE THINKING IT at least, if you imagine it or want to see it, you can imagine racismz everywhere you go in Japan, you won't always be correct though. in fact most of the time you're wrong. the racists are certainly out there though, i've run into a handful of them. but these cops weren't racists. unless, deep down....they're SECRET RACISTS???!??!??!? maybe? probably not

well the requirement is, you have to live in the U.S. with a driver's license for at least 90 days before you can apply for a Japanese one. "no problem," i thought. i got my first license almost 10 years ago, and I had a piece of paper to prove it. not only that, i got my latest passport in 2002, and didn't go anywhere with it until 2006, so that alone is 16 TIMES THE REQUIRED LENGTH OF STAY...of course it's all null and void because they didn't stamp the stupid thing on my way out or when i came back in.

"you can't prove you were in the U.S. during that time, it's like, you could've been anywhere, we just don't know." my brain exploded after hearing that, and i refused to clean it up.

i dont think its my fault for not getting stamped 4 years ago, and again 2 years ago, and 1 more time last year. Canada didn't stamp me on the way out either, hey, some countries are more laid back I guess? was i supposed to say "you're obviously not stamping U.S. citizens but could you stamp me because I can't shake the feeling that this is gonna cause me a major hassle in about...4 YEARS"

i really love how nice the translators my company sends to these things are. i can appreciate the fact that when they say things like "They weren't so strict last year, you would've passed for sure!" or "___________ from __________ failed 6 times, so don't worry!" it's meant to cheer me up.

You've probably already guessed the reason why they've gotten so strict within the last year. TERRORISM. yeah.................what?

????????

so anyway, now i get to deal with the U.S. Embassy, who apparently knows every time we use our passports and where and can issue a printed record of such. I've never dealt with the embassy before, in any country i've been to, so i don't know how efficient or friendly they are. right now i'm still stuck on their phone switchboard. maybe when i actualy get the thing i need i can rate their citizen services. At least the embassy's service for people living in Japan.

Finally, this is far from anything resembling a news blog, in fact it could probably be considered the opposite of a news blog. but anyway, what happened in Korea last Tuesday (my time) was fucked up. TOO fucked up. i'm really hoping that there's no war in Korea. I don't think anybody on either side deserves that, and while it didn't happen during the wargames on sunday, things still seem pretty bad to me, I may not be a smarty pants news analyst but, those guys have the potential to be wrong too.

anyway if you're of any kind of religious persuasion you should be praying for peace in Korea!

--gaijin who writes this
signatures go here

Hit with stick, repeat

ok guys the chief really wants this case off his desk! someone ask that bird what it saw.

wow, a post! just 1 more within the next 13 days (my time zone) and i'll have met my goal.

this week I got hit with a perfect storm of work and non-work related stress and bullshit to the extreme. so my friend was like, 'hey why don't you come meet some of my other friends and we can hit shit with sticks in an old storehouse on top of a mountain?' i said no at first, but then I realized that it was an amazing oppourtunity to finally use my college degree



well I didn't major in hitting specifically *Taiko drums* with sticks, but i gave it a shot all the same. i sucked, but it was fun, and quite the workout as well i must say. every time i've seen a Taiko performance i've always thought it's pretty cool, but i never appreciated how tough it is. my hands are already blistered, it's kinda like what happens to your fingertips the 1st time you start playing guitar, excpet with more dead skin and discharge. turns out you've also gotta sit the right way, stand the right way...dang ancient traditions, why can't I just stand the way it's easiest for me to hit the thing?

so I joined the Taiko club, because i've been studying too much and needed to take a break and smash things. also, while the things i do in my free time are definitely fun, they're not anywhere near as cultural or productive as practicing the war drum routines of guys who've been dead for almost 500 years, followed by drinking cheap whiskey.

when we were leaving, my friend gave me my own pair of Taiko sticks. i said 'are you really giving these to me? I don't know what to say,' but it turns out that they're old and no one was using them. well whatever, now they're mine. i wrote motivational Kanji on them.



IN PERMANENT MARKER

they're sitting on my desk right now, and i keep looking at them and want to practice hitting stuff. the chairs i have look like they could withstand some punishment. i was practicing with chopsticks at school today, my co-teacher asked me to cut that shit out. it's honestly been awhile since i've been this excited about a new hobby, but if my life up to this point is any indication, that'll soon fade. but until i start to not-look forward to going to Taiko club, i'll continue to hit stuff that wouldn't be hard to replace.

--gaijin who writes this
signatures go here

this is the 50th post

and there has been maybe...1 or 2 pages of worthwhile content so far. the blog is over a year old though, so 50 posts in a year is really not that much, but it's not like this is my job, so i don't really care. also at this rate i wont make my goal of 4 posts for november. unfortunately, i'm not a person with a lot to say about things.

this last week at school has been interesting, action packed you might say. the elderly came to school on monday, to teach the kids gateball. it's like that lawn game croquet, except it's even more boring. well hey, at least it got me out of the staff room.

the kids ran a 4km race on Tuesday. i stood at the start/finish line and watched them run off into the distance...and come back some time later. meh. at least it got me out of the staff room.

wednesday thursday and friday were not action packed....i guess i spoke too soon. i spent a lot of time in the staff room.

the international 'festival' was yesterday. obviously, being a foreigner myself, i went. i'll upload some pictures later. turns out that Phillippine (sp?) dancing is really cool. turns out that all you can drink for 1000yen is also pretty cool. before the night was over, ***REDACTED*** fun times, +1 for not being in the staff room

--gaijin who writes this
signatures go here

it's not always a party

Hey, a blog post! the goal for november is 4. weekly or not, 4 posts would be good. I should be able to do that. i spilled coffee all over my desk & floor during the early stages of writing this, and I still managed to post in the same day. that's the kind of dedication i have.

the carpet's stained for good though i think. no amount of blogging is gonna fix it.

anyway, another week, another typhoon. no, seriously. last week had 3 days of constant rain, followed by a day of fog. look at this picture i took at school.



normally i can see the mountains on the other side of the field there. it reminded me about that shitty movie about the killer fog....what was the name of that movie again? oh yeah, it was called the fog and it was bad. this may be the tail end of typhoon season, but i'm looking forward to the next typhoon already. i get to go home early sometimes because of these things.

unfortunately, most of the people i know, Japanese or not, are scaredy cats about these, and no one wants to do anything. so, what to do?

yeah, exactly, translate video games into english. what else is there to do? me & my Japanese tutor (& part-time counsellor it would seem) just had a long talk about my unrealistic language goals. of course, no one tells me what to do, so that's why i bought 2 notebooks & sat down to translate the shit out of the latest Zelda game. i'm an hour and a half into the game so far and....have spent 90% of that time checking the dictionary. well at least now i know how to say 'water bombs' & 'hold down the Z button to target things that are far away,' both are useful day to day phrases, so its a good thing i undertook this.



if i had more visitors i could play Shogi on the piece of graph paper i bought @ the 100 yen shop that i have to weight down to play on. that's my Shogi board. pretty cool right?

yeah, basically rainy days are just as boring here as they are elsewhere. although the weather's cleared up this week. today was really nice and a national holiday too. it was culture day today, but don't get too excited, no one gave a shit and nothing exciting was going on. whatever. i'm not old enough yet to go hang out with the retired guys at the shrine and get drunk on a wednesday afternoon. or a monday afternoon. or basically any day of the week when i drive past there around 3:00.

things may be a little slow right now, but i just have to hold one more month for winter vacation. Osaka and Hiroshima are on the agenda. until that comes, my weeknights and rainy days will be occupied with the legend of Zelda, where I will endeavor to save the princess, slowly, very slowly. while consulting a dictionary. so far i need to check, on average, every 3rd word. but if i ever meet a Japanese person who needs to know how to use the water bombs, it will all be worth it.

--gaijin who writes this
signatures go here