Wall painting at the Happy Mexican. Awesome Fajitas!

Came back to America on the 8th of December, and I am unable to do roughly half of the stuff I set about to do here. I am a person who likes to get their money's worth. And so far I can't justify the cost of the entire trip to America yet. I am keeping a tally of any value of whatever it is I am doing here.

I had one hell of a welcome home though! When I left Osaka the weather was pretty warm I was able to wear shorts on most days, and the skies were clear and sunny. When I came back to Memphis the weather was cold and dreary, and it rained hard my entire first day. Also I got sick on that first day, and I am still sick right now. I decided to not let the rain keep me from seeing my friends, I only had a few of their numbers written hastily on a napkin. And almost all the friends I called said they couldn't hang out either because they were working or because they just didn't feel like it. WELCOME HOME!

Actually it wasn't all that bad my mom meet me at the airport with Hummus and Pita Chips yummy. But she also told me some ridiculous news. But Hummus trumps all, especially spicy Hummus.

The things I wanted to do while visiting America, (Basil said not to say "visit" since I am America more on him in a later installment) are take my new projector and PS3 back with me to Japan, see my friends, eat food I can't easily find in Japan. Upon coming back I realized my new Projector is pretty large and there is no way I could take this on a plane with me, so that is a failure. I can still take the PS3 with me so I am probably saving like $50 - $100 shipping that to Japan, still doesn't make up for the cost of actually coming to America. And as far as seeing my friends, we will just get to that later. I have been able to eat some food that would either be impossible to find or needlessly expensive in Japan, so that is a success.

Now as far as my friends. Of course they change over time, people change in general it's part of life. But they have changed dramatically this time around. And just because change is a part of life, doesn't mean I have to like or accept these changes. The most striking change is that for the most part most of my friends have become angry alcoholics, there is a fine line between a fun loving drunk and a bitter alky. And frankly they aren't straddling that line very well, at least in my eyes. But allow me to elaborate on this, so I won't just be "whining" like my friends said I was (lol).

So since I live in Japan I decided that instead of just letting the stuff I leave behind sit around and collect dust why not let other people use it and get enjoyment from it. I let friends borrow tons of video games, DVDs, thousands of dollars worth of hi-end audio equipment, my old DLP projector, clothes, and shoes. I mean you name it, and I probably let people borrow it while I live overseas. In fact I have lent out so many things, to so many different people that I have lost track of a lot of it, and it doesn't bother me generally. Another thing that doesn't bother me is when some of my stuff is accidentally misplaced or broken. I learned in college that stuff will get broken a lot even if you take great care of stuff, electronic equipment will still break down or malfunction it happens. So why am I bringing this up? Well there is a difference between accidents and malicious actions. And this time around I am facing malicious actions.

This time when I returned I decided to get back a few of my games and DVDs to take back with me. No problem, I mean I actually knew who had the things I wanted back. I meet my friends and Huey's and told them that I wanted some of my stuff back, they told me they had pawned it. I laughed because I thought it was a joke, I mean why would they pawn it? They had both gotten new jobs and were making more cash, so it's not like they were struggling, plus Memphis is a cheap place to live. So we went to chill at their apartment, and I was like alright jokes over were is my stuff at? And guess what they actually did pawn MY stuff!?! I asked them why they pawned stuff I let them borrow, because it made no sense to me. One of them immediately started yelling at me, and his logic was that over a year ago I accidentally took their copies of two games. Which I apologized for years ago, and even gave them some gifts from my old city in Japan. So what did they do in return they got bitter over something insignificant, and instead of accepting my apology for a genuine accident, they decided to pawn my stuff off just to be dicks. And as if that wasn't enough they demanded that I replace the two games from a year ago. What I did was an accident their actions were deliberate.

And it doesn't end there either, they alluded to violence to get their motives accomplished. They explained how 1 year ago (that's one full year ago) they were going to beat my ass for a genuine mistake I made, on the information that I received from another friend. If they were going to beat anyone's ass I would say fight the guy who told me that they were my copies of the game. And it isn't even like I broke into their house and stole this shit either, one of the guys was there and I was like I think these are mine and he was like yea okay. So they were alluding to still trying to fight me today, which is crude and silly. I would expect people to automatically escalate things to violence in Atlanta but I was disappointed to see this kind of thing happening amongst my own "friends" in Memphis.

And then of course there is the shit talking that comes with excessive drinking. Several of my friends including some of the friends previously mentioned have decided to just flat out talk trash to me. Why? Because I refuse to just get shit faced drunk with them, and it's not like I won't drink with them at all, I will have a beer or two, but I don't really want to just sit around and drink a whole handle of whiskey with people who are bitter about their job but at the same time trying to impress their co-workers (who are usally around now too) at my expense. Talking shit to me to impress your co-workers is pretty low, in my book. I still have about 4 or 5 friends who are still the same easy going people I remember so that is great. But these days it seems that my really good friends are my friends in Japan. I appreciate their open mindedness and acceptance of all lifestyles. Only in Japan can I be a part of a large group of people consisting of: heterosexuals, bisexuals, lesbians, alcoholics, smokers, non-smokers, businessmen, hippies, people who don't drink and bar tenders. I would never dream of hanging out with such a varied friend base, ALL AT ONE TIME, in Memphis. Perhaps in California something like that is possible but not in Memphis, I have to keep separate groups of friends to avoid clashes whereas in Japan friends of my friends are my friends by default.

But this trip has some redeeming factors I am enjoying this time sent with my family. So that is value added! But man I would be super pissed if my family wasn't here showing me the love they are. There is more I want to say in this especially about all the chaos that is happening in Japan since I am not there to handle shit. But I will save that perhaps for later, getting ready to hit the gym.

Train Tales

The Train Wranglers pushing in a few extra passengers in an already overcrowded train!



After talking to my friend Josh it has occured to me that some things I have skipped over in my blog might need to be revisted. So I present to you this installment entitled "Train Tales".

The first tale takes place on a train on the Yamanote Loop in Tokyo I was on my way to Shibuya, and the train was pretty crowded. Crowded to the point were I couldn't easily move my arms. 2 minutes into the 20 minute ride someone spanked my ass. I quickly looked about to see who the culprit was, but everyone around me was either asleep, text on their phone, or playing a Nintendo DS. I figure it was just an accident and thought nothing more about it. Then 1 minute later it happened again! I looked around to see who it could be but again I couldn't tell. This time I was on guard, and sure enough it happened again! I tried to get at least one possible suspect but I couldnt fathom anyone around me slowly spanking me. The spanking continued for the entire time I was riding the train. So I basically got slowly spanked over a 20 minute period.

The next train tale involved a train that was even more crowded. Some of you may have seen the Japanese "Train wranglers" before in pictures. What they do is push people into trains that are so full that peoples' faces are smashed against the window. I had the unfortunate time of being in a train where their services were required. I was in a relatively empty train, but at one stop in particular droves of people boarding the train car I was on. There were soo many people pushed up against me that the force of their bodies against mine lifted me right off the floor!My feet didn't touch the ground for 10 minutes. It was hot and smelly, with the smell of salary men. And the one next to me looked like he was going to throw up. And sure enough he did, but luckily it missed me and went all over 4 peoples legs and a baby's face. Thank goodness I was floating at the time!

The most recent train tale and the last for this mini series involved me being on a train for over 4 hours, and not intentionatlly either. Japanese people have the uncanny ability to sleep on the train and wake up exactly at their stop. I figured I have lived here long enough so I should be able to do the same thing right? WRONG! I missed my stop 6 times I rode the train in a complete loop 6 times!! The conductor would always wake me up at the the beginning of the train loop and ask me where I was going. I would always tell him Kireuriwari. And we would run the train and watch me miss my stop over and over again only to ask me at the beginning of the loop again where I was going. It was like being in the Twilight Zone, I thought I would never make it off that train eventually I realized I couldnt just sleep and magically know when my stop was coming up. I didnt have the circadian rhythms to do so. Well that is all for now またね~

Osaka, my new city! Yes it's wayy better than Tokyo.

So the last blog was about a computer I got for mi madre, nothing malicious as some people might have assumed.

So moving on, it has been awhile since I blogged. The reason being is I sold my laptop a few weeks back. I am currently in an internet cafe writing this blog. Alot has happened and is stil happening. I got a new job! Working 10 less hours a week and making an extra 30,000円 ($300) a month! I put in an application for a swanky new apartment in downtown Osaka, which is where I will be living now. I am still waiting to hear back from the apartment complex. One thing I will never understand about Japan is the whole real estate system. For some reason Japanese rentors are opposed to renting out to foreigners. Alot of times it is easier to become a UN representative than it is ti rent an apartment. The apartment I want has been vacant for awhile, I already showed them I am serious by putting down the $720 for the first months rent. And they were like umm we got to think about this. What is there to think about you can either have a tenant and make money or continue to let the apartment sit vacant and make nothing. Obviously Japanese rentors aren`t well versed in "opportunity costs".



I am hoping to hear something soon, I told them on last friday　I want to move in on the 26th, which is tomorrow, and I haven`t heard any kind of a response. I can forsee this year being pretty expensive. I need a new laptop of course, plus I need a washing machine, microwave, refrigerator, and a bed. I am going to try and get all that stuff pretty cheaply, but it will still probably cost like $300-$400. In addition I want to be able to play video games again. It's been a long time since I was able to sit down with my friends and play some games over the internet. I either want my Xbox sent to me or a brand new PS3! And of course that means I will need a video source, and seeing as I am opposed to TVs that means I need a projector. So very quickly my costs are rising lol. I will wait and see how things play out I am currently living off of my japanese savings, but that won't last very long.



Another thing is that I am in talks of joining an improv comedy team in Osaka! I am more of a stand-up comedian, but what ever as long as it's comedy I am down. So the end of this year has the potential to be explosive! I have to get through this week first. Unfortunately I am still in Isesaki trying to get stuff done. I really hope I hear about the apartment tomorrow so that when I go to Osaka Friday night for my cousin's wedding I will have a place to live. Or else I will be H-O-M-E-L-E-S-S. Actually I will just stay in an apartment, but still those costs add up, and I need to conserve money so I can get a new laptop early next year and possibly a game system this year. I really do wish I could be in America this time of year, not only to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with my family, but also to buy a PS3 from Wal-Mart's Black Friday sale. Looks like I want see my friends and family again till next year

Where is my mind?

This picture has more to do with this blog than you think!

(especially considering that you don't know what this blog is about)

My brain is swimming in thoughts right now! Which is actually a good thing because thinking gives me energy (for some odd reason). With all the insomnia I have thanks to Tinnitus, I can use energy! One person is consuming my thoughts though. Because I am just days away from spring something totally unsuspecting on her. While I won't quite get even with her, I can be entertained by imagining what the look on her lovely face will be like when she finds out what I have done. I expect there to be shock that I would pull something like this off, followed by awe at what will come to transpire. The hour draws near, and I in the back of my mind I think she might expect this (but I am not 100% sure she does). Just have to wait and see.

And while we are talking of such things. Today some Japanese lady gave me the ridiculous proposition of me teaching her private English lessons. It wouldn't have been ridiculous, except the classes would involve me PAYING her to come and teach her English on the weekends!! LOL WTF LADY! Not only did I not want to be around here when she was telling me this horrible idea, but I damn sure wouldn't want to pay her to waste MY weekends to teach HER English. I mean honestly what the hell is she thinking.

People are undoubtedly reading this and saying WTF is he talking about here. But I wouldn't bring something up with out fully explaining it (to the best of my ability). So you will just have to stick around to see how this Halloween extravaganza will play out.

To be continued. . .

Plan B!!!

I will regard today as the turning point in my life (at least in regards to my thoughts). I have never been one for any kind of long term plan or for that matter any plans. My life up until this point has just been a bunch of random occurrences. But as I get older and gain more knowledge I start to think differently. And after months of complete shit at least in thinking things look great.

I am so hopeful and excited I don't even know where to begin with this blog, no matter how far my thoughts progress I still find it hard to accurately convey everything I want to say in one cohesive medium. But here goes. . .

What is Plan B? Well as many of you probably don't know I have been working on a stand-up comedy routine for awhile now at least half a year by now. I usually just let life experiences shape my jokes as opposed to sitting there trying to force a joke to come to mind. So I have been thinking increasingly about just pursuing a career as a comedian. Definitely a risky venture, even if I am successful the potential for return is very uncertain. So I started searching for a medium between the apparent risks I would face. And now things that have been right under my nose this entire time have jumped out at me.

Why not just open a comedy club!?! By opening my own comedy place I could do comedy there, as well as provide a venue other local comedians could try out their routines. And best of all I would be my own boss! But where is the cheapest place to do that? I have always wanted to live in California (even though I have never been there). But as we all know California is quite expensive and opening a business there must be ridiculously expensive I would burn through my resources quicker than a space ship full of money on a collision course with the sun. So I put this idea on the back burner for awhile and continued to work on my comedy routine, and apply for "normal" jobs in corporate america (which I would probably despise). For months now I have continuously read about one city that has faced the worst of the current economic recession. I would read articles about 7 bed room houses in this city for sale at a measly $10,000 and still not selling (that is crazy!). I would read about the hundreds of thousands of unemployed sedentary people trapped in this city of hopelessness with nothing to look forward to than other than their next job interview.

What city is this? Most of you should already know that city is Detroit. For awhile I have simply thought man it would suck to live there that sounds horrible. But wait maybe I am thinking about Detroit all wrong! I started to think about things I like when I am feeling down, hopeless, or just plain fed up. I like to laugh to lighten the mood and I like a tasty brew! And reports are showing that despite of the heavy weight of depressed jobs that Detroit's people still want to reach out for some light hearted fun with halloween sales and parties remaining constant and even rising in some areas. So that started to tip the scale for me and then I read this article. And that was it I had found my place.

Not only could I get a house for super cheap but I could also open a small business with few barriers and low start up costs as most venues in Detroit are vacant eye sores. Right now I am calling this "Plan B", but to be honest this is the plan. As others have said the only thing that stood in there way was themselves. In my case I am not a barrier to my own entry. In this case my barrier would be someone else. Someone who with made even dreaming of something like this even a possibility. Someone who is very conservative and cautious in their approach to things. But in the end ultimately it will come down to me and my own determination. There are times to be cautious and there are times to through caution to the wind. And I think this time calls for the latter.

I would of course love the support of my family and anyone else who would like to help me pursue this venture. Anything helps not just money, if you have some knowledge that could help, such as legal knowledge, or anything else I am open to anything. Even if you want to stand in my way I am up for that too! I know that I risk losing a lot in this, but I could stand to gain autonomy in a way I could only dream of, this will prevent me from really pursuing an active comedy career of course but it will allow me to do comedy at some level as well as to shine the spotlight on other comedians. Just thinking about this all week has made me happy every day I wake up! It's as if nothing can get me down because I have hope and for the first time in my life I have an actual plan that is long term and matters to me. I am not doing this because someone else wants me to or because I think it will make someone else happy (which is what most of my decisions have been based on) I am doing this for me. Now it's just a matter of getting the pieces together.

Of and if your curious "Plan A" was just moving to Tokyo and working there until March and then coming back to the States with nothing and just wingin' it. I don't even want to call that a "Plan" anymore though, because by doing that I would just be wasting my time, I have had some interesting times here in Japan but I think it's time to start working on my long term goals and leave this short term shit behind. This is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done, and I couldn't be more excited!

^_^!!!

Something strange is happening here. . .

Roku

Right now I am trying to use the Google Maps application on my iPhone and it is acting strange. I am sitting in my apartment in Japan and when I hit the button for the GPS to determine my current location it is telling me that I am at my house in America. Not only that when I move around in this city the GPS indicator moves around on the map of Memphis! I guess home truly is where the heart is, because this is crazy. Not only have I never used the Google maps feature of my phone in America, I have never looked up my house on it ever, so for it to pinpoint my location in Japan as my home in America is very strange.

Well today was a great day then at the last second it kind of crumbled apart. I went to Takasaki to get a work permit for my new job in Tokyo. I thought the process would take a long time so I went to the immigration kind of early, and the process didn't take that long at all! After getting the permit I faxed it to my new employer then hit the town. Decided I would go to my favorite Turkish restaurant and get a Beef Kabob! It was closed when I got there so I thought about going to another place to eat but at the last second I decided to go to an art museum I had seen on my last visit to Takasaki. The featured artist was a Japanese man by the name of Roku. His works were beautiful they captured his childhood vividly! Even though he did paintings of his childhood as an adult the way in which he produced the paintings made it seem as though he had painted each piece when he was a child at the exact moment the scene in the piece was occurring. I took a few pictures at the exhibit (secretly), but the pieces I liked the most I couldn't photograph because guards were watching out for people like me! But here are some photos of his work I did manage do capture on film.

Roku's Showa (Boy's Day) a Japan's festival.

A childhood Hanami (reader's should know what Hanami is)

Listening to an Orchestra of giant Crows

After the exhibit I went back to the Turkish restaurant in the hopes that they would be open by that time it was 11am. Nothing really opens in Japan till around 10am. The only saps who have to be up before this time are people who work at convenience stores and teachers (sigh). I got back to the restaurant and now it was 11:40am, it was still closed! So I decided maybe I will do some shopping, and waste a bit more time. But in order to do that I needed a bit more money I only had about 1,000円 on me. So I looked on my map to find the nearest 7-11 to use the ATM (Google Maps worked properly then). The closet 7-11 was a bit of a distance, so I mapped out a route, and just as I was about to head out the owner of the Turkish restaurant came up and greeted me. He remembered me from my last visit, I sat down and ordered and chatted with him as he made my lunch. I had the Beef Kabob and a Turkish Yogurt drink which isn't what you expect a Yogurt based drink to be like. It wasn't sweet, so much as it was bitter and salty, but it complimented the Beef Kabob nicely.

Turk Sky

Beeg Kabob and the salty Yogurt drink!

After lunch I went to a few stores before coming to one where I debated on whether or not to buy some bright red plaid pants. After much deliberation I got a phone call from my new employer.

This is when things went down hill.

The lady on the phone told me the position and the apartment I would have had with the job were both filled. Surely they didn't JUST fill them that day because I had just sent my work permit to them at like 10am bright and early. So that means the position had to have been filled for awhile and they carried on in all of our previous phone conversations like the job and apartment was still available. This both infuriated me and made me laugh. I was angry because they could have simply told me awhile ago that the position was filled and I could have saved myself the time and effort. She tried to smooth things over by offering me a crappy position in some one horse town, but then my phone "lost reception" and the call dropped :P

So now I not only had to come to the decision on the pants I had to come to a decision on my future; since in about 2 weeks I will pretty much be homeless and jobless! I acted on what I could control and bought the pants and man are they comfortable, sure people back in the states might call them gay or ridiculous. But rest assured I will be ridiculously comfortable! So now I am pretty much back to the drawing board here applying for jobs in Tokyo trying to start over again, but I have a mellow attitude about all that is happening. Seeing Roku's works has brought me great joy! I wish everyone could see the exhibit. But you will just have to get a glimpse of it vicariously through me.

What gives!?!

Rhana and I

Yesterday I was at the gym preparing for some long drawn out conversation when I went up to the front desk to cancel my membership. I started forming the Japanese sentences in my head to convey my thoughts. I said the first sentence to the girl at the front desk telling her this would be my last month in Isesaki. She stopped me right there and said I can use English! I was shocked because when I came to the gym to sign up I asked if there was someone there who could go over the fine details with me in English and she was working that day but did she offer her help? Not at all. So now months later I find out that she speaks English pretty well. So I told her I was leaving and was going to cancel my membership. She asked why I explained all mishaps that I had happen to me while living here. And she said that she was sad.

I assumed she was sad that I had soo much misfortune but I was only partially right. It seems this whole time she has been watching/semi-stalking me at the gym. She said she has liked me since I first joined but was too shy to say anything. As touching as that is it came a bit too late. It's not like she was bad looking either in fact she was pretty cute. But nothing is going to derail me from my course! And a nice little reminder of why I need to get the hell out of here has happened today.

As I was sitting at work waiting to do the speech contest after school, I decided to check on facebook to see what the other ALTs were up to. Pretty much every ALT has the day off tomorrow because of the typhoon that is going to ravage Japan tomorrow. But not me! That's right I will be up bright and early braving 153km winds an hour winds to get to work just to sit at my desk. The students at least get to come a bit later than usual. But I actually have to be there earlier than usual, for a meeting about the typhoon! If that isn't the biggest bag of shit ever, I don't know what is. Plain and simple the Isesaki Board of Education is full of idiots as far as I am concerned. First they took 2 weeks from my summer vacation when I came back; time which I thought I could use to recover from my accident, and now this! I love my school to death (not literally mind you), but the BOE can be blown away in this typhoon for all I care. I can't wait to be done dealing with them. The end is near. Let's just hope I don't get seriously injured trying to travel through a typhoon to get work. Even though I live quite close to the school anything could happen, maybe a fence will blow into me or I will just get sick from being in the rain and having to sit around all day in wet clothes.

Here's to you Isesaki, you never give up on trying to destroy me!