Last Weekend Before Moving

hey all,

We had a pretty relaxing weekend. We made some chili, and watched some "classics" on Japanese TV, including a really psychedelic one called The Girl on a Motorcycle, which stars one of Mick Jagger's flings.

Today we went rock climbing at Rocklands again. Michi did really well on the walls, climbing a bunch of simple routes with better and better form before moving on to some more challenging ones. I climbed a few simple ones, before trying my hand at some pretty difficult ones (for me at least: 5.10b/c's), and stayed at that level for most of the day.

I've had Lovely Day by Bill Withers stuck in my head since watching the movie 127 Hours again the other weekend.



It's such an amazing song, and the scene where it's used is just heart-wrenching. Something like the effect of the brainwashing that the protagonist of of A Clockwork Orange undergoes where he begins to associate torture, rape, and violence with his favorite piece of music, Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Tomorrow, I return to work. Classes don't begin until the following week, but as I've probably said too many times: there has to be more planning and more order in what we teach, so that's what we'll be doing; planning and ordering.

There was a semi-large earthquake today around 4AM local Japan time, probably a 5 on the Richter scale. I was a little worried about my things back at my place, but when I got back today they were fine and nothing was broken or knocked over. I'm a little worried about the building that we're moving to, though. We'll be on the 8th floor, and it is not the newest building. It was probably built around 1979 or so. Younger than Michi but older than me. For the Japanese, this makes the building quite old, though.

Cheers,

Matsumoto Trip Pictures

hey all,

"Koe Nobori" or flying fish. I don't really understand the significance, but it is popular.

Looks like something from Naruto or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Some samurai frogs.

The main keep and third moat of Matsumoto Castle itself.

The entrance to the main enclosure, called the "Black Gate."

View of the keep from inside the enclosure. The rows of black stones mark where the residence of the lord used to be. They burned down (by accident, I think).

View from one of the windows

This was the "Last Stand" for the lord if the battle was going badly. On the fourth floor, it was wide open and there was a special room. Here, the lord would commit suicide. This is significant because "4" can also be pronounced the same as "death" in Japanese.

The small tower on the left is the "Moon Viewing" room. The idea is to look at the moon at night and get drunk. It is said that you can see three moons at once: one in the sky, one in the moat, and one in your sake cup.

The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum.

Cheers,

Vacation Day Three and Four

hey all,

So I should preface this by saying that it is 1AM and I have had several rum and cokes with a buddy earlier.

Wednesday was not too exciting. I finished Dragon Age 2, and did some more packing. That was honestly most of the day. I also talked briefly with Michi and we called off the trip this weekend.

Thursday I got up and went over to Matsumoto all by my lonesome. It would have been just a little too stressful to try to coordinate with Michi this weekend, and the weather just didn't look that great. Matsumoto Castle was really amazing. I met with some mountain climbing retired guys who were volunteering as English guides to the castle and they explained a lot of the history and finer points of castle building/defense.

After that, I picked up some duck soba, which was really tasty. There is a special type of soba dish which Matsumoto is famous for, but I had to go with the duck soba, since it is one of my favorite Japanese dishes of all time. Following lunch, I went to the Ukiyoe Museum, which was difficult to find and a little bit small, but still worth the trip.

I should mention that from Yokohama it is about a 3 hour train ride to Matsumoto, so I had over 6 hours of commuting today. I arranged to hang out with a buddy on my way back to Yokohama, and we got caught up over some rum and cokes.

I literally caught the last train to Yokohama and they closed the station behind me. For some reason, a lone white guy with a backpack walking drunkenly from the station at 12AM is like catnip to your average streetwalker, and I found myself getting propositioned more and more insistently the farther I got from the station (until of course I was so far away that there weren't any streetwalkers). I had my MP3 player going, so I'm not sure if they were advertising as masseurs, or what.

Tomorrow will be spent recovering from today, and maybe doing some more packing.

Cheers,

Vacation Day 2: Tequila and Oatmeal

hey all,

Today, I went over to the city hall and consulted about my health insurance and citizen's taxes. They were very helpful, and they actually were able to have my insurance terminate on the day I'll be moving, and take the old payment forms and give me a new one, plus an envelop to send my expired health insurance card back in.

I couldn't believe it. I went there without any of the new address information, so I couldn't even give them the complete new address. I honestly didn't think they be able to do so much for me, which is why I didn't have any of the info.

After that, I made a batch of mabo tofu, which turned out really tasty. I also raided the guesthouse for cardboard boxes and got another load of packing down, mostly my books, CDs, some drink bottles, and souvenirs. I'm also trying to get rid of left over food stuffs: hence the tequila and oatmeal.

I even got to spend several hours playing Dragon Age 2.

Cheers,

Vacation Day 1

hey all,

Yesterday evening, I tried to reserve a ticket to see Studio Ghibli's museum again (I had tried to do the same thing when Bri came to visit during Christmas, but every time slot was already taken), and for this whole week, every time slot was yet again taken.

Today was taken up with running several errands. I checked the bus times and hotel rates for rooms near Matsumoto, ran over to Kamoshika to see whether they had solar battery chargers for smartphones and to check out their sports watches, then headed to Akihabara to meet up with John. We did some shopping: I looked at watches and picked out a solar battery charger, and John picked up a bunches of souvenirs for his family. Since we were in Akihabara, it wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the local Hub for a drink.

I also picked up some sneakers to use as indoor shoes at my school: my old slippers that I brought from the US were getting stinky, and the lining was falling apart, and I'd worn a hole through the sole of the right one with my big toe.

And I've started to pack up my things: my climbing and camping gear is all packed up, along with my winter clothes that I obviously will not be needing for several months. I might try to do my books tonight as well, but there isn't any real hurry. I have tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as well. I've contacted a "guy and a van" style moving company to get an estimate, but I haven't heard back from them yet. The worst case scenario is that I'd have to move everything basically myself again. A scenario slightly better would be that I could get some help from Michi's dad. The main thing I'm not looking forward to with moving is having to carry the stuff from the guesthouse to the station, which is a good 13 minute walk when lightly loaded. When carrying 40 plus pounds of stuff 5 or 6 times each trip, it becomes a real trek.

I will also be trying to head into the city office to ask about health insurance. I've received the bill for the next 3 or four months, but national health insurance is paid to where you are currently living. Since I'll be moving in about 2 weeks, I want to know if I should pay the health insurance as normal or if I should pay only after receiving new bills from my new address's city office.

Cheers,

Last Weekend

hey all,

So Michi and I went through the house rules and came up with about 18 or so that we both agreed upon. As we talked about them and typed them up, we realized that this weekend would probably be our last weekend together at her apartment.

The original plan was to go rock climbing, but we ended up staying in for a little bit, and then went to see 127 Hours in the afternoon. It was even more hair-raising watching James Franco's performance on the big screen than on my laptop.

Next weekend, we are planning on trying to visit Matsumoto (should the weather hold out), and the weekend after that I'll be moving into the new room, and then the weekend after that, Michi will be moving in.

I've had some good chances to play with my new phone. Since it is linked up with my Google account, it is easy to check mail and to add events to my calendar, and I've already downloaded some Japanese study apps and a Reversi game.

Cheers,

Rain

hey all,

So the rainy season ended probably 2 or 3 weeks ago, but it rained yesterday and is still raining today, and will probably rain tomorrow. Because after rainy season comes typhoon season, and we've got a typhoon coming towards Japan.

Two more days of work and then the break. I am still feeling really tired. Break, please hurry.

Cheers,

What?!

hey all,

First some A Dance with Dragons stuff. I read a bunch of it while riding the shinkansen and at Michi's family's second house, since there is little to do each day after dark falls. I actually stayed up until 2AM last night to finish it, and I need to go to bed early today to make up for the lost sleep.

It was a pretty good book. It is certainly up to the same high standards as his previous releases, and as ever the tone, description etc are on target.

Some of the plot devices seem to be getting a bit stale, though. A character thought to have died before the first book even began is brought back and his existence is explained by having been switched places with another baby. A similar ploy was used in the second book, where two characters are "executed" for trying to escape, when in fact their executioner was unable to find them and used some poor peasant bodies instead. And actually, another character was pretend executed, with yet another body double taking his place in the current book. And in the previous book, another character's place is taken by a look alike, and that look alike continues her role in this book. And yet another character is "killed off," only to have it later revealed that he is still alive, and a sorceress used magic to swap his and another character's appearance (so that the other character was actually killed). I think you get the idea.

From reading his blog, it seems that timing and pacing were major troubles for him in the writing of it. At the end of book 3 and/or 4, several characters were all making their way toward one of the main characters, and it seems that GRRM sweated the details of who would arrive when, in what order, and what the consequences would be of arriving at different times and in different orders. As I read the book, I could almost feel this. The same storm or set of storms messes with the ships of several characters, causing them to arrive earlier or later than they had planned. Some characters encounter mishap after mishap, only to finally make it within mere feet of their goal and still not quite accomplish it. Some make it to their goal, and arrive too late to achieve it. Half of them haven't even arrived, but are still en route or have abandoned their quest as of the end of A Dance with Dragons. I suppose he got the timing he wanted, but parts of it feel very contrived. Perhaps the delays of some characters will be given meaning in the later books.

Lastly, there are the cliff hangers. As a fan who has waited 6 years to find out what happens to his favorite characters (all three were excluded from the last volume), the prospect of facing another 6 years waiting to see if some of them have really truly been killed off is not high on my list of things I want. One of my favorite character's last chapter ends with him being stabbed in the stomach and between the shoulder blades by some of his own men-at-arms. This character has been in the books from day one, and to me at least, I had always envisioned him shacking up with one of the other major characters and ruling the world together in happiness and peace. But now it seems he is dead, maybe.

This should not have surprised me. Other characters were growing more and more frustrated with his actions, and some of them warned him to keep more protectors around himself. Like other characters that GRRM has killed off in the past, most notably the blood bath in A Storm of Swords, where several major characters were killed. And of course even in the first book, GRRM infamously pulls no punches and has the central character executed, as many of you will have seen in HBO's adaptation, Game of Thrones.

I can only hope that he will be rescued and healed in the mean time.

Oh well. The 3 day weekend was pretty fun. We did some gardening work, which for me involved pretending to be a squirrel and cutting off more branches that were shading the backyard. And after than we did a BBQ on Saturday which was delicious: grilled strips of beef, chicken, onion, eggplant, carrot, and potato. Sunday was devoted to hiking up Mt. Azuma. I got sunburned on my hands, my upper arms, the back of my neck, and the lower half of my legs, despite slopping on plenty of SPF 50 sunblock before we even started. Some of it must have sweated or been rubbed off, because the sunburned areas are only in patches. I also got bit on my ribs by some crazy insect. As I was hiking, my left ribs started to hurt when my backpack strap pressed against them, and I figured the bag was just poorly designed. Turns out there was a bug which was biting my skin there and I didn't notice until I had to pull the thing off me in the shower. It refused to let go and I had to try three times to get it off me. It looked a bit like a small spider, but I'm not sure what it was.

That night, we also watched Norwegian Wood, a movie based on the partly autobiographical book by famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Nowhere near as compelling as the book, but compared to the usual mess that the Japanese make when making a movie these days (and especially when compared to the crap is gets produced when adapting a book or comic into a movie) it wasn't bad. Not as compelling as A Dance with Dragons, which I also brought along with me to read on the shinkansen and when we'd finished the day's grilling, hiking, and gardening. But still decent.

I got to play with my new Android phone a little bit, but it seems like other smartphones it can't hold a charge for longer than three or four days. I ask you, what use is a smartphone with a built in compass, GPS locator, and thermometer on a multi-day wilderness trek if I have to plug it in at night to be able to use these functions? Still, overall a cool tool.

Lastly, it seems we have the contract for our new place taken care of, so it only remains to wait a few weeks and then I move my stuff in, and the weekend after that, she moves her stuff in. We had planned to talk about house rules this weekend, but between me having my nose glued to A Dance with Dragons and the grilling, gardening, movie watching, and hiking, we felt that our plates were full. I will push for next weekend.

Below, please enjoy some of the pictures of the trip.

Cheers,

I have a robot

hey all,

So although my copy of A Dance with Dragons was attempted to be delivered yesterday, I finally got a hold of it today. It is a BIG book.

As I mentioned earlier, I also picked up an Android smartphone today. It was relatively pain free, although the wait to get these things always seems kinda long. I'll have to play around with it this weekend.

That'll have to be it for now.

Cheers,

Bug City

hey all,

So every time I go to the bathroom, I kill several insects. I swear the hundreds of spiders living in this guesthouse are useless. If they are actually eating any insects, they must be letting a ton of others escape on purpose.

We have two more people moving into the guesthouse this week. I guess one or two people must have moved out, but I think that all the rooms are now full.

Cheers,

Really?

hey all,

The weekend was pretty surprising. It is still a little bit early to tell, but it looks like Michi and I might have found a place. The rent was in the range we could afford, the commute was decent for both of us, the size was really nice, the kitchen was excellent (except for the carpet...who puts carpet in a kitchen, anyway?), and in general it seemed like a good deal. We put down a deposit for it, but I think we still need to sign the actual contract sometime this week.

We also went hiking in Kamakura, which was fun, if a little hot.

The last bit of news is that I'll be picking up a new cell phone, probably on Thursday night. My cell company will be releasing a rugged Android smartphone, and as I've already used my present phone for 2 years and 4 months, it is getting a little beat up, and the battery life is dropping. Besides, the rugged smartphone will be shock, dust, heat, humidity, and water resistant in addition to running the Android OS and coming with some handy navigation tools (temperature sensor, compass, GPS, trip recorder, etc). If it isn't useful for someone who spends a lot of time in the mountains and climbing up rock faces, I'm not sure who it would be useful for.

Next weekend, we have a 3 day weekend and the plan is to hike up a mountain who name I can't remember with Michi's family. It is a pretty long hike, maybe 8 hours or so. Also planned for the weekend is an "expectations" party, where Michi and I will be talking in detail about what we expect of each other when living together (chores, sleeping schedule, alone time, bills, etc).

Between Michi's classes starting at the end of this month, my own classes starting at the end of September, and then the curriculum planning, the moving, and the trips that I'll have to make to the city offices in Yokohama and Tokyo, it promises to be a busy time.

Cheers,

Curriculim

hey all,

It seems like I've got one teacher on board for spending a week of our vacation doing curriculum planning and development. The other teacher seems down for it, but he spends so much time with the low level students that we're not sure how much help he will be for the higher levels. But, really, his students will one day become ours, so it is vitally important that we have standards and goals for what his students are taught, as well as what ours should already know, what they will be taught along the way, and what they should leave our school knowing.

Another full day tomorrow, and today has been full as well. Today was payday, which is always a pleasant feeling, but tomorrow a good portion of that will be sent back to the US for loan payments and to take care of the odd credit card charge. For instance, I just pre-ordered A Dance with Dragons (that's the long, long awaited book 5 of A Song of Ice and Fire by GRR Martin) from Amazon, which I only hope arrives before I move out of here.

My current housing contract ends at the end of August, so that is our unofficial deadline for finding a place.

Cheers,

TED

hey all,

Here is a cool video which happens to mention the difference between Western and Japanese address conventions.




Cheers,

Weekend, and More

hey all,

The weekend was pretty good again. More apartment searching, trip planning, and rock climbing on Sunday. Somehow, I made it up a 5.11a/b without killing myself at the gym.

I also managed to shatter the bottom of my nalgene bottle by leaving it in Michi's freezer overnight with a bit too much water in it. There is currently a 10% outdoor gear sale going on at Kamoshika, an outdoor retailer, so I headed over there and picked up a metal water bottle and a new everyday backpack was well.

Michi has recently replaced one of her purses, and I think when we head up to her family's second house in a few weeks, I will suggest that we burn her purse and my old satchel together. They have both served us faithfully for many years, and deserve better than being thrown away.

For some reason, one of my student loans' interest rates has increased to 8.25APR, and I wasn't notified at all about the change or the reason for it. That prompted me to make some extra payments on my loans and change my strategy. Since I can't pick exactly which loan to pay off, I'll target the one with the highest interest rate and try to pay that off first. Hopefully by this time next year.

I've looked into more online colleges. The one that I've been looking at the most also seems to be the most expensive, so I'm starting to look at others. Since I already have an MA, I'm looking at certificates in curriculum design, which greatly reduces the price and course load. Still, the main one is around $5000 dollars and has all kinds of administrative hoops to jump through, but I've found another one for around $1400 that seems a bit easier to manage.

Cheers,