hey all,
On Christmas I finally cornered my boss and got the schedule for the 26th straightened out. Both Christmas and the 26th went pretty smoothly.
I've spent the last couple of days relaxing and helping Michi clean the apartment. Since I cooked a lot of daigaku imo over the last year (a kind of fried sweet potato dish that is smothered in a sugary syrup), this caused the kitchen counter, stove top, kitchen walls, and especially the kitchen exhaust fan and hood to become coated in grease. Guess who got to clean it up?
When I first tried, I used hot water and dish soap, but that just made my hands greasy, and didn't take any grease off the fan. So I figured: "Maybe some alcohol might cut the grease?" Turns out either alcohol is no good or the alcohol I used was just too weak. Finally, I went online and found a post about using boiling water and baking soda. I gave that a try, and was actually able to get the grease off really quickly and easily.
So by now, we've vacuumed, scrubbed, and dusted the apartment pretty thoroughly.
Last weekend, I also had a chance to go to Akihabara with one of my friends and I picked up a bunch of older games: Mass Effect 2 and 3, The Last of Us, Portal 2, and Diablo 3. I know that seems extravagant, but I bought them with my "Game Fund" money: my saved up 500 Yen coins.
I've beaten The Last of Us already, but I'll be going back sometime in the future to get some items I missed on my first play through. I also started Portal 2 and Diablo 3. Portal 2 is an amazing puzzler, and as with most puzzlers, you feel like a genius when you finally solve one of them. Diablo 3 is also pretty good. So far, I've created 3 characters: a wizard, a barbarian, and a monk. The wizard and the barbarian are both "hardcore" characters, which means if your character dies while playing, they are dead for good. I started the monk first, so I'm furthest along with her, but the barbarian is pretty close behind.
Tomorrow, Michi and I head out for a two-day trip south of Tokyo, so my next post will be in 2014.
Cheers,
Monday, December 30, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Small Trips, Big Trips, Work, and Games
hey all,
Michi and I took a few small trips this month, and during New Year's we've got a bigger one planned to one of the islands far south of Tokyo Bay.
I've only gone to one kendo lesson this month. The others were on Saturday, and I just have the hardest time getting up and getting motivated for them. At least for the Sunday lessons I have a day to recover from my Friday English classes (which are suicidally depressing: "OK, X, what's your answer for number 3?" "There are three products in North America: U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico." "Is U.S.A. a product? No? Canada? Mexico? Then why did you pick product for your answer?").
Work this month has been tough. The boss has been pretty absentee, and one of our teachers was gone due to stomach problems for a few days. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the last day of work, Dec. 26th, and it doesn't help that the boss is saying different things to different people and then disappearing without having to face the consequences of her capriciousness. There is also a bit of stress about recordings and printing the materials before the holidays start.
I've kinda lost it with going back to some of my older games, like Dragon's Dogma, Dark Souls, and Skyrim. After you've put hundreds of hours into them, they really do lose some of their luster. I think this weekend I will go and buy The Last of Us, which I've heard good things about. I haven't picked up a PS4 yet, but there are still a few games for the PS3 that I want to play first (like Dark Souls 2, which comes out in March 2014), and I can't really justify keeping two systems in the apartment.
Cheers,
Michi and I took a few small trips this month, and during New Year's we've got a bigger one planned to one of the islands far south of Tokyo Bay.
I've only gone to one kendo lesson this month. The others were on Saturday, and I just have the hardest time getting up and getting motivated for them. At least for the Sunday lessons I have a day to recover from my Friday English classes (which are suicidally depressing: "OK, X, what's your answer for number 3?" "There are three products in North America: U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico." "Is U.S.A. a product? No? Canada? Mexico? Then why did you pick product for your answer?").
Work this month has been tough. The boss has been pretty absentee, and one of our teachers was gone due to stomach problems for a few days. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the last day of work, Dec. 26th, and it doesn't help that the boss is saying different things to different people and then disappearing without having to face the consequences of her capriciousness. There is also a bit of stress about recordings and printing the materials before the holidays start.
I've kinda lost it with going back to some of my older games, like Dragon's Dogma, Dark Souls, and Skyrim. After you've put hundreds of hours into them, they really do lose some of their luster. I think this weekend I will go and buy The Last of Us, which I've heard good things about. I haven't picked up a PS4 yet, but there are still a few games for the PS3 that I want to play first (like Dark Souls 2, which comes out in March 2014), and I can't really justify keeping two systems in the apartment.
Cheers,
Sunday, December 01, 2013
Loans, New Year's
hey all,
So I have almost finished paying off my student loans. One more payment in January and the college loan monkey will be off my back for good! So I'll be able to make something of a financial new start around the time of the new year.
Jobwise, things are so-so. All the teachers are really busy at the moment with extra lessons, and the monthly chores of getting material and recording finished on time. In terms of behavior, one of the morning classes in particular has been giving all the teachers lots of trouble for the last few weeks, and I'm pretty fed up with my final morning class about their disrespectful attitudes during reading time. If they keep it up on Monday, on Tuesday they will only have writing and answering questions for 30 minutes, and then on to the usual grammar.
After spending almost the entire year on a fantasy binge, I decided to shake things up and read some sci-fi. The series I started is pretty good so far, but it is three books of 1,200 pages each.
Cheers,
So I have almost finished paying off my student loans. One more payment in January and the college loan monkey will be off my back for good! So I'll be able to make something of a financial new start around the time of the new year.
Jobwise, things are so-so. All the teachers are really busy at the moment with extra lessons, and the monthly chores of getting material and recording finished on time. In terms of behavior, one of the morning classes in particular has been giving all the teachers lots of trouble for the last few weeks, and I'm pretty fed up with my final morning class about their disrespectful attitudes during reading time. If they keep it up on Monday, on Tuesday they will only have writing and answering questions for 30 minutes, and then on to the usual grammar.
After spending almost the entire year on a fantasy binge, I decided to shake things up and read some sci-fi. The series I started is pretty good so far, but it is three books of 1,200 pages each.
Cheers,
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Pass!
hey all,
So I've been sick on and off with a cold the last month. But today I have some happy news: I took the exam for kendo grade 1 today and passed !
My teachers said I made a few mistakes in the kata (those pesky memorized forms), but they said I made a few good strikes in my matches. They'd like me to do my best to pass the first dan this coming June. (I have technically passed the first kyu, which is a lower ranking system.)
Cheers,
So I've been sick on and off with a cold the last month. But today I have some happy news: I took the exam for kendo grade 1 today and passed !
My teachers said I made a few mistakes in the kata (those pesky memorized forms), but they said I made a few good strikes in my matches. They'd like me to do my best to pass the first dan this coming June. (I have technically passed the first kyu, which is a lower ranking system.)
Cheers,
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Marriage, and other stuff
hey all,
So I think most of my "readers" know already, Michi and I were officially married last weekend. The original plan had been to get this done in September, to coincide with our anniversary, but first one set of paper work and another set of paper work delayed us.
Not a whole lot has really changed, but then I didn't really expect it to. Things are still going smoothly between us.
At work, we had our yearly Halloween party at school. I dressed as Leonidas, and the kids looked pretty good too. We had some pirates, cats, Spidermen, TMNTs and of course there was a Buzz Lightyear.
Cheers,
So I think most of my "readers" know already, Michi and I were officially married last weekend. The original plan had been to get this done in September, to coincide with our anniversary, but first one set of paper work and another set of paper work delayed us.
Not a whole lot has really changed, but then I didn't really expect it to. Things are still going smoothly between us.
At work, we had our yearly Halloween party at school. I dressed as Leonidas, and the kids looked pretty good too. We had some pirates, cats, Spidermen, TMNTs and of course there was a Buzz Lightyear.
Cheers,
Thursday, October 03, 2013
TV Dramas and School
hey all,
I've taken to watching some TV dramas recently. I watched the whole thing of The Walking Dead on Hulu, which was amazing. And I got to check out the first two seasons of True Blood as well, which was also really good.
More recently, Michi and I have started watching Lost, of all things. I never got into it when it was new, but Hulu in Japan has it categorized as a "Learn English" drama. So we're giving it a shot with English subtitles instead of Japanese ones. We've only gone through the first two episodes, and she seems able to follow for the most part.
I also finished The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, which I really liked except for the fact that every character turned out to be a jerk (if not outright evil) in one way or another. I'm thinking I'm going to start reading the Y: The Last Man graphic novels and the Malazan Empire books after I finish two books on teaching and reading comprehension that I've been slowly working my way through.
We've almost finished the first week of our rotating teacher schedule. Overall, I think it is a success. The teachers get to work with different students and the students get to learn under different teachers throughout the day. The only draw back is that every teacher has a slightly different reward/punishment system in place, and I don't think we're making optimal use of each others systems at the moment.
Cheers,
I've taken to watching some TV dramas recently. I watched the whole thing of The Walking Dead on Hulu, which was amazing. And I got to check out the first two seasons of True Blood as well, which was also really good.
More recently, Michi and I have started watching Lost, of all things. I never got into it when it was new, but Hulu in Japan has it categorized as a "Learn English" drama. So we're giving it a shot with English subtitles instead of Japanese ones. We've only gone through the first two episodes, and she seems able to follow for the most part.
I also finished The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, which I really liked except for the fact that every character turned out to be a jerk (if not outright evil) in one way or another. I'm thinking I'm going to start reading the Y: The Last Man graphic novels and the Malazan Empire books after I finish two books on teaching and reading comprehension that I've been slowly working my way through.
We've almost finished the first week of our rotating teacher schedule. Overall, I think it is a success. The teachers get to work with different students and the students get to learn under different teachers throughout the day. The only draw back is that every teacher has a slightly different reward/punishment system in place, and I don't think we're making optimal use of each others systems at the moment.
Cheers,
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Kendo
hey all,
Below you can see my wonderfully bruised thigh. Last week in kendo class, we did some sparing at the end, and my partner kept trying to do a stomach cut (which you can see in the video).
Now, he was about the same height as me, so I don't know how he managed to hit my thigh. But as you can see, he did. About 4 times. Once in the middle (not in the picture), two strikes close together (those lovely bruises right on top of each other), and once just above the knee.
Anyway, the last few kendo lessons have been about 2.5 hours long because I've also been attending the adult class, and staying after that for more practice on the kata (traditional memorized forms) to receive my first rank.
Classes at school have been going well. But, starting in August we're going to try a new rotating class schedule for the morning groups, so next week the teachers will all be pow-wowing to get materials straight. On top of that, we have to print, record, and also make CD's for October's subjects.
Cheers,
Below you can see my wonderfully bruised thigh. Last week in kendo class, we did some sparing at the end, and my partner kept trying to do a stomach cut (which you can see in the video).
Now, he was about the same height as me, so I don't know how he managed to hit my thigh. But as you can see, he did. About 4 times. Once in the middle (not in the picture), two strikes close together (those lovely bruises right on top of each other), and once just above the knee.
Anyway, the last few kendo lessons have been about 2.5 hours long because I've also been attending the adult class, and staying after that for more practice on the kata (traditional memorized forms) to receive my first rank.
Classes at school have been going well. But, starting in August we're going to try a new rotating class schedule for the morning groups, so next week the teachers will all be pow-wowing to get materials straight. On top of that, we have to print, record, and also make CD's for October's subjects.
Cheers,
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