As promised to Balex, here are a couple of photos from Ena's Minoji Festival. Most of us ALTs took part. As ninjas. Ninjas. I know there is no need for the 's,' that 'ninja' is singular and plural, but it amuses me for some reason. Probably a throwback to hockey old movies and TV shows from the 80s-early 90s Ninja Boom. Ninjas. Anyway, we were ninjas. Like so;

We were also provided with Konohagakure forehead protectors on account of the folks at the Board of Education being aware of mine and Nichola's love of Naruto. So that was a nice bonus. I even ended up with 2. I sense cos-playing in my future.... Somewhat feasible possibilities are;

Sasuke
Kakashi (would require hair-dye!)
Sai
Kankuro
Kiba
Itachi

If you read this update please vote for which you think would work best. I shall tally the votes, duly ignore them and just be who I want anyway, or at least which hairstyle I could pull off at the time. But vote, just for the hell of it. Go on.



More pics. Don't ask me what the green and yellow thing is. I just don't know.
















A typhoon is bearing down on Japan. May get the day off tomorrow as a result, which wouldn't be bad. What would be bad would be having to cancel my trip to Kobe to catch up with Nathan for the first time since he got to Japan 2 weeks ago. It's also our good friend Steve Brotherhood's birthday on Friday and we must celebrate with games of Street Fighter and probably a fair degree of beer! Steve is turning 30. And so it begins.....

"Just so you know, you'll never know... and some secrets weren't meant to be told. But I found the cure to growing older"

Finally..... the Icon has come back..... to Xanga.

Yes, it's been several months since I updated. It's been a good month since I had anything to do with Xanga at all. Right now I'm back on because I'm somewhat drunk, I'm still determined to drink and I'm spinning Avril Lavigne and I really don't give a shit what you think about that! She had promise.... but everyone was all like "she's just a poser, pop-punk wannabe" so she was like "ok! You think that's what I am... I'll be that." Then she released the hellacious "Girlfriend," the personification of inane, obnoxious, gets-in-your-head pop-punk, and it serves you fucking right!

Anyway, I gave up on Xanga. Why? Cos I'm sick and tired of people's bullshit. I'm sick and tired of people casting judgement and calling opinions on issues they have no personal understanding of. No, I'm not talking some weary, everyday sick-of-it kinda feeling. I'm talking "shut the fuck up you fucking knob-sack, sanctimonious, wank-stain-on-the-quilt-of-humanity, too-much-reading-and-not-enough-living fuckard bitch!!! Seriously. Shut your goddamn, mother-fucking shit-hole!!! Right the fuck now! Shut up about people's personal issues. Shut up about homosexuality. Shut up about abortion. Shut up. Stop fucking concerning yourselves with how other people live their lives when you have no idea what they've been through, what they live with every day, what and who they are you arrogant, self-righteous, egocentric son of a bitch! You have an opinion? Fine. Now go out, meet people, get to know them and try to understand them and their lives before you rant and spew your morally superior bile on the internet, free of the burden of empathy, kindness or rationale!

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a war. It broke out in Vietnam in the 60s and had a large part to do with the spread of Communism in Asia. The US intervened and a lot of people disagreed with this. Soldiers went out there and fought. Many disagreed, morally and politically, with this. Whilst there these soldiers experienced terrible things, went through hardships and suffering that noone who did not experience it can possibly imagine or relate to. Those soldiers then returned home and got treated very badly by certain groups, discriminated against. Those who discriminated against them had no idea what those people had been through, the roads they had walked, the turmoil they had endured, the realities of their experiences, yet they saw fit to judge them based on their own self-important beliefs.... Now, take a look at the generalities of this scenario. A group of people who did what they felt was the right thing for them, endured great hardships in the process, only to be judged and persecuted by those that disagreed with them, people who had no idea about the path they had walked. I don't care if you're conservative. I don't care if you're liberal. All people are guilty of judging others for their personal choices or state of living. But one thing remains consistent; unless you have walked in those men's/women's shoes, lived their experiences, their exact experiences, you have no right to judge and condemn them. No right at all! Cos guess what? There's always something you've done, at some time, that someone else takes issue with. And there may be more in your future. So before you think about casting judgement on someone else think how you'd feel as and when something you do in the future doesn't entirely agree with someone's personal belief system. Hell, even your own. Life is change. Life is new things, new discoveries. Everyday presents the potential for a different outlook, a new twist or turn in the path of life. Oh sure, everyone likes to think they have the beat on what is right, what is wrong. But guess what? You don't. No one does. So here's some advice; shut up! Shut up with your unempathic, condescending judgements. Shut the fuck up cos you're no different to anyone else; you're just trying to figure out this complex riddle that is life and, for all you know, you have it no more right than anyone else. So shut up and just live and let live. This life is hard enough, making choices, figuring out what is right, without some no-nothing pseudo-intellectual morally superior poser casting aspersions. How about showing some kindness, some acceptance, some understanding towards a person and their struggles, regardless of how you initially feel about it?

I may come back to Xanga now but I may be reducing my friends and subs list considerably. It's nothing personal, if you're in my subs/friends list chances are you've expressed opinions I agree with. But branching out into the larger world of Xanga led me to the crap which turned me off Xanga. Originally this blog was just about staying in touch with my Uni friends, maintaining a dialogue between us and our lives. I wanna get back to that. No more of this Featured Content bullshit. Enough with the rancid, conceited, ill-informed, self-important opinions of soapbox-wannabes with all the words and none of the substance. Enough. Noone in my list does this shit, in my opinion. It's nothing personal. I just wanna get back to a more intimate, diary-like Xanga. Like I intended from the start.

I hope this is the last time I feel the need to make such an angry, profanity-laden update.

"How can I ever get over you.. When I'd give my life for yours...."