September 1, 2008

• Wake Me Up When September Ends!

  OK, so monthly posts are becoming something of the rule, rather than the exception, from me of late. I’ve been saying it’s cos I’ve not so much to update about, life being kinda settled now. That’s partly true but it really doesn’t hold water with the action-packed summer holiday I’ve had, even after Mt. Fuji. In the end…. it’s vanity. I keep wanting to amass more comments! Guess I should just stop worrying about scores and crap, huh?

  Well, “action-packed” is still the hyphenated word of the month. Post-Fuji and Calex’s departure for Canadia we were visited by Robin and Tiffany and, also joined by Guchi, hit up the U-Style karaoke place (the one with the ice-cream) in Sakae for some truly old-school karaoke. Unfortunately the sound system left a lot to be desired (terrible synth-instrumentals and missing lyric-prompts,) not at all helpful in scraping of the karaoke-rust. Still, the mood and company was as good as ever. The only downside was a slight misunderstanding in arrangements (to all-night, or not to all-night) led to Matt, Dani and I being stranded in Sakae after the last train and trying to sleep in our karaoke room. Not comfortable. Still, an awesome night was had. Many old favourites were sung, many new songs were busted out and new in-jokes were born (Sean-Paul, Sean-Paul!) Take the best of the past and move into the future.

  August 16th rolled round, bringing with it the Matt’s 24th birthday. As is often the case, lately, we were kinda pushed for time to do anything so I headed round Saturday morning for a little gamage (Metal Gear Solid 4, being my birthday present to him,) some guitar practice by the river and lunch at the none-curry Coco’s. Whilst Matt and Dani attended to their duties at church that night I snuck out and picked up a cake from the local fancy-cake place. It was promptly devoured within the week.

  As fast-paced as Matt’s all-too brief celebrations were it was nothing compared to the following week. On Thursday and Friday Dani and I (as Tono Region ALTs) both attended the Tono Regional Summer Workshop in Mizunami (the city between Toki and Ena.) Basically this was for local junior highschoolers, who had entered into an English speech contest on the first day, to present and then work with ALTs, learn a little about gaikoku (that huge, expansive country also known as “Everywhere But Japan-Land”) and perform some highly professional and carefully prepared (!!) plays written and directed by us ALTs. Dani was kinda MCing the whole thing so didn’t have to take part but ended up being harassed by a small Japanese girl who decided Dani was gonna be her surrogate mother for the 2 days of the workshop. Also it allowed me to be mildly obnoxious to her!  It was kinda a shock to the system, actually having to get up and work after a good month of rest, but was good fun overall. Gianni (fellow Brit and Altia ALT) put on our UK segment of gaikoku then, on the 2nd day, I joined my 2 of my Ena comrades, Michael and Nicola, in coaching our group of JHSers through our abridged, irreverent take on “Jack and the Beanstalk.” A good couple of days, getting to meet and work with many cool people and cool kids (some of them had astounding levels of English.) The tricky part was that these 2 days overlapped with Balex visiting with his girlfriend, Akiko. With talk of tattooing, airsoft, karaoke and Star Wars: Clone Wars in the air we had to seriously start planning to cram in as much as possible into a very limited timeframe. In the end we devoted our Friday evening to airsoft. Shortly after Dani and I had returned from our final day of workshop Sarv had made his appearance, Balex and Akiko following an hour or so later. Specifically, arrived bearing gifts! There were, of course, airsoft guns and gear for Sarv and I. With so little time to do so myself Balex had purchased my brand new silver-and-black twin Hi-Capa pistols in my stead. He also bore what must be considered a master project in self-made gifts: an mini-I House RPG game made using RPG Maker! Sarven, Matt and I have all played our copies, laughed hysterically and sighed in natsukashisa at a whole variety little in-jokes and nuances! Hopefully this will be the start of several Project: I House RPG Maker hijincks! Holly, Mike, Calex and Kate, you all have copies set aside for you. Hats off to Balex for this stroke of genius!

  Airsoft was slow to start, mendoukusee as it was to find decent ‘softing ground, despite the abundance of woodland around Toki. In the end we got in 2 brief games, Matt and I VS Balex and Sarv, though our true enemies were the swarms of insects flitting around the forest and we all returned covered in sick bites. The next day Sarv and I headed into Nagoya to meet Balex at Jackpot Tattoo for another inking, courtesy of Baccho. Sarv and I chose to kindly keep Balex company by flicking through some of Baccho’s books, specifically one of mythical creatures, and commenting on them with our usual sophisticated and irreverent witticism, forcing Balex to steel himself against laughter whilst a needle was driven into his skin for some 4 hours plus. We’re such good friends!

  This weekend past weekend speedily approached, heralding Sarv’s 25th birthday. Our duel celebrations saw us head to Tajimi on Friday night for another bout of karaoke that was, once again, of awesomeness! Despite our throats contracting shut after an intense karaoke evening Sarv and I were not done. The next day we met up with some of the old karate club girls for a little izakaya (Japanese-style bar-restaurant) and some more karaoke. It was great to see them and we’re hoping to do it again sometime, with more of the old club members. I kipped at Sarv and Shiho’s that night, much of it was spent engaging in Facebook-related entertainment that had Sarv and I in very real pain from laughter. Let’s just say….. Neimoidians can have Facebooks too…….! The next day we decided to check out Clone Wars, which we’d been meaning to do for the past 2 weeks or so. The verdict: hmmmm……… pretty average. Entertaining enough but….. kinda so-so. The animation was ok but I dearly wish they’d stuck with the uber-cool, dynamic and stylised 2D Tartakovsky animation from the original Clone Wars series. The CG stuff felt rather stiff and lacked kinetic intensity, something they achieved brilliantly in 2D Clone Wars. The story was decent enough but was interspersed with the same Jar-Jar/Ewok-esque inappropriate kiddy humour that felt so wrong in the movies, largely courtesy of the droids. And having a campy Hutt villain who spoke Engli…. sorry, “Basic,” was just wrong. It really does seem the problem with Star Wars is Lucas suddenly realising he can make more cash by sticking in kiddy-friendly silliness and/or cutesiness, even if it is totally jarring (Jar-Jarring?) and spoils the integrity of the story and the impact of the more serious themes of the series. It’s worth a watch….. but isn’t gonna satisfy fans like it should.

  So, hols are over as of today. I was only due in the BoE and let go after just an hour (the perks of being a private ALT instead of a JET!) Tomorrow it’s back to school. It’s gonna be tough switching back into work-mode again after 6 weeks off. Still, I’m spending most of the week at my JHS (which is my base school and my favourite place to be) and it’ll be nice to see ‘em all again. I’m just getting a bit of those end-of-holidays blues. It’s also a tough month cos, since Matt quit JET, he’s had to take a lot more weddings and has a lot of weekend work, pretty much killing his free time. Even Dani’ll only be seeing him evenings whilst he does the house-husband thing in the day, whilst we work, then ministers weddings and takes private English classes during our free time! It was all looking kinda depressing……

  But, just hours ago, good news! Matt just got a part-time post as a tutor at NUFS! hopefully this’ll lead to bigger things later but for now it  means a job more in keeping with what he wants to do and the ability to stop taking weekend-stealing wedding-work! I’m sorry to steal your thunder, buddy, but I’m really happy for you! Not only is it a great job but suddenly it feels like we have a little link back to NUFS. Also…… I know how awesome a tutor you will be. You’re patient, kind and smart and your ability to truly connect with people 1-on-1 and inspire them makes you perfectly suited to this job. You’ll be brilliant and they’re lucky to have you! Wait……….. Douche! Nerd! Ass-clown! (OK, balance is restored to the Force!)

  Hah! It’s like you guys know I’m updating. I just got an e-mail from Nathan. Seems like after a bit of “do, or do not?” he’s about to start on his 2nd degree, going the Japanese route like many of us have! Ganbare and good luck, my friend, just… do me a favour. Please don’t take nikyu anytime soon. I don’t think my ego can take it! Seriously though, go bro! You will excel, I am sure! (No need for counter-balance insults, though. We’ve never really had a ‘bickering-sibling’ side to our relationship! That was Bro-hood’s job!)

  OK, so my 2 best friends from my 2 lives are both the recipients of good news for their futures. Which puts me in a pretty good mood. Guess I’ll stay awake for September after all…..! Nathan and Matt, my 2 closest friends, I say “congrats and good luck, and I know you’ll both rock sox!” To Matt and Sarven I say “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” I love you guys! And to basically everyone of my friends out there I say “I am honoured and privileged to share my life with you all. I would be nothing without you.” Word.

  “I’m a little man…. And I’m also evil, also into cats. Also into caaaaaaaaaaaaaattts!”

  • 6:05 am
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