Not sure how long this WiFi signal I've picked will last so I'm gonna try to speedily recount the past 2 weeks as fast as possible for your reading pleasure. That is, if anyone's reading....! Can't remember how long it's been since I got as few as 6 comments! Seriously, where is everyone.....?

Anyway I left Takaoka for Altia training on Monday 24th March, just after my (former) school's sotsugyoushiki. Matt and Dani met me at the Nagoya Station to help relieve me of about 1/4 of my belongings. The next 4 days were spent in training, getting health checks, sorting out details re: my new job, car and apartment. After leaving another 4th of my stuff with Matt I left Nagoya for Takaoka one last time on the Friday and finalised my moving out the next day. Still apartment-less I hauled the other half of my Japan-ly possessions to Toki to stay with Matt and Dani for what would be about 5 days. In the midst of a move themselves we spent much of that time transferring their Japan-ly belongings from their old place to their brand-spanking-new, multiple-roomed, real-home-type apartment! The action was interspersed with the occasional restful respite; some karaoke that had Matt and I add 2 new songs to our duet-repertoire (Bliss by Muse and Ghost Of You by My Chemical Romance,) guitar practice for Matt and I (Green Day and Incubus for the time being) and some video gamage, once we were able. For the first time ever I went and got myself a bit of a haircut here in Japan, entrusting myself to the place Matt frequents. I gotta say I got exactly what I wanted done! With a picture and some simple requests in Japanese I got a more satisfying haircut than many I've had back home! On Thursday I headed into Ena for the first time to meet my supervisor and go do the rounds; the Board of Education first, followed by all 6 of my schools. I've been advised not to mention them by name so I won't. Busy day, to say the least! I returned to Nagoya, Friday just gone, and picked up my car leading to an even more potentially nerve-racking first experience than a Japanese haircut; driving in Japan. Not just driving in Japan but driving an automatic (when I've always used a manual, though it took all of 3 minutes to adjust to) to drive from Sakae to Toki. Nevertheless I made it in 1 piece and have found I can fill my tank on as little as 2,500 yen! It would be double that back home! I'm not sure if Japanese cars have smaller tanks or if fuel prices in the UK are just that ridiculous but, well, it's good. I used my new found car-powers to get us (including Richard, who arrived Thursday afternoon) to Dani's extremely impressive school for a barbecue and hanami, followed by Baskin and Robbin's, that night, after which I relocated to a nearby hotel (at the company's expense.) This past weekend I finally got the keys to my new apartment and moved in Sunday. It's located on a hillside in a very old-style part of Ena, much like Balex's Leopalace in Yokohama. Good sized place too; a 6 tatami mat room, a wooden floor room of a similar size, a decent kitchen and a bathroom/washroom. It's all kinda bare and not very homely looking right now. I'm crashing on the floor on my futon with most of my belongings strewn about the place for now. I got my first week at school to deal with first! I'll add pics and videos when I feel settled enough to make some, until then.....errmmm..... carry on doing what you're doing. Ummm..... right. Yeah....?!

I'm not gonna delve into my feelings this time. It's too early and everything is still to new for me to risk following through on my current emotions.... Besides, I fear I have already lost my connection so who knows if this update will ever see the light of Xanga....?

Smoke me a kipper. I'll be back for breakfast! (Later peeps!) "I haven't ever really found a place that I call home... I never stick around quite long enough to make it..."

OK. I am moving. As most people know now, via me personally telling them or Matt's Xanga updates (both his own and his guest spot for my last entry,) I was set for a new job with Altia in Ena-shi, Gifu-ken. Well, it's now official. I'm due in Nagoya for orientation after school ends on Monday next week and will be moving into my new place the Friday or Saturday after!

View Larger Map

Everything about this setup just seems to be awesome! I'll finally be within easily travelling distance of friends, with Toki-shi being only a short train ride away. I'll be getting a company car too so driving should make things way easier. My apartment will be bigger and all accounts suggest Ena is a pretty, well, "pretty" place. Very inaka and surrounded by mountains so still plenty of chances for snow-boarding, plus great potential for airsoft and possible repeats of Matt, Mike, Sarv and my camping (mis)adventures in Tajimi! I've been checking and re-checking and re-re-checking to see if there is anything more I could possibly want from this. Well, short of living in I-House for ever and ever with instant teleporters to and for friends and family in place of Bruno's room (buuuuuurrrrnn!) the only thing I can think of is more of us within easier reach and not, say, in Hokkaido or wherever. So, I must be pretty happy, right? Right.......! Right. But...... but I really feel like a jerk for leaving my schools! I kinda anticipated it being hard but..... I left Kuniyoshi this past Tuesday, said my goodbyes to the kids and teachers. I had just one class that day, some 1st years, and they wrote me letters and asked for my e-mail address (I've had 2 so far!) They all shook my hand (one kid hugged me) and that was that. I had missed the Graduation Ceremony for the 3rd years, since I'm only at that school once a week, and just really felt sad not to see them off. One guy (who always reminded me of Mike) had left me a note and some flowers (all teachers received flowers from a designated student.) I have the flowers (potted) from Kuniyoshi and Shikino in my room and am determined to keep them alive and healthy for as long as I can, despite my lack of horticultural expertise. I at least was present for the Graduation Ceremony at Shikino but have been equally dismayed to learn the 3nensei won't be back..... Then there was telling my teachers I would not be back next term. That sucked. They had indeed been hoping I'd stay. One of my JTEs who sits next to me in the teacher's room was surprised and obviously sad about it and I kinda feel crap about it all. I will seriously miss them. Teachers. Students. Schools. I keep telling myself I'm just one of many ALTs who come and go, that their next one will be way better than me. Keep reminding myself that kids and teachers will always come and go. Keep focusing on the fact that I really couldn't see myself staying here in Takaoka another year and that I need to be near friends, want to be close to Nagoya, gotta have a life outside school that isn't dominated by Facebook applications. Thing is in doing something for my own benefit that disappoints others I just feel really selfish and shitty.....! And... just sad. Sad cos I will miss it here. It hasn't really felt like home and I don't have much of a life going on but I've still become pretty attached to my schools and the people there...... Damn....!

This is a positive update, promise! I am pretty stoked about it all. I just can't seem to help taking the emo route, though.... Anyway, I guess every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The awesomeness of getting the life I hoped for when moving back to Japan is paid for in me internalising all the feelings and consequences resulting from my choice culminating in the usual INFP emo-angsting. Well, internets maybe hard to come by regularly for the next month or so so I may be going to radio silence for a bit. I'll try and get some updates done from Matt's place when I can. In the meantime..... peace!

Laterz! "I was a young boy that had big plans. Now I'm just another shitty old man....!"

I'll tell you what day! A (not so) long time ago in a galaxy land far, far away... It was a period of over-the-top fashion, big hair, the commercialization of music and film, and the birth of a child destined to bring balance to the scene. That child's name was David Benjamin Moss. Today is the anniversary of his birth, a day to be celebrated and remembered.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am not Dave. I know he can be a tad megalomaniacal at times, but other facets of my writing should have at least given away the fact that I'm an American by now. Last year, Balex had the honor of updating Dave's Xanga. This year, the honor has been extended to me, the greatest pip. Though Dave could not be with us on his actual birthday, we did manage to spend a three day weekend together and celebrate early. I shall tell you of our adventures.

Dave showed up at Toki station to pick up some power converters around 10:30pm on Thursday night. He found no power converters. What he did find was a goofy American who was very happy to see him. We performed our secret handshake, which is not very secret, nor a handshake (it's a hug), and I presented him with a....present (see picture). It was already getting late, so we called it a night in preparation for Dave's interview in the morning. (by the way, how cool is his jacket?? i'd kill him for it if i thought it would fit me)

Friday. Action day. Dave in a suit with a partially pink tie day. Getting lost on the way to Dave's interview and making it just in the knick of time day. We actually had a really nice, mellow time for the majority of the morning journey, but once we got into the city and started walking, we took one wrong turn and ended up way off target. There was much trotting, jogging, and full-on running. We asked conbini peoples for directions, checked maps, and would have ran right past our destination had Dave not spotted it. Dave hopped on his elevator and up to his three hour interview on the ninth floor. Yes, I repeat, his three hour interview. Going into this thing, we both figured the interview would last 45 minutes to an hour-ish. We had no idea it would be so epic. Dave finally returned from the mysterious ninth floor around 2pm, at which point I gave him the cold pizza I had purchased two hours prior. All the waiting and cold pizza was well worth hearing that he had pretty much secured a job in Ena, which is about a 30 minute train ride from here. The company he was interviewed by seems pretty dern awesome, and it looks like everything is going to work out quite nicely in April. Dave will most likely be living nearby and teaching primary and junior high school kids. Before setting off to the next interview, we sat in a park where Dave ate pizza in his suit and said hello to an army of primary school kids who wanted to practice their English as they marched through the park.

After a much shorter, less productive interview with a company who doesn't seem to like non-American voices, we trekked our way back to The Great Toki-shi. Dave liberated himself from his remarkably adult attire, Dani returned home from work, and we all hopped on a train to Tajimi for Jamaica Night (an event put on by the Jamaican couple at our church). Though Jamaica Night was a lot of fun (some Mormon friends came and turned out to be both brave and skilled at the art of dance), the 5 minute train ride there is more memorable right now. Reason being that an old drunk Japanese man on the train started yelling at us for being too loud. Dani was humming battle music from Final Fantasy, and we were chatting, but we weren't actually being loud. The man was either racist or just really hateful. He was calling us stupid and annoying and commanding that we go sit in the open seats at the other end of the car (we were standing by the door, because our stop was coming up). I politely refused his demands, telling him that we were fine where we were and would be getting off soon. He continued yelling at us half-coherently for a little longer and then did something interesting. He pulled out his cell phone, called a friend, and started telling him about the ordeal in a very audible voice. (note: Speaking on cell phones on the train is rude, especially at high volume. note: He had yelled at us initially for being loud....) At this point, the three of us were just like, "what the poo, Jim?" So we started talking again (we had actually been quiet for a while to try to calm things down) and as we left the train I said bye to him and gave a light tap on his window. Dave followed up with a heavy thump. It was a really strange little fiasco that left all of us feeling ready to fight and pretty unwelcome in Japan. Fortunately, there is a way that things just balance out. We had very positive, encouraging interaction with the locals for the next couple days, and I think we're all happy to be here again.

Friday night rounded off with the three of us chatting around a table of McBurgers and chicken. I can't recall the exact chronological details of the rest of the weekend, but it was really nice. There were warring stars, high caliber souls, royal Tenenbaums, guitar jam sandwiches, giant robots, and cheesy yumyums. My personal favorite of the weekend was when Dave and I got to practice guitar together. It's something to look forward to doing more often when he moves down here in a few weeks. My second favorite was probably being at the park, watching Dave eat pizza in a suit and saying hello to all the younglings. His favorite part was probably when he made me say an emphatic "ow" at Gusto Burger by bending my thumb the wrong way (>_<;)

It's late now, and I'm afraid I've spent so much time writing this post that it will barely be up before his birthday has passed, so I'll round this off now. It was a great weekend, Dave. I hope your actual birthday has been special, too. I can't wait to have you in the neighborhood. Love ya, buddy!

Love. Peace. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear sith loooooord! haaaaaappy birrrrrthday to yooooouuuuuuu!!!

This is gonna seem kinda familiar, for anyone who also keeps up with
Matt's Xanga (which is all of you, I believe...?) But it seems Matt's
problems from about a month ago have now become mine to. I refer to the
fateful decision of whether or not to remain in my current job or seek
employment elsewhere. Ya see, my potential transfer to Toyota-shi,
Aichi-ken, is no longer potential. Or literal. The word is from the
higher-ups that there are no spots open for transfer and I'm looking at
another 12 months up here in Takaoka. Nice enough a place as it is, and
as much as I enjoy working at my 2 schools, the very real prospect of
being here for another year as made realise; I don't want to be. I'll
say more about 4 hour train rides to get to Matt, and being all but cut
off (time and expense considered) from everyone else right now before
Calex weighs in with his Hokkaido situation which, admittedly, is
worse. But he seems content enough to stay put and happy with the
company WoW provides..... Me, I just don't think I can do another year
of living only for my job and 1 weekend a month down in Toki. So, I am
biting the bullet and planning to move on. Scary stuff, especially
since I have just signed papers to vacate my Leopalace apartment come
the end of my contract, in a little over a month. Scary prospects of
being homeless and unemployed in Japan creep into my mind and scuttle
around like weird spider-like creatures that aren't spiders but look
like spiders but definitely aren't spiders! Still, I have not been
idle. I have applied to a couple of ALT companies and a pretty cool
looking private teaching job (2 storey house provided) in beloved
Nisshin among others. There is still the possibility of transfer with
Interac too, which would make things much easier and less
pants-crappingy! All things considered I definitely don't wanna leave
Japan just yet. I would like to spend the next 5 years or so here at
least.... but I definitely need a life outside of work! I didn't come
back to try and recapture NUFS but I did come back to start a new,
post-NUFS chapter for us all. I came here for work and to kick-start
some kinda "career" too.... but I need to be able to have both.

Anecdotes. Another familiar Matt-like bit from me. But..... I did the
anecdote thing first so technically I'm only stealing it back! Anyway,
a couple of stories from my schools. 1 is quite simple and mainly for
Balex. At Kuniyoshi, my 2nd school where I spend Tuesdays, there is one
1nensei class with a few
Resident Evil (Biohazard) fans in. One of these kids, just before
winter break, instead of making a Christmas card with something, well,
Christmassy on decided to make a card with the Umbrella logo emblazoned
upon it. When I checked it out an said "nice, but it really doesn't
have anything to do with Christmas...." his response was "I know, but
it's cool." I agreed. Anyway, this class was supposed to be doing a
listening exercise where they tell me who I'm describing on a picture.
I say "wo is playing tennis" and they yell the name of whoever's
playing tennis. For some reason the boys in the Resi group started
yelling names that weren't on the picture, with one kid yelling "Chris
Redfield" over and over! OK, you had to be there. But..... same class.
Something hilarious happened. So hilarious it made me break into my
high-pitched, yelp-like laughter I sometimes do on the rare occasions I
am compelled to "lol." The kids had moved onto text reading and we'd
made it a role-play thing. They were reading the parts of a family in
groups of 4. One kid, named Takahashi, decided to put on a voice to
read the grandma's part..... The thing is he sounded exactly like
Bruno! Or one of us impersonating Bruno. It was hilarious. Well, it was
for me.....!

OK, my anecdotes weren't as good as Matt's. Well.... so's your face!
One cool thing though; I actually led the class today. It was for all
of 3 minutes whilst my JTE retrieved some worksheets, but it felt kinda
good. Especially cos it was a class of 2nensei,
pretty disobedient 13 and 14 year olds who like to try and distract me
by pulling faces or getting me into Dragonball-style pretend energy
attack battles. But they totally obeyed my commands and everything. I'm
sure this ain't so impressive for Rob (who seems to teach classes alone
all the time) and Balex (whose job is to do so anyway) but it was the
first time I've been unsupervised in the teacher role and it was kinda
cool! I certainly get something outta this stuff and would like to stick with it....

Anyway, I'll sign off here. I"ve posted a few keitai-quality photos on my photoblog of a recent trip I took to a nearby temple, Zuiryuji. Once a year they get out fancy lights and light it up! It was really nice. Atmospheric. It's great to be here to see this stuff, but it still reminded me nothing, no place or sight or activity can substitute for doing all those things with friends....

These posts get more and more infrequent. Seriously, I just don't have much to say anymore..... Well, how's about that new banner and layout? Naturally, it's a product of Matt's photoshop madskillz and me pointing and saying "make it do that!" Pretty cool, I think, although this first post is not gonna quite live up to my little chibi-avatar's genki-ness. Yeah, it's introspection post time again. But before I do I'll just mention 2 things; first, "Happy Birthday" to Balex. Second, well, a small announcement on behalf of a dear friend whom I hope won't mind me doing this:

Mike. Joining the Marines. Anyone who hasn't seen Mike's Facebook note won't know this, so here I am, making it known to the Xanga world. I kinda feel now like I felt when my brother used to talk about joining the police if his engineering career didn't fly; worried. Hearing that someone you care about is going into a high-risk job kinda does that to ya..... But, "go for it," Mike! If there's one person who fits the mold and is hardcore enough to do it (besides Sarven,) it's you, man! So, to Mike I wanna say "good luck, stay in touch and take care, bro!" I hope you make it to Japan, or we can catch ya sometime, somewhere, in the future. Everyone'll be supporting you and thinking about ya, no doubt!

Oh yeah, and what will likely be my only February post would not be complete without my usual "Fuck Valentines Day" sentiments. "Fuck Valentines Day!"

OK. It's relevant that Mike has just chosen his new path to what I've been musing over of late. Honestly, I've been pretty sick in mind, body and soul lately. The body being a result of a fierce cold (potentially flu) that has done the rounds at my base school and hit me for the past week or so. The mind, just me, on my lonesome up here, vegetating. It's occurring to me once more how pitiful my Japanese really is. I've actually been living here a good few months now, after graduating from my Japanese-specialised bachelors degree, and.... I still can't comprehend shit. Heh.... an anecdote for today; I stood for a good 20 seconds trying to remember how to say "I'd like to~!" I've known how to say that for 10 years now, and yet, even after 4 years of uni, interspersed with a good 14 months living here in Japan, I lose it like a 1 year old loses his balance whilst desperately trying to walk. I've been surpassed by every last one of my friends and peers, even people who didn't have a word of Japanese when we met! I was discussing this with Rob one night and posed the question; "just when do you have to admit defeat?" There comes a time when, try as you might, you may just have to accept that.... you suck. Whilst my job is enjoyable enough, it's not enough. Work has never been what my life was about. Hell, I really don't even think I'm that good at it anyway.... And, whilst I may be an introvert by nature...., I can't spend so much of my time alone anymore. I spent far too much time alone between the ages of 20 and 23, it did me no good, and now, especially after I House..... it's just not good for me. These, combined with other troubling factors lately, have made me wonder about my purpose here. My being in Japan.....

I'm not quite done yet. I've already been put in for a transfer to Toyota, come March. I've pretty much settled on the fact that, as much as I like my schools here, I need to be closer to friends, need to see people, be around people I can connect with. Right now I just wanna be somewhere where I can be with friends. If Nagoya doesn't work out I'll seek out somewhere else, be it Yokohama, Hokkaido, Fukushima.... Hopefully something'll work out, and whatever it is it'll be for the best, but I definitely have to do something.......

Peace......

"Without it all, I'm choking on nothing, it's clear in my head... and I'm screaming for something...."

(Just kidding. I hope your holidays sucked. Just kidding.)

Yes. I actually hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and
that it was predominantly bastard-free. 'Kay. It's been over a month
since I updated. Shocking. My updates have become more monthly than 2
week affairs since I got here. Something to do with the stable, albeit
predictable, nature of the working, "grown up" life. Still if I can say
1 undisputed thing about the Christmas holidays it's that they were
definitely unstable and unpredictable. I know. That was 2 things.

Calex, who was due to arrive in Niigata early on the morning of
Christmas Eve, was forced to redirect his trip by way of Kyoto. Various
plans rose and fell but in the end I found myself at the stroke of
midnight welcoming in Christmas Day in front of Kyoto Station, Green
Day's "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" somewhat fittingly playing on
my i-pod. Within minutes Calex appeared at the wickets and we headed
out into Kyoto, literally telling the taxi driver "take us downtown!"
With no hotels available we opted for the next best thing (which I
actually preferred to the hotel idea); All Night Karaoke! The 2 of us
roared our throats raw until day break and then headed for Nagoya to
resume the original plan; stay with Matt. Being pretty tired an' all,
we got ourselves a hotel in Kanayama (the same place my family stayed
on their visit during NUFS) and slept for a good few hours before
meeting up with Matt and Dani in the afternoon. The following day we
checked out and headed for Toki where we spent the next week, to be
joined eventually by Balex and Dani's friend, Richard. The logistics of
holding 6 people in a small apartment certainly presented a challenge.
Emotions ran high and tempers were frayed at times, not to mention
Calex and Dani's health, though that seems to be related to Taiwanese
restaurants more than anything. Nevertheless we had a largely enjoyable
week of present-buying and exchanging, watching stuff, playing stuff,
more all-night karaoke, a New Year's climb onto the apartment
building's roof followed by us venturing into Toki to follow the light
of a huge bonfire which seems to be the thing to do on New Year's in
Japan. Of course, a NUFS trip, Calex and Balex's 1st since returning,
was in order where we also met up briefly with Chika in Fujigaoka.

More photos in the photoblog, though you be better off checking Matt's
as they're mostly his! Calex and Richard both celebrated their 26th and
21st birthday's respectively during this week so "Happy Birthday" to
both. Infact an all-purpose "Happy Birthday" to the half a billion
people I seem to know who have late December or January birthdays.
Lesse, there's Calex, Richard, Nathan, Holly, my aunt, my Grandma and 3
Lotts! Ah yes, and Lord Voldemort, who shares Calex's birthday. But
he's dead now, plus evil, so nevermind him. Congrats all (except
Voldemort!) OK. I digress. On the 2nd Calex and I took our leave of the
Lotts and joined Balex in heading for Yokohama. We stayed with him that
night, met Jeremy the next day and spent the next night with him and
his girlfriend, Masami, in their pretty-bloody sweet apartment, mostly
playing Wii. We were also introduced to the full-on cockpit Gundam
arcade which were definitely of the coolness. Also, after failing to
pick up the presents I had hoped to for Matt, Dani and Calex, I at
least managed to find and purchase Matt's intended gift out and about
in Akihabara!

Lessons learned? 6 people cannot coexist peacefully in an apartment barely big enough for 2. We really were the
coolest and most influential group of NUFS Kids (see photoblog.) Any
competitive games involving Mario make me violently sarcastic and
hostile. Alcohol still affects me badly. Taiwanese food makes Calex
sick. Calex makes Dani sick. Sleeping in a cupboard can be surprisingly
comfortable. Falling down the stairs is a lame excuse. There are plenty
more but we'll keep those to ourselves. And that, as they say, is that!

Happy New Year everyone. I hope it's everything you want it to be and more. "It's something unpredictable... but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life...!"

I always try to be a good Xanga-er. Update regularly and stuff. Used to be I'd update like clockwork, every 2 weeks or so. Recently it's dropped to once a month. Weird, in the sense that being back in Japan and having everything (mostly) working for me should mean less to talk about but I guess conflict really does breed interest. I'm not complaining (well, not much...) but it does make subjects for Xanga updates kinda thin on the ground.

OK, so I have a few things to occupy myself with which I may as well narrate to you, dear subscribers! My free time recently has been spent unhealthily addicted to 2 things: 1) the "Jedi VS Sith" application on Facebook and 2) limited edition Final Fantasy 7 potions that come with little miniatures of different characters, 8 in all to collect! And how could I not? The former of these see's me duelling and chatting nightly with my Sithly online buddies and becoming so used to being addressed as "Darth Emo/Lord Emo/Emo" that anytime I see or here the word "emo" mentioned again I will probably answer "what?" The latter, well, I have drunk an inordinate amount of soda to try and complete the set, only to have all the local conbinis sell out of them before my mission was complete, godammit!

I really wanted Vincent! At least I got the uber-cool Sephiroth though...! Advent Children Cloud rocks too... except the sword in his left hand's blade was snapped when I got it. Freakin' dammit again! These 2 endeavors that have consumed much of my free time lately should prove how much of a big a geek I am.... that or I am very lonely and bored out of work hours. Maybe both. Probably both.

I have at least got the Star Wars prequel trilogy with me, which has entertained me as it always does. There is a small handful of movies I can literally watch and watch over and over. Any and all Star Wars films are 6 of that handful (well... maybe not Phantom Menace. I need time to recover from all the Jar Jar, annoying child Anakin and unnecessary long pod-racing scenes!) I'm also indebted to Kate who just last night helped hook me up with a SNES emulator and e-mailed me several of the awesomest games ever! Final Fantasy 6, Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger... God, I love those games! Plus the never-released-in-the-West sequel to Secret of Mana which I've longed to play for over a decade now! Thank you Keito!

So tomorrow I'm heading to Toki station to pick up some power converters. Visiting Matt and Dani in Toki, safely returned from America. It's not so far from Christmas now and whilst I'm not sure whether my schedule will have me working Christmas Day yet or not, the 2 week holiday I have in store will allow for Calex to visit and for us to go hang with Matt, Dani and Richard for longer than just my usual weekend jaunts. Hopefully we'll get some kinda larger NUFS Kids-based reunion going on over that period too. We had been planning a big ski/snow-boarding trip to Niigata for New Year's.... but as awesome as it would no doubt have been it just ended up looking too pricey for the time being. All the same I'm much looking forward to this holiday... Christmas it won't quite be, but the company of friends I've gotten to see not nearly enough of since leaving NUFS is the best present I can think of..........

Yes. That was incredibly corny.

2 points to close on; 1st, I made a mistake with last entries translated Star Wars dialogue. Amidala actually says "I was not elected to..." not "I did not come here to..." Oh well. I haven't prepared one for this entry. Point the 2nd; I am aware that the title of this post has nothing to do with anything, I just wanted to use it cos when I am ever gonna have cause to use such a title....? But..... imagine if I did...? I'll leave you to contemplate that possibility...!

Next update: Christmas Time. Till then, Peace Out! "I love the way you’d roll excuses on the tip of your tongue... as I slowly fall apart"

Just a short post here. To be honest I don't know what to tell everyone I didn't say last time. The work is still suiting me well and, whilst I'm severely lacking in the company department a fair bit, I'm gettin' on ok. So, the reason for this post; Matt and Dani are leaving for the States tomorrow. A 2 week stay back home for Matt's sister Rebekah's wedding in Cincinnati on November 24th!

'New Foos album rules! And one of the songs is called "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-up Is Running)" Hehe...

You really know you're in Japan when you find yourself scarfing down
Mister Donut and drinking cold lemon tea from a small mug with the
words "Do you like vegetable? We wanna live healthily. Being healthy is beautiful" written
round the rim. I didn't buy that mug. A lady at Interac named
Makino-San gave it to me. Anyway... anecdote time. Just last week I was
out in the car-park beside my apa-to building
skippi... *ahem! I mean "jumping rope." Or "jump-roping." or whatever
(but definitely not "skipping"...) as part of the
newly-revived-Mario-and-Mike-initiated NUFS Gym Crew routine when I got
a phone call from Matt. (Good job as my left ankle was curiously,
mysteriously hurting for reasons I am totally unaware and that
definitely have nothing whatsoever to do with Matthew Lott...) Anyway,
Matt and I had been talking for a while when suddenly a devistating
realisation hit me; we had spent the past half an hour... talking about
work! We had become the grown-ups who talk about work to each other,
made all the worse by the fact we do the same job! We stopped doing
that instantly... but we had just spent a good 30 minutes talking about
class, our JTLs, our schools, the kids... and now I find myself looking
for something to update about and drawing only... this. Work.

You really know you're in Japan when a classroom of 14-15 year olds
laughs derisively at 1 poor girl exclaiming she wanted to go into
politics when she's older but doesn't bat an eyelid when a boy tells
you he wants to be a beautician. Anyway... these are my schools.
Shikino JHS on the left and Kuniyoshi JHS on the right. I only do
Tuesdays at Kuniyoshi, the rest of the time I'm at Shikino. I gotta say
I enjoy my job, by and large. It certainly doesn't suck and I know
there are a lot of people out there whose jobs do suck
so I reckon I'm pretty lucky, all in all. My JTLs are all pretty cool
and have helped me a lot. I've no idea if I'm that great an ALT right
now but I seem to have made some good impressions with my ability to
advise them on the nuances of the English language and the kids are
pretty cool. Kuniyoshi is a little out of town, quite inaka,
so the kids are all a little innocent and, as a result, really cool.
Shikino is a town school and, whilst most of the kids are ok (and some
are really cool) some are.... a bit.... more... challenging. Still,
it's a far cry from a school in the UK or US where I'd bet the jerks
out-number the cool kids pretty heavily. There are a couple of boys who
I get on really well with in and out of class and when a girl comes up
to you and says, in English, "you are a nice guy and a great teacher"
you do feel pretty good!

You really know you're in Japan when you have to explain to your JTL
why you were laughing cos the 1st years wrote in their essay about
things they own, "I have balls." Anyway... life beyond school is
simple, if a little uneventful. I have been occupying myself with
bike-rides, a bit of working out more recently and ridiculous amounts
of time online, as usual. My trips down to Matt and Dani's place in
Gifu generally occur 1 weekend per month at present, at least til my
bank balance starts to put on some weight. I am seriously indebted to
Calex for lending me the sizable sum of 250,000 yen which saved my ass
from starvation this last month. Luckily I should receive my first real
paycheck by the end of this week.

You really know you're in Japan when powerful celebrities can be seen
endorsing unknown products. Check it out. The Governator advertising
something called "California Fair!" I dunno what it is... I was just in
shock at seeing Arnie on a Japanese advertisement and simultaneously
scrambling for my keitai. "Kalifohhneeah Feeeaah! Yaaauuhh! I'm going to sell you this unidentified product and I want you to buy it immediately!" Anyway...

You really know you're in Japan when you can't help but buy an energy
drink cos it's based on something from a video game. I drank my
"potion" whilst working out this Monday. I think it helped, though the
absence of little green numbers appearing above my head had me
concerned maybe it was not doing the job... Anyway... talking of being
in Japan, Jeremy arrived not so long ago and Balex should be settling
in as I type. Our forces grow ever stronger...

Guess I'm done for now. Peace out! "Dear God, I've sealed my fate... Running through hell, heaven can wait..."

So maybe you've checked Matt's blog and maybe you haven't. And maybe you know that I spent this past weekend with him and Dani that included my first visit to NUFS since leaving that most hallowed ground over 1 year ago. Seems it's been left up to me to "update in more detail"... which was my intention all along so that's ok with me. There's a decent amount of photos from the NUFS trip in my photoblog and even more from the whole weekend in Matt's photoblog, for your general interest and perusal. Ok, here we ichi, ni, san, shi, go...!!!

I House! Wonderful, wonderful I House! So holy that immortals cannot do battle within it's grounds. The whole journey, the bus from Hongo, seeing the old route to the airsoft woods and walking past Lawson (and going in for some snackage) Aoki, Kahma, et al started off kinda pulse-racey but within minutes it felt as natural as it ever did. Definitely different, knowing we weren't there for keeps, but still pretty good. Just seeing I House, walking up the little road in front of the car dealer, it felt like coming home. Kinda like going back to an old house, a house you grew up in but moved from a year or so ago and won't live in again... and yet you feel like it'll always be yours and someday you'll be going back. If only.....

   

Home boyz! With a Z cos that makes it cool. Dani's friend Richard is part of the newbie class this year. Just under the stairs you can see Matt's room, no longer with his name above the door. It was a weird feeling... and yet it just kinda felt like the place was still ours, that we were just loaning it to the newbs who live there at present. My knuckle prints are still in the white board, an everlasting reminder of the Class of '05-'06. My memetic legacy lives on in the Whiteboard! (What..? I'm sure some of my DNA is solidly wedged in those indentations!) Sadly we couldn't see Goto as she has now retired and my mortal enemy, Denki Wo Keshite Ne Guy was manning the front desk. Matt's visited before and he remembered him... wonder if he remembered me...?

After a bit of Saizeria we went our respective ways, Dani and Richard headed back to Toki and Matt and I stayed behind at NUFS to continue our journey of natsukashisa. We called in at Kahma and found not just 1 bike way cooler than the one I mentioned in my last post but 2. They are virtually exactly the same kinda bike, but with subtle character differences. Seeing something highly appropriate about this happy coincidence Matt and I bought them! Our new bikes rule! Screw you Coke-promo-Chevy!

So, on to NUFS! The campus was suitably quiet. A few students were preparing for the upcoming School Festival but the whole place had this kinda suspended-in-time feeling about it. The whole trip did.

It was... awesome. Just being there again, it was like we never left. Of course, it wasn't like it used to be. It wasn't home. But, in a way, it was... and always will be.

We may not have been able to see Goto-San during our trip but we did manage to see, at least to the Gym Crew, one of the awesomest NUFS staff peeps; Takagi-San, better known as "Gym Guy!"

He rules! We had a pretty long talk with him, promising to return each time we visited and bring more people with us. We proceeded to do a ridiculously difficult set of 10 pull ups on the bars for old time's sake. So wish we could work out there every day like we used to.

Matt and I spent a good few hours on campus just being girly and talking about our feelings and junk. Just like old times. Come late afternoon we rode our kick-ass new bikes to Irigaike Koen and stayed til dark doing yet more tough, manly activities such as more feelings-talk, cartwheels, playing on the roller-slide, complimenting each other's hair, hugging and me telling Matt over and over he doesn't look fat in that shirt. 1 of these is a lie. Try guessing which.

As dusk fell we headed to Fujigaoka on our best-bikes-ever for authentic Pizza Hut pizza. It was goodly. (That was very Mario of me...?) As I said earlier the whole day seemed to be kinda outside of reality, like we were walking through this out-of-time piece of our memories forever preserved in our very souls. We're both looking forward to repeating the trip many times with the returned or returning NUFS kids. It has to be done. On my own I feel like it would be somewhat torturous but in company it was... beautiful.

Our Bikes of Awesomeness carried us to Hongo where we took the sacred Line of the Eastern Mountain back to Nagoya then onwards to Toki. We were met with some resistance when we tried to board the JR train to Toki in Nagoya by an annoyingly, Japanese bureaucrat-y train bod insisting it was dame. Now, it would be ok if we covered the bikes in a bag of some sort (despite the fact they were brand new and spotless) but as it was they were dame! In a bizarre personality reversal I started fretting over our helplessness under the weight of the ridiculously anal and unreasonable Nihon no ru-ru and Matt decided "screw it!" We'd get on that train regardless and he could just try to stop us. In the end we managed to acquire the assistance of another train-type-guy who gave us some twine to bind our bikes with. How this helped I have no clue but we barged through the stiles and onto the platform regardless and weren't met with resistance so when all was said and done, mission complete!

Infuriatingly inflexible train-Nazis aside, everything was great. Back in Toki and reunited with Richard and Dani we wound up the day with my first karaoke in over a year. Can't say I was that into it, truth be told. I may always have sucked but after a 14 month gap I was painfully aware of how bad I was, not to mention the fact that Matt and Dani both possess actual, proper singing ability. Richard, not a fan of the karaoke, sat out for most of it leaving me feeling painfully, uncomfortably inadequate/just plain bad next to the Lotts.

The rest of the weekend (a 3 day weekend I might add) was spent just chillin'. Unfortunately when I woke up in my lonely apartment on Tuesday morning the joy of the weekend was replaced by a horrible, empty loneliness. Living with friends, albeit for a short time, gave me something to compare my hitorigurashii to and it wasn't a favourable comparison. The fact that it had been my first chance at quality time with Matt in over a year added to that. We were more or less room-mates at NUFS (and would have been for real if we'd got to the double room ahead of Kellie and Krystal... or those damn Chinese girls who hogged the 2nd double room both semesters!) Before I House living alone didn't bother me, now I find myself missing the company of friends so much it hurts. Living at Kate and Balex's in every way but sleeping there last year is testement to that. In just 3 days Matt and I recaptured the relationship we built over 10 months at NUFS... and I experienced all the pain of leaving again the following day.

Re-experiencing the pain of loss still can't change the fact it was a truly awesome weekend. The NUFS trip, Matt and I agreed, turned out better than we had ever dreamt of. It was, for want of a better word, perfect. There'll be more to come too, I hope...

Just a quick newsflash from this weekend: I got hit by a car whilst taking a ride on Saturday. Luckily my tre-cool bike was unharmed! That woulda been seriously sucky...!

Take care ya'lls. Catch ya later. "Everything I know about breaking hearts, I learned from you..."