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(My favorite self-portrait) |
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(My favorite self-portrait) |
| June 2005 | May 2005 | April 2005 | March 2005 | February 2005 | January 2005 |
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| December 2004 | November 2004 | October 2004 | September 2004 | August 2004 | July 2004 |
| October 26, 2004 |
Back Home I am back in America and I am so busy. I have been to so many different places that I cannot even begin to write about it today. I have over 1000 e-mail messages to get to, so I probably will not be able to update TNDNK as often as I would like (obviously, since it has been six days since the last update). But keep checking back. If nothing else, This Is True and the science headlines automatically change. I'll be back as soon as I can. Be sure to send an e-mail if you have a comment or question. Sayonara. |
| October 20, 2004 |
Exchange Rates In preparing for my trip, I went to exchange some yen for dollars today. I keep hoping for an exchange rate of 1 yen to the dollar so that I could change all my money and retire quite rich. But I suppose if that happened there would be other more perilous repercussions to the world economy that would make this impossible. But exchanging money is yet another thing I do not understand. (There are so many things I do not understand. [sigh]) Sometimes when I am watching the news here in Japan, they show some footage from the Tokyo Foreign Exchange or whatever they call the place where all those numbers are determined. It is really amazing. I cannot recall how many people are sitting around the table, but there are not that many. Probably ten or fifteen. Certainly not any more than that. And my guess is that there are other things happening behind the scenes that do not make the cut for the news. But I cannot help but make the comment that those guys look like they are hanging around playing poker. They do not even wear ties. Who put them there and gave them the keys to wreak havoc on the vacations of other people? I would like to know. But there is something even more puzzling about this whole foreign exchange. Why does the exchange rate fluctuate by the minute? The same ten to fifteen guys sit around the poker table. One minute a guy says, "I'll give you 110 yen for a dollar." All well and good. So why fifteen minutes later, does another person say, "I'll give you 109.8 yen for a dollar." What changes in fifteen minutes to make it change? I do not follow the exchange rate as much as I probably should, but there are days when the rates change by several yen per dollar. Most of the time I understand because there is some outside influence, but at an exchange rate that fluctuates around one percent per day just does not make any sense to me. What changes so quickly? I wish I understood economics better. I REALLY must not understand economics very well. The cost of oil is skyrocketing. Unemployment is rising due to outsourcing. (OK, I'm extrapolating here. Lou Dobbs of CNN continues to harp on outsourcing, though I do not know that he speaks specifically about unemployment.) Retailers have high expectations for sales during the Halloween season. They see it as a nice bridge between back-to-school and Christmas. At least according to an article I read. It seems to me that the first two should take a hard hit on the third. I wish I understood economics better. Brent Spiner is back on Star Trek, this time as an ancestor of Dr. Noonien Soong, the scientist that created Data, the character for whom Spiner is most famous for, though he played others in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He can be seen on Enterprise, Friday nights at nine, eastern on UPN. I have only been able to watch two seasons of Enterprise so far, but I am really looking forward to this three episode arc. I envy those of you who can watch it right now. Brent Spiner is scheduled to appear on the Oct. 22, Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 episodes. For more information, click here. And watch Enterprise! You will be pleasantly surprised. Only two more days before I head home! The latest forecast maps put Typhoon #23 well away from Japan by 21:00 on Thursday. Since I am leaving Friday, there should not be any major problems. |
| October 19, 2004 |
Pictures If there is one thing in this world I hate having to do, it is having my picture taken. About the only picture I like of me is the one on my home page. The one of my nose. It does not reveal too much of me. I suppose some might say that it reveals too much. I do a lot to get out of having my picture taken. But it is hard here in Japan. I am somewhat of a celebrity thanks to my tall stature, wide girth and "golden" hair. Certainly I do not have the fame of Tom Cruise, but I do not envy him. It is bad enough trying to keep the "little darlings" away. I do not know how Tom Cruise et al. can stand it. I suppose if I was making as much money as he is I would learn to live with it. Plus, he has bodyguards. Today I went to a kindergarten. They were taking pictures for their graduation album, and of course I had to be in them. In fact, they specifically ask the photographer to come on a day that I will be showing up. I assume that the photographer shows up on other days as well to take pictures when I am not there, but I always end up having to have my picture taken. And I have a hard time smiling unless there is a reason to smile. That is, unless something makes me smile. That makes the pictures look quite stilted. I have a picture of me with Akebono (a former Grand Champion of sumo) and I was quite nervous. There is not even a hint of a smile on my face. What is so bad about taking my picture? I do not know. I have seen pictures of people who are much uglier than me (hard to believe) who do not seem to mind having their picture taken. So it cannot be simply a matter of looks. I guess my personality needs some work as well. I am not one to really watch horror movies, but I kind of like Scream and its two sequels. For one thing, Scream has some relatively well-known actors and actresses that are pretty good at what they do. For another, not all the action takes place at night. I do not really like too much darkness. But I think the real reason I like Scream is because of the cool mask they have. I am not really afraid to die. Anytime is fine. What I am afraid of is a long, drawn out illness that wrecks havoc on my life and the lives of my loved ones. Two of my grandparents, my father's father and my mother's mother, died from Alzheimer's disease. I was spared seeing the end of their lives because I was in Japan when they both died, but I saw enough to know that I do not want to come down with that dreaded disease. I saw an article in the newspaper the other day that really tore me up. Often when a loved one dies, the surviving family asks for remembrances to be paid to some charity or other, often a group that is financing research into finding a cure for the disease that was responsible for taking the life of the loved one. Hospice groups are also recipients of such donations. But in the particular article I read, the widow asked that remembrances be paid to some political group or other, one that was anti-Bush. Politics is all well and good, but this pretty much disgusted me. Even if the deceased and the bereaved felt such a strong affiliation to politics, certainly there are other family members and friends who would like to show their affection, but who do not share their political views. I wonder what they did. In any event, I am not looking forward to dying in Japan. I am just too unsure about whether Japanese hospitals allow DNR orders. Only three days to go before my trip to America. Assuming that Typhoon #23 does not act up. Current forecasts show it passing on Thursday, the day before my trip. So here's hoping. |
| October 18, 2004 |
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow The title is cliche, but I went to get a haircut (got them all cut, actually. LOL) so hair is on my mind. I have had a long, not very good relationship with my hair. As a child I hated the color. I always got teased for having red hair. I also hated the wavy nature of my hair. And I always seemed to get into a fight with my mother as to how long it should be. Perhaps my recollection is not so hot (it certainly goes down the farther back I try to go), but I do not even think that I wanted long hair per se. It was more of that being teased that I did not like. Every time I got a hair cut, indeed every time anyone got a hair cut at my school, I was teased. (Actually, I was not teased when someone else got a hair cut, but that person was.) And I did not like being teased. I remember going to the barber with my father and my father would give him an impossible order. "Cut it short enough to make his mother happy and keep it long enough to make him happy." I am glad I did not become a barber. For a long time I kept my hair in the same style that my mother combed it when I was still little. It was always parted in the middle. That all changed in 1985/86. Something as simple as the chickenpox allowed me to alter my hair style. I had long since abandoned wanting my hair to go uncut, so short (relatively short) was in, but I was still combing it into a part. My senior photograph is quite telling as to how weird I really looked. I guess while I was sick I had gotten a little lazy and just started combing my hair back. Basically, that is what I have done ever since. I still hated my hair color until I came to Japan in 1988 when I realized that I now had celebrity status. At one point it seemed that the fringes of my hair were turning black. I panicked, thinking the culprit was Japanese shampoo, and had Grandpa Bill and Grandma Letty send me some good old American shampoo. To this day, I use American shampoo almost everyday. About the only I do not is when I am away at a hotel or onsen. It is just too much trouble to carry. Looking back on it, I doubt that the shampoo had anything to do with my hair color. I probably just imagined it. In an attempt to keep the waves under control, I went to keeping my hair short, very short. Not quite a crew cut, but short enough that there were very few waves. I kept my hair like that until I moved to Japan in 1992. And even then I did not change for about three years. I remembered the good old days when I wanted to grow my hair out, but I did not want to have those girly waves. Shuko came to my rescue. She bombarded me with all kinds of gels and mousses that were supposed to keep my hair straight and in place. There were times that my hair was harder than my skin. It just would not move. My hair could have probably withstood typhoon force winds at that time. But the hair kept getting longer. Finally I went to the hair salon and got my first permanent. Straight permanent that is. Finally, long, straight hair. But having to go back to the hair stylist every few months and having to endure hours of waiting for the chemicals to do their stuff was taking its toll on me. I eventually cut it off and went to a more standard haircut. I think that was around the time Titanic was out and somehow they got my hair to look like that of Leonardo DiCaprio. (I would rather have his bank account than his hair.) But the waves came back and that did not last long. I went through several stages of letting it grow and cutting it back. Right now I am at the point where I just want it all gone. Being bald definitely has its advantages. No shampoo. No combing. No having to put it back into place after a strong wind. And just think of all the guys who look good bald. Patrick Stewart and Mitch Pileggi come immediately to mind, but there are others. If I had my way, I would just shave it all off. But Shuko will not allow it. She says, and she is probably correct, that I would look to scary to all the children I teach if I were to shave off my hair. I do not know what she will say if I go bald naturally. Which is what I think is happening. I believe mama has commented that my forehead is getting bigger. It is true. I just renewed my Japanese driving license and on the picture, my hairline looks like that of Kelsey Grammer. (I would rather have his bank account than his hair.) These days I keep the sides and back of my head relatively short and the top several inches long. That is not my wish so much as it is that of Shuko and her (we use the same one) hair stylist. To keep the waves to a minimum I usually wear a hat, indoors and out, whenever I can. It seems to work a little. Some people say that wearing a hat will make me go bald quicker. Here's hoping!How do people keep track of time? I am going to be flying to America this Friday (assuming that Typhoon #23 stays away). My plane is scheduled to take off at 15:20. They have instructed me to show up by 13:20. But because of the way I am, I bought train tickets so that I will get to the airport at 11:56, almost an hour and a half ahead of time. And I was thinking about taking a train that would get me there another half hour early. That is just the way I am. I always try to be early. Switch to Shuko and her mother. I used to always get on to them to hurry up. I hate to be late. But I have since given up. Let them be late. And if I have to be late, so be it, as long as it is not my fault. I mentioned this to some other Japanese people, thinking that perhaps it was part of Japanese culture. I found that strange since trains in Japan run perfectly on time, but it was the only thing I could come up with. My Japanese friend said that it was not typical of Japan. But it was typical of Mizusawa. Today, Jeff and I had an appointment at 1:00. My MIL knew that. What time did she fix lunch? 12:30. It's a good thing that I can eat quickly. I read the other day that Callefour (sp?), a French retailer that is the second largest in the world to Wal-Mart, is looking to sell its stores in Japan. They came over a few years ago to great fanfare. I guess they could not handle it. Wal-Mart is one of the potential buyers. They have already bought into one retail chain and they are looking to buy into another, besides the possibility of taking over the Callefour stores. I wanted to send a resume to Wal-Mart. You would think they would like a Japanese speaking American who has well over 12 years of experience in Japan and over three years of experience working in a Japanese retailer. But I could not ever figure out how or where to send a resume. I guess they do not really want me. |
| October 17, 2004 |
Onsen The family and I went to an onsen (hot springs) the other day. They are so relaxing. I am often asked by Japanese people if there any onsen in America. I have to respond that I think there are, but that there are none around from where I am from, and I have never been to one. I believe I saw one on television once. I invited Grandma Letty to an onsen once. She said she did not have a bathing suit. I kind of laughed and informed her that she did not need one, as bathing suits are not used in the Japanese onsen. She declined. But Cousin LeAnne (otherwise known as La Femme) went one time while visiting Japan. I was teaching a group of adults. We would meet at the onsen. The guys and the girls would go into their respective bathing areas and after bathing and socializing meet afterwards for a chat in English. Every time we talked about the two girls that accompanied Cousin LeAnne I would refer to them as the girls she got naked with. LeAnne found it funny that I would do so, but if I had used their real names, LeAnne would not know who I was talking about. When I first started going to onsen, I was pretty much by myself because I was the only guy in the family. At first I was quite shy. Even covering myself with the towel, it was just not an experience I was used to. Perhaps those people who played team sports and were used to showering with others in the room would have no problem, but I had no such experience. I am used to it now. And now I have my son to go with me, so I am not so lonely. Oil prices have long since passed the psychologically stimulating $50 a barrel point. Prices could keep going to $60 and beyond. The price of regular (unleaded) gasoline here in Japan where I live is at 115 yen per liter. I am too lazy to convert it to dollars per gallon, but it is a lot, and much more than even what they pay in California. When will alternative energy sources become economically feasible? $75 a barrel? I find it hard to believe that there are not really smart scientists and engineers out there that could make fuel efficient cars that are inexpensive and built like a tank. Or find some way to make the cars run on water. But then again, the cost of bottled water is right up there with the cost of gasoline. I am no scientist, but the X Prize has shown that when there is an economic reason to do something, it will get done. I am wondering when the point will come when we can say good-bye (or at least not say hello so often) to oil. Why is there so much hate in the world? It is an emotion with which I am familiar with, but not on the scale that I see in the world. There is one boy in one of my classes that I absolutely hate. I praise the times that he does not show up. He is loud and obnoxious and there is no way to reprimand him. I have tried. Shuko has to sit next to him the whole time he is there. If she were not there to take care of him I would go stark raving mad. With her there I simply go raving mad. He sits there and makes rude noises. Or he will just blurt out whatever comes to his mind. It rarely has anything to do with the lesson at hand. It does no good to try to discipline him. He just smiles back with a goofy grin. I tried to make him scared of me. It did not work. I asked him if his mother or father were scary. He said no. I think therein lies the problem. But the fact of the matter is, that kid has earned my hate. He has done everything he can to make me wish he would never come again. And yet, I do not want to see him dead. I just do not want him to come to my lessons anymore. But I was reading an article about the US State Department's opposition to a bill that would make them keep tabs on anti-Semitism around the world. I read another article about how deep the political lines are being drawn this year. It seems as if every day there is another article about how the rest of the world hates the US. Why do some people want to kill the Jews? Why do the President and the Senator have to be protected so heavily by the Secret Service? Why are there people that want every American dead? Where does it stop? When will it stop? Will it stop? After talking with Grandma Letty on the phone, I have to write a partial correction. She claims that I never wore the same pair of jeans for a week at a time. Apparently I was bought three pairs of jeans at the beginning of the school year and I never wore more a single pair more than two days in a row. I say this is a partial correction, because I never wrote that I only had one pair of jeans, just that I wore the same pair every day for a week. I cannot recall what I wore in early elementary school. That whole time period is a blur, but I do recall that it was my mother, not me, that got me dressed for school. So I will defer to her memories of what I wore at that young age. But I remember specifically wearing the same pair of jeans every day for a week when I was in seventh grade. And I will not blame mama for that one. Actually, to be completely truthful, I do not specifically remember wearing the same pair of jeans every day for a week. The basis for writing that was the memory of someone commenting that I wore jeans every day and that if they were different pairs, why did they have the exact same stains in the exact same spots? So I do not know. I do not really remember much about my elementary school days (and seventh grade). It is probably a time of my life that my brain has deliberately blocked out. |
| October 16, 2004 |
Japanese Weddings I had all the classes today all by myself because Shuko went to a wedding. One of the girls she works with at the kindergarten is getting married. Shuko said she did not want to go, but in Japan, wedding invitations are not so much invitations as they are commands to appear. People are asked ahead of time if they can show up. If not, they will not get an invitation. People who share a work place usually have to have a pretty good reason to not show up. As it turns out, Shuko did have a good excuse, but she did not know it at the time, so she ended up having to go. I was a part of a Japanese wedding (my own), or more accurately, a Japanese wedding reception. At the time I had had only a year or so of actual experience in Japan, and that had been a couple of years earlier. I had a hard enough time just figuring out what was being said. I ended up just following directions. I never knew what was going to happen the next minute. It was basically a three-hour long extravaganza, interspersed with speeches, toasts and changing clothes. I started out in a black kimono, then changed into a white kimono. Finally I ended up in a silver tux (don't quote me on the color). Shuko had it even worse. She had two kimonos and two dresses that she got through during the three hours. When I first walked in the room, one of the first things I noticed was a huge wedding cake. I did not learn until later that it was fake. Shuko and I were given a short Japanese sword and the Major Domo pointed out a spot that had some icing on it. We slowly sunk the sword into place and the cake came to life. Lights began to flash (not to mention all the people with cameras), dry ice smoke (or is that stuff steam?) began to cascade out and there was a crescendo of music, probably some Japanese popular love song or other, I certainly do not remember right now. People kept coming up to us at the head table and poured sake into our cups, and drank to our health or whatever. As soon as that person left the table, Shuko and I dutifully poured the drinks into a bucket strategically placed under the table so that no one else could see it. We had been warned ahead of time not to drink during the reception. Hey, have you ever tried to get out of a kimono when you really needed to pee? Probably the highlight of the evening (or was it an afternoon?) was something that did not even happen to me directly. Grandma Letty and Grandpa Bill had come to Japan for the wedding and reception. Grandpa Bill and Grandma Letty, not knowing any Japanese beyond "konnichi wa" and "domo arigato gozaimasu," were pretty much left to themselves during the reception. They were surrounded by some of Shuko's friends who were supposed to be able to speak "a little" English, but apparently there was not much in the way of conversation. Consequently, Grandpa Bill was able to finish off the prepared lunch (or supper) in a timely fashion. This was probably something that had never happened at a Japanese wedding reception before. Indeed, part of the "fun" of attending a wedding reception in Japan is taking home a lot of extra food, cake and gifts. (Guests give gifts of money to the bride and groom. This does little more than pay off the wedding hall. The guests, on the other hand, receive gifts from the couple as a token of thanks for gracing them with their presence.) All of a sudden the Major Domo was by my side asking me what my father liked to eat. Long story short, the wedding hall prepared a second meal, a steak dinner this time, for my father. I wish I could have seen his and Grandma Letty's faces when he was presented with a second full meal. He dutifully ate that one as well. Nothing for them to take home. There was a lot more going on, but we are talking about something that happened more than thirteen years ago. Maybe some day I'll find the video of the wedding and I can relive the magic moments in full. But I will say this. It was my first, and hopefully last, direct experience with attending a Japanese wedding reception. If any of my kids get married, they can be satisfied with a store bought cake and fruit punch. If I am feeling really generous, I might even throw in some green Jell-O. The kids had a music festival at the school today. Unfortunately, Shuko had to go to a wedding and I had to work, so that left my mother-in-law with the job of taping the events. I think she is a proud graduate of the Spaz College of Cinematography. Some people might have to turn away or risk upchucking while she searches for what she wants to point the camera at. It takes her a few moments (a few l-o-n-g moments) to get focused on one kid or the other. When she finally stops, the tape is not so bad. But then she decides to move to one of the other kids, or wants to zoom in or out or something and the whole thing starts all over again. Quality of the tape aside, my kids were wonderful. Of course, I cannot claim any of their goodness as any musical talents they have inevitably comes from Shuko's side of the family. Sarah, being in first grade, only had one song to sing, a well known children's song here in Japan about a monkey. Quite appropriate, as I always call her a monkey. But she was very cute. They had little tails, and thank goodness the spaz camera stopped just in time to catch Sarah at her cutest moment as she pulled her tail up. Rebecca was part of a Kagura group, Kagura being a type of Japanese traditional dance/play. She even had a speaking part. The story behind this particular dance is quite esoteric, and so I cannot explain the story line. Suffice it to say that Rebecca does a lot of stuff and this is one of things she does pretty well. Jeff was, surprisingly, the most impressive. It has only been two or three months since he started playing the trumpet, but if you ask me, he was one of the best up there, and that despite starting after the rest of the brass band had already been practicing for a few months. Now of course I cannot tell whose notes are whose since they are all mixed together, but Jeff's posture was the best of the trumpeters and he held his out straight, whereas most of the rest had theirs pointing down. Rebecca plays the euphonium. She has done that for a couple of years. To be honest, I had never even heard of a euphonium until she started. The Japanese like to shorten their words and the normal Japanese word for euphonium comes out like UFO. I keep wondering when she will fly out into space. They played the Battle Hymn of the Republic and some other song I did not immediately recognize. Finally, Rebecca put on her drum majorette hat and helped lead the other children through some song or other. Both the start and the end of the song were cut off (another special feature no doubt perfected at the Spaz College of Cinematography) and I was so focused on Rebecca that I did not really pay so much attention to the song as I did to her. Music, language of the gods. Star Trek. The name evokes many thoughts. Some people simply think of geekdom, others of stock phrases such as "Beam me up." It would be hard to find someone in America who does not know something of the phenomenon. Me, I simply love it. Over 27 years worth of Star Trek episodes and ten motion pictures have been spawned from Gene Roddenberry's creation. I have the privilege (Shuko would call it the bane) of being able to watch nine episodes a week, 1 of Enterprise and 8 of Deep Space 9. The more the better. I have cried more than once while watching Star Trek. Some of the best episodes of Star Trek are those that investigate the human psyche. One episode that stands out in particular is the episode of The Next Generation in which Lieutenant Yar dies. I cry every time I watch that episode. It is not because Yar dies. It is because in that death, Data becomes a little more human, and I recognize the same feelings he has when I experience a similar loss. And how can one forget the excitement? Whether fighting Klingons, the Borg or the Dominion, Star Fleet somehow always manages to pull through in the nick of time. And sometimes, make some new friends at the same time. I learn a lot of science from Star Trek. Perhaps real scientists would scoff at me claiming such, but I feel I have a piece of Star Trek, a piece of the future, in my pocket right now. My cell phone. No one can tell me that my cell phone does not look very similar to Captain Kirk's communicator. And though it is still in the beginning stages, the transporter is being developed as I write. There have been successful experiments teleporting data encrusted light (This is a pdf link, sorry, I hate them, but it's the only one I could find right off hand) and more recently teleportation has been demonstrated with atoms. Recently I read of a space elevator that will make it much easier to travel to space. I saw something similar in an episode of Voyager. Magnetized-beam plasma propulsion was a new name to me, but a similar concept using solar wind was promulgated on an episode of DS9. Did the scientists look at Star Trek to get ideas? I doubt it. It is much more likely that Star Trek writers looked to science to get their ideas. In fact, I had heard of the concept of space elevators long before I had seen that episode of Voyager. But Star Trek brought the concept to life for me. I was able to visualize what a space elevator might look like. Similarly, thanks to Star Trek, I can picture in my minds eye what a ship using magnetized-beam plasma propulsion may look like. Star Trek is truly the future waiting to happen! |
| October 15, 2004 |
Happy Birthday! Today is my birthday. I turned three today. Three dozen, that is. That puts me three cycles into Chinese astrology. I was born, some might say appropriately, in the Year of the Monkey. (That is what this year is, in case you did not know.) I tried to come up with something to say about my first cycle, but I am having a hard time trying to remember any accomplishments I had by the time I was 12. I remember so little about my childhood. And most of what I do remember, I believe is more of remembering stories my parents and grandparents told me, rather than actually remembering what took place. I went to a small, private elementary school and wore the same pair of jeans every day for a week. I remember that. About the only thing of significance that I recall is the great time I had taking drama lessons. I do not recall exactly when I started, but just based on certain things I do remember, it had to have been while I was in elementary school. I was in and out of theater groups and drama clubs through high school. I was never the "star" of the play. I almost always was in the background and had few lines, but I remember being around the groups and having a wonderful time. Even today, one of my dreams is to open a local theater like one I was part of during high school. It was a dessert theater and though I was only in three plays at that particular theater, I was there almost every night, either rehearsing, performing, or in some other way helping out. (I poured drinks.) I would love to open a similar place and then produce plays, musicals, other acts, whatever. But that is a dream that will have to wait until I get rich. I do not know if it was because I actually accomplished more, or if I just remember more, but my second cycle is much more vivid in my mind. Some of my "accomplishments" include graduating from both high school and college. I almost did not make high school. As graduation day approached, I was asking a lot of people about the GED because I was afraid that I would not make it, but I did not want to have to stay behind another semester, or worse yet, go to summer school. (Only one English class stood in my way from graduating.) But as it turned out I had an English teacher, who just happened to live down the street from me, who was more generous than fair, and passed me with a D so that I could graduate. The first year of college was not much better. I had only passing (average) grades after a year of study. I dropped out for a couple of years and came to Japan and then went to Pennsylvania. The experience did something to me, because when I returned to college I was raring to go. The rest of the time I did quite well and did not get a grade below a B, and most of them were A's. (How should that have been written?) I ended up graduating with honors, something I never would have believed had someone told me that while I was in high school. Also during the second cycle of my life, I got married and my first daughter was born. I suppose those can be considered accomplishments of a sort. Immediately after graduating from college, we, i.e. myself, my wife and my infant daughter, moved to Japan for what I thought would be a few years. Which brings us to the third cycle of my life. I soon realized that I would be in Japan for more than a few years. We moved here in 1992 and have been here ever since, and have no real plans to go back to the United States. But while here we have added two more children to the family. Sadly, that is about the only real accomplishment that I can think of at the moment. I went from teaching English for a company to teaching English for my mother-in-law (wink, wink - do not bother asking, I will not explain), which was a major step up, but I do not consider my "career" of teaching English to be much of an accomplishment. There are many other things that I would rather be doing. And so perhaps the celebration of my birth today, or more accurately, lack of celebration, is appropriate. I have racked my brain all day trying to think of something I did in the past year to justify my existence, but was unable to come up with anything. I have several goals, or perhaps hopes would be a better term, for the coming year, but I do not have much confidence in accomplishing any of them. I hope no one takes this paragraph as a sign of depression on my part. Whereas I have been known to suffer mild bouts of depression, I do not particularly feel that way right now. I am simply stating facts. Getting back to the "celebration," it started this morning with a call from America. My mother and father called, but I was away at work at the time. When I got back home I called them back and was entertained with a wrenching rendition of "Happy Birthday." Yes, I actually paid for the privilege of hearing that. Tonight, my wife bought sushi (no blowfish this time) and a cake. I hope their will be more to report on my next birthday, or certainly by the end of the next cycle. This morning I went to one of the day care schools to which I present English. It is only a two or three minute walk to this particular day care school, but I could not help but think I was like a cow on the way to be slaughtered. The four year old class in this particular place is absolutely horrible. I inevitably come home with a sore throat from trying to speak to them. The last time I went I asked one of the teachers if this was the way they always were, or if they were just excited because they had a tall foreign devil with "golden" hair in their midst. For good or bad, the teacher said they were always like that. But whether they're always like that or it is just for me, I still do not like being yelled at, touched, pushed or run into. I also do not like being the reason some kid starts crying because he does not like the way the tall foreign devil with "golden" hair looks at him or her. So it was with a heavy heart that I slipped on my flip-flops and walked out the door. Normally I ignore the traffic light at the crosswalk if there are no cars coming, but today I was trying to do everything to extend my short walk. As I mentioned above I first thought I felt like a cow on the way to be slaughtered, but then I realized that my analogy may be off. Does a cow know he or she is about to be slaughtered? Probably not. So what would be a better animal to use? I seriously doubt chickens or pigs are any more aware of what is going to happen to them than cows are. I never did come up with a decent analogy. As I was writing just now, I realized that perhaps the only one who can feel like I did this morning was a condemned man walking down the corridor to be put to death. That may be a little strong. How about someone (particularly someone who was drinking) who wakes up handcuffed to a hospital bed? That may be fairly close. You know you are in trouble, but you are not sure exactly what is going to happen to you. Come to think of it, that may be about as close as I can get to explaining what I felt taking that short walk this morning. We are all familiar with the e-mail scam that fills our spam box every week in which we are asked to contact some official from Africa to help him move a large amount of money to a foreign bank. In return we are promised millions. When I went to one of my classes at a company, the person I teach brought in a letter. It was addressed to "The Director" of the company. Just looking at the envelope, with stamps from South Africa, I immediately thought scam. The letter was akin to the above-mentioned e-mail scam. But I was amazed that someone in South Africa had access to the name and address of the company. The only thing I can figure is that it was found on the Internet, but if that was the case, why not use e-mail? There is a "popular" scam running around Japan right now. It is called the "Ore, ore" scam. "Ore" means, "It's me." The person portraying the scam will call up the mark (in the beginning, usually an elderly person, but now lots of people are being targeted) and say "It's me. I need some money for school (or medical emergency, or because I had an accident, or whatever). Please transfer it immediately." The person, thinking a loved one is in trouble, transfers the money and it is never seen again. Reading it in English, it seems like no one should be gullible to fall for it, but nuances in the Japanese language make it much more believable. It is a "friend of a friend" story, but I know of one lady who was almost taken in by a similar scam. She received a phone call from someone claiming to have been in an accident with her husband. No one was injured, but he needed to get money for repairs to his car immediately as he was actually leaving town. "Why didn't my husband call?" the mark inquired. "His cell phone was damaged in the accident." "Can I speak with him?" "Sure." At which point a second person was put on the phone. These people had really rehearsed everything. They had a ready answer for any question the mark put up. She was almost convinced and was about ready to go to the bank, but decided to call her husband's boss to ask for advice. The boss (who is also the person who related the story to me) hemmed and hawed for a moment and then said, "Wait a minute." He checked and found the supposedly injured husband working overtime, just like a good Japanese worker should. Luckily, the wife did not fall victim, but to think of Japan as a safe, crime-free Eden, no longer holds true. |
| October 14, 2004 |
I love comics. I love comics. One of the things I missed most from America when I moved to Japan was the comic page of the newspaper. I can remember as a little boy reading the comics every day. When I first got to Japan and read the Japan Times, there were no comics to speak of. Then one or two showed up. But after I realized how expensive the Japan Times was compared to the Daily Yomiuri, I quickly switched to the cheaper paper. For my trouble, I got three comic strips a day! When you cannot find comics where they are supposed to be, you go looking for them elsewhere. That's what I did. At the Mizusawa City Library they had some Japanese comics books translated into English. Sazae-san, the name of a popular comic series here in Japan, seemed to be a good place to start, indeed the only place to start as that was the only series offered in English. I borrowed a few books and started to read. But I could not for the life of me understand them. Finally in desperation I showed a page to Shuko and asked for her reaction. She roared. Well, as much as a petit Japanese girl can roar, she roared. I looked at the page again. I saw nothing to roar at, not even a little snicker. When Shuko finally calmed down, I asked her to explain it to me. She did, and I understood what the problem was. Whereas when I read the comics I look for a play on words or some other written joke, she was looking at the visual content of the comics. Perhaps that is a difference between Japanese and American comics. I subscribe to two online comic services and read well over 100 comic strips a day. But often, that is all I do. I rarely peruse the art work unless I do not understand simply by the words what is going on, or conversely, it is so amusing that I want to go over it again. Recently I have tried looking at the art work of some of the strips that are easily understandable through words only. In many cases, the art work is completely inconsequential. Any number of scenes could have been used to illustrate. There are very few comic strips in Japan, but there are a myriad of comic books, with a wide range of content. Babies to adult themes and everything in between. I do not take much time to read any of them, but even a quick glance shows that the Japanese comics are built on visuals. Yet another interesting twist in my Japanese experience. I did not have a chance to really watch the debate this morning. I am busy with a translation job. But I had the TV on and listened (albeit inattentively) to what was being said. Just my take, but I thought the President blundered in his speech a couple of times. At one point he tried to make a joke that did not quite get through. On style, he lost. Again. I'll have to admit that on substance, I was not really paying attention. (Shame on me.) But I do remember the talk on taxes. Kerry is for them. Bush is against them. From what I understood, anyway. And neither one of them mentioned what I wanted, the entire federal tax code, all taxes to be done away with and replaced with a national sales tax. So my mind has not been changed. I will still vote for Michael Badnarik. There. I said it. And since the debates are over, I doubt very seriously I will make another comment on politics. I have been using Windows XP for quite some time now and I have never really had a problem with it like I had with earlier versions of Windows. In fact, I cannot recall a time when I had to reboot the computer due to the infamous "blue screen of death" using XP. But after downloading and installing Service Pack 2 for XP, I have become a real fan. Most of the features of the Service Pack are hidden due to their very nature of taking care of security problems, but there is a feature that I absolutely love. A pop-up stopper! I absolutely despise pop-up ads. But apparently no more. I read somewhere that Gates is not going to release a new version of Windows for a few years. No problem. I might not even buy it then. I am happy with Windows XP! |
| October 13, 2004 |
Outsourcing I went through my semi-annual ritual of having my teeth cleaned today. I say today, but in actuality the creature known as the "haisha-san" (Japanese for "dentist") has perfected return visits into an art. I have yet to meet a haisha-san that will clean my teeth for me in one visit. Today I had my bottom teeth cleaned. No cavities, thank goodness. I will have to go back next Tuesday to get the top teeth cleaned. Interestingly, the Japanese word used for cleaning teeth is "scaling." It is actually that word said with a Japanese pronunciation. I have only heard the word in English referring to fish, though a quick look at the dictionary proves that there is a definition that includes other, similar activities. Perhaps dentists in America use that word and the Japanese just borrowed it. I think dentists in America are out to confuse their patients. After all, why do they need three words for the same substance: tartar, plaque and calculus? It seems like they could get by with just one. So perhaps in the smoke-filled rooms where dentists gather to laugh us when we have numbed mouths and laughing gassed minds, they use the word scaling as the official word for cleaning teeth. But if not, I would like to meet the haisha-san that first came up with the word "scaling" to describe the act. I find it hard to believe that he was reminded of fish. Actually, my haisha-san is a pretty nice guy. He and his family used to be students of mine. After his only daughter (only child) went off to university (to become a dentist, of course), he and his wife also quit the English lessons. But I still meet with them every now and then. Really nice people. I had a most interesting lunch today. Because Shuko works at a kindergarten now, I usually have lunch at home, by myself, or occasionally with Shuko's mom. Shuko's mom almost always fixes lunch for me, but we usually eat in separate rooms. In any event, I feel like I can eat most Japanese foods. There is a lot of it I don't like, but I can usually eat it. One thing I cannot seem to get used to, though, are the Japanese breakfasts. To most Western eyes, there would be little difference between a Japanese breakfast and a Japanese lunch or supper. For example, breakfast might consist of fish, rice, miso soup and some pickled vegetables. Now I don't have any problem eating of those items, but not for breakfast. I grew up on cereal. Saturday mornings were a special treat: French toast. Luckily there is a company here in Japan through which I can order breakfast cereal. The local supermarkets carry very little in the way of cereal, and what they do carry is usually the extra sweet stuff reserved for children. I used to eat a lot of the sweet stuff, but not so much now. I guess I've gotten too used to the Japanese palate. I am quite partial to shredded wheat. But it is not just the Japanese breakfast that gets me. Today my mother-in-law fixed some French toast for lunch. It's not the first time she has done that, but I still find it fascinating that she fixes that. Pancakes are also sometimes on the menu. I've gotten used to it to a certain extent, but I once again realized I was in Japan when I saw what else was offered. A bunch of carrot and cucumber sticks. And all this right after I got back from the dentist. Sometimes you just have to laugh. One of the things I noticed when I was forced to return to CNN or go without an English language 24-hour news channel (well, the BBC is also offered, but they are downright anti-American) is that Crossfire is done before a live audience. I do not know if I really like that. Actually, I do. That is, I know that I do not. Especially in light of the fact that CNN obviously stacks the audience with Democrats. I can half way understand why this is allowed for a show like Crossfire when opinions are flying back and forth across the stage (though I certainly prefer the old in-studio, no audience format a lot better). But I am having a hard time with recent news programs such as Inside Politics and Anderson Cooper. If it were limited to a bunch of people holding up their respective Bush and Kerry signs, that would be bad enough, but it is almost impossible to hear the "journalists" and their guests over shouts of "Kerry, Kerry" and "Four more years!" Whatever happened to studio reporting? Is FNC doing the same? I do not remember them doing that, but it has been a few months since I have watched and I did not watch the normal daytime lineup because it is the middle of the night for me. Perhaps they are equally guilty on this front, but it smacks me as being quite unprofessional. Since coming to Japan, I really have cut down on my sweets intake, but then there is the problem of Japanese sweets. They are, in general, not the same as American sweets. But there is one that I really like. Ohagi. A sweet rice ball (yes, rice can be made quite sweet) surrounded by anko, a sweet bean paste. Next time you come to Japan you should give ohagi a try. I had one today and it was quite good. They are traditionally eaten during the equinox (both vernal and autumnal), so I guess I am a little late. Unless I am very early for the vernal equinox. But they are good whenever I eat them. |
| October 12, 2004 |
Outsourcing I have not had the privilege to watch FOX News in a few months. I have been stuck with a bastardized version of CNN, called CNNj here in Japan. CNNj is a mixture of CNN, CNN International and CNNfn. They basically pick and choose what they want to show and don't give viewers much of a choice. They change the schedule without any kind of announcement and it is a real pain in the neck. Oh, for the days when FNC was on 24 hours a day and I could get the same feed as was shown in America. Maybe in November. But that is not really what I wanted to write about. I have been watching a lot of Lou Dobbs recently, almost every day. Funny, I seem to recall thinking that he was mainly a business reporter, and since I do not own stock or follow the market I never really paid attention to him. But watching his broadcasts now (and admittedly they may have always been this way) I find that he does more than business. But there is one theme that he keeps harping on. Outsourcing. Talking about it is one thing. He has guest after guest on talking about how horrible it is to outsource America. I agree. But I have yet to hear one guest offer a solution. Indeed, I do not see how there can ever be a solution. If a company can hire an employee overseas for $10 an hour that would cost them $30 an hour in the US, I do not see what can be done. If anyone has any ideas, please let me or Lou Dobbs know. As I predicted in an earlier post, the Braves lost in the post-season. It's too bad. They do really well between the All-Star Break and the end of the season, but before and after is a totally different story. I cannot quite figure that one out. One of the things that really bugs me about Japan is the concept of "newspaper holidays." For the life of me, I cannot figure out why the newspapers take a day off. Generally it is only once a month, but the world does not stop once a month. TV news does not take a day off each month. There is always news to report. The newspapers say that they take the day off to give their delivery people time off, but that does not happen in America. Speaking of which, what does happen in America? I am sure that the "paper boy," as I used to call them, though they were much older than boys, takes some time off, but the newspaper always was delivered. Or mostly was. Do any other countries or locals suffer this phenomenon, or is something unique to Japan? If anyone can help me solve this riddle, I would be most appreciative. |
| October 11, 2004 |
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The End of an Era I am still trying to get caught up with all my newspapers. I was looking at the sports section of one from a few days back and realized that we had come to the end of an era. When I came to Japan in Dec. 1992, I had yet to watch my first sumo match, though I had been to Japan at least four times before that time. Professional sumo tournaments are scheduled six times a year in odd-numbered months. Not long after I arrived, the newspaper ran the banzuke, or ranking of all sumo wrestlers in the upper division. I did not know what was what, but I was real happy. The top ranked rikishi (sumo wrestlers) are called Yokozuna, sometimes translated as Grand Champion. But for that January 2003 tournament, there were no Yokozuna, and in fact, I did not even know at the time that such a rank existed. The top rank listed for the tournament was that of Ozeki, sometimes translated as Champion. On the banzuke they have an east side and a west side, the east side being slightly higher than the west side. At the top of the list, on the east side was a rikishi named Akebono. Hawaii was listed as his place of birth. The west side Ozeki was Konishiki. Hawaii was listed as his place of birth. Going down one more rung, you reach the rank of Sekiwake, sometimes translated as Lower Champion. The east side Sekiwake was Musashimaru. You have probably picked out the pattern by now. Hawaii was listed as his place of birth. You can imagine how excited I was to find out that the top three rikishi were all from America. I watched that tournament as much as I could and learned quite a bit about the sport of sumo, but nothing prepared me for the outcome of the tournament. Akebono won the tournament and was given the rank of Yokozuna. After that I was hooked. I watched sumo every tournament. Matches begin early in the morning for lower ranked rikishi, but it wasn't broadcast until 3:00 in the afternoon. But I watched faithfully, and when I had to go to work I set the VCR to record what was left. Akebono was the first foreign Yokozuna. The first foreign rikishi to break into the upper ranks was Takamiyama. He had long since retired and become an oyakata (coach or trainer doesn't quite do justice to the esteem oyakata are given), and in fact was Akebono's oyakata. The next foreign rikishi to make the upper ranks was Konishiki. Before I came to Japan, there had been a controversy with Konishiki in that he believed he should have been awarded the rank of Yokozuna, but was being discriminated against as he was not Japanese. Though he attained the rank of Ozeki (the first foreign rikishi to do so), it was attained at the prime of his career, and not too many tournaments later, he was reduced in rank and eventually retired. For a while he worked as an oyakata, but abandoned that to pursue a career in entertainment. I still see him every now and then on Japanese TV shows or commercials. Akebono remained Yokozuna for many years and won many tournaments (Though ozeki may be reduced in rank, Yokozuna are not, remaining at that rank until they retire.) despite a rule that worked against him (details of which I will not go into here as I have already written quite a bit and still have a bit more to cover today). I was even lucky enough to see Akebono in person once. I was so nervous that after having my picture taken with him I said, "Thank you very much" in Japanese. When I turned to the (Japanese) person who took the picture for us, I said the same thing, but that time in English. But injuries eventually overcame him and he retired. He, too, has found work doing commercials and other TV work, and has even fought in at least one K1 match (something I wish he would not do, as I believe he is too old (though younger than me) and too injury prone for that kind of contact sport). So that left me with one lone American. In many ways, Musashimaru was my favorite of the three Americans. He always seemed to be the underdog. He struggled to work his way up. He had several rivals that I just loved to hate. I always rooted for the American, but if it was American vs. American, I would always choose Musashimaru. Mu-chan, as he was known in our household, never failed to please. He won the first zensho yusho (championship with a perfect score - a feat that is quite difficult to pull off) that I witnessed. I was so excited that at the time I leaned out and shouted to the world as loud as I could, "ZENSHO YUSHO!!!" My wife did not like that so I only got to yell it once. Mu-chan eventually made it to the rank of Yokozuna, but it was after a long, hard struggle, always against that same unfair rule that had also plagued Akebono. Mu-chan ended his career about six months ago and became an oyakata. So why is it just now that the era has ended? Rikishi keep their topknots for six months after retirement and then hold a ceremony in which many people participate in cutting it off. A picture of that ceremony was in the paper I was reading. I felt a little sadness. The only rikishi currently ranked as Yokozuna is also a foreigner, this time from Mongolia. I root for him and the few other foreign born rikishi, but I have little time to watch anymore. I suppose it is just as well. An era has come to an end. In other Japanese news, at least six people are confirmed dead due to Typhoon #22. And speaking of death, I received an e-mail alert that Christopher Reeve has died. Best known for his role as Superman, I enjoyed watching him in other roles as well. I wonder if stem cell research will someday help others in similar situations. I know that some do not approve of stem cell research. I have even heard the argument that some (most?) scientists do not believe it will lead anywhere. But how are we to know if the research is not done? It is like exploring space, another endeavor that is often ridiculed. Why explore space? To find out what's out there. Without going, we will never know. And I for one, want to know. Why do stem cell research? To find out what we can do? Without research, we will never know. And I for one, want to know. Today is Columbus Day in America. Interestingly enough, Japan has a national holiday today as well. Taiiku no Hi. One book I have translates this as "Health-Sports Day." The holiday was originally set on Oct. 10, the anniversary of the start of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. A few years back they switched this holiday to the second Monday in October. Normally I would take the holiday off, but since I am taking two weeks off in a couple of weeks, I decided I better work while I can. Speaking of which, I called Grandma Lewis and told her I was coming to America for a while. She was thrilled. She said that was great, but she wanted me back for Christmas as well. I do not think that is going to happen. If I die in the next few days, one possible cause would be dinner tonight. We went to a kaiten sushi restaurant, about the closest you can get to fast-food sushi, but much better than fast-food. While there I ate some fugu, or blowfish. The fugu has a poison in it that can kill a man if it is not prepared properly. I think there was even an episode of The Simpsons that revolved around Homer, blowfish and the possibility of dying. Finally, I have been reading about the large number of people registering to vote this year. I wish they would not do that. The more votes there are, the less mine counts. |
| October 10, 2004 |
| A Web Page I spent most of the day doing something I've wanted to do for a long time. I built a web page. It isn't the first web page I've ever built. It's not even the best. (Not that any of my other ones were all that good.) But the special thing about this web page is that it is on line. I decided to take a look at GeoCities, but the problem is you can't just look at what they offer. You pretty much have to sign up to see what is offered. So I signed up and as I was looking at everything, the page just came together. But then I realized that I didn't have the foggiest notion on how to edit what I put in there. I have read of people, and even know people, who use lots of different software to just drag and click and copy and save and paste and do whatever. I honestly don't know how they do it. I took one look at it after the initial set-up and thought about what I needed to change. There was so much to change. So I went to the editor and I didn't have a clue. I would try to drag something to where I wanted it and inevitably got an error message saying I couldn't do that. Finally I erased everything that they had set up and started writing my html code. No, I don't know how to write html. I have a book that I followed. But it was so much easier because I could type in what I wanted to type, preview it and change accordingly. You can take a look at what I have so far. There are a few more things I want to add, but it's late enough at night now that I'll wait for another day. If anyone wants to take a look, (and even if no one wants to take a look) the URL is http://www.oocities.org/wolfour/. It's not much to look at, but it's a start. Any ideas on how to improve it would be greatly appreciated. As I was taking my walk tonight I was reflecting on what I want to be when I grow up. I know that sounds weird for a 35 year old to say, but I never declared a major in college (I graduated with a Bachelor of General Studies - no one ever knows what that is. The closest would be a Liberal Arts degree.) because I thought that teaching English in Japan would be wonderful and I knew that most companies in Japan will hire anyone with a college degree, not really caring what the major is. (I consider that BGS to be one of the major mistakes of my life.) For the past few weeks (months?) I have been really fantasizing about what I would do if I was rich. If I was Bill Gates-rich, I would just completely retire and do whatever I wanted to do that particular day. But what if I was just rich enough to live off of interest/dividend income? Nothing too special, but enough to get by without really trying. What would I do to pass the time? And I realized that I would most likely volunteer at a library. Thinking about it, I realized that was what I really wanted to do. I wish I had known that 20 years ago. But one thing I just don't understand is why you have to have a Master's degree to be a librarian. Maybe some day I'll figure it out. Rebecca had a kendo tournament today. I wasn't invited because I root too much for Japanese taste. More specifically, I boo the referees when the other kid gets a point off my children. So I didn't actually go to see her perform today, but from what I understand, her team came in second. Rebecca won one of her individual matches and tied in another one. She has already said that she will not continue with kendo into junior high school. I can't say I blame her. Watching the matches, it seems to me to be a very subjective "sport." I see a lot of what I would call points go ignored and then when someone barely touches another player, the referees will sometimes call a point. If you can't get points when you're supposed to, what's the point in playing? And I can't see Jeff continuing kendo next year because it's hard enough to get him to go with Rebecca. Without Rebecca, I can't see the fight being worth it. But we shall see. |
| October 9, 2004 |
| Halloween Parties We did four Halloween "parties" today. As I wrote yesterday, they aren't much of a party. Certainly no American child would be satisfied with what we did. Basically we had the children come in and decorate Halloween bags for Trick or Treat. While they were busy doing that Shuko took the children one at a time and made an extremely simple costume for them out of colored garbage bags. The girls were mainly interested in being princesses. I tried to talk some of the boys into being a princess, but they weren't interested. They mainly became pirates. After everyone had their bag and costume ready I read them a Halloween picture book. At the end of the book a ghost goes "Boo!" which, though in this context startles the children (and the mothers), is actually the Japanese onomatopoeic word for passing gas. It takes them a few seconds to get over being startled, but then there is an inevitable chorus of "Boos" throughout the room. And they aren't out to startle each other. After that finally dies down they finally get to Trick or Treat. Only at our house, though. We give them a little bag of treats, mostly Japanese, but we try to include something American. We always give out caramel corn and this year we found some Cookies and M&Ms, which I had never heard of before. I tried one. It was OK, but I won't be rushing out to buy any more. We take pictures and that's it. The extent to which I get dressed up is a clown wig. Shuko doesn't even do that. But she's pretty busy. We have the kids take their garbage bags home with them. I don't want to have to deal with them. It was raining today anyway. We told them that they would stay dry. I doubt the mothers were thrilled. I doubt they lasted much past the car ride home. Due to the Halloween parties, I wasn't able to watch the presidential debates live. I taped five hours of CNN coverage and watched every minute of it. (I also enjoy root canals.) It is my understanding that the President did not want to do a town hall setting, but after his performance, I can't understand why. I thought he did many times better than he did last week. He seemed much more relaxed. I thought on style he did so much better than on the first debate that he won on style. He seemed to talk more with the audience than at or to the audience, something I felt the Senator did. (Though I still believe the grand champion for taking at or to an audience goes to former Vice-President Gore.) And on substance, I certainly felt the president held his own this time. I even felt myself getting excited a time or two. Who would have thought? And speaking of CNN, is Candy [Crowley] her name, or what she really likes to eat? I wasn't able to take my walk tonight due to Typhoon #22 that I mentioned yesterday. But luckily we got just the edges of it. No heavy rain and no wind at all. |
| October 8, 2004 |
| Enterprise, tonight! I understand that the second presidential debate is supposed to start around 9:00 pm Eastern, but if you are one of the many that has already decided or if you're just plain sick of it all, may I suggest you try to find a UPN channel on your dial that is showing Enterprise. It's the season premiere and I just wish I could be there to watch it with you. Even if you really want to watch the debate, you could always tape it and watch it later. Enterprise barely made the cut this year after a season of ratings that weren't all that good. Some theories are that not too many people even know Enterprise exists, or what it is. In case you are one of them, Enterprise is a prequel series to Star Trek. If you've never seen it, you really need to give it a chance. In fact, give it two or three. It's a really great show. Here in Japan we're still on season 2, and we won't get season 3 until sometime next year. But the rumors surrounding season 4 are making it sound great. For fans of the original series, it is highly rumored that William Shatner will be joining the cast a time or two, perhaps even in the role that made him famous, Captain James T. Kirk. If you're a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I have news instead of rumor. Brent Spiner is joining the cast at some point for a three episode arc. He will be playing an ancestor of Nunian Soong (I probably spelled that incorrectly), the person who invented Data. So you see, there's a lot for everyone. And it all starts tonight. Sometimes I wonder why people don't give Star Trek a chance. I hear some people say they don't like science fiction, but Star Trek is so much more than that. It is a total and complete examination of what it's like to be a human. Whether you're a long time Star Trek fan or someone who doesn't know the difference between a Vulcan and a Klingon, I promise that if you give Enterprise a chance you won't be disappointed. Another major event for the day is Martha Stewart entering federal prison. Surely the world will sleep a little more soundly and feel a little safer. (Sarcasm mode off.) I was watching some show or other and I am constantly amazed that so many people still think that Bush's main motivation for attacking Iraq was WMD. I remember very vividly March 17, 2002. I watched the president's address that night and he specifically said that Hussein could avoid war if he would just go off into exile. I took that to mean that his main motivation was to get rid of Hussein. WMD was just an excuse. And yet I hear many people say it was all about WMD. I don't think so. Several countries were offering Hussein a place to live the rest of his life in luxury, but the man was stupid. Instead, now he's in prison. I would have taken the life of luxury. We've been doing a lot of Halloween preparation today. And by "we" I mainly mean "Shuko." I helped a little, but Shuko is definitely the Martha Stewart of the family. I've actually gotten to the point that I don't even like holidays that much any more. They're too much trouble. I can't even remember the last time I had turkey for Thanksgiving. This Halloween I'll be in America, but if it weren't for Jeff, I wouldn't even bother with it at all. I went for a walk tonight but I probably won't be able to tomorrow. Typhoon #22 is on its way, and this one looks to be going straight overhead. I think we've had enough typhoons to last us a couple of years. Shuko's so worried about them that when she bought my travel insurance she paid extra in case our plane was delayed due to weather. I got a new/old student today. She's taken English lessons from me off and on for the past 6 years or so. She's back now and she's a senior in high school. Normally I wouldn't mention something so mundane, but the way she wants to take lessons is probably going to kill me. She wants to come before school starts each day for fifteen minutes, from 7:30 to 7:45. There are times when I'm not even awake at that time. But I can always use the money, so I start next Tuesday. |
| October 7, 2004 |
| Thank goodness for Bobby Cox. I read in the newspaper today (and I am about a week behind in my newspaper reading) that Bobby Cox won his 2000th game as a manager. Only 7 or 8 other managers can say the same. I remember at the beginning of the year, and even through the All Star Game, I kept saying to myself, "Thank goodness for the Expos." After all, they were the only team in the National League East below the Braves. But as has become the pattern, the Braves rally after the All Star Break, and they've now won 13 division championships in a row. If the pattern holds, they will now do in the post-season what they did before the All Star Break and end up losing at some point to come. But for now, I no longer have to say "Thank goodness for the Expos." Instead, I say, "Thank goodness for Bobby Cox." I don't think anyone expected the Braves to win the division championship this year after getting rid of Greg Maddox and a lot of other really good players. But Bobby Cox did it. I took advantage of an unusually slow morning to get some stuff done to get ready for my trip to America. Only 15 days to go! Last time I went I was happy to get a cell phone for the three weeks. But my cell phone company here in Japan (which is actually a subsidiary of a British company, Vodaphone - they even take the Vodaphone name) has introduced a phone that will work almost anywhere in the world. (For some reason South Korea right next door doesn't make the cut, but I don't have any plans to go to SK any time soon.) I thought I could just go ahead and buy it today, but the store was out of the color I wanted (Manhattan Gold) so I had to order it. But it should be here within a week, well before the time I go to America. I will even be able to use the same phone number. One person I know who is already using the service went to America and didn't tell her boss/company. She just let them think that she was still in Japan and apparently they never knew the difference. When the company called, she just answered like she always did. I can't wait to get the new phone. I also bought some travel health insurance today. I hate having to buy insurance. It's something you have to have, but never want to have to use. But if you don't have it, you may end up wishing you did. On the other hand, it always seems like the insurance company finds some way or other to not pay on claims. A bicycle hit our car when Shuko was driving a while back (several years ago) and we ended up having to pay for half the damages even though we were not at fault and we had insurance. I should sell insurance. They must make a lot of money. I watched Men Black II today. I was glad I watched it. Every now and then it's good to fantasize. |
| October 6, 2004 |
| Musings Yesterday I went to see "I, Robot" with Shuko. I think it was a fairly good movie. Shuko said she liked it, too. I think they made it take place a little too early in the future. I just don't see robots like that 30 years in the future. Give it a hundred maybe. I watched the vice-presidential debates this morning. On the first residential debate I thought Kerry won on style and that the substance was a wash, giving Kerry the win by a little. I thought that today, the two candidate's were so different that they couldn't really be compared. Cheney has a style that I thought was fit for him and so does Edwards. Edwards was perhaps a little too perky, for lack of a better word. But because they were so different, yet so suitable to themselves, I think the style issue was a wash. On substance, I thought Cheney had a slight advantage. Not much, but if I had to say which one did a better job on substance, Cheney would have won by a little. Put the two together, and Cheney came out the winner in my book, but not by much. And I don't really think the vice-presidential candidate does much anyway. I'm still not going to vote for Bush or Kerry. Today is Wednesday and that's the busiest day of the week for me. But I must have had some energy or something because I'm not as tired as I usually am at the end of the day. Other news that has impressed me recently: Ichiro's breaking of the single season hit record, Mt. St. Helen's eruption, the winning of the Antari X Prize. The past week or so has seen a lot of rain, but there was none today. There was heavy cloud cover this morning and it has definitely become a little cooler than it was even a week or so back. By 2:30 this afternoon I saw something I had forgot ever existed: blue sky. But I just got back from my nightly walk and I might have to start wearing long pants for those walks. |