There is a yakitori joint down the block from my apartment. It's a hole in the wall with ambiance. Good eats, good drinks, owner knows my name - nice place.

I just had a rather lousy practice. I guess I had my hopes up after listening to all that jazz yesterday and pretty much every waking moment afterward. Tone was pretty good, but fingers and chops were all outta whack, completely uncoordinated. I felt so clumsy. I knew what I wanted to play and I could hear it in my head, just couldn't get all the other pieces parts lined up. *sigh*

So yeah, if the sax girl calls tell her I had to pawn my sax to settle a debt to the yakuza or something.

I was really looking forward to this practice too. I think that also had something to do with it. Hmmm....

In other news, I had two real strong cravings today that were quite a challenge to resist. As I was wrapping things up in the office this afternoon I had a real strong craving for a cup of coffee. I was just like:
"Man, that would just taste so good right about now!"
But I held fast. One thing would lead to another and before you know it, my sleep patterns are wrecked once again. Then later I saw a co-worker at the train station, we chatted for a bit and he looked like he was about to ask me to grab a round of drinks at the pub. Then the thought flashed
"If he doesn't suggest it, I will."
Then I was like
"No! Don't do it! You're trying to cut back on alcohol, remember?"
That beer would have really hit the spot too. Heh, I'm in my apartment now wondering why I don't just go across the street for a bottle or two. No. I'm going to make dinner, watch a video, and that'll be the end of it.

Oh, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous today. I took my classes outside for a few minutes to do an "observation" exercise - got them to write down everything they could see and hear. They seemed to enjoy it, the mood was certainly lighter once we returned to the classroom.

Anyway, I'm going to get over this bad practice. I haven't been practicing regularly so this is pretty much payback for that. I need to play a little every day. Yeah.

Just finished up a long weekend. It was rather mundane for the most part. A few interesting tidbits stood out though.

Friday night I went with a friend to a wine bar in downtown Shizuoka. Pretty cool little joint. While it wasn't really a dress-up place, I did feel a little out of place in my shorts, t-shirt and sandals. I definitely want to check out that place again, maybe even become a regular.

Saturday I did domestic things all day - laundry, house cleaning, watched some videos (I liked Terminator 4 btw, I don't know what the bad reviews are all about). Then went out with a friend for yakitori at that place near my apartment.

Sunday for whatever reason I started to feel a little glum. Couldn't figure it out. Nice weather, no problems that I can think of, just felt rather blah. I didn't even make it out to my friend's birthday party that night. I guess it would have been good just to get out and try to snap out of it. I just couldn't be bothered though.

Yesterday I went to a jazz festival with CV at the Shimizu S-Pulse Dream Plaza. That was pretty cool. Great weather, good music, I even had me a few imported beers and some boiled peanuts. I hate to nitpick btw, but the jazz vocalists - great voices but their pronunciation was SO bad. ("When I FERU in RABU UIZU you..." ugh.) I talked with a few of the musicians here and there. One of the jazz saxophonists teaches at a high school in my neighborhood! She actually goes to the yakitori joint near my place occasionally. We talked shop for a bit and she was like "We should have a jam session sometime!" I was like "Yeah! Sounds good!" on the outside but I was really thinking "Let me get in a few months' worth of practice and I'll think about it" - lol.

But yeah, the jazz festival got me really pumped up about playing jazz again. I actually can't wait for work to be over today so I can go home and practice. (note to self: in my free time today I should probably download and print out some stuff to practice.) Oh and one of the big bands there didn't have a baritone saxophone. I don't know if they don't have anyone at all to play the part, or that person was just absent at this performance. I mean heck, if they don't have one I can bring my bari back with me over the break and jump right in. They were an amateur group, about as good as my high school jazz band - heck they played one of the charts (almost as good as ^_^) we did! Now that I think about it, I didn't see ANY baritone saxophones at this thing! Most of the groups were small combos, the saxes they did have were alto & tenor. Thing is, my bari needs an overhaul and it would be a tremendous pain in the ass to get it from Orlando to Shizuoka. Well, maybe I just need to get it from Orlando to Narita then I can kuroneko it to my place in Shizuoka. Hmmm...

Well one of my classes this morning just got canceled. For the semester. Sweet. One less thing to plan for. I do need to use the time constructively though. The typhoon got me out of work mode and as such I didn't plan a few classes. I guess I'd better go do that now.

Got some classes then long weekend. I totally forgot this was a long weekend too. My weekend plans look like this:

Saturday - gotta do laundry, it had been raining for about a week straight until the typhoon passed through. I need to buy groceries. Also gotta clean up the apartment. I'd gotten a bit slack on the housekeeping since classes started back up again.

Sunday - a friend is having a birthday party Sunday night. Until then I don't have much to do. I'd like to go somewhere and take advantage of the nice weather.

Monday - day off, I suppose recuperating from the party will be in order but I don't anticipate drinking much/at all at the party - did I mention I was getting a bit tired of alcohol and wanted to cut back?

Heck, maybe I'll visit some used car lots and see what's going on. I haven't done much in the way of exercise at all lately. I need to hop on the bike and ride around. I've been taking the bus to work due to the bad weather. I need to start biking to work again.

I just realized that the longer I wait, the possibility increases of the technology items I want to buy with my funding getting cheaper/having better specs. I don't need anything right now. Perhaps I'll just wait until towards the end of the funding period and then buy. Too bad the funding doesn't carry over - I could buy a really sweet set of toys with that much to play around with. Oh well. (ETA: I just did some price checking... I actually can buy both a NetBook and external BluRay drive with my funding IF I pay for the JALT Conference registration out of pocket. Hmmm....)

Dang, I need to prep my classes for today. Not that I should be complaining though, after I knock these out I'm free for the long weekend!

Well, I just heard the warning on the city's loudspeaker system to take care due to the excessive wind and rain. It's really coming down out there too. Listen to that rain and wind howl, dang. Still no word on whether classes at the university have been canceled or not. Hmmm.... Morning classes have been canceled. Looks like afternoon classes are still on, grr...

In other news, I made a reservation for a flight home for the winter break. Including all the taxes and fees, for the days I requested it's gonna be about $1500, ouch. Still, I should have enough saved up by then to pay off my student loans once and for all. Afterward I'll be poor but that monkey will finally be off my back. I think I'm going to skip the moped and just save up for a car when I get back from the break. (or I can just pay off half of my student loans and get a head start on saving up for the car, hmmm....)

I was also thinking about my career and stuff. I have 2 more years at this university. After that I'm going to need a more permanent position where the salary and benefits continue to grow the longer I work. I'm not asking for a professorship, but a tenured instructor position at least. If the opportunity to do that is not present here, I'm going to have to go elsewhere. It might be time by then to find a job in the states somewhere, either an adult ESL gig at a community college or intensive English program for international students at a university. If this university does offer me a tenured instructor position, I daresay I might just become a lifer. I really like living and working here. Once I get a car, I'll almost be settled down. If I somehow manage to get married, this apartment is big enough for a family.

ETA: The typhoon has passed. There's but a light breeze and no rain. Thank goodness they already made the class cancellation announcement. If they waited until now, morning classes would still be on. *whew!*

Turns out I don't have quite enough for the BluRay burner + NetBook after all. That and I need to use some of my funding to pay for registration at the JALT conference in November. So I figure I'll just buy one item with my funding and get the other item out of pocket. It will be a sort of belated birthday present for myself.

Classes are going well. Today I had a class that I've nicknamed "the robots", but they were actually quite lively. Last week's classes while not exactly the best ever were pretty good considering the 2-month break. They all basically just wanted to catch up with each other and talk about what they did over the summer break - which I incorporated into the lesson, they just had to talk about it in English.

( Oh and finally, some pics from Silver Week 2009. )

Summer vacation, that is. The 2nd term starts tomorrow, Thursday October 1st.

After holding out on spending my research budget money, I finally know what I want to buy. Two items:
1.) a Netbook - Official reason: for making presentations in class and/or conferences. Actual reason: Over the break, there were a few instances where I was out & about and wished I had a computer. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't cancel my eMobile yet after all. I might need to get a USB adapter to use instead of my PCMCIA card, but at least I won't have to worry about trying to find a WiFi signal.
2.) an external BluRay burner - Official reason: to archive valuable data files, create high quality videos for educational purposes. Actual reason: to archive valuable data files at home, create high quality videos for entertainment purposes. (^_^)

Unfortunately, these items are official property of this university. That's ok though, I figure I can get enough use out of them while I'm here. When it's time for me to leave, I'll just buy newer versions of these items then.

So yeah, I have classes tomorrow. It totally snuck up on me. At least it's only 2 days until the weekend. I shined my shoes and ironed my clothes for tomorrow and Friday. My alarm is set. I just need to try and remember how this teaching of the Engrish thing works again, lol.

Oh, I saw CC today for the first time since my birthday. We had a nice little chat, I helped her out with some computer stuff, gave her a backrub, she smelled so good... dang, I still have it pretty bad for her. *sigh*

The driving test went exactly as before, this time I was extra careful to veer to the side of the lane that I was making a turn on and to drive "less confidently" somehow.

At the end of the test, the examiner told me that my braking and accelerating was too abrupt. This is apparently is what the "driving too confidently" comment was all about. Then the guy started making small talk. He was like "Oh, you're from America. What do you think about Japanese roads compared to American roads?" He asked me stuff like this for about 5 minutes - all in Japanese. Then he asked "Can you speak English?"
I was like "Yes, of course I can."
Then he said in (heavily accented) English "You drive very well!"
That concluded my driving test.

There were a few other foreigners also taking the test. From last time, the Chinese guy (who I thought was Korean), this was now his 4th time taking the test, and the Filipino lady were there, this was her 3rd. There was a new Filipino lady taking it as well.

So after everyone was done, the examiner talked to us all as a group saying "I recommend that you go to a driving school to practice driving more and get some advice from the instructors there about your weak points. Please think carefully about how Japanese roads are different from the roads in your home countries. Driving is taken very seriously here in Japan. Almost all Japanese take a full course at a driving school that costs about 300,000 yen before they can get their license.... Etc." Not exactly the most promising message. I mean heck, with that it didn't seem like any of us passed.

We waited an hour for the results.

The staff lady came to the window and was like "There was one person who passed. Congratulations.... kevinsensei!"

I felt like I won the lottery. It was all I could do to walk up to the window calmly and get my paperwork for the next step. I felt really bad for the Chinese dude. He was not pleased at all.

The rest of the license making process took about 30 minutes. I got my license and then took the bus home. On the bus, I took a nap and dreamed of buying a moped and a car. (^_^)

I was a little bored, feeling stir crazy so I went for a bike ride.
my bike route today

It wasn't exactly like this as I had gotten lost after I got out of the tunnels. Speaking of which, those tunnels were awesome. They were like something out of a Studio Ghibli anime. I gotta snap some pics of these things. I also nearly wiped out on my bike on a patch of gravel right in front of a 7-11, that was embarrassing. Still, it was a pretty good ride and I got to see a part of town that I'd never seen before.

Anyway, I didn't do much else today, practiced the sax, did grocery shopping, and cleaned up a bit. Tomorrow night, one of my classes is having an enkai and they invited me to go. That should be fun. (^_^)

So I'm here in my office cleaning out all the crap from last semester. Damn, that's a lot of crap. I don't want to toss it just yet, because some students may want to see why they got the grade they got. Maybe not though, as I was pretty lenient in my grading.

I saw CC today and told her how I failed my driving test. She wasn't surprised. It's pretty much a given that everyone that doesn't take the government approved (expensive) driving course fails the driving test. She laughed at the reasons I was given though. She said they were just looking for an excuse to fail me. *sigh*

Anyway, I think I'm going to go have some lunch. I would go home, but after lunch I think I'm going to try to work on a transcription for violin and tenor saxophone. I just installed Finale 2009 and downloaded a couple of Bach 2-Part Inventions. I can keep the right hand as is, I just need to transpose the left hand. Yes, this is for CV and I to play someday. While I am no longer interested in her romantically, it would be nice to get together and play sometime. Making these Finale docs is so tedious though. What would be really great if there were a library of downloadable Finale files out there somewhere. (Just googled it. Oh shit, there IS one, sweet. I'm definitely going to play around with that after lunch.)

FAIL!

Now, I'd heard that these Japanese Driver's License tests were bullshit. I didn't want to pass judgment until I had an experience of my own. Here's what happened.

I was scheduled to be there at 9:30 am but got there around 9 just in case. I had some time to kill so I walked through the course. There were a couple parts I wasn't 100% sure about, but was cool with pretty much everything else.

I turned in all my paperwork at 9:30 am and waited about an hour. Then I had my oral interview. This was conducted in Japanese. I suppose I could have opted for the English version, but I was able to keep up with everything she was asking. After that, I waited for another hour then took the paper test (in English). I missed 2 questions out of 10. 1 was due to me not reading the question carefully enough. The other was due to the question being poorly worded. But whatever, I was just glad to have that over and done with.

Then there was a lunch break. There isn't a food place nearby. I took about a 20 minute walk to a Mos Burger and had lunch there. I took the bus back to the drivers license center and there was still about 2 hours of waiting time (they gave us another hour to walk the course, and then an hour of waiting time). I had my iPod Shuffle and was able to listen to some music. I should have brought my Touch to watch videos instead.

Finally the driving test. There were 6 foreigners getting their licenses converted. Myself, a Filipino guy, a Chinese guy, a Brazilian guy, a Filipino girl, and a Chinese (or Korean) girl. They split us up into 2 groups, I was with the Filipino and Chinese Guys. In my group I was the last to go. The Chinese guy went first, and the Filipino guy went along as a passenger. When he was done, the Filipino guy took his test and I went along as a passenger. Then I took my test and the Chinese guy was my passenger.

The course itself was no big deal. It was remembering all the little nit-picky points, like how far in advance to put up your signal, how many times to check your mirrors, etc... that made it nerve racking. To start off with, you enter the car, adjust your seat & mirrors. Then you put on your seat belt and check that your passengers have their belts on. Finally you start up the car. Turn the ignition, foot brake, put the car in gear, release the hand brake.

Getting onto the course. Before we actually got on the course, we took a practice lap around the perimeter. To pull out of the parking spot, I checked my mirrors, blind spot and then put on my turn signal. NO! I turned on the windshield wipers! Dammit! I turned them off, put on my signal for real, and took a lap around the course.

Taking the test - first up, accelerate to 50 km/hr. No big deal. Slow down through a curve and stop at a pedestrian crosswalk. Mirror check and turn right. Go through a couple more turns and then navigate the "S Curve". If your tires go off the road here, it's an automatic fail. It's a pretty narrow S Curve, but fairly simple if taken slow enough. After that, go to a stop sign, mirror check and turn left. Follow the curve around, and turn right. Enter "The Crank". It's a couple of L-shaped turns tightly put together lined with poles. If the car hits any of the poles or goes off the path, it's an automatic fail. Before I got on the course, I was pretty worried about this. However, when I got in the car I had nothing to worry about. My car back home is a Jeep Grand Cherokee, the car for the test today was some Mazda econo-box. There was so much room to maneuver, I breezed right through that too. After that there were just a few more lane changes and stop signs - remember those signals and mirror checks! Return the car to the starting point, put the car in park, engage the hand brake, turn off the engine, release the foot brake. The dude told me what I did wrong, I agreed with him on everything, took off my seat belt, unlocked the car, checked both ways and exited the car - only then was the test over.

Afterward, it hit me. I was so nervous, I realized I haven't been that worked up in years. I know I wasn't nearly as nervous for my FIRST driver's license test - the final exam for driver's ed. back in high school! That adrenaline was really kicking my ass, I became so restless. I wanted to just go somewhere and burn it off. However, we had to wait for our results. That took another hour.

Finally the results came in. The Filipino and Brazilian guys passed. Everyone else failed. Of the other test takers that I talked to, this was the Chinese guy's 3rd time taking it and the second time for both the Filipino and Chinese ladies. (I didn't get to ask the dudes that passed what time it was for them. They got their "passed" paperwork and quickly bolted to the next phase of the license acquisition process.) The staff then told us one-by-one what we messed up on and let us schedule a retake. The earliest available time slot is Tuesday September 29. *sigh*

Here's what I did "wrong".

1.) When making turns, I kept my car in the center of my lane when in fact I should have veered to the side of the lane that I'm making the turn on. If I'm turning left, the car should be on the left side of my lane so that cars can pass around me on the right. Vice-versa, if I'm turning right, the car should be on the right side of the lane so that cars can pass around me on the left. AFAIK, this is not an actual rule but a mere courtesy. In fact, in the "Rules of the Road" book it states not to be too close to the left when making a left turn so as not to inconvenience bicyclists.

2.) The staff lady also said that I "was driving too @%#$^%#" Huh? She pulled out a Japanese/English dictionary. She then said I "was driving too confidently." WTF, how exactly do I drive less confidently?!?

I could understand if I failed due to driving on the wrong side of the road, a rolling stop, messing up on the S-Curve/Crank. But for these reasons?!?

So yeah, there's 2400 yen and an entire day down the drain. To top it all off, I now have a really bad headache as well. I get to go back for more of this on the 29th, yay. If I fail that one, I'm undecided if I want to fork over yet another day and 2400 yen to these f-ers. Also, the next term will have started up so I think I may be a bit too busy for these sorts of wacky hi-jinks.

After my meeting, I went to the police station downtown to sign up to take the driver's license tests. I got there and they went over my forms, thoroughly. They wanted to make absolute sure that I had had my license in the USA for 3 months prior to arriving in Japan. Which was a mess because I've been back and forth so many times for both living and vacation. They had a hard time trying to figure out which stamps on my passport were which. THEN there was one form I forgot. I needed to have my Alien Registration Card Certificate. What the heck? I may have gotten one when I applied for my Alien Registration Card back up in Saitama. Where that paper is, I had no idea whatsoever. But the police were cool about it. They were like "You can go across the street to City Hall and they can make a new one for you. (Basically it's a paper confirming the authenticity of my Alien Registration Card, like I could forge my card. Hell, it would be easier to forge the Certificate versus the card itself, lol.) So I ran over there quickly, got the Certificate made up and then returned to the police office - which had a big "CLOSED" sign over the Driver's License area. (O_O) However, the police lady who was working on my paperwork waved me over and we continued filling out the paperwork. So that was nice!

My test date is next Tuesday, September 8th. Heck, maybe I should have scheduled another one while I was there, lol.

Anyway, on the way home, I stopped by a CD shop. I've recently started listening to the Japanese artist: Superfly. She has a great voice, and one of her songs is a theme song for the morning news. Anyway, her new CD finally came out and she's going on tour, with one stop in Shizuoka! I might have to look into that.

After the CD shop, I got a sandwich for dinner at Subway and then saw an acquaintance's crazy bike outside the Starbuck's so I decided to see if I could say hi. So yeah, he was there having a chat with a very interesting girl (who I later found out was his daughter!), she plays violin in the Shizuoka Symphony. Shot the breeze with them for a bit then had to head home to eat my sandwiches.

Now watching Leon - the International (extended) version again.... What a great film!

Oh yeah, I forgot about this one... a few weeks (months?) ago, I toyed with the idea of getting a Japanese Driver's License. The process to change over an American license is a pain in the ass, but it can be done. However, the more I thought about the red tape and expenses involved with actually buying and keeping a car here in Japan the less keen I became on the idea.

Then this weekend, I met one of the coolest girls ever. She's really into motorcycles. She's from Tokyo and rode down to Shizuoka to come hang out with us at the Abekawa Fireworks Festival. She has a Kawasaki, I don't know the model, but it is a cruising type, has a 650 cc engine - and she looks like a total bad ass on it. So then I thought, dang a motorcycle would be pretty f-ing cool. So today I started looking at motorcycle school options. It's pretty intimidating. *sigh* They're all damn expensive. Moreover, my Japanese is crap and since I know nothing about motorcycles, I'd really need to understand everything they say. There are schools that give instruction in English, but none around here - I'd have to go to Tokyo or Osaka. And of course, these schools are even more expensive than the Japanese ones.

I can't get over how expensive these courses are. Hell, it would be cheaper for me to FLY home to Florida and take a motorcycle course there instead! (Of course, Japan has already thought of that and one of the caveats of the foreign-to-Japanese license conversion process is that you must have had your license for at least 3 months in that country before entering Japan.)

So I don't know. The motorcycle would be mostly for recreational purposes. A car would be more practical.

hmmmm....

I think that if I decide to do anything, I will convert my American driver's license, jump through those hoops and then eventually get a car. Do I really want a car in Japan though? Well, if nothing else the license would be good to have "just in case". Yeah, I should just convert my license and worry about the car issue later.

Oh, and in other news there was the Abekawa Fireworks Festival on Saturday night. That was fun. Then some of us went swimming in the Okitsu River, up in the hills which was a lot of fun too. I'm feeling a little lazy so here's a link to my Picasa album. (oh and there are lots of pics of the motorcycle chick - there are more pics of her than anyone else in this album, lol.)

2009-08-30

We have been having some fantastic weather here lately. Took some long bike rides. I've also been doing good with my schedule:

• Study Japanese - going over stuff I already know is boring, but every now and then there's a word or phrase that I've forgotten about
  
• Research - I've been going over some notes from one of my colleagues. He wants to do a joint publication/presentation. He's already done some of the background. If I design a project and gather the data, I'll be the main author and he'll co-author.
  
• Work Out - The facilities are limited, but I can do a chest/back and arms/legs rotation. I really just need to sweat actually, and riding my bike all over creation has been pretty good for that.
  
• Play Saxophone - I have good days and bad days actually. It's still terribly inconsistent. I just gotta keep at it.

I've been trying not to think about CC too much, but yeah. Her room is right next door. Every time I walk by, I want to pop in and have a chat. I've been keeping it down to one a day. Also, I've been trying not to overstay my welcome when I do stop by. I was able to help her with a computer problem the other day, so I felt pretty good about that. Our conversations are still quite good, I've just got to be careful not to let my feelings get the better of me. *sigh* I feel like an addled schoolboy.

With the latest revelation that the university weight room is practically deserted for the summer, I've decided that a routine is in order.

Wake up
Light breakfast
Bike to university
Study Japanese
Have lunch
Do research
Work out
Bike home
Shower
Play saxophone
Have dinner
Watch videos
Sleep

Notice that I didn't put any times. This all really just depends on what time I get up in the morning, lol. I think this will be my M-F routine for the rest of the summer. I can start this today actually, replacing "Do research" with "Attend meeting". I didn't study Japanese, but it's almost lunchtime.

ETA: Another reason to come to the university M-F, the really cute counselor next door saw I was in and stopped by. She remarked how it was strange for instructors to come in during the break. She then asked if it was ok for her to stop by and chat with me whenever I'm in. Ummm... Yeah!
Man, that totally made my day. (^_^)

Specifically, thinking about how much longer I want to live in Japan.

As you may know, I'm non-tenured faculty at this university. Basically that means I am on a yearly contract, which is renewable 2 more times for a total of 3 years. After that 3 years is up I've heard that you just get a new set of 3 years. Indeed, there are non-tenured instructors here that have done just that a few times already.

However, unless something extraordinary happens I am going to head back home when my 3 years here are up. I'm starting to get the feeling again that I'm just killing time here. While I'm (finally) killing time in a way that will look good on my resume, I still feel like I'm going nowhere fast. As for what "extraordinary" events may cause a change of plans, here are some examples:
1.) Serious relationship - not just a girlfriend, but fiancee or marriage. Even that might not be enough, I'd probably push for us to relocate to the USA.
2.) USA economy still in the gutter - for as long as I've lived/worked in Japan, my mother's been harping on me to live/work closer to home. These days, with the economy as it is, she's more like "You have a steady job, stay in Japan."
3.) Tenured gig at a Japanese university - I doubt I'd be able to grab one where I'm at now, this university isn't that big and it looks as if the current tenured people are here for life. With 3 years here and a couple more publications under my belt there is a slim chance I could find a tenured position somewhere else. Which reminds me, I ought to actually do some research and try to publish something. Hell, I got nothing but time this summer, I might as well.

Bottom Line: I want to teach adult ESL full-time in the USA at a community college or intensive English program for international students.

Watching the World Volleyball Grand Prix (womens), Japan vs. Korea. They're playing in Korea and right now the Japanese team is playing very well. High Definition women's volleyball... (^_^)

So I took the day off (from the travelers, lol) to run some errands downtown. I bought some clothes (shorts & t-shirts), A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (good reference book), and some saxophone stuff. I didn't really need the clothes, but I just wanted to mix things up a bit. I did need a good Japanese language reference book. I still need to get a text/workbook. The sax stuff, just maintenance goods.

After I got home, I did the little bit of sax maintenance and then practiced for a bit. (I took my sax back to the apt for the summer.) I've had to take the practice sessions down a notch. When I first started getting back into this my first few practice sessions were pretty intense, trying to pick up where I left off I guess. However, after thinking about it some more they weren't really quality sessions. If I had made a recording I would have heard lots of little missed notes, inconsistent tempo and rhythm, lack of dynamic control, etc. I started to notice these anomalies while listening critically during today's practice. So yeah, I'd be better off playing more basic material correctly versus playing advanced material incorrectly. That and my endurance isn't quite there yet, my chops get worn out rather quickly. I need to build that back up.

(oh btw, Japan won in straight sets - dang.)

Street Fighter 4 continues to vex me. It's really quite difficult. I beat it for the first time on medium with Zangief, of all characters, yesterday. I got to the boss with Blanka and E. Honda today, but haven't even gotten close with any other characters. There are a few new wrinkles in the game engine that I need to get used to. It's been such a long time since I've played any fighting game regularly. (I suck, basically.) At least I'm doing quite good with the driving game.

I've got nothing planned for tomorrow. I have the following on my "to do" list though (in no particular order):
1.) practice
2.) study Japanese
3.) go for a bike ride
4.) buy groceries

I think if I could maintain a similar set of activities (need to throw in "play video games" and "watch videos" lol) for the rest of the summer that would be great.

Finally did the write-up.
( long, pic-heavy post. Cut for f-list consideration )

My Fuji Climb post is just about ready to go. However, I don't remember my photobucket password - I'm at work and my password is at home, arrgh! I did upload the pics to my Picasa account, but it won't let me embed individual pics into a post. I can only embed the album as a slideshow - which I will do eventually, but only after I post the write-up.

So let me post about other things going on.

To celebrate my conquest of Mt. Fuji, I decided to burn off those points at Yamada Denki once and for all. I am now the proud owner of a Playstation 3! I also picked up a couple of games, Street Fighter 4 and Need For Speed (ProStreet). The games look and sound fantastic. Game play-wise, Need For Speed plays quite well. SF4 is really difficult. DVD playback, it really depends on the DVD. Some DVDs look awesome, others look like total crap. I think it depends on whether the DVD is in anamorphic widescreen or pan & scan. The anamorphic DVDs look great, pan & scan, not so much. Other video formats (e.g. avi, wmv) were even less impressive. I get a better image on this TV using my computer for playback instead. I am looking forward to seeing what BluRay looks like on this set-up. I need to stop by the video store and rent a couple sometime this week.

I've been watching the Women's World Volleyball Grand Prix. Actually, since they only televise the Japanese games, I've been just been watching those matches. The first match I saw was Japan vs. Korea. That was a pretty entertaining match. The second match I saw was Japan vs. Russia. Japan was at a real size disadvantage but I was really surprised at how well they did. (Oh, and not only was the Russian team really tall, they were really hot too! ^_^) Next match is later this week, Japan vs. Brazil. I'm looking forward to that. I have to say though, I have had enough of that NYC Boys Japan Women's Volleyball theme song, ugh.

Last but not least, I haven't had any coffee for about 3 weeks! I don't know how or why I stopped, I just did. It was just one day I forgot to drink my morning cup before leaving for work. Then for the rest of that day I wanted to see what it would be like to not have any. That day turned into a week, which is now 3 weeks. I thought for sure I was going to break down and have some sometime around the Fuji climb, but I held strong. Still, I have no real reason for quitting and I do miss the taste, so I may have a cup today though.

ETA: I forgot, there was one more thing I wanted to write about. Can the Japanese media please leave Noriko Sakai alone? Ok, so her husband was busted with drugs and some drugs were found at her place. The media is having a field day with this. First there was her disappearance, which was cause for alarm. They picked up her cell phone signal briefly in Yamanashi and people I talked to said that she might be going out there to commit suicide. Apparently there's a famous spot for that somewhere near the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi. Still, it could have been anything. Heck, when I go to my office, my cell phone drops off the grid so it's not like that's anything super out of the ordinary. Anyway, she finally turned herself in and now the airwaves are flooded with these exposés on how such an innocent pop star idol could turn into a raving drug crazed maniac.