Never made it out to that gym last night. As soon as I got home, there was an enormous mass of freakishly dark, heavy clouds overhead. If it rained, it would be a storm of epic proportions. So I stayed home, had dinner and watched a video. By the time the video had ended, the cloud mass had dissipated into a regular mostly cloudy-type cloud bank (O_o) so I started up my laundry and practiced for a bit.

Brought my sax to work today. Last week, some of my kids asked if I would come to the symphonic band practice this week. So I was like "Sure, why not?" Who knows, if it works out for everyone it may be a regular thing, which would be nice because I had been wanting to play with a group for a while now.

In my office now watching basketball via the internet. Boston vs. Cleveland, so far it's a pretty good game. I can't wait for tomorrow's game, Orlando vs. Philly. At least the Orlando Magic should be pretty good this year, unlike a certain collegiate football team... *sigh* They had one good game against BYU and then the wheels fell off. I still love my team, but the games are really hard to watch.

Ok, I'm gonna go plan some lessons, have a cup of coffee, listen to some music and watch a little basketball.

And my trip (did I mention I was taking a little trip?) was a bust this past weekend, but I'm actually in a pretty good mood.

To recap:
Friday - classes were better than expected. (The text was an especially boring unit imo, but the kids had a lot of fun with it, go figure.) After work, I went with a colleague for a quick round of drinks and a bite to eat at an izakaya. Then I went downtown and picked up a new blazer and pair or pants. Finally went to the foreigner bar for a couple more drinks, chatted up the waitresses for a bit and then went home.

Saturday - I was supposed to go to Osaka/Kyoto to meet a Japanese friend who has just returned to Japan after living in the USA for a while. However, she e-mailed to say that she felt sick, possibly the flu, and couldn't make it. It was raining all day here as well so I just stayed in and watched some videos. Among them, I watched The Godfather again. Pretty good flick, but I don't know if it is the #2 movie of all time (according to the IMDB).

Sunday - Did some laundry, oh and Tootsie was on one of the HD movie channels so I watched it. Great performances from Hoffman and Murray. That movie is A LOT better than I remembered. Then again, the last time I saw it, I was in junior high school and it was the edited-for-TV version. Still didn't quite dig the ending though. Anyway, then CV came over and we hung out for a bit. We had dinner at an izakaya downtown and then went to a party. It was pretty cool but with work the next day, didn't really want to get too crazy.

So now I'm in the office about to go look over my stuff for today. But first...

Riding the bus in the rain today, I thought about the car once again. Today the commute wasn't too bad. However, doing that during the rainy season was not my idea of fun. I'm planning on being at this university for another 2 years. After that, I dunno. If I can find some sort of tenured instructor position somewhere, I might consider staying in Japan. Otherwise I'm probably going to head home and try to find work at a community college/Intensive English Program, that is, if the economy isn't still in the gutter. Anyway, back to the car. If I'm here for 2 more years, I would get enough use out of a car to make it a worthwhile purchase. Nothing fancy, just a cheap used car that's easy on the gas. Then my other friend was like "You should get a wagon or even a mini-van. That way, if you stay in Japan but move somewhere else, you can use it to haul some of your junk over there." Interesting idea, I think I'll check into it.

Alright, enough procrastinating time to do a little work.

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!*

I have surge protectors. However, I don't have anything that covers either my current VHF/UHF TV line or the fiber optic line coming into the apartment. Just to play it safe, I unplugged as much as I could. I couldn't detach the line going to the fiber optic modem so I unplugged everything from it instead. (You may be thinking "It's fiber optic, it doesn't carry electricity." It's still a line into the apartment connected to electrical gear on both ends.) The electronics store near my apartment didn't have a surge protector with co-axial cable line protection so I unplugged the power and antenna going to the TV. I'm going to have to look around for a surge protector that has that feature.

That being said, I'm now using my laptop as an actual laptop. I unplugged everything and I'm accessing the internet with eMobile. In this particular case I'm glad I have it. However, I don't know how much longer I'll keep it. I haven't used it since the fiber got put in. I figure this is about the only type of situation where I'll use it and this isn't even a priority. Next time a thunderstorm rolls in, I'll just do something completely different instead.

Should I cancel eMobile internet, I might as well cancel my eMobile cell phone too. It's not a great phone and my reception kinda sucks out here. I figure I'll just go with whatever Miyuki has and that way we can save a little money when we call each other. She either has DoCoMo or AU, I can't remember.

The rain has died down a little and the thunder & lightning is less frequent, although every now and then a big one will pop up so I'm leaving stuff unplugged for now. I had plans to play tennis tomorrow after work. I wonder if we're still going to have it. I hope so, I need to get my fat ass out there and do something. I've been biking to work but I reckon it's still a good deal less exercise than I was doing when I was going to that gym. I miss that gym.

Yet I feel so blah.

I don't think it's the weather. Even though it has been raining on and off all day today, it didn't strike me as "Damn, it's raining again." or any such sentiment. If anything I was like "Whew! I'm glad I brought my umbrella today."

I bought a few things at the electronics shop yesterday. I saw a DVD/divx player that I wanted. However, the store was sold out. The sales droid then showed me DVD/divx player from a different maker, same feature set for about twice as much, ummm... no. Then I checked the internet when I got home and found out the PS3 plays divx. Uh-oh. No. I told myself I was going to wait until I paid off my student loans. That's not going to take place until the winter break so it looks like the PS3 will be a X-Mas gift to myself when the time comes.

I am concerned with my recent preoccupation with material goods. I know I don't need these things yet I want to buy. What for? I'm not sure. Part of me thinks I'm trying to fill a void in my life somehow. What void could that be? Perhaps it's because I miss my friends and family back home.

Work is going ok. I'm a bit behind in my grading but I'm a bit ahead of where I usually am regarding lesson planning. I'm going to spend half of my next research day on grading and the other half on lesson planning. That should be enough to get me back on track. As the temperature rises, the students' energy seems to fall somewhat. Fortunately summer break is just around the corner. Speaking of which, I just turned in my final exam schedule. Surprise, surprise I'm holding my finals at the exact same time and place as the classes are held.

I really hope Miyuki can hang out this weekend. I want to go fishing!

Friday night - got off from work, had dinner with Miyuki. That was nice. Didn't do much else though.

Saturday - Miyuki had something to do so she left after breakfast. On and off rain all day. I didn't even step outside the apartment. Watched a couple videos and re-read "Angels and Demons". I am curious as to how the movie is going to turn out.

Sunday - rained all day, Miyuki and I first had lunch at an Italian restaurant and then we went shopping. I bought a TV stand at a 2nd hand shop for nice and cheap. We went to a couple of fishing goods stores. The first one didn't have much of a selection at all. The second one had a decent selection of lures and such, but their rod/reel selection wasn't all that. That one store that moved to a new location hasn't re-opened yet. They open next Tuesday. From what I remember their selection at the old spot was better than these other 2 places. So I can imagine that they'll have even more stuff in their bigger location. Moreover, they'll probably have a big sale to open the store with a bang. So I'll just wait for the new place to open up to buy my fishing goods. Oh, and Miyuki and I watched To-Y. A while back I made a mix CD for a roadtrip and put レモンの勇気 on it. She asked what the song was from and since then she had wanted to watch the anime.

This is a video montage, clips of the To-Y anime mixed with clips of the original レモンの勇気 music video.


At any rate, back at work now. *yawns* I have a committee meeting at 10:40. Fortunately my first class isn't until 1 pm. That and at least it's a nice day today. I rode my bike which was good, but I caught my pant leg in the gears of my bike and tore a nice chunk out of it. I did think about tucking it in before I let the apartment too.... that'll learn ya. Oh well.

I haven't been out of the house today.

I woke up and it was raining. It had stopped while I was eating breakfast, but then started up again while I was washing dishes. I watched the Orlando Magic game (on-line, gotta love streaming video :) and almost had a heart attack watching their 28 point lead get cut to 3 by the last 10 seconds of the game. Fortunately they held on to win the game. The rain has been on/off all day today so I didn't bother to go anywhere. Which is good because all I would have done was spend money anyway.

However, I didn't do anything constructive either. I just watched videos/TV, killed time on the Internet, and played Civilization 3/Pirates on the computer. Pretty lame.

Oh speaking of internet I found out what NTT was calling for. First a little background, there are 2 divisions apparently the internet side and the digital cable side. So the digital cable side wanted to know when they could bring over the digital tuner. To which I was like "As soon as possible." However, they can't install the tuner until the internet people come over and do their thing. So what had happened was that in the fog of the conversation, I somehow made it seem like the internet people had finished up - to which I was like "Wait, no one has come over yet. What are you talking about?" So basically I need to call the digital cable people back once my internet is up and running. Why these guys don't tell each other this stuff I have no idea...

Watching the news now, I'm kind of glad I didn't go anywhere for the break. The roads and trains were insane.

Is this really February in Japan? I've never seen it this warm here at this time of year. WOW! I can only imagine it'll be hotter in Shizuoka. Nice! Heck, maybe Miyuki and I can go fishing tomorrow. She's always wanted to try. Anyway, I just wanted to make a quick entry before I head out.

♥ Happy Valentine's Day everyone! ♥

Well, at least it is technically. In reality there are but a few snowflakes here and there flying about in the wind. It has cooled off considerably since this morning. It's also really overcast. Funny that since Yahoo! Japan Weather said it was going to be warmer and sunny this afternoon - lol.

The after-work "gym, dinner, read" plan has been going well. I'll be hitting up the gym and reading in my spare time this weekend too. Monday at work is a light day so I can reprint some college-level lesson plans and materials, just in case the interview committee wants a look. Monday after work I'll head on out to Shizuoka. I'll have some more time to read on the train. Then dinner with Miyuki and probably more reading. We can have some QT after I take care of this interview. For the trip back to Saitama, iPod Touch for teh win. (^_^)

It's f-ing COLD out there today and they're having the dodgeball festival outside. F--- THAT! I'm glad they didn't give me a BS collateral duty like photographer for this thing. I'm hanging out in the teacher's office for the duration, that's all there is to it. I am NOT getting sick before I go on vacation.

Last night was fun. For a while now, my regular drink at The Hub has been the "Hub Ale". Last night, the Hub Ale tap was broken, so I had to go with Bass Ale. After a few months of Hub Ale, the Bass was like the best drink ever. Wow. Of course, the Hub Ale is basically a poor man's Bass Ale (it's like 250 cheaper per pint). Still, I didn't expect the difference to be that pronounced. I was just amazed at how much more tasty and refreshing it was. I may just have to stop being such a cheapskate and go for the real deal from now on. Anyway, we didn't go all out last night. We all just had some drinks, played some darts, talked about work stuff and other things - sports, movies, etc.

Actually, it's almost too warm in the teacher's office. They have the heater cranked up pretty good. Better to be too warm than too cold on a day like today though.

I am feeling a bit groggy atm. I think I'll grab a cup of coffee and take it easy for a bit before cracking open my essays.

Not only that, but this is the second time that someone has stolen my umbrella from the school's foyer. Both times I clearly labeled my umbrella with my name around the handle. At least it's not raining that hard. Still, that kinda turned me off from going to Omiya to buy my x-mas gift. I may just go workout instead (my original plan was to do both). I have until Friday anyway.

Also, my computer just started acting really weird. I was almost not able to go on-line due to that freakiness. I restarted and the problem went away. Still, it was acting up a bit at work today too. I might do a system restore tonight. All pertinent data has already been archived. If only it didn't take such a long time. I may just hold off on the system restore until tomorrow at work - when I have the benefit of my school's internet connection. I have no classes in the afternoon and I'm all planned up for the rest of the term.

OK, working out and dinner sounds pretty good right now.

It is absolutely dreary out. I went to the mall earlier to have lunch and it was merely gloomy. Then I got home and it started raining. So now it's dark, cold and rainy, ugh. The Big K even invited me out for a few drinks, but I just couldn't be bothered to go out in this.

Which is ok, because I need to work on my application package for this university gig. Specifically, the essay. The window on this thing is pretty tight. The job was posted on the 22nd, and the deadline is the 30th. I wonder what my odds are of getting this. It pays 400,000 yen a month, plus housing allowance (whatever that is). Oh and of course, transportation costs are reimbursed and it has proper benefits (health insurance, pension, vacation days) as well. Unfortunately it is a non-tenured position. The contract is renewable twice for a max total of 3 years. Still, 3 years at this university could prove very useful for finding university work elsewhere. The university has two campuses, one in Tokyo and Saitama. I live close enough to both that I could still commute from where I live now. If Miyuki moves up here, then we'd have to move just to find a place that can accommodate the two of us.

Oh and speaking of moving and Miyuki. My friend from Shizuoka wrote and said it looks like there won't be a position available at his school next year after all. That was a bummer, but somehow I had a feeling that that would be the case. Oh well.

So anyway, I bought some filtered 'drip' coffee (read: straight into the cup) and made a few cups this afternoon. I need to buy a proper coffee maker and some decent coffee. I should also get a proper tea set and some green tea as well. I'm drinking some coffee now and have Coltrane playing in the background. Jesus, I also have a craving for a cigar. One good thing about living in Japan, there isn't a trade embargo against Cuba. When I went drinking with The Big K a few weeks ago, I picked up some Cubans. Very tasty smoke, if you're into that sort of thing. Of course, I don't know nothing about cigars anyhow. The last "cigars" I had back home were probably Philly Blunts, Swisher Sweets, or some junk - lol. So of course any real cigar from anywhere would taste delicious compared to that. Oh yeah, and whiskey. That's something I can at least say I have started to develop an appreciation for. A shot of whiskey would also be good to warm a body up on a day like today. Dang, I should have got a little bottle of something while I was out having lunch earlier today. Oh well.

Alright, enough rambling. Time to work on my essay.

I'm sitting here in my warm PJs thinking about how nice it would be to have gotten the kotatsu from that one dude. I guess I'll have to pick up one at the store one of these days. But the cold, yeah it's finally arrived. It's not freezing, but I definitely won't be wearing shorts/t-shirts for a while now. I do like it about this cold though; jeans & jackets weather. Last night, I went drinking with Kenji in the park. It was a pretty brisk evening. We started out with beer and ended up drinking shochu & hot oolong tea (pretty good drink, btw). After that, we had ramen, went to a game center (Street Fighter 4) and called it a night.

I've been working out pretty regularly since July. I started out at 76 kilos (167.2 lbs) and got down to 73 kilos (160.6 lbs). I stayed down there for a while. However, the last few times I weighed myself, I had crept back up to 76 kilos. I daresay that I've added that much muscle. While I'm not that much stronger now, I can see a slight difference in my arms, legs & chest (my gut hasn't changed much though ;_;). At any rate, I would like to maintain this level of strength and get back down to 73. My routine is pretty basic: 15 minutes of cardio and then 3 sets of 12 reps on various exercises targeting either chest/back or arms/legs. I'm thinking more cardio and more reps with a lower weight. I think I'll try 20 minutes of cardio and 4 sets of 10 reps.

In other news, I watched a couple Coen Brothers films, Burn After Reading on Friday and No Country For Old Men today. They were both excellent. These guys really know how to make a movie. Oh and I finally finished watching Macross Frontier. Great show, best Macross since the original.

Not much else is going on. I've got Parents' Day on Thursday. yay. Then Thursday night or Friday morning, I'll head back out to Shizuoka to hang out with Miyuki. Yay! Oh and FSU foosball beat Clemson yesterday, double yay!

Well, not exactly. It is only lightly raining today. It's a little cool and a bit gray out as well. I could go for a nice bowl of chicken noodle soup right about now. Oh well.

There are 3 homerooms in the 3rd grade. 3-A is my challenging class, 3-B is my awesome class, 3-C is somewhere in between. It's the class chemistry. 3-A is too competitive. They're also a bunch of crybabies. I usually divide the class up into teams, and as soon as one team gets a sizable lead, the rest just f--- off. If I don't do the team thing, then the entire class will f--- off. I do occasionally have a good lesson with this class though, but it's completely random. If some technique works one day, it will completely backfire the next. 3-B has some rowdy kids, but those kids are actually pretty good at English. My best lessons with this class take place when I can focus their energy directly into the lesson. The same goes for 3-C actually, but it's harder to do that with them. I taught two 3rd grade classes so far today and I have 1 more after lunch. I taught the same exact lesson. First period was 3-C. They were a bit rough today. Second period was 3-B and they were awesome. Let's see what happens with 3-A later today.

I taught these kids when they were in the 1st grade, and they were the best. They tried real hard, had a lot of fun in class and made significant gains in the language. Then I went to the USA for a year. While I was gone (they were in 2nd grade) apparently they just played games all the time. Their level as well as their motivation for actually studying dropped as well. Now they just want to play games all the time, whereas before they knew there was a time for play and a time for work. The really good kids remember this, and they do put forth a good effort when we have work to do. The rest start to piss and moan about how difficult/tedious it is.

As for my 1st grade classes this year, they're all pretty awesome. I had a few kids here and there that would f--- around, but for the most part everyone is now on the same page. Sometimes they get a bit noisy, but more often than not I tell them to do something and they do it. The only real challenge I have is that there are some kids who went to international kindergartens last year. Their English is really good, better than almost every teacher that works here - and they had 6 years of English in jr high/high school! Anyway, the challenge is to make the lessons interesting for them as well. For example, I had an activity where the kids cut and pasted vocabulary pictures into their notebook and then they wrote the words. One kid asked me in English (with spot-on rhythm and intonation) "Do you want us to cut out the picture and the word or just the picture?" Seriously, she could have been a 1st grader back in the USA, she sounded that good.

Speaking of 1st grade, I need to plan the after-school program for today. More later.

for the first time in months. It finally cooled off enough for me to do so. May, I think, was the last time I wore jeans.

I went to the gym this morning. I feel pretty good about that. The workout was fine. The sauna in particular felt awesome though. I think it's due to the cooler weather. After that I went to Omiya to pick up a few things. I had curry at Coco Ichibanya and played a little Street Fighter 4 as well. I thought SF4 was pretty good. I'd like to spend some time with it and get into some of the gameplay. Oh I also tried to look for a new laptop bag, but with no luck. My shoulder bag if fine. I just want a backpack. There were some interesting prospects at the LoFt and Tokyu Hands, but I want to see what else is out there before taking the plunge. Strangely enough, the Bic Camera in Omiya didn't have any.

OK, I gotta get ready for skype with Miyuki. (^_^)

I've been feeling a little rundown lately. I think it's due to the alcohol. I need to get back on my no alcohol/lots of exercise kick.

Today was a gorgeous day out. I went shopping for a few items, did some things around the house and then.... took a nap. It would have been nice to go out & about and enjoy the nice weather, but even with sleeping in (hooray for national holidays), all day today I still felt like I needed a nap. Oh well.

I really need to get my act together and my a-- back to Shizuoka. Miyuki's visit confirmed it. While she probably could live here in Saitama, aside from the being-with-me part, she really wouldn't like it. OTOH, I miss living there. If I can get that job my friend told me about, that would be great. It would be like having my cake and eating it too.

That nap today did feel pretty good. There's still time, I may hit up the gym. After that then maybe ride out to a park and enjoy the early evening air. Sounds good. But first, I need to brush-up my resume & references and shoot them off to my friend.

Whew! The first day that totally felt like summer to me, and it's the 4th of July. BTW, Happy Independence Day! It sounds like they're going to party it up back home, I wish I could be there for that... *sigh*

A thunderstorm is brewing as well. We haven't had one of those yet either. While I don't like living in rain, I do enjoy a good thunderstorm every now and then. (Or if I were back home, every afternoon around 4 pm, lol)

Oh I picked up an information pamphlet for the local gym. I'm probably going to pull the trigger on Monday. Dang, I need more workout clothes. Time to hit up UniQlo. They have a nice collection of fitness wear. I figure 2 shorts and 2 shirts, added to what I already have, will suffice.

The shoe situation
I also have to buy a pair of shoes. The gym requires shoes that have not been worn outside. My gymnasium shoes at school fit that bill. They're low top cross-trainers. I coach basketball at the elementary school, but I don't have actual basketball shoes. It's a little embarrassing that the kids have better shoes than I do actually. So I'm thinking I'll just buy a new pair of basketball shoes to show the gym, and then swap them out in a week or so.

As I was typing this entry up, the thunderstorm fizzled out. (;_;) Oh well.

I met up with the ladies in Ikebukuro, and we all had dinner at Denny's. After that, it was off to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I really enjoyed it!
( cut for spoilers )

Surprisingly, it was quite cool outside as the movie let out. It was cool and wet out this morning as well. What is up with this weather? Oh well.

damn it's raining today. My waterproof shoes are a double edged sword. I had to walk through a lake to get to work this morning. There wasn't another way around that wouldn't have taken an extra 15 minutes. The shoes were good at keeping water out up until the lake. Then they proved to be just as good at keeping the water in. I got to work and poured out about a liter of water from each shoe. (T_T)

ok, the weather is now officially crazy. It's cold and rainy today. blah