Good times

Just got finished watching episodes 3-5 of Smallville season 5. Sweet.

The Halloween Party last Saturday night in Sonic was wicked... I love seeing everyone all dressed up in costume! A group of us are looking to go to Koriyama for their Halloween party this Friday. I like this whole getting to wear your costume twice thing. Actually it'd be the 3rd for me since I wore this S&M getup last year. Yay for multiple usage!

I'll post a few pics soon but I'm too lazy to load the pics from my 'digicam' (as the Japanese say for 'digital camera') onto my 'pasokon' ('personal computer'). Feel free to bug me about it...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Am I a boy? According to my college I am...

For the SECOND time my college magazine, published a few times a year, has referred to me as a "he" in the class notes section. After the first mixup I e-mailed my class reporter (who even knows me) to let her know & she assured me she would let the alumni office know & that it wouldn't happen in the next edition. Hmmm...you'd think whoever typed it would check the gender of students he/she was unsure about... you can never tell these days with guys having girls' names & girls having guys' names!

And just for the record... I am a girl.

ughhhhh

In the past 2 days the temperature has dropped considerably... which in Japan means that everyone immediately gets sick. Man I hate winter in Japan. At least 3 teachers at my school informed me that he or she had a cold & that many students did too. This was backed by a roomful of constant sniffling. Ugh. 'So why in the hell are you sickies even here?' I want to ask them. 'So you can infect more kids & teachers?' What's wrong with this picture? Honestly. The Japanese come to work even when they're sick as dogs, something I find inconsiderate (as they're only spreading it) & ridiculous (since they're obviously not going to get better by "pushing through it"). *Sigh* Chalk it up to one of those things about Japan I just don't get...

Oh, & while we're on that topic, what's with Japanese men & blatant, shameless public urination?

"I love lamp"

Watched Anchorman tonight... damn that movie is funny!

"God it's hot. Milk was a bad choice."

Birthday Shoutout of the week

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Friday was a beautiful, gorgeously warm day! It's amazing the effect weather has on my mood. I love the sun. Saturday was a bit drizzly & overcast but warm. Today is overcast & chilly. Winter's a' comin'...argh. At least I'll be sitting in the hot sun on a beach in a little less than 2 months. Can't wait!

Last night there was another earthquake! Magnitude 5.5 this time with the epicenter just off the coast of Iwaki. It wasn't so bad until 1 particularly powerful jolt sent Harry's wine glasses crashing to the floor to splinter into lots of little shards...one of which cut my poor lil' toe later in the night. Poor wine glasses! They were his & her wine glasses, one with a pink stem, one blue. Geeky, yes, & neither Harry nor I actually bought them (thank goodness I can claim that). They were inherited from Dan, an ex-Peppy Kids English teacher. They were such good lil' wine glasses... They didn't deserve such an end!

Tonight some of us are going to a Para Para event in club Freeze. I don't really know much about these kind of events except its fans are the Japanese who have those deep dark tans & light hair & crazy colored makeup & wear flashing jewelry. At least, I think. Guess I'll find out tonight! That's really the main reason why I'm going.

Earthquake Info

Here's some info about the earthquake tonight (thanks Nicole!). It was in the prefecture just south of here... or offshore rather.

Scare of the Month

Woah. I just felt the strongest earthquake I've felt since coming to Japan. My whole building was shaking & swaying. Everything's fine here, but I bet it did a lot of damage wherever the epicenter was... (fingers crossed it didn't!)...

Wow. That was my Scare of the Month.

Uh oh

I'm weak. I gave in & turned the heating on in my toilet seat... not full blast, mind you, it's not that cold yet...but a 1/3... gotta keep my bum warm as the temps start droppin' outside!

Biker Road Rage?

I never thought it was possible to get road rage while not driving a car. But thanks to living in Japan, car-less, I've found that, in fact, I get severe bouts of road rage as a biker (a bicycle rider that is, not a motorcycle rider...I wish!). While I'm biking, I hate cars. I loathe them for hogging the road, for being inconsiderate to bikers, for being in the way when I want to cross against the light, for the people who drive them, all snug in their climate controlled environments while I'm prey to the weather & its cruelties, for nearly hitting me on a daily basis because they 'just weren't looking'...basically, for existing. Grrr...road rage rising...rising...falling...falling...

The best part is, if I were a driver, I would feel the exact same way about bikers...

And pedestrians...can't forget those little suckers! (^o^)

Smallville

I admit, I'm a Smallville addict. It began back in college when I saw that first episode...then I was hooked. Like Jelly Belly black licorice jelly beans*, addicted from the first go (or heroin, take your pick). Hmmm, I probably shouldn't kid about things like that, huh... not everyone out there reading (& there are millions, right?) gets my sarcasm & humor & might not realize it was actually a joke.

So yeah, thanks to my comic book fanatic of a Dad (& my cousins, Andrew, Dan the Man, & Kristen - you guys rock! except Kristen, why haven't you written in your blog? Get on that, ya heard?!), I, too, developed a certain, deep-seated affection for comic book characters. Don't even get me started on the home movies we cousins would make pretending to be X-Men... "Jeaaan! Noooooooo!"

Woah, tangent, anyways... when I heard the WB was making a TV series of Superman's high school years, well... count me in! Tom Welling playing the main part helped. He's pretty hot, ne, in that clean cut, pretty boy/Mama's boy kinda way.

Now, 3 years later, after all that episode watching on the couch in my East Village apartment beneath the poster Carebear gave me of Homer passed out on the sofa ("Livin' La Vida Sofa"), I'm getting to do some more. Except in Japan. Alas, Season 5 has just begun! And what about all those episodes in between? I still haven't missed one.


*Nota Bene on black jelly beans: You see, the best part about black jelly beans is that most people don't like them. Which means I get them all every time. How could life get any better than that?

Saw my first wild snake in Japan today! I was out running along a paved pathway by the river & went to step over what I thought was a brown stick, when I saw the "stick" squirm. It startled me so much I just about shat my pants*!

*although even if I had, I probably wouldn't tell you

My Mom e-mailed me this link with the note: "This lady needs a brain MRI." I totally agree. She's basically been pregnant for 16 years. What possesses someone to want to be pregnant all the time? Maybe she's addicted to being pregnant. Or maybe she likes the attention she gets from being pregnant. Either way...gross.

And for you energy drink fiends out there, here's a great review of most of 'em. Myself, well, I'm a big fan of Red Bull Vodka when I go out (although Japan doesn't have Red Bull *arggggh*), but for strictly pick-me-up in a can, it seems there are some good options out there.

Experimenting

I've been experimenting with different looks, color schemes & fonts for my site so apologies if you can't read certain posts due to color clashes. I'll try to sort it out over the next few days...

Part II in the chronicles of Pissed Off Mullet-Woman

The story continues...


Friends, family, and my international mullet admirers,

I thought I would follow up on my mullet, because although many of you may delete this even before reading it because you are tired of my mass emails I feel obligated to update all of you since there has been a change in the state of my mullet. Cyndi Lauper meets Billy Ray Cyrus has ceased to exist, despite the fact that Chard will stop being my friend. Sorry Chard, even though I'm from Tulsa I refuse to sink so low.

First, however, I have a few mullet stories that weren't included in Part 1 that I would like to share with you. To start, some of the hip discotech eurotrash guys at work were like "WOW, you look FABULOUS. You are so cool now, please please don't cut your hair I swear you'll regret it". And then one of them named Fabio (Jessie you met him, the one who had the tiny tee nylon splatter painted shirt) proceeds to explain to me the intricate ways in which I need to style it when I wake up in the morning, giving me hair gel brand names and everything. Yeah, I may be 'cool' and 'with it' now here but I just can't shed the fact that a mullet is a mullet, no matter where you are and no matter how you try to disguise it.

Second, when I went to a different hairdresser to get my mullet chopped off because finally on Tuesday I couldn't take it anymore, I took a picture I printed off from the internet of Meg Ryan from "You've Got Mail" so that there would be NO WAY the guy would try and give me another mullet, as italian hairdressers are wont to do. His face lit up, and he said "Ohhhhh, I know EXACTLY what you want!! I'll fix you up". So then he shows me this OTHER picture, and was like "this will look PERFECT on you!!!". The picture was NOTHING like Meg Ryan, and was essentially this blond woman with the sides of her head shaved and her hair on top blossoming out to form a MUSHROOM HEAD. I straight up told the guy (in italian, obviously) "you are NOT giving me a mushroom head today, my friend, you are giving me THIS HAIRCUT. MAKE ME MEG RYAN". So I walked out of there feeling better about myself and mullet-free. But when I came home marco pointed out that it was still mullet-esque in the back and he was going to try to 'trim it up a bit'. Scared as I was to have Marco ruin my already ruined hair, I let him do it anyway. As it turns out he did a pretty good job (using our dull kitchen scissors and his own clippers). The results of my two weeks of haircut adventures are shown in the picture attached to this message. Enjoy.

Elaine


Crazy Italians & their crazy hair styles.

Amen to that!

Although I still don't have a clear idea of what your hair looks like now, post-3-hair-cuts-in-2-weeks as this pic is a bit dark!

 

another new iPod?

The new iPod Video... *drool*... although I'm still salivating excessively over the iPod nano...

Guess my poor, under-appreciated lil' iPod Mini will have to do for now... (^-^)

More on mullets

Speaking of mullets, I saw a guy in the gym the other night with the most amazing mullet! Not only was it a mullet, but he'd randomly highlighted his hair so it looked a bit skunkish. Countless numbers of my students have fallen prey to mullets as well...these are sad, sad times we live in. And just what is the appeal of mullets? And why are there fans of mullets in so many countries?

In case you're wondering whether my last posting was totally heartless... alas, not to worry! I asked her permission first! See:


Shawn, you can exploit me for my misfortune anytime ;-)
HEY, those pictures are when THEY styled my hair after going to the hairdresser. You can NOT even imagine how fucking awful my hair was THIS MORNING when I tried to fix it myself!! I want to send you 'better' (AKA WORSE) pictures of my mullet when I try to style it, just so that the effect is more extreme. But if those first mullet pictures are good enough for you, you can use those, no prob :-)

Love you, and can't wait to see my mullet on your website.
Elaine


That additional commentary got me going all over again. Elaine, you freaking rule! (this you already know)

My sympathies & I vote for givin' it the chop to chin length!

Why is it that you can find mullets in just about any country in the world?

I can't stop laughing about this... One of my best friends, Elaine (currently living in beautiful Italia with her stud of a boyfriend Marco), entirely against her will, was given what she dubs a "euromullet." I'll let her tell the story:


OKAY, for ONE YEAR now I have been going to the same hairdresser. Every time I go there, they try and persuade me into getting this euromullet haircut which is this high fashion haircut for females that so closely resembles BUSINESS IN THE FRONT PARTY IN THE BACK that every time I see it I nearly have a heart attack. For those of you who have been to europe recently (keely, jessie, kathlene, emily) you know the one I'm talking about. However, after working in Milan for over a year, I have seen more mullets than I saw growing up in Tulsa (believe it or not) so it has basically become a normal part of life here. So today, when I mentioned I wanted to 'try something new', they explained to me a cute 'layered look' that they've been dying to try on me. Suspecting that they were trying to secretly give me the femullet, I asked to see a picture of this mysterious layered look in order to be sure. So they show me this picture which is completely normal-looking, and I was too tired to ask them to elaborate any more so I let them go ahead with the haircut. The BASTARDS won this time, because as hard as I have been trying to resist for one year they finally succeeded in giving me a freaking mullet. I have attached pictures so that you can understand my pain, and that so perhaps you can pray for me.

I need encouragement, bigtime.

Angry, mulleted, offended, and embarrassed,
Elaine


And yes, OH YES, I have pictures, which Elaine so graciously included in her e-mail for all to see... (*hee hee*)... oh yeah, & you can click on her name above, be directed to her site, & see a gorgeous 'before' shot.

First reaction to the new 'do: "Gross!"

 

Side view: oooooh, how sexy!

And the back...wow, I feel like I've been transported back into the '80s!

 

Lovin' the new euromullet now, aren't you Elaine? (^o^)

This always happens: I read an e-mail, think, "Ah that's nice, I'll write back"...but don't immediately...then the next day more emails come in & I go through the same thought & non-action process, forgetting about the previous days' emails, until a month or two later I decide to scroll back through my inbox, only to find all those ones I'd forgotten about & never responded to! Whoops. Memory like a goldfish, ne. Yeah, I'll blame it on that.

I did get to catch up a tad with my old buddy Phil Gennette on AIM...

Phil: how's Japan? fun place i take it?
Me: fun, strange, weird, annoying, lovable, peculiar, all of these things wrapped into one little chewable tablet

Ain't that the truth!

I'm considering changing the color scheme of my blog. Thoughts on that, anyone? Let the voting commence...

Craziness!

What is going on in the world? Quakes and mudslides, Katie Holmes is pregnant (wtf?), Burmese pythons in Florida are bursting, and governments are preparing for a possible avian flu epidemic? Woah, a bit too much for a Monday morning, er, afternoon...

Yuuuummmmy!

Harry has introduced me to the wonders of soft boiled eggs with toasted soldiers. Basically, it's soft boiled eggs served with buttered toast (on the side), cut into strips so you can dip the toast into the egg yolk. Apparently it's *the* traditional breakfast food for children in England.

The pic at right is a soft boiled egg with asparagus soldiers (courtesy of Kuking.net).

Verdict = Tasty as hell!

3 Birthday Shoutouts

It's October 8th, meaning...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dad & Grandma Aileen!!!

And a slightly belated one (October 7th)...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mr. Craig Jones (ex-driver of the Clown Car)!!!

Go Mom!

My Mom just spent a week volunteering for animal rescue with the US Humane Society in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She sent out an e-mail sharing her impressions of the trip, which I found really interesting, so I've posted it below. Sounds pretty amazing. Nice work, Mom!


Major Impressions

Amazing volunteers who traveled at their own expense by plane & by car, from as far away as Seattle and Massachusetts, Canada, Cayman Islands, Japanese people living in US. Worked 12-15 hours doing menial tasks, cleaning cages, walking dogs, horse stalls, etc. Vets and vet technicians, some who came with mobile operating vans.

Volunteers slept in RVs, tents they pitched, or like us in the large tents provided by FEMA, with the army and air National Guard personnel.

National Park Service and National Forest Service Personnel came from all over the US and provided security.

Volunteers, facility operation, and placement of the animals was coordinated by US Humane Society.

Where: fairground facility south of Hattiesburg (about 50 miles north of the coast) where at one time over one thousand dogs, cats, horses, a goat and a few pigs were housed.

Great facility where each dog has his own stall with concrete floor, water and food, bedding, toys and a fan. Cats were crated with several in a stall, each with its own litter box, food, water, bedding and toys.

Volunteers designated as "cat" people spent the day feeding, cleaning litter and playing with and soothing the cats.

Volunteers designated as "dog" people walked the dogs at 7am, feeding at 8am, then another walk. During the hot time of the day dogs were kept in stalls and volunteers cleaned the stalls, freshened water jugs, washed bowls and refurbished food supplies from the warehouse stalls. On hot days, dogs were hosed down with water during the day. Walked again starting at 4pm, fed at at 5pm, walked again at 6pm and again around 8-9pm before bedding down for the night.

Additional volunteers worked with supplies in the warehouse, pet transport, cleaning and organizing. Of course, volunteer vets and vet techs were everywhere when needed.

Runs were set up in the field with toys in order to give the active dogs playtime with the volunteers. Pit bulls may be active but they do no retrieve a Frisbee or ball! Most pit bulls have no concept of someone playing with them...

For many of these dogs, this is the best care and attention they have ever had!

There were some reunions with owners, though a small percentage of the total population, and tears always flowed from everyone involved...

So many dogs and cats with no tags, no collars and no names... names were "Good boy" and "Good girl"...

The concept of spaying and neutering in Southern Mississippi is non-existent.

My first experience with pit bulls was so positive...they can be so sweet and are very misunderstood.

Traumatized house cats that have to be caged tend to bite.

Most pit bulls in Mississippi have never been taken for a walk on a leash...they have no concept!

Maybe the next generation will view their pets more as "family members"...never thinking of leaving them behind in disasters...

Americans love to adopt "traumatized" animals who are glamorized in the media (i.e. Katrina hurricane pets)...but what of all the other adoptable animals sitting in the humane societies and shelters at this very moment?

There is an unusual and immediate bond between people with common values working towards a common goal...

MREs may be better for lunch than the daily dose of TWO "ham and cheese" sandwiches! Though hot prepared breakfasts and dinners were more than adequate...

Who would have thought that we would have huge tents with AC to sleep in - with an average temperature to sleep in of about 60 degrees! It made sleeping on cots bearable...did the Gonzalez, LA volunteers really have to sleep under semis?

The massive donations from pet suppliers and manufacturers of cages, carriers, food, toys, bowls and everything else imaginable that has to do with pets...some from large corporations like Wal-Mart and Petsmart, some from manufacturers, and some from communities who took up collections and volunteers who drove them down in trailers.

Waking up at 6:30 and even though the thought of more sleep seemed delightful, 90% of the volunteers were already up, dressing and heading for breakfast before the sun came up. Luxury of falling onto the cot by 10pm exhausted and sleeping soundly even if lights were still on and feet hung over the end of the cot...…

Humane Society was very diligent about where the animals were sent and how. Each animal was photographed and micro chipped before being sent out. One humane society came to pick up a load of dogs and after being loaded the Humane Society realized the trailer was not air conditioned and we had to remove the animals - no deal!


Mom, the only question that leaves me with is: were you a "dog" person or a "cat" person?

My money's on dog.

Almost too much cuteness for one day

Last Sunday morning Kristin & I went to Takasaka Kindergarten's Sports Festival. When I was first asked to go, I balked. Sunday morning? You mean I have to get up early on my weekend? Nonetheless I went & the cuteness of it all was nearly too much. I'm not usually an 'ooher and aaher' over kids...actually, I don't really consider myself a fan of them in general...but Japanese 3, 4, & 5 year olds kill me, they really do.

Here they all are lined up in rows like little ducks, complete with matching cones:

In Japanese kindergartens each year (3, 4 & 5) has a different colored hat to wear so they can keep track of them. I think it just adds to the overall cuteness.

All the parents & grandparents, gathered, cool advanced Japanese cameras in hand.

Game #1: Race where the kids had to get inside these carboard rings and crawl to the finish line. The yellow one in the background was made too small so all the kids in that line lost. Kawaiiso! Hmmm...on second thought, maybe it was rigged. Evil, sooo evil.

Like musical chairs but with rings. We competed against the ruthless & unforgiving Japanese mothers (*grin*). I got knocked out early but as you can see in the pic, Kristin's still in!

Takasaka Kindie Sports Festival Part II

It seems I can only put so many pics under one post, so I have to divide it up (like I did with the Fuji story)... Takasaka Kindie Sports Festival Story continues:

I ventured to the nearest toilet...

...only to find the toilet shoes were kindie-sized!

In case you're wondering: in Japan, there are outdoor shoes, indoor shoes, & toilet shoes. Outdoor shoes = self-explanatory. Indoor shoes = must be different from your outdoor shoes; you can only wear these inside buildings, never outside. If you don't have indoor shoes when you arrive at a school it's ok as they always have slippers for guests. The same applies to people's houses (although you're not expected to bring your own indoor shoes). Toilet shoes = usually slippers (see pic above); to be worn only in the toilet room. That's a lotta shoes, eh?

So...in the course of any given day, you'll probably be changing shoes at least 4 times. Rock on.

Teachers trying to get the kids with Pooh-san paper hats to line up for the next race:

Chaos!

Whew, all set.

Ready, set, go!

The kids were supposed to complete 1 lap around the track carrying Pooh-san, then hand him off to the next kid.

Takasaka Kindie Sports Festival Part III

I wonder how many 'parts' will this take me?

Run, Forrest, run!
In reality this kid was going nowhere near Forrest Gump's speed.

The rather unskillfull handoff (^o^)

Kristin engaging the kids in a rousing game of Janken (or several).

Janken is Japanese, as I'm sure you can guess, just as I'm sure you can guess what game Janken is by having a look at the pic. It's part of their culture here. Honestly!

Quick: what's the FIRST word/image that comes to mind when you look at this pic?
That's precisely why I took it...