Smallville

Season 5 - Episodes 7 & 8. Check.

Back from the dead...

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome myself back to reality!

Just to fill you guys in: I went to the doctor after work last Thursday because I was feeling crap, got some meds, & went home. 2 hours after I took the meds I noticed small red bumps all over my arms, neck, chest, & stomache. Went to sleep & woke up to find a massively itchy rash/more red bumps all over & I still felt crap. Went back to the doc where they decided to keep me until they could run tests. Spent most of Friday with a 40 degrees Celsius fever (about 104 Farenheit I believe?) & enduring almost unbearable chills & hot flashes. That was the worst I've ever felt sickwise. EVER. Spent the next 3 days in the hospital in a toasty lil' room to myself while they ran more tests & kept an eye on my temperature. I got meals at 8, 12, & 5 on the dot everyday. Fantastic! I checked myself out yesterday although they seemed to want to keep me longer as my fever was gone & they weren't giving me any more IV "bags o' goodness" (vitamins, etc.) or meds. Apparently I had influenza type B & some other virus that they never figured out... ah well... at least I'm on the mend. Will be sitting out the Fukushima Mid-year Seminar this year to stay home & rest. All in all that experience was kinda crazy... it's good to be back.

Whoever stuffed a "Christmas Cakes" brochure in my mailbox needs to die. All those yummy cakes....mmm....tempting....

Sickness strikes again

Just as I finished killing off my bacterial infection with antibiotics that caused me to miss 2 days of work last week, today I start feeling really crap again at school. I even had to go lay down in the nurse's room for 2 hours. Unfortunately they didn't give me any painkillers at school (I was told by my teacher, "We don't take painkillers in Japan", but what I think she really wanted to say was she probably wasn't allowed to give me any) so I had to tough it out. Luckily I was due to visit the doctor today anyways so he could do yet another blood test to make sure we'd killed off the bacterial infection from before, so now I could tell him about my new symptoms (yay). Good news is, my bacterial infection is under control. Bad news is, I now have a viral infection (i.e. the flu). I felt so crap from severe body aches & chills that I could hardly bike myself home. Man what is it with me this year? I'm like a sickness magnet!

On 2nd thought, it really isn't just me though... a favorite topic of ALTs is how we get sick all the time here & no one really knows why...

YAY!

Congrats to Ms. Elaine Odle, ex-mullet-wearer, & her Italian stud Marco on their engagement! Rock on!

Koriyama Halloween pics

Tada! Pics from the Koriyama Halloween party at Club #9 are now up for your viewing pleasure...

Harry outside Club #9

 

Me lusting after John's VIP Staff Pass
(It gave him drinks for the low, low price of 200 yen!)

John & the angels

 

Fellow Halloween revelers

 

The place started filling up as John took the stage to DJ...
Sweet job on the Pacman decor, Koriyama peeps!

 

Nicole & I decided to show Kristin some love!

 

Lucky boy!

 

John doin' his DJ thang

 

Workin' the dancefloor (^o^)

 

One of my personal favorites

 

Harry, Gene, & Hiroshi (as Mario)
Is it just me or does Gene pull this face in every picture?

 

Harry & Yota

 

Catchin' up with Jerisse

 

I found a fellow Iwakian at the party: Michiko!

 

Flashback

This pic was taken 2 years ago at my 1st ever JET Fukushima Mid-year Seminar. I'm heading to my 3rd & final one in 2 weeks time. Oh how times flies...

Ok now it's time to play "Caption that Picture"! Flatter me, poke fun, make me look like a moron... if you can think of an interesting caption, I wanna hear it. Comment away!

Iwaki Halloween pics

The long awaited pics from the Halloween party at club Sonic in Iwaki...

Up next: Koriyama Halloween pics!

The one, the only: S&M duo!

Me with Kristin, the Fallen Angel, & Nicole, the Heavenly Angel (^o^)

Check out their handmade wings!
Yes, that's right, they both made their wings. Mad props for that!

Clubbing Baby strikes again
This baby is at nearly every party in club Sonic I go to. Despite being in a room full of drunken, loud party goers, overwelmed by crazy throbbing music, & breathing in smoke by the gulpful, Clubbing Baby is ever calm & watchful. Is Clubbing Baby more hardcore than I am? You be the judge...

Me & Ayatto

Steve Nappo as Pikachu & his girlfriend

Liz, Nicole & Kristin caught Harry trying to sneak into the girls' toilet (j/k)

Harry giving out candy from the stage

I love this photo for its randomness. How people that you know can you spot?

Quintuple point day at the Big SC = Score!

Japanese men & public urination

Remember when I posted about how Japanese men blatantly & shamelessly urinate in public? Case in point: Last Sunday I went for a run around 2pm (i.e. in BROAD DAYLIGHT) along the walkway by the river only to see, in the distance, 3 Japanese men out for a stroll. *Doubletake* 1 of them was pissing, right there, for the world to see, while the other 2 chatted while waiting for him. I was still a little ways off from them...but even as I approached the pissing man seemed unconcerned, even watched my approach, as did his friends. I avoided their gazes, pretending to not notice & be visibly engrossed in my music from my i-Pod (which I was but also not). Even as I passed them (sadly, the narrow path didn't leave me any room for giving them a wide berth) they stared, smiling what I perceived as amused, semi-twisted grins. It's almost as if they were proud of it. Sick.

Now that I think about it, I should've called them out on it or made a big deal. Then it would've made them uncomfortable.

Slept off & on most of the day, feelin' really weak & blah... I'm definitely going to the doc tomorrow as I was hacking up massive chunks of, hmmm, maybe you don't wanna know...

Sick for the 1st time this winter

Wow. This takes revenge to a whole new level.

Urgh. I've finally gotten sick for the 1st time this winter. I genuinely hate being sick. It's such a crappy, gross feeling. Anyways, last night I started having chills, my throat started hurting (so much so that it hurt to talk), & I got a headache. I took some cold medicine to help with the symptoms & to help me sleep but I still had an unfitful sleep that yo-yoed between the 2 extremes of sweating & freezing. My sheets were drenched in sweat from my being too hot but then I'd start shivering from the cold & dampness of the sheets not long after... I called in sick today as I still feel crap. Ugh.

George W's Caesar Salad. Fantastic link, thanks Mom. (^o^)

Holy crap it's November. 6 weeks 'til I leave for my trip!

Japan Randomness

Just off the top of my head...

Some things I just don't get about Japan...(a.k.a. 'WTF?' moments):

1) Japanese rarely jaywalk. Even when there's not a car for miles, they patiently wait for the light to change.

2) Japanese don't seem to have a sense of things/people/objects around them. For example, while grocery shopping, they career around the aisle as if no one else exists & never seem aware of peoples' presences near/on top of them. Maybe I've got it wrong but I think most people either sense or catch a glimpse out of their periphery that someone's standing near/behind/beside them...then they adjust their positioning accordingly. Japanese people seem to have zero sense of this. They could be backing up their carts into an extremely crowded grocery store center lane, hogging it entirely, & not even notice that they've held up heaps of traffic & generally caused inconvenience. Why is this?

3) Recently, in order to save money, Japan enacted this policy called "Cool Biz" (meant for summer), which essentially meant that companies were not running their AC so their electricity bills would be lower. Hmmm...you mean you can't save money in some OTHER area? You HAVE to sacrifice your employees' comfort first? (that's VERY Japan, let's all "endure" & "suffer" together as a group) Anyways, at the end of summer, everyone was boiling in the office but yet the AC still was never turned on. Continuing with these efforts, it seems that the lights in rooms are being turned off when not in use, including the bathrooms. Ok, fair enough, makes sense. The weird thing is, I've walked into the women's toilet at least 10 times so far when there's been a girl from the office in there, using the toilet, in total darkness. Usually during the day if the sun's out it's semi-light enough for that. But come ON. What're we saving on that, a whole 3 yen?

4) When my own bank charges me to use its ATM. What's up with that?

5) Japanese men & blatant, shameless public urination.

6) The whole "go to work even when you're deathly ill" mentality.


And then there are the things I love about Japan...

1) Hearing loud sing song chimes of "Irrashaimase!" (Welcome!) and "Arigatou Gozaimashita!" (Thank you very much!) in every shop I walk into & out of.

2) Cheap, magically delicious sushi.

3) Planes, trains & buses that are on time 99.8% of the time. Man I'll miss this when I'm gone, oh how I will!

Thanks Elaine for forwarding this along. Hilarious.


10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Birthday shoutout of the week

Birthday shoutout today to Mr. Paul Oberman (a.k.a. Obi-wan Kenobi)!!

And while I'm at it, let's throw another Congratulations on your engagement! in there, too. Congrats & Happy Birthday, all rolled into one tasty little burrito.