HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year! 2007 Is the year of the pig or in Japan they say its the year of the boar, aka "inoshishi, いのしし". The year marks a good time for fertility and virility, aka pumping out kids.
SAYINGS - In Japan before New Year's day people say, "yoi o toshi wo, よいお年を" meaning "have a good year". After New Year's day people say, "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, あけまして　おめでとう　ございます" meaning ...
FAMILY - New Year's is family time, much like America's Christmas. Grandparents and relatives and the whole gang get together.
DESTINATIONS - People go and visit shrines and temples, or go to the top of mountains to see the first sunrise of the year.
DREAMS - People believe if their first dream contains, Mt. Fuji, or a hawk たか, or an eggplant なす, many good things will happen in the coming year.

AROUND THE CORNER

As the old year comes to a close. Whats there to expect in the new year? Who knows? Only time will tell ... just enjoying life one day at a time ...

MISSING ...

Hate to say it, but I could sure eat some dick's now. Dick's hamburger that is!!! Proud of this shot, as I took it one handed while driving using my DSLR.

TRANQUIL

Another pic from the motherland, Laos, taken one year ago.

SCHOOL TIME IN LAOS

Some more olides.

JUMP!

Some old school favorites from the beaches of Fukuoka.

MERI KURISUMASU

ho ho Merry Xmas everyone, wishing ya all a good one from Nippon.

TEMPLE

Somewhere in onsen (hot spring) country.

OLD SKOOL

Nothing like walking around in traditional wear and carrying some swords.

NISHINOMIYA

NISHINOMIYA, originally uploaded by greenlake.

HANGING OUT WITH THE MONKS

IMG_4491, originally uploaded by greenlake.

About one year ago, I was out and about in the mother land. It was cool to see where my parents grew up as well as meet some of the local folks.

KOBE BY NIGHT

AS THE SUSHI ROLLS BY...

Gotta love "kaiten sushi" the sushi that goes around and around and around, plus its cheap!

GOBBLE GOBBLE

Another Thanksgiving passes by. Damn I miss the turkey, hope everyone got their fill of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, etc. ... dang if I only had an oven in Japan, I would cook one right up, but unfortunately, they don't got any ovens up in here.
** picture props : MDPNY @ flickr

SNOWING IN SEATTLE

Everyone back home, drive safely. I still remember how crazy it is when snow falls! Jez and its only November?

HONEY GIRLS

Honey Girls is the name of the magazine, and I was like a bear to honey after seeing their promo stand at the Kinokuniya bookstore. I pondered the thought of taking a pic with them for their magazine promo for awhile, but heck I was a bit bored after my job seminar. So here are the outtakes with some of the Honey Girls, basically another of the million Japanese fashion magazines out there. Had to get my kick for the day, and also a cool girly mag, ha ha ha.

DISNEY??

Got great news today when I called up Ogawa sensei from my old school just to see how things were going. She said something incredible happened. The
boys basketball won 1st place in the school district area. Then got 2nd place in the greater area tournament, and next are going to the Hyogo (state) tournament. Holy cows!?!?!

A little background on the suprise. All of last year I was trying hard, or somewhat hard to get the bball team to get some respect. Well, basically the boys sucked, getting blown out game after game, with scores like 20-100 which is pretty damn embarassing. I tried to hang tough and teach em what I knew, because heck the coaches didn't even know basketball too. They were just regular teachers. So at the same time I was teaching the boys and girls coaches on how to play basketball. I thought it could one of those Disney movies like the "Mighty Ducks" where you get this scrub to baller team. But when I left in July I thought that would never have happened. Even Ogawa sensei said, go teach the kids, you are the ALT you can make them good, ha ha.
Oh I miss those basketball boys, even how foolish they were, I still felt that I could help them out, and look they made me proud. Honestly this could be the most perverted team at the same time, always touching each other up and me too, maybe thats why their defense is good now, playing man to man, ha ha. Ah, Mr. Shimazu, the next Kobe I thought, in time, always practiced shooting everyday and was getting good, just in the game he freaked out, but I know in time he will turn around, one of the nicest kids out there and speaks awesome English, also gave him my shoes, but he already outgrew them, these kids. Mr. Nakajima, the enforcer, always gets angry at himself and at others, but hey thats great in bball you always need a Dennis Rodman in there, and I don't know why he loves grabbing boys tits. Then there is Mr. XXX I call him, little Isiah, tough like nails, smallest guy out there but will run you into the ground on his gritty D and can always hit you up with a nice layup. Mr. XXX sometimes lazy, sometimes great, you won't know who you will get that day, but you always gotta keep em going, Mr. nice guy too, and great at English, he knows what you are talking about when you ask him about his "nuts".

Just some more random thoughts from the past ...

Crazy Japanese basketball it was fun to see at the begining two years ago. Honestly I never played any organized bball or was super good or anything, but I liked playing it everyday and I liked to watch college NCAA bball. Learned alot from TV, on how the coaches and commentators responded to players mistakes or great plays. So it was interesting to see how coaches in Japan didn't know how to run out the clock, or use it, or even play zone defense. So fuck, man to man sucked sometimes, so had the team play some zone. No one ever saw the zone before and we beat a couple of teams at it, until they caught on the year after and started playing the zone too.

Anyways best wishes to them! GO TEAM!

CONGRATS BEN AND TEMMY!

Couldn't make it to Ben and Temmy's wedding, but wish you guys well! Hope to see you back in Seattle, or in the WOW world. Best wishes!

GRAB A BROOM

And then you can earn some respect in Japan. How? Well at school there is cleaning time, and I was kinda free for a long time with no task, so I decided to clean the teachers' room since no one was cleaning it, and it was kinda getting nasty. Then instantly I had a couple teachers saying thank you, and even another helping me out. Just thought it was kinda fun to do some cleaning. Anyways got tip from one of our ALT teacher meetings from our trainer. And yeah it worked pretty well. In addition got another cool tip to pass around a cool phrase to teach the teacher some English once a week or so, so, some funny phrase like, "It's a piece of cake". Will try it out next week and see what the teachers say.

IN THE NEWS

Just some news in the past couple of weeks ... food for thought

- Sony just launched the PS3 as of this morning
- The democrats just whipped some ass in the pas Nov. elections, taking the house and senate, thank goodness
- The Seahawks are barely surviving at 5-3 with Alexander and Hasselback still out
- The Cardinal's won the World Series beating the Tiger's


or some interesting news (because i love reading it)
- "Absentee Florida ballot sent with precious stamp" holy cows a $550,000 stamp?
- "Rock, paper, scissors players to compete for world championship" didn't know they had a championship for this, watch out for those cheaters who change at the last second

GETTING A BIT CHILLY

Just last weekend I woke up to the sounds of some crazy howling wind. Before I mentioned that it felt like a Seattle summer with the temps in the 70's, but looks like I spoke too soon. It was a bit chilly last week and it continued like that, highs in the 50's and 60's from now on. Time to bring out the winter gear. Lucky the apartment is pretty warm so I won't freeze my ass off like in the old place. Nothing like thick concrete.

MORE RANDOM PHOTOS ...

MORE ULTIMATE FRISBEE

It was cool to have Mike convince me to come out to play some ultimate frisbee. Yeah, I was a bit lazy if not hesitant... At the "rocky" sand beaches of Akashi, I joined up with old friends and new friends to play some Ultimate frisbee for the first team. Out of 8 teams, my team Salt n Pepa got 3rd, and we reaped the Habatan frisbee award as well as witnessed some fine games and some amazing dives, even a guy old enough to call grandpa, wow! Picked up scrapes and burns. But overall it was a great day in the sun!









Click here to see more frisbee pics!flickr: ultimate frisbee photoset

MORE FRISBEE COMING SOON ...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

from Japan ...

JUST SOME RANDOM PICTURES

VISITING AKO

Stopped by Ako to say goodbye to Nick and Kanako as they plan to head back to Perth in a week or so. Thinking about who arrived at the same time with me at the same time in Japan, one person was Nick, great guy, and it was always funny that we were roommates in Yashiro and Kobe. Then for the others who all left, Nancy, Zainabu, Susanne, Yuri, big Nick, Aaron and Kristine (my drunk karaoke partners) and others, its funny for me to think that me and Daniel are the only old foggies left (and Andrea too!), I would never have imagined that. Funny how life takes you. Well still in Japan for a little bit longer, so it was good to catch up with some good ole friends and some new ones at Minato's. Then later couldnt pass up the opportunity to eat some of Minato's fine cooking! I still think he cooks up the best okonomiyaki, even had to order my "mondaiyaki", my special problem order. It was also nice to get some of those old skool Asahi posters that I have been wanting for the longest time from Minato, Minato you are my hero!

HOLY SMOKES!

Back and connected to the rest of the world! Yes, I am still alive and got a new apartment too. Got my internet today, courtesy of the slow ass NTT and YahooBB service. Will have to mark this day in infamy. Signed up almost a month ago, the NTT guys came in looked at the phone jack for 2 minutes, said it was blah blah type, then in the afternoon the YahooBB modem arrived, jeeeez! Took long enough! Anyways enough rant, its finally here and I am able to check my mail, chat with my friends, call home, and play wow. Now I will be distracted by the evil internet. Anyways its great to be back online!

WHATS BEEN GOING ON?

Been super MIA, missing in action, but hey I will get back into the routine of things soon. Guess I have to do updates back from summer. Well anyways here is the quick wrap up. At the end of the school year it was sad to see the kids and teachers for one last time. It was a super great 3 years on the JET program, would definetly recommend it to anyone. Also it was good times with friends in Tatsuno, everyone here has been so nice. Moved back to the summer, chilled at Ace's, nothing like living by Greenlake and eating good food. Caught up with alot of good friends over drinks, or foods, and still missed some other friends, but don't worry I will be back so we can hang out again. Stopped by cali to visit Seila and hook up with my old seattle buddys. Nice house Edgar! Also had our JET reunion with Kristine, Aaron, and Tina. Nothing like reliving sushi and karaoke. Saw the folks in Spokane, nice to see the roots and hang out with them, even though they nag ya, you still have to love them. Found out alot more about my dad, its always nice to sit down and talk with them. Lost some stuff at the SF airport, luckily it popped back up. Caught up with the old roomies Ark and Thao, amazing what cold turkey can do for ya, good job boys. Headed back to Japan, through Tokyo, came back and thought it wasn't the same. Maybe it was being homeless, maybe I missed Tatsuno and not Japan, but luckily I had alot of good friends to help me along the way. Ayame and Mike being folks housed me so I wouldnt have to live on the streets. New school started in Nishinomiya, called Kobu Junior High School. Everyones super nice, great kids, nice teachers, and the school has AC throughout the school! super rare! Survived a 2 hour commute in the morning and another 2 hour commute back, so 4 fucking hours! Just got the new home finally, happy to moving near my school and just relaxing. Because I got no money, there will be alot of relaxing going on. 20 minutes to Kobe or 20 minutes to Umeda, Osaka, the location is great to get to the city. Also it was nice to catch up with the Japanese moms that I have, Noriko san and Ogawa sensei, they are always so nice to help me out. Slowly things are getting better in Japan. Hopefully when my internet gets up at my new pad, things will be good to go. Peace out until then!

FOOD AND BASEBALL

Yesterday I was pretty much eating non stop. Started with a snack at home, then went out with Ark and grabbed some Thai food, then right after that met up with my uncle and brother and proceeded to eat wonton noodle soup. I was stuffed eating everything within 5 hours. But hey, it was the last chance attitude I was going with. When is the next time I am going to eat good ass wonton soup.

Afterwards got my yearly fill of baseball. My uncle scored some nice seats for the Mariners vs Yankees game! Always a great game and in section 125, row 20, that makes it even better. Even though the Mariners suck this year, it was good to see Ichiro and the gang pull out a win over the Yanks, go M's! Then the clincher was when Ichiro in centerfield ran down a fly ball at full speed backhanded while crashing into the wall. Wow!

WHAT ALARM CLOCK?

It's tough being on vacation, go to sleep around 2am or 3am, wake up whenever without an alarm clock around 930am or 1100am. Then chill, eat something or just take a walk around the lake. Today hanged out with Ark to get some soup and sandwiches then some fat ice cream and then took some pics of squirrels running around. Tough vacation but I like it.

HEMPFEST

Saturday started out a bit slow, stopped by the Japanese Consulate's home for a BBQ with the PNW Jet Alum. Didn't really know anyone there, but thought it would be interesting. Good food, good weather, met a couple nice people.

Then proceeded to make my time in Seattle worthwhile. I was feeling lazy and was gonna head home with my Ayumi and Puffy poster, but why not check out Hempfest. I knew for sure it was going to be interesting. So I made the hike from Queen Anne (near Racha) all the way down to the Spaghetti Factory basically where the event entrance was. Usually I wouln't have walked all the way down there, but hey it was a nice day, I had alot of time, walking far in Japan is normal, and well I didn't have a car. So about 30 minutes later I arrived at the mad scene of Hempfest.

Not sure what Hempfest is? Here is a short summary off their website;

"The nation's leading cannabis policy reform event turns fifteen years old this year. Since 1991 Seattle Hempfest has been bringing you the nation's leading experts, activists, and advocates for industrial hemp and marijuana law reform, amid multiple stages of music and hundreds of food, crafts and information vendors. Hempfest is a work-party, so come prepared to learn while you celebrate." http://www.hempfest.org/

Met up with Duc and we headed in. Or at least we tried, there was a super bottle neck at the entrance, so everyone was stuck, people coming in, people going out, it was bad. But it was fun to listen to all the comments such as, "I am with the guy in the staff shirt!", "is the park really closed? you are shittin me!", "Who parked this fuckin car here, great!", "Oh, I can smell that, bring some over here." ... sure was nice to be back in America.

It was the same Hempfest as I went to last year, full of food, shops that sold cool shirts, pipes, and other cool things, 3 stages that had rock, reggae, and also random DJ booths that spitted out techno and DnB. But the best thing I liked about it was people watching. Even though Americans are pretty straight forward and in your face everyone got along at this event. Everyone was out to have a good time, probably one of the safest events you could go to. People who where gangsters, hippies, goth, heavy metal, skaters, everyone was friends. The whole place had a good vibe. It was a nice day at the park.

MORNING CHILL

Woke up this morning and it was nice and chilly and cloudy. The cloudy weather kinda makes me sleepy. Its about 58 degrees F or 14 C, but I sure prefer it being cooler than sweaty hot. I just put on the sweatshirt and so I am all good.

AIN'T EVEN BREAKING A SWEAT

Just realized how nice it was to run and not really break a sweat! Ran a little bit around Greenlake on a nice sunny 85 degree day, and no ooooodles of sweat dripping down. Not even a drop, it was great! Even had a chance to sit down in some nice shade under a tree on grass. Because I know when I go back to Japan, if I even walked fast sweat would be pouring down, and there would be no nice grass to sit on. Oh my.

FINGER LICKING GOOD

It's sure nice to return to a meal of nice greasy KFC chicken. Nothing like biscuits, chicken, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes. No mashed potatoes and gravy in Japan, what a tragedy, oh well better eat all I can before then.

A BUNCH OF POSTS ...

Coming right up! ....... lets see, finished my 3rd and final year on the JET Programme, and just flew back home to Seattle!

AROUND TOWN