BILL's LAST DAY AT MICROSOFT

photo from engadget.com

One of my personal heros. Bill Gates. Down to life guy, (heck the richest man in the world doing an 60 Minutes interview at Dick's Burgers) if that isn't down to life then I don't know what is. A guy that had dreams and made them happen, didn't let people put him down, followed his own course, resurrect Apple, and could be the future philanthropy. People who say he is rich and stingy are full of bullshit and trying to put people down. This guy is out there helping people and best of all he is empowering others to join his cause in helping people around the world. There is more than Windows and Microsoft when you talk about Bill. He is the man!

FIGHTING, TEASING, AND SCHOOL

Well the busy Thursday turned into the interesting Thursday. The morning smart class turned into a boxing match when one of the kids was mmm ... teasing the other kid a little too much, so a little brawl erupted. It was like having K-1 in the class. The teacher held the kids back and escorted them out, for me? It was back to the work after the kids chattered a bit. Bit different taking care of the class by myself but hey it was no problem, feel like a veteran now.

YUMMY STUFF FROM VANCOUVER

Got some dried fruit from Mr Mori. Yum! I love dried fruit and they are all the way from Vancouver. Before the English class departed for Canada I asked who was nervous, and Mr. Mori and one other student was the only one to raise their hands. So I lent Mr. Mori my About Japan book, hoping he could strike up a conversation with his host family, because its hard to just chill and not speak English for a 4 days. So Mr. Mori popped in and gave me back my book and some goodies, he smiled and said thank you, and mentioned he had a good trip. That was great news to me because I wanted the kids to have a good experience in Vancouver. Sometimes I dont know about that class, during class time they never say a word and just sit there orderly, no talking, no laughter, its like a mystery, but outside of class they are pretty cool. Just gotta keep trying and figure something out. Takeda sensei mentioned the other day, heck its a class he isn't too fond of which I was surprised to hear, but I can understand and relate to but hey yah gotta keep on trying. Its like a mystery that I need to solve, what makes students tick ... mmmm ... just one student at a time ..

TRAITORS

Yeah thats the name of me and Dillon's Japanese basketball team, the "Traitors", funny name, maybe because its obvious the captain broke off and made his own team. Fun morning game to get in some exercise. We played a bunch of high school kids and whopped them in the end luckily. I danced around and got a point or two. Gotta work harder, been playing too much of that WOW.

IKEA IN JAPAN

I waited forever for IKEA to come to Japan. The Kobe store opened up in April, so me and Kayo and Daniel decided to check it out. Brought the wheels so we could stock up with some goods, because damn its hard to carry Ikea stuff on the train. So we followed the signs and ran into some traffic. Then more and more traffic. All the cars were going to IKEA, crazy! With two lanes of traffic we waited an hour just to get into the fuckin IKEA parking!!! Crazy Japan!! Then after parking just to get in, what do ya know, there was another line to just get in the store. The country of long lines I tell ya. All the floors were packed with people just trying to get in. We decided to go to the 5th floor to try the shorter line, and after another 30 minutes just standing outside we finally reached our destination inside IKEA! Of course it was just as crazy inside, looked like something like opening day, but it wasn't, opening day was 3 months ago, this was just a normal day. Looked like the IKEA back home, but everyone was Japanese, and there was an added bling bling cafeteria, guess to cater to the posh people and downstairs was the cheap eats including yummy hot dogs and ice cream. After wandering through the crowds finally settled on some new lamps, cookies, candles, and some other random goodies. At the end it was about 9:30pm, a long time after our 3:00 start time. Well you gotta do what you gotta do to get your IKEA goods.

IT WAS SO HUMID TODAY

that I was walking outside of class holding my notes, and they became damp instantly after I got out of the teachers room ... oh damn I can feel the humidity coming ... right on schedule, June 20th, and what you know, its raining cats and dogs this week, so the h u m i d i t y is building up, oh no!!

BUSY AS A BEE

The other week I finished up the mini books I made for the 2-4 English class. They were off to Vancouver for a one week trip and um, they really can't speak much English. I know how tough it is to speak a foreign language, heck I do it everyday in Japan. So I slaved hours and got the book done just in the nick of time, one day before their departure, working from 830 to 10pm is not fun, but it was nice to hang out with the guard man. Hope they are using the book in Vancouver.

TODAY IN SPORTS

NBA Champs! The Boston Celthics big 3, Pierce, Allen, and Garnett beat up Kobe and the Laker gang to win the Finals.
Mariners - GM Bavasi is fired! Finally, he sucks, ever since he got on board 4 years he got a bunch of crap players, and look at the mess now, worst in the league its good he goes.
Tiger Woods - US Open champ again, even on a busted knee, how do you stop this guy?
Supersonics - now at court, damn those Okl city bastards! to be continued ...
Hanshin TIgers - baseball in Japan, the team is hot what can I say, they can't lose

HANGING OUT AT THE SCHOOL VENDING MACHINE

Today at school it was busy non-stop. I was busy preparing the 2-4 class for their homestay trip to Vancouver this Friday. Have to put together a class, some homework assignment consisting of a diary and an interview. Hey you have to give the kids something to do. Then lastly trying to put together a little homestay guidebook together for the students. They don't have anything to take with them, so they are pretty much shit out of luck chillin with the host family for a couple of days without nothing to say or do, so I hope the book helps them out.

Taking a break from the crazy work I decided to grab some ice cream and a drink from the vending machine. Thats what I love about high school, you can get goodies such as ice cream or onigiri or fried chicken at anytime, yum! Deciding what to drink was tough work, so many drinks to choose from and today was a bit toasty as I could feel the humidity coming. Was saying hi to a bunch of kids, amazing how many names and faces you can meet in a year. Then came the 1st grade girls, it was .. mmm .. I forgot her name. Heck I always forget kids names, there are so many of them. So I asked her name, but she kinda got angry that I forgot, then I asked her friend what her name was, but then her friend was a bit resistant, then as time passed by more and more kids flocked toward the vending machine like a moth to a flame. I said "HI" to a bunch of 2nd and 3rd grade kids, Sugiyama, Aeri, Misia, Kiyama, and many more. Then the girl with the name I forgot asked why I knew all the other kids names but not hers. Then I laughed, um they are 2nd and 3rd grade kids, you are new. After awhile her friend finally gave in and told me her friends name was Morisawa and her name was Moriga. Of course I wouldn't let her friend get off so easy, so I butchered it of course, thats my favorite. So I asked is your name Mori? Morimoto? Morikawa? Morimori? ... after a brutal name beating I finally said her real name in relief. I just love teasing kids, of course I told them I would probably forget their name tomorrow! They ran away and laughed, but a couple hours later in the hallway I heard them complaining to Iseda sensei about how I didn't remember their names. I didn't want to miss an opportunity so I ran out and called her, "Morimori", genki morimori!!

ON A SUNDAY IN JAPAN

Woke up the nice morning sunshine rays and headed out to take some pics of the baseball team. They were playing a game at the school field, I prefer to take pics there because I can take closer pics, at the stadium that is usually never the case. They won as usual, got some nice pics, and it was good to just chat with the team, met some 3rd grade students. Mr. Shun and Daisuke, I think, I am bad with names. Anyways it was good to get out and just get some pics, its been awhile. Then got back around noonish and Kayo was heating up the food or at least she thought she was until the smell of smoke poured out of the kitchen. Yikes, she wasn't warming up the pan but the Brita water filter!! As melting plastic turned into a toxic cloud all of the one window and one door was opened to clear the air. Later on in the afternoon, went out to the gym but then Dillion said um it closes at 6 not 7, shit! Then it was onto the usual dangerous place, Uniqlo. The GAP of Japan but much cheaper and just as good!! Everytime I venture in there, always something pops into my basket. My excuse today was some business short sleeves to prepare for the upcoming heat, then some inside t-shirts and a cool NY Yankee mesh shirt, usually I dont like the Yankees, but it looked to cool to pass up. Then it was off to the AEON mall to check out some things, at Joshin ran into the mother of sales for GUNDAM model, it was about 35 percent off, and it was huge, I knew my cuz Eric wanted one, so I grabbed one super size model, hope he likes it cuz its huge!! Lastly met up with Daniel for some good ole katsu at DomaDoma. Got back and chilled with some MTV Japan award show on TV, Fergie rocks!