back to school

Aloha, folks.

I started the new job on Friday. I am teaching English in Japanese elementary schools now, as I think I mentioned before. Lemme tell ya, its a world of difference from the last job.

For starters, the dress code. GEOS was coat and tie...well, tie anyway. At the elementary school, the best dressed folks dress for the weather, because they don't do central heat and air in the school buildings. My first day, I was COLD.

Second, the students. GEOS students range in age from two and a half to eighty two and a half. Pretty much, if you can pay, you can play. I got me first graders to sixth graders only. And lots of 'em too. Class sizes at GEOS topped out at ten, and I never had a class that big. The most kids I ever had was three at a time, and that was a mess. Now I've got anywhere from 12 to 37 kids at a time...quite a difference.

Third, the food. At GEOS, of course, I was on my own for food, and free to run down to the shops if I felt like a snack. Now, I can't leave the school during school hours and I'm expected to eat the school lunch, often with the kids. Which brings us to another interesting point. There is no cafeteria in the elementary school. The kids eat in their classrooms, and it is part of my job to take my lunch in a different classroom every day. I actually haven't done this yet, but it's the only thing on my schedule for today (and next monday and tuesday).

Fourth, the general atmosphere. GEOS was a strange mix of artificial good cheer in the lobby and crushing stress and greed in the office. In the elementary school, the pace is quick because the kids demand it, but quite friendly and relaxed aside from that. The teachers are not under so much pressure, and genuinely care about what they are doing. Its very nice, and a welcome change.

Friday was my first day, and my first school was a small school in the countryside, which was very excited to have me. I showed up at 8:20 so I could be introduced to the staff, and then I was informed that the school music festival was that morning, so there wasn't anything for me to do except to say hi to the kids and parents at the beginning and try not to fall asleep during the performance. I did both with flying colors, then helped put away the folding chairs...to be nice and to try to get my circulation moving again.

My next task was to play with the 1st graders after lunch. They actually have me scheduled in for recess with a certain class. We played freeze tag, and I got in lots of trouble for not remembering the rules and fouling up the game at first, but after 5 different kids explained various aspects of the game at the same time at the top of their lungs I finally got the idea. After that, I did a self introduction lesson for the 5th and 6th grades, which went pretty well, and I went home with a feeling of a job well done.

Yesterday (Monday), I had my first day at the biggest school on my route. I showed up early, they assigned me a desk, and told me that there was NOTHING for me to do that day. Clean out the desk and poke around the school, they said. I did that, prepared 3 lessons, and it was still only 11:30. I wrote an article for my friend's web-magazine...12:45. The day went Ssslllloooooowww. Today is more of the same, except I have a lunch date with the 6th grade today, and we all went out onto the field to run for five minutes. I shouldn't complain about being less than covered up, but it does get a bit old hanging out in the office while everyone else is wrangling kids. I'm sure that will change as soon as they start to figure out what to do with me, though. Can't wait.

Deep Breath

It's been a momentous five weeks, which may very well account for the incredible delay in updates recently. I've been SUPER busy, and here's why.
First, I quit my job. It's been two and a half years at that joint and it was about time to go. My decision was greatly aided by the fact that I was offered a much better job working for the city. Better how? Well, for starters, the pay is better by about $500 a month. If that wasn't enough, its a Monday thru Friday gig...no more Saturdays...and ALL the Japanese national holidays paid and OFF. Second, no sales. Working at GEOS involved a lot of pressure to sell, and sell up. Books, new contracts, homestays...whatever. The idea is to play on the students insecurities and exploit their dreams to get into their wallets...it's a nasty business. Third, the working days are from morning to afternoon...done while the sun is still up. Getting moving at 6:30 am is gonna be tough though. Start tomorrow!
Changing jobs also means changing apartments...which may very well prove more traumatic than the job thing. The old place went with the job, so I had to get the heck out last weekend. It's amazing how much useless junk one person can accumulate in 30 short months. After I culled most of the crap, I was still left with an impressive mountain of incredibly necessary posessions, and no where to put it. After much bean counting and hair pulling, K and I decided to move me into her place and move her back into the old homestead. Its gonna be a little uncomfortable for the next couple of months, but it was the option that made by far the most sense. I'm gonna have a long commute, and she's gonna have a curfew, but we found a place for us, and will move in there in February.
There's also been wedding planning stuff going down, but that whole thing has kind of taken on a life and momentum all of its own. Things happen and decisions are made that neither K nor I are fully aware of until much later...Exciting.
Also, we took a trip to the American Consulate down in Osaka yesterday to get started on the marriage paperwork. Turns out I need an affidavit of eligibility to marry...a form to prove that I am of age and truly really single. So we went, and I filed, and paid $30, and they stamped the paper and we are all set. They didn't check a damn thing except that my signature matched...so if you're american and interested in bigamy, Japan is an option if you find mormons too preachy.
So to sum up, job stress, new job stress, packing stress, moving stress, red tape stress...ick. I feel pretty good about the whole mess though. Yay!

Me and Mr. Toyoda

And how

Well, we (k & I) have finalized our wedding plans...set the date, picked the church, the whole nine yards. Now I just need to save LOTS of money. Yay.... no more beer for me for a while. 's ok, though. My liver could always do with a little break.
After visiting the travel agency on Sunday, we went out to the in-laws for dinner. Just a normal visit, I thought. However, after a long chat about our future plans, they pulled out a birthday cake! I was completely shocked...it was a wonderful suprise. K's folks are really great, and they really like me...

Outside of that, not a lot to tell here in the LotRS...K's dad said he would give me a car if I get my driver's liscence...normal stuff like that.




I got a bouquet too, but I left that in K's care...anyone who has ever been to any of my apartments can understand why.

Happy birthday to me!

Yesterday was the big 3 - 2. Yay. To celebrate, I went to my friend Kenny`s restaraunt, Mercado, for drinks after work. My friends Leslie and Mayumi and Keith and Yuki and Kaz and dave all came too. And of course, K. It was a very pleasant evening...we had some wine, and a nice bottle of sake that I got from K`s dad a few weeks ago.

I didn`t realize it at first, but the couples were all foreign guys and japanese girls. That seems to be the way it goes here in the LotRS. Lots of foreign guys with Japanese girls, but very very few Japanese guys with foreign girls. Kinda strange, huh. Really though, the foreign men tend to outnumber the foreign women here, and Japanese guys tend not to be interested in foreign girls...too much trouble I guess.

Anyway, I had a nice birthday, and me and K are going to Osaka this weekend to see some of her friends and to relax. Should be fun!

Back on track

Had a Heckuva good weekend here in the LotRS. K has finally shaken off the summer school funk that had been hanging over her like a dark cloud for the last two weeks. Thank GOD! I was starting to genuinely worry about her... but she`s back to the good ol` K I`ma gonna marry.

We had a fine Sunday...starting with the Uniqlo (think `Old Navy`).
I needed to buy some new shorts due to the fact that during the rainy season, some of my clothes never managed to dry completely and picked up a nice case of mildew. Awesome. It was easy to identify on the white t-shirts, but I didn`t notice these shorts until we were in the car on the way to the in-laws for dinner. FUNGUS PANTS! (K`s favorite new vocabulary)
So long story short, I bought new shorts. So what? So this. The size I got was NOT XL. I got me some swanky size L shorts. Down to a 35 inch waist! Made my day right there. When I touched down here in the LotRS, I was a svelte 210 lbs, filling out a 38 waist nicely.

Which brings us to point two. I joined the local gym on monday. K has been a member for years, and has been after me to join for quite a while. My coworker just joined up too, and she seems much happier. They were running a special too, so the entry fee was 10 cents. Went up today for my first session. Felt good. Also stepped on the scale. 89kgs. Not sure what that works out to exactly in pounds, but roughly 185 I think. Haven`t seen numbers approaching those since age 20. Real good.

Point three. Signed up for internet service. I won`t get it for another month, but the big thing is that I did the paperwork. I had been avoiding anything that smacked of longterm commitment for a long time...but recently I`ve been feeling much more settled and focused...and grown-up, I guess. Its about time.

Last word. K and I went to the travel agency on sunday to see about having our wedding in Hawaii. Seems extravagant, until you figure that that would almost split the difference between the US and the LotRS, making the travel burden more equitable. Also, in Japan, weddings tend to explode into expensive gaudy affairs that noone I know would be willing to put up with, K included. Hawaii will keep it simple, thus cheaper. Plus, the honeymoon can start immediately! We are still at the very very beginning of the planning stages though, so don`t go buying your aloha shirts just yet... start saving yer pennies though, cause wherever the wedding goes down, noone stateside is gonna be able to drive there.

Thats all for now team.
Cheers!

Whew...long time no see, eh?

Sorry about that, but things have been a little tough here recently. K finally finished up the (absolutely grueling) summer sessions at her school, and is back to her regular work schedule. I am glad for her, and for me. It was tough for me to see her just shut down after about two weeks...no smiles, no laughs...just work sleep work sleep work sleep...it was like I had lost my girl completely.
She still hasn't snapped out of the funk completely, but she's getting better every day.
She did manage to shake it off for a week when she went to Spain with her parents. By all accounts, they had a wonderful time, and she wants to go back. Buenos Dias!

I tried to ease her load as much as I could during the summer sessions...fixing food for her and putting her to bed...after a while it really started to get to me...I was just tired...
But I think I'm snapping out of my August funk as well, and just in time for my birthday! Yay!
No plans for the day yet, but K and I are headed to Osaka next weekend, so a nice little getaway is all lined up.
Other than that, no realy news here...August kinda sucked, but we all got through it ok...the heat has broken here...beautiful days ahead...yay.

Chinese Thoughts

I recently discovered the website for the Official organ of the Chinese Communist party, The People`s Daily. Quite a fascinating read. Check out the forums too! Lots of interesting thoughts on the chaos in the middle east, among other things.

Happy Healthy

This weekend was very nice. K's friends came up from Osaka and we took them down to the Ise Shrine for another installment of lumber pulling. This time, teams of around 300 people hauled wood up the Isuzu River to the Inner Shrine (Naiku). I didn't get to play this time, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Hot though. Very hot.
After a day of stomping around in the blazing sun, K& I were understandably exhausted...nothing exciting except an early bedtime...around 9:30, actually.


K is in week two of the exciting 14 hr day 6 day a week purgatory that is summer vacation at a cram school. She is up at 6:30, out by 7:25, home around 11, and asleep by 12. Last week was miserable, but only 5 days...they gave her a (incredibly rare) 2 day weekend. This week will be a rocking 82 hours! Any wonder I want to take her away from all that? I do what I can to ease her burden, but in reality it is not much more than symbolic...washing her dishes, taking in her laundry, cooking up some food that she can freeze and eat on over the course of the week...making sure she goes to bed by 12...


Taking care of my own stuff too...I finally finished my paperwork and am officially enrolled in the Japanese National Health system. Feels good to be a pinko. It costs me roughly $250 per month, but is comprehensive medical and dental, hospitalization, rides in the ambulance, the works. It also covers a trip to the eye doctor, but not the actual glasses, should you need them. I consider it a bargain...beats the heck out of the half-assed HMO system that seems to be prevailing in the Land of the Idiot Son.

Thats all the news for now...next dentist appointment is friday! Yay!

treasure hunt

Internet style.... I found some nifty little e-nuggets you folks might be interested in.


I found a site devoted entirely to the mandolin and a few interesting ukelele sites as well. I bought a ukelele for $15 over the weekend...because I simply don't own enough stringed instruments yet. I can't really play anything on the ukelele yet, but I did get it tuned, which makes a world of difference.

And webcomics galore. Try this one or, if you prefer a little foul language and violence with your humor, this one might amuse you.

Got my filling in yesterday, too. Didn't hurt so much. Kinda funny really, after avoiding the dentist for 10 years, I'm actually enjoying going in and getting all fixed up like. Yee haw.

The Dentist...

Well, just finished up at the dentist, and its the strangest thing. I DIDN`T get the root canal I was fully expecting, and frankly, hoping for. I recited all my symptoms as best I could, agreed to a root canal last week, got myself all worked up...but all I`m gonna get is a bigass filling.
Mystified by this turn of events, I checked WebMD.com for my particular set of dental symptoms...and according to the internet and my own intuition, the root canal was the correct course of action. I am not a dentist, but I am also no fool. If I needed a root canal on this tooth 10 years ago, surely I still need one...

I think I need to have a chat with the dentist and someone with near fluent english to properly express my concerns. I really want this damn thing fixed and fixed properly as soon as possible, with as few visits to the dentist as possible....

Strange, isn`t it? A person with a slight dental phobia arguing for a more drastic treatment that the doctor wants to give? hmmmmm...

Cupped out...

What in the HELL got ahold of Zinedine Zidane? That headbutt had to be about the craziest thing I have seen in quite a while. He was looking really intense throughout the game...I guess he just snapped...

Did the traditional petitioning of the family for K`s hand in marriage...that all went pretty smoothly ... we had a fine lunch after that, then we all took a family outing to the furniture store. For two hours. Two hours watching her parents shop for a sideboard... whew. Followed by a fun dinner with the folks and their friends...got to drink IW Harper Presidents reserve bourbon, which was very fine.

Next day, I went to the dentist for the first time in about 10 years. Yay. I get a root canal next tuesday. Double yay. The only consolation is that the nerve in that tooth died back in college, so it shouldn`t really hurt too awfully much... I hope...

Copa Copa...

Watched the game last night...France V. Portugal. It was on at 4am local time here in the LotRS...not exactly the most convenient hour for us working folks. I went and met K for a drink after work, and headed home around midnight. Crashed out around 2am, woke up with the alarm at 4. It was tough to keep the ol' peepers open throughout much of the first half, until the penalty kick that ultimately decided the game in France's favor. That woke me up and pretty much kept me engaged thereafter.
France's laid back approach to the remainder of the game, combined with the frenetic pace of the portugese also helped to keep me on the edge of my seat. Portugal was FAST. and aggressive....

Anyway, I'm at work now, and already sleepy...I went back to sleep after the game, but by then the sun was up and I didn't really sleep too well... only 5 more classes.....

WoW!

Holy Nuggets, team!
I was just checking out the news on CNN.com, and it looks like the entire northeastern US is in danger of being washed off the face of the earth!
And for those of you who thought you might never see the town of Sidney, NY in the international news...check the BBC's coverage of the floods. Wow.

How are you folks holding up there in the Land of the Idiot Son? Wading through philly, Sidney, Binghamton...my adolescence and young adulthood has been inundated...

Nate! Hows the family? seems the family home could be in some serious danger...

Heck, it's rainy season here and the weather is beautiful, if a little muggy...you guys are stealing all our rain!

And hows this for fun? The waters are rising all over the blue states, and what is the Idiot Son doing? Taking his pal Junichiro Koizumi to Graceland! wHEEEYEEW! You'd think that twit would've learned his lesson last year about fiddling around during a natural disaster... huh.....

Hallo!

Hallo folks!
Had a nice weekend this weekend. Saturday night was a karaoke party for Yanni's birthday. We had about fifteen people, and karaoke'd for about 4 hours. My big hits included "Cotton Fields" by CCR, as well as an assortment of raucous GnR songs and my signature bit, Nirvana's "All Apologies". And of course, "Sweet Home Alabama". Representin tha southland, baby!
The next day started waaay to early for my taste...9am on the dot. K and I went into Nara prefecture to visit a very old and famous temple called Hasedera. It is one of a very few teaching temples of the Shingon sect of Buddhism still operating in Japan. Reputedly 1300 years old, it is built up the side of a hill and surrounded by lush gardens and forest.
The gardens of Hasedera are famous for hydrangeas, which were in full bloom and quite beautiful. In fact, they reminded me of the big hydrangea next to the back door at mom and dad's house. I remember dad pouring coffee grounds on the bush to make the flowers change color (the color of the flower varies with the pH of the soil). I told this story to K, and later to K's parents, who all thought it was funny.
After Hasedera, we went to K's parents house for dinner. They had been given a nice slab of Matsusaka beef and a big fish, and were keen to lay out a nice dinner. So they did. I got to cut the head off of the fish, which K's mom then turned into about three different dishes...sashimi from the fillet, soup from the difficult to eat parts, and what you could call 'ribs'...the middle part that was left after the fillets were removed...which she boiled in soy sauce and which was fantastic. We ate and ate and ate...and drank daddy's favorite sake, whose name escapes me. After dinner, he gave me a bottle of sake from the same company, but the premium stuff. He said he preferred the cheaper stuff..less pretentious...but that this bottle was extremely good. It is in fact a Daiginjo sake, about as fine as they come...but perhaps a little foofy for daddy's taste. I was instructed to drink it with friends, but most of my friends here don't particularly care for the sake...oh well, their loss!

After dinner, K was exhausted, so we went back to her place, relaxed for a little while...then I went up to my friend matt's house to watch the England vs Ecuador game. Kind of a downer...the game was stultifyingly dull... all the women were asleep within 15 minutes of the kickoff, and us fellers were yawning up a storm as well. Everyone had a long weekend.
I slept and slept yesterday, went to the camera store only to find that I had forgotten the film from Sunday, went to the art store, the grocery store, and then back home...bath, dinner, bed, Italy vs Australia, bed again.

Italy vs Australia was a strange game. The Australians ran all over the Italians, but just couldn't finish. The Italians went a man down early in the second half, and just kind of played a waiting game... which really paid off for them seeing as their goal came at the very end of extra time on a penalty kick... I dunno about that call..it was definitely a foul, and a flagrant foul...but it just seemed too perfect...a made for tv ending with Totti driving it in with no time left on the clock...like the Football Gods would not allow upstarts like the Aussies upset a proud and storied team like Italy. Or maybe they were just lucky. who knows.

Saturday is England vs. Portugal. Go team!

Hi Ho...

Not so much to report on here...since the world cup started I haven`t been doing much else. K has been busy and will be getting busier over the next month and a half. I feel like I should be able to help her, but the plain fact is that there isn`t anything i can do to alleviate her job related woes. Really kinda irks me...

CAn`t fix everything, though.

My job is getting a bit easier, today I will teach only two classes...I went on a bike ride and went home for lunch. Tomorrow is tough, thursday is tough, but tuesdays and fridays are pretty light. Pretty happy about that.

Strikes and gutters....

Copa!

Hey there team!
You watching the World Cup? We sure are!

Me and K watched the Americans and the Japanese reap the wind last night...the Japanese due to an early lucky goal and subsequent caving in...general lackluster play and an all too apparent lack of desire...not to mention a brutal knocking around by the much larger but arguably less talented Australian side.
The americans were simply overwhelmed by a team that outclassed them in almost every category except brute strength...the Czechs were beautiful. I`m still not sure why, in the merry-go-round of national team coaching jobs, that the americans still trust their international soccer fate to Bruce Arena. I mean, he got us there (20 years ago), but we haven`t really progressed much past adequate over the course of his (inordinately and undeservedly long) coaching tenure.

Works for me though...I love watching the Americans get their asses beaten through skill and class...

Speaking of skill and class, the South Koreans won tonight against a very tenacious and quite frankly dangerous Togo team. Heckuva game, that. While the Japanese are deluding themselves into thinking they can play a Brazil-style game, South Korea has siezed upon its unique characteristics and built a style around them...quickness and accuracy in the passing game, tenacious defense and tireless work in the midfield. Works quite well for them, and they look like they enjoy it too.
Japan, on the other hand, looks like they`re still not really sure what they are supposed to be doing, while their stars pout up and down the field and generally look embarassed and embarassing in turns. I mean...they don`t even really try to score! They lob in these lame crosses that really have no chance of turning into　anything valuable...just shoot the damn ball! You can`t score if you don`t shoot, and you can`t win if you don`t score...seems simple, doesn`t it?

Anyway, I`m watching Knight Rider (DUDE,KNIGHT RIDER!!!)and waiting for the France game to come on...vas-y mes amis!

Looks like Brazil has this one in the bag... and their first game doesn`t start for another two hours! Fun to watch,anyway...

And the wine!

Sorry to keep you waiting on the whole wine thing, but it seemed to pale in comparison to the other events of the last weekend.

Anyway. Last Sunday we had a wine tasting event at Mercado. Kenny bought a $500 bottle of wine, and 10 of us chipped in $50 apiece in exchange for a glass of the expensive stuff, as well as hors'doevres and a sampling of some other, more affordable, wines chosen by Kenny and Yoko-chan.

The big dog was the Vega Sicila Unico, a Spanish red wine. It was really a difficult wine to fully understand. The wine wasn't allowed to breathe before it was poured, so the initial taste was rather raw, with strong tannins and an oakey nose. As it sat in the glass, the flavors began to assert themselves, and the wine grew smoother and richer. It went very well with the roast beef, sturdy enough, but not overwhelming...very nice overall, but I'm not sure if it was $500 nice.

The supporting cast included a Pinot Noir , Vougeout Clos Du Prieure 1998; Chateau Canon 1ere Grand Cru Classe 2001 (St. Emilion); an unremarkable Margaux from Segla, and a couple of whites and german Icewine.
The Pinot Noir was not really spectacular, but respectable. Light body, a nice ruby color, strongish tannins all combine to produce a wine that is rather bland on its own, but when paired with the beef, it became fruity and refreshing. The slight tartness and crispness that is kind of a turnoff at first really acts to cut the oil from the meat and leaves that delightful fresh clean fruity feeling on the palate. Very nice.
Now, I am a strong supporter of St. Emilions. I love them, and the Chateau Canon did not disappoint. The greatest thing about St. Emilions is that they almost "blossom" on the tongue. However, as the wines were not allowed to breathe at all, this characteristic wasn't as noticable as it should have been. That small gripe aside, the Canon presented a full body, smooth and rich feel, and nice spicy taste. When paired with some french cheeses (brie, St Andre Triple Cream) the Canon became almost floral...a truly delightful transformation...while the strong tannins helped to cleanse the palate as well.
The Margeaux was a little dull, the Icewine was SWEET... the other high note from the afternoon was an Argentinian wine, Pascual Toso 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. It was big and tough, but with a nice porty finish, eminently drinkable. I will actually try to track this one down at the local boozery.

So thats the wine geekery....happy? I was!

the continuing adventures...

So here we are, almost a week after the tumultuous events of last Sunday. The situation on the ground here in the LotRS is still very fluid, but being fluid, is flowing toward the next set of rapids. Not this Sunday, but next Sunday, I am scheduled to have THE big talk with K's dad. Everyone is nervous and worried about what Daddy is going to say, but I am optimistic about the results... I think he likes me.
I have been toasted and congratulated by friends here, but I feel like it might be coming all a little too soon...I still haven't really proposed yet (ooops!). Even though this all seems like a fait accompli right now, she still needs a proper proposal, and it seems like that should take place before the official chat with dad...so... looks like that needs to happen this week... huh.

AND, going to Ise with K and her family tomorrow...should be an interesting and quite possibly awkward afternoon. Yay!

Bushwacked!

As Mom and Dad and Ben already might know, I have more or less become engaged as of Sunday evening. How this happened I still am not quite sure, but it came down more or less like this.

Sunday afternoon, I attended a wine tasting at my friend Kenny`s restaurant (more on this in a subsequent post). K, not being quite the pretentious boozehound, opted out of this and went to visit a friend instead. So far so good. After the tasting, I went back to her place to wait for her...we were planning to go for dinner and then see the DaVinci Code...

However, she and her parents are planning a trip to Spain for the summer holidays, and she was summoned to the family home to help finalize the itenerary. As Sunday is Me-n-K day, she invited me along, and I happily accepted, due to the fact that a fine free dinner is always welcome. Plans were made, dinner was prepared and eaten and cleaned up, Daddy toddled off to his bath, leaving me and Mommy and K sitting around the dinner table. Nothing too out of the ordinary there... until K leaves the room for a minute.

As soon as the door swings shut behind K, Mommy turns to me and says,

"I need to ask you some questions, OK?"

"....uh....ok...."

"Are you and Kanako just friends...or...?"

I was rather taken aback at the question, having been led to believe that Mommy was more or less in the know about our involvement. I began to stall, in hopes that this line of questioning would cease upon K`s return. No such luck. Mommy wanted to know my intentions in no uncertain terms, and proceeded to conduct a quite thorough examination in both Japanese and English, at times using K as a translator, and almost always referring to her in the third person.

I had, and have, every intention of marrying this girl, but I have been taking my time and trying to get my ducks in a row before seriously discussing it with K. This approach was apparently not quick and certain enough for Mommy, who, usually charming effusive and cute, had donned as serious a face as I have ever seen on a woman who was not MY mommy.

I allowed as to how it was my wish to marry K, and what steps I felt were necessary before I would be in a financial and personal position to do so. Mommy wanted to know WHEN. I gave a rough timetable of my personal preparations (better japanese, better job). Mom apparently figured all that could be handled in about 18 months.

The timetable is important from her families point of view for very specific, traditional reasons. If a girl reaches the age of 30 and is still unmarried, she is considered flawed in some way, and draws shame to herself and shame to her family. So if Mommy comes off a little harsh here, bear in mind that this is not just her, this is a thousand years of social expectation and tradition.

So strong is this drive, that had I not been willing to say "ok" to marriage, I would have been politely asked to piss off and stop wasting K`s time. Moreover, K would promptly be shopped around the matchmaker circuit and a `suitable` match made post haste. Again, this is the way things are done here...mommy has done nothing except what her mother and her mothers mother have done, and mothers around Japan and Asia (and india, maybe africa, etc...) do on a daily basis.

You could even say, and perhaps I should say, that what mommy did took quite a pair. She was in her mind, and in a very real way、looking out for the best interests of both her family and her daughter. I can understand and appreciate that. Good kind of mother in law to have, actually. Daddy seemed to know what was in the works too, though, because he was very jovial and friendly to me, much moreso than in previous visits, and when the dishes were cleared away, he disappeared, only to reappear when it was all said and done. Smart feller.

Upshot. Mommy seems satisfied, I`m still reeling a little, and K seems to be staggered a bit as well, but if not completely overjoyed, relieved that the big talk has been had. I think we need a little time to get used to this new wrinkle... but I look forward to it.

The biggest problem, in my mind, is that now the element of suprise is lost to me. No matter how or when the ring and proposal come, it will seem a bit anticlimactic. Oh well. Kinda takes the pressure off... but now I have to really study. Mommy set me a deadline.....

Killing time

You guys are gonna love this.... the first post back after a long hiatus, and the thing I`m gonna talk about is the thing that interests you folks the least... Linux. Yay!
Reason being, I`m writing this while monitoring a new install of Suse Linux
on the ol` craptop. Suse will be about the 5th or 6th major linux distro i have tried, and I have high hopes for it (hopes destined to be dashed, I fear). Parsix got too hinkey, especially concerning my sound drivers, Mepis wouldn`t recognize my Wifi card, Tao and a host of others refused to see NTFS partitioned drives (which rendered all of my data inaccessible). I even tried a distro called Gentoo, which is acknowledged to be difficult even by veteran Linux users. It was too much for me.
We`ll see how this goes...its gonna take two or three hours to run through the install...

But, I have wine to drink! Today is the big wine tasting party at Mercado. Hooray!
Let you know all about it when I get back!

Figured I would move the blog. Friendster seems a bit limiting as to who can reply to posts and they`ve started dropping ads into my posts. That`s not allowed.
And the drop the old posts instead of archiving them. I don`t care for that either.

Lets see how this works out instead.