patchmonkey.net

Once I get all my pics back, I’ll put them into albums viewable from this site…but for now…

In front of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto:

The Imperial Palace in Kyoto (Left to right: me, EB, Charlie, Greg, Rei-chan, David, Yoshikami-sensei, Chad (hiding), Ian, Ann, Bad-ass Tour Guide)

Coming of Age day Kimono Hunting!

Bart: “These uniforms suck!!!”
Marge: “Bart! Where do you pick up words like that?!”

Homer:” Yeah Moe, that team sure did suck last night, they just plain sucked! I’ve seen team suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked!”

Marge: “Homer, watch your mouth!”

Homer: “Oh, I got to go, my damn wiener kids are listening”

February’s cool — me and my brother were born then, and so was Abe Lincoln, our first Republican president…

It’s getting to be February, the armpit of the year. Let me tell, you, I hate this month. Studies show that nothing good ever happens to me in February, which is a clear sign that the month is bad. If nothing good occurs, then either only “meh” occurs, or things get worse.

Anyway, I’m still trying to get rid of the jet lag - last night, went to bed at 11PM and now I’ve woken up at 8AM. I should probably clean my room, but I’m going to type on here instead. Waking up early gives me a lot of time to think about things. I’m in the middle of semi-unhappiness right now, which I know has to be my fault because I’m not unhappy unless I let myself get that way. I’ve been able to identify it down to a few things:

• I’m tired of these places again, and I need to go out discovering. I’ve
  spent over 2 years here at UMD so far, and I’ve spent next to no time in DC
  - maybe I should be getting my friends together and going out there.
• I’m worried about the future - will it all work out, now that I no longer
  have any real plans or goals or set ideas on what I want to do? All I want
  is to be interested and happy in what I’m doing, but I have no idea what could
  do that.
• I’m tired of being single for all this time. Really tired. But I don’t know
  how to go about resolving that. Well, no, I do, of course, but not really.
  I don’t know.
• I really, really, really want to improve my grades…but I think that will
  entail me dropping Japanese, something I love. However, I have heard about
  private lessons, and that could be better than learning it here.
• I need a job - at least something here on campus, maybe over at CSPAC.
• I think two of my plans for the year will be to start a book (writing it, that is) and learning how to draw.

Keep on a rockin’me baby.

Colorgenics

As promised, here’s some of my life in Japan…

I’m sorta sad to be home. I really loved Japan. There’s such a difference between our cultures that, somehow, I felt better there. It is tough to explain, and I suppose that one really has to go there to experience it. I can tell you that they definately are sincerely polite - they want you to enjoy yourself when you are there, they want you to find it pleasurable. And I did.

I want to go back.

Right now, however, I have 2 weeks worth of laundry, attempts to talk to my professors, and various stuffs to handle first. Here’s a bunch of Print Club stuff I took with some of my friends in Japan:

Geek Hierarchy
http://brunching.com/images/geekchartbig.gif

So where do you fall?

sorry about the lack of updates. I’m now back in the US, and I’ll be putting details of my trip up as soon as I can, but for now, I need sleep.

Today is the last day we are in Kyoto, and tomorrow we’ll be going to Osaka. It’s been a whirlwind tour, thus far.

Here are some neat things I’ve learned:
1) Drunk Japanese people give you things.
2) That, while it is not considered fine dining, Mosburger has it’s okay points. But it’s nothing special. And don’t order the ”Roosukatsu”. It’s basically a piece of fat, as my friend Ann found out.
3)Bring tissues, because there are not paper towels in the bathrooms most of the time.
4) Tea ceremonies are bad for your knees, but gaijin who are interested in Japan make old women happy.
5) If you go to temples where there are sections that are only opened for VIPs, make sure that you have Hanayagi Shifu with you, because she is considered one of the top dance teachers (in the Iemoto system, which is a vaguely apprentice system-like thing). She’s also a sweetheart.
6) Sunlight and mist turn a young leaf into tea. Tea can turn you into something new. Tea. A natural gift of love. (from Kirin ‘From Leaf’ Tea)

Other things: I could definately see myself living here. And I’ve been teaching some English to our Japanese friends while I’m here.

More Japan!

It’s been a whirlwind thus far. Today (Monday in Japan) was Coming of Age day. And a bunch of shrines, but they aren’t nearly as neat as Coming of Age day.
The second Monday of January is Coming-of-Age Day, a national holiday to encourage those who have newly entered adulthood to become self-reliant members of society. (The holiday used to be on January 15, but in 2000 it was moved to the second Monday of the month.) Municipal governments host special coming-of-age ceremonies for 20-year-olds, since an “adult” in Japan is legally defined as one who is 20 or over. They gain the right to vote on their twentieth birthday, and they’re also allowed to smoke and drink. But along with these rights come new responsibilities as well, and so age 20 is a big turning point for the Japanese.

Anyway, that’s not really the interesting thing for non-Japanese. What’s really cool is how nice everyone looks. Pictures will come later.