TV Day!

By the power vested in me by absolutely no one I hereby declare December 27th to be international TV day. Just after Christmas and just before New Years. What else are you going to do, really? Also we just got our new TV delivered today.
Yippee!

The guy came to set it up around 12:30, just after Ulala and i had finished the big pancake brunch i cooked up for us. First thing we did? We popped open a mini bottle of brut left over from our wedding and played New Super Mario Bros on the Wii (which i bought yesterday just for this fine occasion). Then, when we eventually got frustrated, we popped in the BladeRunner DVD that Ulala gave me for Christmas. Have you ever seen BladeRunner in HD on a brand new TV? Incredible! So crisp, so bright (even for such a dark movie), so ... real.

I didn't mind our old TV. Ulala tells me the old one was about 15 years old. I didn't care. When it worked, it worked fine. But suddenly everything is so much clearer! I'm very glad that i had no plans for the rest of the day...


Old TV


New TV



Symian is: seeing things a little more clearly now.
Currently Reading: The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated
Currently Listening: --
Kanji of the Day: 眩しい　／　まぶしい　／ bright

Back in your boxes

There is no "boxing day" here in Japan. I have a regular saturday at work - full 11 lessons. It was nice to call home last night and talk to Mom. The dinner i made was awesome and delicious. I made Thai shrimp spring rolls, red pepper smoked chicken with white rice and green salad. And opened a nice Spanish Cabernet-Tempranillo.

Tonight there are a plethora of parties going on in town but i think we will stay home and relax, watch a little of our old TV, which is currently black and white and displaying a shakey image thrown to the right. It is over twelve years old and probably giving us radiation poisoning. The new one gets delivered tomorrow!

Last night Ulala and i exchanged small token gifts. We had agreed on a low cost limit since the "real" gift to each other is splitting the cost of the new TV (which gets delivered tomorrow! yay!) I gave her a t-shirt from DesignByHumans and she gave me a DVD of BladeRunner (Awesome movie!). Now i Can watch in English but practice reading in Japanese with the subtitles. I'm looking forward to finding out how to say "android" is in Japanese.



And tomorrow Ulala and i get to take our brand new TV (Hitachi, very nice) out of it'S box. Have i mentioned the new TV gets delivered tomorrow?

Two things that need to go back in the brain-box:
Mushroom flavoured Pringles and Corona in a can (with attached packet of artificial lime juice). *shudder*




Symian is: doing nothing whatsoever with boxes today.
Currently Reading: The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated
Currently Listening: Japanesepod101.com podcast
Kanji of the Day: 箱　はこ　box

メリクリー！ (merry christmas!)

Sunrise on Christmas Day in Osaka

I have to say thank you to Berlitz. They have the wisdom and generosity to make Christmas a company holiday.

Now i am not even particularly big on Christmas. I am not a Christian nor is my wife, and the majority of my family isn't either. Culturally, however, it's kind of a big day (even, nay especially, here in Japan) and we are bombarded with Christmas "spirit" and those awful Christmas sings that ought to be illegal except for one week prior to the 25th. So it is nice to have a day to think about family, to be with those you love, and to possibly exchange small token gifts of gratitude for their love and friendship. There is no thanksgiving here in JApan but there is Christmas (a time for fried chicken and dates) and there is New Years (for big family meals and a few days off).

Ulala is at work today so i am at home doing laundry, relaxing, catching up on paperwork and blogging. Later on i will vacuum and start cleaning out the closets as part of the end-of-the-year 大掃除 (oh-soh-jee), which translates to "Big Clean." Kind of like spring cleaning except at the end of the year so you can start January 1st so fresh and so clean. Then i will prepare a meal for my lovely wife when she returns home from work. Last year i made Christmas pasta so this year i', thinking maybe ham.
I would make a good little house-husband, methinks.

I will leave you this fine Christmas Day with my own little Christmas tradition. Calvin and Hobbes!! When i think of Christmas Calvin and Hobbes always springs to mind. Seriously one of the best cartoon strips ever. Bill Waterson's perfect blend of insight and humour never fails.










These cartoons are reproduced here with absolutely no permission whatsoever. I dragged them of a fansite that was doing the same and if that's a problem, i apologize. For the record, i once owned almost the entire catalog of Bill Watterson's brilliant cartoon. Dear Mr. Watterson, I'll donate to charity to make up the difference.


Symian is: making merry but not for dinner.
Currently Reading: The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated
Currently Listening: "Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC / A Santa Cause: It's a Punk-Rock Christmas (VA)
Kanji of the Day: 大掃除 / おおそうじ　／　big clean

Christmas Eve

Sunrise this morning.

Up at 6 and off to work extra lessons while GaiDai is off on their winter break. Luckily i have tomorrow off and i am looking forward to some catch up time with blog and other at-home projects. Weird having yesterday off for the National holiday and tomorrow off for Christmas but today is nine lessons all before dinner time.

I got to be Santa at work today (for about 20 minutes). I think i still have synthetic beard hair up my nose. Sorry, ladies, no pictures. To see me with a bowl full of jelly you may just have to wait until i hit old age. ; )

At home, Ulala brought Yoko over to look at wedding pictures. Yoko is getting ,married in '10 and now starting to see the monster that is wedding planning loom before her. We are offering as much advice as we can. To be honest it's mostly a blur or price tags and bad nerves. Good thing we have those wedding albums.

And they brought cake. Christmas cake (sort of). They ate strawberry and i had chestnut. The cakes came in cute little Christmas cups. What on earth am i going to do with these cups until next year? Maybe i'll make Christmas espresso tomorrow.




Symian is: stuffing sweater to make the belly.
Currently Reading: The Pomodoro Technique Illustrated
Currently Listening: "Things are looking up" - Classified
Kanji of the Day: 湯　トウ／ゆ

Christmas Party

As is the tradition at our Berlitz school, we had ourselves a little shin-dig to celebrate the end of another year and the yuletide. Is that like high tide but with booze? We wen to an almost-swanky place in Esaka called Vin de Kitchen. All you can eat and drink for two hours is kind of like hiding a land mine on a soccer field and wondering who will explode, but fortunately the evening was lots of fun and there were no casualties (except my wallet). Thank you to Baba-san and all the staff for their energy and effort in making it a wonderful evening for all teachers and students alike. Thanks also to Jo, our head teacher for her extra effort in getting all the teachers, even the jaded non-participants, to attend. Good times were had by all.







Symian is: wondering where they got the idea or "Vin de Kitchen"
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: too many Christmas songs.
Kanji of the Day: 福　フク　

Fishy Gift Giving

It was very hard to get up this morning. The cold, the dark, the warm, warm bed. The fact that i didn't get to sleep until way too late last night. But there are students who ned me. Well, they need the English i provide. Well, they need some of the - screw it. I'm going back to bed.

Just a couple more weeks of crazy busy and then i can relax a bit. Catch up on some stuff. Take the time to ZZzzz...

I received my winter gift from the head of GaiDai this weekend and we had some of it at diner last night. Salmon and capers! Good stuff. And since he is the unseen overlord of the university, there is fortunately no need for me to reciprocate (as there would be if there was a personal element to the relationship). It was very generous of him/them/the institution/whatever.

The tradition of winter gift giving in Japan, called お歳暮 ("oh-say-bo"), dates back quite a ways. One student informs me that it was actually brought over from China and involved the lunar calendar in some way. Nowadays it is done in teh first couple weeks of December. There is also a summer gift giving season called お中元("oh-choo-gen"), usually given in July. That one is often fruit or beer.

I like gifts. I like both the giving and the receiving. I don't, however, like all the obligation and rules. And, as with all things in Japan, there are oh so many obligations and rules. Ah well.

Slammin' Salmon!!












Symian is: could really use another four hours sleep.
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: "See You" - Superfly
Kanji of the Day: お歳暮 ／　おせいぼ　／ winter gift

Nabe! and two desserts!

For our first nabe dinner of the season (well technically our second) we invited Tony and his friend over. The plan had been to play a little Nintendo Wii after dinner, burn off some of those calories, but the TV had other plans. Broken plans, broken TVs. Yargh.

Nabe (pronounced "nah-beh") is the best winter food. I love it. I look forward to it all summer and then in autumn we break out the hotpot and cook us up some veggies and what not.

I was up not too early and not too late and i made some french toast, as is becoming my Sunday custom and we enjoyed our nice morning together. Ulala was feeling much better but not tip-top so i let her rest until breakfast was ready.
Today was a beautiful clear day, after all the grey and rain of yesterday. So Ulala and i took the afternoon and wandered around Tsuruhashi and got some mochi-on-a-stick for dessert and some and some of the best kimchi you can get in Osaka. We didn't really need dessert since Tony brought apple pie (which was delicious).

A new TV has been in the pipeline for some months now, but i feel that tonight Ulala snapped and now we are in the home stretch. Now we just have to find the time to go comparison shopping. Truth be told, we have done so two or three times already but "there might be a sale soon" somehow always seems to curtail our plans and i get TV-blocked by the power of the irrational posing as rationality.

I'm leaning towards a Sony Bravia or a Sharp Aquos but those aren't based on anything more than passing research and commercials. Without Ulala i would probably just get whatever is shiniest.

We got some of these for dessert at a stand that we often pass on Sennichimae-dori:


Symian is: sad for his TV but happy for his filled belly.
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: "Jesus Walks" - Kanye West
Kanji of the Day: 島　トウ／しま

Furuhata Ninzaburo

I was up a bit late but it's OK. It looked grey and rainy but then the sun broke through. later on.

TGIS - Saturday is my Friday and i can't believe what a busy week it was work-wise. Not so many extra lessons but just felt like i had no time whatsoever. Time. That thing that haunts me. Intangible poltergeist picking up pieces of my life and throwing them across the room.

Another plan cancelled was Marlon's Bonenkai (end-of-year party) which we were supposed to attend and which i had been looking forward to all week. When i got home Ulala informed me she was feeling ill. Not to worry. It isn't bird flu, swine flu or spider-monkey flu. All is well with tea, soup, and rest.

On a lighter note, we stayed home and watched TV. With what little free time i have had, i have been sitting down with Ulala and trying to watch some more Japanese TV. Since i can't abide most of the sheer crap that pollutes and assaults on an evening to evening basis from the airways and cables, we opt instead for DVD of series. Remember kids, watch what you choose, not what "they" choose. So we sometimes watch comedy (if it can be called that) and sometimes cop or mystery shows. I have started, at the recommendation of my Japanese teacher, to watch a show called Furuhata Ninzaburo (pictured). It's a mystery series about a super-smart but eccentric detective. Originality is not really a trait ever found in Japanese TV. Ever.

But alas, i found out too late that there are no subtitles. None. My Japanese is still sub-par so I usually watch with Japanese subtitles turned on so i can try and read along. There are no English subtitles usually, which is fine. But none whatsoever? Come on! You're leaving me in the verbal dark here. And in a show that is largely based on him explaining how he put all the clues together a la Holmes. Sheesh.

That leads me to my other complaint about the show. Unlike the majority of mystery programs i grew up watching (almost all American and some British), Furuhata Ninzaburo shows you the murder at the outset. Along with the murderer. Then you watch for an hour while he and the killer battle wits and he wins, showing you how clever he is. But i feel ripped off at not having the chance to try and figure it out along with him (or before, which is the challenge). I have no interest in the story because i already know the answer. My wife tells me that the pleasure for Japanese audiences comes from seeing how he figures it out. I guess i'll have to chalk that up to cultural differences and let it be. Meh.

Symian is: wondering what that guy said.
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: "War With God" - Ludacris
Kanji of the Day: 表　／　ヒョウ／おもて／あらわ

Happy birthday, Hova.

Happy Birthday to rapper and entertainment mogul Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) from Brooklyn, NYC.
From rags to riches. Something I mentioned two years ago when i wished Mr Carter well. Since then he has released two more albums and had large success in the business arena and back in '08 he married Beyonce Knowles.
The reason i take the time to mention this person whom i have never actually met, is that his success in inspirational. From a bad situation with limited choices, he created a man and legend who now stands atop music history as king. When i have trouble in my own rather small life or when i doubt my capability to succeed, i think of Jay-Z and i play some of his better songs, most of which are about beating the odds and believing in himself.

"I don't run rap no more, I run the map." - Jay-Z (Blueprint III)





Symian is: kind of wishing he was in New York. Kind of.
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: Jay-Z - The Blueprint III
Kanji of the Day: 投　トウ／な*げる　to submit, to deliver, to throw down

Thurzzzzday

a.m.:
so hard to get up this morning. pitch black outside. it will be like this at least until the end of January - as long as this school year continues at GaiDai...

the plan today: GaiDai, gym, study, Berlitz, home (where there is a rapidly filling e-mail inbox that needs my attention).

p.m.:
Later today the sky was SO blue. This picture doesn't begin to do it justice.
Remember to look up, people. But not all the time or you'll bump into stuff.




Symian is: eating breakfast in the dark a.m.
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple
Kanji of the Day: 度　／　ド／たび

A little dinner and a lot of dessert

Today was yet another "day off" of running around: Japanese lesson in the a.m. wherein i learned the old Japanese names of the months. December is "teacher-running-around month." I'll drink to that.

Then a lesson with Akiyo out in Itami. She actually did her homework! Our lessons are casual and fun so i don't mind the low pay or travel time but today went extra well for her and i think boosted her confidence in English. She said as much, and that this might encourage her to do more review between our bi-weekly sessions.

And then back downtown for a golf lesson. My back aches now since today we focussed on keeping my spine at a 30 degree angle. yowza. Some serious stretching is in order.

After that, it was a quick pass through home to change and head to dinner with my beautiful wife and our good friend Emi down the street in Tsuruhashi (Korea Town), where we had some elaborate version of chicken soup and, more importantly, an incredibly rich dessert at a famous little dessert place that Ulala tells me has been there since her Dad was in school.

This was dinner:



And THIS was dessert:




Today i left the house at 10:30 and got back at about 10:30. sheesh. But that is how i recharge.

Tonight i am planning a lesson for GaiDai tomorrow that is based on Canada (well, Canadian history, sort of). Nothing exciting, just some reading and discussion. If i teach this course again next semester i will try and infuse more Canadiana into it. This year was really just about getting my bearings and making sure i could cover all that was needed in the course curriculum.


Symian is: running and eating and teaching. Ouch.
Currently Reading: Oishinbo
Currently Listening: Global Underground - Plump DJs
Kanji of the Day: 都　／　ト／ツ／みやこ

Hello December,

My feelings toward you remain ambivalent. You are so festive yet you bring the cold grey of winter. You sneak it in while everyone is busy running around for the end of the year and thinking happy Christmas thoughts and distracted by pretty shiny things. And your days are too short. Work on that, will you?

Here in Osaka it is really still autumn-like. On my way to and from Tanpopo today, i took a couple pictures. One decidedly autumn-esque and one decidedly winter-esque.




No gym today, i decided, because i should try and study Japanese more. I've been lazy recently and i feel bad about it. Hard to balance study and gym and working two jobs. Meh.
New Years is coming up : Goal Season.

Symian is: enjoying the last few drops of autumn wine.
Currently Reading: Time Magazine article "The Decade From Hell"
Currently Listening: Green Day live in Tokyo
Kanji of the Day: 転　／　テン　／ころ*ぶ　to turn, rotate, change

Kameraoke IV

29.Nov.09 (日)



Woke up around 10:30. No alarm. Just sunshine.
Last night, Ulala and i stayed up playing Mario Kart on the Wii until about 1:30. Good times.
Then This morning i woke up and went to the store and got all the fixings for the above pictured french toast break-feast.
It was delicious and awesome. Orange juice should always be drunk from from wine glasses.

Then in the evening we headed over to Zerro for Kameraoke IV. The idea behind Kameraoke is a photo scavenger hunt. This is the fourth installment. Thus, they had four themes based on the four elements. Contestants are given the themes and have two weeks to take all the pictures and submit them. Then Danyk and Ed print, label and hang them for the final event (tonight). People come, look, vote on their favorite from each category. Photos are admired, prizes are given, drinks are drunk, fun is had.
Overall, this year was a big success. The photos were stunning. Thank you to Danyk and Ed for putting so much time and effort into organizing it. Well done! And also to Emi for sitting at the door for four hours taking cover and handing out ballots.








Symian is: looking at all the pretty pictures.
Currently Reading: The Strangest Secret - Earl Nightingale
Currently Listening: Matt Anaka - The Mean Streets of Watsonia
Kanji of the Day: 鉄　テツ

Momiji, Mino, Monkeys

22.Nov.09 (日)

Woke up to bright sunshine and a persistent alarm clock, and feeling MUCH better. Not 100%, but much much better. Amazing what a full day of sleep, soup, and tea will do.

We decided not to cancel our walk in Mino (North of Osaka) with Peter and Yuki (and others). SO, off to Mino to see the leaves and maybe some monkeys. This was probably our last and only chance this year to see the leaves so i was pretty disappointed yesterday when i thought we might have to cancel. My throat was fine but as the day wore on and we enjoyed the leaves and lots of people (and only one brief monkey sighting on a rooftop), my nose started to clog up and get sniffly. Ah well.

Mino was great and we enjoyed the fresh air and easy walk to and from the famous waterfall. I have no idea why this waterfall is so famous and popular. It is lovely, but every year thousands of people come to see it in the autumn and take pictures. I dunno. Like i said, it IS lovely. AND, if you really want to, you can buy "Deep-Fried Maple Leaves" (Momiji no Tempura) at one of about a hundred little stalls and shops along the walk to the falls.







And on the walk back we stopped at a tea house and had matcha and yuzu (japanese citrus fruit) sweets. Perfect for a cool autumn afternoon.




In the evening we had pizza and wine and relaxed at Peter and Yuki's new house in Ishibashi. They just finished having it built. It is absolutely beautiful!! I don't have any pictures of the house itself, but you'll have to take my word for it - stunning. Big ceilings, open spaces, good light and flow from room to room. And they have a wine rack and an espresso machine! Ulala and i are now thinking of buying an espresso machine. Thank you to Peter and Yuki.



Symian is: dreaming of "Nespresso" and dark chocolate, happy he has one more day to recover from this blasted cold.
Currently Reading: いっきゅうさんの話
Currently Listening:　Luther Vandross
Kanji of the Day: 定　テイ／さだ

Sick Sat Sucks.

21.Nov.09 (土）

I'm sick!! What started out as a worrisome scratch in the back of my throat with the cooling of Autumn has progressed into a full blown, throat-on-fire, can't-eat-can't-sleep pain in my, well, throat. I tried to deny it, i tried to use positive language. Instead of saying " i feel sick" i would say "i'm keeping healthy." I was taking my vitamins and drinking my echinacea tea. But alas, to no avail. There's goes my healthy streak. Oh well.

So i am taking the day off work today. My job involves a LOT of talking all day and i barely have a voice now (9 a.m.). It also involves a lot of sitting in small rooms teaching one-on-one with Japanese people, who tend to be germophobic (and who can blame them these days?). So i will keep it to myself if i can, and i will use today to rest and try to sleep, drink lots more tea and, through the cough syrup fog, try to catch up on some much behind blogging.

This is actually the first post of my renewed blogging effort, and i will publish retroactively back as far as the beginning of June `09. Filling in holes of time and space with half-memories and random otherness. Just for my own amusement, i will do so in no particular order. I wonder if Blogger will put them up in order of when i first drafted them or when i am now publishing them. We shall see...

By the way, my thumb is fine. Just a little sore, but once again mobile. No video games for a few days, though, i think.

Symian : thinks the Universe may be laughing at him.
Currently Reading: Because Strangling Isn't an Option... (re-reading)
Currently Listening: Green Day live in Tokyo.
Kanji of the Day: 喉／のど - throat as in 『 喉がめっちゃ痛いよ！！』

Thumbs down.

20.Nov.09 (金)



Last night was cold enough for me to wear my sweater to bed. Which is not helping the scratching in my throat that has been nagging at me, trying to get attention for the last two or three days. I have been healthy for a long time and i plan to stay that way - or at least live under the illusion of healthー until i find out the systemic problem that will no doubt destroy me from the inside...

On top of that, my thumb hurts so much. I have no idea what i did to it but maybe my knuckle-cracking is finally catching up to me. So no gym today despite having a window of time and not having gone yesterday. yuck. =( Is it irony that it was most likely at the gym where i injured my thumb? I wrapped a bandage around it, which was next to useless, so i gave up midday.

Funny moment of the day: I gave the thumbs up to a student and yelped in pain. The look on the student's face was priceless, then we both burst out laughing.


Symian is: falling apart at the thumbs.
Currently Reading: Because Strangling Isn't an Option
Currently Listening: Fake Blood
Kanji of the Day: 柱　ちゅう／はしら

the big sleep

19.Nov.09 (木)

No GaiDai today so i slept in . Didn't mean to sleep quite so late - 10:15, but i guess i needed it. Yesterday i felt i might have a chill and i sneezed a few times, but today i feel good. A bit groggy and my throat is still scratchy but i'm thinking that's just the kind of autumn it is. It took me two cups of coffee and some Colbert Report just to get going.

So, I had a slow morning of work at home and then off to Senri Chuo in the afternoon. A mere two lessons, two office periods and one placement (when we check a new or potential student's level of proficiency in English). So all-in-all a chill yet productive day.

One of the things i'm working on (among the dozens of projects) is re-assessing and updating our Kids Placement system. This involves learning how the old procedure was put together, evaluating its efficiency and then just starting from scratch and re-writing the bloody thing. Wish me luck.

Kids. As Seinfeld so wisely pointed out: "They are here to replace us." I'm just trying to ensure that they can do it in English. I'm like Sesame Street. Which, by the way, is just now celebrating its 40th Anniversary. This blog has been brought to you by the letters "I" and "O" as in "I'm so old!" Argh!! (But i still love Cookie Monster!)

Check out the Sesame Street Homepage





Symian is: groggy after an eleven hour hibernation.
Currently Reading: iPhone: The Missing Manual
Currently Listening: Jay-Z- The Blueprint 3
Kanji of the Day: 調　チョウ／しら／ととの

Extreme snacking!!

5.Nov.09 (木)

As i ate my breakfast:



Bright red sky this morning. I had a good sleep and i didn't toss the blankets like i usually do. Snacking before bed might be the cause of the blanket tossing? Hhmm...

Recently my wife, knowing full well my curiosity towards bizarre snack foods and new flavours, brought home two tins of Extreme Pringles. They were...extreme. The balsamic ones tasted only vaguely of balsamic vinegar, though they were slightly sour as you might expect from vinegar chips. If you read Japanese, this shouldn't be surprising since (as you can see in the closeup picture) it clearly says "contains no balsamico." Intriguing.

Less intriguing were the pepper ones, unless you like inducing coughing fits.





Symian is: urging Pringles to not give up. The perfect flavour of stackable chips is out there, somewhere.
Currently Reading: ?
Currently Listening: ?
Kanji of the Day: 味　あじ　ー　flavour/taste