The Blog of Kerry

2003-06-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

I am quite busy these days. I just got back form Kanazawa, which is the town where Takako went to college. We went up there for a weekend so she could say goodbye to her friends. On the way up I was driving over the limit without a license. The cops stopped me, told me that I was breaking many laws, then let me go with a warning. Takako said `If you were Japanese we would be paying a bucket of money now.` Thank Crom I`m white.
Last weekend we went to Okinawa, where the same trick would not have worked due to the large amount of white folk with very short hair. It was fun, and we had a good time scuba diving. Okinawa is totally unlike Japan. There are no traditional buildings due to US bombing in WWII and typhoons every year. The buildings are all really ugly square reinforced concrete. The locals speak their own language, and the cooking is totally different from Japanese food. It was nice, and I want to go there again.

2003-05-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

Arggg! Now my evil school filterware has blocked blogger. Hence the lack of regular posting. Anyways, I was recognized on the street again today by a blck man in a BMW. He said, `Hey, you on TV!` I am getting famouser every day. Also, surprise/torture TV shows appear to be all the rage. I saw a TV show that told actors that they were going to be surprising people, but in fact they were surprised/made to feel horrible and scared. Poetic justice! Finally, I saw the new Matrix movie today. It was good, but lacked ninjas.

2003-05-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had some really nice weather, so on Sunday Takako and I went to our local park to read and study. We were surprised to find that the normally tranquil park was serving as teh site of a `Yankee` festival or concert. `Yankees` are Japanese folks who apparently think they are black, and try to dress and act accordingly. For example, we saw a girl with that awful yellow-blond crimped long hair, ala weave shops, and a family who had dressed their children in NBA uniforms and gave them basketballs to run around with. There were alot of dreds and ugly jewllrey, and awful Japanese rap and reggae music. These yiggers(?) stand out in a crowd, and are famous for being rude, brash, and stupid. We were very suprised at how shy they acted amonst themselves. They all sat in a big circle around the stage, and then just slept or talked in small groups. One or two people tried to go in the front and dance, but they gave up quickly. In a group of normal japanese folks they would have been showing off and being obnoxious, but here they all held back and acted normal. It was interesting. I also met my first fan. As I was watching this guy ran up to me yelling `It's you! It's you! From TV! Amazing! Super!` etc. He said `Nice to meet you` in English about a million times, took my picture, and kept shaking my hand and hugging me. For about one minute felt like a celeberity, and I realized that it isn`t all that much fun.

2003-05-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

After a long period of not-posting, I have decided to post more often. Here goes.
Last weekend Takako and I went to a japanese gaming group. It was interesting to see nip geeks in their natural environment. The makeup of the group was surprising in that something like 80% of them are real, working people. Not so many college kids, no high school or younger kids. They play this nip game called `The Abyss`(shinnenn). It was a real story-telling game, very different from other RPGs I have played. I think dice were rolled a total of about twenty times in our 6 hour seesion. It is a dark fantasy game, kind of like Elric. The players make new characters every time, so each game is a self-containted story. Campaigns are rare. The GM has to do a lot of work scripting scenes, and player can influence the progress of the game by choosing what kind of dreams their character has. It is tough to descibe, and it was even harder to play. Jap fantasy dorks tend to use a lot of archaic language and grammar, so even Takako was lost at times. Still, it was fun. One guy plays D+D, so i want to try and game with his group at least once before I leave.

2003-05-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Good news! Takako and I will be coming to NYC from June 17 to June 23. We will be apartment hunting, but since Maggie is there that weekend too I think we should have a giant cumbersome D&D reunion game! Takako wants to watch, and perhaps try to play. Too many players! Yeah!
In more serious news, this means that we need a place to stay. Any volunteers? An internet connection I can steal part-time might be helpful fro our search. Likewise, if any of you guys know a place that will be available around then, let me know.
Also, we will be coming to NY for good(or at least until I get my PhD) on August 19th. Help us move in if you are free and nice. We`ll even try to cook dinner, or at least take you out.

2003-04-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

Japanese TV just seems to get more and more cruel. For example, I saw a show on the other night that was the closest thing to the Truman Show that anyone has done to date. It was like Candid Camera, but the set-up took six months. Some comedians decided to play a trick on one of their colleagues. They convinced him to apply to college, since he had only gaduated from high school. However, as a joke, they made a fake college, complete with entrance exams and all the fixings. This poor guy studied for a long time, even going so far as to cheat on the math section to get in. Of course they did things like have a sexy girl walk around with her shirt off in the building across from where he was studying to break his concentration. Then the actual exams were crazy, with all the other students asleep in one, or one test where every correct answer was B. Then, after six months of this, they have an entrance ceremony where the other 300 people are all extras.

2003-04-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

They sing the university song, which contains the university`s name repeated many times in a row. The name makes no sense in english, but it would be like calling your school `Prizsur', such that repeating it you end up saying `Suprise`. The head of the school came out to give the opening speech. It was the comedian who started this mess, but wearing a ridiculous white wig and beard. He said `This university....DOESN`T EXIST!`. Then things exploded, and all the extras jumped to the ground, leaving only the guy they played the trick on. He looked really really upset, but he tried to hide it. He had even moved from Osaka to Tokyo the day before. What a jerky thing to do. This guy really wanted to go to college. I wouldn`t have been suprised if he had gone nuts and attacked them or killed himself. All in all, more proof that ,as Rick said `In Japan they only torture celeberties on TV`.

2003-04-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

Riddle Time
My days are full of broedom, my nights are full of hate, and my bathroom time is full of pain. Who am I?
Answer or post your own!

2003-04-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Kerry's call for "regime change" .
Nice to know I am doing my part.

2003-04-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

I saw Bowling for Columbine last night, and I was appalled that it won the oscar for best documentary. That film was pure propaganda, whereas a documentary usually connotes a more objective film. Also, Moore had obviously answered his own question first, then made a movie to support his hypothesis. The only opposing viewpoints presented were from crazy people, with the exception of Charelton Heston. People will come down on Heston for his race remark, but it is true, to some extent. Moore dismisses claims that racial division are a cause by giving statistics about how Canada has a 13% minority population, but has many less gun deaths. According to Canadian Statistics, in 1996 the Canadian minority population was 11%, and of that 11% about 1/6 was black, and 1/15 was hispanic. On the other hand, according to the 2000 US census the US had a 12% black population and 12% hispanic population. In addition, Moore misrepresents Canadian gun laws, which are much stricter than American gun laws and include the registration of all firemarms. I was also surprised that Moore didn`t address poverty as an issue. He shows that Canada had higher unemployment than Detroit, but he doesn`t emphasize that Canada is a welfare state. He tries to throw opposition to welfare to work programs in the film, but it falls flat after his repeated emphasis on fear. Overall poorly reasoned, very slanted propaganda. However, it was entertaining, and parts were very funny.

2003-04-09T05:28:00.000-07:00

So, as I am coming to live in NYC, I want you guys to help me with finding a place to live. What has worked for you guys? I want a place that is as cheap as I can get, close to NYU or a subway that goes there within thirty minutes, and has two bedrooms. If you know a good apartment finding service or someone who will be moving soon, please tell me.

2003-04-08T00:46:00.000-07:00

Well, grad letters are in, and I am going to NYU. This may be because they were the only ones gracious enough to accept me, or maybe I just really don`t want to go to Harvard. So, I can resurrect the yo-yo club, play D+D, steal Hal, and see you guys again. Yeah! The only bad news is that I have to be in the Masters program for a year before I can enter the PhD program, meaning I have to pay for a year. Grrrr. Oh well, I will see what money I can beg borrow or steal. Takako actually said she will support me, but I would rather not take her money.

2003-04-06T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back from my wonderful honeymoon in New Zealand. I was sucessfully married on March 21st, and then flew to NZ with my new wife the next day. We had a great time, and we beat 37% of Japanese couples by staying married after we left the airport(many airports in Japan have special divorce booths nowadays to handle the high demand). Hopefully tomorrow I will learn of grad school stuff when I get all my back mail. Look at the sight in the previos post`s comments for wedding pictures, and wait until we get to the US in the summer if you want to give us stuff.

2003-03-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Arggg! The inevitable has happened, and I can`t read my blog at work. If you want to host me, mail me at:
(my first name)atmark alpex.ne.jp

2003-03-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

Down in flames(or rather down in very cold muddy water) in stage one of the show. I fell on the obstacle I had the most confidence on, which just goes to show that pride goeth before a fall. Oh well, I`ll try again next time if I am still in Japan.

2003-02-28T19:45:00.000-08:00

Today I ate two octopuses, five squid, and bowed a million times. It`s graduation in Japan! Tomorrow is my obstacle course show, so wish me luck!

2003-02-27T17:59:00.000-08:00

Now that I can finally read japanese I have started the new Murakami Haruki book, `Kafka by the Seashore`. I have gone crazy and decided to translate it. If you want to read my translation, mail me. I will try to do one chapter each weekday, though there will be a break in the middle when I get married. Also, this will be a rough translation, so don`t bitch about it if a translation which someone was paid for is better and/or different. In return I expect Hal to translate Waltharius for me.

2003-02-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Battle Royale in Japanese. It is a hell of a long book, about 1000 pages, and very different from the movie of the same name. The book is much more a 1984-style distopian alternate history novel. It focuses on politics much more than the movie, and it makes a hell of a lot more sense. First, the book is set in 1997(though published in 1999). It assumes that Japan apparently was not defeated in WWII, resulting in a modern facist Japan ruled by a (possibly fabricated) dictator. The goverment is cruel, executing or disappeearing citizens often. The main characters in the book are all determined to fight the govenment for doing horrible things like killing their teacher or parents. There are no sympathetic government types like Beat Takeshi in the movie. Also, the `transfer students` form the film are not not transfer students in the book. Instead there is a good reason why someone who has been in the game before has to do it again(ie, he was so badly injured in the previous battle that he had to miss and therefore repeat the 9th grade. The fact that he was chosen again was bad luck.) I think there is a translation of the bok out in English now through Viz, so you my want to read it and see for yourself. I thought the movie was OK, but the book was much better.

2003-02-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

I can read my page again. Yeah!
Still training hard, lots of inching along ledges. Note- this inching means that there is a ledge approx. 4 inches wide. Think of a 4x4 board nailed to a wall, then cut off the bottom of the wall and suspend it over a pit filled with water. Then add another 4x4 about a foot above the first, to which I have to switch in the middle. I have been practicing on I beams, and I think I can do this part pretty well. Of course, that is on stage 3 of the course, so i have to not screw up the first two stages first. usually about 5% of the contestants get to the third stage, and about 1%(1 person per show) on average get to the 4th and final stage. Only one person in the history of the show(ten showsx100 people per show) has even finished the course, and he was an Olympic gold-medalist in men`s gymnastics. So, if I win I will be shocked.

2003-02-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

Can anyone read this page? If so, you are better off than me.

2003-02-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

The camera crew following me thing went pretty well. My jerk Principal didn`t let them film me at school, but they got me practicing gymnastics, weightlifting(i set a new personal record, squatting 420 lbs.), and practicing shootfighting. The camerman guy was really nice, and I had a good time talking with him on the train.
Yeah! I was shown on TV the other night as part of the `Road to Sasuke` program. I thought it would be a bunch of people who had tried out, with maybe a `Who will make it?` kind of tagline, but instead it was just me and this TV personality. The line for me was something like `Among English teachers in Japan, there is THIS MAN!`. It was funny. Everyone I know in japan seems to have seen the show, which means that it is pretty popular I guess. Now I just have to train hard for the real thing next weekend. If any of you have advice on how to train for inching along a very thin ledge using your hands, please tell me.

2003-02-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Anyways, I did well in the interview, pulling out trick after trick while the other guys looked on dumbly. The next best act after me was a fire-figher demonstrating ways to carry dead people or something. Not very telegenic. I went away thinking I had a decent chance. Then, on Monday they called me back, saying that they want to follow me around with a camera crew to film my daily life. So, though I have no sure word yet, it looks like chances are good that I will be on national TV in Japan. Maybe I can use this as a stepping stone to becoming a talento, or TV personality. It is like a dream come true. Wish me luck!

2003-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night I got a phone call on my home phone. This was strange, because the phone only got turned on about two weeks ago and I haven`t told any of my friends the number yet. It turns out it was this guy from a Japanese TV station. I had applied to this obstacle course game show a few weeks before, and this guy told me that they were having audtitions for the show on the following day(sunday), and that I should come and be prepared to do a `PR performace`, have an interview, etc. I freaked out at first, since this was less than 24 hours notice. I got my juggling stuff, bought some giant knives at the dollar store, dusted off my yo-yo case, and off I went. There were about 40 people, all guys, most surpisingly normal-looking. One guy was in a full-out ninja outfit, complete with aluminum ninja-to that you can buy in Chinatown. He and I hit it off pretty well. He turned out to be a total weirdo, basically like me when I was in fifth grade. He practiced jumping off his roof, hiding in bushes, breathing through bamboo while underwater, and other `practical techniques`.

2003-02-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Back to life! I have been super busy lately with a number of things, to be listed in semi-chronological order. First, I had to make my wedding invitations last week. Takako and I asked an artist friend of hers to design cards for us. She did, and we got them. Though they are really cool, they required some assembly. A lot of assembly. So, I was cutting something other than my flesh with a box cutter for once. It took forever to get all the cards made, and Takako was freaking out intermittenetly due to loads fo stress at her job. Not a fun week. That was most of last week.

2003-01-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

A torn muscle in my leg has kept me from training this week. It sucks, and hurts when I walk up and down stairs. I should be able to start again next week, and you can be sure I`ll tap out more quickly next time. In my abundant free time I have been studying and reading Dragonball. Those comics are funny as hell. For a kids` manga they have plenty of killing, the usual pervert ancient master, and death of main characters. All good stuff. My favorite scene so far is were a girl hides a fist-seized diamond in her snatch, then gives it to another character as a present. He even sniffs it! That is high quality kids` entertainment. I just hope the Dragonball Z storyline doesn`T start too soon, because that will signal the end of my reading.
Sensible people and those who are offended should stop here.

I also want you guys` advice on an idea I have. I was talking to some students at the bad school I go to on mondays. Some of the said that their friends want babies but don`t want to get married. They mostly want kids because they think they`re cute. Now, since foreign men want to sleep with young(but at least 18) girls, and 1/2 white babies are double cute, I figure I can charge the men to sleep with the girls while simultaneously charging the girls to be impregnated with an extra-cute foreign baby. I, the useless middleman, do nothing and rake in the dough. Good idea?

2003-01-19T19:03:00.000-08:00

These days I am training hard for a tournament I will fight in in April. I have been sparring for an hour five days a week, plus grappling, wrestling, kickboxing, jujutsu, and gymnastics classes. I am putting on weight again, trying to get up to 225 or so for the fight. Sparring a lot has really improved my grappling, but it is hard to work on the finer points of my technique when I outweigh my opponent by 50lbs. Plus, none of them work out, which puzzles the hell out of me. How can you want to be a fighter and not try to get stronger? Oh well. As a result of my training I have little time to do stuff that is interesting to write about. Sorry.
Wedding preparations proceed apace. We have asked an artisit friend of Takako`s to design our wedding inviatations, and this weekend we will choose dresses, cakes, funny clothes for me, food for the reception, etc ad nauseum. At least I only have to do this once. The fun part about getting married will be going to New Zealand(and maybe Australia) for our honeymoon. It looks beautiful, sounds cheap, and I can play wiht dolphins if we go scuba diving.

2003-01-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

The best part of the evening was when Takako`s Dad and brother got a little drunk and started with the crazy talk. First her brother tells me that the freemasons control the world, and are orchestrating the upcoming war with iraq. He went on to inform us that the masons were behind the french and american revloutions, and that they keep efficient pollution-free vehicles a sercret to protect oil intrests. His fiancee told us, wide-eyed, that if you search the internet for freemasons you get hundreds of sites telling you all about their evil plans. At first I thought it was a joke, but they appeared in ernest. I recommended that they read Foucault`s Pendulum. Hopefully that will cure them.
However, perhaps feeling a need to top ihs son in the insane category, her father started telling us that the Jews control 75 per cent of world trade. He went on rambling about Jews for a bit, while I tried hard not to laugh. Rick will indeed enjoy it here should he get accpeted to the JET program.

2003-01-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Japanese New Year`s
Well, I got back to Japan in time for new years. New Years is the biggest family holiday in Japan. It mostly involves watching a lot of really bad TV specials, eating really bizzare New Years food, and going to a shrine or temple to pray for good luck for the new year and throw money. You also have to say several long set phrases to everyone you meet, a very boring and tedious process.
Anyways, as it is a big family thing I went to Takako`s folk`s house to eat the aforementioned weird food and meet her extended family. In her case, that means an uncle, a cousin, a grandmother, and her folks and brothers. She has one more uncle, and three more cousins, but they didn`t come. This was all a surprise to me, as I think everyone has a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles. I think people die early in her family, too. Her dad has had two strokes and cancer, and she only has one living grandparent. It seems lonely compared to my family gatherings, but everyone was very nice. Her grandmother`s house is like a museum, with paintings hundreds of years old on the walls, and antique wood carvings, furniture, and serving ware. She even had cool handpainted soup bowls from the Edo period(250 years ago), and actually uses them!

2002-12-30T22:03:00.000-08:00

Back from Thailand, sans intestinal problems. The best part of my vacation was watching Lord of the Rings, or perhaps seeing a gaint manta ray about ten feet from me. Still, it is good to be home.

2002-12-30T22:02:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoooo! I got my GRE subject test scores back, and I got a 910 on my Bio test! That is out of 990, and super good. Harvard here I come.

2002-12-25T01:21:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! I am in Thailand with Takako, and it is great. We are learning scuba diving, and the ocean here is beautiful. It is also about 90 degrees, making it feel distinctly unlike christmas. I am having a great uh...'East German Police" uniform made for me, as well as a really cool trenchcoat. Super cheap, and they will even make an armband for the uniform! All is well.

2002-12-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

Wedding date is fixed! I am getting married on Friday, March 21st, in Otsu, Shiga prefecture, Japan. Come to my wedding!

2002-12-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

Today I leave for Thailand. I`m going with Takako to Phuket for ten days of beach, jungle, and super beautiful coral reef scuba diving. We are getting licensed so that we can dive without supervision. Sounds like fun memorization of nitrogen tables and such. Also finished my final two grad applications today. I wish them would magically let me know whether or not I get in instantly, but alas, I must wait for months. At least it is much faster than undergrad. Anyways, have a good winter break/christmas/made up holiday for your race!

2002-12-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

I had a great weekend, followed by 16 hours of sleep. Here`s what happened.
First, i had an English camp at my school. 40 first-year kids and 8 foreign teachers, plus some middles school students who are interested in joining our program. It was tons of fun, and I got to watch my students write kanji with their butts in the air. Then, on Sunday I went to see Kraftwerk in Osaka. Man they were perfect. All in the same outfit( a dark gray shirt and pants), all in front of consoles, no speaking, no emotion, just great electronic music. Takako`s comment was 'They look like Nazis'. They had a display screen behind them that showed awesome videos for each song. The video for Computer World was just giant numbers in green old-school font. Super cool. The videos for Tour De France, Autobahn, and TEE were all propaganda films for the things mentioned in the songs. It was one of the best concerts I have been to. Squarepusher opened, and he was likewise great. Lots of good noisy stuff, plus some that was a little more dancy. He had a guitar that made a noise that almost exploded my head.
The weird part was seeing the nip fans. No one really dressed up, no red shirts with lipstick or robot outfits. A little disappointing.

2002-12-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I have submitted everything for four of my six grad applications(harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Columbia)! Joy joy joy!

2002-12-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

CNN has once again gone mad. This time, however, their madness is merely a reflection of the idiocy that is bibble-babble. Read it. Why must people say such stupid things? 'Bridge the hope gap'. This is being said in seriousness by high officials in the most powerful country in the world. We may not have a gay president yet, but we've apparently got the Sec. of State. Grrr. Also, I love their bullshit about how they want to implement 'local solutions', like warlords, royalty, and stoning women to death for reading. What the middle east needs is some well-placed nukes and oilmen in radiation suits. That would bridge the radioactive towel gap.

2002-12-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Snow has come to my mountain village. Next perhaps trhe snow monkeys will be driven by hunger to eat my students. In other news, looks like the wedding day will be March 21st, a Friday and Japanese holiday. You see, the 23rd is a bad luck day, but the 21st is a good luck day. Yeah, good luck. I also played some paintball this weekend, and was slain by an elf.

2002-12-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

I took the very hard Japanese Proficiency test level 1 yesterday, and I am fairly sure I did not pass. The listening section was easy, but the grammar was a killer.

2002-11-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well, things are back to disgusting lovey-dovey normal with my woman. She realized that she was upset due to being locked out and not having showered(weird woman* cleanness thing). So, wedding is still go, likely on March 23rd, in a nice resturaunt in the middle of our local red light district. Talk about romantic! In case you are wondering, if you read this blog you are probably invivted, if you feel like coming to Japan. Due to the fact that weddings in Japan are super expensive( over $10K), I can't spring for airfare, but I do gaurentee a place to stay for anyone who comes.
I appreciate all the advice, and will likely ask for more in the future. I think one commentor is a little bit too dramatic, though perhaps he wishes the best.
Wedding anecdote: While reserving the place Takako mentioned that I have preformed a wedding here as a preacher. This made the orgainzer's eyes light up, and they started talking about how many people want a forgein minister who can speak Japanese, and how hard they are to find. They basically offered me a job in the middle of our reservation! A bit gauche, but still funny. I might do it, since the money is insanely good, and it doesn't take much time.

2002-11-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

Cont. from below
This argument went late into the night, and ended with her being mad because I kept pointing out the obvious flaws in her non-reasoning. That was two days ago. Yesterday the fight was continued, and I got mad after a while. When i say mad, I mean really mad. She was acting in a way that made me think Dave Sim's brain-sucking arugment may be right sometimes. Now, most of you have never seen me really mad. I am told it is like I become a different person. Apparently this was how Takako felt, because she got really scared, started shaking, and wouldn't let me come within ten feet of her without curling into a ball and crying uncontrollably. Now I wasn't threatening violence or anything, she was just scared by my change in aspect. I stopped being mad shortly thereafter, and eventually coaxed her into letting me give her a hug. Now she says she wants to get to know me better before getting married, which freaks me out. However, the possibilty that we might get married and then she tries to mind-control me is also very disturbing. Help/advice requested.

2002-11-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

Woe is me! More fighting with my lady. This time it was my inability to apologize for something that wasn't my fault. Here's the long version:
Takako drove me to the station in the morning. When we left the house, I locked the door like always. However, she had forgotten her keys, so she had to go to her school without showering etc. I had gymnastics that night, so I wouldn't get home until 9:30. I called her, and she told me that she was locked out. I offered to come home early to let her in, but she said she was OK. Finally, when I come home she seems fine, and we talk normally. After a bit she seems to be getting mad, but I don't know why. Then she explodes, saying I'm a huge jerk and totally insenstive. Why? Because I didn't apologize. She even admits that I didn't do anything wrong, but since if I didn't exsist this wouldn't have happened I should have know to apologize. She also yelled at me because I can't read her mind often enough, ie, I always try to ask her about stuff instead of assuming things, and I often tell her that if i do something she doesn't like she should tell me, so I can stop or at least talk about it. Her reply is that if i were sensitive/kind i wouldn't have to be told.

2002-11-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I was just reading eugenics.net, and I was thinkning 'Wow, a nice eugenics site with no racial bias' until I went to the second page of thier table of contents. There I find Jewish conspiracies, etc. Why? I just want to purify the (human) race. All these studies they site on eugenics.com keep showing higher Asian and Jewish IQs. Therefore the obvious eugenic conclusion is make the Jews and Asians breed more! Hate to tell these guys, but if they want to cite that data then they should be out there convincing folks down at the deli to have more kids.

2002-11-14T20:59:00.000-08:00

So, since I have found a site I can see that is full of whacky racist papers I have been reading them. These people always start out saying things I can agree with, like people should be rational and strong. Then they always bring up the Jews, or blacks, or the white race out of the blue. Why bother? It seems so self-contradictory. "We believe in science. Mud people yada yada." I want to see some scientific proof for this insanity. They keep saying that the mud races will weaken the whites, destroying the race/world. If white people are so great then why don't they stop it? How could Germany lose WWII? Why do most white people, like most people period, seem to be total morons? These racist types should be forced to watch the film 'The California Reich' with me and then justify the behaviour of these 'racially superior' individuals. White people screw up just as often as everyone else, and are equally capable of holding retarded views. Reading racist sites will convince any right-thinking person of this in a hurry. I think someone should start a non-racist pro-eugenics will to power type group. Rick? You and Zeke could team up, and I'll help.

2002-11-13T19:18:00.001-08:00

Wow! I just finished reading the Turner diaries after finally finding an unblocked site that contained them. It was surprisingly like listening to Hal and Rick talk, only with more genocide and slightly more racism. It fails on the level of propaganda in that it produces no evidence of the inferiority of blacks and the evil of jews other than "look around you! It's obvious!". I think that a lot of the attacks on modern society sound just like any other far-right rant(for examples listen to Rick and Hal talk about the cesspool America has become), so if you imagine that plus a lot of racism and genocide then you have the Turner diaries. Basically they are an alternate history wherin a shadowy racist organization overthrows the US government, wipes out all non-White races, and creates a 'Great Eastern Waste' out of China, complete with bands of roving mutants.

2002-11-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

It is a first peron diary from the point of view of an electrical engineer who is a member of this group. It does provide insight into the mind of wacko racist types, and shows why someone might join such a group. I am sure some people are inspired by this book to go join Stormfront or something, but it is really too full of factual errors to impress anyone who thinks about it for a while. Much better is the Stormfront essay 'White Power-We've got it', which sows that basically, white people do control the country, and that doesn't achive any of the goals that the racist community has. The Stormfront solution is that Nazism is the answer, since just ebing white is obviously not enough.

2002-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

Other good news- I will very likely enter NYU or another NY university for my graduate work. I will very probably get into at least NYU, and unless I get accepted at Harvard or MIT then I will be in the city. So, I can hang out with everyone, play D+D, and all sorts of fun. If Hal is allowed to leave(don't let him!) then I will run some sort of game, provided that someone else runs a different game.

2002-11-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Details have been requested, so here they are.
I had planned to scout out a resturaunt beforehand and then scan thier dessert menu so I could insert marrying me as a menu item. That way after we finish eating I could ask for the menu(having prepped the waiter beforehand), and give it to Takako asking her to pick whatever she liked. However, I couldn't prepare due to being sick for days. So, instead I got a ring box, then wrote a sappy letter asking her to marry me, which I put into the (non-ring containing) box. I gave it to her after dinner, and she looked happy, cried, and said yes. No ring or anything, since she said earlier that she doesn't want another one(we have rings from our anniversary last year).

2002-11-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

Finally a new post! I am back from NY, where I had a wonderful time until I was crippled by a Hal-induced fit of vomiting on my last day. Thanks everyone for helping me around and letting me sleep on your floors, beds, and couches. You are all great.
In other news, yesterday was Takako's birthday. I took her to see Phantom of the Opera in Japanese. It sounds much better in English, and they did it in White-people drag, which looked really weird. I proposed to her over dinner yesterday night, and she accepted. More news on wedding times and places as I learn them. Probably around March or May, definently in Japan. Start saving! I'll probably give free access to our house for any friends and family who are coming. After the wedding we will spirit away to place X for our honeymoon, but you guys can use our place as you base for exploring Japan anyways.

2002-10-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

Last entry before I leave tomorrow. I haven't been posting since i want to just talk to you guys. I'll see (most of) you in a day or two.

2002-10-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, here is my flight info:
Asiana Airlines flight Z0222, from Inchon, Korea, arriving at JFK at 7:30pm, Oct 30th. NOT Oct 29, that was wrong. I leave on the 4th, at night.

2002-10-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

New mail address is confired as working. Since I lost my address book again, please mail me if you haven't gotten mail from me yet.
(my first name)@alpex.ne.jp

2002-10-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! I have confirmed tickets for NYC! I arrive on Tues, Oct 29, at night(I'm not sure of the time yet). I will come into JFC, so you can come out to meet me by subway if you so desire. I will be in the city for five days, leaving on the 4th. That means I am begging all NYC folks to wrangle me into whatever role-playing is going on. Also details about Halloween jive would be appreciated. I have a new, hopefully working, e-mail account at alpex.ne.jp. The prefix is simply kerry, followed by that at mark. My old eboxmail.net account appears to be dead for the time being at least. Anyways, i am happy that I can see many of you soon! [Dan- I won't be able to get down to Atlanta, since I have to meet professors during most of the days.]

2002-10-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

I am reading 'On the Road'. It makes me realize that I would have hated Beatniks almost as much as I hate hippies. Maybe there is some movement for crappy people in every decade. Good quote though, something like 'We were Arabs coming to blow up New York'. Funny how little things change in 50 years. In other notes, since Adan has told me there are no banana kit-kats in the US I know what to bring you guys for presents. Any other requests? Also, my mail is dead again, but hopefully it will be back soon. I also should have a less buggy account in about a week or so.

2002-10-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

Girlfriend Amok
Well, Takako is going nuts. She has evolved suspiciousness to the point where she wants to read any mail i receive on my cellphone, check my phone numbers list for girl names, and then make me eliminate said girl names. Now, I have had a bad track record before, but I have been straight and faithful since last Nov. The trigger for her nutsness was the fact that recently some of my students have been mailing me. Nothing fishy, just regular retarded high school kid stuff, or asking for help on homework or whatever. I hide/delete the mail because Takako is paranoid. However, I don't do a good enough job, so she goes nuts. Also, recently I am super busy, leaving no possible time for cheating anyways, and she knows this. So, tell me what you think. Am I right, ie, she's nuts? Or is this reasonable behaviour?

2002-10-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I am coming to NY!! I have a prof who won't write a recommendation unless I come to see her, so I am coming. Looks like Oct. 25-Nov. 3rd or so. Calling all good people to let me stay with them and play D+D or any other games. I want to go apple picking too, if i get into town early enough.

2002-09-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while due to the fact that I have a Biology GRE test on Nov 9, then a really hard Japanese test in Dec. In addition I am applying to grad school, which is time consuming and really really scary. So, look for very sporadic posts until after Dec 4 or so. If you are dying to see my writing then please check out the Story Blog link.

2002-09-04T22:38:00.001-07:00

I went to China and Hong Kong around the beginning of August. I arrived in Hong Kong at 3 in the morning due to the fact that that was a super cheap flight, for obvious reasons. I went to my hotel to meet my friends from Atlanta who had arrived a day before. The hotel was in the center of Kowloon, the not exactly Hong Kong part of the mainland that is near HK Island. It was cool, because our hotel was literally next door to the Chunking mansions, site of Chunking express. Loads of Indian guys selling fake watches on the street, crazy neon everywhere, and lots of network gaming centers filled with geeks playing into the night. It was cool, but it looked exactly like Chinatown, which took away from the exotic feel I expected.

2002-09-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

I slept, and the next day we went out to many many shops, because my friends are die-hard materialists whose goal was to buy loads of DVDs, VCDs, AMPs, GRUs, and other acronyms. I too was bedazzled by three dollar VCDs, so I bought a bunch of HK films and some old Japanese stuff. We spent another two days in Hong Kong, mostly making remarks about how it didn�ft meet our expectations. Then we flew to Beijing, me taking a different plane because I am a cheap-ass bastard. Beijing was great. Right away my desire to play Marco Polo surfaced as I smugly noted the absence of other white people in the airport. I rode a bus into town, and along the way the conductor pulled over to the side of the road in order to have a loud Chinese shouting match with a rowdy passenger. No fisticuffs developed, but it was fun to watch. I got off somewhere vaguely near my hotel and spent twenty minutes buying a map and trying to ask for directions by writing kanji.

2002-09-04T22:36:00.001-07:00

As I had to do this often in my trip I will tell you a few things about the differences between Japanese kanji and real Chinese. First, Mainland Chinese people use different kanji from HK kanji, in that mainland kanji are easier, i.e., they have less strokes for the same character. Japanese kanji are somewhere in the middle as far as how hard they are. Since Japanese grammar is not written in characters, but Chinese grammar is, I had a difficult time showing complex ideas. Luckily I was mostly writing things like �gWant 100 dumplings�h or �gMore water please�h, so it wasn�ft too hard to get my point across. Chinese folks thought it was either bewildering or hilarious that I could read and sort of write but couldn�ft speak at all. My friends were just glad I could read the menus, though my menu translations came out to stuff like �gIt has noodles and beef, and it is probably fried,�h or else �gThat might have vegetables and something about a long journey�h. It was fun. Also, the Chinese menus have lower prices than the English menus in restaurants where both were available.

2002-09-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Our first day in Beijing we saw street vendors selling grub and cricket shish-kabobs, a girl�fs clothes shop called �gUgly Girl�h, and a giant contraption that involved people being bungee-flung into the air while inside a steel cage. It looked crazy and dangerous, but no died while we were watching.

To be continued�c.

2002-09-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

Back at last!
Well, I had fun in China, fun with Rick, and fun not going to work for two months but getting paid anyways. Now I am back at school, and therefore will be posting and emailing again. I will fill in the blanks as to my summer activities as I find time.

2002-07-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Summer vacation has begun! That means very sporadic updates, as I will not be at school and therefore not have internet access. Have a good summer everyone! More in a about three weeks, after I get back from China and Rick leaves.

2002-07-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is in response to a very long thread on Agnieszka's blog. So, go there for details on what I am talking about.
The problem is that Dave and his lawyer friend seem to think that the legal system always works. They mention many examples of people being saved/protected by the law, and, therefore, the government, but no counterexamples of people being screwed by the law. Both of them would seem to agree that more law is better, as long as it protects people from harm. A good example of this is Dave's statement that you should have to fill out forms if you want to have a picnic. However, I beleive there is a large body of evidence* that shows that laws are often made to benefit crafty lawyers and those who can afford them. Most people do not have the funds or experise to wriggle around laws and therefore enjoy less freedom and less protection thanm those who can afford good lawyers. Moreover, I believe that in most cases more government and more laws decrease the amount of happiness each person enjoys, either through obfuscating what should be simple or by raising the costs of living, monetary and otherwise. So, I think that less laws are genrally speaking better than more laws.
*-sorry, no refernces on hand. Please provide.

2002-07-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

I need a good debate topic fro an English camp we will have this weekend. Suggestions welcome. Remember that these kids don't know jack about current events or world news, and they are Japanese so things like abortion or first amendment rights are not really issues.

2002-07-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I took third place in the West Japan Karate Championships! I had a lot of fun, and I got to hit people in the face a bunch. I kicked one guy too hard, so now my foot is purple and I limp. I get to go to the national tournament in October, where someone will probably knock me out. Here I lost by decision, and it was a little fishy, since I hit my opponent more than he hit me. I don't know the criteria used, though, so who knows. I was happy at my performance, and I kept my cool much better than the last time I entered a tournamnet. Plus, since the tournamnet was in Shikoku I have now been in all four of the big islands of Japan. My advice is avoid Shikoku. Nice scenery, no people. I got to meet Kari for a short dinner. It was nice to see her again, but I fear I was tired and slightly dazed, so ididn't make the best conversation. She gave me lots of cool books to read, so I will report as I finish them. Due to my foot being hurt I can't train for two weeks, so the books will come in handy.

2002-07-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Now it is the weekend once more. On Monday I will tell you how my kickboxing tournament went.

2002-07-11T20:15:00.001-07:00

School festival is now over, and I only have one more week of school until summer vacation. It is nice to know that teachers feel the same way as students about the end of school. I am hopefully going to HK and China soon, but I don't have tickets yet due to my lazy friends not telling me when they are going. School festival highlights:
One class did a great performance of Alice in Wonderland. I was surprised by the amount of work they put into making costumes and sets. All of the classes do plays, adn all of them at least try to a decent job. It makes up for the lack of a drama club. Worst play was a fucked-up version of Peter Pan II, which is something that everyone should agree to forget instead of making a crappy play out of.

2002-07-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

The calvary battle event was awesome, as I expected. Kids beating the crap out of each other with rolled-up newspapers. Only one bloody nose this year, and a lot of bruises. As a male teacher it was my job to jerk kids down off their 'horses', ie, classmates, when they were out. It was fun to do, and more fun to watch.
The dances were all lame, excpet one class which actually did an origianl performance. Everyone else just copied their dance from a video. Two classes picked the same video, and therefore did the same dance, which just made them look dumb. Basically everything you may have heard about Japan crushing creativity is true, so the original kids lost and some lame kids won.

2002-07-10T00:30:00.000-07:00

I saw Episode II. So, this is way late for you guys, but fresh for me. I beg your indulgence.
Good stuff-
The jedi were cool, especially that giant blue guy and the snake man. Yoda with a light saber was all I wanted it to be. Well, OK, maybe I wanted it a little better lit. I think it is great that Yoda uses kung fu, and that Chirstopher Lee's light saber has a French grip. In fact, Christopher Lee was awesome, just for being himself. Amidala's nipples were likewise great, ditto for her heaving bosom in the 'Our love is forbidden' crap scene. General Yoda ordering around stormtroopers was cool and good dramatic irony. The cloners' world was neat, but they should have been fish people, not bipeds, or else their world should have had land and low gravity, making for a cool fight between Jango and Obi Wan, since Obi Wan would be able to leap like John Carter. I liked Jango using all the cool weapons on his suit, a lesson his son will forget and die like a punk. Wat Tambor of the Techno Union was the greatest mariginal character ever, since he makes computer noises in the middle of his speech for no reason. That little rock-bug guy was cool too, as was his Bronx cheer language. The cat monster gets a prize for smartest beast, since it knows to only attack Natalie Portman's clothing.

2002-07-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

We've been having school festival, hence no blog. So far we have had the chorus competition for the sophmores, and the juniors' and seniors' plays. The plays were mostly awful, but the math/science class kids did a really good job. They are much less stiff tahtn the regular kids, adn they are more willing to try hard and risk making a fool out of themselves. I respect that, and it also makes for much better acting. The English course kids' play sucked ass, but it was in English so no but me understoodf that it sucked. Play anecdote: We have an exchange student from Michigan who is here for two weeks. She was watching the kids practicing their play. At one point a group of firefighters looking for people in the rubble of the WTC give up and go home, leaving one guy who keeps looking for survivors. The girl from Michigan started crying, causing the students to change their play. I mean, how dumb are they? Don't they read the news?(answer: No, of course not.)
Still tomorrow is the sports festival. More interesting, and more fun to watch.

2002-07-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

I did wrestling for the first time at my new dojo yesterday. It was fun. Contrary to some reports I was not anally penetratede with a weight pin or anything else. It was fun, but looked hard for the other guys, the heaviest of whom I outweighted by 60 pounds. Sports have weight classes for a reason. It was impossible for my partner to do any techniques on me, and then we had to do ab exercises where one person sits on the other person's back. This was difficult because my partner kept collapsing, and finally we just gave up.
At school festival preparations proceed apace. It is fun to watch the kids get better at their dances and things, and people have been running around the halls with their legs tied together. This is the best time of the year, since I have no class(ha ha) and the kids are doing stuff that is fun to watch.
In other news, some friends of mine from Atlanta, Dan and Eric, are going to Hong Kong later this month, so I will go there and meet them. We will probably go to the mainland to see the great wall, and maybe travel to Tibet or Mongolia if we have time. It should be fun. I'm also going to take Takako to Korea soon, and maybe propose if I can set up something suitably cheesy and romantic.

2002-07-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

Good news- I have mail again. I haven't got my old messages yet, but I should have them soon. As it is, I can now recieve mail at my previous address:
kerry at eboxmail dot no spam net. Remove the no spam, of course.
Yesterday I had judo and kickboxing. In judo there was this middle-aged guy who was fast, strong, and threw my ass all over the place. I only got him once, but even once made me proud. It feels really good to be thrown well. The amazement at the perfet execution of the technique totally supercedes any pain. Also, a judo throw well done hurts much less.

2002-07-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

Double yeah! I found a way to defeat my censorware by using google's cache! Erin, you might want to try it as well. Now I can read Kari's blog, or at least the cached version.

2002-07-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Takako is feeling better. Thanks for the advice.

In other news, these days my school is gearing up for the school festival. This is an annual event with two parts: the cultural festival and the sports festival. The cultural festival is where all the classes* in the school put on plays or shows. They get a budget, and spend all their time after school making costumes and rehearsing. The plays are judged by some teachers on content and performance. Some classes write their own plays, but most of them adapt fairy tales or musicals and such. The kids all really get into it, and they try hard to win. It makes me wish that they applied themselves to my class in a similar fashion. Last year I was asked to be an American soldier in a WWII play, and it was cool because I got to shoot and kill the hero of the play, providing for a nice tragic ending.

*class= homeroom class. In Japanese school, the kids are divided into groups of 40, each of which is a homeroom. The kids in a homeroom stay in the same room all day, and we teachers go to them. The have all of their classes together and are supposed to bond.

2002-07-01T18:21:00.001-07:00

Sports festival overshadows the cultural festival, though. Sports festival is two days to the cultural festival's one. The first day is actually sports. They run relays and races, and then play a bunch of crazy sports. They have five legged races(like three legged race, but with four people), centipede race(four people in single file with their feet tied together. Like a vertical version of the above), giant jump rope(the whole class jumping one rope. The class that jumps the most times wins), tug-of-war, and my favorite, cavalry battle. Calvary battle is the most nuts thing they do, and would never be allowed in a sane country concerned with the welfare of its students. Three students make the 'horse', and one kid rides on top of them. The kid on top gets two tightly rolled duck-taped newspapers and a helmet and safety goggles. The helmet has two paper balloons on top. The rules- If your balloons are popped, or the rider touches the ground, you are out of the game. Last man standing wins. This is a very violent game, with many bloody noses and one broken leg last year. Those rolled-up newspapers are hard, and the kids don't seem to aim for the balloons, going for the opponent's face instead. The girls' match is the most fun to watch, for obvious reasons.

2002-07-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

The second day is the cheering competition. Here kids dress in strange costumes they made and dance to some crappy pop songs. This is what they spend the most time, so the dances are usually well choreographed and everyone performs in unison. They do cool marching stuff, and the costumes are great. Last year the winning group made panda costumes that were super cute, so this year half of the classes are dressing as animals. I got one of the panda suits from a kid and used it as my Halloween costume last year. It made me super popular with the ladies, and surprised all of my friends.

2002-07-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

Overall these festivals are just a really blatant means of social conditioning. All of the sports are those in which the group acting together is most important. It encourages the kids to train and act as one, and rewards cooperation over individual effort. The same goes for the other competitions. The dances make everyone move in synch, and they never have solo performances like we might have in the states. The weird thing is that people don�ft realize that this is the real purpose of the events. The kids just think they are having fun, when really they are being molded into drones incapable of individual effort. Even the dances and stuff they do are mostly copied from videos of old festivals, or other school�fs festivals, or set dances from movies or music videos. Creativity and individuality are suppressed, as is usual in Japan. It makes me so glad I didn�ft live here as a child, and cements my desire to return to the states in order to have kids.
However, it is fun to watch. Especially those panda suits.

2002-06-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Best study ever! Semen acts as anti-depressant. Now I know what to do when someone I know says they are feeling down....

2002-06-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

I saw a cool Chagall exhibition in Kyoto on Saturday(before Takako flipped out). It was really cool. I had seen some of his work before, but they had a lot of pieces I had never seen. I love that he just puts flying people, donkeys, chickens, and whatever else he feels like into his art. It was fun to look at, which is something that I don't often say about museums.
Episode II was here as a sneak preview, so now I have to wait two more weeks!

2002-06-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Calling all girls! No, really, this is an 'I need your help' post. This weekend Takako went nuts and I didn't get to see Episode II, even though I bought my tickets a week ago and have been looking forward to it for months. Now, normally she is really stable, but she has recently started on birth control pills. So the question is, when you first started taking the pill did any of you experience mood swings, possibly extreme? She weighs about 96 pounds these days, so the effects may have been more pronounced with her. It was really crazy, and hard to deal with. Let me know, because if it isn't the pill I want to get her to a shrink fast.

2002-06-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Weekend! Tomorrow I get to see Episode II at last!!! I am excited, as I have avoided all information about this movie, so I hope to be surprised. No one has launched a rant about it, so i assume it is better than Episode I.

2002-06-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Following the lead of AK, I will now list what I eat in an attempt to bore you all. The easy part is that I eat the same stuff everyday, so you only have to get this once.
Breakfast-
4 boiled egg whites
1 piece of toast with blueberry jam
1 cucumber
500 ml low-fat milk

Lunch 1-
1 orange
10-15 Cherries(in season)
Shake
500 ml low-fat milk
1 banana
50 g protein powder (chocolate flavor)
1/2 cup fiber cereal

Lunch 2-
Bento
streamed spinach
150 g meat(beef or chicken)
dumplings/spagetti/stir fry veggies
1/2 cup white rice with paprika
2 egg and veggie omlet-roll thing (tamagoyaki)
1 carrot
500 ml low-fat milk

Lunch 3-
shake (see above)
1 kiwi fruit

Dinner 1-
This is the only variable meal. It always includes a meat (~300 g), carbohydrate source(pasta or rice or potatoes), and a bunch of veggies and/or mushrooms.
500 ml low-fat milk

Dinner 2-
shake(see above)

It is a bunch of food, and it keeps me alive. Any menu suggestions welcome.

2002-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

I have to give a speaking test at school today. This means listening to Japanese girls try to speak english for two hours straight. Not fun. The better kids are OK to listen to, but most of them are just painful. In other news my body is now sore all the time. I have been practicing some kind of sport everyday, and I think I might break down soon. I need more sleep, and more food. It is really hard to eat six times a day, especially if you exercise.

2002-06-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

No Email!!!!! My mail site has been dead since yesterday, so if you wrote me, that's why I haven't replied yet. Post anything urgent in a comment. I hate this crap. Maybe I will one day pay for mail, but I have a feeling that would just result in my being poor and mad.

2002-06-23T19:24:00.001-07:00

Relationships are a topic on which I can speak with authority derived from a wealth of experience. I have ranged from long-term monogamy (three years) to one-night stands, to in between, and as such can see things from a variety of perspectives. Morality, on the other hand, is a topic where I have no such credits. So, take the following with a mound of salt. There is ongoing debate about the virtues and ethics of fucking around with consent, without consent, or staying monogamous. First, it depends on your morals, and those of the people around you. I think Rick and Hal are wrong in the assumption that monogamy is inherently good or valuable. As far as supporting a stable society it seems that any stable relationship, preferably difficult or painful to dissolve, is of mostly equal benefit regardless of how many people are involved.

2002-06-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

Many societies manage just fine with multiple wives/concubines or group marriages. The difference between this and screwing whoever you like is stability. Why or when is stability important? Obviously if a family is the ultimate goal of your relationship then a stable family can raise children better than an oft-changing group of casual lovers.. The set of people who we are physically attracted to is much larger than the set of people who we would choose to raise a family with. If we have sex with anyone we are attracted to even when we have a family it could have negative effects on our kids�f development, not to mention undermining the stability of our relationship. Fucking around does automatically make your relationship less stable, because it introduces competition. If you find someone you like a lot better than your current main partner there is little incentive not to switch.

2002-06-23T19:23:00.001-07:00

So, what am I saying? I am saying that if your goal is not to have a family, and if your partner doesn�ft care, then there is no reason not to fuck around. If your partner does care then you have to hide your fucking around, with the knowledge that discovery can lead to loss of said partner. If you want a family, have morals that forbid it, or care enough about your partner (assuming that they disapprove), then you should restrain yourself. I am finally in the have a partner who cares who I also don�ft want to lose, so I have chosen to be monogamous, even though my desire is to screw everything I see. In order to fulfill future goals (ie, keep the girl I love, and have a family) I deny my desire. Sounds like a fair trade. On a preachier note, I have found that being with one person I really love is more fulfilling, and makes me happier, than all of my prior unattached sex. Plus the sex is great.

2002-06-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

Arggg!! Blogger is eating my posts again. I'll keep trying.

2002-06-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

How bad is Japanese English? Well, here is a paper written by a teacher at my school. He is one of the best English speakers here, and keep in mind that he is the one teaching kids what is right and wrong about their usage.
'Why don�ft you argue with?
In Japan, people try not to argue each other, because we don�ft like fighting and often compromise each other to avoid the argument. I believe that it is one of the good things about Japanese people. We like �gpeace and quiet�h. We live together in this country. Of course, I do not like fighting, either. I always hope the peace of the world every time. (Sorry, it�fs not always)'
Have any of you ever had a language teacher who had such a poor understanding of the language they were teaching? It is super bad.

2002-06-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Life continues. I read the Great Gatsby the other day, and it was OK. Not super, and Fitzgerald is nowhere near as cool as Dave Sim thinks. Now reading Island of the Day Before by Eco. I'm only on page 220, so it might get better, but for now it is only so-so, not to be comapred with his better works. After August I will try to change my reading to all Japanese, all the time. This will likely cut down on the number of books I can read, but it will help my Japanese a lot.
Note to anyone reading this: Mail me! I have a mail debt(I have sent you mail but await your reply) with several readers of this blog. Dan, Aarti, AK, Erin, Hal, etc, Assemble!

2002-06-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

To Kari:Thanks lady! I appreciate the support.
I was studying on the train last night and a high school girl was like 'What is that kanji? What is this kanji? Why don't I know any of these?' Answer: 'Because you're a retard.' For us white folks this sqiggly writing is a pain in the ass, but not being able to read your own language must suck. I have often been told by students that reading the newspaper is something no sane person would try to do (not my students, but the kids form the dumb school down the line).
On a separate topic, Japanese baths are awesome. America should import them in and install them in every home. First, the whole bathroom(bath and shower are together, no toilet) is water proof from floor to ceiling. None of this disintergrating wall/floor/ceiling stuff when you spray water everywhere. The shower is always the moible hose variant, which is much better than the fixed kind. Finally, the tub is deep, but not as long as our tubs. Since the floor is water safe you can fill the tub all the way up, and totally submerge. The sitting in the tub posture is also more conducive to reading than the American lying down style tub. Finally, you can make the water super hot, and you never run out of hot water since it is heated on demand, not stored in a hot water tank. Love hotels have super giant couple tubs that are even better.

2002-06-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven't had work, so no chance to blog. Lately I have been on a self-improvement kick, so I spend most of my time studying and training. I think I am going to be in a karate tournament next month, so I have to get in shape. The good thing is that the unlimited weight class is from 180lbs on up, which means I will probably be the heaviest person there. Now I must go and study Kanji. I have a big kanji test in two months, and I have to learn another 500 characters. If I can do it I will be high-school level, which means I can study with my kids.

2002-06-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

So, nothing new to report. I bet Adan is spazzing with joy since Mexico tied Italy. I went to bed at 6:30pm yesterday, but I woke up at 10pm in time in eat and see the end of the match. All of Japan will explode today due to the fact that they have thier last game. If they win they will progress, and there will be hooliganism. Read the article, it is super funny. People here really freaked out, buying large-size handcuffs, special mancatchers designed to take down 'larger opponents', etc. One lawmaker said that the coutry should plan on how to care for or dispose of children that resulted from the rape of Japanese women by forgein soccer fans. All nuts. The best part is that the worst trouble so far has all been from Japanese fans. Funny funny.

2002-06-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

This quiz is super lame. I even answered honestly. I guess now you all know the real me. Sigh. The good part is that I am ' really a great person.'

2002-06-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

Arg! The pain that is my life! I have aching legs and buttocks from overexertion. I need more rest or something. Gymnastics yesterday was fun, and I got to flip around in strange ways. I also got my new 25 pound bag of protein in the mail. My friend Matt read the label and warned me, saying, 'Kerry, this isn't pure protein. It has added amino acids.' Don't judge him harshly, he was a philosophy major. Speaking of philosophy, I wanted to read a bunch of classical works, and thought online books would be a nice free way to read them. Wrong. Reading anything of length online is a pain in the ass. Plus, studies show you read more slowly on a screen than on a page. So I guess I'll have to shell out for the paper version. This is why i think that all e-books are a flawed idea. Reading dead tree is so much more pleasing. Plus you can take a book into the tub, whereas a computer won't manage as well.

2002-06-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

"Soft Heart and Safety Eyes"
This is written in large English letters on a poster at a train station I leave from every morning. What the hell does it mean? Any guesses appreciated.

2002-06-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

"Atsui desu ne." I hear this about a million times everyday. It means "A giant monster is coming to attack, isn't it?" The correct repsonse is "I dont speak gook language." It is summer here now, which means that it is about 35 C. I have to tell folks that I grew up in a backwoods where temperatures reached as high as 48 C, and we could only survive through the miracle of air conditioning. This is a miracle that, like the Jews, hasn't yet made it to the land of sideways pussy(not just a rumor). I think test scores and teen fertility rates would soar if they put AC in the classrooms.
In other non-news, what do you folks want me to talk about? I've noticed the comments numbers on my page are distressingly like zeros. Reading your comments is a major source of procrastination for me. Make me not work! So, what would you like me to write about such that you will chime in? How nips are weird and dumb? What I think? My dreams/RPGs/daily menu/laundry list? My training in arts martial and marital? Made-up crap? Let me know.

2002-06-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Rick is coming here! I can't wait. He hasn't met Takako, so I am looking forward to introducing them. I am sure we'll have a good time. The only down side is that it is during summer vacation, so there will be less schoolgirls in uniform. Can't win them all.
Other news- I don't think I have told all of you, but I went nuts and started a crazy diet/workout plan. The result is that I now weigh a little over 200 lbs, up from 185 when last you saw me. I want to get to 225 or so, but I don't know if I can make it without becoming a fatass. Wish me luck!

2002-06-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

I feel better at last. I don't know what had me laid up, but it was no good. Now I am back in action, and damn happy about it. Summer has come to Japan, and that means that it is beautiful outside. I see green everywhere I go. My school is in the mountians, surrounded by forests and greenery. Sometimes monkeys come down form the hills and scare the kids, or are scared by them. I've had to chase them away from my bike when I was going home before. People think of Japan as an industrial country, all city and factory, but it is actually much more green than most parts of the US. Rice fields are everywhere, and anything with more than a three degree rise is a mountain, and therefore untouchable as far as construction goes. The result is that there are towers of trees in the middle of cities, beside roads, and around houses. Since all the people are stacked on top of each other in little boxes it leaves a large percentage of land for plants. It is really pretty, and a nice effect to have giant factories surrounded by shrubbery.

2002-06-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

Tired and lazy.