so my kids are on spring break, as i've mentioned before, so i'm reading. quite a bit. i've got some Hornby and some Rowling on the list. but as i read and read, my quirks are coming out in full compulsive disorder! does anyone have these? is there something you do while reading that is peculiar, but it helps you read? i'll list a few examples:

#1) recently i've begun taking a marker and coloring the outside edge of each chapter so that i see a black line to let me know where the next chapter is. this measure was taken to minimize the hours of wasted reading time that i spend finding and re-finding the next chapter and counting the pages in between. over and over. for some reason, with every turn of the page, i always have to know how far away the next chapter... i can't just assume its a page closer every time i turn.

#2) this is less a habit, more of a conditioned response, but whenever i dog ear a page i remember this video i saw in elementary school about the handling of library books and how dog ear-ing a book is bad for the book (there was cartoon book that moaned and groaned when it was dog ear-ed. i feel like i'm hurting the book now. why i don't feel that when i mark the chapter, i don't know, the voice is just smaller.

#3) this isn't me so much, but i have a friend who gets a lot of satisfaction from reading a big book, say like war and peace, and when she's done with a page she'll rip it out and throw it away. so the book gets thinner and thinner. she said it's more enjoyable that way.

#4) ever since college i treat every book like a text book and will underline things i like or that seem testable... i'll also treat any book like a bible and write notes in the margins on things that seem applicable to my life.

#5) i had a copy of catcher in the rye where i crossed out all the "goddam" 's, most of them anyway.

#6) most of you have seen this, but when reading online, i must highlight (and re-highlight a zillion times) the paragraph i'm reading. it keeps me focused. highlight up, highlight down.

funny story is... when i was 16 or so, my mom enrolled me into a speed reading class at the community college (san jac!). i learned a lot about how to speed read. this class is probably the only reason i'm in college. my mom was thinking!

so there's a slew of my reading quirks.. i don't wish my reading habits on anyone else, they drive me crazy - but their mine, and i'm me, so i can somehow deal with it. what are your quirks? well, back to my books... and getting out of this damn room!

so. i really have nothing to say... but i felt like i should post. so i'm sitting down at the old blog stone trying to recall my fun filled adventure events. my last post, though not a great comment generator, i felt was solid gold. i'm a little spent. it takes me hours to figure out what i'm going to say. the last post went through three or four drafts and me meticulously choosing on how i'd spell the word "death metal". meh. now i realize i actually do have some stuff to write about! yay!

gothic chicks and sumo wrestlers
today i saw my two japanese characters for the first time in real life. the first was in a train station, real briefly, but i saw two girls all decked out in japanese gothic lolita outfits. apparently this is a phenomenon. big in tokyo.

the second, believe it or not, were two sumo wrestlers! my friends and i were eating in a thai restaurant and there walk in two guys in yukatas and top knots. the also have this entourage of women, supporting the rumor about sumo guys. only in japan would i see two sumo wrestlers walk into a bar.

my first date, i guess you could say i had the gusto
so i met my friend in a restaurant in the next town, pretty late, round 10 or so. we met at a restaurant called gusto. its sort of like the japanese IHOP, serving the same menu all day. it was a good date. due to the sensitive nature of online journals in respect to dating, i have this final statement: i'm don't have a girlfriend... remember, i won this date in a game of paper, rock, scissors. if you need more info, i'd be glad to email you.

my bartender = my pimp
this guy is a funny guy. he's the one who took me to the open mic night, the one i'm supposed to play sometime. he's getting craftier as the days go by, allow me to explain:

my friend and i met at the bar to study... who doesn't, right? well we're there and the our bartender friend comes up to us and says (he speaks English because he likes it), "there are two pretty girls over there and they want to study English. my honest first reaction was, "how much are they gonna pay me?" because afterall, i teach English all day, i shouldn't have to do that at the bar i'm studying japanese. but, then i remember the whole reason i'm here is to meet people and talk with them. well... the girls come over and only one speaks English well, my friend talks to her.

i meanwhile get into a conversation about exitentialism, Sarte versus Descartes, and such. all in japanese! i think my skills are improving. i asked her at one point, "do you believe that i only exist in your mind? that i'm not real and life has no meaning?" i don't care much for philosophy, because this is actually solid philosophical ground. but, i think i pushed the envelope too hard, because conversation locked down sort of locked down and no opinion was offered... dang. that sort of happens in japan, the attitude is sometimes, "i don't know you enough to tell you...so 'it's difficult'." so. i met a philosopher and had my first philosophical conversation in japanese... she also is a Japanese Pro Wrestling fan, how bizzare is that.

all that said, i speak not about dating japanese girls here, what i'm noticing is that my bartender friend is spending a good deal of time "introducing" us to girls. i think he calls them in honestly. and i try to think back to episodes of cheers where Sammy might have "introduced" people like this and i can't come up with one. bizzare to me really. but i'm not against meeting people, so i can't be hating.

another hip hop night
one final note... the other night at the same bar was Hip Hop Night. i've reported on this before and last night repeated those emotions. its so bizzare to see these kids who live in rural japan, expressing their youth (angst) via the medium of hip hop... which feels completely rootless. i feel like i have more hip hop in my pinky they they do in their whole scene (this is an exaggeration). but this is totally imported, they're rural japanese kids, not gangsters... man.. i could write a whole thesis on this stuff. grad school here i come. its just bizare really.

this particular evening had live rappers (one crew good, one crew bad with choreographed rapper hand movements), a female dance crew (about unbearable) and a breakdance crew (quite impressive). we, the foreigners, sort of busted out because it felt weird to be there.

wednesday night i got together with my pottery teacher, her friend who's a hairstylist/digeridoo teacher, and choco. i think i've said it before, but my pottery teacher is amazing and, being a potter, makes her own ceramic drums (dumbeks). thus, in her house there are drums to boot. she also plays the mbira (its from zimbabwe). unfortunately, the digi was left at home... so this guy (the hairstylist) converts a long carboard tube, like a super long toilet paper tube, into a digeridoo, in the right key! i played my sitar, the drums were happening. the mbira was brought out. it was a jolly good time. i had a good time playing and singing in a hodgepodge of ethnic stylings. i dare say i'd do it again.

rocking out with the kiddos
my kids are now in spring break... funny, i'm not. i have to work day in, day out. bummer for me. so i make the best of it. mixture of reading, studying japanese, visiting various clubs. i've practiced with the girls' baskeball club, the boys ping-pong club, the girl ping-pong club (my favorite), i've haggled the art club by making farting noises, and one day i joined the music club.

i went to the music room and there were only four girls in there (the band only has one boy who plays the saxaphone - i wanted to play the saxaphone in the 5th grade, but i got the trombone). this group happened to be the percussionists... wha-wha? i've wanted for some time to get behind the rock kit they have there. i fantasize about sneaking away during free periods and practicing. i make small chat with them, they show me instruments, and i piddle around on the xylophones with them, making a dork of myself. then they show me the drum kit... mu wa ha ha. one girl lays down pretty rigid but timely beats. another girl sort of clucks out a 4/4. one other girl denies any knowledge of this alleged drum kit. then they invite me to sit on the throne...

seriously, i buried 'em in the ground. they got a taste of my School of Rock. it felt so good to be behind the kit rocking out. i'm not good at drums by any means. but i can bring the deth metal! i had a good time. then i joined the whole band practice... i got a little quieter for this round, only playing when appropriate (got a few scowls). the kids would laugh whenever i went to do something.

there was one trombone girl who was put on the spot for 40 minutes. i felt bad for her, because she wasn't doing very well and the whole brass section was suffering because of her.. . but then again, she was playing tag (here called "devil game", where the person who's "it" is "the devil" or "oni"). so then i sort of felt less bad for her, because she didn't practice.

my junior highschool drama: final thoughts on joining clubs
so, i had a good time with the band. got to show them that i, the foreigner, can do things. i feel like they feel like i'm just a lazy human being because i'm not a member of any of their clubs... i like ultimate frisbee (totally unheard of) as opposed to soccer. i don't play baseball anymore. i don't want to pay $1000 for L-size Kendo gear. i was in the drama club in junior high. and even when i do join a club for a day, its all awkward, because i'm the foreign guy amongst a sea of young homogenous japanese kids. and i'm there just to screw around, have fun with the kids, and they're so serious about practicing i feel stupid for even being there. so.. that's my junior highschool drama. all my good friends are 14 years old now.

i can't wait for school to start back up.. then i'll have dominion over Englishland! i want to start an Ultimate team.. with the help of my brother sending discs maybe i can do it and shake the japanese system a big, give alternative sporting options.

well congratulations, me, for posting on this thing 400 times. complete waste of time or complete fun? you decide! here's to another 400!

i have a date!
well, it was bound to happen. this friday i'm scheduled for a date. i won a date with a nice japanese girl last weekend in a game of paper, rock, scissors (janken). but its nothing serious, she actually has a boyfriend... i guess the only thing i have to say here is "throw scissors!"

i still have starwars
my weekend plans were perfect, i slept a ton. i still have Empire because i haven't finished it while being awake. i want to hear Yoda speak Japanese. you see when Yoda says, "Help you, I can, yes... hmmm..." he's speaking in VOSV (verb-object-subject-verb) as opposed to English's SOV. japanese uses OSV, so when japanese kids learning English talk, they sometimes sound like Yoda or Smeigel. the linguistical nerd in me wants to hear how they do it. i'm learning a lot about dubbing voices, and i may write a piece later on it (i won't), basically it stems from the premise that japanese film dubs only have five different voices.

a complete waste of time
other things i've been doing that have wasted my time: i downloaded a RISK-style game called iConquer... its cool. i've dubbed my self Emperor Koizumi. i also downloaded some Pedro the Lion - i like this guy, i think he's going to heaven. i've also been keeping my Family Guy vigil, getting into the commentaries now where they totally trash talk kids who download episodes off the internet... funny! pays to have the DVDs, since i used to be one of those kids..

well i better go, its late. have fun! maybe more later about being bored out of my mind at school.

this week was exhausting, as expected. i forsook all social obligation just to retire on my futon.. which was exactly what i wanted. i stopped by the video store and rented (the real) starwars' episodes IV & V. they are translated into japanese. i've wanted for years to watch them... and now i finally can. i understand a bit. i put the first video in at about 7 o'clock last night and didn't even make it to Mos Eisley, i fell fast asleep. i woke up around 2am and wondered if i'd ever go back to sleep... but i did! i woke up today at about eight or so... pretty decent night's sleep if you ask me. so i started to watch episode IV again, and fell a little asleep.

i chose to rent the not-so remastered versions, the ones without the added scenes and digital effects... i think we all can understand why.

i've come to the heartfelt conclusion that despite my StarWars fandom, episode II really really really really really really times 12384e58373742908324 sucks. episode I is not far behind.

a weird thing that occurs to me while watching episode IV is when Obi Wan "Ben" Kenobi meets C-3PO and R2, there is no notion that he has a prior relationship with these droids - thus increasing my rage at the new prequels.

also, on a different topic, the force is a lot stronger in the original Trilogy. its bringing people together "haphazardly", like two robots part ways and end up at luke skywalker's house (why didn't they clue into the last name "skywalker"!?!?!?) and it just so happens that luke knows ben kenobi. ben finds luke knocked out by sandpeople... no coincidence. when luke decides to go back to check on his aunt and uncle, ben knows they're dead... the force had so much style... now its just midichlorian bullshit. the force is weak now. weak.

so, i've done nothing all day, and i think i'll continue that pace... i rather like it. switch between StarWars and the Family Guy (thanks brian!). another day spent on the futon. i should vaccuum and put away all the winter stuff. i'm in the week long process of cleaning my apartment. well i better go. i feel another nap coming on.

Im sick of artifical. Im sick of wrong. Im sick of sin.