today is "midori no hi" in japan, a national holiday... it translates to green day. a whole day to celebrate one of the greatest mainstream pop punk bands. hip hip hooray!

i'm sick and it ain't no joke. last night i was reading a book around 5ish or so... i was about to finish, 3 pages left, and i fell asleep. next official rising: 11ish, where i forced myself to go get food. then i came home. ate my pizza, put in three amigos, but didn't even make it to Santa Poco! i was fast asleep. my next rising: 6am!! where i've been awake ever since.

so, on my day off, i went to Osaka and walked around so i'm pretty tired as of now. then i went go see School Of Rock. It melted my face once again. but alas, the rock could not cure me, because i'm feeling kind of ill... too much swallowed snot.

it's all because of the temperature. they say its the spring, but really japan doesn't have four seasons. spring is really a fabrication: its just this time where the planet can't make up its freaking mind. its pretty cold at nights on my little rice paddy... and this just after it got warm... so my body goes into a little bit of shock. rawr.

sorry, i'm in a "sticking it to the man" sort of mood. the japanese subtitle for "the man" was "big thing". so, if you're gonna stick it, stick it to the "oo-mono"! alright. going to bed. maybe i'll be sick and get the day off for my birthday tomorrow.

the rice paddies are being flooded for the planting. so now when i look out my window i see miniature lakes and i think my property has been re-located to a lakeside view. it surprises me, but then i realize that its not deep, but it is mucky. i like it.

when the wind blows across the flooded fields it really is beautiful.

the rain has just came and seemed to wash away the dirt. the trees are greener. funny thing nature, when it rains we go inside and complain, while nature stretches out to absorb it all.

a note on being foreign: i think i find myself wanting special priviliges just because i'm foreign, like people to adapt a little to me. its partly my job because i'm paid to be foriegn in a typically isolationist country... but somehow deep down i want special priviliges...why? just so things can eventually be equal between foriegn and native, when it's not. that said, i'm humbled by some of my attitudes in the states. i have a great respect for the civil rights movement now. though the math and logic fail, somehow it does take being treated special just to be equal.

and that said, i'm trying to curb my neediness and accepting that maybe i'm just being treated normal rather than unjustly (or ignored)... hence, non-communication, etc. because a normal person just gets it.

well... i'm a little more confused by that little conundrum. i'm going to go to bed now.

so tonight, the 24th, there was a party in the next town. the usual kind of foriegner party i had guessed. i obliged to go, and planned on showing up casually late. with a car full of people, i dropped them off so that i could go pick up a girl who came from Osaka on the train. but the odd thing was, the bar i dropped them off at had no lights on and the sign said closed. but the TV inside was on, i figured they were watching a movie or something. I picked up the girl and then got gas so i could make it back to ol' Supertown. then we headed to the bar. it was still dark, but i ran up the stairs and opened the door and BAM!

surprise birthday party for me! i was literally blown away. i had no idea it was going to happen. i was hugged by some guy i didn't know, in the awkward movie kind of way. then the crowd parts and the my bartender is shredding away on the guitar and he plays the Beatles' birthday tune while my homeboy John sang to me. it was quite surreal. i was blown away really.

my birthday isn't until the 30th of April (hint) so that's why this came as such a surprise. everyone worked really hard to pull this off. someone gave me a mountain dew that they had got in America and saved until my birthday for me. another gift is a badge that has a woman with a red slash through her and it says in japanese, "i am not picking up everyone i see". so it was a no macking night. yeah! the party was a success, i felt loved by my friends that i've made here in Japan. which helps, because maybe i would have gotten homesick if it hadn't been so well. i was blessed, truely. thanks to all who put this party on, i don't know if you read this, but thanks.

other things i did today
the highlights... i got to go to the nightwatch in austin texas for about 30 minutes thanks to iChat. it was great. thanks to all the watchmen. i also went to Osaka (i have mastered this city from previous mishaps of being lost) and i found new places. i found the Osaka Prowrestling Arena!! cheap wrestling where they wear the masks and stuff. of course i'm going!! how could i pass this up?!? i have a schedule and i'm planning on going. other good news is that the Arena is near a pufferfish restaurant, the kind of sushi that can kill you if its cut wrong (re: that simpsons episode). of course i'm going!! hwo could i pass this up?!?

the not-so-highlights... i tried to go to a mac store but it had shut down and been closed. sad times. then, all the video stores in that area (den den town) sort of start out with normal 80s movies and then turns into porno. pornography is such a huge industry here and crowds men spending a saturday looking for dirty movies can be found in each of the millions of shops. i don't like this aspect of japan. why can't i just find a normal video store?

g-g-g-g-g-bye!
alright, i'm tired, i'm going to bed a happy boy. i hope you have a happy time this weekend (or you did). God bless.

i have fingernails now for the purpose of play the mbira. now this, to most people isn't an amazing feat (having fingernails) but i'm so used to having my fingernails nipped to the base. i must admit, i'm a fingernail biter. i have been for awhile. i still do. 7 of my 10 fingers have nails, and all my fingernails are varying lengths. its such a weird feeling. typing is awkward. playing the guitar is awkward. playing the mbira, easier. resting my hands on a table is awkward. accidentally grazing my own skin feels like i'm cutting myself. i'm cutting my pottery. picking my nose, though more exact and quick, is proving more painful. all these new feelings because i have fingernails. i think some of them may have to go though...it's too bizarre.

senseis on patrol
so today i went with another teacher on patrol to find kids who didn't go straight home. this is a big deal for some reason. i guess if they get caught doing bad things or grouping in their school uniforms it gives my school a bad name. the highlight we went down by the local gymnasium and found the coolest guy in school sitting with a pretty normal girl on a bench... a little date. it was so cute. i walked up and said hi. i wish i would have taken a picture with them because it'd make a good blog post, maybe next time, but man... the girl was mortified but held an that uncomfortable polite smile. junior high romance, so cute.

on a side note, i must compliment japanese, they have a word for when a boy and girl share an umbrella in the rain, "aigasa" (lit. love umbrella). now if that's not cute i don't know what is.

the gaijin plays shamisen...heeeyyY!?
so i've been asked by my shamisen teacher to play a concert in Osaka. i'll be playing my song (the one i've been learning for three months) the "dekansho bushi"... this is how much i love you all, i made a recording of a practice. someone had asked me for a shamisen sample, but i forget who you were...so i take credit for all mess ups. except when my teacher forgets the words. and that is not me singing, but my teacher. so here's me being vulnerable with mess ups.

a little bit about the song: this is the song of my town, and its festival called the Dekansho. i wanted to learn about my town more. the song boasts of its sake and its other famous attributes. there's one line that is like "after half a year of work, we'll have half a year of rest". people want rest, i agree.

i feel sort of weird about the concert because i sort of feel like he's showing me off, like "this is what i taught the foreigner can do!" but maybe that's my presupposition.. hmm... probably so. and the concert comes at a bad time. a time when i might want to go home and visit the fam... hm... maybe i'll have to put off fame for another year.

you may be aware of this little part of japanese culture, or you may not, but Japanese kids are required to clean up their schools. janitors are not employed. rather the students all take a little time out of their day to sweep, mop, and scrub their school into working order. my school does it right after lunch. i too take part in this little ritual...

my assignment is to help students clean the landscaping in front of the teachers room. its about 50 yards of various trees and shrubbery. nee. i spend most days here. sometimes i'm sweeping. sometimes i'm walking around picking up trash. sometimes when it rains i'm using newspaper to clean windows - a principal i disagree with but "when in Rome..." - but most days are here in this little garden.

our job is usually to pull grass. grass here isn't beautiful, its a weed for the most part. and the garden is better with out it. so we pull weeds and tufts of grass out of the brush. usually i'm working with girls who complain about the heat and scream at the sight of dirt or a bug. its a pretty extreme reaction that almost always ends in near paralysis. i rather enjoy the dirt and bugs.

so as i work and work at this thing and no matter how much i pull one week, more will grow the next week. the kids are un-rally-able. and recently, as i've been working on this i'm reminded of how adam, after the Fall, was told he would have to constantly toil against the ground. and that's how i feel. toiling against the ground. it rivals me.

and when this whole Adam-esque thing clicked in me, ever since i've had a good time working the ground. knowing that i'm supposed to. knowing that its normal. somehow dirt beneath fingernails makes more sense than arthritic fingers over a keyboard.

so i call it my zen garden now. because the purpose of a zen garden is to make you think, ponder, meditate (usually about yourself) but i'm brought back to my God, creating man from dirt and sending him to work that same dirt...the same dirt that's under my fingernails. so in a sense i am meditating over my garden, but this time its about a God who made me and not a me who made me a god.

well.. i'll put the pulpit back in the closet... for a little while anyways...