Over two days, I got a break from being at school and I got to work with 7 other ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers. Friends at the Board of Education) to present to JTEs (Japanese Teacher's of English, the people we work with) diferent ways of teaching English. Hopefully we gave them some good ideas and some good lessons. Hopefuly, they came back with a fresh perspective on a very difficult subject. But I know it was a lot of fun. I was truly impressed with them how easily they switched to speaking English all the time for two days straight.

We had a project where the JTEs had to build a straw tower in a limited time. We ALTs judged their tower based on height and beauty. They seemed to have a lot of fun.

We gave them skit ideas and a bunch of props, and then at the drinking party the first night, we had to perform them. They were all really funny and great.

Then the next day, we played some more games and presented debating skills. There are some native English speakers who can't debate, but these people have learned, mostly. It was great fun to watch two teams of Japanese actually debate.

Those are just the highlights of the seminar, but it was two solid days. We met some new people and some new friends.

Click to Close

Wow. What an absolutely amazing fun weekend. We had Monday off, so I went to Yamagata for the Fab 4 1/2 Reunion. IT was great to see them all again, the last time for what's left of the Frightening Five in Japan. Beth leaves for the United States in a few weeks, so we'll be down to 3+1. But alas, such is life, right?

So I was the first one to show up, late Friday. The train ride was interesting. To get to Yamagata, I had to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo, then another shinkansen to Yamagata. Simple, right? Well, what they didn't tell me was that actually, I needed to take the train from Tokyo to Fukushima, and then stay on the same train to Yamagata. Doesn't make sense? The train splits! The really nice comfortable half goes in another direction, off to Sendai, whereas the not so nice but really crowded one was going to Yamagata. Ugh. So there I was in Tokyo, staring with open jaw at this huge double decker shinkansen in front of me. The line wasn't too long, so I knew I would be able to get a seat. I didn't have a seat from Hamamatsu to Tokyo, so I really wanted one this time. I went upstairs and sat in these lush chairs. Oh, it was so nice, I didn't want to sleep. I wanted to totally relax and enjoy this train ride all the way, for about 3 hours. But I fell asleep anyway. Great. But I woke up with a start when the speaker said something about Yamagata. Something like go to a different car. I had to run along the train, but not through it, to catch the same train. As I jump in, the door closed and I was off again. I trieed to make my way to the non-smoking non-reserved section, but I got stuck between the smoking reserved and the non-reserved smoking section. There were too many people in the aisle that trying to walk through would have taken me the whole time. As it turns out, I only had an hour anyway to go, so I wasn't too bothered.

I arrived at 10:06 pm, and Rachel baked her famous oatmeal, raisin, and molasses cookies. We ate a few of them, but then decided to just eat the dough it was so good. We talked and watched videos until about 4 in the morning.

We picked up the others the next day, and we ate some good lunch. Rachel and I had Indian food, and as the curry was served to me, Copper Top instructed me how to eat. Ummm, dude, I AM an Indian! :) That night, we made burritoes and watched Naitonal Treasure. More cookies followed and we met a friend of Rachel's, also a JET up there. Mostly, we just needed to hang out and have a good relaxing, sarcastic, fun time.

But then, we had to climb up a mountain the next day. Yamadera, a town not far from Rachel's place has these thousand steps up a mountain. Really pretty and tranquil, but dang was it hot! From the moment we stepped out of the station, we were welcomed to a blast of hot air and we just gushed sweat. But in the end, it was worth it as it was really picturesque.

After that, we went to a karaoke place. Yes, I did make my own cotton candy. Yes, I had my own ice cream sundae. No, we didn't stay there for our planned hour. We stayed for three, hamming it up as much as we could. Aaron and I serendaded Rachel, singing the classic, "You Lost that Lovin' Feelin'". Rachel and I rocked it out to Linkin Park. Aaron and I headbanged to Rage Against the Machine. Beth and Rachel danced to "I'm Just a Girl", and all of us totally jammed to "If You're Happy and You Know It". Oh and Aaron totally backed me up when I did a Japanese song from my concert. It was a thing of beauty.

We had to watch Ghostbusters sometime when we were together. After all, it was that movie that we always quote to each other. So we rented it and watched it over two days. Then, just like that, it was over. Time to go back to Hamamatsu, Aaron to Toyoshina, with Beth and Katie to Takasaki. The weekend blurred by but will always be remembered. Take care guys!

Click to Close

Well, for the longest time, I wasn't excited about seeing this movie. I figured it would be absolute garbage, considering the last two. Then it came out and literally everyone was telling me it was a good movie. Even people whose movie taste I appreciate and trust! Cool. So I was cautiously excited. People were even telling me General Grievous (I still cringe at the name though) was ok in the movie. Lucas fixed up all the holes! Revenge of the Sith is arguably the best one of the whole saga. All six movies, the newest one is the best. That's a tall order. But these were people I trust in movie choices...

And I got a bone to pick with all o' them. Holy crap was that movie just bad, worse, worst, horrible, awful, atrocious. I know, now that I've written all that, Lucas will find some way to blacklist me and make sure my career as a writer is permanently destroyed, but seriously folks, what are you all smoking?!

The opening scene, I liked. I liked how it followed the two Jedi star fighters into battle and it was right in the midst of it. I loved most of the lightsaber battles. I thought they were very well done, so good job Nick Gillard! Some of the lines of dialogue were really good. And some were just absolutely stunning. "You must not be afraid of the dark side if you want to learn the Force." or something like that. WOW! That was pure Milton and Paradise Lost! That was cool. Yoda's retort, "Let go of everything you're afraid of." Cool. Obi-wan (Bad Ass-san) had some great lines, and even Anakin did too. So good job on the pockets, Lucas. You had pockets of gold nuggets there, not a gold-laden mine.

But seriously folks, why does everyone think General "Hi I'm about to die" Grievous was cool? He was sickly, he walked with a limp at the beginning of the movie (but later could battle with great agility). He had to disjoint a couple of shoulders to take all four lightsabers, and SPOILER WARNING: (kinda. I wouldn't care about spoiling this movie if I were you) he only swung them around! Is Bad Ass-san that awesome? One fight?! This guy that has been a nuisance off-screen (another beef I have), he's managed to kill four Jedi at least, and taken their lightsabers. He was trained in some kind of Force, he's supposed to be this terrible creature and Bad Ass-san just wipes the floor with him...with a stupid sounding dinosaur matching speed with a roller crazy stupid vehicle!

But I digress. I did like Grievous' escape at the beginning. I thought he could be pretty powerful. But who the hell o.k.ed that voice?! As soon as I heard his first line, I lost it, I was laughing so hard. I felt Tiffany shaking beside me, laughing too.

Oh man, where do I start? I've been working on this review for two days because there are so many problems and beefs, I don't know where to begin. I guess I could follow Yoda's advice and just let it go. I don't know. It's like looking at your dog's mess on the carpet. A HUGE pile. The dog is still happy, licking himself, because he doesn't know any other way to be. But you still have to deal with this pile on the carpet. Where do you start cleaning? Do you first try mopping as much as you can up, do you spray it down, or do you just burn the carpet, buy a new one, and forget the whole thing, including the two stains already on the carpet? If only I knew how to say "I want my money back!" in Japanese. (Oh, and yes, I watched it in English with Japanese subtitles)

Character development went right out the window for this one. Any feelings I had for Padme Amidala were destroyed by her utter lack of doing anything. Guys, all she did was stay at home worrying whether Anakin is okay or not. Where was the strong queen who negotiated an alliance (a shaky moment in the first film anyway) with the Gungans? Where was the senator who spoke in the council? Instead, in this movie, we get a totally passive "Where's my husband? I was so worried because I know he becomes Darth Vader." stay-at-home wife. Qua? Massive character shift there because it HAD to happen.

Come to think of it, almost every character was rather stony, weren't they? Did expressions exist only after the Emperor took over and the Rebels started fighting? (I'm of course referring to the way better acting done in the OT) Now, I like Ewan McGregor. I like Natalie Portman. Hell, I can even stand Hayden Christensen. But their performance in this was sub-par.

The story had so much potential. It makes me sad because there was literally so much he could have done in that one movie that would have made all three better. Lucas made far too many references to events that happened between Episode 2 and 3. That is a very big writing mistake. In fact, in that space of time, an entire character was developed, only to be killed almost right away in the movie. I'm of course referring to all those pilots who were brought down in the opening scene. Actually, ala Porkins, I didn't really care about them. But GENERAL GRIEVOUS!!! That bone head did everything between Episode 2 and 3. He killed Jedi! How the hell did he do that since he runs when he can, he gets help when he can, and his advantage is four lightsabers, which he stole from the Jedi.

Anyone remember the Jedi Master who started the clone army in Episode 2? He was brought up but never developed or taken further? Yeah, that was this whole movie. Toys were made, trailers were shown that show these big characters, but they totally have no point. The guy with the filed teeth in red garb. Some governor of Utaupau. Was he good or bad? He had one line, and I found myself wondering if he was setting a trap for Obi-wan or for General Grievous. But there's a bunch of toys for him. And he's in the trailer.

Much of this movie felt that way since there was no more space or room for Lucas to stretch his total lack of imagination and bad writing skill. All he did was try to seam Episode 3 and 4. There were way too many references to the next trilogy, a problem simply because the great twists in the original trilogy are now revealed and dumped on your lap and you have to wonder to do with it. The dog just jumped on your lap, and while kissing and licking your face, totally relieved himself on your lap. Or maybe Lucas was making clever references to the past movies (future in time)? Maybe, but I think it's more that Lucas doesn't know how to write amazing new fresh scenes that inspire and pulls on the audience's heart strings.

I don't want to go on a rant here, but seriously, folks, WTF? Did I miss something that you all are seeing? Am I seeing something you all are overlooking? What's going on? I for one, am kicking the dog out of the house.

Click to Close

It was spectacular. At least, I had fun. For the past six months or so (ever since the last choir ended), I had been working with the same people but on new music. This time, in Japanese. All the music was written in the Japanese characters, hiragana and katakana. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read about it here. Kanji makes no sense in music as some of the kanji have multiple pronunciations and how would you know what beat to put it on? Anyway, for the past six months, I had been learning hard to read these characters fast and well. I will admit that even I lost my spirit and drive sometimes through this process, but I will also admit that that it was a stunning concert. It was surprisingly not as long as I thought it would be. In total, we only sang for an hour and fifteen minutes, but I could have sworn with the volume of music we had, it would have been more. It was also cool because we sang two songs in English, my native language (in case you couldn't tell). And I helped their pronunciation on it. I will say this, they sounded really good for learning how to sing in this language. Of course, being Japanese, the rest of the choir will never admit it, being modest and all, but they did all right. I am proud to be a part of that choir.

The songs we sang are: 1) Zui, zui, zukorobashi, 2) Narayama, 3) Edelweiss, 4) Aura Lee, 5) Shima Uta (my favorite), 6) Mizu no inochi (The headliner), 7) Grandfather's Clock (in Japanese and an encore), and two other encores that I couldn't learn the name, but I recognized when my conductor asked for them.

After the concert, we all went to an enkai, or drinking party, where we celebrated our accomplishment, performing this thing. Tiffany was my guest of honor and the choir folks would not let up. Everyone wanted to meet her and say hi and get her to join the upcoming choir, Beethoven's 9th. Hee hee. Anyway, true to tradition, at the end of the enkai, we all stood up and sang our songs right there in the restaurant as loudly as we could. Then they made me sing by myself (they would hum along) a serenading song, just for Tiffany. Was she embarrassed? You bet, folks. It was great. She turned a bright shade of red that matched her hair. I couldn't believe they wanted me to do it, but there ya go. Another fun night with the choir folk.

Click to Close

Arguably, the most important day for all Americans, and how did I spend it? I got an email from a JAPANESE friend saying "Happy 4th of July!" I emailed Tiffany. Yep, we ended up doing nothing. It's hard to be a foreigner and still remember your own holidays. I ended up doing some lesson planning and fixing my computer with Tiffany overseeing my mess. And we played a really competitive game of Upwords, with a lot of trash talk. It was awesome. What better way to spend our great country's holiday then by insulting each other?

Click to Close

It's that time of year again. Fireworks and more fireworks and fireworks displays that last a few HOURS. Yep, I remember when i first arrived, there were fireworks going off all weekend. So Tiffany, another friend, and I went to Benten-jima (a place about 15 minutes away by train) and saw the fireworks off the coast. It was cool to see all those colors sparkling over a black lake. And as usual, Japan did not fail to disappoint when it comes to fireworks. It makes me want to start a lobby against guns in America. Take that gunpowder out of the guns and make really cool fireworks shows!

Click to Close

Ka-wai, a good friend out here, is leaving back to the UK. We will pour liquor down a drain for you in your anniversary. Tiffany and I met up with Ka-Wai at a beach near our homes. We had a great picnic, where Tiffany made a really awesome salad, Ka-Wai brought really good soba, and I bought chips. Tiffany made art, and we chatted and said good-bye. You will be missed.

Click to Close

We saw War of the Worlds. Spielberg, why can't you make a movie like you did in the old days (a few years ago)? The ending: crap. The story: potential. The human story: crap. The aliens: crap. The special effects: cool, but can't carry a movie. For a better movie, check out this link.

Click to Close