Ok. So here's the story: we wanted to see this movie really badly. So we had two options. We could watch the 9:20 pm or the 12:40 am. Heh heh. What do you think we decided to watch? Yep, just to say we did it, we went to the 12:40 showing. The movie didn't get out till 3:30 in the morning! And I had an early morning choir practice the next day. But we did it!

So the review: In the first hour of the movie, I was hooked and no matter how bad the movie could have been, I was going to buy the DVD. (Tiffany thought the same thing at the same moment.) Damn. It was awesome. SPOILER WARNING: There's a scene where Bruce Wayne is being a playboy millionaire. And with him are two (apparently) cute women clinging on his side. But I didn't see what they looked like. Bruce Wayne drove up in a Lamborghini Murcielago, silver! I about had a heart attack and had to catch my breath. I didn't even notice the women, and Tiffany was really happy. :) Meanwhile, Tiffany about had a heart attack when they showed Christian Bale's rippling muscles. If only I was that developed.

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One of the drawbacks of working on the JET Programme is that they require you to go on these seminars that take you away from school and teaching and put you in Tokyo for a few days at the Keio Plaza Hotel (a luxury hotel) and pay for your expenses for transportation and the hotel. Hmmm. Mostly, though, the seminars have been...not a waste of time, just bad timing. At the Mid-year seminar in December (I know, that's the END of the year, but we're talking the school year), they told us what to expect while teaching and how to handle problems that might occur. Could have been really useful in September. In August, the orientation was all about talking to supervisors. Not really helpful there. Needless to say, many people were not looking forward to this fine piece of travel.

But I have to say that the seminars were actually pretty good this time around. Again, they would have been better earlier so that some of the problems that we've had could have been prevented, but knowing them now as my wind was being taken out of my sails was pretty good. I'm tired, but I'm energized and jazzed up again for teaching. I saw all sorts of seminars, dealing with classroom management, keeping motivation high, setting goals, coping in Japan, and teaching phonics to name just a few.

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On Sunday, since we had to go to Tokyo anyway, Tiffany and I thought we would just go ahead and go a day early and not deal with the train, travel, and work all at once. Also, another friend (thank you, Bobby) told me about it that weekend, so we went up. Darby, eat your heart out! It was cool. They had a lot of Star Wars stuff, but they also had Batman Begins, G.I. Joe, Transformers, and all sorts of other paraphenelia. It was cool. Next up, The Art of Star Wars in Nagoya! (and yes, we did buy a few Transformers and a Batman Figure)

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Tiffany's school had a festival on Friday and Saturday, but since I work on Friday, I could only go with her on Saturday. It was pretty cool and a lot of fun. Every student went absolutely bananas when they saw us together. "Boyfriend, boyfriend!" they shouted from the other end of the hall. I met many of her students and they seemed to be a lot of fun. They took pictures of us, but they really loved it when we took pictures of them. However, due to the Japanese stringesnt codes of conduct and protection, I cannot put those pictures online unless I have all of their permission. But they did take some good pictures of us, and you can finally see what I look like with my new 'do!

The Calligraphy club made my name in kanji (直) and they drew the kanji for strength, as per Tiffany's request. If you couldn't tell, I'm more of a meglomaniac, so I had them make my name. Sweet. We saw a shamisen concert (a Japanese guitar) and the brass band play the theme song from Mario Bros. Wow. The other homerooms converted their classroom to various themes. There were mazes, dart boards, purikura, and even a computer network where they played, The Typing of the Dead. It's like the arcade game, the House of the Dead, but instead of giving you a gun, they give you words to type. The faster you type, the more you "shoot" the enemies and get better at your typing. Of course, in this country, I no longer reign supreme as a typist because of the Japanese characters, but also because they were using Japanese words in English characters (called romaji). This led to me just simply pressing keys in sequence instead of writing words. But I still rocked.

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I finally did it. After ten months of waiting in anxiety, I finally got a haircut. I know, I know, technically, this happened in May, so why didn't I put it in the May stuff? Don't ask questions. The point is, I finally overcame my fear (and found a stylist who could speak English) and thus was able to communicate exactly what I wanted/needed for my hair. Want to see pictures? Tough. I haven't taken any yet, so I'll let it remain a mystery. Just imagine me ten months prior, before I moved to Japan, and cut the hair even shorter. Got it? Good.

We Apologize for the Inconvenience:
I have been gently corrected on my story. It wasn't that I found the place. I did nothing, actually about it. Tiffany found this guy first and had her hair cut there. That was the surprise from Anj and Mike's visit that she went to in the morning. When she came back with shorter and much straighter hair, (and a coupon for a cheap haircut) I could no longer resist. I followed/copied her. We apologize for the inaccurate story and hope that our attempts to clarify and reveal truth will not go unnoticed. After all, Woodward and Bernstein presented the truth, didn't they?

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