Yeah...

A LONG while...


I've been keeping busy, and updating mostly my mixi and Facebook more than anything else. But now that I look back, LJ is probably the best way for me to post a rant and only have the people that mean the most to me find out and read about it! So many work rants I would love to do but haven't yet - about both bosses and co-workers.

Let's just say that this is hopefully the first step into a regular LJ renewal!

I put EVERYONE'S Christmas presents into one big box, wrapped it up all pretty and got it prepped to send home.

The only problem is that the box weighs about 8kg, and shipping that from Japan is going to cost my first born child or roughly around there.

I went to the post office and its looking at around $120ish for EMS (apparently 3 days, but most likely within a week) and the ONLY other legitimate option (since airmail and others take longer and cost more for some reason) is by ship which costs HALF as much, but takes UP TO 2 MONTHS...

If I wait until next paycheck, the 19th of December, and send it then, it can still potentially make it home on time! Whadda y'all think? :p

Wherever I go I hear this song in my head. I used to like Wheesung but now I like it even more! I'm guessing only he can pull off remixing a classical piano song into danceable pop with a human beat-boxing break and plenty of rhyme. <3

Namie's BEST concert tour tracklist has been leaked! Seeing it in 3 weeks live in Fukuoka - its GOTTA make me feel better than I do now about being in Japan!!

Do Me More
Violet Sauce
ALARM
SO CRAZY
NEW LOOK
Hello
GIRL TALK
shine more
Full moon
Luvotomy
Put 'Em Up
It's all about you
ROCK STEADY
FUNKY TOWN
Say the word
No
White Light
Hide & Seek
Queen of Hip-Pop
Sexy Girl
WANT ME,WANT ME
Top Secret
BLACK DIAMOND
WHAT A FEELING
WoWa
CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK
Baby Don't Cry



I'm pre-cumming just reading it! <3

Elders Club graduation from HP completely on 2/1/2009. Its all the way in Tokyo, but I'd finally be able to see Nacchi, Melon Kinenbi and Yuko (:3) all on stage at once for the first - and last time...



Songs like these make me miss the old days... Best performance EVER of this classic!

Namie Amuro's BEST concert goods!

http://bl.e-fanclub.com/amuro/webshop/default.asp?bunrui1=1&pageno=1


HOT.


... but EXPENSIVE..... -_-;;

I've been getting a lot of ideas put into my head recently and ever since I got here from the Japanese people around me.


And lately they've been increasing and going more and more serious.



SEE, this Sunday, I've been tricked into partaking into a karaoke contest on live radio in which the grand prize is $500(ish). So tomorrow, I'm off to karaoke to practice songs and pick one that I'm gonna do on my own.



But a lot of teachers and fellow friends have been suggesting I go into showbiz...


I speak the local dialect - I should be on local TV; apparently there already is ONE foreigner working on one of the local TV stations. Not to mention being an almost monthly regular on one of the main weekend shows on one of the local radio stations (going again Sunday for a live broadcast)...



Even Yuriko (my best teacher friend - Jason probably only knows her) has printed me up applications for some auditions and stuff that we're going to go over tomorrow over dinner and coffee.



I'm just an 'English teacher', but we'll see where this takes me... I have no expectations, so no matter what the result will be, I have nothing to be disappointed with! :p


Just wish me luck anyways! <3




Song of the moment - Kpop yet again! This time its not poppy at ALL - its the new Rain song! After the horrible mess that was his 4th album, he comes out with a 5th suddenly out of nowhere, and its damn good! This song is actually under contemplation of getting banned from airplay in Korea for the 'magic stick' part... lol


Regardless, prease to enjoy!

Well I've been back from Korea for less than a week so far, yet its all I can think about. I loved it so much, and learned to hate Japan so much at the same time, I'm kind of at a turning point in where I can go back home and 'settle' or explore more parts of the world, starting off with Korea (and who knows where I'll end up going from there)!

Coming up is the JLPT and I'm re-doing level 2 after failing by 12 points last year... But I have decided on something - once I pass this year, I am stopping studying Japanese. Level 2 is what is required by the Japanese government for 'foreigners' to work in any given company or to be considered able to survive in day-to-day life (comparable to junior high graduation, which is the maximum mandatory schooling in this country).

So basically once I pass, I do my kanji kentei level 8 for shits (hopefully pass that too), and then stop and move onto the next language - Korean. I might have to start learning Mandarin sooner than I thought though because Korean hardly uses any kanji and I don't want to start forgetting it all and have to re-learn it...

In other news, things are just gonna keep getting busier now... Friday is a Halloween party and BBQ, Saturday is my DJ friend's HUGE event (major record label person is guest spinning), and then Sunday is the live radio show broadcast from downtown Oita and karaoke contest. Don't forget that Monday I also have my demonstration lesson to give in front of 30+ English teachers from schools all across the city.

Yeah I somehow manage to keep myself busy whilst traveling!

Anyways, I could go into a whole bunch of details about why my Japan-phase is fading out, but I'm sure at certain people that would read this would take offense where none is meant, so I'm just gonna keep it to myself and people who ask me individually.

So at this rate, I'll be back home next August, unless something drastic changes.

Such as the conversation I had with one of my teachers last night over dinner.


But that will remain a secret as well! ;P






But to keep you all entertained, here's the lastest and greatest in K-Pop : The Wonder Girls! This is their newest song "Nobody" which goes with an oldies look, and it came out when I was there last week so it was playing EVERYWHERE in Seoul. I still can't get the song and dance out of my head! lol

i'm desperately wanting to get my wii modded somehow so i can play both regions of games, and even potentially being able to burn them (since they're just DVD right?). either way, i just want to be able to play the japanese games i have now, and also get ready for the future since there are SO MANY GOOD ONES COMING OUT SOON!

but i know i can't get it done in japan... so does anyone know of a place back home that'll do it? it'll be an excuse for me to come back, unless i just ship my wii to one of you lovely people with some money and you get it done for me?! <3 lol

talked to a couple fellow alts i work with today and had a nice venting session...


ends up that a majority of us want to leave next year because of our bosses, and some are even planning on abandoning their contract as well.


so out of the 12 of us, next year so far only a little over half are planning on staying!



nice how a new boss can change everyone's mind!

<3

I had a horrible day and I want to vent about it but last time an ALT did that on a blog it cost them their job because someone stumbled onto it... -__-;;


Lets just say I want to punch 90% of teachers in the city and board of education right now.




Days like today make me wish I was back home... >_<;;

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/wa_style/specialties.html?spid=104



I stumbled upon this today checking stuff, and I asked EVERYONE I know from here and they have no idea what that website is talking about... Oita is known for a lot, but apparently NOT its bamboo!! >_<;; lol

I have a reason for that though...


I figured out how to use mixi through my keitai, so whenever I'm bored, I can update it wherever!


Too bad I can't do that with LJ... :(




In other news, I saw AAA in budokan and recorded as much as I could again - it was AWESOME. They get better every year, and its kinda reason enough for me to stay in Japan yet another year, I SWEAR!


Other than that I got my care package from Iannick in the mail, and promptly ate 90% of the food that was inside so I'm gonna get fat now... lol





MISS YOU ALL!

I've been doing a LOT of thinking, and looking around for what to do in life lately... I thought I had lots of time to do that working at the War Museum back in the day, but I've come to many more conclusions in life in the past week then I have ever in my life, no matter how long I thought of things.

The funny part is that it all came from watching music videos and performances of old things on YouTube. Reason? Nostalgia. I was watching songs that reminded me of when I was a junior high student, and what I wanted to do then. Same in High School, and throughout University...


Timed Goals

Winter 2010 - Work for the Vancouver Olympic Games
Spring 2010 to Summer 2012 - Teach English in Poland and travel across Europe
Summer 2012 - Work for the London Olympic Games


General Goals

get a Bachelor's of Education degree
get a Masters in Human Kinetics degree (Specializing in Mental Training - preferably)
get a Masters in Education degree (specializing in Second Language Acquisition)


Situational Goals

travel to as many Asian countries as possible while still a JET
finish 5 years of JET and then move to Tokyo and try to start a life there
work for Berlitz with Uncle Gordon (British uncle who teaches ESL for a living)


Realistic Goals

partake in an Olympic-level triathlon
become a high school teacher in Ottawa
work at the Japanese Embassy in Ottawa



Anyways, I just wanted to write those down somewhere so I can refer to them at future reference. Who knows how many of all of these will actually come true, but it never hurts to be a little bit of a dreamer, does it? :P

Miss you all!



Song of the moment, and its English guitar cover by a fangirl. I kinda like the cover better although the lyrics are pure cheeze, its simple and the melody is great!






The BETTER English cover from a fangirl

I got my AAA Budokan tickets delivered today!



But...



I didn't get arena seats...

I got 2nd floor, south-east, row B.

Also known as NOSEBLEED.


I didn't join the fanclub to get shit seats here people!! -_-;;





Even better is the fact that I payed for 2 tickets for BOTH shows, but I only got 2 tickets in the envelope, so as of right now, I'm apparently NOT going to the Tuesday finale concert...











UGH JAPAN WHY DO I LOVE TO HATE YOU SO MUCH.








To be honest, I have been looking up teachers college applications and masters research professors, in an attempt to go back home next year.

If things keep up the way they are NOW, then consider me back home by August 2009.


</3

BoA just had her US debut announced today from Korea...

I was wondering why it was getting so quiet after her last tour ended almost 3 months ago and there was no news of new singles or ANYTHING...



But the best part?


It's actually a GOOD SONG.



Too bad the music video is shit...





But thankfully the Korean version is MUCH better (but why did they make 2 different ones, I have NO idea... it seems like all the budget was used up on this version)!





It goes on sale on iTunes October 7th!




And speaking of iTunes, the new iPods were released today...

And I don't like how they have COMPLETELY new things EVERY YEAR.

Are they just not happy with their designs that they always have to re-do them?



I wanna get rid of all my iPods now and just get a regular mp3 player that doesn't need iTunes.

Just drag and drop onto the thing. And have it that easy to get my songs BACK as well.



Fucking apple... </3

I'm taking this job much more seriously already this year... I've been researching shit, doing lots more prep work, and staying at school much later than I'm paid to. Its 6 now, and I'm still here even though I only get paid until 4!

Anyways, an interesting fact I stumbled upon today:


The hardest 5 languages for native English speakers to learn according to linguists worldwide are...

Arabic
Cantonese
Japanese
Korean
Mandarin





Why is it that I want to learn all of them before I read that and now it makes me want to learn them more?! lol

At least I've got ONE of them well enough under my belt to start on another. I'm seriously doing Korean studying lately, and its amazing. It brings me back to the Algonquin College days that I first took Japanese! <3


Anyways, I still miss you all and actually dreamt of pho and bbt with some of you last night as if I was back home! ;P

As of Monday, the 2nd semester started, thus making me start a second year of official TEACHING as a JET and my 3rd year of officially teaching. I love the job, and I'm hoping it only gets better from here, despite what the Japanese people around me do (or more often DON'T! lol).

Monday was spent marking about 200 summer homework journal assignments - and it made me feel like I was a real teacher because just planning games and making supplies and stuff isn't what happens on an everyday basis in this job. I was up until almost midnight after I went home.

I'm still finding it hard to plan lessons according to curriculum, seeing as last year I've been doing games that are applicable to all levels of junior high, but now that I've done an entire year's worth, I can repeat the cycle because there's only one new year of students that haven't done these things before!

The worst part is that the teachers don't seem to be helping very much. They don't tell me where they are in their course of studies, nor do many of them help me in the actual teaching - just let me take control of the whole situation with no questions asked... And I can understand them doing that sometimes, but I do need their help sometimes too!

Anyways, I've been busy, am still busy, and will only get busier now - and this is the longest semester of them all! But I know I'll be fine and get through it all so no worries!


I've been still working on my self-study of Korean, and what better way to do so than through music! I absolutely HATED this song at first and for a long time afterwards, but only for the past 2 or 3 days have I had it in my head and can't get it out!

Not much to talk about though... In response to the last post, things haven't really gotten better. Well I'm fine with Lauren and Angelo now, but it seems that Shauna has completely cut me off (LONG story that I don't want to waste everyone's time with), which sucks because she was the person I was closest to, and after one single event it all goes to shit. Angelo still says its because I "overreacted" to the "joke" she played on me with the cigarette, but that's one thing I'm not going to apologize for being angry about because it was just plain rude, and the other people I talk to about it would have done worse than me had it been them!

But to be completely honest, this month has been better overall in retrospect than last year. Being TOA (Tokyo Orientation Assistant) I got to know ALL of the new Oita people before they got here, and even other people from all across Japan. And now that I'm back in Oita, all the people I welcomed remember me and look to me for all the going out advice and what not, which makes me feel important even though I don't necessarily know all the answers! But I'd rather have people to hang out with and do stuff with, rather than an endless drama involving 12 people in a Board of Education meeting room for 8 hours straight a day for a month...


ANYWAYS.


Thus ends my venting session. lol



Thursday I was on the radio again, but this time with Patrick, a guy I actually met for the first time when I went back home for my birthday/Canada Day. Since I was on the radio last time, they wanted me to find more people that would be able to do it too, but he was the only one I thought had enough Japanese ability to get through a radio interview, even with me being there for translation just in case. It was funny though because the other guests on the show were in the same room during prep time, and it happened to be one of my new students and her family so I was thoroughly embarassed, but her father seemed to love me already just from word of mouth so I can't complain! Just check out the pics on the show's blog if you want! I'm probably going to be on it AGAIN in the next couple months with someone else, so I can't complain!

http://e-obs.cocolog-nifty.com/funfan/2008/08/post_03f3.html



Friday night I felt like going to Round One, an indoor amusement park like thing in Oita, so invited a couple people from in town. The two new girls from Hiji that I'm already super close to (they've slept over twice already - nobody has ever done that from within Oita until now) were already coming into town for the night and crashing so that was 2 more on top of just the city people. Then when I asked Angelo, he said he'd go to dinner before if there was one but not to Round One because it was too noisy for him (lol). So I made a dinner reservation for 11 people which is how many we were, but by the end of it we were almost 20 in the space of 11! We were cramped but everyone was getting close, and most of them didn't know each other so it was great!

After that, we went for a booze run at the local combini and met my staff friend Fuchino who decided to give me a stack of coupons (or something - I have NO idea what it is!) in exchange for all the business I brought him on a usually dead Friday night! So we drink in front of the ship before going to taxi to Round One, and have many an encounter with drunk Japanese people, which just makes it all the more fun! Some of the guys decided to keep the party going in Miyako -machi (the red-light district of Oita), so I was getting ready to call all the cabs to go to Round One. And as half of the people are getting ready to go, they decide to change minds and come to Round One after all, ruining the divvying of the cabs, and making me bike there in the end with someone on the back of my bike (since one person in a cab is just not worth it)!

To make the long events of Round One into a short story, I'll do it in point form;

- Breaking into the kids place and playing in the ball pit for almost an hour
- Illegally drinking booze on property because we were too drunk to notice
- Rollerblading and hurting myself repeatedly by falling and running into walls
- Karaoke with random Japanese people my age, who kept telling me I should be a singer
- 13 people in a purikura booth... (You have no idea how insane that one was to pull off!)

And yeah! Saturday it was raining randomly so me and next door neighbour from California, Yoji, decided to have a gaming night, since he has the best TV out of all of us. A lot less people came (just the city folk), but it was awesome to play games for the first time in a while - at least since my Freeloader doesn't work anymore... But I re-started my game in Zelda so that should kill the rest of the summer holidays before I finish it! Too bad that I can't play Fatal Frame instead like I wanted to... :(

Today is really shite weather so I'm cleaning up, and hopefully doing a run down to Donki to get some groceries and what not done. Tomorrow I'm going to my base junior high to coach for speech contest, which is either gonna be awesome, or really boring. I can probably always use the office as my runaway excuse though!

Oh, and I bought my ticket for Tokyo and the AAA Budokan concert, and am looking into cheap deals to go to Korea with Lauren at the beginning of October (long weekend starting the 10th)! Lots of trips are gonna happen this year, so I hope I can afford them all (instead of going to concerts since there's no more I really want to see)! :)


I still miss you all, and hope that you'll come visit me sometime please! I'm always open and free to host people from back home so take advantage of me while you can bitches! <3



Song of the moment is a Korean group that is apparently really big but I never heard of until recently, and downloaded all their music. I love how the music video goes from "Shit, one of those fuckers is gonna get killed in a driveby." to "What the fuck is with this ending - since when was this a Japanese drama, but with a GOOD ending?!" lol

I love it, and so should you!

Big Bang "Haru Haru"

Well today, as my television decided to work and actually show colour and vibrant colours, I plugged in my Freeloader for the Wii in hopes of actually being able to see what I'm doing in Fatal Frame, but it started to pull an update that it never did before... And before I could power off the console to stop it, it updated and now I can't play foreign games anymore...

I'm thinking that if I reformat my Wii, and copy all my save files onto my memory card, I can be good as new, but if I format the console, will all of my downloaded games history be deleted? Will my save files not work when I try to re-copy them? All of my Miis disappear?


I don't know what to do, but all I know is that I want to play Fatal Frame and get the shit scared out of me again - it's THAT good!!


:(



But at the same time, I've become addicted to this song. Please enjoy enjoying!