Sansuikan Kinryu Hamamatsu

... the best for the posting.

Life has been busy lately. Too busy. I think over the past weekend I had about a total of 10 hours of sleep. I blame it on Kevin.

Kevin arrived on Friday. He's from Ottawa, and went to school with me at St. Paul's High School. Sharing similar interests, and being the saint who introduced me to Muse, how could I say "no"? That, and having a little taste of home come visit (minus the tasting part) was something that surprised me. I have wondered ...

... Katou-san, and we chatted about adjusting to other cultures, and studying foreign languages, and the such. He asked me what i did for exercise, to "strain my body", and I complained of lack of time, lack of a gym, and lack of motivation. But I was optimistic about finishing at 21, maybe 20 minutes.

I did my trial run, and was confused at the end about the finish line (I scared a bunch of guys in sutis as I sprinted towards their tent at the end of the pavement, while my ...

... before last week, that I went to Karate, was the night before the Typhoon. I don't know why I went. It was dangerous, no one showed up, it was raining cats and dogs (never used that before, but '*******' just wouldn't have cut it), and I showed up. Even the main sensei, whom I was expecting his own Karate-gi from, didn't show.
Anyhow, it was a wonderful experience. Before and after the session, there is always about 30 seconds of meditation ...

... to obtain maps and brochures. The Fuji tourist center was particularly large to accommodate all the seasonal hikers and tour groups. There were lots of displays, maps, and a movie showing the history of Mt. Fuji. We met one information lady who was very helpful and went out of her way just for us. She gave us maps, discount coupons for some attractions, told us where the best places to view Fuji were, how to get ...

... pay more than I should. I tried several types of bandages, but none really felt like they were sticking. After a long day, which included a run, some exercise, work, and not having enough sleep the night before, I decided to just give it a go.

When I arrived, I already had my bandage on underneath. It needed to cover an area roughly the size of one pectoral (or boob). It wasn't very busy (it doesn't get busy except for when it's senior's discount-day ...

... Now just to make it harder, I'm going to stick rivers, mountains, trees, and piles of dirt between you and the hole. OH, and did I mention, that you'll have to wack at this wee ball with a wee stick? Har har har" and all that jazz. The point is, it's fun because it's a pointless challenge. Back in the days before telegrams or camel-riding, some poor sucker who was quicker on his feet than others had to deliver messages, well ...

I had hinted at this particular event in the past, and decided to finally write about the various events that took place on that Saturday.

This being the second event my school was hosting in September, I was a little more excited to take part in it. The last event being the cleaning event, you can understand why. What they did in preparation for this, was split everyone in the Toyone-Village district into teams based on area. I fell into the Kamikurogawa ...

... not for this area). It followed the standard format: festival stands and decorations set up, ranging from drink-tent with soups, to toriniku (fried chicken) and takoyaki (fried octopus balls); early-morning drinking, usually made possible by trips to the liquor store the night before, as well as stocking the temple with its home-brew sake-barrel, music, costumes and festival outfits, and, of course, fireworks.

At this particular festival, the only ritual we saw was the ...

... by cracking out my guitar. Within a minute of me attempting to tune the darn thing (the Classical Ovation was really having a hard time with the steel strings---I just couldn't wait!), my co-worker approached me timidly and requested that I stopped playing, as it was not appropriate for me as a teacher, being paid, to appear like he's on vacation. I agree with this in retrospect, but at the time, I think I was a little disappointed. Does everything have to be according to ...

I thought I had a job with a school in Matsuyama since I had a good interview - then I didn't, but now I sort of do. I guess that's the way the superball bounces. As I said before, I had a pretty good interview - I wowed the interviewer with my background, my attempt at learning TEFL stuff, and my eloquence.. that and I said I could do web stuff, graphics and T-shirts, that helped. Unfortunately, the ...