English Camp

No new posts from me for a few more days - I'm about to head off to "English camp" as a volunteer instructor for this 3-day weekend.  I'll report anything significant upon my return.  Hopefully Gobbler will hold down the fort with some Halloween pictures or something.

Halloween!

In case you didn't realize, it's Halloween. I shall be dressing up as a certain Japanese kid's TV show character. Fun times. Anyone else doing anything fun?

Pirates +1

Arrr..

Recommended Videos

The quality isn't that great, but this sketch is pretty great. I've never seen any of the Disney "High School Musical" movies, but I can imagine what they must entail. Oh lamentations...

Good old colonial humor. Caution: lots of foul language.

We're on our way

I don't think things will be this bad, but we're in for some changes indeed if (or when) Obama wins.

I love the last line- "Hope for the change of the hope of the change!"

Picture of the Day 10/28/08

"Black and Milk Candy." Apparently "black" is a flavor over here. Ah - perhaps that is the taste that only Japanese people can detect. 

"Brown sugar and milk harmonize with marble colors. This is the secret method of delicious taste." -- You mean this was the secret method of delicious taste. It's not exactly a secret anymore, now is it? -- Gotcha!

Tear Down the Wall!

There may be a few changes around here from now.

Until now, I'd done my best to keep things relatively light and have been careful not to post anything that would discourage anyone from reading this blog - namely, I have mostly tried to stay away from religion and politics. I requested the same of "Gobbler."

However, I am a religious person, and I follow politics. Both are important. I am an American Catholic, and I am proud to be both. I am not always proud of my fellow Catholics or Americans, but that's something I may explore in future posts.

I will continue to tell tales of my life in Japan, and I will still do my best at making humorous observations and comments. However, I wanted to profess that my name is Paul, I have particular views regarding my religion and my country, and I will be discussing them in the future. Eh, it's not like I have many readers, anyway.

Day by day..

Life goes on.  Nothing major to report right now, although I guess I have one "happening" to mention. I went to lunch yesterday with three other English teachers and was taken off-guard and a little aback by where our conversation went.

This one teacher, who I don't know so well but considered to be a decent-seeming guy, asks me about September 11th, since I'm from New York. You know - where was I and what was it like. He said he wanted to hear all about it, but I see now it was just a platform for an unexpected anti-American sneak attack.

I tell my story, and he says (clearly he was waiting for this) - "You want to know what I think? You're going to disagree with me..." Then why tell me? This has already gotten kind of heavy for a lunch-time conversation at a ramen shop. Then he tells me that he thinks the American government knew that the attack was coming and that they let it happen so that American could claim self-defense in "invading the Middle East."  Sorry for the barrage of italics there, but it's still surprising to me to hear that.  Bullshit all Japanese people are nonconfrontational. And there's a kicker. He veered away from this a moment later, but he threw in (and this is the most ridiculous but revealing part of his assertion) - just like at Pearl Harbor, where the US let itself be attacked so that it could attack Japan. WHAT? The two other teachers were silent, pretty much staring into their ramen the whole time. Then he asked me what I thought. I just smiled awkwardly and said "Well yeah, I do disagree, but you're entitled to your opinion." I then explained that Bush may make bad decisions, but he is not evil. The Pearl Harbor part I didn't even address. 

When I talked to my predecessor about it, he said he would have probably brought up how Japan let itself get nuked so it could have an excuse to surrender. But I still have to work with these people for another few months, so I'm glad I didn't go that route.

Funny ha-ha

Laugh.

Regardless of your politics, both Obama and McCain were hilarious (if you've been following current political events). 

DK follow-up

Man, I haven't thought about that game in a long time.  I'd just like to follow up Gobbler's post with a thought of my own.

When I consider my favorite games of all time or my favorite game music of all time, I can't honestly say any DK titles make it onto my list.  However, they were fun and well-made games.  I think I've been blocking them out ever since Diddy Kong Racing came into being, although my sister and I did have some good times on the level where you have to fly around and collect eggs. It sounds lame, I know, but you're flying around a volcano and you can either knock eggs away from other players or just steal them from their nest.

But anyway, while I delight in fails (especially epic fails) as much as the next guy, there is an epic WIN in DK Country that I am itching to point out.  DK Country provides the player with the unique, though limited chance, to control a gorilla riding a rhino.  While playing this monstrosity, you are invincible (to my knowledge) and can completely destroy any foes that stand in your path; as it should be.  I mean, what can beat a gorilla on top of a damn rhino?  I think if I saw that in real life I would soil myself.  

I have provided a picture to illustrate my point: