Honestly, Im not the least bit homesick. But, tonight, I went facebook stalking, and Tears came to my eyes, as a left a comment on Bryan`s facebook page. But it wasn`t Bryan that I missed. It was the date that we had set up for Chipotle. I seriously welled up just thinking about it.

Well shit, I just thought UId stop by and show the good old blog a little love. Dont have anything in particular that I want to talk about. I got paid. Thats good news. Theres a long story on that one, but really I dont feel like telling it. Ah, I:ll blog about Time in Japan

Time in Japan, its just different than it is back home. I don:t know if its Japan, or if its just the lifestyle. Basically, 24/7 there is something to do or somebody to talk to. For instance, I have a couple Japanese friends that I frequently see in at 3am at a small restaurant. Usually shoot the shit with that them for about an hour, andd there English is only slightly better than my Jaanese.

And then I have my regular group of friends who are all foreigners. Its weird because if you go three days without seeing somebody, when you see them again, your like long tie no see. What the fuck you been up to. And unlike back home, in three days, theyve gathered a couple stories to tell ya, and thats why you havent seen them in three days. One of my friends, I haven:t seen for like two weeks, and Im just like what the fuck happened to Jordan? . . Back home, if you see somebody once or twice a week they`re like your best friend.

At the same time though, I have my students that I see once a week. And as for them, it feels like its been 2 days since the last time Ive seen them. Im just like shit, what happened in the past week to where I:m already seeing this person.]

On top of that, I`ve only been in Japan for 2 months, and I feel like Ive lived a life time. My coworkers also feel like Ive been here forever, even the ones that I dont see all that often.

I don:t know. Im having an awesome time. Unfortunately, I really dont think I:ll be coming back. Its just so difficult because back home just doesnt even compare to this place. I could spend a lifetime out here, and it would be well worth it, but in the end, life is just too short, and there are too many other opportunities.

Well, it looks like Im coming back a little sooner than I thought. October 3rd, it is now because Houston is wanting to suss me out. See you degens then!

SO lets see. I didnt get paid today! My first real payday in 6 weeks and they dont pay me a penny! I guess this deserves a little explanation though. But I must start from the beginning

Japanese People:
Japanese people are very quick to judge. I dont think its a hateful sentiment though, but rather safety and comfort are the motivives. The story that strikes me most was from a conversation with a middle-aged Japanese woman. She was telling me how she wanted to go to Beijing for the olympics, but that a bridge had recently collapsed, so perhaps visiting Beijing wasnt safe. Perhaps, something was lost in translation, but there are many such examples perhaps to a lesser extent of absurdity.

So then Nova:
Apparently Nova had a big lawsuit a few months ago. I:ll explain it like this. If a doghnut costs $1, then 12 costs $12. But usually the baker would drop the price to $10. Say you come back a week later, and want to return 6 of the doughnuts. Well, instead of giving you half your money back, the baker charges you the price for each individual doughnut and pays you the difference. Instead of getting $5, you get $4. SO you end up paying $6 for 6 doughnuts.

Well basically, Nova got sued, because the customers thought they should get the whole $5 instead of just $4. But there was a little bit more involved. Basically, the students werent able to enroll in classes because all the classes were full. And on top of that when they were sold the package deal, they were told that they would be able to enroll in classes.

Long story short, Nova got sued, lost the case, and now the company is strapped for cash. Luckily Im sitting on about $1000, but all the money is in American cash. So I go too the bank today, and see that I have the equivalent of $6 in my account. All the banks are closed all weekend, I have no groceries, and I have $1 in my pocket. I was a little upset. So i walked into Nova in my T-shirt and jeans, and asked what was going on. . . In the end, it was sorted out, because the post office could exchange my money for me. So I exchanged $200, and now me and Jordan are going out to Masters for a $20 meal, so that we can celebrate, and laugh at the poor suckers who are still strapped for cash.

So now, I have a plane ticket home on Oct 9th, and well, it might be a good idea not to keep working for a company that doesnt pay you on time, so we'll see what happens.

I downloded Itunes at 2.2 MB/s in a shitty internet cafe. Fastest Ive ever seen is 1.0 MB/s at UT. And Austin is 3rd in line for taking over the duties of the capital because of its networking infrastructure.

I wrote this post a few months ago, and then I got really really busy, and today, I just decided to post it:

Failure:

One more post for my favorite anonymous reader #5. That's right, Jinx and Andy demoted your ass from #3 to #5.

So in all the heaven and hell bullshit, there was an idea that I kind of skimmed over that really struck me. And that was the idea of failure. In thinking about the possibility of heaven, I presumed you could just pretty much accomplish whatever you want. I gave the examples of sex and chess. The point that I wanted to make was that accomplishing whatever you want, although it sounds like loads of fun, it would actually get quite boring.

Anyways, as interesting as it is to me (not reader #5), but as interesting as it is to apply this idea as a contrapositive for the existence of heaven, it's certainly more useful to apply it to real life.

So, let's say in real life, you get a magic genie, who comes out of a bottle and grants you 3 wishes. You wish to be the richest man in the world, end all disease on the planet, and educate underpriveledged children around the world. Those are pretty lofty goals, but the genie, simply waves his magic wand, and bam, it's all done. Sure, it was a great thing to do, and now you can sit on your ass doing whatever you want. Maybe buy some professional sports team, or use the money to end world hunger, but what I'd measure my life by would be what I did before and after the genie showed up. Sure, I'd prolly use the whole "Ended all disease on the planet" thing as a pick up line on Miss America, but on the inside, I'd want to actually accomplish something for myself.

The thing that the magic genie can't give you is the chance to fail. On the other hand, Bill Gates had to fight every step of the way for what he's accomplished. And although, he most likely won't completely accompish his last two goals, you know he's lovin every minute of trying to succeed.

Granted reader #5, might be right, in that none of the above is that interesting, but what I do find interesting is that the chance to fail is what makes the accomplishment so sweet. The best example of this was watching any sports team make a comeback in the final seconds.

So then, if having the chance to fail is such a necessity in any accomplishment, then why do people hate failing so much . . . or do they?

It seems to me that failures tend to stick with you longer than accomplishments. If you win a big basketball game, you tend to party down for a few days, but the feeling quickly fades away. But losses just stick with you. A good month after a big loss you can regenerate that exact same feeling, and re-experience it. Losing isn't as fleeting as winning.

IMO, on one level, people love to fail. Being happy and hunkidori is good for a while, but then you gotta spice things up with a good little fight or argument or just fuck things up in general.

In a way, I think failure is a way to relate to life. Its a very natural way to relate to life, and I must admit that Ive spent most of my life thinking that I was failing or trying to avoid failing. Somehow, since I wrote this blog 3 months ago, its changed my view quite a bit. I find that I often focus on the possibility of failing or the things I might lose in life, but now I have the freedom to see myself going down that trap, and changing my focus to what I can create in life. This might sound contradictory to the last post, but wtf, Im human.

War Games

War games is one of those really bad yet simultaneously really good 80:s movies where a teenager hacks into a military computer and mistakenly thinks that he is simply playing a computer game. Anyways, throughout the course of the movie, he nearly sets off WWIII. Well, in one sentence that pretty acurately describes the entire movie. How they filled up 114 minutes, I dont really remember, but I do remember the ending. By the end of the movie, the computer has gone rogue. Due to some glitch that the teenager pulled off, the computer is convinced that the russians are attacking. Needless to say, the movie doesn:t end with total annihilation of planet earth, but rather the kid comes in to brilliantly save the day. And what was the brilliant breakthrough that saved planet earth?　Tic Tac Toe. The kid uploads a Tic Tac Toe program into the supercomputer, and then it frantically tries to beat itself in Tic Tac Toe, until finally the computer realizes that there simply is no winning in Tic Tac Toe. The computer then has a breakthrough, and connects the futile strategies of trying to win at Tic Tac Toe, to the futile strategies of trying to win at Nuclear War.

For the reader that hasnt brilliantly put 2 and 2 together like the supercomputer in War Games did, I'll reveal the moral of my stolen fable. This girl has driven me up the wall. Ive been spending every waking moment either trying to figure this one out, or futily keeping my mind mundanely occupied in an attempt to escape my thoughts. I've reached the point where my brain is mush, and trying to figure out a girl is no different from playing tic tac tow with yourself. I've tried everything I know, and now, Im just a feather - floating accidental like on a breeze.

4minute update.
going to Texas on oct12th. Will be interviewing in Galveston. Ill see you bitches then!
...eh I still have 2 minutes. . . oh well.

Eric-

Yesterday, me and Joanna (The Boston Girl. Im promoting her in the blog to a first name basis) called it quits, so to console myself, last night I went out for a beer at a small bar called Xelhas. Theres a really small group of foreigners in the town I live in, and the crowd that I run in totals about 30 foreigners. Most of whom work at Nova. Somehow last night, everybody seemed to gravitate towards Xelhas, and there was a group of about 10 of us. We start the night off telling funny Japan stories, most of which involve Alcohol.

A few people scatter off, and then I get invited to have one drink at another bar. Somehow, I cant bring myself to say no, so Im off for more drinks at the Pink Door. Then I get invited to have one more drink at SDR, and still I cant bring myself to say no. At SDR, we meet a couple of Japanese girls. Now, Simon has a little Mongolian girlfriend who speaks perfect Japanese, and seriously in Japan, she makes the best wingman Ive ever known. (In reality most wingmen turn into cockblocks as they try to hit on the girl that you are hitting on. And then the next day, they brag about how they are the best wingman on the planet.)　　Anyways, since I cant really speak Japanese, the mogolian girl, Tanga spits all my game for me. Beyond that, she knows exactly what every Japanese girl wants to hear, so I dont even have to try to figure out the right thing to say in English.

Not that its completely effort free though. From teaching English, Ive mastered how to carry on an English conversation with a Japanese person who doesnt even speak much English. However, for her speaking English is very knew, and she hasnt even done it since high school. So I get to sit back calm and relaxed asking her a bunch of stupid questions, and meanwhile she shyly struggles to respond.

So we chill with those girls for a couple drinks and then its off to Joes bar for some karaoke. We invite the girls along, and they accept, so we know they must be interested. So at Joes bar, we come across Eric, Eric is sound asleep sitting on a bar stool and just leaning back on the wall. Ive met Eric three times, and it seems that everywhere that Eric goes he is prepared because he always has a huge backpack and his bicycle helmet lying on the floor right beside hime. He is in his late 30s, early 40s, speaks fluent Japanese, and hes one of the few foreigners in this town that dont teach English. Actually, I have no idea what he does.

Anyways we walk into the bar, and we see him sound asleep. Simon sits right next to him, and starts poking at him, urging him to sing some Karaoke. Eric comes to, half concious and punches in a 7 digit karaoke number that he knows by heart, and it turns out to be "the sound of silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. By the time the music starts, Eric is 100% and ready to start going, however the sound of silence wasnt so silent. Eric just completely makes up his own rendition of the song that only uses a few of the actual lines in the song, and rather than a harmonious soothing song, he changes it into a loud obnoxious song, and screams the word "silence" everytime it comes around. The whole song he adds in completely fucked up phrases like the "sound of Iraqi Silence." The whole time, me and Simon are cracking up laughing, and Im damn near about to fall off my chair with laughter. I just couldn believe this guy coming fully to in the nmatter of seconds and making up this ridiculous song. It was fucking classsic.

Well then, I pick out an MJ song, and got so lost that we decide to cancel. And then we continue Karaoke for a couple hours. I sang "I got my mind set on you" by GEORGE HARRISON, and it was a real hit, but then I showed some Texas pride and sang "friends in low places" by Garth Brooks, and it didnt get quite the reception that it gets back home. Actually nobody else in the bar had ever even heard the song. A little embarrassing.

But at this point, Eric has fallen back to sleep in his barstool, and finally, he gets out of his barstool, and sprawls himself out on the floor. Mind you, this is a small Japanese bar, that is basically the size of a long hallway with a bar, so everytime we get up to go to the bathroom, we literrally have to walk over him. The thing about it is, that Eric wasnt completely pissed, he just didnt want to go home. Id say we was going strong, but he was really just going. Apparently just the night before, he spent the night at that bar on one of the couches.

Anyways the nights coming to an end, so I get the Japanese girls phone number, and then the bar closes. At Karaoke, they have a song that they put on that basically means get the fuck out of my bar. Personally Im ready to go, but all the Japanese people are going strong, loving every moment. They even stuck around for one more song, and then we finally stumble out of the bar at 6:15 AM. And I was just going out for a drink.

Well, there it is, I suppose that the blog will be a bit more interesting now that Im not pining after Joanna anymore, but, Im not too thrilled about it.

[Edit: I never called the Japanese girl mentioned above due to important circumstances]