Wow, can't believe the last time I wrote was about a week ago...at any rate today is DAY 2 I leave tomorrow!!!! Yeah!!! I have everything in place. I have my bus ticket to Narita. I confirmed my flight home. I have Christmas cards in the mail and Christmas gifts in my suitcase.Got money in my pocket and I'm ready to be on American soil for the first time in almost 5 months. Yippee!

Another bit of good news is I got my ISDN hookup this morning. That means two major things...#1. My phone bill will be much much lower!!! #2 I can be online all day long and it doesn't tie up my phone line! I'm siked about that! It took them about 2.5 hours to set it up on my computer because it was all in English and of course most of the people couldn't understand the words, but alas, they worked it out and now I got tha' hook up.Holla if ya hear me! LOL

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit delirious. And hungry, my lunch wasn't good today. I'm going to wash my hair and shower t'nite. Then go into Kofu to have drinks with Sanae and my Japanese friend crew for the last time before I leave. This break is going to probably help me make up my decision on whether to stay or leave. I have a meeting with Dr. Frierson on Friday which I'm looking forward to. I believe it will be productive. Wish me luck Diary-san.

Matta Rai nen!

Priceless...
$500 Village office window
$180/day Kamiku Teacher pay
$40/day heat in the BOE office
$2 spilled coffee on the desk
Spilling my morning coffee, while watching a baby bird fly top speed into a closed window at the opposite end of the office...PRICELESS.

The best thing about being in Japan...
I don't have to look at George Bush's ugly face scouring all over my freakin' TV screen. I don't think I've ever seen a human being that makes my flesh crawl like that man. I mean, I sit here on Monday nights and I watch Dark Angel and they have all types of weird genetically engineered "humans". Josh-who is half man half dog, a weird 1/2 panther 1/2 woman, this other dude who had all this puss and blood streaming out the side of his deformed face and honestly nothing makes my breakfast, lunch and dinner want to resurge from my bowels back up into my throat like the site of this man. I just feeling like "putting him in 8 headlocks" and "throwin' his face in the garbage". (courtesy of Cam'ron).

I hate reading about this US "war on terror". I hate reading about how arrogant our government is because we back that retarded ass "Dubya" with all his cowboyish tactics and bullying of people. I hate reading how much our economy sucks and how we really rely on our foreign investments to cover our asses on a daily basis. I wish some people knew how it was do without. I wish for one day the rich could be dirt fuckin' poor and the homeless/freezing folks could have lobster and steak for lunch, eat off genuine silverware, and dress themselves in the finest of fine or whatever else they please...just for a day. I wish that all the people out there who want to fire the Chancellor of UNC because of a poor decision he made AND ADMITTED too would take a chill pill are realize that our public figures are not these ideal unfuckupable people we expect them to be. Its like Erykah Badu tried to explain..."I cry when I'm sad, I get hungry when I'm hungry, I miss my momma when I'm away" People need to realize that we are all people for goodness sake and stop acting like they've never done anything wrong. Eminem tried to tell people that this song he has with Jay Z called "Renegade". Well, if you didn't hear him the first time, listen up good this time:

Maybe it's beautiful music
I made for you
To just cherish
But I'm debated disputed hated
And viewed in America
As a motherf***in' drug addict
Like you didn't experiment?
Now now, that's when
You start to stare at
Who's in the mirror
And see yourself
As a kid again
And you get embarrased
And I got nothin' to do
But make you look
Stupid as parents
You f***in' do-gooders
Too bad you couldn't
Do good at marriage
(Ha ha)
And do you
Have any clue
What I had to do
To get here?
I don't think you do
So stay tuned and
Keep your ears
Glued to the stereo

Well I guess he told YOU!!!

Snow Day...to omoimasu
It was beautiful...I was on my way home from a wonderful evening at The Muramatsu's House (my Japanese teacher and her family) and in Kofu it was raining. I started ascending the mountain and singing to whatever was playing on the radio and the rain started to get bigger. I wasn't sure but it looked like sleet or could it be snow? Its not even cold enough for snow? But none the less it was and the further up the mountain I got the more snow fell. I got to the other side of the tunnel that leads to Kamiku and it was so beautiful, I had to hurry and get home though, because I still didn't have any snow tires on my car but by this time the roads were still very wet and not snowy or icy.

This morning when I woke up it was gorgeous!! Nothing like waking up to a beautiful snow that hasn't been touched by the world. The trees were so beautiful and covered with snow it was just like something out of a story book that you wake up to on Christmas morning. Well anyway, my JTE called me first thing and said "Since its still snowing RTE 358 is closed so I'll call to see if we have school today" Well I never recieved a call so I just slept! I woke up around 9:30 and called a friend in the states. I emailed Erica and was like "Snow Day! Yippee!" Then started moving around to get my day started, made breakfast and then got a call. It was the Music teacher...who only speaks Japanese and of course I didn't understand the whole conversation only bits and pieces. Then about 10 mins later my JTE called and asked did I have the snow tires on yet. I said no, not yet. She said she'd tell the prinicipal. She called back 5 mins later and said, "Ichinose sensei will be at your house very soon to pick you up. Meet her at the BOE office." I was shocked! So, I hurried up and got dressed and as soon as I pulled on my pants and finished packing my bag...the car pulled up in front of my house.

On the way up the mountain to school what usually takes me about 8 minutes took about 20. I'm kinda worried about driving it by myself. I'm already scary driving with these crazy drivers but add snow and once it gets dark ice and we got some conditions that I don't want to be around for. I was supposed to have a dentist appt today but I had to reschedule because of all the snow. So once I got to school it was already 4th period and I'd missed English class for the day. It was okay because I thought I was having a snow day and didn't want to deal with teaching. Today I have to take the bus home with the students and tomorrow I will ride with them too. Its fine with me because I don't have to use my gas and I don't have to brave the slippery roads.

Japanese News in Brief
In Tokyo Japan, a senior officer for the Metropolitan PD has been arrested and charged with Statutory rape. This 56 year old man has been charged with having sex with a 15 year old girl since September of this year. He admits to the charge and was dishonorably discharged from his position on Thursday of this week. Here's the kicker... the child molester worked for the division of the PD that deals with cracking down on child pornography and cases involving sex with minors. The idiot met the child in February through another case he was involved in!

Also in Japan, probably not far from the first case lies yet another interesting piece of news. A 53 year old woman is charged with the murder of her husband. Reports say that her sickly husband and recently returned from the hospital after having a stroke. He could walk but was not able to speak or proceed with normal everyday functions very easily. The woman tied him up to a pole in the front yard with a dog chain and leash and left him there to die. After the man had toiled with the chain trying to get loose he managed to strangle himself by wrapping the chain around his neck 3 good times. His wife then calls the police and says "help, I think my husband may be dead".
When the police arrived she admitted to doing it.

Now, these two cases could have happened in America but it would have been a little different. The first thing I noticed is that both of these folks committed some pretty hanous crimes, but decided to just tell the truth about it. That baffles me! If you are going to kill someone and sleep with a baby...why not lie too? Its very strange but most of the articles I read about crime in Japan, they have no problems figuring out who did the shit because they damn offenders tell on themselves.

Aiight, so last night must have been the worst I've slept in my entire life! On top of the "pain killers" that the doctor here gave me which might as well have been children's chewable vitamins, I took some ibuprofen that I brought with me, had an ice pack on the tooth, plus drunk damn near a half bottle of wine and I was STILL in pain. Damn near delirious, but in pain none the less. I was so happy when morning finally came and I could begin preparing for the day to take my mind off the pain slightly.

My dentist appt was at 11. When I got there I told her all about the problems I'd been having, and she proceeded to remove the temporary filling. Once she did I could feel the gushing of the blood and puss that was coming out of my tooth. It was just as disgusting as it sounds. She said the problem was that she was trying to get puss to come out through a tiny whole she had made in the tooth but that didn't work so the only other way is to leave the tooth all the way open, which is what she has done. She gave another load of antibotics to take and told me to take 2 pills at a time to try to ease the pain so I'm taking all of them 3 times a day with my meals. This afternoon was pretty good and I can feel the throbbing but not any pain. I hope it continues to be this good but its really no judge because the pain is always gone after the first day. I go back on Monday and I think I'm going to have one more visit before I leave for the US. I pray this thing hurries to heal because being in the states with a toothache is the LAST thing I need.

I also went to the police station with Sanae to pay my ticket and get the big yellow ticket taken off my car. Before I took it off though, I did take a picture of it. Well anyway it was so funny when we were in the office. The guy kept flipping through my international drivers license which is all in English and he of course doesn't understand English. I mean he must have looked thru the thing like 5 or 6 times in the 15 minutes we were in there like he was diligently looking for something.

Then he and Sanae commence to having this conversation:

Officer: Can we call her if we have any more questions?

Sanae: "Of course".

Officer: "But, does she understand Japanese on the phone..."

Sanae: "No, but didn't you tell me you have an officer here who can speak English?"

Officer: "Oh, Yes we do."

Sanae: "Then why don't you get him to call?"

Officer: "Oh, that's a good idea!"

WTF!!!! This country boy I swear!

Diary-san I have yet another toothache. Today's was hella bad. I was at the Elementary school today and of course the students were being kids and being loud and I really felt like running out of the classroom getting in my car and driving far far away, but that would have probably lost me my job. I stuck it out and left right after lunch to return to the Junior High in hopes of getting a little peace and quiet but no luck. So I went for the next best thing. I searched my desk for some of that strong ibuprofen I brought with me illegally from the US, asked the nurse for an ice pack, took the pill and fell asleep on my desk with my face on the back for about an hour. RELIEF! The only bad thing is my dentist appt isn't until Friday so I have to tough out all of tonight and tomorrow. Its not so bad when I don' t have to talk much but when I am teaching its killer. I have to administer a listening exam tomorrow but after that I don't have to do anything so that's a blessing. Komatana! The last thing I'm worrying about is eating. I'm so freakin' hungry right now! I have to try to find something filling that I don't have to chew. I lose weight so quick when I'm not eating and that is the LAST thing I want to do. My mom is going to think I'm starving over here!

I'm working on this Kwanzaa lesson with Keysha. She's going to come up to my school on the 16th with me and teach. She's thinking of a dance we can teach them and I'll do my debut on my guitar with a song I'm making up for Kwanzaa to help them remember the principles. Yes, I am going to play my guitar. Yes I am going to make up a song. I know it will probably be 3 chords over and over again, but hey, its a start. I've been slack at practicing it because I've been either busy or had other things to work on like my Japanese studies but my new years resolution is to learn at least the major chords and their progressions as well as a few minor chords. I want to go back to Dustyn and see if he can teach me because I see that doing it on my own and not having a steady lesson set or teacher is not the most productive way for me to hold my self accountable to practicing. I have exactly 1 week and a half to perfect this song I'm thinking of so wish me luck...

tokoro de, today is DAY 14. "Houston, we've hit the two week mark!" Wait, let me not even MENTION the name Houston in light of the Whitney story that has just come out...I'll save that any my other news brief updates for later this evening or tomorrow's post.

Oh diary, dear diary its Day 15 and boy do I have some stuff to tell you...where do I begin...I guess chronologically is best so here goes:

I went to Kofu yesterday to have dinner with Sanae and her friend Hiromi. The plan for the night was have dinner, watch the Craig David DVD, and braid Hiromi's hair. The latter two would be happening simulanteously. So no problems there. The video was WONDERFUL!!! It's a shame that boy is only 21 cause he could get it. Hiromi's hair ended up really good. She liked it. So we left the bar (its small family owned sports bar that Sanae knows the owner so he was cool w/the braiding) and everyone went their on separate ways home...only I was surprised thoroughly when I reached my car which was parked on the side of the street and it had a huge plastic tag attached to my driverside mirror. The tag was locked and had some Japanese kanji that I couldn't read and therefore didn't understand. I called Sanae to see if she knew what it was and alas, it was a parking ticket. I was even more surprised when I found out that's what it was because I PARK IN THE SAME PLACE EVERYTIME I GO TO KOFU! That doesn't matter to Japanese folks. Ignorance doesn't matter, crying, pleading, having a baby, hemorraging, running out of gas, none of that matters. I have to go down to the police station to have them remove this fuckin' tag off my window and pay 15,000yen ($150) at the time of removal. Ain't that some shit!

Okay, so I live in a building with 3 teachers I work with and they go to work before me because they have to be there earlier. Why does everyone at the school the BOE and I'm sure the milkman and postman too know about this ticket before I get to work at 8:30am. The first thing the school secretary says to me is, "ichi man go sen yen" which means 15,000yen. Its crazy, I'm like damn can I tell my own business...the Vice Principal wanted to know where I got the ticket and tell me about how my predecessor did the same thing. I am of course the laughing stock of the office, but I'd rather them be laughing heartly then fussing. Fussing, I just can't take.

So, then I get a call to the Junior High saying that the garbage wasn't picked up at our apartment today because I left my raw food trash in with the rest of the trash...these people are crazy anal!!! I guess the machine's won't process raw trash, but I was so surprised when they told me that our trash would not be picked up at our apartment because I put some orange peels in with the rest of my trash. wow...

The WORD according to Ms. E

#1. There is a report from Sports Illustrated that they have a number one ranked 5th grade student in basketball. The article talks about why in the world is anyone ranking elementary school students but alas they are and I along with this sports writer am amazed at how far we really let this recruitment and trying to be the best thing go…only to let kids down when they get hurt or something when there should really be no pressure at age 12 about making it into the NBA…so sad.

#2. There is a group of Iraqi rebels called the Kurds. The live in the northern part of Iraq. The are willing and ready to participate with the US to overthrow Sadaam if needbe. They have male and female troops. They practice for hours and hours everyday and are the most organized troops in Iraq other than the Iraqi army…but there is a catch. They don’t use bullets! “we train, we aim, but we can’t afford to waste the bullets” WTF!!! I’m going to leave that right there

#3. United air is in the midst of this huge “I’m about to go into bankruptcy” thing. Yesterday the flight attendants agreed to take a pay reduction in order to keep this “employee owned” airline in the skies. The only hold out now is the mechanics. The airline wants them to take a $600 million pay cut and the mechanics are basically like, get the fuck outta here with that. Well right now if they don’t come around after the flight attendants sacrifice, the airline is almost sure to drown with a $7 million a day loss because of people not flying…This concerns me greatly because I am flying United HOME!! When Midway collapsed, I had a flight with them too and they just switched me to a USAir flight. That may not be as easy to do with a International flight, but I hope what ever the fuck they do they get their shit together before Dec. 18th. That’s all I gotta say about that.

The WORD according to Ms. E

#1. There is a report from Sports Illustrated that they have a number one ranked 5th grade student in basketball. The article talks about why in the world is anyone ranking elementary school students but alas they are and I along with this sports writer am amazed at how far we really let this recruitment and trying to be the best thing go…only to let kids down when they get hurt or something when there should really be no pressure at age 12 about making it into the NBA…so sad.

#2. There is a group of Iraqi rebels called the Kurds. The live in the northern part of Iraq. The are willing and ready to participate with the US to overthrow Sadaam if needbe. They have male and female troops. They practice for hours and hours everyday and are the most organized troops in Iraq other than the Iraqi army…but there is a catch. They don’t use bullets! “we train, we aim, but we can’t afford to waste the bullets” WTF!!! I’m going to leave that right there

#3. United air is in the midst of this huge “I’m about to go into bankruptcy” thing. Yesterday the flight attendants agreed to take a pay reduction in order to keep this “employee owned” airline in the skies. The only hold out now is the mechanics. The airline wants them to take a $600 million pay cut and the mechanics are basically like, get the fuck outta here with that. Well right now if they don’t come around after the flight attendants sacrifice, the airline is almost sure to drown with a $7 million a day loss because of people not flying…This concerns me greatly because I am flying United HOME!! When Midway collapsed, I had a flight with them too and they just switched me to a USAir flight. That may not be as easy to do with a International flight, but I hope what ever the fuck they do they get their shit together before Dec. 18th. That’s all I gotta say about that.

I have once again spent my entire Sunday in bed. Half sleeping/half reading, but none the less in bed. I actually made two calls today that really made those two people's day. It felt so good to hear my friend say "Its so glad to hear your voice, I've had a terrible day today". We are now on Day 17 of the countdown. I was looking into rental cars for when I get home and my friend was right it was so cheap for weekly rental. The days I put in they said it would be $116.00 for the whole week! That's excellent. I'm going to look further into that because it will be a blessing to have wheels knowing how much of a busy body I am.

Of course I have things I should be doing but laying in bed after running around all week is so relaxing! Alas, duty and my hungry stomach call...

Tonight I had yet another wonderful Thankgiving-esque dinner. This time it was at Hazel and Terry's (which for some reason I always say Tazel and Harry...my brain just can't get it right). Hazel ended up doing most of the cooking. I didn' t know that or I would have tried to whip something else up. I thought more of the guys would bring stuff but of course, all they brought was beer. Our evening was supposed to begin around 4:30, but I was delayed because I was trying to hurry up and finish E. Lynn Harris' book "Any Way The Wind Blows" before I left home. It ended up taking longer than I thought and I missed Hazel's phone call to get down there soon because she was in a house full of men (including her husband of course) who were talking about football and all sorts of random things that she was not interested in. I hurried to finish the book as well as the pasta dish I'd prepared (which surprisingly got rave reviews) so I could go rescue her.

Ya know, Hazel looks so much like my Aunt Connie its funny. Well she doesn't look like her all the time, its the facial expressions etc. that really get me. Hazel's 34 and really feels like a big sister to me. I've actually met a few people like that here. Its really good to have since my sister and I aren't very close.

Hazel made corn on the cob, beans and rice, mashed potatoes (fresh, not boxed) and 3 pies: sweet potato, pumpkin, and apple. Those pies really took me back home. She baked marshmellows on top of the sweet potato pie and I was really looking around for somebody's mama so I could slap her! (sorority joke) Hazel's a really great cook and since she and Terry are totally vegetarian I always get really healthy meals when I'm at their place.

Tonight, I had a sit down with a guy who I usually ignore because half of the words out of his mouth are ignorant. He seems like a nice enough guy but he is young (just turned 22) and immature. Look at me calling someone young at 22, but its not his age, its his mind. I generally just have small talk with him because he is cool, but nothing deep because I don't like feeling like I have to be the spokesperson for Black people or explain my life and how I am to him. He always asks dumb questions about ethnicity and stuff and I just get tired of explaining so sometimes...I just don't deal with it. In life, here are some people who don't understand things (no specific thing, just things in general) but they kind of go with the flow and try to get in where they fit in. They figure it out the best way they know how or they wait until a more appropriate time to approach the subject. Not this young cat! What gets me most is that people dismiss what he says with "That's just because he's young". I am a true believer in the fact that we make allowances for people to remain how they are. By constantly giving them the "she's/he's just like that" out...we hurt them as much as their ignorance bothers us. I refuse to do that but for so long and their has to come a time, when everyone should not have to change because of one person and that person should start learning how to be a chameleon based on their situation.

So anyway (as I step down off my soapbox) we sat and talked tonight and a lot of what he said helped me to put together pieces of why he is the way he is. We are alike in a lot of ways but still very different. It was just good to see a side of him existed that didn't involve him trying to keep up with the dozens and be like "the boys". He gets caught up in trying to fit in with the other guys who seem to have an ongoing game of "Who's line is it anyway?" trying to be quickest to say something smart or witty. If he would just be a little more confident in himself then maybe he'd find out who "himself" really is. I think he's looking but he'll never find him while he's trying to be them.

I started reading Sue's book, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being. And in an oxymoronic way, this book is anything BUT light. I said I was going to try to do some light bedtime reading but its actually quite heavy...but coming off the Potter Series and E. Lynn this is going to be an interesting ride. I read 4 books this week that contained a combined total of 1,460 pages. I have a feeling, that even if I give it my all I won't finish this one book (311pgs) this week. But I will do my best. Wow, 1,460! I didn't realize it was that many...I promise you if any of them would have been for a class in undergrad I probably wouldn't have read them just out of principle...I was really a terrible student...but life has its way of making you a great pupil doesn't it...I digress, as usual.

Oyasuminasai! Ganbarimasu!