Sordid America

The above title was written rather brashly. Read through the lines and you'll understand why I chose it. It is by no means a scurrilous attack on my own birth country. I only mean to promulgate some positive aspects of another culture.

Success used to intimidate me; however, I'm not afraid of it anymore. I'm still in no position to scoff at it though. I'd be grateful to embrace a career in writing or something creative one day. That's why I'm forcing myself to write more these days.

I can usually find solace in writing but right now it's not working. In fact, right now I'm almost disdaining it. This is my own personal writing but for some reason it feels like an obligation. I could never write in that kind of condition. It reminds me of writing something for school. I'm used to typing all the things on my mind in a frenzy...there must not be a lot on my mind right now then.

I digress. I will give myself Hobson's Choice and see to it that this entry is written to completion.


Japan

There's a raising concern regarding the increasing number of elderly people in Japan. Not a bad problem to have, seeing as how Japan has the highest longevity rate in the world (82.6 years). This is the land where it's not uncommon to see a herd of octogenarians bicycling around together on a calm sunny summer day. Happiness is a tangible product that you can see written all over their faces.


If you go to a bar or club in Japan the chances that you will encounter a belligerent drunkard are slim to nil. You'll never see a punch let alone a feint thrown your way by anyone. Therefore, there is no need to hire bouncers whose sole responsibility is to castigate those who get out of line with being chivalrous. Nobody tries to belittle each other or rule the roost here. In fact, in most facets of daily life you will rarely ever meet anyone of pugnacious character. If you try to throw down the gauntlet with an adversary you will appear as a fool.

Even homeless people – the dregs of society – are civil. Their card board box homes that I saw with my own eyes in Tokyo are of a neat and tidy fashion. When they're not occupying their humble abodes they can be found peacefully drinking sake with each other in the park. While feeling no pain they talk amongst each other in a pleasant manner.


Every time I curl my right arm I can see what used to be a nasty laceration on the back of my forearm. This scar, caused by a careless biking accident, set me back about a month in physical training. While I was recovering I lost about 10 pounds. However, I was fortunate to have Japanese women in my life who took care of me with alacrity.


~Anthans

Mind Prison

To wrest my mind from this reality is impossible.

My lackluster performance at work has gone unnoticed for too long. Somebody will say something sooner or never.

I used to make caustic comments directed towards one of my coworkers but he was too low in the gene pool to recognize that he was being insulted.

I am loath to tolerate the winter. I relish the summer.

「夏の時に、ワンナイトラブいっぱいある！」Natsu-no toki ni, wan naito rabu ippai aru! = During the summer there are many one night love opportunities!

I'm getting away with too many things lately. Therefore, I'm awaiting the day a reprimand will come my way. I always see it in my nightmares, too.

Looking forward to the days when an incipient success may begin.

Maybe I'll become famous for something notorious: perhaps I'll become infamous.

It's been a while since I was duped by anyone. The Japanese people have been very good to me.

I went to an amusement park last week that had about as many park attendees as there were employees: somewhere around 15. There was no need to jostle to get from one broken attraction to the other.

I inadvertently fell in love last week.

The atmosphere at work has ceased to be an ominous one.

I used to repudiate any accusations that I was involved with multiple women. Now I just let people say what they're going to say.

My hair used to bristle around one of my coworkers. As long as I keep having the weekends that I'm having there will be no need for that anymore.

His voice still becomes tremulous whenever he attempts to engage me in an argument. Last time his eyes became bloodshot red. I had never seen anything like it before. It was almost as if he was about to cry.

Those talks have come to a cessation.

I escaped my English Prison at work today as my schedule stipulated me to teach only one class. Hallelujah.

One of my favorite euphemisms is "lady of the night."

I hope I don't have to send condolences back home should anything happen to Mrs. Kitty while I'm all the way across the Pacific Ocean.

Life is far from mundane if you want it to be.

My love life is incongruous at the moment. Is that how it ought to be in order for my mind to be preoccupied by something?


~Anthans

English Prison II

For various reasons, my teaching method lately has become laconic. I say what I need to say with my mouth and compensate the rest by gesticulating with meaningful gestures. If one of my coworkers ever tries to cajole me into enhancing my students' experience by speaking more, I'll base my response on my students' rudimentary understanding of the English language and how "saying less is more."

I used to be under the sword of Damocles regarding my use of Japanese at work, but not anymore! I told my boss about the exchange of words I had the other week with one of my coworkers and the tension I felt around him and she seemed to take my side. However, it was a Pyrrhic victory due to my loss in motivation at work in the recent weeks.

The tension has died died down recently between me and him. And although I'd like to, I dare not beard the lion in his den by bringing up the matter again.

My avid interest in the Japanese language can't be denied. I find the nuance in phrases like "I want to go to the bathroom" and "I want to go the bathroom (so please point me in the right direction)" fascinating. When it comes to language, I especially like to keep a vigilant watch over little things like this.

Chinese people tend to be adroit at picking up Japanese. It can mostly be explained by their prerequisite understanding of Chinese characters which are referred to as "kanji" in Japanese. I used to be irate over this but then I grew to accept it. Instead of condemning them with jealously I have instead chosen to work harder to better understand kanji myself.


Perhaps I'm intrepid for writing this, but my girlfriends helped me a great deal last week with studying, cooking, and nursing the wounds I incurred in a recent bicycle accident. Despite my unconditional admiration, one of my them is being rather reticent with her email messages lately. She doesn't accost me with any accusations, but she does insist that there are a throng of other women in my life. Am I a heartbreaker-felon-to-be?

There are a plethora of things bothering me lately. They're not troubling matters, but they can be a wet blanket when I'm out trying to enjoy myself. They're mostly matters revolving around my future career.

After ending employment with my current job I do not wish to return to the same hapless state I was in over a year ago. My original pretext for coming to Japan was to get away from the American wasteland that was consuming (and to this day still consumes) the futures of young recent 20-something graduates.
I didn't fabricate anything to my current employer, but my purpose for coming to Japan wasn't entirely made clear. In the interview I recall furtively saying "I want to bridge the gaps in understanding between Eastern and Western ideas and values. And...I'd also like to learn some Japanese."

Perhaps "some" could have been better thought out.


~Anthans

English Prison I

+: My health sitch'ation was going good for a while. I was prognosticating a newer and improved me. However, my arm has been damaged due to a recent accident. The pain is compounded by the fact that I have to work with the most stubborn person I have ever met. Today he lashed out at me indiscriminately for making too much noise with a paper cutter. I can't relate to the way he perceives things at all. 

His incessant badgering regarding the things "I'm doing wrong" had some negative effects on my +. Also, my voracious appetite is eating away at me from the inside. These are critical times.

♥: According to my personal annals, I have never experienced such a successful turn of events. It's  paradoxical how different my ♥ sitch'ation was a year ago. Tomorrow I will meet with an eminent local star who is imploring me to come see her. 

It's my dream one day to meet a matron who will welcome me into her life. I don't know why, but it steeps me with excitement. My Chinese friend told me of an affair he got involved in. I latched on to his every word from the story he told with just a tinge of jealousy.

$: The world is abound with opportunities. The realm of diplomacy is of interest to me and I will pursue it. The drudgery that I face at my current employ cannot sustain forever. This week alone has felt interminable in and of itself. Due to today's technological innovations, an automaton could do my job. 

~Anthans

just airing out some clean laundry here

I don't know why it's bothering me so much right now, but for whatever reason I can't get over the fact that I may have ruined one of my garments: the really cool pants I bought in Tokyo.

It's a combination of factors that are causing this bothered state I'm in right now. They include:

-My new heightened interest in taking care of my wardrobe
-My attachment to a pair of pants that fit me like no others have before
-The fact that it is extremely difficult to find clothes my size in this country
-The fact that it is moderately difficult to find clothes my size in any country

The damage has been done.


Having already worn them on several different occasions I decided to throw my pants (corduroy's) into the washer a few weeks ago. I did this without any regard for the washing conditions that the pants required. After taking them out of the washer I hang dried them outside. About a day later I brought them in and hung them in my closet. At the time I didn't notice any wrinkles or blemishes. I was content.


Tonight came time to do laundry for the week. I was wearing another stylish pair of pants that I bought in the big city (Tokyo) and was just about to toss them in with my load of clothes: the only load that I usually do.

Out of mere curiosity I decided to check the washing instructions located on the inside linen of the pants. To my surprise the washing directions read, "Hand Wash 30ºC." It hadn't occurred to me before that some of the clothes that I considered to be "everyday" required special care.  To me "special care" was reserved only for "special occasions." I rarely dry clean my clothes: only suits and trousers. The very idea of dry cleaning or taking special care of my ordinary clothes was foreign. "Who has time for that?" I thought.

Upon reading the specific directions from the pants I dropped them to the floor with a gasp. I hastily tried to remember how I had treated my other stylish pants a few weeks ago but my memory circuits were firing blanks.

I ran to the closet – which was half a foot away – and violently slid open the closet door. It smashed against the wall as I slid mostly shirts to the side in search of my go-to pants: my FF9C42 corduroys.

When I located them I was disappointed; however, it was mostly in myself though.

The wrinkles were obvious. I wanted to make those wrinkles go away but the material of the pants was not to be mishandled by a home economics rookie like myself. The pants were wearable but they screamed "I don't know how to take care of myself." It was a low point in my life and I didn't know where to turn. The time was 00:05 and it wouldn't be until 9:00 the next day when the nearby dry-cleaners would open. But I wanted to solve the problem as soon as humanly possible.

Like someone who tries to self-diagnose themselves I decided to take matters into my own hands by searching the internet for answers. I searched and learned about methods for dry cleaning all different types of clothes and fabrics. I watched videos on how dry cleaning works and methods for cleaning special types of clothes at home. I got sucked into watching some infomercials about special at home dry cleaning products that seemed too good to be true. In the end I still felt empty inside.

Although my go-to pants were clean their appearance was unsatisfactory to me. I wanted to wear them again like I had worn them those four to five times before I carelessly tossed them in with the rest of my clothes. They were special to me but I didn't treat them that way.

The thought of losing something that I felt so much attachment to scared me. Perhaps the scarier side of this was the reality that I was placing so many feelings and emotions into a material item like pants.

I feel like there are many lessons to be learned from writing this. For one, my family and close friends are special to me so I'm going to try and treat them like that from now on.

~Anthans

A Poem that doesn't Rye

I like life

Life is fun

Through all the strife

I'm still just one

Tonight I ran home in the snow

Most people would cast this off as annoying

But I enjoyed it on the go; I wish I was bboying(insert period here)


I have the freedom to do whatever I want,

That is the greatest good,

This next line doesn't rhyme either,

who cares.


I may not be the most favored,

popular,

or rich person in the world,

yet I'm still able to find my favorite parts in it, its richness, and remain in the population.


Tomorrow I'm embarking on a new adventure with new people.

I met a Chinese duder. He's cool.

My Chinese adventure begins tomorrow.

Preparation is key. Some energy I'll need to borrow.


I triple press "return" between unrelated thoughts,

I now have three cooking pots.


I don't want this life thing to end, but I know its inevitable.

Until then, I'm going to try to level up!


~Anthans


P.S. There was no Rye in this Poem

Headache

Warning: I'm going to be using the pronouns "I" "my" and "me" a lot in this post.

The more exciting life becomes, the more frequent the headaches are.

Not to toot my horn *toot toot*, but my life is far from boring. I work hard everyday and get rewarded accordingly. This works to my favor in most aspects of life, but it doesn't for one of them: girls & dating.

I used to think that I knew what I was doing with the women in my life, but recently I've gone astray. These days I've been settling, shooting lower, and worst of all, coming up short. I really should follow my own advice, particularly the advice I give to my students:

"Don't aim for this score [on the test], you can do better. Shoot for the moon so that way if you miss, you'll at least land somewhere in the clouds. To be above the clouds is to be on top of the world."

I wrote a post last year about how you should always follow your plan A. If Plan A goes awry then resort to plan B, which would then become your new Plan A. Only do this though if you gave your full effort to make plan A come into fruition.

My old Plan B is now my new Plan A. I have accomplished my Plan A. So what's next?

Another New Plan:

-?t?? ?e??l?ng
-G? ???er ???? I ?an? [wha? ? ??a?y ??nt] b?? ?ak? ?t ?ee? li?e ?he ?pp????? i? h?????ing
-?a?e s?a?????s
-??n't b? a ??s??, g?? ????y

Fight!

~Anthans