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

Anthans' Anecdotes: Issue 2: Steamed Glovables

Are you familiar with the story of the mouse that churned milk into butter? It goes like this.

One day in a barn some mice fell into a churn of milk. They all tried to escape from the churn of milk but it was hopeless. All of the mice gave up after fatigue from swimming and perished: all except for one. 


This one mouse was determined to be freed from his milk prison so he continued to persevere. The odds for his survival were slim, but after a while the mouse had kicked enough milk around that he was able to turn it into butter. Eventually the butter became hard enough to be used as a bridge to the top of the milk churn and so the mouse triumphed.


I have a similar story, but mine involves a glove and steamed vegetables. Have a read.

Due to the oo-yuki 大雪 – which litterally translates as "Big Snow" – we've been having in the countryside of Japan lately I decided to take the bus home from work tonight. I caught it from the shopping mall center and rode it with one of my coworkers. As we chatted along the way in Japanese and English I suddenly noticed that I was only wearing one glove on my hands. "I ain't Michael Jackson!" I said out loud. Where's my other glove?!


I scrambled to find my glove all over the bus, but it was nowhere to be found. Boy, am I dumb" I said to myself, but I'm sure everyone on the bus heard me somehow. I got off the bus near my apartment and ran all the way back to the original bus stop from where I was picked up.


A walk that would have ordinarily taken 25 minutes from my apartment to my work took me only about 10 minutes via running-feet. I ran for most of the way because I was determined to be united with my other glove. Having only one glove in a snowy city would be like having one hand in a clapping contest (do they still have those??).


When I arrived at the shopping center I started to retrace my steps, all the way back to the point before my departure. But I didn't need to go that far back in time, because lo and behold, there my lonely glove sat on the cold winter floor just outside the entrance of the store. I held its mate up to my face just to double check if they were indeed a pair. After closer examination I determined that... [beat 1]... [beat 2]... [beat 3]... it was the OTHER glove!


Now that I was back where I started, out of breath, and down ¥190, I decided to make something positive out of this whole inconvenient sitch'ation. 


I had always been wanting to steam vegetables for home cooking; however, I hadn't found the time or convenience to purchase the means to do it. Oh and I was lazy, too. I found a steamer pot for the right price at the department store I was at and decided to buy it on the spot. Afterwards I went to the adjacent supermarket and purchased a potato, a spear of broccoli, and a carrot. After walking all the way back to my apartment in a snowstorm I began to steam the potato and some of the broccoli. When they finished they had an excellent texture and a fresh taste while simultaneously maintaining many of their nutrients. It was a splendid 12:30 AM snack.

And that's how I turned a missing glove into steamed vegetables.


~Anthans

I know why the troubled man keeps his head up

One cliche that gets thrown around a lot is, "Keep your head up." People say this to someone when they look sad or upset about something. The effectiveness in this overused saying lies in its ability to motivate people to stay positive.

Others expressions like this include:

"Look at the bright side."
"The beginning is always today."
"Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

I normally don't have anybody around to tell me these uplifting things so I have to tell them to myself.

While returning home from work tonight I couldn't help but keep my head in a 45 degree angle facing downward. The temperature was 0˚C so I had my hood up, but something was also troubling me. It's not so important what was troubling me. More importantly I wondered why it was troubling me.

Noticing myself that I hadn't looked up once since venturing on foot back to my apartment, I decided to pause in the midst of my tracks. Under the furry hood of my Korean jacket I tilted my head up to see if the stars had come out to play tonight. My visibility was hindered by my hood so I couldn't see much. I wanted to see more but I didn't want to lose the warmth it was providing me. Comfort aside I decided to push up the hood fully with my umbrella until I was de-hooded. And there I saw, the Big Dipper.

I stood in awe at its awesomeness: it's majestic twilight. I watched it, or rather saw it, for at least a few minutes. In those few minutes I was transported away from all the menial and trivial matters that were infesting my life. It made me realize something profound.

My subconscious streamline of thoughts:

["Wow, when you think about it all, everything that lies before us is so meaningless, yet at the same time ultimately precious. These moments in which I think and ponder about life are the ones that mean the most to me.

The bigger dipper is so far away. The universe is so vast. Is it infinite or finite?

It's 0˚C weather right now but it's just a bunch of neurons going off in my brain right now telling me that it's freezing. I'm diverting maximum CPU to Pondering Mode.

That's better. Now, where was I? Oh, I'm still standing here? But what for? I need to go home and prepare dinner so that way I can continue to be alive and healthy. I'm still trying to enjoy this Life thing."]

End Subconscious Transmission

Conclusion: When you keep your head up you see more than just your feet and your surrounding environment. It snapped me right out of the funk that I was in.


~Anthans

What are you SUPER saiyan?

Gohan and Goku may look relaxed here, but they are actually actively training for their next battle with the foe, Cell.


I'll never forget how much power I was drained of the first night I spoke in three languages.

It was back in June of last year and I had just moved to Japan. My Japanese was subpar at the time but one night I somehow found myself being invited to one of the local clubs by a group of Japanese girls. Once we arrived I met a variety of other people, including other foreigners. One of the groups I began a chat with didn't respond in either Japanese or English, but rather Spanish.

I hadn't spoken Spanish in months, maybe year, but there I was trying to communicate in my father tongue.


"¿De dónde eres? ¿Verdad? ¿Cuál parte? ¿Soy de Los Estados unidos pero vivo en Japón."

「何がおすすめですか。ジントニックか。好きな飲み物だよ！ちょっと待って、頼もうと思う。」

"Hey, where's the restroom?"

"¿Te gusta Japón?"

「写真を撮りましょう！」

"En el futuro quiero estudiar in España. Hay muchas fiestas en España. ¿Qué no?

「その彼女と喋りたいんですが、私の日本語はちょっと。何をするべき？」

"Is it OK to go out and come back in? I need to breath outside!"


And so the night continued to progress in this manner.

Now, let's return to the above related picture.

If you're not familiar with the Dragon Ball Z series here it is in a nutshell. It's a group of fighters who are always training and powering themselves up to try and beat their next foe, usually from another planet or galaxy. Two of the main characters, Goku and Gohan, can transform themselves into powerful angelic beings called Super Saiyans. When they first discover this ability they are new to it and have a hard time controlling and understanding it. For them to go in and out of Super Saiyan mode requires a large amount of energy.

In order to beat their next super opponent Goku and Gohan learn to maintain their energy levels while continuously being in the state of a Super Saiyan. They do this even while taking a nap in the grass. By carrying out their day like this they are able to maintain their strength levels so that they can be ready for battle at the drop of a hat. This is an ingenious strategy: one that I've tried to adopt for myself.

I used to babble on about how one day I was going to know five languages in the future. Truth be told I couldn't foresee it happening on my own. I imagined that one day I would just wake up and magically be able to spit out five national anthems in five different languages out of nowhere. Unfortunately though nothing that awe-inspiring could take place overnight. I've realized now that it's going to take a lot of work. And that work has already begun.

Everyday I read Spanish news on my computer, teach English at work, study Japanese throughout the day, and just recently I started to learn Chinese pronunciation. I'm doing these things daily so that I won't be drained in the future when I have to switch between speaking five [possibly more] languages that all have different pronunciation, grammar, sentence structure, intonation, formalities, and tenses.

~Anthans