sheep in wolf's clothing

Thank goodness I'm leaving.

2008-05-19T10:53:00.008+01:00

Yesterday at the pub, a scruffy looking chav came in, immediately headed for my boss who was eating a burger at the bar, and asked, "I'm not barred, am I?" That should've been a sign right there.

My boss said no, not yet. I had never seen him before. He was short, portly, with curly blonde hair and worn, torn clothing. He asked for a Stella, my recorded reply was "Wedon'thaveStella, wehaveFostersKronenbourgSanMiguelandBaltica." He grimaced at the mention of Fosters and asked for a 'Kronie'. The bar was quite empty at the time, with only a few drinkers, plus Jacob the cook and his girlfriend.

Chav came back in after 30 minutes, asked for another Kronenbourg and dumped his coins on the bar. As I finished pouring the drink, Jacob walked by, looked at the money and said in a low voice that "he hasn't got enough." I put the drink down, walked over to the money and counted it and told him that he was short 20p. He looked confused and I told him that a pint of Kronenbourg is £3 and you only have £2.80. He still looked confused so I said that I was sorry, but I can't serve you a Kronenbourg for £2.80. (I should mention that my boss was now downstairs in the cellar.)

Chav looked offended and said, "I'll go get your money." And walked over to another customer who was reading a paper and proceeded to cajole him in his sparkling lingua: "Oi mate! You got 20p I could borrow? I'll buy you a drink later on, promise." I yelled across the room for him to leave the gentleman alone, he was obviously busy reading a paper and wouldn't like to be disturbed. I should have walked over to them, but to tell you the truth, I was kinda scared of this guy and what he'd do. The guy reading the paper eventually gave him the 20p and chav walked over to me and said, "Here's your money, you stupid American, coming over here, trying to get me barred..." and threw the coin down. I said, "Are you done insulting me? If you're going to talk to me like that, you can keep your money and leave." And I walked to the other side of the bar.

And then he says, "You won't give me my beer for fucking 20p? You fucking Chinese cunt...I'm gonna smash your face!" I was absolutely livid by this time and can't remember much of what else he said, but I kept my cool and told him I wasn't serving him so he could take his fucking money and get out. By this time my boss had emerged from the cellar and heard the 'Chinese cunt' exchange. Chav looks at Boss and says, "This girl is insulting me and won't give me my beer." Boss just laughed and told him to get out. The African guy at the bar got up at this point and escorted him out personally. Jacob overheard him outside saying he was gonna break our windows.

Speaking of which, apparently there was a fight the night before, and Zoe, my supervisor, kicked out some guy. Who then decided to take a sign from the outside and throw it back in through the front window. Luckily no one was hurt.

What a bag of dicks. What sort of surprised me was that no one stepped in to intervene until the very end, after he had threatened me. My boss said afterward that he wasn't too worried, and that he thought I could probably take him. ??? Really?

I'm just happy that I leave in two weeks to start my new job in London. And we all know there are no chavs in London! My life will be perfect.

England, A Land of Contrasts.

2008-02-27T15:59:00.003Z

Sunday evening, the pub was a melting pot! In one corner, we had the Christians, fresh from church, playing darts and eating cheesy chips & beans (my fave!) Walking down the bar, there were a few Germans watching the footie on the TV, and then in front of the big screen was a group of Spaniards. Playing pool, we had a group of Russians (the males, of which, do not use any sort of deodorant, at all) and a man with 2 girls, who I could only assume were prostitutes. The jury's still out on the man though--we weren't sure if he was their pimp or their john. But they were all very nice and it was a calm, yet interesting night.

I think London, and England in general is the most diverse place I have ever been to in my life. So many different faces, races and creeds, I hear foreign tongues most places I go. It's unfortunate that there are some English "Bulldogs" who are part of this England for the English campaign, because having so many different people in one area is refreshing. One time, we had a footie game on from the Albanian channel. One of the regulars, a chavvy older guy, said "Turn that foreign sound off, and turn the jukebox back on! This is an English pub and England for the English! We speak English here!" He proceeded to put some incredibly rubbish techno-pop on. English, indeed.

Anyone for pee and a threesome?

2008-02-21T21:04:00.006Z

So, last Saturday night, Mike and I went to see Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre in London. It was a Christmas gift from his 'rents, who also took us out to an expensive French dinner. The show was incredibly funny, with some amazing performances by the lead characters. I've always found Shakespeare a bit difficult to follow, and it's been awhile since I read any (umm...high school maybe?), but I loved it and had a wonderful funny time.

Fast forward to about 4:30am Sunday morning. I am awoken by Mike saying "Mark? Mark, is that you?" I turn over and there is someone else in our bed. It's a male, wearing all black, and in the streetlight, I can see that his face is painted...blue? The intruder harrumphs drunkenly and curls into a ball at Mike's feet. Mike shakes his shoulders and continually tells him he needs to get out of his room. I'm still coming around, and can only think about what happens if he pukes? Then I worry that he's very sick so I ask him his name. "Leeeon," he slurs, and then flops over in the other direction, right next to Mike. I turn the light on. Mike picks him up under his arms, kicks him out of the room, and directs him upstairs.

Mike looks over at his floor and notices wetness. He says, "I really hope that he just knocked over a glass of water..." But there are no glasses to be found. Upon closer inspection, we come to the grim conclusion: Mike's room has been used as a toilet. Leon had seemingly been aiming for the standing lamp, and his piss had gotten all over some books, mags, my CDs, some of my shoes, my Yarn Harlot book and a very dear copy of 1602 by Neil Gaiman. We spent the better part of an hour mopping up piss with toilet paper and then mopping up some more. We moved most of the icky things into the kitchen and Mike put up a hilarious sign saying "Do Not Touch. Stuff Has Been Pissed On. (Yes, I ended with a preposition.)" Then posted a very civil note on Mark's cupboard. Then it was off to bed.

In the morning, I heard Mark yelling for Leon to read this note. And Leon was shocked and apologetic. He was truly sorry, which was good. I didn't want to have to get all passive/aggressive on his ass. Later on after we got up, Leon apologized profusely to us, and promised to pay for anything that was damaged. I told him he was lucky that he aimed where he did. Mike has fancy music equipment strewn around his room--a swing in any other direction would have had dire consequences. Mark told us later that Leon said he's prone to sleepwalking while drunk, but this is the first time that he's missed the can so utterly completely.

If we were into threesomes and golden showers, it would've been perfect. But we're not. It does make for a very good story though, so I'm thankful for that.

I am a drunken retard.

2008-02-15T00:45:00.001Z

See below.

I am finally in love with Morrissey.

2008-02-13T04:38:00.005Z

I don't know how it took me so long...

I used to think that M and the Smiths were just some 80's band that were sorta influential and that most people liked in a New Order/Cure sort of way.

Stop me, oh oh oh stop me........And so I drank one, it became four, and when I fell on the floor I drank more....

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the Smiths.

Love them.

Fin.

I should add that I'm quite drunk right now. And that I'm not enough of a Smiths/M fan to add a clever drunken comment...

Edit 2/14: Wow, my first drunken post! I wonder what this means for my blogging. Maybe there's a badge for this.

Most Racistest Comment Ever.

2008-02-03T01:12:00.002Z

Yesterday, while I was at work, a very drunk old(er) white male came in. He came in with one of the regulars, Nigel, and ordered a double vodka, no ice, no nothing. My alcoholic radar senses something's not quite right here, but I serve him. He slurs, "Wow, you have very good English!" I say thanks, confused. Jacob, the 17 year old cook whispers "He thinks you're from Japan."
Then white drunk male says, "When I was young, I used to be young and attractive and could get any girl I want..." I walk away.

He sits by Nigel, who by this time has told me to not serve Martin, the v. drunk man. Sure, no problem, I say.

Martin asks for another double vodka. I ignore him. He then says, "You know, I've always been afraid of dating an Oriental woman, because I'm afraid I'll end up chopped up in a wok."

I stop. Then say, "That's racist, and I'm not serving you." And went back to ignoring him and cleaning glasses.

He then starts blathering on about how he's not racist, he just doesn't know the culture and I don't even remember what else. I couldn't believe the diarrhea that was coming out of his mouth. I told him he needed to shut it before he made an even bigger fool out of himself.

My boyfriend said I should have told him "I wouldn't get much of a meal out of your very small penis."

There have been a few other times when old white men have used the word "Oriental" and applied stereotypes. I need more comebacks! Please help me!

My Keys.

2008-01-27T19:11:00.000Z

I wonder what they say about me? Clockwise from top:

My 2 gig USB stick that is currently holding about 7 or 8 albums worth of music, since my computer is about to die any day now. Suitcase keys that never get used because of TSA restrictions. My front door key, one of two. Lego Darth Vader, given to me by my man. (When I am bored, I make him do the splits.) My man's house key, now slightly defunct due to high amounts of door slammage, thus rendering the lock useless. My man's bike lock key. (This has come in handy, surprisingly.) Lego logo accompanying Darth. My side gate key. My LCD light which was very useful at Glastonbury. My lil orange Sharpie--can't get enough of 'em! And finally, front door key, the other one.

My soon-to-be-purchased bike lock's key will also join this motley band in a week's time. I joined the local bicycle collective, and by joining I get to attend the bicycle maintenance course (4 days) and I also get 20% off everything in the shop. Stoked!

Since I started working:
Fights in pub:4
Fights not involving Chavs: 1
Gypsy sightings: 4

Don't change horses in midstream.

2007-11-29T11:09:00.000Z

(Or, don't switch from English to Continental in the middle of a sock project.)

I decided to teach myself Continental knitting in an effort to speed up gift making. Little did I know it would slow me down.

I knit the first man sock English. I swatched it first, got the correct gauge, and knit away. While making the man sock, I also taught myself Continental, and finished making a pair of armwarmers. Feeling a bit chuffed with my new found knowledge, I decided to knit the second man sock continental. Right hand, left hand, it's all the same, no? They're connected to the same body, it should be fine.

Yesterday I finished the cuff, and lo and behold, it was obviously thinner and shorter than the first sock's cuff. It then dawned on my that my tension for Continental is a bit tighter than my English. Fuck me. All 68 beautiful rows, gone? I considered continuing with the 2nd sock in Continental and then frogging my first sock and knitting it Continental as well.
Then I realized how stupid that was, and that I should just frog the 2nd sock and knit it English. I just...I just need a glass of wine....or two...or a bottle.

I showed this to my boyf and he couldn't tell the difference. Typical. He even suggested making them as they are and then sending them to my dad. And give my mother the satisfaction of pointing out that my handknit socks don't match in size??? NEVER!

Addendum, January 7, 2008: I wrote that almost 2 months ago and was too lazy and insecure to post it. I ended up just saying "fuckit" and knitting the rest of it in English, with the smaller cuff. Noticeable to a knitter, but probably not to a dad. Of course I haven't sent it yet. Will do. Soon...ish .

They DO exist!

2007-11-25T18:43:00.000Z

Gypsies! Today! In my pub! I had no idea who they were, but the boss said not to serve them again, and to get him if they wanted more. I didn't quite understand why, and so he explained:

Gypsies are one of the few groups of people that he's afraid of. (This is coming from a guy who's 6'7".) They are ruthless and will fight to the death. They haven't been spotted at the pub since last Boxing Day, when a gang of them showed up, were able to be served (all other places had turned them away), and then the whole caravan arrived. Apparently there were no problems, they were polite and appreciative of the hospitality. And then, at the end of the night, boss-man tallied up the till and found that most of the money was gone. He checked the CCTV and there was a gypsy, reaching over and grabbing cash out of the till, looking straight at the camera. Boss brought the tape in to the police, but the fuzz said that they couldn't tell who it was from the vid. You see, the coppers won't even touch the gyppos.

There was a sighting a few weeks ago, when gypsies showed up at someone's wedding and tore tha place up. I was quite intrigued by then, especially when a gypsy family of a mum, dad and two girls showed up and went straight to the bathroom. Boss said that they go in there and have a complete wash-up, changing clothes and everything. The dad was a rotund fella, the mum bleached blonde trash with tits hangin out and the two girls wearing fake fur coats, the kind that were popular in the 80's.

But then the boss asked them to leave quietly, and they did. He told me that if you give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile and the last thing he wanted was a gypsy hangout. Welcome to England.

Edit: This post was in no way meant to be racist or anything. As you can tell, I'm clearly ignorant on the subject, what with prior knowledge coming from the movie Snatch. They shall henceforth be regarded as an oppressed peoples. A subsector of travellers, distant cousins of hobos.

The Knitting Bartender

2007-11-20T20:42:00.000Z

Days at the pub can get pretty slow, so I've decided to bring my knitting along to work. My boss is very cool and knows about my knitting addiction. He teases me all the time about it, but is perplexed and interested at the same time. He hasn't told me not to do it, so I'm assuming it's fine. Besides, some of the other bartenders are doing sudoku and crosswords--no difference, really.

Today I was working on my sock and one of the regulars said "What you makin?" I said it was a sock for a Christmas present. He said nicely, "Well, you could just buy some at the shops." I said politely that, well, it wasn't handmade, and my socks had a lot of thought put into them. He said, "Fair enough." A few minutes later, his old man friend came up to order a Guinness and said "What you makin?" I said socks for a Christmas present. They're supposed to be for my dad, but I'm not sure he'd wear them--they have orange in them and my dad's more of a blue/grey man:

He said, "Oh, but they're handmade. They'd be like a treasure to me. People don't do that anymore, you know. It's like writing a letter. My missus makes Christmas pudding starting in September each year and by Christmas it's a work of art--wouldn't you much rather have that that a Ferrero Rocher?" And he looked so much like Santa, and seemed so touched by the idea of someone knitting socks, that I instantly said My God, why have I been doubting the power of my knitting? I knit a navy blue sweater for my dad last year, and my mum said that when he tried it on he had tears in his eyes. (My gran used to knit lots o' stuff, you see.)

So I think the orange will be ok...whaddayareckon?

Blimey! British Weather!

2007-11-19T14:11:00.000Z

Dare I say it's worse than Japan? My forecast calls for freezing-ass rain all week.

In other news, I've given up on the plastic pumpkin as 1) The pattern I was making wasn't working exactly as I wanted, 2) Halloween isn't that popular in the UK and has already passed and 3) SHIT! XMAS IS COMING!!! MUST CHURN OUT GIFTS!!!

I hate plastic bags.

2007-10-16T10:53:00.001+01:00

I utterly despise them. They are ubiquitous and take up stupid amounts of space. You throw them away and the next thing you know they're flying around town thinking they're like that bag on American Beauty. It's not beautiful at all. It's garbage. Use these for shopping instead.

Mike's house has 3 drawers full of them which drove me to think of ways to get rid of them. Good for smothering and small bins, but you only need a few for that. I remembered awhile back, BUST mag had an article on crocheting a bag out of plastic bags. Brilliant. So I searched and searched online for stuff to make, but mostly it was plastic bags and scrubbing sponges, mostly. Alright, fine, let's make a bag. I grabbed all the orange Sainsbury's bags I could find and started cutting them up. I made the "yarn" and started making a circle. As the circle grew, I thought, "Hang on a minute...orange round ball...October...Halloween....pumpkin!"

So, as we speak, I am designing a jack-o-lantern to be crocheted out of plastic bags. I hope it works! Then I can post it on Ravelry and be cool.

lates.

ps. I didn't get the job. After 3 (count 'em, THREE) interviews, I got rejected for someone else. I probably looked too young and smiled too much. Damn this Asian face!

Bumming Around.

2007-10-09T17:21:00.000+01:00

Ok, fine fine, I'm going to write something after like, a year. Only because I am incredibly depressed and bored right now and I've watched all the Daily Show episodes on the Comedy Central website. And my mom told me to. I am sitting in my boyfriend's rented room in a house in London eating Campbell's Potato and Leek soup directly out of the pot. This is the Jenni way of eating soup--less to wash up!

I had a job interview today for a volunteer position providing support for people with learning disabilities. It sounded pretty sweet. I'd offer low level support for a group of 9 people living in different flats, and I'd get my own free flat so I could live near them. I've worked with people with learning disabilities in Japan before and I loved it. Fave school, way better than my regular school.

So anyways, yeah, I was pretty psyched when they called me up for the first round interview and even staged a mock interview yesterday with Mike's housemate Mark who does this sort of thing on a regular basis. I managed to pull some pretty good shit out o' my ass, and went to bed feeling pretty confident about my skillz. Wake up early in the morn to a rainy day, but it's not so bad. A new awesome song pops up on my Pandora--sweet! Perfect to walk to the tube station to. I get there with 30 min to spare and show up with a smile. I'm led into a room with three interviewers: two network managers and one network member, a gentleman with a learning disability. I'm sure he'll like me! So the interview starts and they're just reading questions off this packet that each of them have. It's a bit difficult to hear, and I'm wondering if it's b/c of their English accent or my tinnitus. I think the first guy says that I should include examples from my past work in my questions. So what do I do? Completely disregard this, and just answer all their hypothetical questions to the best of my ability, not supporting any statement at all with past accomplishments. I thought I was doing quite well though. Voice not shaking, body language positive, but not aggressive, keeping "uhhh"s to a minimum, thoughtful answers. I look over the the gentleman with the learning disability's paper--it looks like there's some sort of scale made up of five stars...and it looks like he's circling the first one on his left...Oh Snap! Doesn't that mean like 1 out of 5? The worst out of the best? WTF am I doing wrong? I'm not speaking fast--I'm Californian, ex-stoner.

The interview ends quickly, like 10 minutes maybe. No one asked me what I've accomplished, what my strong points are, what motivates me, if I was stuck on a deserted island, what 3 things would I take and why? They ask me if I have any questions and I ask 2: What's the status of the members in the local community and how long has it been around? Then I draw a blank b/c of my shock at how short the interview was and did I say something wrong? and say, "No further questions, your honor." They said they'd call if I make it to the second round. They might call today, they might call tomorrow, they won't call if I don't make it. Assholes. I fucking hate that. They haven't called today and it's 5:40pm. Maybe tomorrow? I'm kicking myself, but I'm also confused.

Oh well, I'm out of soup. Time to go to Stich n Bitch in Angel.

Lates.

Is finished!

2006-11-09T22:23:00.000Z

Le front.

2006-11-09T22:20:00.000Z

Le back.

Spiderman! Spiderman!

2006-09-24T05:34:00.000+01:00

So I am in the midst of my toughest knitting project yet. I've decided to make a Spiderman doll for my now ex-boyfriend. It started off as a going away gift, but now he's gone away and Spidey's still here torturing me. At the suggestion of someone at today's SnB in Solana Beach, I'm going to start documenting the Making of Spiderman.

I took the basic doll pattern from SnB Nation--I thought it would be a piece of cake designing it. I was right about that, but in practice, it's been another story.

First off I made a sketch of what I wanted. I stared at pictures and pictures of Spidey until my eyes burned. Knitting the legs was easy enough, but I think I made them a bit too long.

Next I made the arms. For this I had to teach myself intarsia, the art of knitting with two colors to make a design. Here was my first mistake. I didn't think of how it would look once I sewed the arms to the body, but didn't realize this until too late. More on that later.

Now I had to make the body, which was the hardest. I'm not much of a technical person, so changing my sketch into an actual knit pattern wasn't gonna happen. I decided to just start knitting and see what unraveled. (haha.) I had to unknit and reknit a few times cuz I'd forget to decrease after I changed colors but overall it worked out pretty well. (The arms are sewn on in a raglan style). I kept track of (most of) what I did, so I can make him again if I ever get some masochistic pangs.

It was at this point that I discovered that I didn't make the red stripe on the arm to flow into the red part of the front and back. So I decided to duplicate stitch everything onto the arm. Bad idea. It was too big of an area to look nice and it got really bulky. But I realized this only after I finished both arms. UGHH. So I said fuckit, I'm doing the arms all over again, this time using intarsia. So I knit the two arms only to realize I had made two arms for the right side and completely forgot about reversing the pattern for the left. ARGHHHH!!!! I gave that one to my friend's dog and knit another left arm. So finally I was done with the body.

I used duplicate stitch to put the red spider design on Spidey's back. I actually used a knitting grid to design this one and after 3 or 4 designs I found one that worked and looked really good!

A week ago I used mattress stitch to sew together the arms to the front of the body, and the back of the right arm to the back. I left one side open because now I have to embroider the web.

So I started embroidering the web. I have NO FRICKIN CLUE how to do this. I practiced a bit on one of the spare arms and found something that vaguely looked like a web so I decided to go with that. I first sewed in a thick black thread vertically along every 4th row, in and out of every fourth stitch. Then I started weaving the thread in and out horizontally, trying to get something that looked like a web. I first thought that the webbing should look like U's so that's what I did. After finishing the legs and half of his upper body I realized that they looked like fish scales. I showed it to my mom and she said "It looks like Aquaman!" Fuck. Back to the drawing board. I undid everything and started making the U's more haphazard. I again got through the legs and most of his body when I realized that it still looked like Aquaman. By a complete fluke I put in my needle and thread backwards and realized that I could put just one line inbetween each row. It wouldn't be curved like a web, or like the Spiderman in the comic book, but it looked more like a real spider's web. Huzzah!

And so here I am. I'm about to undo all the webbing again and redo it to look like a janky spiderweb. You've seen those pix of the spiders that they gave different drugs to, right? http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/spiderdrugs.htm
That's what I'm shooting for.

Spark Show May 3rd

2006-05-30T16:27:00.000+01:00

Here's some pix from our last show. It was at a live house in Suzuka. We were asked at the last minute to play which was fine--not like we were booked or anything. The guy who owns the place is a bit of a dick though. AJET is in the process of setting up our Sayonara Party there and he's really anal and condescending. But it's a cool place and I'm looking forward to it. The band is winding down though. We're all going our separate ways at the end of July. I'm terribly sad about it. But that's life I guess.

2006-05-30T16:26:00.000+01:00

The time-honored ritual of The Powdering of the Fingers.

2006-05-30T16:25:00.000+01:00

The boys posing...notice anything different?

2006-05-30T16:24:00.000+01:00

Awesome pic of Luke.

2006-05-30T16:22:00.000+01:00

2006-05-30T16:21:00.000+01:00

2006-05-30T16:20:00.000+01:00

2006-05-30T16:17:00.000+01:00

I think the only reason I was going dance-o crazy was cuz there was a window right opposite of the stage and I could see myself. And you know what it's like to be a lil drunk and dance in front of a mirror, right? Don't even deny it.

I hate 1x1 rib with DPNs.

2006-05-14T16:25:00.000+01:00

I always manage to fuck something up. Like, for instance, the cuffs on The Sweater. Today I discovered that for 8 rows on one stitch I had been purling instead of knitting and on the stitch next to it I had been knitting instead of purling. UGH! I had to drop both stitches all the way down and then alternate back and forth stitching each one up. I unfortunately learned the hard way that you can't stitch up one row and then do the other. Live and learn I guess. I can't wait for the day when I can zone out and knit perfectly.

The bane of my existance.

2006-05-11T14:52:00.000+01:00

I have been working on this sweater since November '05. It was supposed to be an xmas present for my old man, but surprise surprise, it was nowhere near being complete. (No thanks in part to the company I ordered the yarn from) I think this pic was taken around February this year. It's a Knitting Pure and Simple design, which is pretty simple (I dunno about pure), but since my dad's bigger than me, this sweater is taking forr-eeev-errrr. So yeah, still working on it, almost done in time for his birthday (I hope...)

Reincarnation please.

2006-04-25T06:17:00.000+01:00

I want to come back as a member of the plant kingdom. A Plumeria tree or Hibiscus plant would be nice. Then all I'd have to do is chill out in the sun. I make my own food, I don't have to shower or excrete anything (except some O2) and I'd have sex on a regular basis. *Sigh*

I give up.

2006-04-23T16:07:00.000+01:00

Blogging sucks. I can't keep up with it. I've got all these great pictures but I'm way too lazy to post them. It takes forr-eev-errr. I'd rather watch episodes of the Daily Show. I'm thinking of turning it into a knitting blog but I don't even know if I can do that. Meh.

The difference between the US and the UK--Part 1

2006-02-16T12:58:00.000Z

You guys remember this ditty in elementary school?

Comet, it makes your mouth turn green
Comet, it tastes like Listerine
Comet, it makes you vomit
So drink your Comet and vomit today.

In the UK it goes a little something like this:

Hitler, has only got one ball
Goering has two but very small
Himmler is very sim'lar
And Goebbels has no balls at all.

Nice WWII touch. Much more educational than our Comet song. Although I've never tried it so I wouldn't know.

New Year's Resolutions--a survey

2006-01-23T01:41:00.000Z

I only did this lesson in my 3rd years' reading class. They're all about 17-18 years old. The results surprised me. At first I thought almost every girl had said something about dieting, but upon further analysis, I realized I was wrong.

3-1 Class
33 students, 28 girls, 5 boys

52% wanted to save money
Of those 52%, 35% wanted to save money so they could go shopping and 18% said they wanted to save money so they could buy a car.
24% wanted to diet
18% wanted to prepare for Uni
9% wanted to travel
9% wanted to wake up earlier
9% wanted to play with their friends

Other resolutions included preparing for the real world/future, making their parents happy, getting their driver's license, having fun, getting better at cooking, and making new friends.

Of course there's some overlap since most students made more than one resolution.

Favorites include:

"This year, my new year's resolution is to be want many friends in University. I will live in Nagoya of alone. I am worried about who can make a friend. So I am most of the finting. And I want to enjoy in Univarsity life."

"This year, my new year's resolution is to take self-conciousness. I'm come to a member of society. And my parents filial duty. Because I trouble ever they. I hope their have please."

"This year, my new year's resolution is to diet!! And save more money. Because smart body is envy. I want be smart body!! If I get smart body that got to the shopping. NEVR GIVE UP DAIETO!!"

"This year, my new year's resolution is to diet. I want to small face!!! So I don't eat cakes."

This small face thing has me confused. It has something to do with attractiveness, though I'm not sure what. People have said that to me here, "Oh, small face! Small face!" WTF does that mean? And why is that attractive?

Oh well, as far as the survey goes, I guess it's not so surprising. Money and consumerism has become so central in our lives. (Central in MY life!! It's horrible.) We learn at a very young age to value money. I saw a kid at a train station a few months ago--he was maybe 3 or 4, but he reached into his mom's Louis Vuitton purse and took her wallet. He took out a 1000 yen note to buy a drink in the vending machine, but since he couldn't reach, started crying and his mom discovered what he was doing. I think she then bought him a drink. Jesus tapdancing Christ. Why not teach your kids that stealing is wrong?

Reading (slowly): Guns, Germs & Steel
Listening: the Rolling Stones
Knitting: the "Yo! Drop it!" scarf from Stitch n Bitch Nation and a Knitting Pure & Simple sweater for my dad.

I hate being sick.

2006-01-03T12:26:00.000Z

Happy freaking new year. Is there a correlation between being sick and being a vegetarian? I feel like ever since I became one (Aug '05) I've gotten sick way more. Either that, or I just don't wear enough clothing. Maybe wearing a bikini while I'm snowboarding isn't such a good idea.

I can see where this is going.

2005-12-13T05:32:00.000Z

Oh man. I think this is going to turn into a blog of me just finding rad Engrish in Japan. Take this gem for example. I found this in my sannensei teacher's room. I asked them if I could take a picture and they said yes. I narrowly escaped having to explain why. (See the earlier BJ post) I just said "It's for my friend" in Japanese and ran out.

E is for...

2005-11-24T12:40:00.000Z

Erotic museum? What kind of Sesame Street program is this anyway?
These are socks that I found in the local supermarket. Ahh Japan...

I can't WAIT to have teenagers someday...

2005-11-22T17:05:00.000Z

How come people don't say "I want to have teenagers!" when they talk about offspring? I mean, that's what cute lil kiddies turn into, right? What if we just changed the question from "Do you want to have kids someday?" to "Do you want to have teenagers someday?" I bet that'll change people's minds.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

2005-10-18T03:47:00.000+01:00

When I correct big tests, I have to listen to music just so I don't bore myself to tears. (ACDC is the best). Seems like I've started a trend:

They never did this before. Copycats.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

2005-09-29T14:53:00.000+01:00

So my old supervisor from last year, Inagaki-sensei, took off to have her baby. My school requested an experienced English teacher to take her place. Instead, we get Naka-sensei. A 31-year-old male with no teaching experience at all. He either stands in the back of the room, or leaves whenever we're supposed to teach *together*. However, he has no problem talking to me, or rather, asking me for favors.
Yesterday he asked me to teach a lesson today even though it wasn't scheduled. I was like uhh, ok. And he handed me some worksheets and said do you have anything planned? And I said, no I'm not scheduled to work with your class tomorrow so I don't have anything planned. So today we're walking to class and he's all "I woke up drink this morning." And I was like "Uhh, drunk?" And he's all "Yes. I had 12 beers last night." And in my head I was like "Oh ho ho muthafucka. I ain't teachin your classes just cuz you're planning on getting shitfaced the night before." So we get to class and I'm doing the lesson--mind you this is 3-5, (seniors, class five), my crappiest class, but there are a few good kids in it so atleast they work with me. And I'd go around waking kids up (cuz they like to put their heads down while they *think*), while he's standing there in the front doing nothing. And THEN he has the nerve to strike up a conversation with a student while I'm teaching!!! I was like oh HELLS no and I walked over and said "Did he finish his worksheet?" and Naka-sensei flustered a "no" and then handed him the answer key. I was like WTF??? So I said "Why does he get the answer key when all the other students have to listen to me and do their own worksheet?" And he mumbled some excuse. So then I just said I was finished with my lesson cuz I didn't want to deal with that anymore, and just stood there, arms akimbo. And he told them to do something in Japanese. I was so pissed. Afterwards he was like "That boy is very bad student" and I was like no shit sherlock. I told him I didn't think it was fair to the other students who are actually doing the work. And he mumbled something about not counting his score for his grade. JAPAN!!!!!!!!!
If this happens again, I'm telling. I'm in good with my new supervisor. She's constantly talking shit about another English teacher to me. It's great.

reading: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
listening: Arular by M.I.A.
knitting: purple and green legwarmers

my favorite summer vacation "essays"

2005-09-26T02:19:00.000+01:00

For my summer vacation I went to a hot spring. I go in six spr. I felt dizzy in spr. I was very a state wrong. But very pleased.
-Ai Hori

For my summer vacation I went to Ehime. I ate food from china in hotel. I bought my Family Omiyage. we play baseball game in Imahari west Groud. We went to onmaku fasthibaru. I enjoyed day. Thank you!!
-Naoto Yokozumi

My summer vacation I went to Tokyo Disneyland. I saw my frieds. I ate food from a hamburger and drink and salad. I bought a hat and necklace and miyage etc. My favorite activity was playing roller coaster etc.
-Yui Fukunaga

I went to grandmother's house. I saw my family. I ate food from Japan, the riceball. I bought anyone. My favorite activity was playing web with myself.
-Mai Kunitani

For my summer vacation I went to Osaka. I saw my glandmother and glandfather. I ate food sushi.
-Ai Morinaga

I have a headache!!
I have a pen.
I have a store.
I have a [illegible kanji].
I bleeb interesting.
-Kio Usuke

I went to Nagoya!
I sing a song!
I have a headache.
I also have a headache.
I went to Tokyo!
I went to [crossed out Kanada]...Canada!
-Kyousuke Miura
[those two obviously sat by eachother]

Sea. I went to sea side with many friends. They are very sexy. It's very enjoy. So I want to nice body.
-Mika Nakamura

Quite obviously from that last story, you can see what most of my students are aiming for here. Eh. Atleast she wrote in English.

When you're having that not-so-fresh-feeling...

2005-09-22T08:30:00.000+01:00

heehee. see pee.
Yep. Kittychan is available in douche form. (note: I do not use this product, nor do I advocate the use of douches. Although the verbal usage of "douchebag" is perfectly acceptable.)

Yarrrrrrrrrr.

2005-09-15T02:44:00.000+01:00

HAHAHAHA!

School Starts...

2005-09-08T04:25:00.000+01:00

...horror ensues. These past two weeks have been the "beginning of school year blues". Poor kids. They've been enduring classes in 80% humidity (no aircon) and lectures about safety and drugs in the auditorium (also no aircon). So they have the kids sitting on the floor, like so:

2 girls spotted me taking pictures and posed:

Teachers hangin out in the back. Note sleeping teacher in the front:

So of course, as in any event that takes place at my school, we have the fainters. And here's one now!

The funny thing is that they come prepared for this, what with their paper breathing bags and soft fuzzy blankets. Like kids fainting is normal. Um, why not just install some aircon or a dehumidifier at least? Oh wait, I forgot. This makes them *stronger*.

gotcha!

2005-08-31T01:19:00.000+01:00

Last night I was waiting at the bus station to meet a friend who was coming to visit me. Who do I run into but my supervisor, Takeda sensei, wandering around. She seemed surprised/happy to see me: "Jennifer! What are you doing here! I'm drunk!" She was defo drunk. I told her I had to catch the bus to meet my friend. She proceeded to blather on about finding coffee and then said she had been drinking with Fujioka sensei who was around here somewhere. Oh ho. Then Fujioka sensei showed up and he too was surprised/happy to see me. He spoke to me in broken drunken English, something about Takeda sensei liking coffee. It was all very strange and funny. And perhaps incriminating. He he. Oh well, I dunno, none of my biz. She's not here today tho...

FIRE!! heheh...heheh...FIREFIRE!!!

2005-07-29T05:18:00.000+01:00

Last weekend the band was invited to perform in Nabari at Jeff's teacher's house. It was our totally final last show. We had a great time and a great show. Our opening act was these 2 kids who played violin. They were so adorable I wanted to eat them. The little girl was pretty good, as was her little brother--he was squeakin' all over the place. It was great.
After our show we got dressed up in costume and headed down to the festivities at the Nabari Hanabi (fireworks) festival. We were asked to participate in the fire wielding procession. I had no idea what this entailed. I imagined it was something Olympic-ish where I'd be running around town in my hapi (traditional summer jacket) and tabi (those socks with the split between the big toe and second toe) carrying a torch. Thank God I was wrong. I was going to be WALKING around town in my hapi and tabi carrying a torch--(more like a bundle of sticks on the end of a bamboo pole). My hapi had been used in previous hanabi festivals and there were burn holes. BURN HOLES!!! And they told us they had bought insurance for us just in case anything happened. Let me tell you, I was AFEARED for my life!!! They poured propane (Hank!) on our torches and then we stuck them in the fire. Us and like, 30 other old Japanese drunk men. I was one of 3 girls participating. The old dude behind me was carrying his torch angled forward, so that when embers fell, they were falling on me. I got out of there quick and made Mike trade spaces with me. Walking around was pretty fun though. The festival was packed and people were totally afraid of the fire, screaming because of falling embers. The procession included walking over a bridge and then crossing a river. A RIVER. WITH A STICK ON FIRE. They had tied straw rope around our tabi to make sure we didn't slip, but that didn't help. I've never felt so primitive--knee deep, holding fire and fearing for my life as others crossing the river with fire also tried not to slip. I made it across OK, thanks to Ben, Chelsea's man.
At the end, we threw our torches in the bonfire at the temple and enjoyed chilled sake while watching fireworks. Ahh, Japan. Only you could provide an ending so fit for insanity.

reading: Stitch N' Bitch by Debbie Stoller
listening: Evil by Interpol
knitting: my new obsession

Our Homebase

2005-07-29T05:16:00.000+01:00

a temple banner in Nabari.

No shame.

2005-07-29T05:14:00.001+01:00

Check out homeboy in the middle.

Check out my camel toe.

2005-07-29T05:14:00.000+01:00

She's into that sort of thing.

2005-07-29T05:13:00.000+01:00

Chelsea getting tied up. This was our anti-slip protection while crossing the river.

The blessage of the fire

2005-07-29T05:12:00.000+01:00

Shinto priest blessing the fire.

BURN BABY BURN!

2005-07-29T05:11:00.000+01:00

Getting ready....

2005-07-29T05:09:00.000+01:00

GO!!!

2005-07-29T05:08:00.000+01:00

Bungle and procession.

Our destination.

2005-07-29T05:05:00.000+01:00

fin.

2005-07-29T05:04:00.000+01:00

Japanese baseball is AWESOME.

2005-07-22T05:18:00.000+01:00

I mean, don't get me wrong, I still love MLB, but Japanese baseball is different. Right now it's the all Mie-ken High School baseball tournament, so all the baseball teams in my prefecture are competing. Actually, all the prefectures in Japan are having sudden death tournaments--once you lose, you're OUT! The top 2 teams will play at Koshien Stadium in Osaka, the coveted glorious gold-medal Wrigley Field of baseball stadiums in Japan. And high school games are SO DRAMATIC (or as they say, "gekiteki"). These are scrawny Japanese 16 and 17 year olds playing what could be the final game of their lives. If they lose one game, that's it. No more games for an entire frickin' year! They spend their entire school year eating, breathing and shitting baseball all for one game. I'm talkin blood, sweat and tears. Oh, the tears. These boys cry. They cry when they win, and boy, do they cry when they lose. The shame. The agony. Did I mention the shame? And the camerapeople LUUURVE zooming in on those tears. Makes for good TV ne?
But that's just the gekiteki part. I also enjoy the technical aspects of Japanese baseball. It's much more defensively strategic than hit-the-damn-ball-out-of-the-park-with-your-giant-steroid-pumped-muscles baseball (yes Barry, I'm talking about you...asshole). I've never seen so many bunts and stolen bases and that thing that pitchers do to psych out the man on 1st. It just seems so much more calculated than American Baseball. The fields are different...the space between the foul line and the crowd is much larger which makes for more outs than fouls. And maybe the outfield's larger but don't quote me on that. It's very formal as well. At the end of the game the players line up and bow to eachother, and then to the crowd. Sometimes the Umpire scolds the boys if they're being disrespectful.
My high school boys? Lost in the first round. They lost real bad. I stopped watching in the 4th inning it was so bad. 12-0 bad. They were a mess. The first pitcher hit 3 batters--in a row! Wild pitches everywhere. Oh man. Just thinking about it is making my hangover worse.

reading: The Money Book for the Young, Fab & Broke by Suze Orman and Yasashii Shuwa, a Japanese sign language manual.
listening to: Interpol
feeling: like shit warmed over.

I'm hungry...

2005-07-15T06:41:00.000+01:00

How about some delicious asse? Chocolate wafers to quell every hunger. Freshly made, all natural.
They sell this every winter in Japan. Which is why I'm posting about it in summer. I miss snow. It's hot. Muh.

Way to waste time, dude.

2005-07-15T03:55:00.000+01:00

or, How To Spend Muggy Summer Days in the Air Conditioned Office.

My acrid celebrity fashion bashing fix: www.gofugyourself.com
brilliant brilliant brilliant!!!! Up yours US Weekly magazine!

I'm also reading The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke by Suze Orman. She is very scary looking and very brilliant. www.suzeorman.com I've already consolidated my student loans and requested my three credit reports. After I get those, I'm off to FICO land to figure out where I stand. And then I'm actually going to start planning what I have to do after JET.

Isn't this AWESOME??? Aren't you jealous? I'm getting paid to sit here in the office and do NOTHING. I get to surf the net, read books, listen to music and if I'm really adventurous, pop in a DVD. For the next month and a half. I don't know why other JETs complain about this. This is the life...enjoy it while it lasts!

I would've made a good prostitute.

2005-07-08T05:07:00.000+01:00

Have you ever wondered what would've happened to you had you been born, say, 200 years ago? Before the advent of modern technology? Before modern medicine? Before women's rights? I would probably be dead. I'm such a weakling right now, there's no way I would have survived back then. Even if I managed to escape childhood bouts of whooping cough and/or yellow fever, my myopia and shitty skin would've made me a child of the devil. Haha, can you imagine? I don't even know what country I would have been in since my dad's Polish and my mom's Japanese. A bastard half-breed child, shunned from society, I would have run away from home...no, the orphanage, searching for peace and acceptance. And I would find it at the local brothel. Cuz guys'll fuck anything, right? Hey, gotta eat somehow. I wonder what they used for birth control...

So I would've had three options: death, whore or baby machine. Hmmm. Sounds kinda similar if you ask me. (Also sounds like a good band name). As much as Republicans trash 'n' bash Feminism, I gotta say, it's made my life a helluva lot more interesting, (not to mention confusing). Thank you Gloria Steinem. Thank you to all those who came before and all those to come. Thank you for giving me options.

check out my cape dude.

2005-07-07T06:55:00.000+01:00

in honor of Star Wars finally friggin' opening in Japan, (even though i've heard it sucks), a snow sculpture of the Man. i should really post my pictures from Sapporo. according to my pix that place was fucked up. perhaps that had something to do with our stay in the red light district.

check out www.storewars.org i *heart* chewbroccoli

Sayonara Suckas!

2005-07-06T06:46:00.000+01:00

This past weekend was our Sayonara party. We made it a white t-shirt party (ahhh, college) so everyone could write on everyone else's shirts. I'm always worrying that something'll go wrong at our events, (I'm 1/2 of the AJET events coordinating team) but I'm glad I always do all that worrying for nothing, cuz the party ended up being a huge success. My friend Canadian Sean played, I got Maverick Troop, this crazy J-punk band to play and my band played as well. It was one of our last shows and an awesome one at that. I totally full on cried. Jeff and Chels are both leaving. It won't be the same with out 'em.
I don't have other pix yet but I will, as soon as I remember to bring my camera to work. In the meantime, enjoy some more pix of the band. Too bad there aren't any hot pix of the bass player this time around. But I do have pix of 2 love hotels that we got rejected from that night. They were FULL. Can you believe it? I couldn't believe it. You guys'll have to wait yet AGAIN for me to both remember my camera AND get inside a love hotel for the real scoop. Stay tuned...

Reading: 2 books on Shuwa (Japanese Sign Language)
Listening to: nothing. Mike has my iPod.
Watching: the clock

oh my god. Star Wars comes out this weekend and I'm going camping! Damn the wilderness!!!

2005-07-06T06:27:00.001+01:00

el bando

2005-07-06T06:27:00.000+01:00

super fan jackie chan. this shot epitomizes carl. gonna miss 'im.

2005-07-06T06:26:00.000+01:00

cheru and the ben man

2005-07-06T06:25:00.000+01:00

yeah, that's me.

2005-07-06T06:24:00.000+01:00

Best Picture of Jeff, EVER. oh hoo, look at all the pretty colors....

for your pleasure...

2005-07-03T17:16:00.000+01:00

This is a sign that's up for some construction going on by my school.

I have become what I (used to) hate

2005-06-27T01:11:00.000+01:00

A music whore. More specifically, an indie music whore. I can't help it! It wasn't a choice, it's who I am. I was born this way. I am seriously seriously obsessed with music right now. I mean, I've always liked music (my 400 CDs can attest to that) but being in a band has opened this whole new world of appreciation for music. Now all I do is surf the net, check out new bands and wish I had enough money to d/l everything off iTunes. When the last school bell rings, I turn into the Pavlovian music dog and bound home. It's not like I feel like I'm a better person because of it--I'm not a music snob. I don't know why this is bothering me. Actually, I think it's the no-money-to-buy-this-music thing that bothers me the most.

I've dyed my hair jet black and have asymmetrical bangs. Does this make me a member of the Mop Top Hair Shop? GOD I hope not. I hate hipsters almost as much as I hate hippies. Smug muthafuckas.

Listening to: Well, yesterday it was Tegan & Sara, but the day before it was the Futureheads and the day before THAT it was the Bravery.
Reading: Nylon mag. weak. I can't wait for my Bust to get here!
Eating: some nasty brown bread I bought at the Japanese grocery store--smells faintly of paint thinner...I don't think imma eat the rest of it.
Sweating: up a storm.

Here's some pix of our show last friday.
There's more on the band page: www.upup-downdown.com
If you weren't there, you missed out!

me

hot shoes

hot boyfriend

hot band. jeff's hat (where did that come from?) increases our hotness quotient exponentially.

As promised...

2005-06-15T07:55:00.000+01:00

a few pictures of our awesome dance at the Talent Show:

"Reach for the Stars"
(my complete outfit now on sale! any takers? c'mon...blue fanny pack? you know you could use that. no? what about the pants? c'mon, you know you secretly want the pants...)

small shot of big asses

up close & personal

you got SERVED!

2005-06-10T04:31:00.000+01:00

So I'm making my lunch of instant ramen at school (pot noodles for u brits), when a teacher stops to make a comment. I was putting the soup powder in AFTER the noodles were done and he was all "I think you're supposed to put the soup powder in BEFORE you pour in boiling water" to me in Japanese. And I was all "That's not what the directions say" to him in English. And then I showed him the Japanese instructions, which clearly state to put the soup powder in AFTER pouring in the boiling water. And he was all "Oh my God! She can read Japanese! Wow!" to me in Japanese. And I was all "Yeah, take that, bitch." to him. In my head.

*in your face!* noodles and the book i can't seem to finish.

Weather: Cloudy and humid. My bitch ass boyfriend's sunning his white self in Okinawa right now. grrrrrr.
Reading: *sigh* Life, the Universe and Everything.
Listening to: DFA 1979's cover of some Bloc Party song. and DFA is SOOO much better.
Licking: the sweet tears of boredom from my cheeks.

Panic Disorder

2005-06-06T08:21:00.000+01:00

Our Aobasai, or "Sports Day" was last Wednesday, June 1st, marking the first day of summer. Sports days are pretty popular in Japan. Students compete within their own grade, and each class competes against the other. There's the usual relay races, tug o' war and some sort of capture the flag thing. Then there's the 10 guys get down on their hands and knees and line up next to eachother while the lightest guy in the class runs on top of them. The line has to keep moving towards the finish line, so guys have to get up and go to the other end once the light guy has trampled their back. All these events are just lawsuits waiting to happen. Luckily, in Japan, there's the saying "Shoganai" which translates to "there's nothing you can do" or tough titties.
About 10 girls collapsed that day. They had fallen prey to hyperventilation or, according to a Japanese Teacher of English, (henceforth known as JTE), "Panic Disorder". Apparently they got SO EXCITED about sports day that they couldn't breathe. I don't know about you, but the mere thought of sports day makes me undulate with ecstacy. So I could totally and completely understand my girls' "Panic Disorder". One girl seriously seriously should have been sent to the emergency room. She was like, crying and kicking and breathing like it was her last breath ever. The school nurse took a towel and shoved it over her face all the while smiling and talking to some other teacher. I just stood there dumbfounded. Two thoughts entered my brain: 1) Japanese nurses suck and 2) Japanese girls are weak.

(note the hand and towel smothering the mouth)

I have never, in my life, encountered anyone who suffered from "Panic Disorder" (which, my JTE assures me, is an American phenomenon). The only thing that comes close is an asthma attack and in that case, all those students should have been given inhalers or whatever else you give someone who's having an asthma attack. That reminds me, the youngest daughter in the private lesson that I teach has asthma. She doesn't have an inhaler though, she has some sort of giant machine that you plug in and then put medicine into the mouthpiece and then you inhale.
Dude. Seriously. Welcome to the 21st century.

oops, forgot to do this:
reading: Life, the Universe and Everything. Still.
listening to: the Raveonettes
obsessed with: Love in a Trashcan by the Raveonettes and buying magazines. Dirty magazines.

and for the boys...

2005-06-05T15:20:00.000+01:00

look what comes boxed in Japan!!!

addendum: This box is located in the neighboring teacher's room. I tried sneaking in and taking a covert picture, but the baseball coach was there and asked me why I was taking a picture of the printer box. He speaks English and he's young so I was like "What the hell, I'll tell ya." Ever since then, if he's around me, he'll occasionally say BJ and laugh. Good thing he's not at my school anymore. Sukebe.

the ME ME ME decade

2005-06-02T07:59:00.000+01:00

So from recent observation, I've come to the conclusion that blogging's a pretty selfish phenomenon. I LURRRVE it!!!!!! I want to post everyday about nothing. Which also makes it a very boring phenomenon. I've clicked on the "next blog" button and clicked and clicked and clicked. Eh. (But check out my friends' pages. They're so cool.) To compensate for the rest of the blogging world's un-cool-ness, I've decided to make my blog cool with entertaining pictures, mostly from Japan. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I get to write less and you get more. Everyone wins! Yay for ME! I am so smart. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. I mean, S-M-A-R-T.

Yes ladies (and gentlemen), that's no typo...that's a Hot Man Dog.

2005-05-31T06:28:00.000+01:00

BIENVENIDOS!

me first post, yarrr

2005-05-31T06:26:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I've finally decided to start a blog. I'm so horrible at writing those long ass emails that lets everyone know what's going on, so let's try this. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't. We'll see.

Anyways, this past weekend was crazy nutso busy. The band (http://www.upup-downdown.com/) played our first show in a long time on friday night. Pretty nice overall, I would say. Friends showed up as well as some randoms. The venue was this gaijin bar that's not designed for live bands but the gaijin owner really likes live bands, so he's soundproofed ONE wall. So YES the cops were called. Japanese 5-0 in the hizzouse!!! And they even bought a CD (not really). But yeah, we've got CDs available now--our first EP "Abunai Baby!" (get it?) They sold like hotcakes and people were asking us to autograph them 'n shit. Weird. Pretty soon, I'll be signing tits!

Saturday was the all Mie-ken JET talent show. Molly (my neighbor) and I have been practicing for weeks doing the Napoleon Dynamite dance. We got the choreo down pat, and dressed up as Pedro and Deb, respectively. Let me say, my pink spandex tye dye pants were HOTTT. You know you want a pair. (how do i put pix up on this thing?) And Molly looked like a rockabilly dyke. It was great. Alas, those who hadn't seen the movie, and there were more than a few, couldn't quite grasp the beauty and the essence of our ground breaking choreography and we failed to place. Oh well, 'tis better to be misunderstood for my art than to do some Britney bullshit that everyone likes. The band also played at the closing of the show. I saw these things in the audience while singing: Japanese people sleeping, Japanese children covering their ears in horror, Japanese people talking to eachother. (JAPAN!!!) And the people who WERE enjoying it were so far away that I got no energy from the crowd. It felt like a really shitty show. Of course, people loved it and we sold the rest of our CDs. Even the sound guy, who spoke no English, bought one. I don't mean to make it sound like a big deal--we only had 25 CDs to begin with, but I was hella (and pleasantly) surprised that people wanted to listen to us.

Lesse, what else...oh yeah, I met Mike's parents yesterday. Boy, I was nervous. I'm so bad at conversation when I don't know people. Luckily they turned out to be really nice. We went to the "Louvre S. Museum". The "S" stands for Sculpture. Imagine a museum, about the size of my house in Carlsbad, and cram about 600 fake sculptures (sorry, replicas) from the Louvre, inside. Now stick it in the middle of frickin nowhere, hidden by mountains and rice paddies. And put giant replicas of the Venus de Milo (sp?) and the Statue of Liberty outside in front of it. It was one of the most ridiculously bizarre things I've ever seen. Mike's mom even found two busts--one cast in "bronze" and one cast in "marble" which they tried to pass off as being two different people, but were in fact one in the same. It was amazing. Mike then took us all out to dinner where we ate...a live fish. Well, pretty much alive. It was this really cool restaurant where they've got a fishtank in the center. They took one of the fish, chopped its head almost off, gutted it, then chopped it up sashimi style and served the pieces of sashimi on the rest of the still quivering fish. The fish was still gasping and the tail ticking as we picked up pieces and dipped them in wasabi and soy sauce. It was delicious. And pretty fucked up. But shit, you'd be a real hypocrite, (not to mention a pussy), if you couldn't eat that but still ate meat. I personally have no problem eating something I could kill, and fish I have killed. Cow? Nah.

Right now: I'm at work. School's just gotten out and I'll be heading home soon.
Weather: Gorgeous & perfect with a nice breeze.
I'm reading: Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
I'm listening to: the Franz, the Zepp, the Cars
Can't wait to listen to: Louis XIV, Caesars
Special thanks to: Grace, who does this at the end of her blog. (http://www.heliozoan.blogspot.com/)