the park and the record store.

I was killing my usual 17 hours in between classes today at work when I decided that it would probably be a good idea to get the hell out of this cramped little employee area that I spend the vast majority of my life in these days.

So, I looked up some parks in Kawasaki and headed out. I really should have done this a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't even occur to me that there might be public green spaces in Tokyo outside of Yoyogi Park. Well, live and learn.

The park was cool. Really cool. The endless miles of gray brick and concrete in this city will, I think, eventually grind down this Iowa/Oregon boy's spirit if I don't make a point of seeking out some form of nature on a very regular basis.

Unfortunately, while Japanese corporate spaces are very tidy, public spaces are often not. Small parks and public spaces are apparently often the site of significant garbage dumping and littering, thanks at least in part to the many homeless congregating in them. The homeless, while fairly rare here (at least compared to Portland), are still lurking about. Unlike the US, though, the Japanese seem perfectly content to leave them alone to do their thing, which often involves building shanties along the rivers and lying about drunkenly in public parks. On the plus side, I have yet to be approached by a single pushy homeless 20 year old asking me to subsidize his lazy drunkenness, drug abuse, and home piercings..

So, anyway...the park had garbage in it. They don't all, but this one did. I'll take it, garbage and all, much like a starving man snapping into an ancient, dirty Twinkie with gusto.

Tomorrow, maybe some pictures. In the meantime, enjoy Google Street View of my work:

I walk up this staircase to work every day.

Saturday night.

I'm fighting a cold, but I had a few drinks with the roommates tonight, anyway. I'm the oldest one in the house, right now, which is a strange feeling after being the young one so for long, in another life. I guess I'm all that young any more, although I don't have any illusions that I'm old yet. As soon as I try to argue that I'm old, I'll have someone with 20 years on me tell me that I'm a baby...it never fails. Sooooo annoying. Regardless, it was fun to hang out with them. We had a good time.

Tomorrow I'm hanging out with some of the Wayo girls and bringing my roommates Karl and Andrew along. It should be a good time. We're going drinking, so I hope that the cold settles down a bit. Time will tell, I guess.

Next week: I have Monday off, and then I'd like some acupuncture, and then maybe I will have Friday off. Friday for me is Thursday in the States, so it will be kind of like having Thanksgiving off. Friday night we are having a Thanksgiving party, so I'll celebrate as best I can...it should be fun. I'll be missing home a lot, of course, but I think I'll save that for a later post.

Goodnight, world.

Open for business again.

Awright, so I decided that my reasons for wanting to keep this blog private were less important than making sure that my friends and family have unrestricted access to it. So...enjoy the no-password freedom.

I'm killing time at work and just finished off some delicious and shockingly cheap sushi. Still fighting the split-shift exhaustion, but I'm in strangely good spirits today. I'm looking forward to moving closer to work, but I can handle this for the time being...commuting for 3+ hours a day sucks, but it will all be worth it if I can bike commute in a month or two. I'm going to call a local acupuncturist right now and see if I can set up an appointment for tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Update!

Last week was pretty exhausting and so I took the weekend to recover and try to relax for a bit. I've been getting up at 6am and getting home at 11pm, so the time off was nice. Really nice.

I haven't been writing much because there really isn't much to report. Now that I'm working, things are becoming more routine and less interesting. When I start making money that I don't have to hoard for food and commuting expenses, then I think things will get a little more exciting again.

I'm going to make an appointment for acupuncture today for my leg. I went in for an MRI and they wanted me to pay for it on the spot...I told them about 8 times that I didn't have the cash and had to speak to 3 different people before they finally got it through their heads. I was speaking in Japanese, too, for god's sake. Sometimes people assume that foreigners are functionally retarded.

So, anyway. I ended up taking off and got a call back saying that they could do it for 20,000 yen, but that's still too much. I'd rather spend the money on 2 or 3 sessions of acupuncture, at this point, than waste my time and money on an expensive diagnosis before I even start my first treatment. So, screw it. Acupuncture, here I come.

Yeah. So. Things are going all right...could be better, but could be worse. I can live with that.

I am blessed.

My friend Karen just sent me the most amazing and epically thoughtful care package that I've ever received...or heard of. I'm overcome. Her recent emotional presence and loving friendship has been an amazing balm for my soul through some of the darkest and most tumultuous of times.

Thank you, Karen. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again...

Quick one.

I'm going to make this quick because I am dead tired.

Today, I got up at 6:10 and left the house at slightly after 6:30. I rode the train into Kawasaki and got to work at exactly 8:00. I missed my first train by about 20 seconds, thanks to some jerks blocking the sidewalk while ineptly parking a work vehicle. However, I did make it to work...on time.

Once there, I had not one, but two no-shows in a row. So, I could have actually slept and gotten to work at a reasonable 10 or 10:30. But no. 8am...for nothing...it was. At least I get paid.

So, I then had a few actual classes spaced out through the day, but just enough to keep me really, really bored. I've been wanting to study calculus, but I've been really way too tired to either focus on it or motivate myself, so that has not been going down. It'll happen eventually, though, I just need to establish a solid routine.

Then, I went to Hamakawasaki to teach a class at the Toshiba plant there. They produce high voltage electrical equipment. I taught my first group class, and it was only a semi-disaster. I'm used to sink or swim situations and tend to thrive in them, but this is an almost entirely new level of irresponsible preparation from a boss. I'm just glad that I'm charming, or I'd have been fucked.

As it was, I pulled it off OK, although I did have to run to the copy machine a total of 3 times. In the middle of class. Fortunately, it was a 2 hour class, and, like I said, I'm charming. So, it was fine. Never let them see you sweat and the world will be your oyster.

On the way out of the plant, I chatted with the boss. The big boss, the corporate guy who runs the joint. It's interesting that he had some interesting characteristics that strongly reminded me of some of the high-ranking corporate types that I knew back home. The longer that I'm here, the more I'm reminded that people are fundamentally the same everywhere, regardless of cultural differences, which is a very good lesson to learn. We had a nice conversation (he's been to Portland), and I was reminded yet again that success in life is often measured by who you know and not by what you know or how good you are at knowing it. It's comforting that I am good at knowing stuff and forming bonds with people, including high-ranking Japanese businessmen.

There was a student tonight...a couple, actually, who seemed interested in a little more than a traditional teacher-student relationship. One of them asked me what I was doing after work. She isn't technically *my* student (there are two teachers), so I may entertain the idea of some dating. I would say that normally the teacher-student power dynamic would overrule such a thing, but in this case I am the one who is technically at a disadvantage since this is her country, I don't speak the language all that well, and she could probably get me deported.

So, yeah. We'll see.

On Barack Obama and a vastly improved Union.

I've waited to write about Barack Obama because I wanted to let my feelings on the subject settle in, and I wanted to make sure that I could write something that meant something, that I could remember, something beyond the pure, intense elation that I felt on that Wednesday afternoon, here in Tokyo, when the United States of America elected a black man for President.

Barack Obama is more than his skin color. He is more than a racial stereotype or a broken barrier or a shattered glass ceiling. Simply put, the man is the most gifted politician that I have ever seen, and I say that having spent my entire adult life compulsively following politics.

First and foremost, President-elect Obama is an intellectual. His academic credentials are not only top-notch, they are the best of the the best. Simply put, Barack Obama is brilliant. I do not make that assertion out of a sense of idolatry or hero-worship...it's a fact. He has run the most disciplined political campaign that I've seen in my life, and it's not an accident. He did it because he, himself, is deeply disciplined and deeply analytical. He attended Ivy League institutions on scholarships. He was the president of the Harvard Law Review, one of the most distinguished legal journals in the country. Like Bill Clinton before him, if you should meet Barack Obama, you will know, for a fact, that you are standing with the smartest person in the room, or at least in the top 1 or 2 percent. THAT is who you want running your country, not someone you'd like to have a beer with (although I would), not somebody who could tell a dirty joke at a barbecue (although I'm sure he knows a few), but you WANT the guy who can sit down with other people, people who would normally also be considered the smartest persons in the room, and have him sift through their possibly conflicting opinions and decisively arrive at the best possible conclusion. Barack Obama is that person.

I don't expect to agree with every conclusion that he comes to. On the contrary, I expect to regularly disagree with him and the conclusions that he and his administration arrive at. However, I know that when President Obama and I disagree, it won't be because he hasn't considered my opinion or because he arrogantly refuses to consider the possibility that he might be wrong or the ramifications of his actions or inactions. This will not be another Bush administration.

Finally, this would be a very incomplete post if I did not describe my feelings about race in this election.

I cried on Wednesday night when I watched Obama's victory speech in Illinois. I was overcome by the knowledge that my country, the United States, had finally, after so many years, lived up to its previously unfulfilled credo, that all men, and women, are created equal in our intellectual potential and our human capacity to do good things on this planet, and by the fact that white and black and Latino and asian Americans had decided, together, that skin color was less important than ideas and talent and dedication. The inequalities inflicted on the black community over the course of the last 400 years by slavery and by Jim Crow and by subtle and not-so-subtle institutional and interpersonal racism have not been lifted. They remain, and will forever remain, a great stain on American history, one of our greatest sins. Racism will remain a horrible and virulently evil reality in communities all across our country. However, from this day forth, for the very first time, every black child in the United States of America will know that their potential is not limited by the color of their skin, but only by their imagination and capacity for self-improvement. That they could, if they work very hard and are very lucky, become the most powerful man or woman in the world. That is so incredibly beautiful, and I am so proud of my country for the first time in a very long time.

I love America. I love what it can stand for. At its best, it is so very, very good. At its worst, as we have learned over the last 8 years, it can be so very evil. And I have watched and read about evils committed by my country, on television and newspaper and internet, and have despaired for the loss of our great potential to fear and xenophobia and hate of other, different cultures. We reached a turning point in American history, a point where the America of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln became America as envisioned by authoritarian oppressors by the names of Dick Cheny, Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, David Addington, John Yoo, Paul Wolfowitz, and George Bush, Jr., who saw no problem with suspending habeas corpus, or with torturing potentially innocent suspects, or with illegally waging war against the innocent and the guilty alike, or with listening in on the private conversations of Americans. They are vile and disgusting human beings for what they have done to my country. There is no room for an intellectual debate with those who would be willing to torture other human beings in exchange for the illusion of security. There is no room for ANYTHING but the strongest possible condemnation. It is my fervent wish to see these men and women (Monica Goodling, I'm looking your way), and more, rot in prison for the crimes that they have committed against my country in the name of power, politics, and security. I will never forgive them for what they've done to the United States. It will take years to undo the damage that they have done, if it can be entirely undone.

Barack Obama's election is a repudiation of the fear-mongering and authoritarianism that these men stand for, and it is the greatest single step in healing our nation's racial divide since the Emancipation Proclamation. A new day has dawned in America, and my only regret is that I couldn't dance in the streets, in joy, with my countrymen.

The leg thing.

I went into the doctor today, which was an interesting ordeal, given my level of Japanese proficiency and the staff and doctor's level of English proficiency. Fortunately, we made it through.

I apparently have a pinched sciatic nerve, which I suspected might be the case, but wasn't entirely sure. It's making my left leg burn and ache and it makes my left toes feel tingly and a little numb. It is usually caused by a slight herniation of the connective tissue between spinal discs.

The good news is that the condition is usually resolved without surgery. The bad news is that he thinks my knees are in the early stages of osteoarthritis, but I think I could have told him that myself. I also think that my left knee probably has some torn cartilage or something else going on...he thought that the symptoms were arthritic, but I'm skeptical of that. It feels like something else is going on.

So, anyway, nothing particularly earth shattering. I'm scheduled for an MRI next week, and I'm going to be practicing yoga fairly religiously from now on in an attempt to get this straightened out on my own. It feels better just to have a diagnosis, but I'm going to follow through with the MRI and his treatment suggestions. I'm on a vitamin b12 supplement and an anti-inflammatory. We'll see what happens.

So, about the blogging.

Things have kind of settled into a routine, which makes it hard for me to write...it helps to have some sort of impetus in my life to inspire the blogging, and I've been lacking that a bit over the last week. Yesterday was a big day, though, and I want to chronicle my thoughts on the subject. First black American president? Kind of a big deal.

Anyway, I'll collect my thoughts on the subject and get them down on here. Tomorrow I am headed to the doctor to have my leg looked at...I'll post an update on that, as well.

Disappointment.

So, this weekend, my roommate, Andrew, planned a party and invited a bunch of people. Now, as we all know, in any given party situation, it is of dire importance to have a relatively even gender balance. However, on Saturday night, I came home from my work Halloween party, and noticed about 10 pairs of men's shoes and 3 pairs of women's shoes. "Oh, shit," I thought to myself. "I fucking knew it. It's a sausage party." And it was. Oh god, how it was.

I had been looking forward to the party, but I knew that Andrew was undoubtedly exaggerating when he said that there would be at least 10 girls coming to his little get together...3 girls is effectively a party disaster of monumental proportions. Do you know what happens when you throw 4 or 5 girls into a party with 15+ guys, and then soak said party down with hard alcohol? Hmmmm? Well, I'll tell you.

It sucks with the ferocity of a thousand daisy-chained Hoovers. It bites like a swimming pool filled with piranhas. It stinks like the rotting, maggot-infested carcasses of a landfill's worth of dead skunks.

Men are under the terrible influence of a vicious drug called testosterone. Even among the best of us, testosterone leads to occasional senseless aggression and occasional hostility. Pour in a bunch of alcohol, and drop a not spectacular collective IQ by another 20 or 30 points, and you have your basic party clusterfuck.

Back to the party...of the 4 females who came, 2 of them left around 11, and that left 2 for the rest of the evening. I think you can see where this is going. The party thinned out, but they were still outnumbered about 4 or 5 to 1. So lame.

I ended up out of the porch alone with both of them separately at various points in the evening and they seemed interested, but I wasn't particularly interested in giving chase, as I have done plenty of that in the last few months. I am pretty much fed up with it. Guys who don't really give a shit, strangely enough, tend to be catnip for the ladies, however, and I kept ending up alone with them out of the porch. Fine then. One of them was hungry, so I walked her down to the nearest convenience store and asked her if she'd like to join me on the bank of the Edogawa for some privacy. She said yes. Fine.

So, on the way to the river, which involved walking back by the apartment, we were intercepted by Andrew, who said that Joe, my other roommate, who had invited the girl, was having a total hissyfit because I had disappeared with her. Apparently Joe is under the impression that women are not sentient beings capable of making their own decisions, but pliable little love toys who exist solely to service him sexually. He had taken to sticking knives in the ceiling to illustrate his rage. Fucking douchebag.

Whatever. I didn't know this girl, didn't have any particular connection to her, and the party was already pretty much a tidal wave of bullshit, as far as I was concerned. I could have escalated the situation in various ways, but the reality is that the easiest course of action was to just go upstairs and placate the douchebag, who I think I will hereafter refer to as "The Douchebag."

Clearly, however, The Douchebag's butt is still chapped by the fact that "his" girl liked me, because he's been a passive aggressive prick for the last 2 days. God, how I hate this high school bullshit. He's leaving on the 10th, and I am really looking forward to it.

Anyway. Once I start getting paid, I won't have to look forward to lame-ass excuses for parties to enhance my social life.

I'm including this sunset pic because it is cool and I like to use beauty to conquer negativity. Here's the beauty, from my porch:

Click to make it bigger.

Fall does come to Japan, sooner or later.

It's 2:30 in the morning, and I'm about to head to bed after a long week with little sleep. Getting up early has never been my strong spot, and I'm finding that my Tokyo internal clock is no different than anywhere else. I'd harbored hopes, initially following the jet lag, that I might be able to reset my schedule, but...alas. I am a night owl born and bred.

I started work this week and everything went very well. I made it in on time every day, despite the best efforts of Tokyo's train system to thwart me, and my boss is apparently impressed with my rapport with the students. He offered me visa sponsorship and a full time position, which is officially a Huge Deal in the big scheme of me making it work here. I had another interview scheduled for next week with another company, but they want me to work for a week, in "training," without the benefit of pay...I'm confident that I could have gotten the job, but I'm not so cool with working...*ahem*...I mean training...without pay. Mmmmm...no.

I've been thinking a lot about Iowa over the last day or tow, and how my life over the last year has become strangely intertwined with events that occurred there, past and present. It's strange to think of it fondly after so many years of repudiation and disdain. It feels a lot more adult, on a certain level, to feel this strange and deep connection with it, instead of railing against a place that can't feel or appreciate my angst. In some ways, I can visualize Iowa more vividly than Portland, which is really odd. Maybe I'm just too fresh out of P-town, or view it more as home, or something. I don't know.

I'm listening to a Fugees tune...super mellow, beautiful. I'm tired...going to bed now. Goodnight, blog.