Some recent changes.

Saturday was a fairly momentous day. I went to the doctor to hear about some lab test results, and he told me that I probably have a mild case of pancreatitis. Not so great. The condition is aggravated, and possibly caused by, the use of alcohol, so that means that I'm officially on the wagon. I haven't had a drink for a week and a half...I'm assuming that I'll be able to resume moderate consumption of alcohol at some point in the future, but I'm not sure when (or if) that will be the case.

I'm actually OK with it. I've definitely been drinking more since I got to Tokyo, but the results are, per usual, less than stellar. Unless I drink fairly impressively massive amounts of booze, alcohol doesn't have generally have a huge affect on me in terms of behavioral modification. If I've had enough that it does, then chances are pretty good that the behavior modification isn't going to be to my liking. So, if I drink the way that I usually do, which is to say, not to the point of being really fucking wasted, then it doesn't really alter my behavior or mindset particularly. What does that tell us? Well, it tells me that I've been wasting a lot of money on a drug that ultimately doesn't really effect me that much, other than to give me really shitty hangovers. Wheeeeee. The really stupid thing is that I don't need it to have fun in social situations and it's not a social lubricant for me any more. I'm fine without it, but you just get into these habits and then don't think about them much.

As previously noted, if it does effect me greatly, it's often detrimental. So...yeah.

Saturday night I DJed again in Daikanyama. Many of my friends came and we had a nice time at the bar, although the sound system really is terribly underpowered. It's not a nightclub. Afterward, however, we *did* go to a nightclub, and that was fantastic. The cover was pretty high, but the not-drinking definitely heavily subsidizes a night out on the town. A woman who I've been interested in pursued me to the club at the behest of her friends, and we ended up having a nice time together. I've really been closed off since I got here, for a variety of reasons, but my recent decision to open myself up has rather astonishingly quickly resulted in my finding myself in the delightful company of this beautiful, intelligent, quirky woman. Some of the closing off was simply due to my location, way out of the way in Ichikawa, but a lot of it was also fear of repeating my experience with my last girlfriend, and some other things that are maybe a little too deep for this venue.

In any case, I don't have any particular expectations, one way or the other, out of this situation, but it's been nice so far and I wouldn't mind more niceness in my life after the 6 months of shit sandwich that I've been choking down.

Work.

All right, here is my work update, as promised.

I started at the junior high on Monday. Naturally, I got off at the wrong bus stop and was about 15 minutes late for work. Fortunately, it's generally understood that public transportation can be a hellish experience, and no one is usually terribly surprised or offended if a foreigner is late on the first day. After the first day or two, though, you'd damn well better be on time.

I wouldn't call my job at the junior high "teaching" actually. My job is to parrot English in a native accent. I *was* thinking that the junior high level would be more challenging than the elementary teaching, but it's the exact opposite. In the elementary schools, I am responsible for the whole lesson. In the junior high, I'm more of the teachers' English slave...or something. I'm not complaining, everybody has been really nice.

The biggest difference, though, is the students. Elementary students have this vibrancy and curiosity and lack of self-consciousness that the vast majority of the junior high students have somehow lost. Something really special dies in children with the onset of puberty and the awareness of self and others that it brings. Once it's gone, it's gone.

All of the students are nice to me, so far, though, and when I see those students who are bored or suffering in some way, I totally and completely empathize. After all, did anyone hate school more than I? Was anyone more bored, or resentful? Could anyone have channeled more angst? Probably, on all counts, but not much.

I'm in the elementary school on Thursday and Friday, and thank the gods. They're so sweet, and they find me endlessly fascinating. The really small ones, in 1st and 2nd grade, want to touch my legs and my hands and my arms in the hallways all the time. It's fucking adorable. I left work on Friday in a really good mood, and it had nothing to do with not working the next day. Good stuff.

One of *those* days.

My day at work today was pretty boring...just getting into the new routine, I guess. 3 of my classes were effectively canceled, thanks to a test, so I had a lot of time for class prep. I only taught two classes. All in all, not very exciting.

I'll give a more full description of the actual classes here in a day or two.

It doesn't usually really bother me, but every so often I feel acutely aware of just how alien I am here. Between my height and my pasty white skin, I could probably have a foot-long pink mohawk and not attract more attention. Today was one of those days when I was just tired...really tired...of being stared at by every person I passed on the street.

Fuck it, maybe it's time for a pink mohawk.

Probably getting sick now....

All signs point to my catching a cold, which is swell. Per usual when I get sick, I have the accompanying low-grade depression, wherein I typically try to avoid all human contact so that I can properly wallow in my misery. I'm supposed to DJ this weekend, so I'm going to bed now, around 9, in the hopes of killing it overnight. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. I'm going to work no matter what happens, and I'm DJing if I have to do it remotely from my hospital bed, so that's that.

weekend.

I hosted another couchsurfer this weekend, a Parisian named Jay who is considering a move to Japan sometime around September. He was really mellow and we had some good conversations about language and the difficulties of learning a new one. He was impressed with my Japanese, but that doesn't mean much. I get excited when Japanese people are impressed with my Japanese, which is pretty rare if I talk to them for more than 5 minutes. Baby steps, though.

Last night I went to a birthday party in Shimokitazawa, a small, hip enclave where I'd previously had a pretty terrible time. I think I mentioned it in one of my earlier blog posts, actually. This particular trip more than made up for the last one...it was my friend's birthday party. Incidentally, it turns out that gay people are a blast in virtually every culture. Who knew? In any case, it's pretty close to my new job, so there's a decent chance that I'll start looking around for a new place somewhere in the neighborhood. Probably have to wait another month or two to move, though.

Tomorrow I start the new job, so today I went out and picked up some things that I will need for the job, and just for general use. I'll be at my junior high school for 3 days, and then the elementary for 2. I'll have a desk at the junior high, but it's looking like I'll only have a locker at the elementary school. The junior high is looking way more organized, which is good, since I'll be spending most of my time there.

Anyway. I'm going to do a few chores, now, and relax for a while. More later.

Grandma.

My grandma isn't doing very well, and I feel shitty about the situation because I haven't been able to go see her for a couple of years and I doubt that I'll be able to visit her for at least a couple more. She is exhibiting strong signs of dementia, and I'm really worried that she won't recognize me the next time I see her...and that I'll never see her again.

Fuck.

The biggest city in the world.

Considering that Tokyo is the largest city in the world, it's surprisingly homogeneous in terms of population. When I lived in Ichikawa and commuted all the way across Tokyo, it was a rare day to see more than 2 or 3 foreigners on the train in any given week.

Contradictorily, I've never spent so much time in the company of people from so many different places. Tonight I went to Akihabara in the company of 3 people: 1 from Australia, 1 from Scotland, and 1 from England. Despite the homogeneity of the population, the foreigners here are from *all* over the world, and in significant quantities. It's really interesting to learn, firsthand, about so many different places, and I often just shut the hell up and sit quietly and listen to the stories told in various, lovely different accents.

On a different subject...last night was interesting. I had a date with a nice Japanese woman, who we will call "J." She lived in Canada for 6 years, so we spoke effortlessly in English, which was nice. I like the fact that she has lived abroad, and, in point of fact, it's a requirement for any serious dating that I may or may not do in Japan.

I've largely avoided dating, thanks to the trauma of my previous relationship, which I have detailed in some depth in this blog. After a lot of reflection, I've concluded that it's not healthy to close myself off to the possibilities here. I'm not seeking anything, but it would be stupid to turn my back on positive situations that present themselves. I'm done closing myself off.

Quickly, now.

I'm waiting to use the bathroom. When you live with 18 (slight exaggeration) people, you wait for things.

Tomorrow I start training for my new job, so I need a shower, a quick trim, and to get my shave on. I'm excited, but the excitement is definitely tamped down a bit by waiting 87 hours to use the fucking bathroom sink. For the love of god, here, people.

Anyway. Shower...bed...full report tomorrow.

Lazy, bad blogger.

I've been super busy, and thus have been neglecting the blog...it's probably a good thing, ultimately.

Last weekend was the beginning of hanami party season, as discussed previously. Let's get down to it:

Here is my friend Hanako, her sister, and niece. Cuteness!


Here is a picture that I took in the park. I am told that it is beautiful, but draw your own conclusions:



This is me having some silly time with my J-friends:



Annnnd, here is the aftermath in an izakaya. I also like this picture:



There's actually a lot more, since I did the same thing on Sunday at a couchsurfing party...it was a really busy weekend. I also hosted a girl from Sweden at my house and that was time consuming as well. Furthermore, I have been working on a top secret music project, which is...again...time consuming. It's good to stay busy though. My social network here is kind of exploding in my face, but it's not a bad thing since I plan to pursue DJing as much as possible. If I can generate a following of friends here, then I can start moving events into larger clubs and perhaps making money. I do enjoy not living in poverty.

Speaking of which, I finally got fully paid for the month of February, and might actually get paid for March in about a week. We'll see, but I'm somewhat hopeful that it'll happen. I need to open a bank account next week, which promises to be a huge pain in the ass. Que sera, sera.

More later...I have another hanami to go to!!