| Musings |
[Sep. 24th, 2009|07:05 pm] |
I've been thinking recently about bonds. There are certain bonds which tie us as people. These things are universal almost no matter where you live. Mainly, I am drawing upon my interactions and observations of my fellow school teachers at the elementary and middle schools.
For example, I can see a number of the stereotypes about elementary school teachers in the ones I work with. I notice this more with the women. As for the middle school, I had a strange moment of deja vu a few months ago. The 1st year (7th grade) math teacher looks exactly like the Japanese equivalent to my 7th grade math teacher. It kind of freaked me out at first, but I guess in a strange way it makes sense.
We all have our own paths to lead and this is regardless of our nationality or culture. |
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| Diablo 3 |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|07:56 am] |
I have a bit of a squee moment checking on the blizzard website. The new meat tank is a monk with martial arts abilities! I can't wait for this game to come out. |
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| Tai Chi in Japan |
[Sep. 7th, 2009|08:23 pm] |
A time to rest. A time to reflect. I'm still working to find a balance regarding the things I need and want to do in my life. I went to the main office of work for training today, unfortunately much of the time was wasted. I'm studying Japanese, Korean and GRE words. I can't say the pace of study for Korean is very intense, but I'm maintaining a lifeline to build up my knowledge, rather than let it fade away again as it has several times before.
I can't decide yet when I'd like to retake the test. I think I'll figure it out depending on how my next eye exam goes on Saturday. If the test goes well and I can finally stop having constant headaches from vision imbalance, I'll make it sooner than later. Maybe, my putting it off is also doubt about whether I'm really ready to go to grad school or not, or if I've become too comfortable with the ex-pat life style and I'm not ready to give it up.
Also, it doesn't seem like things will be that much better at home economically for me if I try to get a job there.
On another note, one of my friends from the camp in Korea, who lives in Kanagawa, has recommended a Japanese woman's class who teaches Tai Chi. He can get me hooked up for free and I'm thinking about going twice a month starting the Saturday after next. I'll see anyway. Maybe I do need to relax more. At the very least, I have a 6 day weekend the week after next. I only work Friday the week after next, so it should be a productive staycation for me. |
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| On the way back to Japan |
[Aug. 21st, 2009|08:53 pm] |
Well, before I knew it, my time in Korea has once again come to an end. Working at this camp has been a very strange, but indirectly rewarding experience. I've made a couple of nice new friends, including one who happens to live in the same prefecture as me in Japan. Its strange to note of five foreign teachers who worked here, three of them (including me) are from the Philly area.
I got some Korean back as well, which I hope to continue that trend. I could have done better with getting my GRE vocab up, but I'll be flash carding those in batches once I get back to Japan. I still need to pick a date, which I think will either be mid or late October for the retest.
However, I'm feeling that and my grad school applications for next year may become heavily contingent on the condition of my eye. My right eye has been having problems off and on for almost a year now. I have been dominant with my right eye for a while, but things have reached a point where I am getting frequent headaches even without my glasses. I'm starting to get extremely discouraged because of this. I feel that much my future studies and plans are very dependent on my eyes and the ability to read. I'm on about my 3rd or 4th prescription in the last 11 months with only short term relief.
When I get back to Japan I'll either schedule an appointment with the eye center I visited before to see if they will increase the astigmatism prescription on my right eye, or else go to a more proper eye medical center to see if there are any more serious issues at work here. I'm hoping something will work. I don't know if I can keep going through day after day like this. Also, sometime after I get back I'll be queuing up other check-ups including a general health and dental check-up.
Maybe I do need to take more time with things. Keep piling myself up with too many things to do.
Well, to let you know that its not all downsides, I did have a good time here and am considering working in Korea again next year, if things get straightened out with my eye and I decide to defer on graduate school for a year to build up my Korean even more. I'll get back to those thoughts another day for the time being. |
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| GREs |
[Jul. 11th, 2009|06:49 pm] |
Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow I”ll finally take the GREs. I've been working on this for months. I'm not nervous. I think I'll do pretty well. On a practice test yesterday I got 730 on the verbal and 630 on the math. If I do that well on the real thing, I'll be really happy. To be honest, more than anything else, I'm just looking forward to being done with the test. Its been eating up so much of my time and energy. I'd rather get on with studying Japanese. |
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| Countdowns |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|08:31 pm] |
Countdown:
21 days until the GRE test
33 days until I fly to Korea for summer work
Things are still hectic for me. I am putting the finishing touches on my GRE studies. I generally find this test to be annoying bother for me. I wish I had been more motivated last year and taken the damn thing to be done with it. But, for all the annoyance, I think the way things ended up has left me optimally prepared for the test. In addition, I've read some books that I probably should have a long time ago and gained a greater appreciation for literature than I previously had.
Once that and getting my visa for Korea is over, I'll be on my way to the land of kimchi and bibimbab for a month to earn some more $$$ for when I go back home to the US. Not to mention getting my language skills back to where they were before and laying the groundwork for sustaining my ability to speak Korean.
While I'm in Korea I have a few things to re-write and than all thats left is to gather up and send out documents for applications in September/October. I feel like I'll really be able to relax a lot more after that. Then again, by then I'll be busy studying for the JLPT3. Life goes on... |
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| Dreaming in Japanese |
[Jun. 5th, 2009|08:44 pm] |
As most people know, I've been back in Japan for a while now. My language skills have improved a lot, especially in the last 3-4 months. Many people I keep in touch with on facebook are proficient if not fluent in one or more languages. So, I have question then: At what point of skill do you have to reach in another language before it filters into your subconscious such as a dream state?
Has anyone else had this type of experience? Also, what kind of things does it portend in general? |
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| The ALT life in Japan |
[May. 24th, 2009|08:05 pm] |
I think its past due to post an update on whats going on. So, I finally got paid. Its nice to have a bit of money back in my pocket, which is always good. My job is pretty easy. I typically help teach 2-4 English classes a day. I usually offer to help my co-teachers with planning, but they don't usually take me up on it. As a result, I end up having a ton of time to read, study Japanese and do other things. I've read quite a lot recently, having finished more than ten books since the beginning of April. Its part of my preparations for the GRE, which I'm taking on July 12th. Also, I finally got a new kanji book :) So I can start learning more new kanji again.
The city I live in, Hashimoto, is a nice place. The people are pretty nice. Also the library has a very large and well stocked selection of English books, which will keep me busy for a while. I'm pretty busy between studying in and out of work. I'm working on studying for the GREs, Japanese study (I'll probably only take JLPT3 this year, because I'm sure I can pass it and want something on my records to submit later to grad school), eventually translating some Japanese children's stories for potential publication with a friend in England, grad school admissions (later this year) and finding summer work over July and August in Korea.
It'll be a bit of a relief when things do lighten up some after I send out my graduate school admissions documents, but otherwise I can say things are going ok.
I have been starting to get occasionally homesick, but I plan on stopping home early next year, depending on how my plans for the year go. I'm not quite sure where I'll end up for grad school, but I'd probably put money on either somewhere in Cali or in Seattle.
Anyway, just thought I'd put a long overdue post up.
Also, as for this bit of strangeness, I found it in a bookstore. Cell phones are handy. By the way, if you're wondering who the other country is, its Korea. |
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| Oh Internets, what can't you teach us? |
[Feb. 20th, 2009|10:02 pm] |
I just thought I'd share one of the more interesting things I've seen online in a while. It had me fooled for about a minute, but its quite enjoyable of a parody.
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| Holy shit I'm 25 |
[Feb. 16th, 2009|10:05 pm] |
On Paths taken and not
Well, if there is not a more reflective day to write. Its a bit of a frightening thought on becoming 25. I have a feeling that probably less than 1/3, but more than a 1/4 of my life is now over. Maybe time is creeping up afterall.
A few updates on life and whatnot. Me and Jennie are finishing up our job here at Maple at the end of the month. The collective issues with our supervisor built up to a point beyond our tolerance. I feel this is a case where pride outweighs money. During the first few weeks of March we'll be staying at a guest house in Tokyo.
Strange to think how I'm longing to be back in Tokyo. It was just about a year ago that I left the city. I've seen much more of Japan now than I did that time last year. It feels almost like a strange homecoming of sorts. I feel like after the last 9 months that I really need some time to decompress and reflect on the choices I've made since late 2007. Also, under the advice of Jennie I'm seriously starting to consider D programs instead of just going for an M.A. I think its about time to go back to school, but I need to get more focused to do that.
While we're there I hope to visit good friends that I haven't seen in a while, knock out a few job interviews, but my primary concern is going to be finishing up the review of my Japanese books and getting some good solid GRE studying in.
I feel like this will be a good few weeks and I really don't want to lose my focus. Oh and one last thing for today, I finished War and Peace. Take that new year's resolution list! |
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| Change |
[Oct. 25th, 2008|09:06 am] |
This without much doubt, has to be my favorite campaign commercial of the season. Enjoy! |
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| Ouch |
[Sep. 21st, 2008|11:29 am] |
I just got into a bike accident about an hour or so ago. I'm fine, just a sore shoulder and knee, but the front of my bicycle is quite damaged. The front wheel is shot to shit, bent halfway like an 8 and the basket has a big dent in it. And here I was thinking cause of the rain I should walk to the gym this morning too.
As best I can tell, it was both our faults. The Japanese teenager who hit me was rushing to beat the crosswalk light and so was I, because at that intersection the pedestrian lights go off at the same time for both ways. Also, given where I was coming from, we were both in a blind spot. It is just lucky that his bike wasn't damaged and he seemed to feel more responsible for it. There is no way I can talk to the police in town after that incident a few months back. Fucking a.........I think I'm staying inside for the rest of the day with some nice warm tea after this. |
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| LOLcats! |
[Sep. 14th, 2008|10:14 pm] |
I can think of a few people that this would apply to...you know who you are |
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| New profile picture for work |
[Sep. 12th, 2008|11:56 pm] |
A bit of a conversation between me and Jennie about getting a new work photo to our boss.
slittleb81 (11:53:35 PM): by the way, there totally is a picture of the two of us together, when you are dressed as a samurai
Strath3303 (11:53:53 PM): oh dear god. We are not using that
slittleb81 (11:53:59 PM): why not?
Strath3303 (11:54:08 PM): I'm dressed like a samurai
Strath3303 (11:54:13 PM): I think that is a sufficient enough reason
slittleb81 (11:54:53 PM): perhaps |
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| Whats going on this year |
[Sep. 11th, 2008|10:13 pm] |
Its been a while. I've been meaning to do a proper update on my life and whatnot, but a combination of motivation and my near future plans have caused me to not post in a while. As for whats been happening: I've had internet for a few weeks now. Its quite shiny and I missed it a lot. My current job still does suck, but it has finally settled into a relative hum of mediocrity for the time being. I will come back to that in a bit. On the entertainment front, I have gotten myself sucked into D-Grayman. It has the unfortunate side effect of making my inner historian and inner anime fan has a monkey knife fight to the death in my head. The damn series is set in the mid to late 19th century, but I keep getting all these mixed signs from the 1850's-1890's and I just wanna peg it down to a damn decade already. Otherwise I'm enjoying it a lot.
As for the future: I will have a new job starting in November. I'll be moving to Okayama , which is between Hiroshima and Osaka. Its most famous for the story of Momotaro, or peach boy. Also, the castle there is black because a daimyo got jealous of another nearby castle a few hundred years ago. I'll be working with a friend and soon to be more: Jennie. I don't know if I posted it on my LJ, but she is someone I met in Korea about 2 years ago. Thank you chai tea lattes, you are wonderful conversation starters. So we'll be splitting the apartment and the bills, which will be a great boost to my savings. I hope to be able to sock away about $1400/month before my loans, which is a really good feeling. I hope things go well and I hope this has been a worthwhile to read update on my life. |
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| The God Delusion |
[Sep. 9th, 2008|11:19 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Ube, Japan | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
These are some of my favorite quotes used for or by Richard Dawkins in his book, “The God Delusion.”
I don't try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it. -- Albert Einstein p. 31
The notion that religion is a proper field, in which one might claim expertise, is one that should not go unquestioned. -- p. 37
Positively the principle [of agnosticism] may be expressed. In matters of the intellect, follow your reason as far as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And negatively; In matters of the intellect, do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. -- T.H. Huxley p. 74
Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of skeptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. -- Bertrand Russell p. 75
The priests of the different religious sects.. dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight, and scowl on the fatal harbinger announcing the subdivision of the duperies on which they live – Thomas Jefferson p. 137
If an apparent gap is found, it is assumed that God, by default, must fill it. What worries thoughtful theologians such as Bonhoeffer is that gaps shrink as science advances, and God is threatened with eventually having having nothing to do and nowhere to hide. -- p. 151
Why is God considered an explanation for anything? Its not—it's a failure to explain, a shrug of the shoulders, an 'I dunno' dressed up in spirituality and ritual. -- Jerry Coyne p. 161
...a God who is capable of sending intelligible signals to millions of people simultaneously, and of receiving messages from all of them simultaneously, cannot be, whatever else he might be, simple. -- p. 184
God's monumental rage whenever his chosen people flirted with a rival god resembles nothing so much as sexual jealousy of the worst kind... -- p 276
It is, when you think about it, remarkable that a religion should adopt an instrument of torture and execution as its sacred symbol, often worn around the neck. Lenny Bruce rightly quipped that 'If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks... p. 285
My personal favorite
It is said that Alfred Hitchcock, the great cinematic specialist in the art of frightening people, was once driving in Switzerland when he suddenly pointed out of the car window and said, 'That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen.' It was a priest in conversation with a little boy, his hand on the boy's shoulder. Hitchcock leaned out of the car window and shouted, “Run, little boy! Run for your life! -- p. 357
I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered from the slightest inconvenience from it. -- Mark Twain p. 396 |
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