Tomorrow I will post some accompanying text, but for now, here are some pictures of my amazing Sunday with Candice, Jon and Ray.

The world... volcanic activity and density of marine life... Scientific, yet cool...


Jon, Ray, Candice, and Lily with the famous whale shark. (Ray can you doctor this? It's a bit blurry...)


Penguins. 'Nuff said.


This has GOT to be the best job on earth. Swim around in a tank, wearing wacky clothes (including tiger shorts and a Ronald McDonald wig) and wave and swing a bat and give peace signs to kids. Where do I sign up?


Many, many, many, many fish... (Amusingly enough, Jon thought this would only feed him for a WEEK.)


Funny story... the entire time we're looking at these fish, Jon is tlaking about... what else?!... SUSHI. That is just warped. You're communing with all these deep sea creatures, and Jon says they make him hungry! EVIL... At any rate, Jon, think of the fish. Especially your favourite fish, Billy (name chosen at random), you can't eat your friends.


Cutie-pie fish. Big, heartbreaker eyes.


This turtle CLEARLY gave me the evil eye... I don't know what I ever did to him (her?) but he definitely had some issues with my watching his leisurely swim. RELAX, dude.


This is a chunk of the plexiglass they use to keep all the water in at the aquarium; no wonder it's so hard to see through!


Fire jellyfish... they were beautiful...


Jon and I trapped in a shark cage. Jon looks like he SHOULD be committed. I am clearly just chillin, waiting for a shark to bite.


Wicked restaurant called "Christon" we went on Jon's recommendation! Like a Catholic church, lol but with a revolving door and lots of booze and decadent food. Tres chic.


Jon and Ray at the game centre, giving those zombies a run for their decomposing-money!


Shoot him, Ray... Get that lousy dead guy!


Take that, MOFOS!


Bitch, please...


Die evil, bastdard zombie scum!

Random temple, in Kobe...

Sitting at my old haunt, Seattle's Best Coffee, and sipping a chai latte. Oh, the memories.

Currently listening to my new favourite song, by Natasha Bedingfield, younger sis of Daniel.

"Unwritten"

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, Oh

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines (yeah yeah)
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way (oh oh)

Staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you, open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten...


A small child just let out a blood-curdling, help me now scream. The amusing thing is that I'm in Japan, so I didn't even blink. Children here are HELLIONS. They have no sense of behaviour whatsoever. (Except for Tayo; he's an angel child.)

The sun is shining and I am smiling. Today, I left the apartment THREE times because I kept forgetting things. I had some money left from my last paycheck so I decided to transfer it to my account in Canada. Holy God in heaven, was that ever hard! I should've learnt Japanese. They probably thought I was a total idiot. Not to mention, I had to write some stuff IN Japanese, and my katakana, hiragana, and kanji are ALL ASS! Poor woman, probably thought I was a 6 year old.

I was thinking of the SOTTB last night, and wodnering where the bracelet is right now. It didn't really bring my any extra courage or anything, but I suppose I did survive my first few weeks here in Japan, so it served its purpose. I hope it is bringing bravery to my friends back in Canada.

Big plans for this weekend. We have Candice's welcome party on Saturday night. ("PLEASE COME!" Argh.) And then we have the monthly dance party occurring at Murphy's. Should be a bang-up evening. The next day, Ray, Jon, Candice and I are going to the Aquarium in Osaka. I've never been before, and supposedly, it has a whale shark.



Last week, my coworkers and I went to a "special" kind of bar called a "snack." (L-R: Michael, Jon, Lily, Candice) Drank lots of beer and shochu and stuff, so it was an itneresting evening for all involved. So much so that I felt very under the weather the next day at school! Oh well, you only live once!

Still annoyed by the result of the Canadian election, but maybe the Liberals cant throw some of the Conservatives dissolution tactics back in their faces and it might actually work, given the extremely weak minority government they've managed to form. Saw the lovely and immature and poorly thought out "baby factor" comment. Come on, Isaac, if you've got cahones, prove it. It's all fine and well to criticize a woman who clearly took the position after Mr. Shithead himself had descrated the PM chair in various ways. Ovaries are just ovaries. Testes are just tests. There is no good reason not to elect a woman. Except that if she makes mistakes, she'll be degraded, berated and bombared by criticism at least TWICE as much as any balding old fart of a man. And now, I digress.

BTW, Sima, I didn't catch K.C.'s comments about the election of S. Harper and the Conservatives? Maybe you could post it in the comments section?

As another aside, SMOKING sucks. Canada's whole movement toward bylaws in cities and public places is the BOMB. I'm in a cafe, and the air is a pretty blue colour. Life is not supposed to be like that! Could be worse, I am well aware. There are harder things than smokey air to endure in this life, but right now, screaming children and smokey cafes are my top concern.

Japan has turned me into a raging capitalist. If I don't come home with something new, I feel funny. Mostly gifts and stuff for birthdays, but all the same, I wish i could stop shopping altogether. The shoes here are too cute, though... Cute's an industry in Japan. Sanrio is the new God. Very very strange.

At any rate, it's now about an hour from my start up time and I have a few errands to run. A bientot, all.

One small entry, so that people don't freak out about my extended absence in cyber space.

Things are okay here in Akashi. Work is a bit weird, like usual, and there have been some weird developments in my personal life. Things will calm down soon, I'm sure, but it's still a bit up in the air. Classes are going well. I had Follow-Up Training at Honbu on Saturday with my (temporary) coworker, Jon. It was a decent day, even though it started with a very serious meeting. At any rate, I am surviving. I will post new pictures as soon as I can, but that might not be for a few more days, potentially a week or so.

I just heard about the Canadian Election. *sigh* A Conservative minority. I am a bit relieved, as their government is even weaker than the Liberal one they ousted. Still, it is difficult to imagine my home as a hotbed for the righteous right. Paul Martin has fallen, thank goodness. I really did not enjoy his brand of wet-rag politics. Hopefully, the next leader of the Liberals is more capable. Maybe a bit bustier and more estrogen-filled. Nobody cares if a male politician is fat, sweaty and incompetent. Hopefully, we can extend the same standards to women. We shall see. It seems in this respect, the developing countries are a lot more advanced than we are.

Anyways, that's not even worthy of the term 'rant', but it's all I can muster, as I'm off to Honbu AGAIN tomorrow for interview training. I can barely contain my excitement.

A bientot.

It's 1:48am, and I bet some of you are asleep. I'm making soup.
Just thought you should be privy to my soup-making prowess.

*sigh* Why didn't anyone tell me that "Finding Neverland" would make me cry! Bastards!
Consumption always makes me cry.
Grrrr.

Soup, then meds, then sweet, sweet bed.
Almost rhymed.

It's almost 2am, don't mess with me.
Also, WICKED, Friday the 13th ended without much event, other than me barely survivng my easiest day of teaching. Stupid cold. I couldn't even take the actual cold meds because they make drowsy as can be!

Off to Carrefour tomorrow to go shopping. I adore shopping there. Why? Because it's a French store, so I can *woohoo* read the labels, as long as the pesky Japanese staff don't paste Japanese labels overtop. That irritates me to no end. And, yes, I realize where I live, I have zero claim to be angry over such a thing, but just TRY and stop me.

Goodnight all.

And with the strike of 12 midnight, this marks the beginning of... dum dum dummmm... FRIDAY THE 13TH!

So, tonight thanks to my lovely mom, I found out that Rick Mercer has a blog, and not just anywhere, but here at blogspot, thanks to Blogger. Fantastic. More wit and whimsy prior to the Canadian election.

To all my friends in Canada, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE vote on January 23, 2006. I truly believe voting is vital to the continuation of a democratic Canada. ALSO, and most importantly, voting is the only REAL way you can complain and have a leg to stand on. Voting is the easiest way to say you give a crap about Canada, without ACTUALLY getting off your sorry excuse for a behind and doing something about this country you claim to love.

The more I read about this election, the more sad I become. Truly, this is becoming what Fallone's screen name is ALL about. "Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing bwtween the disasterous and the unpalatable."

I'm assuming that in this election, the disasterous is the righteous right, and the unpalatable is the ludicrous left. I am torn, and I think, perhaps, we may be doomed to yet another minority government. In theory, this is a fabulous idea really. No one party having enough sway to actually do any real damage, everyone bringing up suggestions is a sort of free forum for progress.

In practice, however, as most Canadians have observed for the past few years, this is not the case. Progress does not occur. Policy does not improve. It's a constant bickering match between the parties, fingers pointed, sometimes merely the middle one at any given time, and why? Because our system isn't designed to work with a minority government. Because our politician's refuse to adjust, to compromise, to be civil. In other democratic nations (ignore, for the moment, the democratic debauchery of the United States; they are a warning to all and a model to no one), like Sweden, politicans conduct themselves in admirable fashion. Their democracy functions, and of course, there are problems. But legislation in that nation actually has teeth once in awhile.

There is absolutely no excuse for the paltry excuse for policy that the Liberal party has been churning out for years now. We do not find ourselves on the world stage, where law is made of treaty, agreement and force, but ina nation where laws can be made and adhered to. A nation where policy can be made, and be made effectively, if we would only choose to do so.

I grow tired. Japanese medicine is making me drosy, and realistically, it's quite late, but I DID sleep all day. Basically, the end of my rant is my ever-ready call for PR. Proportional Representation. The Liberals clearly have no reason to support it, but even the idiotic right would gain from it. But then perhaps we woulg get some representation from a party or two who recognize an issue the other parties are ignoring: the environment. Everyone seems to think this is a non-issue.

It matters, people. Even those who are employed in resource extraction sectors should know that. Resources run out. You need a contingency plan. *sigh* Okay that's all my weary body will allow for today. Sleep well, world.

This just in...
Pity party for one.

I just got back, it's 12:50pm, and I am in some kind of pain! I got
to the school at 9:55am, perfectly on time to head to the doctor. So, the new teacher went with me, until Manager arrived. She wasa bit later as she had been on the phone with the clinic.

In Japan, even if it's a cold, they take your blood pressure, no big deal. And I had to wear a mask. AND they wanted to take mytemperature. But, get this, they wanted me to put the thermometer under my armpit. Fun, eh. Temperature of 37.2C, which is lower than yesterday I think. I also had to pee in a cup. And not an orange-lidded plastic cup. An over-sized dixy cup.

It took until 11:15am to see the doctor, who asked lots of questions, and my teacher interpreted. I told him about any drug allergies and whatnot. My teacher then warned me that what the doctor needed to do was take a test to determine if I do or do not have the flu. Basically, this test consisted of a nice friendly Japanese nurse, clad all in pinki, ramming a Q-tip up my nose, which was rather uncomfortable. (I've had a massive headache ever since she did it.) Turns out I do not have the flu, which really, I could have told them. I'd be more achey if I had the flu! However, I was glad that the Doc had sufficient proof, as when people are really sick here, they get an IV drip, and my teacher told me he was considering it! Jesus. These people
aren't kidding around.

Finally, he gives me a script for not one, not two, count them FIVE medicines. One antibiotic, one for cough, one for phlegm, one for making me sleep, and one powdered medicine for keeping my stomach settled after I down all the rest.

So, to regroup, many things are different in Japan!
1. Temperature taken under the armpit.
2. Blood pressure at every visit.
3. Mask on everyone in the waiting room, except for a kid who refused.
4. Ramming Q-tip into people's noses.
5. IV drips are very common here.
6. Tons of pills.
7. Powdered medicine!

Oh, well you learn something everyday. Time to make some macaroni and cheese. Hopefully all this medicine will get me on the road to feeling better!

Today, I woke up from a terrible nightmare to a really good day with Keiko.

She picked me up at 2pm and we went to Aspia to buy a few things, namely tape and a Japanese sharpie to label the huge box in her backseat. I mailed the replica samurai sword to my sister today for the reasonable fee of 3600yen. Required TONS of paperwork, I couldn't believe. Apparently, Canada requires that you fill out many customs forms, and they woman made sure I wrote "toy" although replica indicates it's a fake, but hey why not, I guess.

But it was a success! Keiko and I decided we needed some coffee (or hot cocoa in her case) after the lengthy deliberations to get the sword mailed. We drove to Carrefour is Tsuchiyama (I think) and went to Starbucks. Yummy Marshmallow Mocha. We sat and talked a bit about the day, and decided to have *SHABU SHABU* for dinner. I got very excited, because this is the one food dad saw fit to mention in Japan, so I figured it must be absolutely scrumptious!

We went shopping a bit in Carrefour, because they sell great cheese. I bought some cream cheese, and a little bit of smoked cheese, which I am very pleased with. I also got some heating pads (Godsends, seriously, far better than anything Canada ever cooked up and CHEAP; 300yen for 10 twenty-four hour pads!), a hilarious dvd of music videos from the 80s, 3 classical CDs for 315yen (who could resist?), and crackers galore...

We left at 5:30pm, to make our way through the traffic to Nishishimmachi to pick up Keiko's mom, Setsuko, and head to the Shabu Shabu restaurant.

We got there, and were seated. they have little sheets to cover your coats, because some the pot spits water onto clothing. Interesting.. The waitresses all wear matching cute blue patterned kimonos. They set up a pot on our table with water and started to heat it to boil. We decided ona set of meat and whatnot, and we were ready to go. Here is the shabu shabu pot.


Once the water was boiling, we got going! The waitress got nervous when I wanted to take a picture, which was adorable. She cooked the first pieces of meat for us, and then we could dip them in either a sesame peanuty-tasting sauce, or a soya based one. The beef, thinly sliced and just raring *haha* to be shabu'd is off the right. Smiling is Setsuko, Keiko's mom.


The beef is cookin'!


The beef is now cooked. It is now resting happily in the sesame sauce bowl right in front of the big-ass pot!


These are the raw veggies that go into the big pot to meat *smirk* their demise! Some kind of sprout, something akin to bok choi, shitake mushrooms *yummy*, and delicious tofu cubes. (I'm being serious; I sincerely adore tofu.)


So, the story goes that when you cook the beef, you move your hand back and forth, to and fro, and the beef makes a sound. (100yen to whoever can guess first what this mysterious sound is!) I had a chance to try my hand at cooking shabu shabu, and low and behold, NO SOUND! Just bubbles. This is the sad Lily face that resulted. Just kidding. Actually I think Keiko tried to take the picture, but in the momentary delay, my face fell back into concentration on not losing the swimming beef in the boiling water. *Chopsticks can be a bit iffy sometimes for me.*


Here's the picture we all wanted! Lily smiling and cooking shabu shabu just like a regular Vanna White! I actually really enjoyed the whole meal, it had a lot of tradition to it.


After we ate the beef and vegetables, they cleaned up our water with a little scoop thingy. Then they cooked some long thin udon (looked like fettucine, as Keiko pointed out) and some mochi. Mochi is rice goo, they rice cake, but it's goo. It tastes good, though. People also eat mochi traditionally with their New Years osechi. Delicious mochi! Tough to eat, though. Bugger all!

I even poured Keiko's mom some tea, and some complimented my Japanese pouring with my right hand while daintily holding the lid in place with my left. Thank you, "Sayuri" for teaching me proper tea etiquette! She even said Keiko doesn't pour as nicely as me! *HAHA!*

After that, we ate some nice 'macha' ice cream (green tea), and also drank some nice hot green tea! All in all, it was a splendid day, filled with good food and good company. Thank you Keiko and Setsuko for making my Saturday great!

I have never been so ashamed to be Canadian as I am today, but I suppose it could be worse. I could live in the United States, where rights are the stuff of fairytales, similar to unicorns and gargoyles. See http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=25947

I am ashamed because my hometown is too sluggish and drugged by the capitalistic mayor to even notice the Conservative trash that is the candidate for the riding. Enter Patrick "Pretender" Brown. I poke fun, but I shouldn't. This guy is the whole nine yards. If nine yards were a straight run through a pile of BS. Give me a break! I leave for one lousy year, and it all goes downhill.

I'm exaggerating, though, because this jerk MOFO is the same same a**hole he was four year ago! When he *cough cough* pretended to be a lawyer. WHO PRETENDS TO BE A LAWYER! Get off your sorry ugly backside and go to law school if it's that important to you. Better still, the liar wasn't even articling at the time. That's right, he didn't even know what the law was yet, and he was claiming he was fit to practice it. Makes you wonder why he feels he's qualified to be a politican....

He also lied about numerous other things, including that his campaign lost "200 signs a night", but he never bothered to file these numbers in his elections forms. Curious.

This time around, he's pretending that the Barrie Chief of Police, Freshette, is supporting him. *smirks* Really, now Brownsy, you can do better than that, can't you. The Chief responded immediately, denying he ever supported Brown. Hmmm, doesn't look good for you, brown. Lucky that Aileen Carroll is going to kick your sorry behind like she always does. I only wish my only riding would follow suit. Those louts always elect the big bad C.

And, no, I'm not impressed by the Liberals. But at least they have half a brain. Brown claimed to have got the financial support for Barrie's Cancer Centre by himself. Sure, buddy. You're a dickwee, in the truest sense of the word, who would ever give you money? Aileen Carroll got that funding, because she actually finished wearing Huggies' Pull-ups years ago. Unlike you, Brownsy.

Anyways, so that's my rant for the day. I despise elections, although I always vote, and hope to actually change somethings, however small at some point. Most Canadians are content to whine. VOTE, damn you, VOTE. Don't whine, don't complain, don't utter a word against anyone in politics if you can't even be bothered to get up and put an x through a box, how do you expect the politicans to accomplish anything. Wise up, Canucks. Time's a ticking, and a vote means nothing because you don't value it. There's no reason for apathy. You have EVERYTHING to lose.