Obsession

by Calvin Klein

Woke up at 9. Showered, brushed teeth, did laundry, went to class.

After class? Up the hill to get potato croquette.

Come back to my dorm and study for the test I don't have later because I misunderstood the teacher's Japanese (well DAMMIT).

After class? Up the hell to get potato croquette.

FFFFFFFF-

I don't think I can stop. Everytime I see that staircase it DRAWS me toward it. It beckons me, calling out how much I love the croquettes, how they are so delicious, how they cost less than going to the cafeteria! You know how much you like that! Plus there is free green tea and water, so you don't have to buy a drink or anything! And there is a tv to watch! You love it there.

Gyah. Hopefully going in to Beppu tomorrow will get me away from the siren call. Although I might have time to rush up the hill before I leave....

Yakitori guy was here again today too, and that was quite delicious. I managed to hold a conversation in Japanese with him, so that was really cool. I love when I manage to pull that crap off. He told me to go into town and get some beer for next week, because yakitori tastes better when you drink with it apparently. I'll take his advice, but I don't like beer pretty much at all. Especially not Japanese beer. It tastes like stagnant water. Yeuch. Maybe I'll just drink it with a pepsi like this time. You know you can cook chicken in coke? It's true! The drink, not the drug.

gyah! Real time event! I just yawned and stretched and my chest pushed against the desk and my office chair wheeled backwards while I was still heading forward and I almost smashed my face into the desk. How extreme would that be if I died while writing a blog? Like the ultimate dedication to you guys. I hope that whoever found me would write my time of death and click publish for me. I'd be peeved if they didn't,really. Speaking of extreme, tell me this isn't the most radical show ever.

Also, since I'm a dork who likes to loudly sing along to his music in his single dorm WHERE NOBODY WILL EVER KNOW (shut up)I was looking up song lyrics for what I was listening to at the time, and since I couldnt' find them I tried checking out the band's website.

Well apparently they have a free downloadable cd, eh?

Free* by Jim's Big Ego

If you need a reason to listen to the band, their autobio: "Jim's Big Ego compares itself to such major players as The Great Wall of China, The Grand Canyon, Antarctica, and other things you can see from space." That's great right there.

If you do happen to download it, I suggest the songs "Background Vocals" and "Depravity", preferably in that order. All the songs are pretty good though (Some of the older CDs were better though, look up the songs Stress or Prince Charming. should be videos on youtube). Just a warning, track number 9, pacagulo gun or whatever, it's a kinda country/blues type song? It's amusing but if you hate country it'll make your ears rage, so just letting you know ahead of time.

In a rare occasion, I actually read the comments and am responding to one because I can't think of anything more to say (listening to Private Radio by Vanessa Carlton. So it's this or I post the lyrics to the song):

>You should post a list of all the stereotypes that have been upheld!

Sure, why not. Nothing racist though.

-Asian people are good at math.

OH ME. Seriously though, all the asian kids, not necessarily Japanese, that I've gone out to town with add up the random yen values instantaneously in their heads. And this isn't at the dollar store or something, this'll be like 142 yen plus 1263 yen plus 816 yen equals... something, I don't really care. Point is: geniuses

-Japanese are better with technology.
This one is two sided. On one side, the technology here IS better. The technology that EXISTS here is fantastic.

But not everyone knows how to use it. Turns out that "middle aged people and your mother cannot use technology" clause holds true even here. One of my teachers has had to call for computer assistance at the beginning of every single class we've had. For those who follow my twitter(when it updates) this is when messages like "Class has been delayed 25 minutes" pop up. Good times.

-Do they seriously eat raw fish in Japan?
See, this is the one I was angry my camera died for. The sushi place we went to advertised that they would chop up and serve a live fish to you, and you could eat it before it died! Why that's appealing I'll never know, but our good old Dutch buddy decided it was delicious because he'd come last time. Of course, he was also convinced that it was a dead fish and it was just the resultant thawing/dead nerves twitching. Until he read the characters and saw the "still alive" part in there. So then when the fish was sitting there lip synching to Michael Jackson and he was poking fun at how long it kept twitching, it was actually a lot more morbid and disturbing than the situation reacted to it. Well, for us foreigners at least.

My fish was quite dead before I ate it. Also I had cake.

-Why are they all so short?!?!
Astute observation, Cracker McGee. Actually, genetically, Japanese men have a smaller leg to body ration than every other race on the planet. NO idea why. As it stands, there are anomolies in every race, and a good amount of the people on campus are taller than me. Per the laws of racial diversity, though, I'm still of a stockier build than most of them. Also, asians get fat...awkardly. European frames are built to carry the weight. Asian people apparently just sort of...bloat. Like that episode of Invader Zim where Dib got infected by bologna DNA.

You...you had to be there.

Also, just a note: cameras. EVERYONE has them, EVERYONE uses them. People will take pictures of anything. I mean I do too, but like... I'm a foreigner. It's expected. Everything is WEIRD to me. I'm not sitting there photographing hot dogs or proper English texts (Engrish, on the other hand? Completely different.)

I feel I should also direct attention to the site where my Blog icon comes from. That lil robot guy on the right side of the page. His name is Boxbot. He is terrible. Trust me on this. Absolutely, utterly terrible. You know, like my blog.

He comes from a comic called .Gunnerkrigg Court. Written by a one Tom Siddel, hailing from the other side of the pond. It's a very good comic, one that I check at every opportunity (or you know, at the times that he updates). I think you should check it out, and start from the beginning. The double arrows will take you there. The comic is beautifully written and drawn. The art is strikingly different in the beginning comics, but if you read it through you can watch it evolve to what its become today.

I think that's enough whoring for the moment. This blog turned out longer than I expected it too.

Oh: One more thing. Picked up some bread, a tea kettle, and some teabags and such. Trying to live thrifty here now. I assume making tea will prevent me from spending so much on beverages throughout the day. And it means I'm drinking less pop, so that's good for the healthitude as well, can't forget that.

What's good for the wallet is good for the heart.

Edit: Haha oh wow. I checked my site referrals (I can do that you know). Turns out I got a hit each from China Pringles and Winged Lobster. AWESOME. Also, a couple hits from my facebook(kinda expect that) and the aforementioned gunnerkrigg comments section. So, if anyone who found my site through any of that is keeping up, welcome I guess, and I hope you enjoy your stay. Don't touch the China cabinet.