Human Again!

FINALLY!! Internet and computer acquired. Now I can actually update my page. So, what has happened in the last couple of weeks?

Well I've been doing Judo on Mondays and Fridays. Its pretty fun now that I'm getting used to having welts and bruises all over my body, and my shins are nice and tenderized. I go with Myles, this Canadian JET whose in his third year and lives in my apartment complex. He's been doing judo since he was younger so he's quite good. Our ground work practices usually end up in us giggling and me being chocked out. The instructor is this prison guard who I'm fairly certain could rip my arms off and the bludgeon me about my head and shoulders with them. He's pretty much a bad ass, as is the younger instructor. He's one of those guys who refuses to tap, but will pass out instead. Either way, they both have cauliflowered ears, and I'm of the philosophy that people who have said ears spend their leisure time in pain and as such are generally tougher than your average folk.
(Everything in italics and within these parenthesis is something that happened after this post was written, but I feel as though it should be included after the events that took place. The judo barbeque was scheduled to begin at noon. Before the barbeque was the black belt testing for kata in Nagahama. It was pretty fun to watch, but as always, the most fun for me is watching Ichiguchi Sensei put the hurtin's on people. Only bother with the first 40 seconds. I haven't figured editing out yet. The people in the background are warming up.

Though I don't have video of Monday, watching him made me realize that the martial arts can truly be an art. Anyway, after the testing, Myles and I were driven to one of the Sensie's houses and then to the barbeque. The barbeque was good fun as I was continuously given copious amounts of booze. We were there for a good long while when the guy with the bird showed.

Anyone who knows me knows that I spent my summers as a schoolboy on the side of lake Kawlamaguga in the Pacific Northwest learning the ancient art falconry from the great Pawapajamanie Indian Elders who to this day dwell in the caves of the Rocky Mountains. This is common knowledge, but what some of you may not know is that whenever I drink with dangerous Japanese judoka in the forests of the Orient, I again take to the practices of the once mighty craft of the falconer.

After that we went to karaoke. It was good times as we were all drinking, singing, and generally enjoying the merriment that accompanies drinking Asians on a Sunday night. After the karaoke, some of us ventured to a snack bar. Now this was my first time being in this sort of establishment. Now there is quite the range of snack bars and this one was on the very innocent end. Basically it involves an attractive female whose job it is to talk to the customers and bring them drinks. Imagine if a waitress brought the food to the table, and then she chatted with you. It was like that. Kind of lame, but it was still fun being with the judo guys.

After the snack bar, four of us ventured over to a ramen shop where, still drinking mind you, I was informed by one of the instructors that "Americans, Dooooon't like, BUT, BUT, Brian, nice guy!" When I asked which Americans he knew, he said "Brian... and... Bush!" So hey, I beat out the president. Then they dropped me off to my humble abode around 11:30ish. I had basically drank with these old dudes from noon till midnight. Needless to say this will not make my mother happy nor was the next day fun. )


I have also begun doing kendo, which is the Japanese sword fighting. Very samurai-esque. One of the English teachers, Chikuda Sensei, is one of the club's supervisors at my school. In kendo, the fighters wear a helmet, gloves, and armor on the stomach and chest. You then have a bamboo sword that you hit your opponent with. You have to call out the body part that you are going to hit(head, hand, or stomach). The posture also has to be correct in order to score a point in a tournament. I don't get to wear armor yet and probably wont for a while, but I still go because its pretty fun.

Now the event that was touted as the best JET party of the year: the Halloween party in Omihachiman(south of me). Now people, I am not one to dress up in a disguise everyday of the week except when Im in disguise looking for the "real killers"(I haven't forgotten your struggle O.J.!!! KEEP HOPE ALIVE!!!). This is a Halloween party though, in Omihachiman, the "Hach" for goodness sakes. Needless to say, I had to bring my A game. I was obviously at a loss for what to dress as. Being deep in thought, I had forgotten to shave. Looking at myself in the mirror, it hit me: "Good ol' boy".

















that's right. You know this guy: undershirt, arm full of tattoos, beer in hand, cigarettes rolled in sleeve, 'stache and stubble repen', trucker hat, aviators, Skynard in his truck, and always knows where the good highschool bonfire is. Check him out in all his glory(sorry mom). Quick note for people at home, in that second picture is a gentlemen called Justin who I've decided is arguably the funniest person Ive ever met. Well, we were talking, and as it turns out his cousin John Mark Ellsworth just happened to be one of my favorite highschool teachers.



Now we were at the ol' gaijin heights in the Hach doing a little prepartying when Scott came out, and revealed what, to me, is one of the greatest Halloween costumes ever forged by the hand of man. You will notice the angry eyes that he made and the fact that the mouth is his viewing area. Of course, on the dance floor, his "robot" was stunning. For your entertainment(or maybe for mine) I've included some pictures of the robot. Maybe its because I witnessed the robot in persone that I think its so amazing, maybe because his head would hinge, maybe its because we had to carry his legs separately to the bar, whatever the reason, I was, and still am, highly entertained by this.


So there we were, dancing are tookuses off and uses Yiddish like it was going out of style. Having a good time when BAM! 12:00 midnight hits and the place has to shut down. See AJET, which is a group of JETs that put on events, had rented out what I think was an Italian place. It closes at midnight though so we all had to leave. I had already planned to pull an allnighter at this point as my last train leaves at 11 something, and I had not yet attempted the feat upon my return back to Japan. So to the afterparty I was headed. Problem was we all had different ideas as to where to go. I ended up following Justin(wouldn't you? Look at that monkey suit. His wife was in a matching one by the way. They were just adorable) to a bar where we chilled for a while. So around three in the morning, I realized I'm not 13 and trying to stay up all night isn't fun. I wanted to sleep, but the first train was still some hours away. We ended up eating at Yoshinoya for an hour or so. Then we walked back to Omihachiman station. Those of us heading north still had 2 or so hours before our first direct train, so we sat and talked for a while. Bendon, one of the other JETs, a absolutely hilarious kiwi entertained us as we sat in the station and then in the train. Finally, Nolan, Brendon, his girlfriend, and I all eventually got home. Needless to say, I fell right asleep, but I woke up around noonish and went and rented some movies. That entire Saturday I just watched movies and napped.

So I also got my computer Saturday. This is my first post from my new computer so I hope to be able to update more frequently. Love you, and I'll post soon.