I care about people I don't know.

I roughed up a 14 year old kid today. In my defense, he was the same size as me and probably about the same strength (although I am much better looking). Actually, it was his fault and not mine. I had him in an arm lock and I was going very slow. I probably had him in it for ten seconds...slowly pulling it back. And I was carefully watching his other hand, waiting for the inevitable tap...it never happened. All the spectators started yelling "stop stop" (in English!). What is that age when males start to think that they are really tough? Well, to make a long story short he should be fine in two weeks.

This incident and my post-arm lock feelings have made me realize a lot about myself. For one, I think I am getting more mature. I feel really bad even though it was %100 his fault. That coupled with the fact that I have this voice in the back of my head nagging me to do the dishes. I don't need clean dishes, but the voice is there. Is that a sign of maturity? Insanity? I don't even have any plans to have company over or anything. It seems that my idea of logic just happens to be changing - only I can't justify it. It's like doing the dishes is almost becoming an instinct. I guess that's probably why this blog just keeps going on about nothing...I don't want to do the dishes, I just feel like I should.

On the positive side of things, I did realize today that I can pretty much handle the toughest 14 year olds around. And I'll be honest, it was a pretty sweet armlock.

If you want to do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Osaka, it's in Teradacho.

Kyoto

Panda Heaven
Originally uploaded by terw0015.

Went to Kyoto with my buddy Mike and our J tour guide whose name is....chi? I'm bad with names. I was planning on seeing two different sites, unfortunately the first site was so cool that we never made it to the second. Kyoto is now my new favorite near place. I think it replaced nothing. But, there does seem to be a ton of cool stuff to do there and I will def. be heading back there sometime. The bamboo was actually towards the bottom of the cool things list...my $50 fisheye lens actually kicked out some cool pictues. Cool things to see in Arashiyama (my one stop in Kyoto) - kids, fall leaves, the bridge, the river, bamboo and boats. Things to avoid - restaurants, going on holidays and squid cooks.

Work is funny...sometimes

Well,I am not sure if funny stuff is always happening and I'm just in the "mark zone" so I don't notice it... or, the past few days have been full of strange quotes etc. These are from the last two days. I swear sometimes I go weeks without my students saying anything funny.

This one was just on a shirt: sloppiness will be the causes of the increase in the juvenile crime.

I actually spent the whole lesson pondering it. Then I was doing the "interesting experiences" lesson. So I asked them, "what's the most interesting experience you've ever had?"

#1 "I went scuba diving in Guam, it was fun." (very normal answer!)
#2 "I touched a fox.....in Chicago." (I thought I misheard him, but he repeated it for me).
#3 "No interesting experiences....ehhhh...but I have a four leaf clover." (he then took it out of his pocket and showed me).

I am not sure if others would even find these funny, but I was just cracking up. And...
"I heard about someone who can extinguish fires with their stomach gas." And we weren't even talking about fires, gas, stomachs or anything of the sort...very random and almost a little disturbing.



In not so funny Mark news, after going crazy I put in a transfer request - only to hear back that "they need me there." But today after telling everyone how nuts I've gone others broke down and told me that they've put in transfer requests too. I guess it's not normal to just tell everyone you work with that your surroundings are driving you bonkers...but i did.

This blog is not interesting

But I'll blog anyway. I put in a transfer request today. Time for a new school. I was on a roll too. Almost eight months, that's the longest I've ever worked at one place in my entire life. I think I was at about six months in a warehouse once. I don' t know what it is, but I don't really seem capable of working. I can work for a few months and then I just wanna quit. I think it's from teachers/parents telling me that I could have some awesome job when I grew up. They forgot to tell me that I would need to start working at it when I was 15. Actually, I think I pretty much could do any job that I really wanted to, the problem is figuring out what that is. All I know is in the last couple of days I've gotten really sick of work. It's easy, pays ok, but still, its just old. "I'm sooo over it." That's what everyone says here about stuff they are sick of. I'm not sure if that's some popular saying that I just missed or maybe it just caught on at my school. I've actually been really busy lately.

Oh yeah, I bought a plane ticket to Hawaii today. Most people probably wouldn't complain about going to Hawaii for two weeks in January...well I'm not really either, I just hate spending money that I earn.

I've gained eight pounds since I got here. Nooooo!!!! Well December is diet month. I think I can lose ten pounds in a month.

Also, I had to wear dirty socks to work the last two days. I get home after ten 5 days a week and my washing machine is outside so I can't do laundry (cause I'm so neighborly).

And can anyone tell me - are pickles healthy? I've always just kinda assumed that greens were healthy. But pickles? How about olives? Those things can't be healthy, they're so good. I can't imagine some mother saying "now Johny, don' forget to eat your pickles and olives."

And a lack of which food group/vitamin etc. results in bad dandruff (a friend wants to know)?

costco by train

for the zillions of lost souls who are looking for costco in the kansai region, you need to find the amagasaki station. How do I find that? How much does it cost? That information is here: http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi

I don't know if there is only one in kansai. But if you live in Osaka it is the place to go. Once you get to the Amagasaki station, there is a bus that comes around every hour on the hour(i think). The bus is free and its a short bus! Maybe its best to ask the driver, I don't want to send you off on the wrong bus. If your new to Japan and unsure of how to ask or you don't speak Japanese just look confused, point at the bus and say "costco?" Easy. Well anyway, once your at the amagasaki station you can figure it out for yourself. Then when your leaving, catch the same bus. It just goes in a loop and I believe the only stops are at the station and at costco (costco is near a big shopping complex).

Costco here has basically the same stuff as it does in the states. same pizza and hot dogs. same choco muffins and croissants. NO BURRITOS. They do deliver for Y500 a box...again don't quote me on that. Well good luck in your journey. If you are a guy who will be travelling by train and eats a lot of food, I suggest a camping backpack. Carrying boxes sucks. Also, you need the membership card but i am sure you already knew that. one last thing. if you have one of those "japanese fridges" make sure you don't buy too much stufffor it.

a blog some might find gross

the cool thing about teaching 10 yr olds is that no matter how much i fart in class, they never suspect it's me. it's like adults don't fart or something. they always blame the fat kid. and he always denies it. so i just fart on.

Kate W. Youre so cool. we will hang out again someday.

Fashion Police, JR officer

Every season has its own fashion. And every season we have loads of magazines that tell us what we should wear to be in style (usually aimed at girls). Usually we get some top ten lists, some dos and donts. But let's be honest, that stuff never applies to any of us. Most of us don't care if a Gucci bag clashes with Prada jeans. Can you wear a coat made out of polar bear fur to an office party? Or should you go with the albino fox fur. Who cares. Why people (ok girls) buy these magazines I don't know. Whoever puts out these surveys neglects Joe Schmo. I see so many crazy things in Japan and some just weird me out.

Ok, first, yes Japan is a completely different country. Thus some rule breaking is ok. For example, a guy can dye his hair golden brown, style it like Bon Jovi. He can then find the tightest pants around and complete the outfit with some pointed boots. He is now ready to pick up chicks. These chicks are most likely sporting eyelashes about a half inch long. They are wearing lots of layers. Possibly really short cut-off jeans over black sweatpants. To go along with that, they are wearing thick cotton socks, the horizontal stripes are pink and black. High heels go good with this outfit. These two outfits are perfectly acceptable. However, they are not universally acceptable.


Keep in mind that you are getting your fashion "do's" from a guy who has no sense of fashion whatsoever. Most of the clothes I wear would be refused by secondhand stores. But I do not, at least I don't think, break any of the rules on "the universal don't wear clothing list for men...created by Mark and his blog friends."

So, how do you know if it's a universal rule? Well, basically anytime a guy like me is offended by your clothing it is universally unacceptable - thus a rule. So, so far there are only two rules that I know of. I imagine there really are around ten, I just haven't been exposed to the offense. So....

1. Under no circumstances should you ever tuck your tshirt into your sweatpants. I am not sure why this offends me, it just does. The level of offense is increased the further up your pants are. So for every inch your pants are raised past the normal level you will spend an extra year in fashion jail. If your shirt is tucked in and your sweatpants are raised past your belly button you will serve a life term.

2. White cotton socks with a nice black suit. Of course you are only breaking the rule if one can actually see your socks - otherwise it's ok. Also, if the suit is not "nice," then you are off the hook and can even pull your socks up over your pants.

Feel free to add any fashion comments in the comments section. My monthly fashion magazine will be coming out soon. It will just be a lot of pictures of people dressed in funny clothes. I will be on the cover.