13 Random things

1. Since moving to Japan I have begun to love cleaning my apartment/Ayuko's apartment not for the actual act, but for how clean and tidy it looks afterward. Strangely enough I always hated cleaning while I lived in the States and I feel that finally having my own place to call home is what has brought on this odd love.

2. I am a self professed nerd and lover of many things decidedly uncool, yet somehow I am still a highly functioning member of society. I am actually slightly unnerved by the hardcore nerds who seem unable to function in social situations because they have fallen so far into the other worlds they love. It is called a hobby and not a lifestyle for a reason :P

3. I love reading and often have to deal with Ayuko pestering me as I read because she gets bored with me just sitting there in silence. However, I tend to only read science fiction and fantasy for pleasure and can be perversely difficult about trying new genres. I just know what I like I suppose.

4. The reason I am writing this note at all is because my friend Sarah tagged me in her note, so I suppose I should say that while she is definitely the most at odds with my own social groups back home she is also one of my favorite people ever. I can nerd out with her in safety and often end up thinking she is the big geek! Also when she read this she just went, "awwww", I promise it.

5. I have been living in Japan for almost two years and have truly enjoyed my time here so far. I have finally started to dedicate myself to studying Japanese in more depth and might possibly attempt a Masters in Japanese when I go for my MBA.

6. Speaking of MBAs I attempted to help Ayuko with a marketing project today and was forcibly reminded of just how little I do know about business and the intricacies involved. Needless to say I will be studying hard when I do go for that MBA.

7. This is taking longer than I thought.

8. Up until my company went bankrupt last October I had fairly poor financial skills and didn't really plan things out in advance. However, I now pride myself on being very financially aware and spend free moments thinking up how I can save or more efficiently use my money. Part of my drive to earn an MBA revolves around never wanting to be in a financially precarious situation again, as well as making sure Ayuko never has to worry about that.

9. I like to think I am very modern in my views towards women and equality thanks largely due to my strong mother, yet I still insist upon chivalry when it applies. Simply because a woman is capable of opening a door or hefting a heavy box by herself doesn't mean I can't help out. I think there is a big difference between respecting a woman and still choosing to help, as opposed to holding oneself above them due to some misguided physical or mental beliefs.

10. I am currently preoccupied with obtaining a copy of Fallout 3. That is all.

11. I am in love with a miss Ayuko Hayashide.

12. My first dog will be a doberman who will be accompanied by some toy dog of Ayuko's choosing. We are thinking of naming the doberman Fluffy or some such, with the toy dog named Killer or something.

13. I think the Japanese are massively incompetent for not insulating their buildings. I mean honestly the logic isn't that hard to understand.

This is awesome

Marathon?!

SO I somehow ended up running a second 10K marathon today as the elementary school I was at had their own marathon! Seriously these Japanese are serious about their running and just health in general. However I can only approve of forcing all of the children to run as it encourages healthy living and just not being a lazy blob in general. They had practice all week which entailed running for five minutes at a time during their morning recess and while this obviously can't prepare a child to run a 5K, it at least gave them some sort of training.

I suppose I should clarify as well on the actual length ran. It was only a 5K, but I ran it twice as the children ran in groups of two grades at a time. I ended up running with the first and second graders and then ran again with the fifth and sixth graders immediately after finishing the initial run. Again it was nice to be able to run something like this with no extra training and it only reaffirms my firm belief in healthy living. A very few of the children were somewhat overweight and I feel that if parents allow poor living choices at such a young age it will only cause problems later on in life. I know this will probably rile some people up, but I just feel it is the parents responsibility to teach proper eating and exercise habits as well as act as examples themselves. No child should have to face the added stress being unnecessarily overweight causes and while there are obvious exceptions for medical conditions and such, I feel the vast majority of the cases is that the child reflects their parents.

AGAIN living in Japan has really opened my eyes to just how unhealthy America is and I can only hope our government and society takes drastic steps to change the path we are currently on.

Japanese Test Attack!

SO today I took the lowest of four levels of the government created Japanese test which tests you on grammar, vocabulary aka kanji, and listening ability. It is officially called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and is given once a year in December. Passing any of the four levels can gain you an advantage in the job market, as well as giving you some sort of self worth for learning one of the most difficult languages on the planet.

I had decided to take the lowest level simply because I didn't know many kanji at the time and for the third level you needed 300 basic kanji, as well as all of the words that come from combining them. Thus I now know 150 kanji and a whole multitude of words formed with them. Looking back on the test I probably should have taken the third level, but I am still happy in progressing in any way. Once I move to Tokyo I will be joining a Japanese school for intensive study in order to pass the second level next December. This is not only due to my desire to continue to improve myself while living here, but also as I want to obtain a Masters in Japanese while I attend business school. Thus having high level Japanese before then only makes that stage of my life that much easier.

NOW I only need to learn the rest of the 20,000 kanji the Japanese alphabet uses...

SO my junior high held a 10K marathon today and I decided to join in as it beat sitting at my desk in an empty staff room for eight hours. To give you an idea of just how physically fit the Japanese are compared to Americans you have to understand that ALL of the students had to run the marathon and while I was running I noticed that very few students walked at all during the entire race. Once again this just highlights for me just how out of shape Americans are as I have grave doubts about the abilities of American junior high students if they were placed in the same situation. Not that all Americans are massive monsters chomping down on their Big Macs and super sized sodas, but I feel that when I do eventually return home I am going to have massive reverse culture shock at the physical state Americans are in. However that is something to worry about another day. On to my own personal glory.

OF the 400 boys I ran with I came in 60th place, but unfortunately they didn't give out times. Thus while I am not entirely sure of my time I would guess that it was around 50 minutes based on when I got home after the race. Again I am not sure and wish I would have timed myself, but I figured that the whole point of a race was knowing how fast you ran it. Damn these Japanese and their avoidance of individual greatness! However I was happy that I could pound out a 10K with no training whatsoever beyond my usual workouts that never involve distance running.

IN closing I also must point out that junior high girls are scarily fast as while the boys started 10 minutes before the girls I still had a good 10-15 girls pass me by the time I finished the run! It was especially impressive considering how much longer my stride is than that the average Japanese junior high girl.

THIS picture was just too funny to leave out.