So, it’s Golden Week here in Japan and I have 7 days off from school and such. Except the teachers decided to give my like 8 pages of homework.

I was thinking of going to Tokyo but that is going to cost too much. I had a free trip to Aichi but all the Expo pavilions are booked solid for all of Golden week and I don’t want to wait in line for 6 hours to see 1 pavilion which is how it is now. So, I guess I will skip Aichi for now.

I might go to Kyoto tomorrow and see some stuff that I never saw on my last visit. I would like to see the Golden Pavilion again since it was so cold last time I saw it. I would be nice to take some more photos without my fingers freezing up.

Anyway, I’m tired. I should probably go to sleep now.

My wife wanted me to restore this photo. So I played around in PS for a while and fixed it up quite a bit. The photo is from 1971 or 1972 but it looks like its from 1931 or 1932. That’s because the original was crumpled and ripped up. I only had a reprint of a crappy restoration to work with. I cleaned up all the rips and removed most of the dust and scratches. I also removed 2 people from the picture and put the background slightly out of focus to draw more attention to the people in the photo. Not too bad for my first attempt at a serious photo restoration.

So I am going to school instead of working… Well, kind of.

Anyway, the Korean guy who sits beside me isn’t even going to university. I asked him today what he is studying in Korean and he told me nothing and then he started speaking Korean. I am only 2 years older than him. I have a university degree, almost 4 years work experience and he has nothing besides his military experience from what I know. I don’t mean to speak down on him, he’s a pretty decent guy. I’m just saying that I have done a lot more than people and society has expected me to do since 2001. Some people see that life could be a lot worse than it is now…

So, the dumb Chinese girl I mention in earlier posts has been absent yesterday and today, maybe Monday too. Anyway, the guy who sits next to her in class today tell the teacher that she went back to China until early next month. WOW… I thought she was just dumb. But I guess she’s retarded, no offense to the mentally challenged. How the hell do you decide to go back to your country after only 10 or 11 days of class and then come back during a 7 day vacation??? Stoooooopidttty…

I think I could choose 5-10 songs that would adequately describe some of the most important points in my life. Here are a few of them, in no particular order. I hope you feel them like I do.

The Streets - Dry Your Eyes

In one single moment your whole life can turn ’round
I stand there for a minute starin’ straight into the ground
Lookin’ to the left slightly, then lookin’ back down
World feels like it’s caved in - proper sorry frown
Please let me show you where we could only just be, for us
I can change and I can grow or we could adjust
The wicked thing about us is we always have trust
We can even have an open relationship, if you must
I look at her she stares almost straight back at me
But her eyes glaze over like she’s lookin’ straight through me
Then her eyes must have closed for what seems an eternity
When they open up she’s lookin’ down at her feet

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now
It’s over

So then I move my hand up from down by my side
It’s shakin’, my life is crashin’ before my eyes
Turn the palm of my hand up to face the skies
Touch the bottom of her chin and let out a sigh
‘Cause I can’t imagine my life without you and me
There’s things I can’t imagine doin’, things I can’t imagine seein’
It weren’t supposed to be easy, surely
Please, please, I beg you please
She brings her hands up towards where my hands rested
She wraps her fingers round mine with the softness she’s blessed with
She peels away my fingers, looks at me and then gestures
By pushin’ my hand away to my chest, from hers

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now
It’s over

And I’m just standin’ there, I can’t say a word
‘Cause everythin’s just gone
I’ve got nothin’
Absolutely nothin’

Tryin’ to pull her close out of bare desperation
Put my arms around her tryin’ to change what she’s sayin’
Pull my head level with hers so she might engage in
Look into her eyes to make her listen again
I’m not gonna fuckin’, just fuckin’ leave it all now
‘Cause you said it’d be forever and that was your vow
And you’re gonna let our things simply crash and fall down
You’re well out of order now, this is well out of town
She pulls away, my arms are tightly clamped round her waist
Gently pushes me back and she looks at me straight
Turns around so she’s now got her back to my face
Takes one step forward, looks back, and then walks away

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now
It’s over

I know in the past I’ve found it hard to say
Tellin’ you things, but not tellin’ straight
But the more I pull on your hand and say
The more you pull away

Dry your eyes mate
I know it’s hard to take but her mind has been made up
There’s plenty more fish in the sea
Dry your eyes mate
I know you want to make her see how much this pain hurts
But you’ve got to walk away now.

Kanye West - Improvise

Verse 1
It must be more good women than men percentage wise, so her chance of having a husband just minimized, that’s why alot of girls claim they aint into guys, and mess with other girls part time to improvise.
I know she wouldn’t buy that i’d seen it in her eyes, but i’m like any other guy; tryna get in her thighs, she tellin’ me about how black people should enterprise, i’m like if you don’t get your ass in this ride from enterprise, that i rented yesterday and gotta have in by 5, with the gas fully filled up like i didn’t drive,
i told her i had a girl dawg , fuck it , i didn’t lie, i told her this rap game is alright, i’m just getting by, she had a lil’ weed and we gotta lil high, and i’m looking at her eyes and i’m loving her vibe, told me back in ‘95 she fell in love with the tribe, boo back in ‘92 i was just like you,
please don’t be confused with the ice and jewels,i’m like any other nigga, buy ice to stay cool,like any other nigga that claim they hate school, and think “free’s banging but she’s no rachel!”

(Chorus)X2

Verse 2

was there summit’ i did wrong, yer i know i’m wrong, she’s at home alone. and i’m allways gone, hate when she’s made but more when she’s passive, now she on the internet looking for classes, out of state tho, man that hurt yo,but i got work tho, but i’m at work yo, and she don’t call alot and when she do she pouring out her heart, “you never listen to me” then the cord drop,umm, and i promised her everything , when i get a deal, imma get her a wedding ring, but when i got my deal i was back in the ring, fighting my urges, strip club slurges, i never had money, so i feel like a virgin, and i’m tryna break the banks cherry, tryna see can I afford a canary, with a ‘ferreri’, a dinner date with halle berry, went from 50 g;s to 50 hundred in a week, now i’n tryna call, one ring, two ring, seven ring, eight ring, some mother pick up the phone. like she at school, and she don’t stay here no more, i guess there must be more good women than men percentage wise, so her chance of having a husband just minimized, i guess that why she say she aint into guys, focus on school for a while to improvise.

Chorus (x2)
We ball till’ we fall,
Hit the mall,
After we, ‘hit’ Don’t call,
Fill your life with nothing but lies,
And i would like to apoligise.

(drowning out)
But if you can’t stand right here and tell me everything gonna be alright,
cos’ until that real man stands up i’m gonna have to improvise.]

The Kanye song has lots of errors but I improved the original lyrics that I found. Still it’s a great song about how hard love can be during college. Enjoy… peace!

“What currently falls under the title ‘Rap/Rock’, 20 years from now will be folklore for fat jocks.”

Yeah, go listen to some Epic and you might learn something about SK and real life. He might not have the best flow but he has his own niche market, most people just won’t get it tho. Honestly, all the guest spots kill him on his own sh!t but it’s still nice. He just sounds so… white.

I live in Osaka, Japan now. Previously, I have lived in Regina, SK, Seoul, Korea, Calgary, AB, Saskatoon, SK, Monterrey, NL, Mexico, and some small towns. It has become hard to define myself because I don’t really have a home. I never consecutively lived anywhere longer than 3 years. I am Canadian, this will never change. I have lived in Saskatoon, SK for a total of 5 years or so and thus I am from Saskatoon. However, I don’t define myself by having drove up and down 8th Street on Friday nights.

You never know who you really are until you put yourself in a different situation. I am wish everyone could travel like I have…

So, I just dl’d the new Kanye West VLS, “Diamonds Are Forever”. Hmm, what can I say?

I’m disappointed. I am a huge fan of “College Dropout”, I think I will always remember the hype before I heard it and then listening to the whole thing for the first time. I was actually at the gym in Sillim Dong, Seoul, Korea running and doing stairs and I listened to it on my iRiver IMP-350. Or was that just the advance???

Anyway, the lyrics were pretty nice on “Diamonds” but the beat was so overbearing I don’t know if I want to listen to it again. The sample is fine but it is repeated over an uncomfortable beat. Kanye can do better and this isn’t the first time I said this. See his comments about Nigerians…

“no more need for hand-writing the kanji…there are computers now to do that for ya!

instead learn all the radicals and group kanji in your head this way…also come up with clever pneumonic devices for each one. you can get really creative with some of them by creating stories n such, for example: ? < --that's the kanji for prisoner...it's a dood in a box. not too hard right? sometimes you get lucky and they are self explanatory like that.

just always remember it IS POSSIBLE to learn the necessary 1,945 Joyo kanji (that’s the number right?). hell, i’ve smoked more than i weigh in weed and i found it incredibly easy to memorize them. some people just have a knack for it tho i guess. keep at it!”

I guess I should take that advice although I do wish I had the knack for remembering 2000 characters. Another Kanji test tomorrow…

Ayyyyeeee!!! (like Fonzee)

School is going okay. I got 12/14 on the first Kanji test but I have another one on Thursday. Again, I’m scared.

I was on this street today called Dogusuji and I saw some kool stuff. This one store had some metal statues of the Predator and Darth Vader. Darth Vader really impressed me but it was so small and 99500 yen. Here is a pic I took on my phone and edited with PhotoShop:

(Image Lost In Backup)

Reminds me of the “I, Robot” episode of Sealab 2021; “… but why so small?” “That’s as big as they come!”

I have 3 Kanji tests this week and I hate Kanji. Here is what I have to memorize for tomorrow:

(Kanji lost in backup)

Too much! Although I think I have about 85% of them memorized but of course my mind will go blank when I try to write them on the test. Then I have 2 more lists like that to memorized for later in the week. Baaaaah!