Easily Distracted

I actually studied, last night! Man, it’s been a while….

And in my typical fassion, I did not study what I was suppose to. I convinced myself that I should study the more basic stuff before I reached what we’re currently working on. I just barely grazed what we’re currently working on, but I think I’ll be okay. I’m glad I covered some of the basics. It was really hard to study, though, as it usually is, because there are so many things I would like to get done! Currently on my plate:

• modifying a script I downloaded from the Internet to generate static HTML pages for viewing photos. Right now, it adds metadata from the digital camera (stuff like the time the photo was taken and if a flash was used), but there’s no efficient way for me to add comments yet – that’s the BIG TODO for the gallery. Once I get that done, you shall fear the mass amounts of photo-barf being spewed in your general direction! Fear it, I say! er….
• STUDY, of course. I’m in Japan. I will enjoy it more the more I understand.
• get Internet working on my Linux installation. I’m not exactly sure how to set up the wireless modem in Linux, and all the documentation I find is in Japanese. But, I would REALLY like to use Linux more. Not than anyone cares….
• I want to work on my webpage! As you may (or may not) have noticed, it hasn’t really been updated. I’ve been trying to catch up in actually *writing* my journal entries, and haven’t had time to upload them as webpages. This weekend, I will.
• I’ve been doing some research on future purchases I may make while in Japan. I’ve almost decided completely 100% that I want to get a Sharp Zaurus SL-C760 (http://www.sharp.co.jp/products/slc760/index.html). “Well, Steve, that’s fine and dandy, but what exactly IS that?” I’m so glad you asked! It’s basically a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) / PPC (Pocket PC). However, generally, PDAs run the Palm operating system, and PPCs run WindowsCE (eeew). This baby runs linux! A full-fledged operating system! Lately, I’ve been having very geeky dreams… but I won’t talk about those. Anyways, this is only available in Japan. You can order it in the US for 800$ – 900$ US, if you’re rich. In Japan, the price is currently about 56000yen; after tax, about $700 CDN. Yes, still very expensive. But this would allow me to do so many cool things! These things are so cool, that most people reading this either won’t understand or care! That means they’re VERY cool…. yup. *adjusts coke-bottle glasses and snorts*
• And just today, a few minutes ago, my attention was brought to a new Sanyo DV camera that will be released soon. it is only a bit more than the Zaurus, at 60000yen, and it records video onto digital media for as long as you have space available! It’s small, AND it functions as a regular digital camera, as well. Yay, Sanyo! Company pride is cool. Add to all this that it looks like a phaser from Star-Trek, and you have another thing on my shopping list.
• with all these digital toys, I ‘m gonna need some memory. Nothing special, just a necessity.
• also, with all these digital toys, I will need money to acquire them. I’m currently investigating the prospects of male prostitution, in Japan.

Woah, I hope that’s all I add to my personal wish-list, for a while! There are other things I’d like, of course, but not so pressingly as these. Okay, I’d better do work and stuff. It’s been so hard to work today. Friday.

I went swimming! There is a poool not too far (20 minutes by bike) from my dormitory. This pool is way out in the country-side, though. It was obvious I was the only foreigner to walk through those doors in a long time, if ever, because as soon as the receptionist saw me, she panicked in terror. I just looked in her general direction and she was already looking for someone who could speak more English than she could. Funny. =) The facilities are pretty much the same as you would expect in Canada, except for one difference. The 25m pool is a constant depth, it does not vary at all, from one end to the other. It is a bit above waist level, I guess. So you can stop and stand up in the middle of doing lengths, no matter where you are! heheh.

The etiquette used when people swim is a bit different, though. The lanes are smaller, so a group of 4 people in one lane will pretty much occupy it. Not only that, but the 4 people will seemingly spend most of their time standing at one end talking!… or just standing. I think it’s common for a family or a group of friends to come to pool together and use one whole lane. Precious space. I don’t think anyone would ever pass another. I know I felt awkward even thinking about it… the pool is only 25m though, so it’s not that big of a deal.

It was very cheap (400yen), and I think I can manage going there a couple times a week. I felt very good, afterward.

A coworker was nice enough to invite us to a Japanese-style BBQ with her, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s friend. We had to be ready by 11am. I was a COMPLETE idiot and actually ate a healthy breakfast of choco flakes and banana slices, earlier that morning – I had no idea what was ahead of me. First, John, Ben, and I are picked up by Uji and her boyfriend (in a BMW, no less). We drive to Shirley’s ultra-inaka (but still cool) apartment and pick her up.

Now, BMW’s are nice cars, especially ones equiped with a full GPS unit like this on had, but they are not meant to have 4 people in the back seat. We arrive at Uji’s house 20 minutes later, and get out of the car. John: “I think my bones are misplaced.” Yeah, he was sitting next to me – I didn’t have much problem, but I guess John doesn’t quite have the same build as me and he just kind of folded where I wasn’t affected. Sorry, John. ^_^

The other guy arrived the biggest frigging truck I’ve ever seen before… with a huge extended cab. I took a couple pictures of it, I think. =) It seated us all comfortably (total seating of 7 people, I think). Off to the grocery store! While I was meandering back and forth poking fish-things and other squishy substances, everyone else was going CRAZY buying food! So much beef, pork, weiners, fish, prawns, vegetables… crazy, I say!

It took maybe 1/2 hour more to get to the BBQ destination at the base of a mountain. It was really nice. We dug out a little hole, put some rocks around it (to balance the tray on), and started the fire… eventually. We did more of the standard fare: drinking/eating/socializing/cooking. And there’s not ONE thing wrong with that! It was dark before we decided we had to roll ourselves out from that site, and back into the massive truck.

Back to Uji’s house! This, of course, made Uji very nervous: she had not prepared for visitors! No, really: she was horrified. We had to buy more drinks, so she was dropped off and said, “take your time,” in a commanding but polite way. =) We got back just as Uji had just finished, judging by her relieved look on her face. We still had yaki soba (fried Japanese noodles) to eat. But, not just yet… we were all pretty stuffed with the day-long feast, thus far. Fish eggs. I can’t believe how many friggin fish eggs I ate, that day. Or, should I say, fish FULL of fish eggs. Anyways, it was all good.

We had lots more fun continuing to snack and drink, of course. We had a great selection of drinks, including BMW wine! Yeah, Uji’s boyfriend is a BMW salesman… so I saw more BMW that day than any other day in my life. BMW calendars. BMW wine. BMW insulated bags. The food, just like the rest of the day, was awesome. I really want to get my own electric frying pan or something, so as I can cook my own stuff. The only problem would be the smell in my room… but I think I could leave the window open most of the time… until winter, that is.

We got back around 1am, I think. I was thinking I wouldn’t need to eat for a whole week.

Class is every Tuesday and Friday, from 6:30 to 8:30 in Gifu city.

I don’t see any way around this: we were all unprepared. This class is HARD and is gonna demand some major attention! Which means.. less time for whatever else it is I do. Damn. But, if I can endure this horrible new pain that I’ve incurred upon myself, my Japanese language level *will* increase ten-fold. The text book has zero English in it. Not even any roman characters. All hiragana/katakana and kanji (my most feared enemy). I think I may have to translate the chapter sections so as I know at least what I’m looking at. The teachers are very nice, and speak no English. The class is an interesting variety including 3 Canadian Sanyo interns (Alex, Ben, and myself), some Americans, a South Korean, a Philipino, a Brazilian, and others. I can honestly say I probably have the worst skill level there. That’s okay. I will overcome and conquer. I will, right? Right?

Definitely gonna have to “practice” karaoke in a personal booth, at some point, so’s we’re not so ear-bleeding-bad.

After the “slap in the face,” (more like a punch in the gut and kick in the crotch) we went to an izakaya for dinner. Dinner was good. I think I already mentioned it, but I really like izakayas! Lots of variety for food and very social. Then we went to a pub where Ben proceeded to sing bad karaoke. It costs 100 yen to punish the other inhabitants of the bar with your choice or audio torture. They have a HUGE database of songs! Anyways, I bought Ben a shot of tequila for his courage, (I had not had nearly enough to drink to partake much more than clap and sing along away from the mic), played a couple games of darts with Alex, and finally had a pino-colada in Japan!

I definitely cannot do that every night we’re in Gifu, or I’ll have no money for… food… and … stuff.

As a perfect prelude to our long weekend, Alex, John, Ben, and I made banana milkshakes and played cards. It also happened to be the perfect way to use up the bananas I had bought but would not be able to finish! ^_^ We just had to buy the milk and ice cream, which we could get from the local konbini. We played a game called, “oh shit,” and it’s very fun and very appropriately named. However, I say, next time we do the milkshake thing, we obtain some rum.

Ben was even able to obtain a covert video with his camera of the heavy card action!

NOTE: Have I mentioned how cheap alcohol is, in Japan? Unless you order a drink at a restaurant or pub, of course. The best example would have to be these awesome killer-hard sake you can get in a tiny tetra-pak – it looks like a small juice box, and it’s cute, so it makes you think this is a kids drink… but don’t let that fool you! It packs a 14.5% punch. One of these little buggers (200ml) will only set you back 100yen ($1.20 CDN). Of course, it’s most probably the worst sake you’ll ever taste – very raw.

Now that we (Shirley, Ben, and myself) had takoyaki makers, we wanted to use them!

Takoyaki are fried octopus cakes that Osaka is very well known for.

Since we had so much fun doing the takoyaki party thing at Briar’s, we planned to do the same thing in the good ‘ol countryside! It ended up being at Shirley’s apartment, so we could invite more people than we had originally planned for one of our dorm rooms. Everyone that ended up coming: Shirley, Ben, John, Alex, Suzuki-san (Ben’s coworker), myself, and eventually, Chris (from Tokyo!)

We bought lots of stuff – this was gonna be awesome takoyaki! We even bought shrimp, so that we could try ebi-takoyaki, “ebiyaki?” This night was enjoyable enough that I even did my speech about it. (I had to do a speech to my department at work – so I talked about making takoyaki). We ate lots of takoyaki and snacks we could put in the toaster oven, drank, and watched movies (Austin Powers 2) all night. It was tonnes of fun, and we’ll be sure to do it again! Even if Shirley’s futon now smells like takoyaki….