Currently Reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking By Malcolm Gladwell see related

Mariokart Master

Bond, Halo, Madden, NBA Live; those were the games that everyone played back in the college days.  For my roommate Chivis and I, the game was Mariokart battle mode.  It started out in our suite with Dougy Fresh, Nate-dogg, Chiv and I in a four player battle with others coming in and out, but by senior year it was always heads up between me and Chiv.  Wario v. Yoshi.  Others would try to mix with us but they'd get a turtle shell dropped on them or get tail whipped by a question mark box.  No one could compete. The two of us were that deadly.

First let me introduce you to Chiv.  A hip cool hapa surfer/skater from Torrance who looks like a skinny Japanese boy but brings the wood (a la our starting free safety).  Totally anal.  Won't let you sit on his bed and has two pairs of all his Nike Jordan's collection (one for wearing and one for display).  Smart as shit and even more disciplined. Will study in his room for several hours even during a party and then join when finished.  The top math student and phi beta kappa.

Recently I got an email from Chiv.  He teaches math at Torrance High.  On the last day before winter break, he decided to give the kids a free day and told them to bring in some videos.  His second period class brought in Mariokart instead.  You see, Chiv had been shit talking them, telling them how he used to dominate and was the best player in the world.  Well the kids decided to call him out on it and they played. 

Chiv 20-2nd Period 0. 

In his words, "I spanked those kids and made them cry."  They even presented him with a trophy when they got back to school.  And he still talks shit.  I think the best part is that the bastard gave me my props.  "Don't worry, I told them that you are the #2 ranked player in the world.  And I just wanted to thank you for enhancing my skills.  I couldn't have done it without your help......hahahahaha.... I own you!"

Waaaaah!  I'm a gonna win!!!

New Year's Resolutions

"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around."  Vanilla Sky

I need something to shoot for and that's why I make New Year's resolutions.

1.  Lose 10lbs and gain a six pack.  One day over the Christmas break my brother and I were getting ready to go bodysurfing.  We were gathering our fins and I didn't have my shirt on when he said,"hey buddy, take off the inner tube." I put my arms up to my waist...doh!  what a bastard.

2.  Don't procrastinate.  I have a serious problem of "planning" things for later when I could be doing them now.  Grad school apps and standardized exams will creep up faster than I think.

3. Study Japanese.  Every year I make this promise and every year it never happens.  At some point I will be embarrassed at how poor my Japanese is compared to how long I've been here and I will do something about it. 

The Year in Review

2006 was a really fast year.  It came and went.  If I was to rate it against the rest of my years in Japan, I'd say it was the least memorable. It wasn't bad per se, just not very spectacular. 

Three Things I Learned in 2006

1.  I can't be in a relationship just to be in a relationship (i.e. girlfriends are overated).  I need to feel something.  I want to believe in love.  I want to be in love.  Where is it and how do I get in?

2.  I have a happy life because I have good friends and a good family.

3.  I can't live in Japan forever. 

Currently Reading Animal Farm By George Orwell see related

It's already Thanksgiving, but I'm celebrating it tomorrow so you'll get that write up in another month or so. HA!

Anyway I'm still on about Halloween.  In October, I bought myself a Halloween present.  It was very thoughtful of me, wasn't it?.  I decided to splurge on a new ipod video.  So far it's been great.  I downloaded several movies to it.  I got some games including texas hold em and tetris. I've also been using it in class to show students pictures of my family, halloween, etc.  My favorite though has been audio books.  I still prefer to read, but it's been nice to just listen.  So far I've listened to Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, H.G. Wells' the Time Machine, and some other self help stuff.  I must say that the Shawshank Redemption is one of the few movies that is as good as the book.

In other news, my flag football club will be playing in the Kanto championship game for the second consecutive year.  We lost to the team that we are playing in the final a couple of weeks ago.  It was pretty silly.  We were winning by two touchdowns and decided to put in our subs.  They came back to tie the game at the end of regulation and then scored in overtime for the win.  Mentally it was a pretty bad lapse for us, but I think we are pretty confident going into the final.

Ohio State is in the BCS championship game for college football.  Their opponent is still unknown, but it is sure to come with some controversy.  I think there are only three one-loss teams that legitimately have a shot in the championship game and that is USC, Florida, and Michigan.  I think if either USC or Florida win the rest of their games then Michigan is out.  A lot of people think that Michigan is the second best team in the country and they very well could be, but I think the argument should be made that they had their shot at OSU and missed.  If both USC and Florida lose then it'll be Michigan, but if not then we'll give another team a chance who is deserving.  The toughest decision would be if both Florida and USC win out.  Florida will have won the SEC, arguably the toughest conference in the country this year.  Although USC plays in the not so tough Pac-10, they will have beaten Arkansas, Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Cal which is a monster schedule.  I imagine in this scenario USC would advance due to the difficulty of schedule, but it will come down to how well Florida plays against Arkansas as well.  My pick is Ohio State v. USC in the Fiesta sealed by USC's destruction of Notre Dame this weekend. 

Currently Reading The Time Traveler's Wife By Audrey Niffenegger see related

Here comes Halloween!

  Halloween isn't so big in Japan.  Most people don't know what it is nor celebrate it.  Some stores will have decorations but it is hardly on the level of back home.  Surprisingly kindergarteners will celebrate it at school, but very few of the college students in my classes celebrated it.  I think there were only two students out of a hundred who admitted to going to a Halloween party.  Thanks to the gaijin community though, Halloween in Tokyo is pretty damn fun. 

I was a little worried about Halloween this year.  The normal partiers like Cora, the Fukuoka girls, and the Niigata girls all left Japan.  Furthermore Greg's in Osaka, John was off to the Philipines, Mitzi had bunkasai, and Christy had the wiener.  Where did that leave me?  I have no idea, but I still managed to have a good one.

On the Wednesday before Halloween we went to the annual Glitterball hosted by the gaijin friendly mag Metropolis.  As usual there were a lot of good looking people dressed in all sorts of outrageous costumes.  I seemed to get a lot of responses this year in the form of "ah Mario da" or "It's Mario!" to which I had to reply "that's SUPER MARIO to you".  I would also often get "Where's Luigi?" or "Do you have any mushrooms?"  If we had planned it better John and I could have gone together as Mario and Luigi.  Instead he went as Brokeback.

On Saturday, I went to Amanda, Yuki, and Miwa's house party.  They lived somewhere between Yoyogi Hachimangu and Shibuya.  I got super lost but on the way I noticed a bumble bee, batman, and storm.  I figure there couldn't be two house parties in the same neighborhood so I followed them and luckily it lead me their place.  Yuki works for Heineken Japan so we drank free Heiney's all night.  It's been a while since I've been to a house party so it was good fun meeting all new peeps.  Nothing too crazy.  When Christy sends me the pics, I'll upload some from this party.

Around 12, I bounced with Ginger, Ryohei, and my co-worker Tom to another party that Bobby, Ichi, Ayako, and some of the others were at.  This one was a college party put together by a different Yuki and Kaori.  They rented out a small club/bar. A lot of their friends are DJ's so we had some cool beats spinning.  And guess what I found at the party... a princess!

It was an all night debauchery with a lot of familiar faces.  Check it out yo!

Keeping young and living the good life.