Atlanta turns off water at one of city’s largest homeless shelters
Atlanta to cut 222 jobs, close 22 rec centers
Its nice to know what is important these days.
We have unlimited money for citibank and the like but dont have a few hundred thousand for the poor or the kids.
Shame on all of us.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Only in America.
"When things got bad and then worse, guys like Quentin Richardson say, 'I don't consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.' He didn't care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead. It's like we're in a foxhole and I'm facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn't even give me an honorable death."
This from a man who is making 21 million dollars THIS YEAR.
In a country in the midst of a recession, people losing their houses and life savings daily. People getting laid off like kids gettting kicked out of school, and you have this clown with not only the rights, but the gall to complain about making 21 million while doing nothing for it.
Unbelieveable.
How many forclosed homes could that money save? maybe 100? maybe more? Yet they go into the pocket of a guy who has the "promise" of playing basketball. I went to college "with" him, watching limos driving him around campus for a year and shuttle girls to hid dorm. I watched as he lost in the sweet sixteen in his only year in school. Since then its been potential potential potential, yet his teams dont win.
If the point guard is the pulse of the team, its no wonder he has been surgically removed from now his fourth team.
But even more important, how can you teach a kid about the merits of hard work when you have guys like this on sportcenter everynight.
Work hard like mom and dad, get laid off and have nothing, or be a brat with potential ability, sit on my ass and get paid.
I dont know what america was like in the 1950s but i surely know it was better than what america now.
Marbury, take your fucking ass to work.
This from a man who is making 21 million dollars THIS YEAR.
In a country in the midst of a recession, people losing their houses and life savings daily. People getting laid off like kids gettting kicked out of school, and you have this clown with not only the rights, but the gall to complain about making 21 million while doing nothing for it.
Unbelieveable.
How many forclosed homes could that money save? maybe 100? maybe more? Yet they go into the pocket of a guy who has the "promise" of playing basketball. I went to college "with" him, watching limos driving him around campus for a year and shuttle girls to hid dorm. I watched as he lost in the sweet sixteen in his only year in school. Since then its been potential potential potential, yet his teams dont win.
If the point guard is the pulse of the team, its no wonder he has been surgically removed from now his fourth team.
But even more important, how can you teach a kid about the merits of hard work when you have guys like this on sportcenter everynight.
Work hard like mom and dad, get laid off and have nothing, or be a brat with potential ability, sit on my ass and get paid.
I dont know what america was like in the 1950s but i surely know it was better than what america now.
Marbury, take your fucking ass to work.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
7th grade Kasuya gun champs.
...Just thought id let the world know that my 7th graders balled their asses off and won the tourney. The way i was given the trophy was a bit crappy, but hey, rival coaches arent supposed to be buddies, are they?
I imagine if i had made 100k dollars today for bought a new car, more people would give a shit.
Oh well, maybe that is why i cant tolerate shallow chics, my family doesnt bother calling for the "holidays", and i can count my real friends on one (maybe two) hands.
The problem with us is that it is easy to say that kids are important. To say that you put family first. To say that you love to give. But when it comes to the actual sacrifice, people just go back to their cars, concerts, tv shows, playstations, ipods, clothes, and bling. Maybe being born as a short black man of rather high intelligence and a desire to live out some of those lessons learned in sunday school, gives me a unique perspective.
People live in bubbles where they wont acknowledge a problem until it happens. Then it goes to who is at fault.
Hey, you can wake up one day at 400 pounds and decide that you need to overhaul your life, or you could just eat one more serving of raw veggies and one less serving of fried garbage today, then do it again tommorrow.
You can save 50 bucks a week. Spend and hour a week with a kid. Turn off your tv. Read a book. Meet someone different than you and try to be friends. Try something different. Do something you feel is beneath you. Attack your stereotypes.
Say hello to someone you dont know.
When people wake up in a year and find a world worse than the one they remember, they will wake up and say how did we get here.
They wont ask themselves why they themselves werent outraged at the Iraq war. They wont ask themselves why i look for the cheapest instead of researching where all that stuff in wal mart comes from. They wont ask themselves why I didnt eat dinner with my kids everyday before they ran off and did something rash. They wont ask why they didnt talk to the homeless man outside the store before he loses hope and robs it as a last resort.
Sometimes we cant look at the end problem and just put a band-aid on it. The band aid is the american way to fix everything. Obama cant create 25 million jobs in 4 years, at least not the kind of jobs that most americans want. We cant fix these superlarge problems with a bandaid. So what makes us think we can solve any problems with one.
How about sometimes with just do something for some other fucking reason than making a dollar off of it. Or at least make sure for every dollar we make, we are helping people improve the quality of their lives.
Im getting tired of watching people milk others of their faith in good for profit. Do it because its right.
If you do something to make the world better, there is a better chance that your kids can live in a world where they dont need a gun.
...now back to life.
I imagine if i had made 100k dollars today for bought a new car, more people would give a shit.
Oh well, maybe that is why i cant tolerate shallow chics, my family doesnt bother calling for the "holidays", and i can count my real friends on one (maybe two) hands.
The problem with us is that it is easy to say that kids are important. To say that you put family first. To say that you love to give. But when it comes to the actual sacrifice, people just go back to their cars, concerts, tv shows, playstations, ipods, clothes, and bling. Maybe being born as a short black man of rather high intelligence and a desire to live out some of those lessons learned in sunday school, gives me a unique perspective.
People live in bubbles where they wont acknowledge a problem until it happens. Then it goes to who is at fault.
Hey, you can wake up one day at 400 pounds and decide that you need to overhaul your life, or you could just eat one more serving of raw veggies and one less serving of fried garbage today, then do it again tommorrow.
You can save 50 bucks a week. Spend and hour a week with a kid. Turn off your tv. Read a book. Meet someone different than you and try to be friends. Try something different. Do something you feel is beneath you. Attack your stereotypes.
Say hello to someone you dont know.
When people wake up in a year and find a world worse than the one they remember, they will wake up and say how did we get here.
They wont ask themselves why they themselves werent outraged at the Iraq war. They wont ask themselves why i look for the cheapest instead of researching where all that stuff in wal mart comes from. They wont ask themselves why I didnt eat dinner with my kids everyday before they ran off and did something rash. They wont ask why they didnt talk to the homeless man outside the store before he loses hope and robs it as a last resort.
Sometimes we cant look at the end problem and just put a band-aid on it. The band aid is the american way to fix everything. Obama cant create 25 million jobs in 4 years, at least not the kind of jobs that most americans want. We cant fix these superlarge problems with a bandaid. So what makes us think we can solve any problems with one.
How about sometimes with just do something for some other fucking reason than making a dollar off of it. Or at least make sure for every dollar we make, we are helping people improve the quality of their lives.
Im getting tired of watching people milk others of their faith in good for profit. Do it because its right.
If you do something to make the world better, there is a better chance that your kids can live in a world where they dont need a gun.
...now back to life.
Monday, November 24, 2008
A tale of two students.
I understand why teachers (good ones) are willing to take such a small amount of money to do something that is more important to society than bankers manipulating stock prices for profit or polititions selling their values for money.
Lets start with a 15 year old girl named Murashima. She has for two year tried to win the Kasuya Gun english speech contest. This year, she won it. She doesnt strike you as the kind of girl that enjoys getting infront of people and speaking, but she does quietly have a strong work ethic. She understands that practice and listening along with making the most of the moment are all necessary characteristics in success. Her effort, along with my giving of about 4 hours a week after work for a month, led to her going from a shy 7th grader to a successful 8th grader. I am very happy for her.
Second, is the story of Nagamatsu. A young 7th grade boy who just moved to kasuya from Kagoshima. No friends, no way to connect to his surroundings in a new school except the desire to try and learn basketball (from the very very very beginning). The other 4 starters (all 7th graders) have played since elementary school, but he is a beginner. What he lacks in skill, he makes up for in hustle. He is a great example to the whole team that defense and rebounding is "want to". He earned the respect of his team mates in less than 3 months of playing basketball.
And the both of these kids earned my respect. It is so amazing seeing kids exhibit qualities that we as adults seem to forget sometimes. Hard work. Practice. Putting feelings and comfort levels to the side. Even realizing that its ok to do something different. These are all things that i am allowed to learn everyday...as a teacher and as a basketball coach.
B.T.W. I installed a 2nd offense DURING A GAME. Tell me kids dont learn quickly.
Lets start with a 15 year old girl named Murashima. She has for two year tried to win the Kasuya Gun english speech contest. This year, she won it. She doesnt strike you as the kind of girl that enjoys getting infront of people and speaking, but she does quietly have a strong work ethic. She understands that practice and listening along with making the most of the moment are all necessary characteristics in success. Her effort, along with my giving of about 4 hours a week after work for a month, led to her going from a shy 7th grader to a successful 8th grader. I am very happy for her.
Second, is the story of Nagamatsu. A young 7th grade boy who just moved to kasuya from Kagoshima. No friends, no way to connect to his surroundings in a new school except the desire to try and learn basketball (from the very very very beginning). The other 4 starters (all 7th graders) have played since elementary school, but he is a beginner. What he lacks in skill, he makes up for in hustle. He is a great example to the whole team that defense and rebounding is "want to". He earned the respect of his team mates in less than 3 months of playing basketball.
And the both of these kids earned my respect. It is so amazing seeing kids exhibit qualities that we as adults seem to forget sometimes. Hard work. Practice. Putting feelings and comfort levels to the side. Even realizing that its ok to do something different. These are all things that i am allowed to learn everyday...as a teacher and as a basketball coach.
B.T.W. I installed a 2nd offense DURING A GAME. Tell me kids dont learn quickly.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Palin hits the airwaves
So when she is about to be vice president, she has no time for the media. She loses and now she becomes a g*d d**n reality show.
The precise reason i have turned on my tv exactly twice since the election last week.
My goodness.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Greatest 5 rap collaborations ever
I wanted to make a list of the greatest rap collaborations of all time if for no other reason than to have links to them all in the same place.
One thing i truly miss about rap, songs where tons of different rappers get together to make one song, sharing bars.
5
4
3
2
1
One thing i truly miss about rap, songs where tons of different rappers get together to make one song, sharing bars.
5
4
3
2
1
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The matrix
I know there is a matrix.
I know it now. I am free to write what i feel in a "free" world, so I will write it.
I notice that many people are not in tune with the world around them. I think many people dont care to be in tune with the world around them.
It is great that we have a black (half white half kenyan) president. I hope he can fulfill his promises.
But that is a world very far away from the real worlds that most of us live in. It is a symbol of the progress that we must make happen in our own daily lives and in our ways of thinking.
I admit that i am not as progressive when it comes to gay rights as i could be. Prehaps i just need to meet a gay person to better explain to me the issues at stake.
But what is important is that we are willing to continue to challenge our views of things. We must be more able and willing today than yesterday to live outside of our own comfort zones.
The world is changing faster than people think that it is. In good ways and in bad ways. Yet many people believe that if they know little of the problems that plague africa, central asia, the carribean and so on, then those problems dont exist. They take refuge in watching garbage on fox and mtv. Blasting recycled, remixed, retooled, uncreative, uninspired music from their different yet matching ipods.
We elect a black president and think we have done something. The work STARTS now. We owe people. People we dont know and havent met yet. People who havent been born yet. People who havent waken up yet.
When a person can openly honestly admit that their live is primarily about becoming rich at any cost, their pursuit of wealth costs someone else. With so many in the pursuit of material wealth, many others are left to want. In america we learn that those without arent willing to work. What the real truth is, is that greed trumps all other feelings when dealing with people. It clouds the conscience.
Greed as in, i want to be rich. as in, my looks are the most important thing to me. As in, i want people to know that i am the best dresser and stay in style. As in, look at my car and my house and you can see how important i am.
I have said it before and will continue to say it. I hate materialism. It is a symbol of the failure of humanity. A scourge to humanity. A planet of human beings who have come to value something other than humanity the most. A planet of people who judge people on their culture, sex, skin color. A planet of people who classify themselves who by country they were born in, where their parents came from, what foods they eat and dont eat, what the name of their god is.
All of these things cloud people from thinking the most important thing; how does my listening to this ipod everyday help the human race as a whole? How does me buying the large house made of plastic from sweat shops in asia help the human race as a whole? How does me buy a 200 dollar button down shirt worth a wholesale price of less than 10 dollars help the human race as a whole?
Its like the high school student who procrastinates on his homework until he has so much that he cant catch up.
How long can we live super extravagent lifestyles at the cost of the rest of the world? How long before they get tired of it?
Worse yet, what kind of world would it be if everyone tried to live like americans?
There is the matrix. Thinking that a car a house, a six figure income, 3 weeks vacation, and an extended wardrobe is the culmination of life.
I hate to believe this, but i think soon, americans will get a more real experience about the things in life that are the MOST important. The people that choose to help them survive.
People are too slow at adapting to change. And if we dont get better at it, we will soon find that darwin theory applies to not only individual humans, but to all of human kind as well.
Money cant by protection from every thing.
I know it now. I am free to write what i feel in a "free" world, so I will write it.
I notice that many people are not in tune with the world around them. I think many people dont care to be in tune with the world around them.
It is great that we have a black (half white half kenyan) president. I hope he can fulfill his promises.
But that is a world very far away from the real worlds that most of us live in. It is a symbol of the progress that we must make happen in our own daily lives and in our ways of thinking.
I admit that i am not as progressive when it comes to gay rights as i could be. Prehaps i just need to meet a gay person to better explain to me the issues at stake.
But what is important is that we are willing to continue to challenge our views of things. We must be more able and willing today than yesterday to live outside of our own comfort zones.
The world is changing faster than people think that it is. In good ways and in bad ways. Yet many people believe that if they know little of the problems that plague africa, central asia, the carribean and so on, then those problems dont exist. They take refuge in watching garbage on fox and mtv. Blasting recycled, remixed, retooled, uncreative, uninspired music from their different yet matching ipods.
We elect a black president and think we have done something. The work STARTS now. We owe people. People we dont know and havent met yet. People who havent been born yet. People who havent waken up yet.
When a person can openly honestly admit that their live is primarily about becoming rich at any cost, their pursuit of wealth costs someone else. With so many in the pursuit of material wealth, many others are left to want. In america we learn that those without arent willing to work. What the real truth is, is that greed trumps all other feelings when dealing with people. It clouds the conscience.
Greed as in, i want to be rich. as in, my looks are the most important thing to me. As in, i want people to know that i am the best dresser and stay in style. As in, look at my car and my house and you can see how important i am.
I have said it before and will continue to say it. I hate materialism. It is a symbol of the failure of humanity. A scourge to humanity. A planet of human beings who have come to value something other than humanity the most. A planet of people who judge people on their culture, sex, skin color. A planet of people who classify themselves who by country they were born in, where their parents came from, what foods they eat and dont eat, what the name of their god is.
All of these things cloud people from thinking the most important thing; how does my listening to this ipod everyday help the human race as a whole? How does me buying the large house made of plastic from sweat shops in asia help the human race as a whole? How does me buy a 200 dollar button down shirt worth a wholesale price of less than 10 dollars help the human race as a whole?
Its like the high school student who procrastinates on his homework until he has so much that he cant catch up.
How long can we live super extravagent lifestyles at the cost of the rest of the world? How long before they get tired of it?
Worse yet, what kind of world would it be if everyone tried to live like americans?
There is the matrix. Thinking that a car a house, a six figure income, 3 weeks vacation, and an extended wardrobe is the culmination of life.
I hate to believe this, but i think soon, americans will get a more real experience about the things in life that are the MOST important. The people that choose to help them survive.
People are too slow at adapting to change. And if we dont get better at it, we will soon find that darwin theory applies to not only individual humans, but to all of human kind as well.
Money cant by protection from every thing.
I realize that my romantic views of l ove...
...are a bit outdated.
Since high school I have really had only one critera for the person that loves me...
love me for who I am and not what i am.
Here i am 16 years later single and not anywhere close to love.
I had a girl tell me that she used to love me, but she doesnt anymore (understandable). But when asked "When did she stop loving me?" She answers, "I cant remember, but I just dont love you now."
My first reaction to that is, Does she even know what love is? What it really means? One issue i have with japanese language/culture is that there is no really word for love.
The use 好き、ラブラブ、or 愛する。 But the first is a mix of like and love. Like I love chocolate and romantic movies love. The second is more like having a crush on someone. And the third one no one ever uses.
I am not really so disappointed about her not loving me as much as i am irritated at her saying that once she did. It feels like she is saying it to ease her own conscience. No matter.
What i am learning is that i can do now what i once thought i couldnt. Live without being loved.
Sure my family says they love me, then go a month without any communication. Sure a girl can say she loves black men so she wants to date me. Sure my kids will say "i love Monte", but i mean the kind of love that i grew up feeling. That mom taking the last bit of money in her pocket to buy my some shoes or sacrifice an hour or two to let me play ball at the park. The love that came for the pride she had signing my report card and promising me the dinner of my choice for straight A's.
That kind of love exists no more.
It was kinda difficult for me to get used to the idea that i would never find love as just a normal black man, being responsible and going to work daily. Not rich but with enough to be crafty and please a woman. I now see that this means little to the world of women chasing Brad Pitts, Micheal Jordans, and Will Smiths.
So after a few years of waiting and wishing, i realize that the lovethat my mother gave me was one of a kind. And I would find anyone to love me near that much again. And maybe it is this that give me an advantage in my career goals.
Maybe emotional attachment is weakness. It is very possible that is the case.
Should that be the case or not, the last 7 years of emotional solitude have made me stronger. At times i feel like a forgotten warrior. Knowing that no help will come for me and I alone most find my way.
So to anyone who has any disagreements with how i have chosen to live my life...
..Fuck off.
Shalom to everyone else.
Since high school I have really had only one critera for the person that loves me...
love me for who I am and not what i am.
Here i am 16 years later single and not anywhere close to love.
I had a girl tell me that she used to love me, but she doesnt anymore (understandable). But when asked "When did she stop loving me?" She answers, "I cant remember, but I just dont love you now."
My first reaction to that is, Does she even know what love is? What it really means? One issue i have with japanese language/culture is that there is no really word for love.
The use 好き、ラブラブ、or 愛する。 But the first is a mix of like and love. Like I love chocolate and romantic movies love. The second is more like having a crush on someone. And the third one no one ever uses.
I am not really so disappointed about her not loving me as much as i am irritated at her saying that once she did. It feels like she is saying it to ease her own conscience. No matter.
What i am learning is that i can do now what i once thought i couldnt. Live without being loved.
Sure my family says they love me, then go a month without any communication. Sure a girl can say she loves black men so she wants to date me. Sure my kids will say "i love Monte", but i mean the kind of love that i grew up feeling. That mom taking the last bit of money in her pocket to buy my some shoes or sacrifice an hour or two to let me play ball at the park. The love that came for the pride she had signing my report card and promising me the dinner of my choice for straight A's.
That kind of love exists no more.
It was kinda difficult for me to get used to the idea that i would never find love as just a normal black man, being responsible and going to work daily. Not rich but with enough to be crafty and please a woman. I now see that this means little to the world of women chasing Brad Pitts, Micheal Jordans, and Will Smiths.
So after a few years of waiting and wishing, i realize that the lovethat my mother gave me was one of a kind. And I would find anyone to love me near that much again. And maybe it is this that give me an advantage in my career goals.
Maybe emotional attachment is weakness. It is very possible that is the case.
Should that be the case or not, the last 7 years of emotional solitude have made me stronger. At times i feel like a forgotten warrior. Knowing that no help will come for me and I alone most find my way.
So to anyone who has any disagreements with how i have chosen to live my life...
..Fuck off.
Shalom to everyone else.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The other side.
You know that old saying "when given lemons, make lemonade", they must be talking about obama taking the presidency, because George Bush is handing him a bucket full of lemons.
A bushel.
I think it is important for us all to have realistic expectiations.
There is a major monetary crisis happening now. I dont totally understand it, but when I see the value of the euro, canadian dollar, new zeland dollar and the australia dollar all concurrently lose 30 percent of their value to the yen, something is going on.
I can help but feel that obama will be an administration that will have to preside over a nation in crisis. Much like Abrahm Lincoln. As a matter of fact, i bet Pres. Bush cant wait until January 20.
Now where can i buy some gold again?
A bushel.
I think it is important for us all to have realistic expectiations.
There is a major monetary crisis happening now. I dont totally understand it, but when I see the value of the euro, canadian dollar, new zeland dollar and the australia dollar all concurrently lose 30 percent of their value to the yen, something is going on.
I can help but feel that obama will be an administration that will have to preside over a nation in crisis. Much like Abrahm Lincoln. As a matter of fact, i bet Pres. Bush cant wait until January 20.
Now where can i buy some gold again?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Exponential Cynicism
I can feel my cynic nature exploding by leaps and bounds.
I feel like an outsider looking in at the society around me. Im not even really complaining as much as I just dont feel a part of it.
Even stranger is that i dont even long to be a part of it. Im not really angry at anything, just i have disbelief in how oblivious people really are to what is happening. And dismayed at how hard it has become to watch television.
Do most americans know or even care that a toy factory in China just closed this past week? Do americans care to know what it means? It means America is about to get more expensive. It means people will have to start saving again. Stop bragging about how much they make, what car they have and where they live.
I despise materialism. I understand wanting quality butter to make a nice cake. I understand having well made clothes and a sturdy car. But why does it matter when A manufactuer takes said item made in china and sews a symbol on it. What makes that shirt worth 100 dollars? Why do people care about who makes the shirt? Is it true that only a few people in the world know how to make a decent shirt?
This world has taken external items and placed value on them. Skin color, height, shoes, eye shape, eye color, sock brand, car brand, house size, all things that are of no consequence, and has attached value (or lack of value) to them all.
I just cant believe how most people think about clothes, tv shows, movies, cars, and unimportant crap. People that watch MTV and "Dance Idol" are choosing presidents and representatives. Most people cant even name the senators from their state(Saxby Chambliss lost my vote to the libertarian party on voting for the bailout). How can my one vote even matter when the world is full of drones who consume fastfood, polo shirts (I have a couple, shame on me right? but i only payed 25 bucks per for mine), lexus cars, crap movies, and a presidential race that only gives lip service to real issues?
Where is the true substance in our western culture? Id say its in the happy families that manage to survive high taxes, high health care, a bad housing market, and even their own marriages; but as we can see right now, real families are under financial attack. When the family fails in a society, what is left? You can not marry into happieness. You cant buy fullness of life from a store.
Is life really about getting a lot of money and getting a really pretty wife (by TV standards)? Is it about having a lot of tsuedo-friends that are only around for the (preceived) good times in life? Is it about being able to brag about what you have and what you can by? Is it about a religion that makes you feel better about spending your life chasing money and trying to get more people to believe what you do?
Man, that is so boring. Where is the real part of life? People calling or writing letters? Seeing a kid smile. Helping someone that no one things is worth helping. Doing something for a reason other than money? Giving ones time to something other than making money. Doing something nice for a stranger. Conforting prejudice, racism, sexism, ageism, and lack of human respect when they all happen, not just turning a blind eye to it all.
America is about money and money only. And that is what globalization is trying to teach the world. Forget about your culture and what substance it has, buy a happy meal and you will be happy. Buy starbucks and you will be cool. Buy nikes and you can be like jordan. Does america not have anything else to export besides shallowness and greed?
And from all of this comes the current POTUS and his financial advisors suggesting a world currency to solve the international monetary crisis.
Greed is not good. It is not right. Imagine a society where you pay to breathe. Do you think people thought we would pay for water 200 years ago? Do you think 50 year ago people thought they would go bankrupt because of medical bills? Do you think 10 year ago people thought Enron and Worldcom would go from being in the Dow Jones going bankrupt?
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is spiritual, mental, and emotional death.
I have watched Hip Hop all but self destruct. And it all happened out of greed. R and B is now on its death bed. And i love Usher, Chris Brown, and Neyo, but that is more pop music than the R and B of the 60s and 70s. America has taken black music and turned it into a commodity to be bought and sold. And that commodity has in turn become blackness. You have 20 dollars, you can buy 50 cents new rap album and experience "blackness". You can say that you are not prejudiced because you have Chris Brown and R Kelly in your playlist on your ipod.
As an educated black man, how can i not be cynical?
I feel like an outsider looking in at the society around me. Im not even really complaining as much as I just dont feel a part of it.
Even stranger is that i dont even long to be a part of it. Im not really angry at anything, just i have disbelief in how oblivious people really are to what is happening. And dismayed at how hard it has become to watch television.
Do most americans know or even care that a toy factory in China just closed this past week? Do americans care to know what it means? It means America is about to get more expensive. It means people will have to start saving again. Stop bragging about how much they make, what car they have and where they live.
I despise materialism. I understand wanting quality butter to make a nice cake. I understand having well made clothes and a sturdy car. But why does it matter when A manufactuer takes said item made in china and sews a symbol on it. What makes that shirt worth 100 dollars? Why do people care about who makes the shirt? Is it true that only a few people in the world know how to make a decent shirt?
This world has taken external items and placed value on them. Skin color, height, shoes, eye shape, eye color, sock brand, car brand, house size, all things that are of no consequence, and has attached value (or lack of value) to them all.
I just cant believe how most people think about clothes, tv shows, movies, cars, and unimportant crap. People that watch MTV and "Dance Idol" are choosing presidents and representatives. Most people cant even name the senators from their state(Saxby Chambliss lost my vote to the libertarian party on voting for the bailout). How can my one vote even matter when the world is full of drones who consume fastfood, polo shirts (I have a couple, shame on me right? but i only payed 25 bucks per for mine), lexus cars, crap movies, and a presidential race that only gives lip service to real issues?
Where is the true substance in our western culture? Id say its in the happy families that manage to survive high taxes, high health care, a bad housing market, and even their own marriages; but as we can see right now, real families are under financial attack. When the family fails in a society, what is left? You can not marry into happieness. You cant buy fullness of life from a store.
Is life really about getting a lot of money and getting a really pretty wife (by TV standards)? Is it about having a lot of tsuedo-friends that are only around for the (preceived) good times in life? Is it about being able to brag about what you have and what you can by? Is it about a religion that makes you feel better about spending your life chasing money and trying to get more people to believe what you do?
Man, that is so boring. Where is the real part of life? People calling or writing letters? Seeing a kid smile. Helping someone that no one things is worth helping. Doing something for a reason other than money? Giving ones time to something other than making money. Doing something nice for a stranger. Conforting prejudice, racism, sexism, ageism, and lack of human respect when they all happen, not just turning a blind eye to it all.
America is about money and money only. And that is what globalization is trying to teach the world. Forget about your culture and what substance it has, buy a happy meal and you will be happy. Buy starbucks and you will be cool. Buy nikes and you can be like jordan. Does america not have anything else to export besides shallowness and greed?
And from all of this comes the current POTUS and his financial advisors suggesting a world currency to solve the international monetary crisis.
Greed is not good. It is not right. Imagine a society where you pay to breathe. Do you think people thought we would pay for water 200 years ago? Do you think 50 year ago people thought they would go bankrupt because of medical bills? Do you think 10 year ago people thought Enron and Worldcom would go from being in the Dow Jones going bankrupt?
Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is spiritual, mental, and emotional death.
I have watched Hip Hop all but self destruct. And it all happened out of greed. R and B is now on its death bed. And i love Usher, Chris Brown, and Neyo, but that is more pop music than the R and B of the 60s and 70s. America has taken black music and turned it into a commodity to be bought and sold. And that commodity has in turn become blackness. You have 20 dollars, you can buy 50 cents new rap album and experience "blackness". You can say that you are not prejudiced because you have Chris Brown and R Kelly in your playlist on your ipod.
As an educated black man, how can i not be cynical?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A verdict on American Culture?
Normally I dont spend alot of time talking about american pop culture, but here we go again. Madonna is breaking up with someone again?
America has created this woman that is impossible to please, all for living in the moment and yet, what can she offer a man? Sex is all she has to give really. She has money, but real men arent bought. She cant have kids at her age. She is not home, and when she is working, she is dancing on stages across the world half naked.
That is what older asian, african and european societies get right. A woman doesnt have to give up on having a career, but i cant imagine the joy of raising a family of productive children. My mother can, and that is something madonna will never understand. She can try to remain a sexy performer into her 60s, but she can never have a true nuclear family.
So which is it that american women want? Madonna has taught them to be "Material Girls". I dont want a material girl. What man does? How can a man love something that he can buy? Men dont love their cars, they love what society thinks about them owning that car, or how they feel when they drive that car.
Men dont love their houses, they love how they and other people feel about them living in that house. No man i know loves living in a three story house along or with a wife that they hate.
Madonna is such a clear example of the misses of American culture. Be free, do what you want, be selfish, be materialistic and be single at 40.
Enjoy your money madonna, that may be all you have when you leave this earth.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Im not a finance genius...
...but why ever ever ever ever would citibank or Aig or whichever bank need free money from me.
Wow. We Generation Xers have seen america change so much. Its like an old girlfriend you meet 15 years later and cant recognize.
There is this throwing around of money like its no big deal to borrow 250 billion tax payer dollars and give to super rich banks.
Since when did the government start buying stocks anyways. I thought governments sold bonds.
Its starting to look like the rich are closing the door on the chance to be rich. Either you are rich already or you should be preparing to be poor.
Not exactly that "American Dream" that we were being sold now is it.
Monday, October 13, 2008
The best day of my life...
Since i have never had kids and never gotten married or even close to it, i can only imagine the joy of such days. So when i say the best day of my life, it isnt relative because i dont have a "next to" day to compare it with.
Sunday morning was a good day.
I love practice. We only had 5 kids come (the starters), but thats enough for me. We went over how to transition from the running game into the motion offense. We also practiced how to play good 2/3 zone defense and transition defense.
The kids make fun of may japanese, but i like it. Its a way of being taught how to speak correctly. And its good fun. The one kid, Kojima, skinny kid whose game and jump shot remind me what reggie miller must have looked like at 12. He picks on my japanese. So i pick on him back by calling him つまようじ、or toothpick. another kid, Inoue, calls me Mega Mac because of my stomach and the conclusion that it got that way by eating alot of McDonalds. As my point guard and the closest one to resembling my thinking on the basketball court, its hard to get on him so much. Besides, he has the best decision making on the team.
Then there is kotsuji. You can tell he is a youngest child. He demands attention. All the talent in the world, but emotionally he is soft. I can see how important having a father is for a young boy. In japan it is rare, but i can see how that has destoryed so many black families.
Anyways, 2 of the retired 9th graders came to practice to help. As coach, i have an open door policy to any player that i have ever coached. If you have time to come to practice, you are free to play, shoot, even teach kids, i have zero problems with it. None at all. So we practiced eating up their zone, 3 on 5.
It was so much fun.
I made a couple of plays where my kids just looked at what i did and were simply amazed. On one play, i ball fakes to get the front defending guard to shift outside so i could get into the lane. This led to a bang bang sequence of 3 quick passes and an easy layup.
I made the run for 1) not calling out who had the ball, 2) allowing a cutter to cross the lane without contact. 3) allowing an offensive rebound.
There was a lot of running on sunday.
But from that, they can learn. How to hide what you see with your eyes. How to move without the basketball. How to push the ball. How to think about defense.
Maybe the best day of my life to date had something to do with waking up next to a particular past girlfriend or with my family as a kid, but sunday was, just a whole lot of fun.
At least the first part, anyways.
Sunday morning was a good day.
I love practice. We only had 5 kids come (the starters), but thats enough for me. We went over how to transition from the running game into the motion offense. We also practiced how to play good 2/3 zone defense and transition defense.
The kids make fun of may japanese, but i like it. Its a way of being taught how to speak correctly. And its good fun. The one kid, Kojima, skinny kid whose game and jump shot remind me what reggie miller must have looked like at 12. He picks on my japanese. So i pick on him back by calling him つまようじ、or toothpick. another kid, Inoue, calls me Mega Mac because of my stomach and the conclusion that it got that way by eating alot of McDonalds. As my point guard and the closest one to resembling my thinking on the basketball court, its hard to get on him so much. Besides, he has the best decision making on the team.
Then there is kotsuji. You can tell he is a youngest child. He demands attention. All the talent in the world, but emotionally he is soft. I can see how important having a father is for a young boy. In japan it is rare, but i can see how that has destoryed so many black families.
Anyways, 2 of the retired 9th graders came to practice to help. As coach, i have an open door policy to any player that i have ever coached. If you have time to come to practice, you are free to play, shoot, even teach kids, i have zero problems with it. None at all. So we practiced eating up their zone, 3 on 5.
It was so much fun.
I made a couple of plays where my kids just looked at what i did and were simply amazed. On one play, i ball fakes to get the front defending guard to shift outside so i could get into the lane. This led to a bang bang sequence of 3 quick passes and an easy layup.
I made the run for 1) not calling out who had the ball, 2) allowing a cutter to cross the lane without contact. 3) allowing an offensive rebound.
There was a lot of running on sunday.
But from that, they can learn. How to hide what you see with your eyes. How to move without the basketball. How to push the ball. How to think about defense.
Maybe the best day of my life to date had something to do with waking up next to a particular past girlfriend or with my family as a kid, but sunday was, just a whole lot of fun.
At least the first part, anyways.
Higher Expectations.
Let me go through the last, oh 4 months of my involvement with japanese women.
about 3 and 1/2 months ago, my girlfriend of the past of some 4 years, who i saw whenever possible when she came back to japan from overseas, greatly disappointed me. She calls me one day after not calling for a week. I ask her why, she says that she is "bored". I tell her never to call me after not talking for a week then giving that as an answer. In the following days I then get into a more serious conversation in the following days. Do you see a future for us. It turns into im good enough to fuck for my english but not good enough to meet the parents. After 5 years. So i basically for the first time semi-put my foot down and tell her if she only calls me because she is bored, dont call me.
She hasnt called me in two months (and she is in japan where she can call me for free).
I dont know how you can spend so long with someone and still not know them. I though she had a heart, but she is more interested in how she looks, how many friends she has, having fun, and listening to new music videos. I though there was more there, but after accomidating her stay in fukuoka for a week, i get this. A shallow, empty, vain, superficial girl who longs for a guy that had sex so rough with her that even gentle sex hurt her. But hes tall, can play basketball and can recite Jay-Z. I just hope she grows into a more substantial person.
But the new girl takes the cake. She comes to my house every weekend. She sleeps all day. Doesnt clean anything. Doesnt do anything. and she thinks she is doing me a favor. On sunday, while i spend the day teaching a private and coaching basketball, i come back to see my clothes still hanging outside, sink full of dishes, messing living room and her sitting on my sofa watching TV. She then has the nerve to ask me what we are going to do that night. What?
So i decide to follow the advice of a girl that gave the best advice for relationships that i have ever heard.
"When in doubt, do nothing".
So i got dress, played with the internet, call a friend and what not. We get to 9 o clock and she looks at me and says, "Where are we going to eat tonight?" It too hard for her to look on the internet or in a magazine and plan a place that she wants to go to. So she storms out and starts walking to the train station. After a day of work, my left hand throbbing (and yes i fear its broken), and the first holiday i can purely enjoy sitting ahead of me, i get this shit.
So i start walking after her, not chasing, more just walking to the station. She walks back towards me and snaps at me, hurry up.
Time to do nothing now.
So i walk to the store while she is ringing my phone (20 times in about 15 minutes), but meat to make yakiniku at home. Then i walk to hotto motto to by rice and proceed home. She is outside my door pissed. I open the door, she races in, grabs her things and storms out.
How is it i deserve that when i allow her to come to my house and basically sleep all day after a day of work? I cant tolerate that kinda shit.
For one day, i would love to see the true honest difference in walking around japan as a white guy. For one day, just to see the difference.
One day this girl looked at me and said "you think you are better than me, dont you?". I didnt reply, but if i can wake up at 7 on a holiday while you can sleep till 12. Then look at me and ask what will we eat? If i can cook dinner for you 2 weeks in a row and you not manage the time the make one meal in 4 days? I come home after working and start cleaning and washing clothes while you watch tv.
Damn japan. Is this the best you have to offer an intelligent black man? There must be better out there, and no japanese women, i am not looking for a woman who is looking for a hip hopper.
Just a woman ready to be a good woman for a good man. And who is shorter than me and light enough for me to try several positions with. And has some intelligence. And a good smile. And a passion for something in life.
Im not asking that much, am I?
about 3 and 1/2 months ago, my girlfriend of the past of some 4 years, who i saw whenever possible when she came back to japan from overseas, greatly disappointed me. She calls me one day after not calling for a week. I ask her why, she says that she is "bored". I tell her never to call me after not talking for a week then giving that as an answer. In the following days I then get into a more serious conversation in the following days. Do you see a future for us. It turns into im good enough to fuck for my english but not good enough to meet the parents. After 5 years. So i basically for the first time semi-put my foot down and tell her if she only calls me because she is bored, dont call me.
She hasnt called me in two months (and she is in japan where she can call me for free).
I dont know how you can spend so long with someone and still not know them. I though she had a heart, but she is more interested in how she looks, how many friends she has, having fun, and listening to new music videos. I though there was more there, but after accomidating her stay in fukuoka for a week, i get this. A shallow, empty, vain, superficial girl who longs for a guy that had sex so rough with her that even gentle sex hurt her. But hes tall, can play basketball and can recite Jay-Z. I just hope she grows into a more substantial person.
But the new girl takes the cake. She comes to my house every weekend. She sleeps all day. Doesnt clean anything. Doesnt do anything. and she thinks she is doing me a favor. On sunday, while i spend the day teaching a private and coaching basketball, i come back to see my clothes still hanging outside, sink full of dishes, messing living room and her sitting on my sofa watching TV. She then has the nerve to ask me what we are going to do that night. What?
So i decide to follow the advice of a girl that gave the best advice for relationships that i have ever heard.
"When in doubt, do nothing".
So i got dress, played with the internet, call a friend and what not. We get to 9 o clock and she looks at me and says, "Where are we going to eat tonight?" It too hard for her to look on the internet or in a magazine and plan a place that she wants to go to. So she storms out and starts walking to the train station. After a day of work, my left hand throbbing (and yes i fear its broken), and the first holiday i can purely enjoy sitting ahead of me, i get this shit.
So i start walking after her, not chasing, more just walking to the station. She walks back towards me and snaps at me, hurry up.
Time to do nothing now.
So i walk to the store while she is ringing my phone (20 times in about 15 minutes), but meat to make yakiniku at home. Then i walk to hotto motto to by rice and proceed home. She is outside my door pissed. I open the door, she races in, grabs her things and storms out.
How is it i deserve that when i allow her to come to my house and basically sleep all day after a day of work? I cant tolerate that kinda shit.
For one day, i would love to see the true honest difference in walking around japan as a white guy. For one day, just to see the difference.
One day this girl looked at me and said "you think you are better than me, dont you?". I didnt reply, but if i can wake up at 7 on a holiday while you can sleep till 12. Then look at me and ask what will we eat? If i can cook dinner for you 2 weeks in a row and you not manage the time the make one meal in 4 days? I come home after working and start cleaning and washing clothes while you watch tv.
Damn japan. Is this the best you have to offer an intelligent black man? There must be better out there, and no japanese women, i am not looking for a woman who is looking for a hip hopper.
Just a woman ready to be a good woman for a good man. And who is shorter than me and light enough for me to try several positions with. And has some intelligence. And a good smile. And a passion for something in life.
Im not asking that much, am I?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Squeezed between two sides.
It is clear to me now that Interac is part of a system meant to funnel foreigners out of japan.
Think about that for a minute.
The company I work for is part of a system that is meant to make sure that people can only temporarily come to japan.
How is that so I may ask?
What kind of job tells you that you are not working during the 10 minute break between class?
What kind of job demands that you voluntarily stay at from 8 to 4?
What part time job has no method of applying for overtime?
What full time job chooses to only to treat foreigners a special in which case, dont deserve the full rights of japanese full time workers?
The system is two walls. A company that wont give your social issurance and a government that only enforces laws against the weakest in their society. Basically if you move every year, you can escape paying health care, but you have to pay 3 months rent to move into a new place. If you stay, you have to duck and dodge the insurance office.
Im not angry writing this, i just think for anyone that is studying japanese, be prepared to come here to do something else besides teaching. It is a scum business. The work is amazingly fullfilling, but the employers are scum. They will use a young cute japanese face and japanese prejudice to superseed your ability and experience.
Very sad, very backwards and very japan.
Health care become more a privelege and less a right each and everyday. Japan, if i cant be covered under your laws, dont ask me to take care of your old people.
You all can do that on your own.
Think about that for a minute.
The company I work for is part of a system that is meant to make sure that people can only temporarily come to japan.
How is that so I may ask?
What kind of job tells you that you are not working during the 10 minute break between class?
What kind of job demands that you voluntarily stay at from 8 to 4?
What part time job has no method of applying for overtime?
What full time job chooses to only to treat foreigners a special in which case, dont deserve the full rights of japanese full time workers?
The system is two walls. A company that wont give your social issurance and a government that only enforces laws against the weakest in their society. Basically if you move every year, you can escape paying health care, but you have to pay 3 months rent to move into a new place. If you stay, you have to duck and dodge the insurance office.
Im not angry writing this, i just think for anyone that is studying japanese, be prepared to come here to do something else besides teaching. It is a scum business. The work is amazingly fullfilling, but the employers are scum. They will use a young cute japanese face and japanese prejudice to superseed your ability and experience.
Very sad, very backwards and very japan.
Health care become more a privelege and less a right each and everyday. Japan, if i cant be covered under your laws, dont ask me to take care of your old people.
You all can do that on your own.
Monday, October 6, 2008
The origins of my belief.
Why is it that we should not excessively lie? Why should we be kind to other people? Why should we care about people more than things? Why should we judge people on their inside and not their outside?
Why should be be decent human being?
In current day society, emphasis is place primarly on how to find MY happiness and find MY perfect mate. It is on how many friends do I have and how can I be the center of the party. It is on how can I make myself feel good about my life and what i am doing with it.
Life today is self-centered. That is why americans are so fat, because it tastes good to me. That is why indians are poisoning themselves with whitening cream, to make themsleves "prettier". It is why brazilian kids are killing each other, to prove how hard they are. It is the reason white 50 year old women are getting botox and tummy tucks, to look young.
Society has lost a lesson. The smartest person alive rolls around in a wheelchair and speaks through a machine. The most important man of the last 50 years what a short black man, no taller than me. The most important song of the last 50 years (or two) where sang by a group of singers singing for free. Society has lost the lesson of the benefit of giving. Not only money, but time.
To me, that is as much religion as putting on a tie and singing hymns every sunday. Religion is taking an extra second to hold the door open for a lady with kids. It is taking a few minutes to spend time with a child who needs it. It is giving without expecting anything back, not even a smile. It is having 2 minutes to talk to an old person who may not have a chance to speak to another person today. It is complimenting someone who never hears it. It is fighting for your own rights because you know in turn, you are fighting for others rights as well.
You shouldnt have to brag about what religion you are, it should show through ones actions. Stingy people arent spiritural. How can you be when the earth and nature and people are so giving to us? It may seem strange to say that, but if you want to see how giving people are, spend some time around kids. They are the most generous of people. They care about how you are. They ask how your day is. They are willing to share. They give away smiles for free.
Somewhere after 16 and before 25, we learn these rules of separating ourselves from people. Of how to find a group of people like ourselves. How to define ourselves as individuals and not as part of the collection of humanity. I cringe when i buy things from China because i know the work system there is not necessarly one of free will. Id rather pay more for the option of fairly made goods. Yet in todays world, the competition is being eaten alive like a dead carcus.
Humans have clearly chosen the wrong patch. The path of collection wealth, goods, toys, ipods, videogames, baseball cards, cars, houses, yacths, jetskis and luxury suites. We havent chosen the path of clean water, clean air, good roads, mass transit, welfare for all, healthcare for all, or education for all. People think that money and a gun can protect you and your kids from a world and society that is falling apart. It cant. Ask Brad Pitt what its like to go grab a carton of milk? If society continues in the direction it is going, that will be the experience of anyone with enough money to buy any milk at all. Beggars, desperate people dying for a piece of your fortune, or worse yet, the food you bought.
In america, people have this nasty attitude that "If you havent found success, you arent working hard enough" but in todays america you should change "working" with "stolen". Stealing means that you didnt produce anything, you just took what belonged to someone else. We can use fancy words for what happens on wall street and insurance jargon or government bailouts or taxes, but all remains the same, in the end, nothing was produced and money changed hands. You can get rich that way, but if you steal wealth from 10 families that really needed the wealth, then not only have 10 poor families been created, but there are 10 more men ready to do what every it takes...
...to feed their family. To bad we cant throw a man that steals 100 million in jail the same way we do a man who steals 500 dollars.
This world, these countries that we are living in now, are not societies. There are but an ipod clogged, mtv splattered, people magazine decorated survival of the greediest. A new social dawinism in which the less you care, the easier it is for you to do what ever is necessary to make your first million.
Too bad our kids get to grow up and learn from us.
Why should be be decent human being?
In current day society, emphasis is place primarly on how to find MY happiness and find MY perfect mate. It is on how many friends do I have and how can I be the center of the party. It is on how can I make myself feel good about my life and what i am doing with it.
Life today is self-centered. That is why americans are so fat, because it tastes good to me. That is why indians are poisoning themselves with whitening cream, to make themsleves "prettier". It is why brazilian kids are killing each other, to prove how hard they are. It is the reason white 50 year old women are getting botox and tummy tucks, to look young.
Society has lost a lesson. The smartest person alive rolls around in a wheelchair and speaks through a machine. The most important man of the last 50 years what a short black man, no taller than me. The most important song of the last 50 years (or two) where sang by a group of singers singing for free. Society has lost the lesson of the benefit of giving. Not only money, but time.
To me, that is as much religion as putting on a tie and singing hymns every sunday. Religion is taking an extra second to hold the door open for a lady with kids. It is taking a few minutes to spend time with a child who needs it. It is giving without expecting anything back, not even a smile. It is having 2 minutes to talk to an old person who may not have a chance to speak to another person today. It is complimenting someone who never hears it. It is fighting for your own rights because you know in turn, you are fighting for others rights as well.
You shouldnt have to brag about what religion you are, it should show through ones actions. Stingy people arent spiritural. How can you be when the earth and nature and people are so giving to us? It may seem strange to say that, but if you want to see how giving people are, spend some time around kids. They are the most generous of people. They care about how you are. They ask how your day is. They are willing to share. They give away smiles for free.
Somewhere after 16 and before 25, we learn these rules of separating ourselves from people. Of how to find a group of people like ourselves. How to define ourselves as individuals and not as part of the collection of humanity. I cringe when i buy things from China because i know the work system there is not necessarly one of free will. Id rather pay more for the option of fairly made goods. Yet in todays world, the competition is being eaten alive like a dead carcus.
Humans have clearly chosen the wrong patch. The path of collection wealth, goods, toys, ipods, videogames, baseball cards, cars, houses, yacths, jetskis and luxury suites. We havent chosen the path of clean water, clean air, good roads, mass transit, welfare for all, healthcare for all, or education for all. People think that money and a gun can protect you and your kids from a world and society that is falling apart. It cant. Ask Brad Pitt what its like to go grab a carton of milk? If society continues in the direction it is going, that will be the experience of anyone with enough money to buy any milk at all. Beggars, desperate people dying for a piece of your fortune, or worse yet, the food you bought.
In america, people have this nasty attitude that "If you havent found success, you arent working hard enough" but in todays america you should change "working" with "stolen". Stealing means that you didnt produce anything, you just took what belonged to someone else. We can use fancy words for what happens on wall street and insurance jargon or government bailouts or taxes, but all remains the same, in the end, nothing was produced and money changed hands. You can get rich that way, but if you steal wealth from 10 families that really needed the wealth, then not only have 10 poor families been created, but there are 10 more men ready to do what every it takes...
...to feed their family. To bad we cant throw a man that steals 100 million in jail the same way we do a man who steals 500 dollars.
This world, these countries that we are living in now, are not societies. There are but an ipod clogged, mtv splattered, people magazine decorated survival of the greediest. A new social dawinism in which the less you care, the easier it is for you to do what ever is necessary to make your first million.
Too bad our kids get to grow up and learn from us.
Id like to thank Interac for giving out my bank account details.
5 man yen. Thats right. 5 man, or the dollar equivalent of about 500 dollars. Taken from my bank account.
How you may ask? Oh, someone from the local ward office called and asked for the information. My dumb ass company called me and said that someone was asking about the information. I replied, "You didnt tell them, right?" After some bs and about 3 weeks, i notice a gaping whole in my bank account.
Japan doesnt have a social health care system. Not for gaijin (foreigners). It is if we want to pay twice and much for the same coverage because our company knows that they can get away with not enrolling us.
This whole situation is so disgusting. I wish kids taking freshman japanese in college could hear about this. I would make people change their minds about wasting time studying a language to go to a country where people dont want you to go. And make no mistake, japanese people want people to come here for a year or two, see how beautiful it is, then leave. Too bad japanese expatriots arent held to the same standard.
This is a warning to all that are learning japanese, if you have plans on living in japan, you will need to have the attitude of an activist to be treated the way that you are expecting before you come here. You will speak perfect japanese to a person and they will speak broken english right back to you. Be ready for it.
My deal is; if the social health care system is so important; why would local governments hire private companies that DO NOT pay into the system? Using tax dollars to put give to private companies that openly mock the system by breaking the law.
If my company is to break the law, why is the f)&'%&76'&%&$%#%&#k should I?
Fuck paying kokumin hoken to a system that wont protect my rights. Fuck it until they decide that my rights are worth the taxes they charge me to live here.
...Unless Japan is so awesome for foreigners that we pay rent to live in Japan, rent to live in an apartment, pay twice as much for health care. Japan isnt great enough for all of that.
Any of you people teaching japanese overseas, make sure you let people know what they are getting themselves into when they sign up for Japanese 101.
How you may ask? Oh, someone from the local ward office called and asked for the information. My dumb ass company called me and said that someone was asking about the information. I replied, "You didnt tell them, right?" After some bs and about 3 weeks, i notice a gaping whole in my bank account.
Japan doesnt have a social health care system. Not for gaijin (foreigners). It is if we want to pay twice and much for the same coverage because our company knows that they can get away with not enrolling us.
This whole situation is so disgusting. I wish kids taking freshman japanese in college could hear about this. I would make people change their minds about wasting time studying a language to go to a country where people dont want you to go. And make no mistake, japanese people want people to come here for a year or two, see how beautiful it is, then leave. Too bad japanese expatriots arent held to the same standard.
This is a warning to all that are learning japanese, if you have plans on living in japan, you will need to have the attitude of an activist to be treated the way that you are expecting before you come here. You will speak perfect japanese to a person and they will speak broken english right back to you. Be ready for it.
My deal is; if the social health care system is so important; why would local governments hire private companies that DO NOT pay into the system? Using tax dollars to put give to private companies that openly mock the system by breaking the law.
If my company is to break the law, why is the f)&'%&76'&%&$%#%&#k should I?
Fuck paying kokumin hoken to a system that wont protect my rights. Fuck it until they decide that my rights are worth the taxes they charge me to live here.
...Unless Japan is so awesome for foreigners that we pay rent to live in Japan, rent to live in an apartment, pay twice as much for health care. Japan isnt great enough for all of that.
Any of you people teaching japanese overseas, make sure you let people know what they are getting themselves into when they sign up for Japanese 101.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
These kinds of days are there reason i love this job.
No classes means i sit at my desk and blog all morning. Beautiful weather. Time
to look at basketball stats. Time to check the news. Good stuff. Too bad I dont have a woman to go home to, but hey, life aint perfect.
I just created a blog for my fantasy league team. I need to learn how to use css, and learn a server side lanugage so i can widen my skill set. Using the web is cool on they end user side, but manipulating the web for ones own purposes has quickly become a necessity. Ill need to jump on that. I just hate reading long passages from a computer screen. I think i need to go on amazon and order a few books.
I got my abseentee ballot. Yes! I know many people dont feel like voting is a big deal, but as an educated black person, i know that black people couldnt really vote until the 60's. Certainly we could pay taxes, but in the south, via grandfather clauses and "literacy tests" we were kept from voting, much like faulty voting machines, long lines and the like these days. I wonder why more people dont vote by absentee ballot. I kinda see it as a duty to vote for all of my ancestors who werent allowed to.
I know that people say there isnt a big difference in the two parties, and 99 percent of the time, i agree, but now way can I allow a woman who can only do three interviews in a month WHEN SHE IS RUNNING FOR VICE PRESIDENT become president. I MUST vote.
I read a good solid hour everyday, online news from various sites, even the japanese newspaper. In no way can there be another president that reads less everyday than I do.
to look at basketball stats. Time to check the news. Good stuff. Too bad I dont have a woman to go home to, but hey, life aint perfect.
I just created a blog for my fantasy league team. I need to learn how to use css, and learn a server side lanugage so i can widen my skill set. Using the web is cool on they end user side, but manipulating the web for ones own purposes has quickly become a necessity. Ill need to jump on that. I just hate reading long passages from a computer screen. I think i need to go on amazon and order a few books.
I got my abseentee ballot. Yes! I know many people dont feel like voting is a big deal, but as an educated black person, i know that black people couldnt really vote until the 60's. Certainly we could pay taxes, but in the south, via grandfather clauses and "literacy tests" we were kept from voting, much like faulty voting machines, long lines and the like these days. I wonder why more people dont vote by absentee ballot. I kinda see it as a duty to vote for all of my ancestors who werent allowed to.
I know that people say there isnt a big difference in the two parties, and 99 percent of the time, i agree, but now way can I allow a woman who can only do three interviews in a month WHEN SHE IS RUNNING FOR VICE PRESIDENT become president. I MUST vote.
I read a good solid hour everyday, online news from various sites, even the japanese newspaper. In no way can there be another president that reads less everyday than I do.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Love songs a dying art?
I must admit that neyo and chris brown are most certainly talented. But in terms of the genre of love songs, it pretty much starts and ends with the two of them. And rhiannna is certainly a very slender, attractive 20 year old, but to compare her to whitney houston is not even a joke, it is an insult. Whitney had and has ZERO need to dance.
Another reason for my growing disillusion with american culture. Cant people do some things for reasons other than maximizing profit? Geez. We went from stevie wonder to what? Soulja Boy? The temptations to Flo Rida?
Damn, at least in the early ninties there were actually singing groups. Boyz II men, Az yet, Color me badd, 112. But you cant maximize profit when you split it with 3 other guys. Of course with three other guys, you can create harmony without using digital recordings of your own voice song in a different key.
America doesnt have any culture, just fads. Cavarichiis, Hammer pants, Boy bands, Cabbage patch kids, Carolina blue jordans, and the maccarena. No substance at all. People are trying to create traditions for christmas and all, but how can you when the local store that you buy your turkey and food stuffs from gets bought out by wal mart and replaced with hormone pumped, melamin laced, over fertilzied super food? America is the money jungle and survival in it has only to do with ones willingness to consume or devour someone weaker. Japan will never outsource kimono production to china. Italy will never outsource wine brewing to china. Mexico will never buy torillas made in China.
But americans buy american flags made in china. Flags that used to be made in america.
It is only natural that music turns into candy store, pop crap that gets old in a week. I have felt guilty when i downloaded honestly good music. But when ive downloaded crap, it was a relief to know that i saved money.
Does whitney houston listen to rhianna?
Does rhianna listen to whitney houston?
Do you think whitney houston listens to current pop/soul/r&b music when she is driving her car? I think not. I cat bearly tolerate my tv, much less mtv. I dont get anything out of it. When i hear stevie wonder sing, i feel emotion. When i hear 2pac, i feel it. When i hear Jay-Z, i feel nothing. LL? Nothing.
have people forget who Malcolm X and MLK were? Do they not acknowledge that officials in state across america are working to keep black people from voting in places like ohio and florida? Use your skill and talent to stir people. Not every song Jay Z and LL, but A song. Stop singing about selling drugs Jay Z. People around the world think all black men are god damn hustlers. Do a song about a woman you appreciate that isnt your mother. Do song about MLKs birthday (stevie wonder), a song about registering to vote. a song about something bigger than your wallet, your dick, getting into a girls pants, a car, how easily you will pop your gun off, and how street you are.
Sing about something bigger than yourself.
Another reason for my growing disillusion with american culture. Cant people do some things for reasons other than maximizing profit? Geez. We went from stevie wonder to what? Soulja Boy? The temptations to Flo Rida?
Damn, at least in the early ninties there were actually singing groups. Boyz II men, Az yet, Color me badd, 112. But you cant maximize profit when you split it with 3 other guys. Of course with three other guys, you can create harmony without using digital recordings of your own voice song in a different key.
America doesnt have any culture, just fads. Cavarichiis, Hammer pants, Boy bands, Cabbage patch kids, Carolina blue jordans, and the maccarena. No substance at all. People are trying to create traditions for christmas and all, but how can you when the local store that you buy your turkey and food stuffs from gets bought out by wal mart and replaced with hormone pumped, melamin laced, over fertilzied super food? America is the money jungle and survival in it has only to do with ones willingness to consume or devour someone weaker. Japan will never outsource kimono production to china. Italy will never outsource wine brewing to china. Mexico will never buy torillas made in China.
But americans buy american flags made in china. Flags that used to be made in america.
It is only natural that music turns into candy store, pop crap that gets old in a week. I have felt guilty when i downloaded honestly good music. But when ive downloaded crap, it was a relief to know that i saved money.
Does whitney houston listen to rhianna?
Does rhianna listen to whitney houston?
Do you think whitney houston listens to current pop/soul/r&b music when she is driving her car? I think not. I cat bearly tolerate my tv, much less mtv. I dont get anything out of it. When i hear stevie wonder sing, i feel emotion. When i hear 2pac, i feel it. When i hear Jay-Z, i feel nothing. LL? Nothing.
have people forget who Malcolm X and MLK were? Do they not acknowledge that officials in state across america are working to keep black people from voting in places like ohio and florida? Use your skill and talent to stir people. Not every song Jay Z and LL, but A song. Stop singing about selling drugs Jay Z. People around the world think all black men are god damn hustlers. Do a song about a woman you appreciate that isnt your mother. Do song about MLKs birthday (stevie wonder), a song about registering to vote. a song about something bigger than your wallet, your dick, getting into a girls pants, a car, how easily you will pop your gun off, and how street you are.
Sing about something bigger than yourself.
Monday, September 29, 2008
my hand hurts.
It is interesting to me that the only time we foreigners are seen as equals is when we are being asked to pay money. I can think of nowhere where i have gotten a discount for being forienger, but i have gotten ripped off because of it. I am suspicious that i have a broken bone in my left wrist.
I can
1) Use the cheap, New Zealand insurance that my company recommended (but is not considered adequate in Japan), pay all of my costs up front and hope for a rebate.
2) Sign up for insurance that covers (get this) people who are not working and pay the whole premium myself and 30 percent of the medical costs
3) Continue my petition for social health care where my company pays half the premium and i pay the other half plus 30 percent.
When i call my company, they say, call the insurance company in australia.
When i call the labor commision in fukuoka, they acknowledge that i am being wronged but the tax dollars being payed to employ them all are enough to force them to , guess what, regular labor practices.
When i call the city hall, they tell me to pay.
So why even write laws saying that people with full time jobs are entitled to social healthcare, without writing "unless they are foreigners" in the law. Because it isnt written, but it is there. I wonder how japanese people would feel if the australian or english governments excluded them from the system because they exclude british and australian people here from the system.
mark my words, the city hall will not get a dime from me until they get up off of their ass and enforce their own law.
One of the reasons the suicide rate here is so high is because of bullying. Sure there are signs, commercials, and hotlines for people to call, but its only lip service. In a society that not only turns a blind eye to bullying people weaker or in lower social positions, but to an extent protrays that as the definition of manliness, what do you think it would be normal for trains to be late once or twice a month at the local station due to businessmen jumping in front of trains. This is a place where a woman was raped in a commuter train bathroom and people stood by and did nothing. These large corporations just break the law openly, and yet the establishment sits by and wonders why their health care system is running short on money to care for old people. If you cant enforce the law, is it really a law? Or only a law for those stupid enough to obey it?
What is the benefit of paying taxes if no one will ever make you?
What is the benefit of being honest with your time card if there is no oversight against all the other people who are exploiting the system?
Why play by the rules if the refs have blindfolds on?
We like to believe in rules and order, but it is only a function of how important it is for everyone to have to follow them. What kind of rule makes sense if it has 15 exceptions? If the rule is to pay 10k dollars, you best believe i will find one of those exceptions that fits me.
The city hall is trying to bully me as the city hall and a large company against a long foreigner. But that wont play. We americans dont play that shit.
Enforce your law, then i will pay.
Ok, i cooled down a bit. As american, it is so disappointing hearing all of the merits of social health care, then i come to a country that supposedly has it, but i cant have it because im a foreigner.
Shame on Japan.
I can
1) Use the cheap, New Zealand insurance that my company recommended (but is not considered adequate in Japan), pay all of my costs up front and hope for a rebate.
2) Sign up for insurance that covers (get this) people who are not working and pay the whole premium myself and 30 percent of the medical costs
3) Continue my petition for social health care where my company pays half the premium and i pay the other half plus 30 percent.
When i call my company, they say, call the insurance company in australia.
When i call the labor commision in fukuoka, they acknowledge that i am being wronged but the tax dollars being payed to employ them all are enough to force them to , guess what, regular labor practices.
When i call the city hall, they tell me to pay.
So why even write laws saying that people with full time jobs are entitled to social healthcare, without writing "unless they are foreigners" in the law. Because it isnt written, but it is there. I wonder how japanese people would feel if the australian or english governments excluded them from the system because they exclude british and australian people here from the system.
mark my words, the city hall will not get a dime from me until they get up off of their ass and enforce their own law.
One of the reasons the suicide rate here is so high is because of bullying. Sure there are signs, commercials, and hotlines for people to call, but its only lip service. In a society that not only turns a blind eye to bullying people weaker or in lower social positions, but to an extent protrays that as the definition of manliness, what do you think it would be normal for trains to be late once or twice a month at the local station due to businessmen jumping in front of trains. This is a place where a woman was raped in a commuter train bathroom and people stood by and did nothing. These large corporations just break the law openly, and yet the establishment sits by and wonders why their health care system is running short on money to care for old people. If you cant enforce the law, is it really a law? Or only a law for those stupid enough to obey it?
What is the benefit of paying taxes if no one will ever make you?
What is the benefit of being honest with your time card if there is no oversight against all the other people who are exploiting the system?
Why play by the rules if the refs have blindfolds on?
We like to believe in rules and order, but it is only a function of how important it is for everyone to have to follow them. What kind of rule makes sense if it has 15 exceptions? If the rule is to pay 10k dollars, you best believe i will find one of those exceptions that fits me.
The city hall is trying to bully me as the city hall and a large company against a long foreigner. But that wont play. We americans dont play that shit.
Enforce your law, then i will pay.
Ok, i cooled down a bit. As american, it is so disappointing hearing all of the merits of social health care, then i come to a country that supposedly has it, but i cant have it because im a foreigner.
Shame on Japan.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Why Japanese Basketball has a long way to go.
This is not meant to be an essay, just a mere expression of my observations.
Yesterday i watch a tournament of 15 basketball teams of japanese middle schools. In that group of say 175 to 200 kids, i saw about 4 kids that could dribble well enough to beat the guy they were guarded by off the dribble with either hand.
So what does that have to do with anything.
1) I means that when a kid can beat his guy off the dribble, he is a the mercy of a referee having the guts to call a foul on a kid driving to the bucket. In other worlds. If a kid with premium skill is guarded by a stronger kid, the stronger kid get to recover not by his feet, but by his hands. The result, the stronger kid can basically push a kid out of bounds. That is not basketball. You guide the offensive player out of bounds with position, not with strenght of hand.
2) Offense is basically 4 or 5 passes around the key and a jump shot, or 4 or 5 passes, with a pass into the post and then he shots. There is movement, but not to the basket, only lateral movement. No backdoor cuts. Why? because if you get beat, you can just push the cutter out of position. That is not basketball.
3) The games are refereed by the teachers (coaches) of the leauge. Ordinarly, this may not be an issue if coaches are honest. But this is Japan, where places in society matter in word choice, behavior, everything. So guess who has the strongest basketball program in the county? The guy with the highest teaching position in the county. That is at the core of what is wrong with basketball in Japan. You are not good because of who you play for, you are good because of what you can do. I watch a game where this given teachers team play a quarter without a single foul. In fact, his team committed its first foul 13 minutes into the first half. The other team was in the bonus for a 2nd quarter by then. That isnt basketball either.
I love basketball, as i did my most cherished girlfriend. I can not and will not let japan try to japanize the basketball that MY KIDS play. Basketball is back door cuts, over the back calls, guts to call a travel, its even beating your man off the dribble. It isnt 15 passes in a possetion for no reason. It isnt having partical refs that use their game of being a referee to show acknowledgement of a given individuals place. A team hasnt gone to the Ken tai kai (State tournament equivalent) in 10 years. 10! That says everything that needs to be said about the state of basketball in Kasuya gun.
I saw only 2 or 3 teams that could correctly run a 3 on 2 break yesterday.
I worry that my kids will lose not because of their ability, but because the team they play against may be coached by a guy who is a vice principle.
That is where i draw the line with japan. Ok, you think black people arent good enough for your cute college educated daughters. Sure you think all we can do is sing dance and have a good time. Sure most of you cant name 3 black female actresses. Sure you are surprised that i can speak your language. But you will not, destroy the game of basketball for these kids.
Sports is the one play where the playing field is actually supposed to be level. If you take that away from middle school kids, what do they have left? only music and books. Sports is a way to express oneself via atheletic action. It is a way in which someone can define who they are. It is a way in which anything can happen in any given game.
And basketball is emblamatic of all of these things. Until japan understands these things, having a japanese nba player will remain but a dream.
Yesterday i watch a tournament of 15 basketball teams of japanese middle schools. In that group of say 175 to 200 kids, i saw about 4 kids that could dribble well enough to beat the guy they were guarded by off the dribble with either hand.
So what does that have to do with anything.
1) I means that when a kid can beat his guy off the dribble, he is a the mercy of a referee having the guts to call a foul on a kid driving to the bucket. In other worlds. If a kid with premium skill is guarded by a stronger kid, the stronger kid get to recover not by his feet, but by his hands. The result, the stronger kid can basically push a kid out of bounds. That is not basketball. You guide the offensive player out of bounds with position, not with strenght of hand.
2) Offense is basically 4 or 5 passes around the key and a jump shot, or 4 or 5 passes, with a pass into the post and then he shots. There is movement, but not to the basket, only lateral movement. No backdoor cuts. Why? because if you get beat, you can just push the cutter out of position. That is not basketball.
3) The games are refereed by the teachers (coaches) of the leauge. Ordinarly, this may not be an issue if coaches are honest. But this is Japan, where places in society matter in word choice, behavior, everything. So guess who has the strongest basketball program in the county? The guy with the highest teaching position in the county. That is at the core of what is wrong with basketball in Japan. You are not good because of who you play for, you are good because of what you can do. I watch a game where this given teachers team play a quarter without a single foul. In fact, his team committed its first foul 13 minutes into the first half. The other team was in the bonus for a 2nd quarter by then. That isnt basketball either.
I love basketball, as i did my most cherished girlfriend. I can not and will not let japan try to japanize the basketball that MY KIDS play. Basketball is back door cuts, over the back calls, guts to call a travel, its even beating your man off the dribble. It isnt 15 passes in a possetion for no reason. It isnt having partical refs that use their game of being a referee to show acknowledgement of a given individuals place. A team hasnt gone to the Ken tai kai (State tournament equivalent) in 10 years. 10! That says everything that needs to be said about the state of basketball in Kasuya gun.
I saw only 2 or 3 teams that could correctly run a 3 on 2 break yesterday.
I worry that my kids will lose not because of their ability, but because the team they play against may be coached by a guy who is a vice principle.
That is where i draw the line with japan. Ok, you think black people arent good enough for your cute college educated daughters. Sure you think all we can do is sing dance and have a good time. Sure most of you cant name 3 black female actresses. Sure you are surprised that i can speak your language. But you will not, destroy the game of basketball for these kids.
Sports is the one play where the playing field is actually supposed to be level. If you take that away from middle school kids, what do they have left? only music and books. Sports is a way to express oneself via atheletic action. It is a way in which someone can define who they are. It is a way in which anything can happen in any given game.
And basketball is emblamatic of all of these things. Until japan understands these things, having a japanese nba player will remain but a dream.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Am I a vampire?
As a college football fan, I gotta be. The Miami UNC game was awesome.
Im kinda getting used to it. I kinda have days where i just dont talk to anyone anyways. I have my boy Ken, he calls. but outside of him, my social life is flat when i am not at work. So why not just go to bed at 8 and wake to watch football.
I kinda find going out to be a dilemma. The club scene is a bit old. A trip to Infinity is a true display of darwinist theory in a meat (pussy) hunt survival of the fittest. Women basically look a guy up and down and decides in 3 to 5 seconds if he is worth a dance. Unfortuantly for us brotha, it is best to mimic the soulja boy wardrobe mixed with a little Mr T. No room for an intelligent come on there.
I have a few bars i like to go to. The people there are cool. But going to bars along to chill get a bit repetitive. Not to mention the topic of conversation with every new person i meet is the same.
Newly met japanese person: Wow you can speak japanese.
Me: Yes, i studied in school (just like most college students study a foreign language)
Newly met japanese person: How long have you been in japan?
Me: 5 years.
Newly met japanese person: How long are you going to stay in japan?
Me: Im not sure just yet.
Newly met japanese person: Wow, you japanese is so good.
What you must understand is that i have had this conversation at least 200 times...THIS YEAR. THAT gets old very quickly. So when those are the two choices, i just choose not to go out sometimes. I need to go to a good hip hop event, but in the last 3 years, japan has gone crazy over this new japanized version of reggie. I really dont like it and its hard for me to feel it. Japanese pop culture is notoriously fickle.
Ok ok, pop culture is fickle. Thats why i dont like it. I bearly even use my tv. it is such a relic. CNN, Sports Center, BS1 for sports, occasionally discovery channel (when they arent doing CSI/Hot Rod/Profiler/X files type science fiction crap) Im more interested in current events anyway.
I never thought i would become so disillusioned by media. Fake culture that is sitcom tv, music, and movies is just boring. These days, the actual news is much more (gulp) exciting in a very very bad way. I choose american football and basketball as my means of being distracted and fitting into the matrix.
Oh and a precious 30 days and 14 hours until NBA basketball.
Im kinda getting used to it. I kinda have days where i just dont talk to anyone anyways. I have my boy Ken, he calls. but outside of him, my social life is flat when i am not at work. So why not just go to bed at 8 and wake to watch football.
I kinda find going out to be a dilemma. The club scene is a bit old. A trip to Infinity is a true display of darwinist theory in a meat (pussy) hunt survival of the fittest. Women basically look a guy up and down and decides in 3 to 5 seconds if he is worth a dance. Unfortuantly for us brotha, it is best to mimic the soulja boy wardrobe mixed with a little Mr T. No room for an intelligent come on there.
I have a few bars i like to go to. The people there are cool. But going to bars along to chill get a bit repetitive. Not to mention the topic of conversation with every new person i meet is the same.
Newly met japanese person: Wow you can speak japanese.
Me: Yes, i studied in school (just like most college students study a foreign language)
Newly met japanese person: How long have you been in japan?
Me: 5 years.
Newly met japanese person: How long are you going to stay in japan?
Me: Im not sure just yet.
Newly met japanese person: Wow, you japanese is so good.
What you must understand is that i have had this conversation at least 200 times...THIS YEAR. THAT gets old very quickly. So when those are the two choices, i just choose not to go out sometimes. I need to go to a good hip hop event, but in the last 3 years, japan has gone crazy over this new japanized version of reggie. I really dont like it and its hard for me to feel it. Japanese pop culture is notoriously fickle.
Ok ok, pop culture is fickle. Thats why i dont like it. I bearly even use my tv. it is such a relic. CNN, Sports Center, BS1 for sports, occasionally discovery channel (when they arent doing CSI/Hot Rod/Profiler/X files type science fiction crap) Im more interested in current events anyway.
I never thought i would become so disillusioned by media. Fake culture that is sitcom tv, music, and movies is just boring. These days, the actual news is much more (gulp) exciting in a very very bad way. I choose american football and basketball as my means of being distracted and fitting into the matrix.
Oh and a precious 30 days and 14 hours until NBA basketball.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I feel the nerves now.
I will get progressively more nervous as the game nears on sunday.
I dont have to worry about this group of kids wanting to win, they are all very motivated to win. If we can box out properly, we can win this game. Dealing with kids, its important to let them know that giving their best is what is most important.
It is also important for them to know that effort is key to victory. It is the effort you give when you are tired that makes all the difference. You have to want it more, but you have to control your emotions while doing it.
The best kid on the team has incredible talent. His brother is an amazing player as a freshman in high school. But he is an emotional player. That must change. Emotions have only a small place in being a good player. A great defender can maniuplate is opponent's emotions to woo him into making bad decisions.
Mental toughness is the key to being a great player. You must hide your true emotions and instead play with your head. Of course expecting that from a group of 13 year olds is quite difficult. In fact, its almost lunicy. But they should know what i expect.
Man, i am nervous, and the game is two days away.
It is times like these where i dont need a woman, because i always have my true first love.
I love basketball so much. I would never marry a woman that had a problem with it. I will expect my children to play. And i will always need to be involved with it is some form or fashion for the rest of my life.
Kasuya Higashi, number one baby!
I dont have to worry about this group of kids wanting to win, they are all very motivated to win. If we can box out properly, we can win this game. Dealing with kids, its important to let them know that giving their best is what is most important.
It is also important for them to know that effort is key to victory. It is the effort you give when you are tired that makes all the difference. You have to want it more, but you have to control your emotions while doing it.
The best kid on the team has incredible talent. His brother is an amazing player as a freshman in high school. But he is an emotional player. That must change. Emotions have only a small place in being a good player. A great defender can maniuplate is opponent's emotions to woo him into making bad decisions.
Mental toughness is the key to being a great player. You must hide your true emotions and instead play with your head. Of course expecting that from a group of 13 year olds is quite difficult. In fact, its almost lunicy. But they should know what i expect.
Man, i am nervous, and the game is two days away.
It is times like these where i dont need a woman, because i always have my true first love.
I love basketball so much. I would never marry a woman that had a problem with it. I will expect my children to play. And i will always need to be involved with it is some form or fashion for the rest of my life.
Kasuya Higashi, number one baby!
I have these days where...
...I look in the sky and wonder how in the hell did my brother, sisters and i lose our mother so damn early.
I have months where i dont get a single email or phonecall from anyone in my family.
THAT is a result of Jaine Mae Thomas Pierce not being here.
The hardest part is that i grew up thinking that family was much different. When i was young and went to the youth church retreats, i was confident and to a point, cocky in my pride of the family i came from. My grandfather with an elementary school education worked to own a 50 plus acre farm and pastor of the church that held the summer camp for all of the black church of gods in the state of georgia. My father, an engineer who still had time to coach baseball games. My mother, slight in stature and reserved in public had an aura about her that drew attention everywhere she went. She raised a daughter after marrying a man that caused the pregnancy under dubious, i may even say forceful, circumstances. The marriage lasted less than 2 years as she left in the early seventies as a single black mother with a young daughter. She met my father and the rest is history.
But when i think of her, the strength she had, how she held our nuclear family together, I can now see how much we really lost. With her, we lost christmas. We lost sunday dinner. We lost "home". That home became just another house. That makes it all the more difficult for me to retain my emotional health on the bad days. I should have had more than 15 years. My brother should have had more than 6. He can never know what a real christmas is like. Its not about money, never has been. It is about family, the love that comes together when a healthy family celebrates life.
The reason we should respect women is simple. Without them, there is no us. Misogony and Male supremecy have come to be known as "Manly". Thoughtfulness and reservedness are seen as "weak" or "soft". Im cool with those labels if people are willing to admit that civilization hasnt moved forward any since ancient rome. It is still hard for me to use the "B" word for one reason, my mother.
The hardest part of me adjusting to this "so called" adult life, is that the outside accounts for 99% of what adult social life is. What car, What clothes, What hairstyle, What jewlry, weight, height, social circles, eye color.
How can i fit into a world where people care so little about who the people are that they spend their lives with. A world where its ok to steal from your neighbor so that you can be rich. Why should i want to black children in a world where as many as 15% of white americans are voting in the election simply because one candidate is black.
As i remember my mother, and keeping a spirit of generousity that both she and the father of my youth taught me, im glad that she doesnt have to live in this dog eat dog world. She doesnt have to see how much uglier humanity continues to become. She wont have to live through the basic breakdown of social order that is soon to come to America when enought people become desperate enough to do what they must to survive. Of course if she were here, im certain that my prioities in life would me much much more selfish.
But since she isnt, a new, different montrell, more interested in change than money was born.
Yet after 17 years, i miss her more today than ever. A song dedicated to her and all of the women that struggled to ensure my existance. (and one of my favorite rap songs ever)
I have months where i dont get a single email or phonecall from anyone in my family.
THAT is a result of Jaine Mae Thomas Pierce not being here.
The hardest part is that i grew up thinking that family was much different. When i was young and went to the youth church retreats, i was confident and to a point, cocky in my pride of the family i came from. My grandfather with an elementary school education worked to own a 50 plus acre farm and pastor of the church that held the summer camp for all of the black church of gods in the state of georgia. My father, an engineer who still had time to coach baseball games. My mother, slight in stature and reserved in public had an aura about her that drew attention everywhere she went. She raised a daughter after marrying a man that caused the pregnancy under dubious, i may even say forceful, circumstances. The marriage lasted less than 2 years as she left in the early seventies as a single black mother with a young daughter. She met my father and the rest is history.
But when i think of her, the strength she had, how she held our nuclear family together, I can now see how much we really lost. With her, we lost christmas. We lost sunday dinner. We lost "home". That home became just another house. That makes it all the more difficult for me to retain my emotional health on the bad days. I should have had more than 15 years. My brother should have had more than 6. He can never know what a real christmas is like. Its not about money, never has been. It is about family, the love that comes together when a healthy family celebrates life.
The reason we should respect women is simple. Without them, there is no us. Misogony and Male supremecy have come to be known as "Manly". Thoughtfulness and reservedness are seen as "weak" or "soft". Im cool with those labels if people are willing to admit that civilization hasnt moved forward any since ancient rome. It is still hard for me to use the "B" word for one reason, my mother.
The hardest part of me adjusting to this "so called" adult life, is that the outside accounts for 99% of what adult social life is. What car, What clothes, What hairstyle, What jewlry, weight, height, social circles, eye color.
How can i fit into a world where people care so little about who the people are that they spend their lives with. A world where its ok to steal from your neighbor so that you can be rich. Why should i want to black children in a world where as many as 15% of white americans are voting in the election simply because one candidate is black.
As i remember my mother, and keeping a spirit of generousity that both she and the father of my youth taught me, im glad that she doesnt have to live in this dog eat dog world. She doesnt have to see how much uglier humanity continues to become. She wont have to live through the basic breakdown of social order that is soon to come to America when enought people become desperate enough to do what they must to survive. Of course if she were here, im certain that my prioities in life would me much much more selfish.
But since she isnt, a new, different montrell, more interested in change than money was born.
Yet after 17 years, i miss her more today than ever. A song dedicated to her and all of the women that struggled to ensure my existance. (and one of my favorite rap songs ever)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Its been a long time...
...i shouldnta left you, without a dope rhyme to step to.
Well, lets see what goodies we have to look at today?
Wow.Wow.
On to other things, this weekend are the seeding games for the tourney that decides seeds for big tourney in july. In other words, important, but still an opportunity to teach the kids. I really enjoy coaching. I would like to say i have found my calling, but this kind of job is so tenuous, i can rarely look more than a year in the future. Damn, gotta pay high behind local taxes in a week.
The strategy this time is to jump on the team with a full court defense. They are bigger, but they only have one kid that can dribble. I am working on the kids goading him into picking up his dribble, or better yet, making long lobbing passes. My kids are small and quick, so we have to make sure they eat up their clock getting the ball over half court. Probably we will either play a soft man (no denying passes) or just bunch up into a zone. I havent decided just yet, but playing zone makes rebounding more difficult due to the confusion of the kids knowing who to box out. All things considered, we should win both games this weekend.
Well, lets see what goodies we have to look at today?
Wow.Wow.
On to other things, this weekend are the seeding games for the tourney that decides seeds for big tourney in july. In other words, important, but still an opportunity to teach the kids. I really enjoy coaching. I would like to say i have found my calling, but this kind of job is so tenuous, i can rarely look more than a year in the future. Damn, gotta pay high behind local taxes in a week.
The strategy this time is to jump on the team with a full court defense. They are bigger, but they only have one kid that can dribble. I am working on the kids goading him into picking up his dribble, or better yet, making long lobbing passes. My kids are small and quick, so we have to make sure they eat up their clock getting the ball over half court. Probably we will either play a soft man (no denying passes) or just bunch up into a zone. I havent decided just yet, but playing zone makes rebounding more difficult due to the confusion of the kids knowing who to box out. All things considered, we should win both games this weekend.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Another day at the office
I grow more pretentious about the election daily. As a black american, i dont really feel i have a culture or a home. Just survival skills and chri'mas. I do really wish i knew my true ethnicity, where my family was really from, but history kinda took care of that. I wouldnt have minded being jamacian or hatian or someone from a country rain by people that look like them.
Instead, im from a country of people that think like this. People that think the world belongs to them. That us killing innocent afghan kids isnt a big deal, but 9/11 is the worst tragedy ever. The both are bad. Horrible. But kids shouldnt die in adult wars.
Anyways, maybe thinking too much is not good, as it leads to finding out the truth about people. That we kill each other, take advantage of each other, use each other, all for our own means.
I assume someday, something very very good will happen to change the fate of humanity, or something really really bad will happen to change the fate of humanity.
And by good, i dont mean something that involves killing or torturing anyone.
Monday, September 8, 2008
"Dont Front" doesnt apply in Japan
We all learn lessons in life, and i just finished learning a good one.
Being the Selfless niceguy is being stupid.
Not that i can possibly be more cynical than i already am, but after having a girlfriend/female friend for nearly 5 years, on and off dating and my sacrificing japanese progress by only speaking english, it ends with her saying Im her "brother" both no longer have any romantic interest. What did it mean everytime she said "I appreciate that."
Translated, "I will call you when I am bored or need more help with English".
It completes my totally changed view of asian women, and it helps me understand why guys come over here for a year or two, fuck their brains out then leave. Or worse yet, marry one, and stay here and fuck as many other women as possible. I actually feel good because her english is american eventhough her aspiration is somewhere else. I sacrificed for her and she cant forget that. Emotionally, im not even hurt that much. And i know i helped someone help reach their dream, even if they gave very little back.
But using the word brother, and good friend, and appreciate, and grateful? The are just words she learn out of some book. I hate the politeness of japan sometimes because its so fake. People live these lives behind masks trying so hard to say the right thing. It ends up with many people living lives without purpose and passion and living lives concerned with how people view them.
When they say "when in rome, do as the romans" I understand it now.
To continue to use someone who is constantly asking if they are being used, and for that person to say constantly that they arent using you. How can you trust someone that will do that? Why not just say "You know, i think you have the wrong idea, ill just find someone else to help me"
Society here isnt about right and wrong. Saying sorry is just words. A guy who is about to be fired because of incompetence overspeeds a train that runs into an apartment building killing 100 people. Company officials make a big scene saying they are sorry. Almost 2 years later, people in Hyogo who lost family still dont know why one person would do something like that. They only have video tapes and writing letters in flowery japanese language, but no answers or vindication.
A drunk driver hits a car and kills three kids. The next day he is on tv saying he is sorry? Sorry? Sorry that you took three lives? Sorry you were drunk? Sorry you chose to drive? Sorry you sped away after hitting the car and leaving them there?
He should explain why he is sorry and what he will do to make up for it.
In japan Saying Sorry = Being Sorry.
In the west, saying sorry in itself means shit. Its what you do after.
This is a pretty long ramble today, but this whole saying sorry and not really meaning it (via action) gets people roughed up back home. Here people act like all a person can really do is say sorry.
And the drunk driver will be out of jail in less than 10 years.
I am proud that emotionally, my ex girls words didnt hurt so much. What is at issue is of course, how will i treat the asian girls i meet from now own. I feel this repressed dog inside me, i have always fought him back down.
Maybe its just time to let the dog out. Maybe snoop was right...
...
Being the Selfless niceguy is being stupid.
Not that i can possibly be more cynical than i already am, but after having a girlfriend/female friend for nearly 5 years, on and off dating and my sacrificing japanese progress by only speaking english, it ends with her saying Im her "brother" both no longer have any romantic interest. What did it mean everytime she said "I appreciate that."
Translated, "I will call you when I am bored or need more help with English".
It completes my totally changed view of asian women, and it helps me understand why guys come over here for a year or two, fuck their brains out then leave. Or worse yet, marry one, and stay here and fuck as many other women as possible. I actually feel good because her english is american eventhough her aspiration is somewhere else. I sacrificed for her and she cant forget that. Emotionally, im not even hurt that much. And i know i helped someone help reach their dream, even if they gave very little back.
But using the word brother, and good friend, and appreciate, and grateful? The are just words she learn out of some book. I hate the politeness of japan sometimes because its so fake. People live these lives behind masks trying so hard to say the right thing. It ends up with many people living lives without purpose and passion and living lives concerned with how people view them.
When they say "when in rome, do as the romans" I understand it now.
To continue to use someone who is constantly asking if they are being used, and for that person to say constantly that they arent using you. How can you trust someone that will do that? Why not just say "You know, i think you have the wrong idea, ill just find someone else to help me"
Society here isnt about right and wrong. Saying sorry is just words. A guy who is about to be fired because of incompetence overspeeds a train that runs into an apartment building killing 100 people. Company officials make a big scene saying they are sorry. Almost 2 years later, people in Hyogo who lost family still dont know why one person would do something like that. They only have video tapes and writing letters in flowery japanese language, but no answers or vindication.
A drunk driver hits a car and kills three kids. The next day he is on tv saying he is sorry? Sorry? Sorry that you took three lives? Sorry you were drunk? Sorry you chose to drive? Sorry you sped away after hitting the car and leaving them there?
He should explain why he is sorry and what he will do to make up for it.
In japan Saying Sorry = Being Sorry.
In the west, saying sorry in itself means shit. Its what you do after.
This is a pretty long ramble today, but this whole saying sorry and not really meaning it (via action) gets people roughed up back home. Here people act like all a person can really do is say sorry.
And the drunk driver will be out of jail in less than 10 years.
I am proud that emotionally, my ex girls words didnt hurt so much. What is at issue is of course, how will i treat the asian girls i meet from now own. I feel this repressed dog inside me, i have always fought him back down.
Maybe its just time to let the dog out. Maybe snoop was right...
...
Friday, September 5, 2008
You mean i can blog on the toilet too?
How convienient.
After a morning of coaching middle school basketball i decided to spit a little on my blog.
Teaching kids requires three things; repetition, patience and repetition. and more repetition. I taught these kids so much last year and now its like they have forgotten all of it. I want to pop someone in the head to make them remember sometimes.
I have gotten better as a ref and i can feel the game a bit better.
I have decided to run a man to man without denial defense to make sure we can rebound better. Its so hard to teach help defense, it takes time for kids to understand that they should look at the ball and their man at the same time.
All of this said, we will definitly make some noise in the tournament next month.
After a morning of coaching middle school basketball i decided to spit a little on my blog.
Teaching kids requires three things; repetition, patience and repetition. and more repetition. I taught these kids so much last year and now its like they have forgotten all of it. I want to pop someone in the head to make them remember sometimes.
I have gotten better as a ref and i can feel the game a bit better.
I have decided to run a man to man without denial defense to make sure we can rebound better. Its so hard to teach help defense, it takes time for kids to understand that they should look at the ball and their man at the same time.
All of this said, we will definitly make some noise in the tournament next month.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I have decided to join the dark side.
After 32 years of living my life criticizing referees, i have decided to learn how to do the damn thing myself. Actually i have been kind of nugdged into it by the system.
In sports clubs in japan, not only must the teacher sponsor learn how to teach and play the sport, but they are also response at times for officiating games. This of course leads to some officials that dont know what the hell they are doing, but it also leads to so people really learning the sport from both ends.
That said, i started about 3 months ago attempting to ref games and took part in a clinic that had my work critiqued by a true veteran japanese official who acutally welcomed and endeared himself to me and the idea of me reffing games.
The nicest part about doing it is learning how clearly refs can affect a game.
But it is also nice to ref a game where the more skilled team wins and no one notices there is a ref on the court, i think the best example was maybe game 4 or 5 of the spurs hornets series. I think the hornets maybe lost the game but the radio annoucers were bubbling over at the smoothness of the game.
I give myself to the dark side. Maybe now, i wont be so hard on refs when i coach.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
14 minutes until class.
I find myself wavering back and forth on where i want to take my career. I see the corporate world, knowing it is there and knowing if i give it 10 years, i could be making six figures. But i also know that it will change me.
Making money is important. But i feel that it is best to do something that helps people and make money in the process. Not like i feel like i am jesus in my school, but the asian stereotypes of black people bother me quite a bit. Even my rap career has be tempered a bit by my like of desire to propetuate common stereotypes held my asians.
You can see the teeter totter. sometimes i feel the pressing urge to find my career five years from now, and other times i see that speaking solid japanese as a black person in itself offers opportunity. This is one of those things that i will have to set a date and come to terms with. I am glad that the jlpt will be offered more often. Now i can fail it twice and year and not just once. ;-)
What i do enjoy is the fact that the kids of Kasuya have the chance to see something that contradicts everything they see on tv when they see Bobby goofing off. They see a black person who isnt a hustler or a clown. Just a normal intelligent black guy. Its funny how quickly the kids take to it and yet i still have trouble befriending older adults. I guess the adult part of society is so tightly knit or so predetermined, that there is no room for a foreigner in most adult peoples lives.
I feel sorry for people who expect everyday to be like yesterday and look forward to retirement.
I have always had this burning desire to actually LIVE my life. Not just by making money, but by making it doing something that is fun, time-worthy, beneficial to many people, and will be remembered for its creativity and usefulness.
I guess i cant shake these idealistic principles that i grew up having. Of course if i didnt watch my wonderful mother die as such a young age, i would probably spend more time thinking of the future than the present. But looking at the present and seeing so many people in the rat race so unhappy with their lives using their salaries and what they can buy as their main means of validating their existance, i fear that is as bad as being homeless.
People will remember Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman long after the death of Warren Buffet and who ever the richest oil man is in the middle east, unless of course they turn over their vast fortunes for the benefit of all people.
Oh, time to go the class.
Making money is important. But i feel that it is best to do something that helps people and make money in the process. Not like i feel like i am jesus in my school, but the asian stereotypes of black people bother me quite a bit. Even my rap career has be tempered a bit by my like of desire to propetuate common stereotypes held my asians.
You can see the teeter totter. sometimes i feel the pressing urge to find my career five years from now, and other times i see that speaking solid japanese as a black person in itself offers opportunity. This is one of those things that i will have to set a date and come to terms with. I am glad that the jlpt will be offered more often. Now i can fail it twice and year and not just once. ;-)
What i do enjoy is the fact that the kids of Kasuya have the chance to see something that contradicts everything they see on tv when they see Bobby goofing off. They see a black person who isnt a hustler or a clown. Just a normal intelligent black guy. Its funny how quickly the kids take to it and yet i still have trouble befriending older adults. I guess the adult part of society is so tightly knit or so predetermined, that there is no room for a foreigner in most adult peoples lives.
I feel sorry for people who expect everyday to be like yesterday and look forward to retirement.
I have always had this burning desire to actually LIVE my life. Not just by making money, but by making it doing something that is fun, time-worthy, beneficial to many people, and will be remembered for its creativity and usefulness.
I guess i cant shake these idealistic principles that i grew up having. Of course if i didnt watch my wonderful mother die as such a young age, i would probably spend more time thinking of the future than the present. But looking at the present and seeing so many people in the rat race so unhappy with their lives using their salaries and what they can buy as their main means of validating their existance, i fear that is as bad as being homeless.
People will remember Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman long after the death of Warren Buffet and who ever the richest oil man is in the middle east, unless of course they turn over their vast fortunes for the benefit of all people.
Oh, time to go the class.
Monday, September 1, 2008
I shoulda had this blog a long time ago.
I have the times where i need to vent. Times I want to share joy. Times I want to get stuff off my chest. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, google, and my decision to ignore my maliase, i finally have a way.
So my plan is set. Find a way to make my local board of education feel guilty for hiring a good worker who volunteers extra time to teach basketball part time. The main practice here will be simply sending a work sheet stamped daily by a principle or vice principle at the end of every day showing the times im usually at school and faxing it to my board of education along with every day that i go to coach basketball practice.
Now i must believe that they can feel guilt or sympathy for me not as a gaijin but as a person.
Other than than, im pretty damn hype about the basketball team this year. It would be nice if basketball got more tv exposure here, we could use 2 or 3 of the 21 7th grade baseball players to make our team round out to 8 or 9 kids. basketball is still some what of an underground culture here, kinda like say rugby in america or say american football in europe. People get to see tiny bits and pieces of it, but dont have a chance to fall in love with it. Baseball is king here.
Did i mention that i havent watched a full inning of pro baseball this year (but that little league world series is always riveting!!)
I must be rambling again, writing this long posts. I gotta do some planning for my private tonight. and i cant forget to take out the burnable garbage tonight. Find someway to eat a decent dinner without going back home. I need to find out how to teach 13 yr olds how to play a match up zone.
and i gotta find a place to watch streaming video of American ESPN. Thank goodness for football season. Gotta see what them Georgia Bulldogs gone do this year.
I met a young lady from california Oshioke I think, and she didnt know where UGA was.
Unbelievable, UGA hosted olympic soccer in 1994 at stegman. Californias gots to give GA its props.
So my plan is set. Find a way to make my local board of education feel guilty for hiring a good worker who volunteers extra time to teach basketball part time. The main practice here will be simply sending a work sheet stamped daily by a principle or vice principle at the end of every day showing the times im usually at school and faxing it to my board of education along with every day that i go to coach basketball practice.
Now i must believe that they can feel guilt or sympathy for me not as a gaijin but as a person.
Other than than, im pretty damn hype about the basketball team this year. It would be nice if basketball got more tv exposure here, we could use 2 or 3 of the 21 7th grade baseball players to make our team round out to 8 or 9 kids. basketball is still some what of an underground culture here, kinda like say rugby in america or say american football in europe. People get to see tiny bits and pieces of it, but dont have a chance to fall in love with it. Baseball is king here.
Did i mention that i havent watched a full inning of pro baseball this year (but that little league world series is always riveting!!)
I must be rambling again, writing this long posts. I gotta do some planning for my private tonight. and i cant forget to take out the burnable garbage tonight. Find someway to eat a decent dinner without going back home. I need to find out how to teach 13 yr olds how to play a match up zone.
and i gotta find a place to watch streaming video of American ESPN. Thank goodness for football season. Gotta see what them Georgia Bulldogs gone do this year.
I met a young lady from california Oshioke I think, and she didnt know where UGA was.
Unbelievable, UGA hosted olympic soccer in 1994 at stegman. Californias gots to give GA its props.
I say can a brotha get some overtime?
I know that world wide, the idea of overtime is a dying concept. I understand that with the global economic crunch, some businesses have difficulty with paying the extra money. Im cool with that.
But this is principle. as a part time worker with few benefits, one of those few benifits is and has always been the right to partition for overtime pay for hours worked over the minimum required. As futile as it may seem, I intend to challenge the idea of part time workers recieving overtime in the great country of Japan.
I remember being young and hearing my mother chastize me for not speaking up for myself. Now I can shut up. In this case, it is as simple as Japanese people coming to America expecting equal treatment under the law, but not giving Americans equal protection under the laws in their country. When i say i enjoy this as a hobby, i dont mean enjoy like make love enjoy or play basketball enjoy, but as in looking back at a finished project enjoy, or fighting through a rough baskeball season enjoy.
Having a game plan is always tatamount to tackling and completing a seemingly insurmountable task. My task is simple, become a full time employee for the board of educationt that i work for. Or at least it sounds simple. Japanese law says someone in my position should be a full time employee or at least i should have been offered a full time position. Not being offered one has led to troubles with the city hall requesting the full insurance amount from me the individual and not the company that hires me (social health care).
Company...Japanese
Me...Gaijin.
Who wins? At least in the beginning it would seem the troublesome gaijin would just accept the unfair treatment and just 1) continue under the circumstances or 2) go back home. But I have invested too much of my life into learning this language.
There is a saying that gai(koku)jin have for japan; "Dont try to change Japan"
As i can recall, Japanese people were successful in many ways in changing (small parts) of Americans. As Americans, we are taught to believe that we can do anything.
Including changing that which is said cant be changed.
But this is principle. as a part time worker with few benefits, one of those few benifits is and has always been the right to partition for overtime pay for hours worked over the minimum required. As futile as it may seem, I intend to challenge the idea of part time workers recieving overtime in the great country of Japan.
I remember being young and hearing my mother chastize me for not speaking up for myself. Now I can shut up. In this case, it is as simple as Japanese people coming to America expecting equal treatment under the law, but not giving Americans equal protection under the laws in their country. When i say i enjoy this as a hobby, i dont mean enjoy like make love enjoy or play basketball enjoy, but as in looking back at a finished project enjoy, or fighting through a rough baskeball season enjoy.
Having a game plan is always tatamount to tackling and completing a seemingly insurmountable task. My task is simple, become a full time employee for the board of educationt that i work for. Or at least it sounds simple. Japanese law says someone in my position should be a full time employee or at least i should have been offered a full time position. Not being offered one has led to troubles with the city hall requesting the full insurance amount from me the individual and not the company that hires me (social health care).
Company...Japanese
Me...Gaijin.
Who wins? At least in the beginning it would seem the troublesome gaijin would just accept the unfair treatment and just 1) continue under the circumstances or 2) go back home. But I have invested too much of my life into learning this language.
There is a saying that gai(koku)jin have for japan; "Dont try to change Japan"
As i can recall, Japanese people were successful in many ways in changing (small parts) of Americans. As Americans, we are taught to believe that we can do anything.
Including changing that which is said cant be changed.
Gotta start somewhere.
I guess i could have started this blog 5 years ago but そのようにしたら、面白くならんと思う (Ha). I could write for days with this initial post, but i will keep it simple by saying that there are just a few major things going on at the current time in my life.
* teaching english to middle school japanese kids
* coach the basketball team at one of my two middle schools
* fighting for my rights as a full time worker (social health care), its almost a hobby now.
* an erract social life that goes from very very dead to crazy in a random fashion
* a dying desire to get in shape via playing basketball
I guess from time to time i will be speaking on all of these topics. I have a tendency to be a bit cynical and maybe even pessimistic, but its only a shield to keep everyone except that right person from getting too close. You will see behind some of my pessimism a deeply intellectual person who anyalizes the society and environment around me while fighting to remain idealistic and somewhat spiritual and not caught up in the dogma of religion.
All of this said, the fukuoka-shi higashi-kuyakusho gave my employer a call today asking about my employment and maybe even to ask from bank details so they can take money from my bank account. It would have been nice if they called asking if i had been a full time worker for three years and why they hadnt enrolled me in social insurance yet. I have my thoughts on this situation, but ill just say that here, sometimes its just easier to blame the outsider rather and enforce the law.
More on all of that later.
* teaching english to middle school japanese kids
* coach the basketball team at one of my two middle schools
* fighting for my rights as a full time worker (social health care), its almost a hobby now.
* an erract social life that goes from very very dead to crazy in a random fashion
* a dying desire to get in shape via playing basketball
I guess from time to time i will be speaking on all of these topics. I have a tendency to be a bit cynical and maybe even pessimistic, but its only a shield to keep everyone except that right person from getting too close. You will see behind some of my pessimism a deeply intellectual person who anyalizes the society and environment around me while fighting to remain idealistic and somewhat spiritual and not caught up in the dogma of religion.
All of this said, the fukuoka-shi higashi-kuyakusho gave my employer a call today asking about my employment and maybe even to ask from bank details so they can take money from my bank account. It would have been nice if they called asking if i had been a full time worker for three years and why they hadnt enrolled me in social insurance yet. I have my thoughts on this situation, but ill just say that here, sometimes its just easier to blame the outsider rather and enforce the law.
More on all of that later.
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