Cleaning as a hobby

Well today was tiring, from the point of view where we did a major laundering of all our curtains. probably long overdue, but you have to wonder, what is the real price of dust?

Dusting for a living

Many a time I think it’s annoying how cleanliness seems to take a priority over forming real relationships and actually taking time to communicate. But then again, it could just be me who feels this way when I see people washing the sidewalk or sweeping their driveway daily.

I suppose they could be doing worse things like writing about it.

Busy is as busy does

Recently I feel I’m busier and busier, but to what end? Recently someone I know is talking of moving out of Japan to find work, whereas her spouse is being told to stay here as he has work and may find it difficult to find comparable pay in another country. But this woman doesn’t seem to consider about the price of keeping two households. Sounds like a Hollywood marriage in the making.

I keep wondering, how tied to work is our self-esteem? I know for myself it is difficult to imagine if you don’t have money, then shouldn’t you look for work somewhere rather than keep lamenting how every job just doesn’t fit your ideal job list? But what should we do when our dream job doesn’t seem to be available? You’d think one would look for something comparable to do, or just find something else you’d like to do.

I guess I need to remember the last time when I felt depressed because I couldn’t keep the job I wanted. Wait, that day may be coming sooner than I thought! But it is hard to divine what would be the ideal job. For now or at that time or until you know something better? I suppose you could call me a restless American, but how would you know? Of course, probably deep down you might feel it is as good as it gets.

Almost ‘German’ atmosphere

Feeling German?

I went to the Asahi Oktoberfest in Hibiya Park tonight. Talk about the worst parts of something being copied. A German festival with no German beer, wait, they did have German-Canadian beer (I’ll let you figure that one out)! And music, but the marching type, repeated each hour, with techno crap in between sandwiched with Asahi beer ads.

It was nice to drink beer outside in a park, but I could do that without eating bad German food (oh, did I forget to mention that, American hot dogs with sauerkraut). Yes, when the Japanese copy something, it’s always better (according to someone)!

Really, doesn’t Asahi know how to do a beer festival by now? They did have pictures of the festival in Munich, and it looked so much better (and much more crowded). Oh well, can’t have everything, can we? Guess it’s time to head out to Germany again with my stein!

About moi

I grew up in Bristol, Connecticut in the US. Not the most exciting of places, but sometimes dead calm does lead to strange consequences.

I lived in Hong Kong and Taiwan before surfacing in Japan. I miss Hong Kong the most, not sure why sometimes, more the energy I guess.

Anyhow, I’m living in Tokyo in Japan. Have been here since the summer of 1997, but have hardly mastered the local language. Oh well, can’t have everything, right? I suppose it’s a matter of laziness and a case of the coach not being the best athlete so to speak. In other words, sometimes the best teachers are not the best students.

I keep myself busy teaching at a language school and 3 universities. How busy depends on the amount of homework I give and the economy.

A lot about nothing

September 1 2008

Hi all,

I have made this blog to share my thoughts when I get them (well, the ones worth sharing anyway). Hope to get you reading away soon!

The price of bull

The price of bull

There’s a guy at work, and I have to wonder how he can spend so much money on shoes. Granted, if he had a high-powered job, I might think the high shine on his shoes would go with the wax on his resumé. But for a language school teacher to be wearing 400 dollar shoes? Something doesn’t jive, unless his other job is hosting! But somehow I doubt it, he just seems to have fallen for high-end consumerism.

Have to wonder, do 400 dollar shoes last that much longer than cheaper ones? I know we all know the adage of paying for quality, but doesn’t there come a point when you’re paying more for the ad man’s bull than the cow’s skin? Of course, the same goes when we shell out for a happening bar’s drink or plunk down hard cash for a ticket of some sorts. Everyone has a price, and what they relish from buying into that experience greatly varies.

This same individual goes to a sandwich chain every day, and I think, how mundane. But are the meals that my dear spouse makes any less so? Probably not, though I suppose the emotional connection is dearer in more ways than one. So where does one draw the line on what is bull and what is value? It seems like an individual’s values decide that, and people do what they want to do until they decide to change or are forced by circumstances to do otherwise.

Round and round we go

Ever wonder why it’s so easy to fall into arguments with females?  Could you tell me what your secret is? It always seems females often take things the wrong way. I suppose they don’t have the rhino skins that men seem to be born with, so that must be part of it.

But often you find the conversation wandering in directions you can never forsee, and then suddenly someone is boo hooing that you are not careful about what you say. Of course, tact is a skill, but must it be used in every conversation to the point where one’s speech is so heavily guarded that you cannot agree to disagree nor discuss anything remotely controversial?

I have to wonder if being politically correct is being taken to a new level and men are just not aware of it yet.

Losing my reality

Losing my reality

Have to wonder where my sense of being is recently.  Keep thinking that life has to have more than work (and travel).  Then again, there are lots of moments that I wish I could lose, but they all are precious in the end. So perhaps we have to endure and experience all that we live through to get to where we’re going.

Second winds

Funny, whenever I get to late afternoon on Wednesdays (and Thursdays too) during my uni semesters, I know I’m either going to have a great class or a  belated hurrah as I try to hope for a second wind (though sometimes when I have a longer teaching day, it’s more like a 3rd or 4th wind). You get times when you may have a flimsy lesson plan, some haphazard ideas, and it all comes together brilliantly as you tumble from one activity to the next. Some of the best lessons I have taught have come out this way, half scripted, half spontaneous episodes of free form assaults.

Second wind

Of course, as you have more teaching experience under your belt, you know better when to punt activities that are not going anywhere, or to modify them into something more digestible for the students. But how to call instantaneous audibles at the line where you’re not carrying the whole team as your offensive line or lesson atmosphere falls apart? It’s always a judgement call, and with classes that are at best half involved, that may be as good as it gets, half confused involvement where you feel you’re doing more pulling than leading. But even with these classes, there are times where you get the whole mass moving and motivated, and those are the moments when it is very satisfying to be a teacher.

Just another ‘thinking about work’ day

I sometimes wonder how much of each day is spent thinking about work or tasks than actually doing them. I suppose it might be a form of day dreaming, or the subconscious working. Goal making in your dreams sounds very surreal, but it has the advantage of being unscripted and much more free associating than the usual lists people draft at year’s end or at certain times in their life. Certainly for myself, getting too comfortable or complacent can stop someone from really achieving what they feel they can. But often visualizing what one thinks is possible is the first step toward accomplishment of that task.

As the Nike slogan says ‘Just do it’ can be a mistake in realization. How often do we think of offing someone who is annoying or rude? Well, probably more often than we’d care to admit in many cases. Contemplation in a fast paced world is not always a bad thing, and may lead to bigger returns in the long run. Of course, convincing your boss that you are really working when you seem to be just looking off into space with a memo pad with seemingly unconnected phrases on it may be a herculean task.