Being good too good to be true

The other day pulled a sharp comment while talking about cockroaches. We were talking about heating the home at night (my ‘cheap’ coworkers worry about dry air, uh huh, but not freezing faces or the appearance of camping inside a house or apartment), and I mentioned how there is a problem with flying cockroaches in HK, yet many places don’t have screens on the windows. Japan seems to share the same problem, the no screens bit. Even on newer places, the landlords just don’t seem to want to ante up.

Anyway back to my comment, a female worker popped her head into the room, and I quipped, “Don’t worry, we weren’t referring to you when we were talking about pests we can’t get rid of!” Left with nary a peep.

Oh well, you can’t please everyone, might as well please someone.

Reminds me of a character online who keeps quoting G K Chesterton, especially the religious aspects. Actually the non-religious aspects are a much easier sell, the man was against imperialism (and socialism and capitalism, oh brother, here comes utopia). He certainly was a proflic writer who considered himself more of a journalist than a writer. He actually seems to have been very good at being both.

Why is it though so many good writers want to find their god and give him credit for everything? What’s wrong with believing that skill, a little luck, and timing can do it?

work in progress

Hey Miki!

I have to wonder what Miki Ando did to get so disliked in Japan. She seems to be a contender in women’s figure skating with medal chances. Of course she did poorly in the last winter Olympics in Torino, but she has chances. Even though I consider Mao Asada the better skater form wise, of late she hasn’t been very impressive.

Perhaps Miki just hasn’t been cute enough and lived up to her potential as much as fickle Japanese fans wished she had. I think for athletes competing, they’re all good, far better than I would probably ever be. So why not cheer for them all, even the ‘original’ bad boy snowboarder, who came home with nothing?

Well, have found out a little more. Seems Miki was having a relationship with her trainer, a foreigner of all things! Can’t have that in Japan, people creating scandals with foreigners!

in progress

Olympic business

Have to wonder with the Olympics if it is worth all the fuss and bother. Are sports events that are labeled as international becoming just global business as some claim? Whenever I see people rooting for only their entrants to win, but are not interested in the medal winners from other countries, I have to wonder. Isn’t it all about the athletes competing against the best in the world?

Of course, I’m not saying I don’t feel some pride when I see athletes from my own country or from my adopted home Japan doing well. But let’s face it, a good performance by a top athlete is great regardless of who wins. I am always chagrined when people ask me who the American athletes are. For some sports I have no idea, they are perhaps not well-known. And if I don’t follow that sport, which for most I don’t, how would I know?

I don’t want to wear a flag on my chest (or my backpack) and am not really interested in doing so. I often enjoy the opening and closing ceremonies more than the events themselves. Artistry for me is important, and good sportsmanship. The stories about training and succeeding against great odds are uplifting, and I find those more part and parcel of the true Olympic spirit than stories about people trained under professional regimes to win symbols of national glory.

Grammar police take sumo stumble

Was posting on a coworker’s facebook site about a sumo champion retiring. Made a comment about  that ‘fat bastard’ could come out of retirement, and had people mistake that Asa should return. But since he would never get a stable to help him back in, how would he do it?  Obviously I was referring to Mike Myer’s Fat Bastard in the movie Goldmember

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNIfKjCEPq4&feature=PlayList&p=F35DB4B473F7CD26&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=10

And these guys thought Asa wasn’t fat, could have fooled me?

Anyway, some teachers need a break from their work as they sometimes stumble on simple points when they should be looking at the context within the discussion.

One, as they noted, Asa is not as  big as some other sumo wrestlers they named, so why wouldn’t they all be fat bastards?

Two, it is impossible for Asa to come out of retirement with any stable (including the one he left) as the sumo association is the one who forced him into retirement. I mean, unless he’s going to wrestle on the Hawaiian circuit, who would take him?

Context…guys, context..

Who me... fat?

Tripping along

Still giving some thought to this coming summer. Have two legs to plan, one in Europe and one in the US. Difficult to decide who to see and where to go. Also how much time we can afford away is another issue, which will obviously affect scheduling.

I almost wish we could only go to the US, but my wife will object if we hope to that. But I haven’t had a chance to visit the US in almost 3 years (come this summer). Anyway, I hope to be going around just New England, but with the number of places (and faces) to visit, it will take some time.

Of course, a more relaxed drive would be better, but it depends on many miles we need to cover per day. Looking at a swing around Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire (briefly), Vermont, and Massachusetts again before returning to Connecticut where my parents live.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Bristol&1s=CT&1y=US&1l=41.6717&1g=-72.949699&1v=CITY&2c=Gloucester&2s=MA&2y=US&2l=42.615799&2g=-70.662498&2v=CITY#b/maps/m:map:4:43.465587:-70.706247::::::1:1:::::::::/l:::Bristol:CT::US:41.6717:-72.949699:city::1:::/l:::Gloucester:MA::US:42.615799:-70.662498:city::1:::/l:::Freeport:ME::US:43.856899:-70.1036:city:Cumberland+County:1:::/l:::Bar+Harbor:ME::US:44.387501:-68.204399:city:Hancock+County:1:::/l:::Milo:ME::US:45.253601:-68.986397:city:Piscataquis+County:1:::/l:::Hanover:NH::US:43.702202:-72.290001:city:Grafton+County:1:::/l:::Burlington:VT::US:44.4758:-73.212502:city:Chittenden+County:1:::/l:::Worcester:MA::US:42.262501:-71.802803:city:Worcester+County:1:::/l:::Northampton:MA::US:42.325001:-72.641701:city:Hampshire+County:1:::/io:1:::::f:en_US:M::/bl:/e

Looks like a fair amount of driving, depending on how much shopping and driving we factor in.

Price of humor

I played a good one today. A coworker complained about me not tossing my empty creamers and sugar wrappers in a cup near the coffee pot, asking another coworker how far away the trash container was (about half a meter, I guess). So later, I left a ‘personal’ cup sized bin for her near the coffee pot.

It disappeared without a word (and a laugh).

Carrying on, entered a sumo discussion, and some people thought I was talking about the disgraced wrestler who resigned when I talked about ‘fat bastard’ possibly coming out of retirement. I guess I was a real cunning linguist, except I was expected to have put it in caps! Then again, some people become grammarians to support their mime habits, as otherwise they wouldn’t be able to say anything.

Got a clue?

Scary stuff

I just finished reading Deaver’s ‘More Twisted’, a series of suspense horror stories with twist endings. Not quite O’henry type endings, but often the stories are not quite what they seem, and his better shorts leave you hanging until the last page or two. He also wrote ‘The Bone Collector’ , which was a good movie with Denzal Washington and a relatively unknown Angelina Jolie (at that time).

Funny what scares people in this day and age. Things that make people uncomfortable vary from person to person. One female colleague told me she doesn’t like hot springs, and one of the reasons was that she doesn’t feel comfortable talking to her friends naked. I can relate to that a little, but I still enjoy a good soak, though my wife and I prefer places where we can soak privately together.

The other day, another female colleague related that some of the love hotels in Japan won’t allow in gay couples (either female or male) and sometimes mixed nationality couples (foreigner and a Japanese typically). You’d think if you’re collecting money for a service, why would you refuse these kinds of customers? People are paying for space to do whatever they aren’t comfortable doing at home or to enjoy a different atmosphere. Isn’t it their right to do that which way they feel is okay assuming it’s not breaking any laws?

Things that people fear are sometimes cultural taboos, and not necessarily things that people from other cultures would find scary at all.

work in progress

Reeducation

I’m always amazed at what people think education should be, and how it should be administered.

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=830593#830593

I sometimes deal with people who in my opinion remind me of chicken little and his theories of the sky is falling. I think often people fail to look at the whole picture. How do we educate people to ‘fit in’ our society and allow them to lead productive and enjoyable lives? There is no one easy answer to that. One man’s paradise is another man’s hell.  I think giving people tools to access their potential is the most important, and allowing them to understand what is going on in the world in how they can be a part of it an influence it in their own way.

Some of my fellow educators believe that government is always part of a conspiracy with big business, and the two always work hand in hand. Certainly there is corruption and misguided market led initiatives, but individuals wield an incredible amount of power in this day and age and just figuring out what is the best way to use it is the main problem.

Our discussion in the main thread started off as a rant about experience versus formal education and how the latter was sometimes used to block qualified teachers from teaching. It then was transformed into an ongoing discussion about education reform in the US with a contrast with Russian education and the historical roots of where American education came from.

One aspect of the discussion is how important history is in explaining what we’re doing now, the other is discontent with government and what two posters see as a government that doesn’t allow individual voices due to big business influences. Looking at the first point, I have to say that whining about the past will only get you so far. I see opinions that keep decrying the lack of discussion and individual thought in schools whereas I think it depends on the school as the current US system still is not very nationalized and poorer counties are poorly educated to some extent. instead, the other posters continue with a ‘conspiracy’ theory that the government doesn’t want people questioning state polices and instead is training people to fill company rosters and be model robots.

Of course, are people being forced to become super consumers? I just don’t see it happening the way some see it. Certainly, there are hidden persuaders, but I don’t see most people falling for all of them. Certainly if you think people buy things they don’t need, but when hasn’t that been? I suppose if you compare Americans to people who can’t buy certain things regardless of money because they’re not available in their countries, they might be tied up economically, but are they freer?  Well, if you’re looking at free as being able to choose, I guess it depends on how you define it. Free to think means what exactly?

I guess one aspect would be the ability to ask questions. Here in Japan, some people often don’t seem to think about alternatives for anything. Career paths, choice of habits, and other things that many of us might think of as easy to choose from a plethora, for many Japanese they seem to have whittled down to very few options indeed.

But should we also be asking about philosophies? I see the main poster has posted questions regarding what man’s purpose is. Yeah, this would be nice, but it’s so general as to be meaningless when education, from a  practical point of view, should help us to find a job or make a company so that we can make a living.

Philosophy is nice, but is it going to pay the rent and buy groceries?

Now the latest comment to come down the pike is concerning that people are not the same as in the poster’s grandparents. The media and education has changed these people. Has the poster ever thought to consider that the times have changed? What worked in granddad’s day probably won’t work now. Many things have changed, are we suggesting to bring back the Luddites?

Passing notes?

It’s all mind control, is it? So we should strip education down and have us all gazing at our navels. Uh, let’s not.

But seriously, what questions should we be asking? I think students need a combination of theory and hopefully knowledge that is going to help people to get a job. If we spend too much time only thinking about giving our students the ability to question society, they’re not going to be in any position to change it. Students come up with questions of their own, and giving them motivation to pursue things that they’re interested in seems like  a better goal than just saying that we’re going to design our educational system on thinking about what human destiny is.

That and students need to be motivated and someone or something to spark their curiousity. I think we all need that sometimes

Boys will be boys

I had a colleague commenting on a joke I made in relation to a conversation about a young student’s behaviour. This other teacher commented that she had been awful for a while, not cooperating, etc., and yet now seemed to be quite good and you could have real conversations with her embedded in the lessons. My comment was that my behaviour at times was rotten, what was my excuse (if it wasn’t due to growing up)? My coworker said that men never grow up. To be honest, I completely agree with him. This is what makes men infuriating and so lovable; we have that inner child always around,　and hopefully it is never totally extinguished.

People reach certain ages, and they just become very old and suddenly feel they can’t do this or can’t do that. I think it’s more they feel they can’t, and that alone will stop them from doing it. I always feel that the day I stop thinking these ‘impossible dreams can’t ever com true’ is the day when someone should just take me out back and shoot me, literally (though I suppose in Japan I could settle for someone just pushing me in front of a train, preferably a line I like, but don’t actually use).

We all have our days, but shouldn’t we also enjoy a moment or two and not flog others with our misery?

Boys will be boys

Salinger passes away

I was just thinking about ‘Catcher in the Rye’ when my architect of all people told me of the author’s death. He went on to say that he had copies of this book and ‘ 9 stories’. The interesting reason I’m always thinking about the former book, is the author looks at growing up and how Holden doesn’t want to grow up and become phony. I mean for me, this has to be one of the biggest issues in modern life, how do you remain true to yourself and not want to kill off the phonies you see day in, day out? Of course, I suppose a lot of these people you encounter are perhaps not phonies per se, but rather people whose public face is so far removed from their private one, they might as well  be labeled a phony.

I think in this day and age, it’s difficult to really communicate with people, and not be intentionally misled or have people so distracted that they don’t really comprehend your point. I suppose it’s a difference of point of view, but some people are just so caught up in themselves, and they only let their guards down so few times in a day, that they must be tired after a while. Well, I know I would be, anyway, if I was doing this role-playing.

Meeting people and failing to connect is a bummer at times, though one can’t expect that everyone you meet will be able to connect with you (or that each and every person wants to). But so many people don’t seem to even make a minimal effort. I suppose one problem is a  lack of time sometimes. That and all of us are limited in some sense in how many true connections we can really make in a particular time and place.

What I am really thinking about is this; how can I change myself and reach more people? I don’t know if I can, but I do know that life is moving all the time, and sometimes we get more out of the ride or the experience of the ride than at other times.