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.

Feeling patriotic?

The ‘left wing’ liberal Howard Zinn died recently. He was a very strong voice who led questioning of the US government actions with its military investments and supporting the recent bank bailouts.  From Howard Zinn’s transcript on “War and Social Justice”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/2/placeholder_howard_zinn

But when you start criticizing, when you start making an honest assessment of what we have done in the world, they say you’re being unpatriotic. Well, you have to—that’s another part of the mindset you have to get rid of, because if you don’t, then you think you have to wear a flag in your lapel or you think you have to always have American flags around you, and you have to show, by your love for all this meaningless paraphernalia, that you are patriotic. Well, that’s, you know—oh, there, too, an honest presidential candidate would not be afraid to say, “You know, patriotism is not a matter of wearing a flag in your lapel, not a matter of this or not—patriotism is not supporting the government. Patriotism is supporting the principles that the government is supposed to stand for.” You know, so we need to redefine these things which we have come—which have been thrown at us and which we’ve imbibed without thinking, not thinking, “Oh, what really is patriotism?” If we start really thinking about what it is, then we will reject these cries that you’re not patriotic, and we’ll say, “Patriotism is not supporting the government.” When the government does bad things, the most patriotic thing you can do is to criticize the government, because that’s the Declaration of Independence. That’s our basic democratic charter. The Declaration of Independence says governments are set up by the people to—they’re artificial creations. They’re set up to ensure certain rights, the equal right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. So when governments become destructive of those ends, the Declaration said, “it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish” the government. That’s our basic democratic charter. People have forgotten what it is. It’s OK to alter or abolish the government when the government violates its trust. And then you are being patriotic. I mean, the government violates its trust, the government is being unpatriotic.

I think this is something that applies to companies too, where companies start doing things that don’t really support the customers, and may even undermine what the customers are paying for when they buy your products and services. Yet companies often take the same line as governments, where if you complain, they don’t want to hear it. Sometimes I’m not sure why companies have this tiers of employees except that some of the employees ‘buy more into’ the idea that what their company does cannot be publically criticized as this would give our customers a wrong image. Instead, a lie is supposed to be better and a more correct image. So often it seems to be ‘better’  to be quiet and express your opinions softly so that things don’t improve.

So called liberals sometimes bring out things we don’t want to hear because those thoughts are true and erode our image of what we want something to be. But when we buy into things, we have to accept it warts and all.

Feeling patriotic?

Anyone who says that blind loyalty is what defines you as a good company employee is forgetting that blind loyalty just gives you an additional handicap. And especially for educational institutions, this is a very sad comment on the state of affairs when educators are part of the problem within those places rather than working to fix the problems that they have. Instead of pushing agendas that are divorced from whether students are learning useful aspects to help them get jobs and/or start companies, places are simply budgeting and telling part-timers what they are qualified to teach. Yes, we can’t teach about things because we’re not experts with a  degree showing that we studied that.  And we can’t come out for a strike where students are asking for some things that might help our university because it may be seen as being disruptive. No, we must all be model employees or should I say robots.

Housing around

My wife and I went for a bike ride today, but the ride was ‘housejacked’ by my wife. She took me to a model home complex in Mitaka, Tokyo near the campus we went to look at. Basically we entered and looked at 3 model homes while we were there with a professional ‘shadow’ in each house. I really don’t think my wife gained that much useful information as one thing that she told me I could have told her without any training in real estate. We were talking about the selling and buying process as we will later sell two houses and buy a larger 4 units in Koganei City (or nearby). One of the agents suggested selling one house first, and selling the second one after you finish the construction on the new one. Of course though, you’re not building only with cash in that case as you’d be borrowing money from the bank to do that. Gee, a novel idea in Japan, right?

Anyway, my wife kept asking the ‘shadows’ questions, so I thought the agony of too small slippers would never end. We did see a William Morris design, the Willow Bough, that she wants to use.　It was just bad timing as I wanted to spend more time in the park or on the campus. Surprisingly for me, my wife just kept focusing on how old the buildings were on the said campus, though she did notice that it is a lot more wooded than other comparable campuses in Tokyo proper.

When the bough breaks

Seems like I’ll be making housing decisions for a while, just can’t seem to escape it. It’s a good learning experience, though I’m not sure I want to be reviewing line drapes, rolling shades, curtains and blinds any time soon. I did think it was interesting to see some of the combinations you could use as well as custom fitted blinds on the windows like these below  (picture coming).

Oh well, you know how you can’t get that time back, but sometimes it’s okay, at least someone was happy (but it wasn’t me :)).

Isn’t that what we pay you for?

Had dinner with the architect tonight, and I have to wonder, aren’t we paying this guy plenty already? So why do we need to take him to dinner as well?

My wife thinks if we treat him once in a  awhile to show we’re happy with his efforts, he’ll do even better work and keep looking out for our interests. Wait a minute, let me get this straight, we’re paying all this money and we’re not getting his best efforts? Hmm, maybe I’m in the wrong business. I’m not getting any extra pay from my ‘clients’.

Hell, sometimes I barely get acknowledgements. Can you imagine, I had a student email me today, about 2 weeks from the grade submission deadline, asking if you could do make up homework so she would pass. What happened to asking me during the semester? On top of that, the students that the reason some assignments weren’t done was that the student was job hunting?

Okay, so someone not doing what they’re supposed to be doing in their ‘current job’ so they can look for a job. Is that a good idea and does that show a future employer that you’re loyal and willing to work hard? Maybe not. More like you’re a person who doesn’t seem to make priorities. Yes, you can find a job or start your own company without graduating, but it might be harder (the first part, that is).

That's service!

Teching up

Scary thought after reading the landing pages of some of these tech websites, what the hell are they talking about in some cases? How about Drupal or Solaris anyone?

Been reading for an idea, but ideas are all a round. I’m thinking to go to a start up meeting, it might be of interest. But I need some ideas first, no?

Parent loans kid out to buy Prada

I think this has to be the most revolting news I have heard recently (besides people hero worshiping Michael Jackson). Turns out there are a few mothers and (1 sister) who have been selling nude pictures of their kids and letting a guy ‘play’ with them. he mothers were quoted as saying they needed the money for buying brand items and going out with their friends. Have to wonder if some people just have no clue when it comes to being a parent.

The police only found out about it after one mother reported being pressured by the woman who had bought the photos to pass on to her male customers. One of the mothers first got into this when she was selling her used underwear, and was asked if she had a young child.

I think this almost has the pachinko parents (parents who let their kids die in the car while they played pachinko) beaten for sheer stupidity (or greed, though in the case of playing pachinko for money, I would have to land on the stupidity side more).

Japan still doesn’t make it a crime to buy child pornography, no wonder the  perverts here feel lucky.

http://www.jialat.com/2009/12/31/japanese-mothers-sell-childrens-porn-photos-online/