Of internet addiction and the passage of time
9月7日 (月\火) 12:52am JST
This week begins with K-sensei, who consensus has it, isn’t very good at English. For whatever reason, we’ve decided that he’s not a good teacher, but Y-sensei is a true pro. However, I don’t have any classes with Y-sensei and have only seen him in joint classes.
C---, the new exchange student from Florida, and I keep butting heads in the manner of young bucks. I dunno, I guess I should stop encouraging that. It’s sort of like a power grab to see who can be F* High’s brash, young, arrogant American. Hey, competition brings out the best, right?
Last Friday, he mentioned getting IM in school, so I poked around a different computer and found a DNS server setting that was missing in mine. That opened up the internet to me slightly more. Stole a song in commemoration.
“Jesus Walks!” says Kayne West.
Honestly though, how the school doesn’t have DHCP is beyond me. Before this, the last time I manually set an IP address was for Wow! from Compuserve.
Tonight, Beckham was on SMAP. It never stops being funny to see the look of terror in the eyes of Western celebrities.
The Japan Times sent an Asahi guy to a payment from me tonight, but I was short on cash. Tomorrow, etc.
9月8日 (火\水) 12:38am JST
Today was fairly uneventful. Typhoon #18 blew across town, and there may have been a small earthquake, if I read the kanji on TV properly.
I bought a soda called Tansan Shônen (Carbonated Young Guys) just for its name. I like how drinks here are seasonal, coming and going with the passage of time. There’s a special autumn version of Kirin beer at the supermarket that I’ve been meaning to get, but so far have neglected. I did get some Coke brand Oolong tea— not bad. I’m also collecting aluminum cans with the intention of sending them to my friend in America for the sake of his postcard making. Not sure on the logistics yet though. The school has the best deal on Coke around, just ¥100 for a 650ml can. There’s also machine that dispenses cups of Calpis.
Sweet, delicious Calpis.
There’s still some Mt. Taté Saké in my fridge, awaiting an occasion worthy the indulgence. My convenience store sippy box of saké (looking for all the world like new, cartoony Buddhist demon flavored Hi-C), however, vanished after just one night…
9月9日 (水\木) 12:53am JST
When people ask me how much Japanese I know, I like to say, “Just enough to get into (and out of?) trouble.” Today was a textbook example.
It was my first day at the Deaf School, so I wanted to make a good impression. I put on a suit and headed for the bus station a little early. I wasn’t sure which bus to take, so I ask the driver, “[Are you going to the Deaf School?]” “[Deaf School?],” I heard, “OKです.” So, I’m on the bus, not entirely convinced that it’s going the right direction, but I hold my tongue. Sure enough, we stop at a school whose name is like [Deaf School] without being [Deaf School]. Only, you know it’s a half an hour in the wrong direction. The bus driver tells me this is my stop.
I took another bus back to the station. I tell my sob story to the bus driver, but he won’t give me a free ride, because, “[a ride is a ride.]” Grr!
So, in the end, I’m a hour and half late. The teacher was very forgiving. Deaf School is interesting. A lot more work than F* (no internet time!), but interesting. They also have a better lunch. No fish bones today.
Also, I managed to cook only slightly burnt rice in my machine tonight, but that’s a whole other story.
9月10日 (木\金) 1:13am JST
Today was pretty busy with classes. Nevertheless, I managed to read all 211 white ninja comics between today and yesterday. The comic was so funny that my eyes frequently watered as I tried to choke back my laughter in the crowded staff room. I must have looked odd.
But, at least I’m done with that website now. I still have to find time to deal with addiction to Arts and Letters Daily. In the past four or so years of reading Al-Da’ily, it’s unknown how many hours I’ve spent pouring over it’s links to long semi-scholarly essays on philosophy, news, politics, art, etc., etc. At first, I felt like I was learning whenever I could read an entire link. Now, four articles a day is never enough. It’s more about catching ‘em all then about enjoying the mechanics of a turn based RPG battle with enemy collection features.
My goal as a scholar is to shift my addiction onto primary sources in philosophy. Sadly, that dream remains on hold.
But, com’on, I’ve already read two whole websites! How much internet could be left?
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