ENTRY 18

So before all this, they faxed me on Monday and said, they wanted me to do a Halloween lesson for the elementary kids on the 29^th. I assumed, logically, that they meant of October until she called that afternoon to talk about the plans for today, more than month before Halloween. I guess elementary school must book up pretty far in advance or something.

Tuesday is the day that Saty, the department store by my apartment around which my life has come to revolve, has a sale in the grocery store, “for some reason.” (“For some reason” is rapidly becoming my favorite phrase.”)

And yet, the class was 5^th period. Ok, true, we also used the materials with a middle school girl 2^nd period, but we could have just done her previously planned lesson instead anyway.

I tried making a haiku, but I already (!) have too many concepts in close proximity to boil to 5–7−5 easily. Haiku is much more difficult in some respects, since you can’t waste much if you want your poem to really punch.

Tuesday is the day that Saty, the department store by my apartment around which my life has come to revolve, has a sale in the grocery store, “for some reason.” (“For some reason” is rapidly becoming my favorite phrase.”

Autumn arrives

9月27日 (日ー月) 12:15am JST

T--- and I got to see a little more of the vegetable festival between classes Friday afternoon. It was fine until we got caught in the rain. Rain here usually doesn’t last very long, but this time we couldn’t out wait it. We had to get wet going back to school.

I went back to the Brazilian place for lunch Saturday. They had a Glossary/{{Viking}} by weight. A neat gimmick and only sort of pricey. Plenty of meat and beans, which is good.

Saturday night, I went by the “Foolish” bar to see if anyone was there. It was all Japanese, but I went in anyway, when I remembered that they have the good kind of Guinness on tap now. I tried to understand the other people at the bar, but usually all I could pick out was if my Japanese was being called, “[sweet]”.

Then A--- showed up, followed by H--- and others. That was a lot of fun, just rehashing our drinking stories. A--- ordered a Coke. The bar girl was confused. I really enjoyed talking to them and the Corona wasn’t bad. So that was good.

Mostly this weekend, I just talked to my girlfriend by phone or IM or video-dohickey. Talking to her so much blurs time. Her morning, my night, her night, my morning, staying up late, getting up early, sleeping in, not sleeping. Eventually, you don’t know when you are anymore. It’s hard to believe that all of autumn will come and go before I can go home for Christmas.

Meanwhile, school is fine, but I can’t imagine what a year is, let alone two. I’d sort of like to move at grad school soon, but everything is so dependent on time & tide.

9月28日 (月ー火) 1:33am JST

Tonight, I wanted to write a poem with the hook, “The skies! Are full of ancient things; I need no scientist to tell me.” There are a couple problems with what I worked out though.

First, a good poem should point at the moon, not try (and inevitably fail) to be the moon. So that means, it’s better if I can say, “my soul together was with them then,” without saying it. The poem should make one remember looking at the stars and feeling awe at their age and distance without saying, “Light-years, smight-years, them things is old, I reckon.”

Next, I can’t find the right balance of rhyme and not rhyme. Plus, I can’t find the right meter. I have no beef with free verse, but I think too much freedom can keep a verse sloppy and pasted to the page.

I tried making a LinkedVerse haiku, but I already (!) have too many concepts in close proximity to boil to 5–7−5 easily. Haiku is much more difficult in some respects, since you can’t waste much if you want your poem to really punch.

Hmm, maybe 墨空の　古さを覚え　科ってない. But it mixes formal and colloquial awkwardly.

Ooo, maybe ない科も.

Of course, such extra-native-linguistic hubris is sure to lead to grammatic nemesis, as my students so frequently seem to never learn.

Yeah, may have to sleep on it.

9月29日 (火ー水) 1:04am JST

Tuesday is the day that Sati, the department store by my apartment around which my life has come to revolve, has a sale in the grocery store, “for some reason.” (“For some reason” is rapidly becoming my favorite phrase.”

For some reason, T--- came home late today, so I walked over directly after school and took out money before the post-5 o’clock fees kick in at the ATM. (The Japanese sense of the ATM is bizarre. They shut them down at night and on holidays, for some reason, which ignores the very reason ATMs exist.)

Picking up my weekly supplies of Coke and Coke-brand oolong tea (among other things), I ended up with a total of ¥1,999. So, I added on a calligraphic pen, since receipts over ¥2,000 are good for a spin in the raffle. I ended up winning detergent, which is fairly useful stuff. Previously, I won a box of tissue paper. Hand for mopping up the layer of dusty filth left by my predecessor.

Afterwards in the hundred yen shop on the third floor, I noticed with closer attention the Hummel-esque figurines of anthropomorphic pig-women with, for some reason, exposed breasts. I decided that “pig tits” is a good interjectory curse phrase.

In the end, I went home obscene pigless and enjoyed my newly purchased pizza toast.

Ah, pizza toast! Without its bachelor sustaining powers of non-preparation meat, would I even by alive today?

Answer: Yes probably, for some reason.

9月29日 (水) 11:01am JST

Mos’ Def Skool; No Diggity, No Doubt!

Ok, so this morning, I recognized two of my students on the bus to school. So, when we got to the stop, I wanted to say good morning to them, except I don’t know how. I ended up walking ahead of them to the school. When I got to the school, the meeting was in progress, but the door was open (and I can’t understand the meetings anyway), so I just sat down at my desk.

As soon as the meeting ended, S-sensei (ENTRY16 without ring) turns to me and says, “You were one minute late. Why?”

I try to tell her about seeing the kids on the bus and she’s like, “That’s no excuse. Don’t let it happen again. You were early last week.”

Huh!? I control the Japanese bus system now? Um, ok.

I’ll try to use my newfound powers responsibly.

So before all this, they faxed me on Monday and said, they wanted me to do a Halloween lesson for the elementary kids on the 29^th. I assumed, logically, that they meant of October until she called that afternoon to talk about the plans for today, more than month before Halloween. I guess elementary school must book up pretty far in advance or something.

So, I came with a USB device full of pictures of semi-plausibly Halloween affiliated monsters, since the printers at F* hate me. S-sensei was, of course, concerned by my not having the print outs in hand, even though before she said we’d have time to finish up with preparations before the class. So, we rushed through printing them and making cards with the names, as though time were ultra-vital.

In fact, everything I do with S-sensei has the feeling of time being ultra-vital.

And yet, the class was 5^th period. Ok, true, we also used the materials with a middle school girl 2^nd period, but we could have just done her previously planned lesson instead anyway.

The class itself was a lot of fun. They gave me a witch-hat and a cape. I explained the difference between a troll and a goblin. They said, “Trick or treat.” Candy was distributed.

Fun, fun, but the riddle of S-sensei only deepens:

Under that icy exterior must beat the heart of a passionate woman!

(Or so television and movies would have me believe.)