Further and further

So now I have tried lavender ice cream, normally I am not a large fan of ice cream however apparently I like ice cream that comes slightly melted served with slices of fruit. It was really good. The trip to the place was amazing as well. Set in the mountains it was a cozy little cabin that was held open for us because one of our party knew the owner. Great and huge meal that was extremely cheap.

This is a picture of us at the restaurant there were eleven of us. It was a good time









Went down to a city in the south of Japan that if I even tried to spell I would know that I would be defeated so I am just going to allow that to be like one of the many battles that I never fought with the women in my life and know that there is no winning and to just let it go. Still it was a cool city. We stayed out till four in the morning when everyone but Maurice and I were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. Only to be told that we had to be out of the hotel by ten the next morning. Maurice and I stayed up talking about random things that night for a while after we got back, supposed to wake up at eight thirty but really didn't wake up until nine fifty nine. Were in the elevator by ten o'one and in the lobby by ten o'four. Then went to this little cafe where they had really good food but there really was just not enough to feed. I think that mine was some type of Mexican pizza or taco pizza maybe that was it. It was covered in red pepper, it was good but not enough and then we left. Went to a book store and found myself staring at some of the largest collection of English words that I had found thus far in my journey across the ocean.

We all had a pretty good time that night. It was strange to see the Japanese night life. It involved a quaint little bar then Mexican food followed by searching for a Singing club club that took at least an hour and ending at a dance club. It was all so interesting, just to watch those around me and how they reacted to the Mexican food.

More later of our trip to the volcano. For some reason the locals thought that it might be a good idea to throw Maurice in. So he had to run across the black ash fields while I fought them off long enough for him to take a flying leap into the car. The spirit of the volcano was upset and spewed sulfur smoke at us.

Off to kendo.

Travels

So I have gone far and wide from the little island that I now call home. I have met many nice people and have been bitten by a foreign mosquito.

Went to the elementary school and was instructed to not get too sweaty however playing tag in eighty degree heat with a hundred percent humidity somehow made me perspire. There was a small injury to my leg but how can you turn down these faces? Ran up and down a slide in an attempt to get away from the raging cuteness. However no matter where I turned it surrounded me. So there I was in my work clothes running around an amazing playground sweating like I was told not to and my heart just got stolen by the cuteness of the girl in the center of this picture wearing the black shirt. Just made me want a daughter that much more. I can see why he likes it over here. It is extremely peaceful. The pace of life is just a little bit slower, of course I am on vacation and that might be affecting my perception of time's passage. But it is a nice place here. Everyone just seems so friendly and as I walk through the school I am followed by students astonished stares only to look at them and they turn away with a sudden attack of the giggles.

Anyway here is a picture of me standing next to what is essentially the Japanese version of Puck from Midsummer Nights Dream.

If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all.Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

The crazy eyes in that picture were mostly just because I wanted to do something different with a picture other than the normal cheese with a peace sign that are so common in Japan.

Anywho, they are planting the rice fields here in Kitagata. It is really an interesting sight. Pretty much every open space is used as a rice field, at this stage they are flooding the fields and planting the sprouts because apparently they do not grow from the ground here, they transplant them in from elsewhere.

Maurice just finished the plans for our journey around the south of Japan. We bought the tickets and are all set to go. Going from class to class is quite enjoyable. It seems like he is fairly happy here and has a really good thing going. Anywhere we ride we are followed by screams of Moris sensi. To which we reply Hello. And then they usually stare at the strange white foreigner. Got a chance to throw the football around some which was missed in the last year. Oh and the place that is called circle with a squiggly line below it with three branches off of that has pretty good food. (Joke) Went to some kendo classes which were really fun. I am having problems with my overhead strike but it is still enjoyable.

Went and saw a couple of shrines and temples which were very interesting to learn about. Some of them were so old that their stone stairs had worn down into more of a hill. I also learned about the statues guarding the entrances of the temples. Tossed my coin in the bucket rang the bell and made my wish. If you make a wish in Japan at a Shinto shrine it of course will come true. Just like blowing out your birthday candles or tossing a penny into a wishing well. Well the birthday thing worked once, for the most real wish that I had ever had, unfortunately I blundered when the wish came true.

Well since pictures are not working anymore I am just going to post this and then continue on my journey.

Japan

So one of the first things that I have noticed is the difference in food. While the food in America is good and filling, the food here is subtle and light. I can definately see now why so many people in America are overweight compaired to the people in Asiatic countries. Of course I guess when your primary diet is fish and rice you are really not getting too much in the way of fats. Yesterday we ate at an Okinawa restaruant took a while to get there but in the end it was worth it. It was really good. We had fish that was still moving, very tasty. Also fried squid, and then the fish bones and head that were left over from the still moving fish were put into the frier and then we ate those too. Nothing like the mixture of fish eyes and brains. Then there was the fish ovaries in rice which we were told to put green tea over, this made an intresting soup. Then there were the snails, these little tiny things in black shells that really had not too much nutritional value, they could not be much over thirty grams in weight. And it took so much effort to suck them out of their shells. I used the sucking skills that I was complimented on by Lisa and somehow managed. I too was told that I have some skill with chopsticks, although trying to use toothpicks as chopsticks was extremely difficult. At first I could not get the beans out of the salty been pod but Maurice proved more than able at sucking the slaty tubes. Maurice bought some dried salty fish that he wanted to try, they ended up being awful. Like really bad, like there was not a redeeming thing about them, they stank and they were hard and they did not taste good at all. They smelled like they had been picked off the beach at low tide and packaged fresh to serve.

Off of food to other things, when I first got here I dropped my ticket to Fuk somewhere in the Tokyo Airport. I was called up to the counter later and they had found it. I had no idea. Some nice people helped me with the phone which was giving me problems calling Maurice. Then I got to Fuk and met Maurice outside of Baggage claim where we greeted one another and started to walk to the train station at which time we caught the last train to the town next to Maurice's caught a cab to his apartment and went for a walk for a one in the morning snack of mochi, before going on a trek to get the magical bike of riding. So then after making the comment of how much Amanda is not going to like Maurice's bed at which point I was informed that if you throw enough pillows on anything then women will like it. Double if the pillows have frilly lace. Then I crashed only to wake up a few hours later to find out that I did not know how to work a Japanese toilet. I turned the nob to the direction away from the one that looked like water coming out of a faucet and towards the one that looked like a person. This had the water running for a long time, had to go and tap the sleeping giant to make sure that everything was supposed to be happening.

School was cool, everyone was really nice and I was told that I should not help with classroom management. Which is good to know because there was one kid that I was going to go over and 'assist' with his paying attention skills.

We rode to rugby which was canceled on acount of a possibility of rain. Ended up talking and throwing a football around, also watched some little league practice. Watched some movies after dinner and just cooled off after so much happenings of the day.

Went and hung out with the other Alts. They were really nice. Maurice beat me at VF4 only because of the controls. If I had the L1 L2 R1 R2 buttons he would have gotten his handed to him. But in the third out of three fights it was all over. Then we went upstairs to play some pool. That was a lot of fun. I don't think that I lost a game all night. Although two of them were more luck than anything, one scratch on an eight ball and one the eight ball sank before they were ready, ended the night at Lisa's place where we watched a movie and fell asleep got moved to the floor and fell asleep again. Then I met Angus. Who seemed very nice.

Went walking after football and found a giant tree that had stairs up inside of it, but there was a sanctity in the air and a spirit guardian sitting on the fence surrounding the tree which told me to not disturb this hallowed ground. So instead I went off to climb bamboo. There have been many adventures and more yet to come.

Well

After a mid night stroll to grab a bike with crazy hijinks ensuing in a parking lot next to us that we only witnessed at the end of said hijink it occured to me as I walked beside the train tracks next to the open "stream" (yeah ain't going in that no matter how many clothes I am wearing) that I am in Japan. I mean I actually am in Japan. It is eight in the morning here and Maurice just left for work. Oh also ate some sweet been paste last night and apperently something that Maurice said was once the bag of every man's hopes and dreams. It was alright though, because it was wet and filled with rice.

Still cannot believe that I ran into poison oak while riding the motorcycle though. That was a little unexpected, it still kind of itches, or at least it is my mind telling me that that is why my hand is itching.

But yeah I am in Japan. Had my first trouble at like five in the morning when I had to use the restroom. When I flushed there was a faucet at the top of the toilet that was running into what I thought was a sink. Well it would not turn off no matter how I twisted or jiggled the handle. I was just informed that one of them is big flush and one is little flush for each of the different bathroom activities. When I looked at the kanji I saw a toilet flushing on one and water running on the other so I figured that the toilet flush was the one that I wanted, which it sort of was and then the faucet would not turn off. Had to go wake up the sleeping Giant to have him tell me that nothing was wrong and that it would turn off by it self.

Anyway I am in Japan, oh and on the ride over here I have met so many different people and all of them have been so nice. Except for the Auzzi's wife that was trying to sleep. After wards when getting off of the plane she was really nice.

Japan

In Japan can't talk long but I am so filled with energy and smiles that it is just incredible.

Ghosts in this shell of a man

There are many things running through my mind right now, not the least of which are the sins of my past. Someone told me that going to Japan seemed to be a good way of atoning for those sins, I guess we will see.

Dark clouds gathered right before my journey, does that mean that the journey will be an escape from the fate that they are bringing? Or that they will follow me where ever I go? Only time will tell. How does regain the honor that they lost, twice? Or is it simply a matter of growing up and realizing that it all doesn't matter because no one is perfect, and honor is just something that people talk about.

Thought that these thoughts were behind me, but take away that bandaid and have a look to see that there is still gaping wounds that have not healed.

Death

It is my opinion that death is something to be laughed at. I think that this is the proper response to someone dying. When my grandfather passed away a little over a year ago I of course was saddened. He really was the center of our family. Everything about him, from his laugh to his choice of beverage was just so joyfully him. In the final months my dad took him to the doctor and after he checked him over he asked if there was anything that my grandpa wanted to tell him about things that were happening. He said well I guess so, I have been throwing up blood and some has been coming out the other end too. Now I know that this was the cancer eating at his stomach but honestly how can you not laugh at this. Of course that is just how his generation thought, well I ain't dying (in this case he was) so nothing is wrong.

Before he passed I was able to go to the hospital to see him. He did not look that good, but I did get to introduce him to my girlfriend at the time Rebecca, I thought that it was really cool that she had spent a summer breaking horses something that he had done for most of his young life. Unfortunately that relationship did not last. But she was there for me on that night, and she was there for me on the day of the funeral, they had a person in full highlander uniform playing bagpipes outside of the church as the ceremony started. This got me a little inside. Then, I saw it, the citronella candle in a fake Budweiser can that I had given him my sophomore year in college on a day that him and my grandmother drove into town and fed me on their way to visit relatives. He tried to pull the pull tab and the top came off, he was wondering how I had gotten a beer since I was twenty years old at the time. I got carded buying it. People tell me that it is a blessing to look younger than you are, I guess that blessing only hits when you want to look younger. Anyway I am getting off topic, as I often do. So I start thinking about that time while looking at the candle and it just hits me, I will never play golf with my Grandpa. It had been years since I had cried and I really started to let go here. My shoulders were shaking and tears were rolling down my face. And then I realized that these tears were not for my grandpa they were for me. I dried my eyes got up and told some stories to everyone about the man that was the inspiration to my inspiration. I made everyone laugh; I knew that was what he would have wanted. Just because he was not there any more didn't mean that he should not still be making people laugh.

Death really is something to be laughed at though. Honestly if I shuffle loose my mortal coil because I thought that the rope swing was tied high enough that I would not hit the tree in front of me, I would want people saying, "Wait, how did he die? Oh that is hilarious. I mean bad that he died but imagine the crap that we could give a math major that miscalculated the arc of a circle." I am betting in that instance my last words would be "There's no way that I am going to hit that... aw crap." *Thunk* And then people would be telling the stupid jokes that I thought were funny, or horror stories that I had told them about my bad taste in women, but hopefully not about a pass that I had made one fall night long ago. That one I think I am going to keep between me and the person that missed the block which made the pass that much better.

So really I guess that it just has to be looked at as if there were no death then there would not be much to life. In many of the stories the Greek Gods were jealous of us mortals because each moment could be our last. If I have a near death experiences (which I have had a few) usually I laugh afterwards just at how close that was. If I have a past death experience then where ever it is that I go (said some things that will probably put me in purgatory with little Momo for a few hundred eons) I will probably be laughing saying something along the lines of well that was stupid.

What I am trying to say is that you should take that risk because you never know when you will never get to take that risk again.

Proof

When is it in the life of a human being that they have proven themselves? What have they proven themselves worthy of when they have proven themselves?

I know that it only takes one or two times for a person to be proven to be a spinner of falsehoods. But it takes years of time to be proven trustworthy. To repair the damage of one lie from a truthful person also takes time and there is usually disappointment. Ah the disappointment, I know it well. If people do not expect things from you, then you normally do not disapoint them. But of course I am expect to succeed, everyone knows that I am trustworthy, that I in all instances make the correct decision. Essentially I am the good kid that everyone hates because I make them feel guilty for being who they are. Always able to be counted on to be there for my family.

The family that I speak of is all of those that I consider family. Not just blood, although those are in there for better or for worse, but the men that I consider brothers, the women that I consider sisters, eventually the woman that will fill my heart and soul when I find her that is. For this family I honestly would do anything with one limitation (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13067951/) I love you guys but yeah that is staying attached. Sorry baby I love you but I was born with that and I am going to die with it (hopefully all of my other parts will be there at the end too). If they needed to bury a body I would tell them that I knew some land where it could be done. Borrow some shovels and we would go. No questions asked. If they wanted to tell me about it then they would, but if they didn't then they would not.

Anyway on to less grim topics. There are times where I get so sick of being the good kid. Of always doing the right thing. Never letting my emotions or ego get in the way of being a respectable and polite young man. This even leads to me walking away from every fight since I was fourteen. I was told that fighting was wrong and that I could hurt people, plus it takes more to walk away from a fight than to fight it. At least that is what they tell me. But there are times, so many times where I just want to shut him up. But that would be wrong, and I always do the right thing.

No wonder the women of my past have so constantly walked all over me, I have not stood up until the end. My reaction to a fight is to just leave the area. Or to give up the point, because it is not worth the arguement.


Well on a lighter note on a free day in swimming I decided to not go and felt like it would be a good day to go golfing. It was, I was the only one on the course, something that is extremely peaceful (if that is that you do not have an interstate running along one side of the golfcourse) before noon. The grass is still wet and the air is still crisp. It is just nice walk. With the quarter almost being over and the trip coming up life is pretty good. Somewhat lonely but good. That lonelyness will be soon fixed since I am going to see my brother in two weeks.