Is This a Karate Kid Set?

I have a lot of pictures I need to catch up on, and this is the first one, taken during our trip to Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, in December 2006. This is actually on a little island to the west of Ishigaki called Taketomi, a beautiful little island with just one small village. I'm surprised that they even had electricity. There are no street lights or street signs on the whole island. Amazing!

Short Getaway

Tired of the heat and humidity of Osaka, my wife and I decided to take a little road trip on Wednesday. We drove about six hours south to the town of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture for a little R&R as well as some swimming at the beach. (In actuality, it should take only about four hours, but the summer vacation traffic was treacherous.) My mother, when I mentioned it on the phone, said, "Oh, it's a little honeymoon, huh?" It was about a week or so after we got married, but we have bigger plans for our honeymoon. (I'll keep it a secret until it happens. :) )

Even though there was a lot of traffic, once we got far enough, the scenery on the road was beautiful. The Pacific Ocean on one side, and mountains and rock formations on the other. On the way, we stopped at a little town called Susami to swim at the beach there for two hours. It was nice: not crowded, the water was not too cold, and the scenery was good. After that, we stayed at a small ryokan on the outskirts of Kushimoto called Ebisu. The best thing about the place was the food.

The next morning, we went to a beach in Kushimoto called Hashigui. It wasn't as good as Susami; for starters, the ocean floor was covered in seaweed. The wind made the waters a bit choppy as well. Plus, we were exhausted from the swimming we did the day before. Nevertheless, we spent about an hour and a half there, then drove back to Osaka.

It seems like we got out of there at the right time. Yesterday, there was a big earthquake off the coast of Peru, and the quake caused a tsunami that traveled all the way across the Pacific Ocean to Japan. The waves at Kushimoto were choppier than we experienced.

For some reason, we ended up not taking any pictures of our little trip; I apologize for that.

Beautiful vs Cute

A while back, while looking at Mainichi Daily News' web page (my favorite English source of Japan news), I came across two interesting articles that perhaps demonstrate what many Japanese men look for, and don't look for, in a woman.


The first one is about Riyo Mori, the Japanese woman who won Miss Universe this year. According to the article, the media is portraying her as "arrogant and dumb." Apparently, the arrogance comes from her putting her hands on her hips often, saying that Miss Universe is not a beauty contest (wrong, yes, but arrogant?), and wearing makeup to accentuate her Oriental features (what, they want her to not be Asian?). The dumb part is not really explained in that article.

From other articles that I've read and interviews of her I've seen on TV, Mori certainly plays the part of a beauty queen. But it seems that she is using it as a means to acheive some good things, like starting a dance school to inspire young girls. She made comments about "empowering other Japanese women." She doesn't sound dumb to me. And it seems that the media doesn't like her because she shows confidence and shows a mature beauty.



The next article I looked at was a poll about what Japanese celebrity people wanted to marry the most. More men chose Masami Nagasawa as the woman they would most like to marry, and that amazed me. Nagasawa, who at 20 years old is one of the most popular people in Japan today, basically makes her money by acting like someone half her age. You see her on many commercials and on TV shows, smiling, giggling, knees turned in and arms turned out. I've seen her on interviews, and she has no personality, no sense of humor. Once my wife and I were watching this show that Nagasawa was on. It was a type of game show with celebrities. Each person had to stand in front of his/her group, sing a famous pop song using only cat noises, and the group had to guess what song it was. Many of the celebrities really played the role, making it funny. When it was Nagasawa's turn, however, she just stood up there and sung, a bit off key, and without any personality. But she was smiling, and when she was done, the studio audience was amazed, with the girls shouting "KAWAII!!!" ("cute" in Japanese). That is how she makes her money. Men want to marry that?

Anyway, just an interesting point about how Japanese men, in general, view their women.

Time To Catch Up

This year, I've definitely neglected regular posting to this blog. As I reflect on things during my summer vacation, this is something that I want to try yet again to fix. There have been some trips and events that have happened in the past year that I have yet to post about; I'll try to get to that in the next few weeks. I also realize that some of my experiences in Japan may be helpful to some people who live here or want to live here, so I'll try to post about those things as well.

If there's something you want me to talk about on this blog, or if you have any suggestions for improvement, please leave a comment and let me know. I can't promise anything, but I'll read your comments and see what I can do.

Rest In Peace, Grandma

The above picture is me with my maternal grandmother, taken at my university, December 1999.

My stepfather called me early morning Japan time on July 8 of this year. Once I said, "Hello," I heard my mother crying in the background, and I knew exactly what had happened. My mother told me way back in March that my grandmother was fighting cancer. They expected her to go any day at that time. It was a miracle that she made it this long.

In U.S. time, she died on 7/7/07, which is funny, because it doesn't seem like such a lucky day for my family.

I spent the next day getting a ticket to Birmingham, AL. I made it there on July 13, in time for the wake. Then I attended the funeral the next day. I didn't shed any tears; I think I was too worn out from the 17-hour trip from Japan. But I was certainly sad. The funeral was in the church my grandmother pastored; it was strange to see a church service going on there without her.

Nobody that close to me has passed away before. She meant a lot to me. In fact, she actually raised me for a year, along with my grandfather, while my parents were going through some rough times. She's responsible as much as anybody for making me into the person I am today.

While the funeral was sad, it was a beautiful thing, though, because it brought together my whole family. I saw relatives I haven't seen for years, including a cousin I haven't seen since elementary school. I saw my brother for the first time in over four years. I saw my grandfather for the first time in five years. In addition, I went back to Birmingham for the first time in over five years. A lot has changed, mainly the city has gotten worse and more decayed. That was sad to see. But there will be a place in my heart for Birmingham; that is where I spent the first years of my life, and that is where a lot of my relatives remain. And, that is where my grandmother lived and was laid to rest. I love you, Grandma.

Lemon Gas Commercial

This is one of the coolest commercials I have ever seen in Japan. This girl can rap with the best of them. Check it out:

Just a Small Delay...

As I said in my last post, our Northwest Airlines flight to Honolulu was delayed for about, oh, 20 1/2 hours. Check out the first line on the departure board in this picture, taken on April 27 at Kansai Airport (when we should've been basking in sunshine at Waikiki Beach).

EDIT: I just realized that the first line says "Continental". That's because Northwest was doing a code share flight with them. Sorry for any confusion.

Northwest Airlines: Kiss My *** (And Other Rants and Raves)

This past Golden Week, I had the privilege of going back to Hawaii for the first time since I graduated high school. (MoHS c/o '96 baby!!!) On the night of April 26th, I, the gf and her mother sat at Kansai Airport, looking forward to a week of bliss in paradise. Our Northwest Airlines flight was scheduled to leave at 9 PM, and we boarded the plane about 30 minutes prior to that.

About 15 minutes before 9 PM, with our seat belts fastened and everything secured, the captain made an announcement that there was a problem with one of the hydraulic systems, and there would be a two-hour delay while they fixed it. While we were shocked, surprisingly, most of the passengers took it well. Maybe they just wanted the problem fixed so that they could get to Paradise safely.

Back at the gate, everyone waited patiently for two hours. However, 11 PM came and went, and still nothing had happened. The crowd was starting to get restless. Then about 11:30, an attendent made an announcement that the flight was further delayed and would not leave until 12 noon the next day! At that time, all hell broke loose. Passengers rushed to find any Northwest Airline employee in the area and blasted them with their complaints. "You need to call my hotel and let them know I'll be late!" one lady said. Another passenger shouted, "What about my rental car?!?" Not a good situation at all. But Northwest did offer to put us up in a hotel for the night. After waiting an hour in line to get our hotel voucher, they took us all the way to a fancy hotel in Namba, farther away from the airport than my house is. We tried to put the night's events behind us and get a good night's sleep.

The next morning, we woke up to find a fax under the door that said that the plane was delayed even more, this time until 5 PM! The excuse was that if we left at 12 noon, when we got to Honolulu, customs would be closed. But didn't they realize that the night before? Then we wouldn't have had to wake up early. Anyway, the plane did finally leave at 5 PM. However, that wasn't the last of the problems with Northwest:

• My gf's mother asked the flight attendant for an extra blanket, obviously in Japanese. The flight attendant responded in English with a blunt "No more!" as she hurriedly went away.
• They shouldn't have wasted money installing the attendant call light on that 747, because it was of no use. Whenever I turned it on, no attendants came by to see what I wanted.
• The jack for my headphones was broken.
• The tray for my seat was broken.
• My gf's seat was broken; it wouldn't stay reclined.
• My gf caught the attention of a flight attendant. He acknowledged her, but then he never came by.

All of that, and Northwest had the nerve to print a "Customer First" philosophy in their in-flight magazine. Customer First this, Northwest!

Of course, the irony in all of this is that, with the dollar-discount vouchers they gave us to make up for the delay, we are going to use Northwest again in the future and pay them more money. You think they're being nice by giving us a voucher, but it's probably best to just not use them again. But, then again... it's a discount voucher! Oh well.

Giddyup!!!

Me at the Hanshin Racetrack in December 2006. It was my first time to go to a horse race. Have you ever been to the supermarket or department store on a Sunday in Japan, and seen all the wives of all ages - some with kids - and wondered, "Where are their husbands?" I'm pretty sure all of the husbands in Osaka and Kobe were at the Hanshin Racetrack the day I went there.

The place was packed with men. Many of them had newspapers and magazines that listed every stat and every race of every horse that was to race that day, and they were studying them like most high schoolers in the U.S. study for SATs, trying to maximise every bet. Me and my lady, though, being animal lovers, were just there to see the horses themselves. Man, were we out of place.

Office Mace

WARNING: Long post ahead.

One of the reasons why I started this blog a while back is to give me an avenue to vent. Which leads me into something that happened at the company office last week... (Guys, forgive me for this.)

Friday, about 2 PM Japan time. I'm working at my desk when one of the office full-time teachers (let's call him Guy A) comes over with two other full-timers for some small talk before they headed out for lunch. As usual at this time of year, the subject comes to what is going on with possible contracts for the next academic year. While talking about that, Guy A says that our company won't have a contract with his assigned schools' city board of education next year.

"Really?" I said. "I haven't heard anything about that BoE's plans. You probably know more than I do about that, then."

"Come on," Guy A says. "I thought you were the senior guy here. I thought you live here! You're out of the loop! What's going on?"

At that moment, I get really ticked off. And usually at the moment I get ticked off, I can't speak straight. So I let out a shocked "What?!?"

Then Guy B, who's standing next to Guy A, chimes in. "He's right... you are the senior guy here."

Now I'm fuming. These guys were berating me! "You are the senior guy... " I'm really pissed now. But like most of you know, I'm not one for open confrontation when I'm upset, so I just turned back to my computer and ignored the guys until they left for lunch.

That was a pretty busy day at the office, so I didn't give it any other thought the rest of the day. But during the weekend, my stupid brain reminded me of the incident, and I dwelled on it all weekend. I couldn't get it out of my head: "You are the senior guy... you live here!"

First of all, I don't like being mocked. Yeah, some guys do it as a joke, and that's cool. But they usually accompany the insults with a laugh or some expression or gesture that lets you know, "Hey man, I'm just playing with you." None of that occured.

Second, what does being the "senior guy" have to do with anything? I am the senior guy... of the native English teachers. That means jack on my company's totem pole. You guys who are former co-workers of mine, you know the deal. As the personnel coordinator, I have one role, other than teaching. My boss tells me what positions we have available, and I find teachers for them. That's it. I have nothing to do with my company's negotiations with school boards. Apparently Guy A thinks I should know everything about anything about the company.

Third, "You live here..." If working two days a week at the company office means living there, then I must be hibernating at the high school I work at for 3 days a week.

Then again, I should have expected something like this from Guy A, who, just 2 months into his employment here, listened to me offer someone a position, then proceeded to criticize me and tell me what I should do better (things that, by the way, goes against the company philosophy). Now, I'm not a human resources expert by any means, but if someone has been at a company longer than I have, I'm not about to give that person any advice on how to do their job unless they specifically ask for it.

Now, the main thing I dwelled on over the weekend was not that, but whether or not I should have told him off at the time of the incident. Part of me said, "You should have said something to shut him up!" But the other part said, "You know what... you did the right thing by ignoring them. Like your family always said, you start arguing with them over nonsense, you come down to their level. You don't want to look like them, right? Plus, you have other avenues for venting, like blogging."

If you're reading this, I'd love to hear your comments on this.

"A" Happy New Year

Well, it's already 2007. It's a bit late, but Happy New Year to all my family and friends in Japan, the States and around the world. Or, like they say here in Japan, あけましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetou gozaimasu)!

Bundle of Pain

Japan is much better than the US when it comes to respecting each other in society. But in some cases, that can go too far. Yesterday we were eating at a pasta restaurant, and there were several little kids running around and making noise. I mean, they were crazy. And where were the parents? Eating and not caring what their kids were doing. Even the restaurant staff didn't say anything like, "Sorry to bother you, but your kids are making a ruckus and bothering the customers." None of that! We just had to deal with it until they left. Then again, the GF dealt with it her own way. She stuck out her leg for the little rugrats to trip over, succeeding once. Nice.

My Government At Work

I noticed this on the wall about an hour before we departed Guam. It's a good thing that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) put this up. All those passengers going direct from Guam to Haiti need to know about the dangers present in Port-au-Prince.

Seriously, WHY IN THE WORLD is this warning sign posted at Guam International Airport? Isn't it just a waste of a piece of paper? It makes more sense to be posted in Miami or New York, not Guam. 

Bombs Away!

Here I am at ease, waiting for any enemy ships to come our way. Guam might be small, but it's not easy to defend, as you can see. 

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Actually, there wasn't much water over this scenic bridge in southern Guam. 

Nature in Guam

A nice waterfall in southern Guam. I can't remember the name of it... If I do, I'll edit this.

Dinner's in the front yard

Some common residents of Guam.

Japan, USA

A shot of the central tourist area of Tumon, Guam.

In October, I went to Guam with my gf and her mother. After what I saw, I’m making a case to change the name of the island to “Japan, USA.”

We were looking forward to the trip. My gf’s mother had never been out of Japan, and we thought Guam would be a good introduction to the rest of the world. As for me, I was looking forward to the opportunity to be on American soil again, and to eat some American food that I was missing.

Once we landed in Guam, I knew things would be unlike what I expected. Announcements at Guam International were in Japanese first, then English. When we got on the hotel shuttle bus, I was the only non-Japanese out of 50 passengers. At the hotel, signs were in Japanese and English. Then in the hotel room, the bathroom was decked with a Japan-made toilet and a Japanese-style removable shower head.

When we went around the main tourist area of Tumon, you were lucky if you saw anyone other than a Japanese. Signs to some stores were in Japanese only. All of this in a U.S. territory.

On the first full day, my gf and I went to do something called a seawalk. One of the seawalk staff made it a point to make his way through the crowd of tourists over to me, and he said, “Hey man, I wanted to personally shake your hand! You’re the first American tourist we’ve seen all year.” Keep in mind that this was October.

It went like that the entire trip. Tour staffers – almost all of them Guam natives - would automatically speak Japanese to me at first, before they realized that I was a fellow American. The only time I felt like I was not in Japan was the day we rented a car and drove around the southern part of the island. That was the best part of the trip.

My gf felt the same way – not surprising, considering how much she likes to travel. But my gf’s mother felt the same as well. I guess she was looking forward to experiencing something other than Japan, and she didn’t have the chance to in Guam.

That said, Guam is a beautiful place, and if you get away from the tourist areas, it’s peaceful. But for those expats in Japan, you’re better off going to Hawaii.

But the reception is still bad...

The TV Tower, Sapporo, Hokkaido, July 2006.

Leave Me Alone

An agitated polar bear at the nationally-renown Asahiyama Zoo, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, July 2006.

Lone Tree

This picture relaxes me every time I see it.

All Aboard...

Believe it or not, this is a train station. There's not even a station master on the premises.

In Bloom

Flowers in Biei, Hokkaido, July 2006.

Rouru Taido!

I just saw an old Japanese guy wearing a University of Alabama baseball cap near the train station. That's something I thought I'd never see in Japan.

Views of the beautiful hills in Biei, Hokkaido, July 2006.

More flower fields in Nakafurano.

Purple, Purple Everywhere!

Lavender fields in Nakafurano, Hokkaido, July 2006. This may be the most famous tourist attraction in Hokkaido, and it only lasts for about a month. Needless to say, the pathways were packed (although you can't tell from this picture - a testament to my great photo skills).

The view from the hot air balloon.

Hot Air

Me in front of a hot-air balloon in Furano, Hokkaido, July 2006. Now, I went here thinking we were going to fly over the town and do a bit of sightseeing from the sky. But we just went up about 200 feet, stayed up there for 3 minutes and came back down. The balloon was tied to the ground the whole time. And we waited in line for that? 

A nice meal of curry rice, sausage, eggs, and who knows what else, in Furano, Hokkaido, July 2006.

They Stole The Grass!

Even with the patches of brown, this landscape is a sight for sore eyes. 

Soothing

Now this is something you don't see in the Osaka area. 

Watch My Fingers, Now!

Me feeding some goats at a dairy farm near Obihiro, Hokkaido. 

Welcome to Hokkaido

It's about time for me to post the pictures from my second trip to Hokkaido, back in July of this year. I'll start with a picture of our arrival at the (very small) airport in Obihiro. 

Japanese models in Japan? That's so 1950s...

Unlike many ex-pats here, I try to avoid Japan-bashing when I can. After all, Japan is Japan, and the U.S. is the U.S. But I’ve noticed something there that’s really starting to irk me.

If you look at the advertisements in this country – TV, magazines, subway, etc. – you have to be amazed at the sheer amount of foreigners that adorn them. Go into a clothing store, and see pictures of foreigners wearing Japanese-made clothing. Watch TV, and see foreigners drinking alcohol only made in Japan, or driving a made-for-Japan automobile in the streets of Japan. (It should be noted that 99% of the time, these foreigners are Caucasian.)

In addition to that, I guarantee you that if you look at any advertisement or catalog advertising pajamas, underwear or lingerie, 9 times out of 10, the models will be (white) foreigners. (And not the type of mature models we see in the States, either; usually they’re skinny and high-school-student-looking.)

This drives me crazy. After all, this is Japan, where about 95% of the population is ethnically Japanese. Why in the world do a disproportionate number of ads have foreigners? What makes Japanese advertising companies want to whip up ads with white people?

I truly don’t understand this, even though I’ve heard two reasons for this. a) Japanese have an inferiority complex, and b)Japanese think foreigners look more beautiful. I don’t by any of that. First, the Japanese I know always defend their customs and heritage. They tend to not bash themselves (unless they’re talking about yamanba). Second, there are plenty of beautiful Japanese out there. How many girls want to be like Ayumi Hamasaki, and how many girls drool over those stupid Johnnies boy bands?

My family and relatives used to subscribe to prominent African-American magazines like Jet and Ebony. You would see nothing but blacks in the ads, whether its McDonalds or Buick. Could you imagine the outcry if they instead had white models, or Hispanic ones? Back home every now and then, I would watch Univision or Telemundo, just for kicks. The commercials, 9 times out of 10, had Hispanics in them. What if they started to put Asian models in them? Do you think Hispanics would be satisfied?

Maybe it’s just me, but it just makes sense that if you are going to target a group of people, you want your ads to represent that people well. Apparently, many Japanese advertisers have a different philosophy, one I can’t figure out.

Down Time

Hey, sorry about not posting much in recent months. I've hit a wall with my blog; I've lost my motivation for it. I've just been posting about my life, but some of you have said that's boring.

I do have to admit, my life is kind of boring, though.

So, here's what I'm wondering. Since you guys read this blog, what would you like me to post about? More details about my life? Happenings in Japan/Osaka? Anything that I don't do often that you would like me to do more often?

This blog isn't dead (yet) - just suffering some down time while I figure out what to do. Don't give up!

Pharrell "In My Mind" Review

I’ve listened to Pharrell’s new CD In My Mind for a few weeks now, so I thought I’d give my first-ever CD review.

The CD is pretty cool. I like the beats and the production a lot, but I have to say this: Pharrell makes better productions when he works with Chad as the Neptunes than he does by himself. Listening to this CD, you can easily tell how much of an effect Chad has on the great Neptunes productions.

That said, it still is a great CD, and I find my head bobbing to a lot of the tracks. However, this is not near the level of N.E.R.D.’s Fly or Die, my all-time favorite CD. Fly or Die was different than anything else out there, and it was well-produced. Plus, it sounds like the kind of music I would make if I had some musically-inclined friends and production skills. I could relate to that. But on In My Mind, we find Pharrell being mostly materialistic on many of the rap tracks, just like most rappers out there today. That threw me off a bit.

Anyway, there are many cool songs on this CD. I don’t like the first two singles, “Can I Have It Like That” and “Angel,” too much. I love the next one though: “Number One”. Great song. Other good songs: “How Does It Feel”, “Best Friend”, “You Can Do It Too”, “That Girl”, and “Young Girl/I Really Like You.” With so many songs I like, it’s the best CD I’ve bought this year.

Breakin' A Sweat

For me, there's nothing I like better about Japanese culture than the bathing culture. Onsens, sentos... they're all good. That was confirmed once again yesterday, when I went with my GF to a nearby super sento, or lavish public bath facility.

This place was good. They had clean, spic-and-span bathing areas. They had an outside bath with a big screen TV, where all the men had crowded around to watch the national high school baseball championships. I don't like baseball all that much, but I joined in for a few minutes.

Besides just bathing, I also had a very good (but expensive) massage. It lasted only 20 minutes, but I still feel the benefits of it. My GF had some kind of face massage as well.

However, the highlight of our trip (actually, the lowlight for me) was a "sweat sauna". You just go into this hot room, wearing this special bathrobe, lay down and sweat heavily for about 35 minutes. I guess you're supposed to feel good after sweating all kinds of garbage out of your system, but I just felt... well... sweaty. Didn't feel good at all. That was money down the drain for me, but my GF just loved it. I guess that means we're going back, huh?

Dogo Onsen

The entrance to Dogo Onsen, the oldest public hot spring bath in Japan, in Matsuyama. While I was taking this picture, we heard some ladies say that they could hardly move in the bath, it was so crowded. Needless to say, we didn't go in. 

Back in Time

While we were walking through Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture, we must have accidentally slipped through a time portal or something. 

Grub

Here's my half-eaten seaweed tempura meal in Shimanto city, Kochi prefecture. 

Rocks

Rock formations in Kochi prefecture. 

In Two Places At One Time

Me standing with one foot on Ehime prefecture and one on Kochi prefecture. 

Seashore

A tranquil rock beach in Kochi prefecture. 

Picture done yet?

I'm way backlogged on posting pictures here. This one's from my Golden Week holiday trip to Shikoku island. Here's me in front of a temple in front of a delicious udon restaurant in Kagawa prefecture. 

N.E.R.D. is back!!!

Great news, everybody: N.E.R.D. is not dead.

OK, so that’s great news only for me.

Hey, I don’t care. It’s my blog, after all. I’m very very happy that my favorite group has decided to not call it quits. (link: http://musicnews.virgin.net/Virgin/Lifestyle/Music/virginMusicNewsDetail/0,13556,1316969_music,00.html) The leader, Pharrell, said that they’ll try to drop a new single later this year.

This is great news for me. N.E.R.D. has to be the most underrated group out there. Their stuff is better than most pop music on the radio today. It’s fun music – not much of that out there, either. I’m glad they’re coming back. Now, if they’ll only return to Japan for a concert so that I can see them this time...

Update - June 15, 2006

Just a quick update on what's been going on:

- Since April, I've been working at a senmon-gakko (like a community college) on Thursday mornings. The best part about the job is that I teach solo. I have complete control of my classes (if not the lesson content - much of which is provided by my company). I have to admit that it makes things run smoothly.

The worst part is that, unlike the high schools, it is extremely difficult to feel part of the college community. First, I'm only there a few hours a week on Thursday. I teach 2 English classes and go. Second, the full-time teachers there hardly talk to me. At first, I thought it was because my Japanese is poor. But there are many other part-time teachers, all Japanese, that come, teach a couple of classes, and go, and the full-time teachers don't talk to them, either, other than when they have a question. The part-time teachers end up talking to each other in the office.

- The World Cup has started, and I'm keeping track of the games. I'm rooting for the USA (which is very unusual. Even American soccer fans root for other teams). Of course, a 3-0 pounding by the Czechs don't do much for national spirit. At least the Japanese here have their own big loss to worry about and don't rub it in.

- I told all you guys about my basketball adventures at my old high school over the last two years. This year, the basketball team at the new school takes things very seriously, so sadly I can't use the gym for hoops. Not to worry... my time after school has been occupied by... kendo! That's right... the oldest Japanese martial art of them all. The kendo coach - who loves to speak English - encouraged me to take some lessons, and I took her up on the offer. It's not bad. I might continue it as a hobby. We'll see.

Ah-choo!!!

For some reason, I've come down with hay fever or something. This has been going on for about 2 or 3 weeks. I sneeze endlessly on days I go to high school and when I'm at home for hours - the only times that I'm around greenery of any kind. It's the first time I've had allergies like that.

What I don't understand is why I got it in June. Doesn't this usually happen in April? It's beginning to get on my nerves, I tell you that. I had a class today, and I was sneezing about what seemed like 30 times, interrupting my lecture in the process. Something's gotta be done about this.