I'm on....top of the world I'm looking...down on Creation

J177 Tuesday October 16th

Nothing much to report. Standard Monday, not too many classes. Updated my paper journal. Went for a run. Did laundry. One of my Japanese coworkers gave me a packet of chamomile tea, which was nice of her.

J178 Wednesday October 17th

Many students impressed with hiking stories. I'm getting closer to registering for the G.R.E. I managed to track down the correct agency to call, Thomson Prometric, a testing agency that handles a ton of standardized tests. I called their English language help line and talked to a flesh-and-blood human. He told me of their setup: tests were registered online or by phone. You could register for a test every month, but no more than 5 tests in a 6-month period. The next available seats were for December.

I thanked him for the clear instructions, something I'd been having difficulty with online, and plotted my test time. Asking for a day off is a tricky business at my company, but I was lucky in that Thomson offers G.R.E.s on the weekends.

J179 Thursday October 18th

I finally registered for the G.R.E.! Before work I hopped on Thomson's website and registered. December 16th, 2007, in Kayabacho Tower, Shinkawa Ward Tokyo, at 1PM, I will take the G.R.E. It was a bit pricey, $170, but it couldn't be helped.

Please note, if it could be helped, let me know :)

The rest of the day was in class. My break time was spent with more math review. I'm slowly getting it all back. I'm a little faster, able to see around the corners a little further. It's like relearning the rules to an old game I played as a kid, except now I'm applying a lot more brainpower to it.

J180 Friday October 19th

Many of my lessons have common themes. Business expressions, travel, that sort of stuff. Another big one is food. My first lesson today was, in part, about ramen, and I was beset with an intense craving for the hot noodle soup. I had an hour for lunch, so I hopped on my bike and sped east to Kumamoto Ramen, a ramen joint of excellent quality.

An anecdote: Tom Culpepper, fraternity brother of mine and all-around swell guy, was a teacher in Japan for a while before I came here. He worked in a little town called Ota. I visited him when I first got here, and he took me around. While eating at his favorite ramen place, he imparted a gem of wisdom. "Ramen joints are like BBQ joints; the dirtier they are, the better the food."

Kumamoto isn't quite on the level of that place Tom and I went to, but it certainly is good. It's cozy and friendly. My dad and I went here when he visited, so it's familiar territory. I hadn't been there in a while, actually, but the chef on duty greeted me with "Been a while, eh?" The day was a cool, but the ramen warmed (and filled) me up.

The rest of the day was without incident. Sometime in the past week my 360 headset started working, and I put in some more Halo 3 multiplayer at night. I wanted to test out the single player coop mode with Peter or Stickman. I had beaten Halo 3 on Hard mode, but the most difficult setting, Legendary, is quite the controller-cracker. I needed some help to barrel past the stickier spots I found myself mired in, and both Peter and Stick were gifted Halo enthusiasts.

Also in the evening, two of my D&D players bowed out for the scheduled session. Masaki was feeling ill, and Josh was going to be busy. I decided to postpone the game for a week, which was met with agreement by the party.

J181 Saturday October 20th

7 Classes today, but it wasn't a killer. Greg, the teacher I replaced, turned 27 today. M-sensei and I went to Ito Yokado to buy his birthday cake. There will be a dinner party at Tsuki Uma, an izukaiya (think tapas restaurant) tonight after work. Genie was there in the grocery store, and she informed us that no one had been paid that month. Furthermore, NOVA's Japanese staff haven't been paid in nearly 4 months. Crazy. A new deadline was given by the parent company, the 25th, but Genie and the rest of the Hitachi NOVAs aren't holding their breath.

After work I headed home and got cleaned up. I had some time before the party started, so for giggles I pulled up the Forest of Doors website. For those of you who have no idea why a forest deserves to be capitalized, or why there are doors there, I shall enlighten you. One of my Fraternity brothers, a Chris Tang (accidentally spelled "Christ" there...that's kinda funny) is an avid roleplayer. He and some of his friends decided to make their own rules and setting for a LARP, a Live Action Role Playing Game. I caught wind of it, and attended the first game. I've been an avid attendee ever since.

My absence from the game has been one of the few genuinely negative aspects of my year here in Japan. I would very much like to go back and play. I poked around the site and the forums, reading up on the exploits of my old friends. I saw new players begin their characters and mature quickly, from eager newbies to seasoned veterans in a matter of months. The character manager software was finally up and running, and I set about working through the math to have a comprehensive list of my character's experience points and resulting expenditures. I also fired off an email to one of the Marshals, one of the people who run the game, to begin discussing my character's whereabouts during my year and a half of absence.

My RPG fun had, I noticed it was time to head out to the party. I pedaled to Tsuki Uma and proceeded to get down with a delightful gang of students and friends. Some of them I still teach, while others I'd never met before. Some of my coworkers were there, M-sensei and his girlfriend, along with S-sensei and M-san, a part time teacher and the administrative assistant of my school, respectively.

I learned many things at this party. M-sensei and I educated the gathered in a veritable rainbow of English slang, whilst our audience did their best do reciprocate. I tried out a few Japanese jokes I'd learned over the years, and to my delight I managed to pull them off.

I also learned of the Japanese custom of sharing one's food. I am a bit of a vacuum when it comes to food. I have a big appetite, and I can eat a fair amount of consumables. This makes my ongoing struggle with weight loss...interesting. It also means that when it comes time to eat, I chow down with the best of 'em. I ordered a few different dishes, and proceeded to tuck into the main course, a mini-pizza (Japanese style). As I neared the end of my modest meal, I noticed my tablemates looking at me. In that way...the one that says you've committed the social equivalent of knifing someone in broad daylight.

They informed me that it is the custom in Japan to share one's food, or at the very least offer to do so, when eating at an izukaiya. Upon realizing my error, I offered apologies, but was assured that I'd done no harm. I was merely unawares. I now know the proper etiquette for Japanese dining.

The party was fun. Cake was had, and merry was made. I left at the end, biking home full of Japanese food. I played Halo until 4AM. Huzzah, slack!

J182 Sunday October 21st

I woke up at 5:30AM. I am not kidding. I couldn't get to sleep again, so I just got up. I logged on to Halo 3 again and teamed up with Peter. Together we beat the game on Legendary, the toughest difficulty setting, and secured a plethora of points for my Gamerscore. Afterwards, I decided to put in some exercise time.

I went for a run around noon time. The shortening day makes the world seem kind of strange; you never really see day anymore. The sun gets up only so high on the horizon, so by the time midday comes around, it looks like dusk is beginning already. I don't mind twilight edging closer and closer to 4PM, but it's freaking weird.

I went shopping after my run, picking up some badly-needed groceries. I whipped up a delicious, healthy meal upon my triumphant return, and settled down for an afternoon nap. Minutes hadn't gone by when I was called back to my computer to chat with a very drunk Peter. There was, as I recall, a party of no minor magnitude happening at Psi U that day, and Peter was having, as they say in academic terms "a great f****** time". Overjoyed, yet again unable to sleep, I packed away my futon and played more Halo.

I tried my hand at ranked games, games in which one's actual play style is input into some arcane series of equations. The result of these formulae being a 'rank' that somehow displays your overall awesomeness at the game. I put in an hour or three of effort, and was rewarded with a healthy starting rank of 5. Go me! Realize that there are those who have ranks over 50. I was finally able to sleep at the auspicious hour of midnight.

J183 Monday October 22nd

I was up at 11. 11 hours of sleep! An unheard number! Today was amazingly productive, probably because I intended to study, yet did everything possible to avoid that singular activity.

I did laundry, taking in my very dry stuff and running and hanging a load of not-so-clean stuff. I found that my inquiry regarding my FoD character had been replied to, and thus did some more planning and scheming for that game. I played a bit of Halo, but the past two day's worth of gaming did much to quench my overall desire for FPS glory.

I posted an entry to this blog, an event that is becoming more and more rare. It's not that I don't like to post, far from it. I really do love letting you all know about my activities. It's just a lengthy process that often slips my mind. I am often distracted, as many of you know, and I find it difficult to focus on any one thing for a long period of time. Except video games. That's kind of strange to experience, really. Toward the end of the day, I received an email from K stating that he couldn't make it to the D&D game. Which I'd postponed. Two days ago. I chalked his lack of receipt of the email to witchcraft, and left it at that.