some questions i answered...

1. WHAT COLOUR ARE YOUR KITCHEN PLATES – at the moment all my plates and bowls are pastels- pink, blue yellow and green- on the outside, white on the inside.
2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING – Anil’s ghost by Michael Ondaatjie
3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD – the one at home is a free one the SA ambassador gave me… it has a calendar on it and the SA embassy logo. Its crap though and it scratches me. At the office I don’t have one so my optical mouse jumps all over the place.
4. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BOARD GAME - Scrabble
6. FAVOURITE SMELL – new carpet
7. LEAST FAVOURITE SMELL – Dead, rotting flesh.
8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING – “five more minutes…”
9. FAVOURITE COLOUR – Hot pink
10. LEAST FAVOURITE COLOUR – governmental green
11. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE – my phone doesn’t ring, it vibrates.
12. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME – hmmm, have to wait till I meet the kid… something unpretentious and difficult to mock.
13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN LIFE – family, friends, and the ability to appreciate every moment, even the crap ones.
14. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA – chocolate.
15. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL – nope.
16. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY – wicked! And I’m living in a country with actual typhoons. Best viewed while wrapped up in a feather comforter, sipping hot cocoa and watching Korean horror DVD’s. no lightning tho…a bit sad.
17. IF YOU COULD MEET ONE PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE - DEAD: Cleopatra ALIVE: Angelina Jolie
18. WHAT IS YOUR SIGN - Cancer
19. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI – on the rare occasions when I eat broccoli, yes….
20. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE - tonight, Michael, I will be a samurai...
21. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOUR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE – hot pink.
22. IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY - Half full. Of beer.
23. FAVOURITE MOVIE – LOTR (all three together)
24. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS – “right” is such an outmoded concept. Who’s to say what is right as long as I get the words out?
25. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED – two sliding cupboard doors, a handbag, some books, some dust bunnies, one bogeyman.
26. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE NUMBER – I love all numbers equally.
27. FAVOURITE SPORT TO WATCH: synchronised swimming. I’m serious.
28. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR – death.
32. FAVOURITE CD – Keane- hopes and fears
33. FAVOURITE TV SHOW – 24.
34. KETCHUP OR MUSTARD – a mixture of both, slightly more mustard. Yum!
35. HAMBURGERS OR HOT-DOGS – burgers. They put eyes and brains in hotdogs you know..
36. FAVOURITE SOFT DRINK – fanta wild strawberry.
37. THE BEST PLACE YOU'VE EVER BEEN – Clifton on a sunny day eating melting smartie eggs.
39. BURGER KING or MCDONALD'S – BK all the way.
40. FAVOURITE SEASON – Autumn… especially here where the palette of oranges, reds, russets and golden-yellows is offset by the softer sunlight and the crisp, smoke-and-spice scented air.
41. FAVOURITE FOOD – sushi
42. VACATION IN THE MOUNTAINS OR BEACH – beach.
43. FAVOURITE SNACK – toasted cheese-and-avocado sandwiches.
44. KIND OF CAR YOU DRIVE – can’t drive.
45. KIND YOU'D LIKE 2 DRIVE – a retro muscle car- preferably a ’69 camaro, but a ’69 firebird would do too..

Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee.

So, I've had three cups of filter coffee and two glasses of coke, an d I think my caffeine intake is pretty much over the limit. I'm feeling jerky and stressed out, and my muscles are cramping. Most disturbingly, aside from my complete inability to type (Hello spell-check!) is my need for more. I'm jonesing on caffeine. I don't know how much longer I can resist. I foresee a sleepless night ahead. However, I'm not feeling any asthma symptoms at the moment, so the alternative healing website I read yesterday might well be correct. Of course, I wasn't feeling particularly asthmatic before the coffee... But you never know.

I'm watching a Korean horror DVD called Phone at the moment (English subtitles, Japanese audio). All part of my quest to learn Japanese. Actually I didn't realise it was Korean at first... But seeing as it has the Nihongo soundtrack, that is not a problem. I'm hoping that watching the movie along with the subtitle will help to learn more than my present regime of watching without any clue of what's going on.

Anyway so far so good.

Movies with creepy kids are always good, and this kid should get an Oscar for sheer creepiness. Also it's very atmospheric. lots of darkness and rain and stillness. Tension!

snicky snacky

i think it's just about time for a blog overhaul... i'm already tired of this design, and it's getting to be hard work to keep tweaking it into shape all the time. also it doesn't read at all well with mozilla and gets scrambled (you're not using mozilla firefox?) it'll be a bit difficult to try and get it sorted without any graphics programmes though, and my efforts to try and download anything of any use to me has met with limited (read: zero) success. that's the problem with the internet, everything is available but getting it requires either genius intellect, a huge credit card limit or absolutely no firewalls.

its kind of like being in a library where the librarians don't actually want you to take out the books, or are illiterate, or are evil. do you know how many times i have clickd on a search link only to be taken to another set of links or search engines. somedays are endless circles of links. i suppose i could spend my time writing emails but lately i don't seem to have anything to write about. or i can only think of things at completely innapropriate times (ie on the train). i know that having a laptop is supposed to negate this sort of problem but i an't get over the south african mentality that such lplaces (ie trains) are dangerous. and its actually quite uncomfortable trying to balance a laptop on your lap.

well, i do have quite a small lap.....

anyway.

i'm dumping the look soon, so don't be surprised if it looks a bit crappy for a while...

soon, the snow will come...

i want to learn to snowboard. i neeeed to learn to snowboard. i think i'm going to spend a lot of free time over the next few days researching snowboarding and figuring out how to go about buying boards and so forth. i know that there's this whole subculture thing that goes on around snowboarding but being as i'm from a country where we don't generally have snow, let alone enough to slide downhill on a small wooden board.

so, how to get kitted out. hmmmm. okay, firstly i tried Burton, which is a user-friendly site, not too hyper-cool, with lots of information... great for newbies like me. there is a lot of advice and information given...

well, obviously...

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pet peeves

okay. now, those of you who know me even a little (and i'm pretending for a moment that people actually read my blog) know that i didn't really like high school, and consequently there are certain aspects of that stage of life that is known as teenagedom that really drive me up the wall. i mean, i suppose teenagers are allright. its just the general state that bugs me. the lack of real insight coupled with arrogance. the ssumption that being a teenager is the height of cool and everyone older wants to be a teenager. obsessive interest in sex with no workable skill. a complete lack of self-censorship. crap dress sense.

avril levigne.

but what really pisses me off are teenage blogs. okay generalisation, i've read some really sweet or interesting blogs by teenagers. but there are just as many teenblogs that are filled with the shallowest, most turgid crap. you hate your maths teacher? you have lots of homework? your friends are cool? thanks for sharing. i hate such teenblogs for the same reason i hate reading my own diary from that particular period: it's crap and embarrasing.

and to top it all off, most of these blogs are crammed with on-purpose glaringly bad spelling errors, or, (and i REALLY hate this...) TypOgrPhiCaL StUv! yup, apparently it's cool to randomly hit the shift key while you're typing so that your blog instantly looks like the work of a bipolar three-year old having sex with a panda. it makes it hard to read, although i think it's supposed to be cutting edge! and cool! yeah!

i give you an example of actual text: (used with out permission)

harlOEx..dIs iS mY fIrst pOst sO hOpe tT pPle wHu gEts tO sEe mY bLog dUn fInd
iT loUsy cAn?lEt gEts balL rowlIng...today iS 6th of oct n im haBing mY
cHemiStry pApeR todAy..hOli sHIt..tHE pApeR iS daMn dIffcUlt loRhz..i DiDnt evEn
noE hw tO do...aFter mY pApeR i mEt mY mUm fOr lUnch n gUesS wAt??ouR lunCh wAs
daMn exPenSivE..kaOz...bOughT sOme thIng..n WenT bAck sTraighT hoMe...at niTe
wEnt tO wOrk aT jUrong WesT sTreEt 61...N guEss wAt sHe cAllEd mE at 9.01pm
wHich sHoCked mE..fEelIng hApPy aT tT tiMe i sUppoSe..hAhA..thInk i End lE
bAh...MIn ("V") U(07)...mUAcKIIEee!!!!!!!!!

i have edited this in no way at all.
try reading it. not only is it exceeeeeedingly puerile, but it takes about four times as long to get through. so, to sum up, bad, and lots of it.

bad me.

so, i guess you'll have noticed that its been a while since i last posted. basically i' ve been trying to set up my apartment and get into the swing of things. i've been writing a lot of emails though, so i'm going to cheat a bit and fill in a few blanks with selectedexcerpts...

to >melissa, august 16th:

> The sushi review was quite good, but we are looking for
> the lowdown on the joys of sake. We once had a good bit
> of it out of these chilled bamboo drinking vessels with
> little bamboo shot glasses! VERY marvelous! VERY
> wonderful! Yay the Japanese!

i haven't had sake yet- funnily enough it's not thatpopular... i've been
drinking lots of beer and ikedawine... also very popular here is
nomihodai(all-you-can-drink) but i've yet to experience that...
> All I know about Japan at the moment is that its Princess
> is officially depressed.

uh... okay. the radio here is in japanese and i have no TVso all i know is
the names of bands (bump of chicken. i'mserious) and that it's "ateni
olimpiku".

> And that you are there. Are you
> teaching classes yet?

nope, only from september, after i've been to myorientation in Sapporo (the
Big City, 2 1/2 hours bylimited-express train) which ends 28th aug and then i
haveto prepare an introductory lesson intro'ing meself and mecountry...

>Or is this an acclimatization
> process until that hilarity is hoisted upon you.

i just said so... ha. ha.

>And then
> will you be teaching children, the curious but shrouded
> teenagers, or adults?

teenagers mostly (the girls enthusiastic and giggly, theboys somewhat
poseur-y... they try harder to be tough and cool and therefore are a bit
twittish. but all with very trendy hair and clothes. the boys pluck their
eyebrows .

>Did you get a formatted program for
> teaching or do you get to just walk in and chat? How does
> this all work!

there is a syllabus for each class (ie there are threeyears in senior high
school, and various english classes iereading, translation, conversation, and
interculturalcommunication) and we have to follow that (for universityentrance
exam purposes) but otherwise we can be prettycreative... by we i mean myself and
the JTE (japaneseteacher of english) as we team-teach the class, mostly
funexercises like roleplay, listening to songs or watchingmovies and answering
questions, pairwork etc... english isgenerally the only class where they get to
have fun anddon't just rote-memorise or copy stuff off the board...

> Enquiring minds want to know.

i would not expect any less.

> Had NO idea you could bicycle, by the way.

now that is shameful. i have been able to cycle since i was13. just because
i can't drive does not mean i have noskills. FYI, i can also knit, sew,
embroider, (yes they aretwo different things) paint, argue, dissemble,
rollerblade,ice skate, hand-trace fonts, programme HTML, take goodphotos and
retouch them, and come up with witticisms when ineed them, and not the next
night in bed (that last one hasproved the most useful).

> Knew you weren?t fit though, if that?s any conciliation

!ha. ha.

to carla, september 16th:

I was thinking the other day that although thepeople I am meeting here are
nice, they are not southAfrican. Its funny how that makes a difference: I
neverappreciated this fact until I came to Japan. South Africansare? different.
Also, all my friendships here are very much in the shallowbeginning stages, more
fun than substance. I haven't beenable to have a heart-to-heart talk with
anyone. So at timesit can be a bit lonely. Also, add to that the fact that
I'mquite a bit older than most of the other ALT's --- and alsogenerally more
mature. I think that also has a lot to dowith being south African? most of the
south Africans, nomatter how silly we may act, have a steely core ofseriousness
and? I don't know, adultness. Not that I'msaying all south Africans are mature
(god no, otherwiseneither of us would be single? or have ex-boyfs).No, I think
its more that the people who would apply tosomething like this from south Africa
are perhaps the typeto take it more seriously? this is a golden opportunity,
alearning experience, while most of my American and Englishcompatriots seem to
view it as a way to party, get drunkand get laid. Especially the men who often
seem to havecome here specifically to meet "hot Asian chicks". You maythink I'm
being rather uncharitable, and I wouldn't havebelieved it was so before I came?
But I've see it formyself. I've heard such words come out of their
mouths.Unfortunately even the lamest, wimpiest, dorkiest guysbecome instant
studmuffins the minute they arrive, simplyby virtue of being western. And in
turn they begin? tochange... Of course we girls would probably not mind so much
ifJapanese men didn't insist on doing vaguely nauseatingthings to their
appearances, such as shaving their eyebrows(actually worse than it sounds?.
There are some men here Iactually find it hard to hold conversations with
becausetheir eyebrows are so disconcerting), growing their nails(does not work
if you are neither a Goth nor a vampire) andhome-peroxiding their hair, which
usually renders itstraw-like and one of two colours: canary yellow or
clownorange. Neither of which looks good. Surprisingly.Anyway. I know I promised
you pictures of my place but itsin the middle of a stage at the moment (I'm
painting someplain wooden cubey-boxes) so it looks too messy. So onceI've got my
couch and carpet I'll mail you some pictures.I've been very creative though. For
instance my lounge areawas walled with horrible 1970's dark brown
fake-woodpanelling, so I covered it in handmade paper sheets fromthe hyaku-en
(100 yen) store using double-sided tape. Itlooks very girly now--- the paper has
petals and leavesembedded in it. Also, my lounge was open onto my bathroomand
washing machine , so I have hung a white sheet (okay,it was actually a duvet but
I couldn't actually read thepackaging. A few snips of my scissors remedied
thesituation) upon which I have spread some iron-on thingys ofpandas and devilly
things (cute ones obviously, this isJapan) and bunnies? I got them at Loft, a
rather snazzydepato (department store), where they were in the"interesting
thingys section" (it's not actually calledthat, but lacking a better title, this
will do) with anentire collection of similarly themed goods (i.e.
stickers,stamps, swathes of material, carpets, shower caps etc---all in the same
design). I rather debated getting them, asI hadn't been paid yet and my shopping
partner was in ahurry and said we should come back after payday, but Ithought
that they were rather good value and looked cool(like designer hello kitty) so
my impulse-buying instinctstook over. Well, the very next day I went back to
loft(because I had managed to miss three floors--- I worryabout myself
sometimes--- and all the designercute stuffwas GONE!!!! As if it had never been
there. Replaced by asimilar selection of Madeline goodies. I'm not overly fondof
Madeline, so I was hugely relieved not to have missedout on my iron-on
thingys.Oh I also bought a really cool lava lamp at loft for onlyR80. It is now
on my desk.My desk, incidentally, used to be a cupboard. However Ineeded a desk
more. Japanese cupboards are, well, basicallycrap. One big shelf about 1/3 of
the way up, one little oneall the way in the top where you actually have to get
in tothe cupboard to put anything away- and I mean thisliterally- and that?s it.
No hanger rail. And its deep sofolded piles get all mushy. So eventually I'm
going to haveto find myself a decent cupboard organization system,before I go
barmy. No luck yet though. However, they areconvertible: I took the sliding
doors off (they are nowunder my bed, lurking), and am using the shelf as a desk.
Iwill send photos. As they speak a thousand words, and Idon't wish to about my
desk.My dining room was, at first, a problem as what I had wasrather hideous and
70's and kitsch. So I went with it, andadopted a retro kitsch feel. Its not
quite done (I needsome green, leafy plants by the wall and perhaps a shagrug)
but for now I am satisfied. My office (where my deskis) and my bedroom need the
most intensive work. Of course,decorating is complicated when your only
transport is abicycle.

well, that's all you're getting till tomorrow.