Rarely Updated!!

In person is better than a post

2006-11-17T13:16:00.000+09:00

I'm coming home!!! December 16th through January 4th!!! I just bought my ticket!!! It cost a lot of money!!! I can't wait to see (most of) you all!!! It's gonna go really fast!!! You'll blink and I'll be gone!!! Back to Japan!!! Never to return!!! Never mind that though!!! See you all soon!!!

Leif!!!

Oh, and I'm traveling in a group. Is it cool if they crash on the floor, mom?

I'll catch you up a bit..

2006-10-06T19:42:00.000+09:00

In true Rarely Updated fashion, it's been a little over a month since I last posted something. But just in case there are still a few people checking still, here's a little catch up session. School has started again, second year on the JET program is under way! Woot! Ummmmmm, and you know what that means right? It means that a certain bunch of unsuspecting Japanese youth in rural Japan are learning English the right way. The Leif way. It also means that (oh god, I don't know) that the flower of internationalization has been fertilized by the bumblebee of enduring vigilance and that the resulting offspring will surely be wondrous to behold.

Sorry, I'm honing my essay writing skills for the JET essay contest which I will obviously win this next year. Things are good though, rest assured. Well, they are mostly good...my camera broke, so this is officially the worst blog ever. Still...I can still add pictures off of the internet to entertain you though. Like this one of a child blowing a bubble.

I've been spending a lot of my time lately reading books. I thought that this might impress you. I read the Silence of the Lambs trilogy. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that. I read a few other books too though.

Oh, here's some interesting news. The results are in and the new prime minister of Japan is named Shinzo Abe. Haven't met him yet, but it can't be long now. Say hello to Abe san!

I don't know how much more mileage I can get out of this blog. Sigh

Gettin all like 21st century on ya

2006-09-01T11:48:00.000+09:00

So...the quality of these videos are terrible. And they're really short. Enough of me trying to soften the blow if you think these suck (particularly the 2nd one). 1st one is from a taiko (Japanese drumming concert). Seriously, I've been spending all of my free time recently doing this. And I will counter your "Leif, you are so incredibly lame!" by retorting "Yes, you are right, but taiko is seriously really cool!" I wish the recorder of this song, an un named chubby Japanese man, wouldn't have had such a trigger finger on stopping this recording, cause the song gets a lot cooler after...but...sigh. Please enjoy!

2nd video, is a cover of Pixies song (wait I thought Edward Norton and Brad Pitt cowrote this one?!) that me and a few friends did in Hiroshima. Again, the quality is unimaginably bad, but I think it actually went pretty well when we did it. Ignore me looking like a jerk. Someone had spiked the free cool aid they were serving back stage.

By the way, I am not at all self-consious about putting video of myself on my blog, unless I am telling a gigantic lie right now. You decide.

Etc

2006-08-17T10:30:00.000+09:00

In Japan, there is not really a summer break to speak of. There are no classes from the end of July until the start of September, but teachers and students still come to school. So...yours truly is expected to come to school every day. Did I mention there are a few things about the Japanese school system that I'm not in love with? Well, that's at the top of the list. In general, it's really important to keep up the perception that you are working hard, even when there's absolutely nothing to do. Right now, there is...absolutely nothing to do. I don't teach a class for another three weeks, but I still must come to school. Ahh, the Japanese way. Learn to love it!

That isn't to say I haven't done a few interesting things over this time. I go to the beach a lot. I've gotten heat rash pretty badly. I've read a few books. I took a two week trip to Niigata (best rice and fireworks in Japan! wooh!) to visit a friend. I got to play some music in a club in Hiroshima with some friends and had a taiko (Japanese drums) concert at a local festival.

So, also...I'm starting my 2nd year in Japan. I decided to stay, I think, because (1) I have nothing else to do and (2) One year seemed to short to live in Japan. It takes a while to adjust to Japan, and I think the 2nd year will be a more comfortable one, not that the 1st year was incredibly uncomforable. It was just a bit unsettling at times. One bad thing is that a bunch of really cool people from the past year have left Japan. Erin, Koren, Travis, Nathan (still in Japan, but not Shimane), Nigel, Sam, Ellen (Wooh Madison/MN!), Heidi, Kate, Jason, Erica, Mabel, San san, Tom etc, etc. Anyways, a shout out to you for being part of a good first year. Now I gotta meet some new people.

Italy's MVP

2006-07-13T11:23:00.000+09:00

Yeah, I realize that I am way behind, but congrats to Italy. They won the World Cup and now everything is okay in the world. However, the real glory belongs to a magnificent Italian man? (god) named Vincenzo. Afterall, it was Vincenzo who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring victory to the Azzuri. It was he who cheered on his television set as Italy started off the World Cup in grand fashion, besting the upstart Ghana team behind an Andrea Pirlo free kick (and a bad goal by some other Italian chump). It was he who shook his fist and made funny Italian gestures at the same television when approximately 1/2 of the American team almost beat the mighty? full-strength Italians. The Italian players obviously got the point, cause they went on to beat the Czech-ers and girly, wannabe Italian Paula Nedved in their final group game. The fear of facing Vincenzo's wrath as he swore in funny Italian at the television screen in his living room was too much for Del Piero and company, so they decided to win. It also helped that they weren't facing the Number 4 country in the world, which is America. (Italy was ranked in the high 20s if I remember correctly). Next, Italy faced Australia, and Vincenzo faced his TV screen. It was an epic battle. Many times, Vincenzo yelled loudly at the television, but the players refused to listen. Marco Materazzi got a red card, and it looked like Australia would beat the pretty Italian players...that is until Vincenzo got serious. He looked at the TV just as the game was about to end and said nothing. Just looked at it with an expression of utter, biting contempt. Grosso felt Vincenzo's piercing death stare, and drew a penalty off of a retarded Australian player. Totti, knowing that to miss would mean certain death, made the shot and sucked his thumb in tribute to Vincenzo's brilliant strategy. Next was Ukraine. Ukraine sucked harder than Totti so Vincenzo watched a movie instead. It was almost certainly an American movie dubbed into Italian, because America makes the movies the whole world watches. (Ha, take that terrorists!) The game against Germany, however, saw Vincenzo at a level he had never previously dreamed of reaching. In the best game of the tournament, Vincenzo had his best performance thus far. His barrage of funny gestures and Italian speaking would not waver. It was continuous, scathing and devestating (to the German side). The Italian team sensed the powerful force (Vincenzo) willing them to victory, and were certain of victory even before Grosso struck during extra time. Del Piero scored as well, only because he lives to please Vincenzo and is a suck up. Suck ups aside, it was a virtuoso performance by the couch-ridden Italian hero. And it paved the way for the final, which Vincenzo was almost certain to win. Afterall, it was against France, and France is terrified of Vincenzo. But alas, Vincenzo came down with a cold and was not himself. He couldn't make it out of bed in time for the start of the game, and France took advantage, scoring a dubious penalty. Italy was reeling, but fortunately for them, Vincenzo finally sat down in front of the damn television just before the 20 minute mark. Italy promptly equalized and it seemed that it would be clear sailing to a World Cup title for Italy, behind it's talismanic leader. Oh, but how things changed. Vincenzo kept having to make frequent bathroom breaks because he was drinking so much water to help with the cold. That is why Italy was so disjointed in the second half of the game. Also, his wife, Erin, kept distracting him (he reluctantly allowed her to watch the final; she hadn't been allowed to watch any games thus far) with inane questions about "which team is which?" and " why can that guy touch the ball, but the other guys can't?" Needless to say, a distracted Vincenzo is better than no Vincenzo, but not as good as a focused Vincenzo. So France threatened throughout Erin's period of dumb questions and comments, but couldn't break through Vincenzo's beautiful mind. Finally, during extra time, Vincenzo told Erin to go make him lunch and then, in his best move of the World Cup, locked the door and began to focus. He broke out his most brutal (and hilarious) Italian gesture ever and mercifully swore and mocked the french star Zinedine Zidane to his breaking point. Zidane headbutted Materazzi instead of Vincenzo, because he knew that he would no longer have a head attached to his neck if he chose to head-butt Vincenzo. (Meanwhile the media searches in vain for something that Materazzi said. Ha!) The relief on Zidane's face as he walked off the field was that of a man with a new lease on life. He had escaped Vincenzo's death trap. But the rest of France hadn't. Vincenzo issued personal death threats to all of the players taking penalties through his, now trademark, silent stare. And as it turned out, only the Italian players (who can't help but obey) and France's David Trezeguet (the only smart French player) complied. The final tally was Italy 5-France 4, but now you know how and why that doesn't tell the whole story. If you don't believe me, why don't you go ask the families of the the 4 French players who made their penalty? Vincenzo dares you.

In accordance with my last post...

2006-07-03T09:43:00.000+09:00

...which was a crucial, fact-finding, superfluous friend and family weeding out post--the people who care about me are (in order of post-age, and thus caring-ness) 1) Erin G 2) Koren Hunt 3) Joss KB 4) Parents 5) Vincenzo F 6) Grandparents 7) Mike Jones (the influential southern rapper who is also my mentor) 8) Kate Nevens 9) Carole Deveaux 10) Could it be you? [Hint: You still have time to be prove your friendship and/or blood relation to me]

Here's how I spent my birthday by the way.

Twas glorious!

GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS!!!??!?!?!?!

2006-06-29T12:34:00.000+09:00

It's my damn birthday! Now show me some love! (Post a comment--or I will assume that you don't care! (Sniff, whimper, sob)

China revisited

2006-06-21T11:58:00.000+09:00

Well...not that I really told any of you about it in the first place. I do think it's worth a mention. I went to Beijing a while ago. Back in early May, during Japan's Golden Week (religious holiday--where everybody gets a bunch of days off) I flew to Beijing. It was China's Golden Week as well, so it was super crowded. I'd do the really detailed trip breakdown for you, but the last time I attempted that I burned myself out halfway through (see my half-completed Thailand/Cambodia epic a couple of posts back) ...so let's keep it brief and readable. Whaddya say?

First part of trip- Flew into Beijing. The next day we drove an hour or so away to see the Great Wall. I'd always wondered what it'd be like to see the Great Wall in person, and it turned out to look a lot like it does in all of the pictures I've seen over the years. Riding down the mountain afterwards in a bobsled type thingee capped the day off nicely.

The next day went to Tiannamen Square. I may have spelled that wrong, but I don't care. TS was really cool. Somewhat surprisingly, even more so than being on the Great Wall, walking through TS for the first time kind of authenticated that, yeah, I'm in China. Seeing the infamous guards combing the area for people disturbing the peace was cool, albeit a bit creepy.

The Temple of Heaven was an interesting site. Here...look. The Chinese emperors would go here to pray for good crops, as you will.

The Forbidden City. Former home to the Emperor, forbidden to us common folk, now a major tourist attraction even boasting a Starbucks. Our frappacinos were delicous!

Our hostel was in a nice part of Beijing, a ways out of the city center, but not without its own lure. It was kind of music shop central. The main street had dozens of guitar shops. The people working in these shops mostly just played guitar all day long. We went in to a few of them and played for a bit. A few guitars were purchased in the end. None by me.

Night life was fun in Beijing. We danced, drank, ate, sang, walked, cabbed, limped our way through several epic nights. One night while eating dinner, I was challenged to a drinking duel by some wayward Chinese youth. I was beaten soundly, but my new Chinese friends (weighing in each at about 100 pounds) struggled with the alcohol they had so bravely? consumed and were completely out of sorts by about 8 pm, knocking over chairs, breaking glasses, stumbling back home to their parents. Not me, reader. Not me. My parents were no where in sight.

Some other things....saw a Shao-lin Monks kung-fu spectacular in some theatre and a Circus type show. The Shao-lin one was dope. These Monks didn't take shit from anyone, and many of them could do flips.

In conclusion, I think that China is a cool country, and I think that you should all go to there. China.

Garbledy gook

2006-06-16T09:23:00.000+09:00

Watching soccer is killing me. I can't function on 3 hours of sleep. This month is going to be hella tiring. A few things...I'm still waiting for England to explode. They look pretty tentative, especially Owen up front. It's disappointing to see him taken off early two games running. I still think I look forward most to seeing England play, even with their subpar effort so far. I predict an outburst against Sweden, the first European side they face. Next, contrary to opinion, I didn't think that the U.S. played all that badly in their first game. A few players didn' t show up and have their best game, but the quality of play wasn't that far off from that of the Czech's. Italy/U.S. will be entertaining to watch, if only to prank call my brother in law. Also, I always get a kick out of watching the Italians play, as it's equally important for them to look beautiful and play beautifully. They're good too, but they're worth watching just to see how they react to bad calls with those amazing Italian gestures. Hilarious.

Hello and Welcome!

2006-06-08T15:07:00.000+09:00

Ahh, to new beginnings! Welcome friends. I feel much more comfortable in my new blogging skin. Why? Because I'm telling you straight up that I may not post for another month or 4, and　what's more...you can't get mad at me about it. Why? Because you know before you start reading, that this blog isn't part of the rat race. And why is that? Perhaps it was because this site's previous incarnation tried to be part of that race until the driver realized that he needed to slow down, get off the track and take a breather. Also, the wheel axle got all dinged up on lap 56 apparently. That was a metaphor. Anyways, a word of advice. Get to know each post. Read each one a couple of times until you really understand what is being said. Memorization never hurt anyone. Get to love each post. Cherish each one like it's the last...for it may well be. I will make no secret of my dislike of blogging, but I also love the people who read my blog...so here's my compromise. This is a blog for my patient family and friends. This is surely a blog that will change the world of blogging as we know it. By not blogging very often at all, I will become the world's best blogger. No one will ever have to worry being bogged down by meaningless daily posts. There will never be any need to catch up. Can't you see what this means? Freedom, folks! Freedom. I'm just glad to be a part of it all.

I went to China...

2006-05-09T15:59:00.000+09:00

....and made a nice friend named Mao. He allowed me to look at his dead body for free!! Unfortunately the line was too long and confusing. Oh well...pictures upcoming.

Yo check the mad flava

2006-04-18T13:03:00.000+09:00

Hey...quick follow up. My friend Koren posted some audio/video of two of our songs on her blog. You can check it out here. Koren's blog is actually pretty cool as well. Allow yourself to browse a bit, why don't you. She's Canadian.

"Formed a band...we formed a band...look at us...!"

2006-04-09T20:09:00.000+09:00

So me and a bunch of cool JET friends started a band here in Shimane-ken, Japan. We don't have a name yet. But we did have our first show this past weekend. We only do covers so far, but here is the list of songs we played if youre interested.

1. "Where is My Mind"-Pixies
2. "King of Carrot Flowers Pt 1"-Neutral Milk Hotel
3. "I Summon You"-Spoon
4. "My Doorbell"-The White Stripes
5. "Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots"-Flaming Lips
6. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)-Arcade Fire
7. "Hey Ya" Outkast

There are 5 people in our group. Jennifer plays guitar and sings (I've done 3 shows with just Jen and myself already you might recall), Maddy plays guitar, bass, keyboard, tambourine and sings, Travis plays bass and guitar and does a bit of singing here and there. Evan is our drummer and I play keyboards and sing.

Here are some pics of it

The verdict on our first show all together is that it was a blast. One of the most fun experiences so far in Japan and we're gonna keep it up. Each song went at least relatively well, and some definitely stood out. Good job yet-to-be-named-band! I can't wait to start again.

Yes!!!

2006-03-20T15:19:00.000+09:00

My brother, Neil, is 21 and in Prague at the moment. (BTW Have you ever seen my dog before?) Neil recently told me of the meaning of it all. I would like to share it with you...click

World's worst blogger back at it!

2006-03-14T19:06:00.000+09:00

You can't hold me back!! You know I'm gonna come back with more blog goodness! You just know it! Don't you?! Well here it is...can you handle it?!? I don't think so.

Right here are some pictures of my parents in Japan. Maybe I'll post more. At this rate, there's certain to be another post before summer hits us in the face with its joyous heat fist.

It's good to be back!! I dedicate this post to Koren and Lena.

Parents in Japan

Chotto...

2006-03-01T09:13:00.000+09:00

The last post was made so that now I will feel guilty if I don't add pictures. In effect, I am manipulating myself. And guess who wins? You do, Blog enthusiast!

Hola

2006-03-01T09:11:00.000+09:00

I think I'm going to add some pictures soon. I've taken a lot of pictures recently. People like to look at pictures usually. So are we in agreement on me adding these pictures soon? Okay, so pictures on the way!

My dilemma

2006-02-22T10:58:00.000+09:00

My blog is my homepage when I turn on my computer. This is convenient, but lately each time it comes up I think to myself, "Why isn't this blog being updated? This blog has not changed much at all for weeks. How does this blog have any readership? This isn't an enjoyable blog. Putting pictures of a dog doesn't make this blog readable." I'm thinking about changing my homepage to someone else's blog.

Hey everyone

2006-02-14T11:07:00.000+09:00

Hope all is well. Going to meet my parents in Tokyo tommorow, and will be with them for 10 days. We're gonna spend two in Tokyo, two in Kyoto, a couple days in Shimane and a day or two in Hiroshima. Can't wait. I'm doing well. Just can't be bothered to blog about anything right now. I'll probably be back at it sometime. In the meantime, I may take up actual communication. Like talking on the phone with people. I miss all you back home (MN, WI, Italy, CA) and will be thinking about you a lot with my parents.

Too bored to write, but...

2006-01-31T12:48:00.000+09:00

Let's enjoy taiko!

Phi-Phi (The rest of it, including Power Stance)

2006-01-23T11:24:00.000+09:00

We stayed two more days in Phi-Phi, and had an amazing time! Some of the highlights include:

1)Fantastic food and drink--I love curry so much and it so amazing in Thailand and on Phi-Phi. Also, Thailand is worth going to just for the fruit shakes. Banana milk shakes soon became a favorite of Dan and mine. (It was even rumored that Dan would be writing an essay comparing banana milkshakes from various regions of Thailand and Cambodia to be published in his local newspaper. I hope he followed through, though I cannot be sure, what with Dan's dodgy work record.)

2)Fantastic cover bands--Actually, only one. "Made in Thailand" they were called, and they made up for it with kick-ass covers of all of your and my favorites. Metallica, The White Stripes, Guns and Roses, Oasis etc. I'm not even sure if they were all that good, but they had this guy that we will call "Power Stance," to make things simpler. Power Stance plays lead guitar for Made in Thailand, and he made sure you knew it. Lazily dangling a ciggarette in his mouth, like Slash, tearing through frantic solos, like Slash, and, of course, maintaining the best power stance anyone had ever seen, P.S. owned the Rolling Stone Bar and everyone in it for two successive nights in late December. I believe those two fateful nights were December 27th and 28th. A power stance, for those not in the know (i.e. anyone over 40, "Hi parents and grandparents!"), is a way (the only way, really) to stand while one plays the guitar in a rock band. It is an important, nay, crucial statement that the guitarist can send out to the audience. What it conveys to the audience is (this is the guitarist speaking--non verbally--through his power stance), "Hey, I'm really cool. Much cooler than you in fact. I can have your girlfriend if I want. I don't want her though. I am much too cool, and also too bored to pursue your girlfriend. But keep that in mind, whilst I tear through this guitar solo. She could be mine." Luckily, I don't have a girlfriend...(sigh), but still...P.S. told me with his stance that he could have my future girlfriend if he wanted, though he was quick to add that he would probably be too bored to go after her with any real purpose. Man, he was cool! Oh, and while that isn't P.S. pictured above, that is a power stance!

3)Fantastic company--ok this is the part where I wax sentimental about a lot of people from England and Ireland. Joss, Kat, Pam, Deccy, Emma, Lindsey, Martin, Nick, Ellen (MN) and Dan (CA). Before going to Thailand, I was skeptical about meeting up with a bunch of people that I didn't know. I wanted to rough it. I wanted to explore. And I wanted to avoid other JETs like the plague. But, thankfully that didn't happen. I'm really glad that I met every single one of them. Yay for new friends! We're going to meet up again soon in Osaka, and there's even talk about a Vietnam trip soon. Splendid, I say! But, like all things, the sun did have to set on our stay in Phi-Phi. (That was a metaphor--and look!!--I included a picture of an actual sunset to make it even more clever! Blogging is so effortless for me! Woo!) As usual...more pics

Phi-Phi (December 26)

2006-01-23T10:10:00.000+09:00

The following day, December 26, was the one-year anniversary of the tsunami. Phi-Phi, which had been hit hard by the tsunami, had a series of moving ceremonies that day. It was extremely hot, but that didn't prevent everyone on the island from coming out to the beach for religious ceremonies (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam) and speeches commemorating those who died due to the tsunami. I am thankful that I was part of the ceremony. I did feel at the time that I was witnessing something that I wasn't capable of completely understanding. An unknown, but large quantity of those present that day, had been hugely effected by the tsunami. Many had lost loved ones. Seen their homes and businesses ruined. And they had all endured and gotten back to this point a year later. The emotions that December 26 brought back for them are beyond my experience, but I am grateful that I was there.
After the main ceremonies during the day (which also included the bestowing of flowers for the victims and some great local charity groups--one headed by my friend and Japanese transplant Nakagawa Shunsuke), our group decided to go kayaking around much of Phi-Phi island. It was surreal thinking about what it must have been like a year ago on these same waters.
We ended the night by going to one last ceremony. Everyone gathered back on the beach for music and lighting of lanterns to recognize those that died. more pics

Taiko in the big city

2006-01-22T17:39:00.000+09:00

Had first taiko show. We played in front of what seemed like a lot of people in this arena type thingee in Hiroshima. It was really, really cool. The taiko group that lets me play with them are REALLY good. I saw them play back in July or August for theYakami-cho festival and was blown away. I had no idea that I would later be playing with them. Especially since Yakami isn't where I live. Luckily, my good friend Lena does live there, and she invited me to play with them after she was invited. (I'm not boycotting Kawamoto-cho taiko or anything. There is a team, but its practices are not at good times for me). Sorry rambling...but it was amazing being part of the concert with such a talented group of people. None speak English really, but I went out and partied with them after the show and they made such a point of including me in everything. 'Twas great!! Anyways, I took a bunch of pictures in my taiko outfit and etc and I will get to posting them soon. It's just, I am (as my English friends say) right knackered at the moment and can't be bothered (another Brit-ism) to do the whole picture thing now. Also, I will continue posting about Thailand/Cambodia during the next weeks. It's been kind of haphazard. Sorry. I'll get to it. Right, have a good week blog-reader.

Leif

Oh, reading Al Franken's new book. Very good. Check-a check-a it out!

Totally lame...but...

2006-01-20T12:27:00.000+09:00

...In the midst of frantically working around the clock to bring you heart-stopping, breath-ending, life-shattering accounts/photos of my amazingly, manly trip to Thailand/Cambodia...I realized that I need to do something really lame, that everyone always does. I think that if I didn't do this thing, then I'd actually be cooler...but there's a part of me that feels like I need to this thing. This thing will give me credibility (maybe...probably not) with the "in" crowd. Credibility that I desperately crave. Or is it just that I want to feel cool in my own head? Is that it? Hmmm. Yes?! Oh god...enough. Ok. So, I'm going to do one of those stupid, lame end-of-the-year best music lists (like my opinion matters at all--in fact, like anyone's opinion matters at all. It doesn't! Get over yourselves! Get over yourself!) Bit of an internal debate going on here, but I think...wait...yep!...my lame side just won out. Ok...also, this will be even more incredibly pointless, as I am lifting this from something that I already wrote...on my brother's blog, no less. (Blogs are so dumb!!!) But I'm going to pretend like I just wrote it now. Haha! You'll never know you sad, simple blog-readers!! Hahahahhahahahah. Now, take this end-of-the-year dumb music list and force it down your throat just like the rest. One more can't hurt...can it? Oh this one can! This one will make you a worse person for having read it. Ha! Do it! Okay. Starting.....now. Just kidding. NOW!!!!! ...........(cough)

Leif's stupid, dumb, waste of time end of year music, pointless, list...

10. Anthony and the Johnsons-"I am a Bird Now" ("Spiralling" blows my mind!)

9. Bloc Party-"Silent Alarm" (Not quite as good in concert, and the album peters out a bit at the end, but, man, those first 5-6 songs....)

8. Deerhoof-"The Runner's Four" (This would have been a lot higher if I hadn't first listened to it in December)

7. Animal Collective-"Feels" (Finally starting to get these guys. It's a fantastic listen from start to finish. They're the best group at always almost being pretentious, but managing to blow your mind in spite of it.)

6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Self-titled (Immediately catchy, but not at all in that cheap way.)

5. Kanye West-"Late Registration" (Never doubting this guy ever again. Arrogant beyond belief, but the best hip hop artist today. Also puts on an amazing live show.)

4. The Decemberists-"Picaresque" (Eli the Barrow Boy-maybe best song of the year, though Sixteen Military Wives is my favorite anti-GWB song)

3. Queens of the Stone Age-"Lullabies to Paralyze" (They lose their bassist, and Dave Grohl, and make a better album than the last one. Can I please see you guys in concert? Please????!?!?!?)

2. Bright Eyes-"I'm Wide Awake it's Morning" and "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" (I'm Wide Awake...was better received by the "critics" but I prefer Digital Ash, by a hair. Both highlight how diverse of an artist he is; much more than the mopey emo-kid he is made out to be. I'm excited to see what he does next.)

1. Sufjan Stevens-"Illinois" (I won't be able to do this one justice, but...the best album this year at capturing what it is to be alive. I wish I knew this guy.)

Honorable Mentions:

Common, FranzFerdinand, Fiery Furnaces, Gorillaz, Iron and Wine, M83, The White Stripes, Cage, Felt 2 (Slug and Murs), Sage Francis, The Shining, Wolf Parade, Spoon, Six Organs of Admittance, The Go! Team, Black Mountain.

Also, must give mention to the music that, regardless of year it was made, has been my fave over 2005.

Neutral Milk Hotel (everything they've done. I listen to them too much now), The Microphones (The Glow Pt. 2), ...Trail of Dead (Source Tags and Codes), Arcade Fire (still), The Faint (Danse Macabre), Belle and Sebastian (they're really good!), British Sea Power, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill (Keep it like a secret), Coldplay, The Cure (Pornography), Cursive (Domestica), De La Soul, DJ Shadow, Elliot Smith (Always), The Flaming Lips (ditto), The RZA, Interpol, Immortal Technique (best rapper ever!) Les Savy Fav (Inches), Modest Mouse (so good), My Bloody Valentine (Loveless), Nas (illmatic), P.O.S. (MN what!), Atmosphere (ditto), Pavement, Pixies, R.E.M., Radiohead (always), Rogue Wave (really good!), The Secret Machines, The Shins, Sigur Ros, Sleater-Kinney, Ted Leo, The Velvet Underground, Viktor Vaughn/MF Doom/Madvillain, Weezer, Wilco, The Wrens, Wu-Tang Clan (always), The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

That isn't everything, but it kind of sums up 2005 for me. Whachy'all think?

Phi-Phi (Our arrival)

2006-01-17T12:49:00.000+09:00

The boat to Phi-Phi was fun. The trip had been a dry one for myself and Dan, so we decided to crack one or two brewdogs on the 2 hour journey to Phi-Phi. What's more...we documented this exciting experience in a breathtaking photo! Can you spot Dan (Harry Potter) and Leif with their two delicious Singha beers? Think back to your Where's Waldo days to re-engage those old skills. Blue skies and water=fun for us!

This was a fun boat ride! It was nearly time for the relaxing part of our trip. A four-day, four-night chill out with Dan's friend Ellen (from Minnesota, holla!!!) and Ellen's ALT friends. These friend were, Deccy (from Ireland and Niigata), Jocelyn (England, Shizuoka), Martin (England, Niigata), Kat (England, Niigata), Pamela (Ireland, Niigata) and Nick (England, Niigata). I didn't know any of these people before hand, but we arrived on Kat's birthday, and were treated very nicely. We had an "English" Christmas dinner, which was ok. (Actually, pretty mediocre--approaching disappointing). They also play charades on Christmas Day across the pond. Ha! Humorous! Oh, almost forgot...a few initial observations of Phi-Phi and the "beach scene." 1) The Water is delightfully warm 2) Lots of scandinavians. Mostly Swedish I think. Also, Swedish (I think) guys kind of suck at beach volleyball, but they make up for it by all being 8 feet tall and possessing a solid workman-like approach. Perhaps they know they suck and that is why they try so hard. 3) We meet an American--the only American we will meet the whole time at Phi-Phi. He's also from Minnesota. We talk to him, and he is beyond smashed, floating by himself in the ocean. This man seems to need a friend, but I cannot be this for him. I am busy swimming.

Here are views of Phi-Phi from our bungalow and from the boat.

more pics

Phuket

2006-01-17T12:19:00.000+09:00

We arrived in Phuket on December 24, and while Dan went to explore, I passed out until later that evening. That night would be our only night out in Phuket (we were taking a boat to Phi-Phi the next day), so why not check it out? We ended up being too tired to do anything about it, but the scene in Phuket was pretty interesting and disturbing. Old men from Western countries (Europe mostly, but I'm sure others) walking around with Thai women, who seemed way too young. I'd heard from other JETs who came to Thailand in previous years about this phenomenon, so I wasn't completely caught off guard, but it was hard to know what to feel about it. Mostly, it was just sad. Sad that so many Thai women do this to make money (it may be good money, I'm not sure...) and sad that these men needed to pay women that they don't know to be there "dates." Judging other people isn't something I like to do, so I tried my best not to.
We did manage to enjoy our time in Phuket. We found some pizza that night, walked around the town and checked out the beach. We would leave the next day for Phi-Phi.

Here's a view of the beach in Phuket.

The effect of the tsunami is still within plain view in many places in Phuket.

New trees being planted to replace the one's destroyed by the tsunami.

Ok...a few more pictures from Phuket

Bit busy but...

2006-01-12T14:37:00.000+09:00

...haven't forgotten about the rest of my trip. Expect a new awesome post soon complete with pictures and biting commentary! Congratulations to Jim and Nancy Dickinson who welcomed Samuel James and William Henry Dickinson in to the world today. Here's what uncle Charlie had to say about it:

"That's right, Samuel James and William Henry Dickinson were born (in that order) this afternoon healthy and happy! The future champs weighed in at a respectible 5 lbs. 14oz, and 6 lbs. 1 oz., respectively. Will's got a full head of hair, and is chill as a mug. He enjoys yawning and staring at his brother. Sam enjoys yelling and screaming in his leisure time. Mother and father are doing great!

The little fellows are already talking about lacing up their skates as soon as possible. "We can't wait to get out on the ice," said Will through his interpreter. Sam echoed his brother's comments, adding "We've got the greatest uncle ever!" True."

Spoken like only Charlie D can...but congratulations again Dickinson family!!

Really quick...

2006-01-10T12:39:00.000+09:00

On the previous post, the "complete pics" link at the end of the post wasn't set up right, but it should be ok now. Please check out the pictures (my new camera turned out to be really nice), and I reccomend doing the slide show option. Incidentally, I feel sick from overeating at lunch today. Japanese food is uber heavy sometimes.

Bangkok

2006-01-09T14:55:00.000+09:00

Daniel Jaquette (decent enough guy and frequent comment poster on my site) and I arrived at the Bangkok airport around 3 pm on December 22. On the train into actual Bangkok we began a nice chat with this nice Thai guy by the name of Really Nice Thai Guy Whose Name I've Forgotten. He was really interested in us, our stories, and everything, and I was happy to tell him. He was really, really nice. Dan was bit more skeptical. See, in our Lonely Planet there is this chapter about being weary of really, really nice Thai guys who are interested in you, your life stories, and everything, because they nice the really, really gullible tourist into spending their money in really, really dumb ways. I'm not saying that I ended up being the gullible tourist, but...Ok...it's not like Dan was Mr. Travel Savvy either--jerk! So, our new friend (out of pure good will and concern for us, I'm sure) led us to a travel agency right outside the Bangkok train station. Ok, so there's this other chapter in our L.P. about avoiding being led by Nice Thai Guy to travel agencies "right outside" the trainstation. We decided to go with him though. He was just so nice. I like nice. The problem, though, was that prior this trip, Dan and I had built up these romantic visions of playing this whole trip by ear, and being all rugged travel guys who don't take no guff from noone, ya hear! We would sleep in boxcars and eat tree bark and rocks and form a new society. We even had a travel beard contest planned. We gave up these nice dreams 10 minutes into our meeting with the even more nice Thai travel lady person. In that time, she booked our hotel in Bangkok, our night bus to Phuket, our hotel in Phuket and our boat to Phi-Phi Island (note--We had planned to go to Phi-Phi prior to the trip and had a bungalow booked for Dec. 25, so we did eventually have to get there...but still). It seemed way to easy, and we were both certain that we had been horribly scammed and that we would be stuck in Bangkok barefoot for a month or something. Our fears increased when we saw the state of our hotel in Bangkok. The Toon Pong was a glorified piece of poo, miles away from everything we wanted to see. God how we hated ourselves! Anyways, to dull our self-loathing we decided to go hunt for our dinner out in Bangkok. We needed to succeed at something. This was a crucial point of the trip for us. If we surrendered to eating McDonald's or the crap that the Poon Tang Hotel (can't remember the name exactly, but it wasn't this, but this is funnier, we made many funny jokes about this name, nice one Dan and Leif!) served...I don't know what would have happened. I just don't know. But, we did succeed after 2 hours of looking. In Bangkok's Chinatown, we found a nice noodle stand and enjoyed our first meal in Thailand. It was spicy and it was good. Against all odds, we had found food. Walking back to the Poon Tang, we felt our self-hatred slowly lifting. "Good first day, Dan!" "Yeah, good one Leif!" Our travel beards were starting to look decent as well.

The next day, Dec. 23, breakfast was good. We also found Bangkok a lot nicer by day, and away from the Poon Tang Suites. Below is the first attraction we saw in Bangkok. This Buddha statue is solid gold.

Next, we wandered around a bit. A good picture of Chinatown and it's craziness is the one at the top of this post. Dan is helpfully pointing out the busyness. (Thanks champ!) So we walked around Chinatown for a few hours. There are loads of food stands, food markets, flea markets, etc. Didn't take many pictures of Chinatown, sorry! Next we went to the main attraction of Bangkok, I guess. Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Krew is also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is this really small Buddha. It's pretty important I guess, but it was closed to the public the day we were there. Bollucks! Not to worry, we saw another emerald buddha in Cambodia, and I imagine they are similar. Please check out the entirety of my pictures from the Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace at the link I will give you later. They are great! Wat Phra Kaew is adjoined to the Grand Palace, which is the former residence of the monarch. monarch. Really beautiful architecture. Below is a view of W.P.K outside of its gates.

Here is a view of W.P.K from inside the gates.

So after this, it was starting to get late and we decided to take a ferry boat down the Mae Nam Chao Phraya. Nothing too fantastic, but we were tired and it was nice to see parts of Bangkok without having to walk to them.

The only other thing of note about our experience in Bangkok was the tuk-tuk. A tuk-tuk is like a taxi but smaller and able to weave in and out of traffic. It's like small carriage attached to a motorbike. They are everywhere in Bangkok, and they're super fun to ride in. Here's the view from inside one.

We ate at a great Indian restaurant that night, and then headed back to the aforementioned travel agency at 7 to board our night bus to Phuket. We had opted (been coerced into) for the night bus over a train because the nice Thai travel lady had said it would be quicker (13 hours instead of 15, or something). Well...the bus sucked. Full of gigantic German guys. Not that gigantic Germans suck, but the ride did. It took 18 hours, I slept for 1 hour and there were all these random middle of the night stops. Not very cool. Nice (evil) Thai Travel Agency 1, Leif and Dan (Innocent travelers with hearts of gold) 0. Oh well...

Complete pics

Explanation of next couple posts

2006-01-09T14:48:00.000+09:00

In order to give a full account of my amazing two weeks in Thailand and Cambodia, I'm gonna stagger these posts so I can give an adequate amount of time to each part of the trip. It'll probably go like this: Bangkok, Phuket and Phi-Phi, Pnomh Penh, Crazy Party at top of mountain in Cambodia, and Angkor wat. I'll have pictures in the posts, but I'll also eventually (when I figure it out, give a link where you can look at all of my pics from the trip). Ok...here we go...

Working on something big...

2006-01-08T18:57:00.000+09:00

Got a big, big post coming up soon. Just got back from Thailand/Cambodia. Stay tuned. It should be ready in a day or so.

Phi-Phi!

2005-12-28T21:11:00.000+09:00

I'm there right now. Look it up! Going to Cambodia to part-ay with long lost friend Sneil for New Year's. Should be glorious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bangkok and Phuket...(No pics yo!) patience

2005-12-24T20:46:00.000+09:00

Bangkok is pretty dirty. We saw some nice temples. Rode around in tuk-tuks. Now we are in Phuket and boy am I tired. Geez Louise! This place is crawling with upper-middleaged Germans and Scandinavians wearing speedos. Don't worry...plenty of photos upcoming. Having a fun time!

HOLY @#$%! I ACTUALLY BOUGHT A CAMERA!?

2005-12-20T14:31:00.000+09:00

It only took 5 months, but I've managed to purchase a camera. This camera is actually "digital" so it's different from your "normal" camera. This isn't your "grandfather's camera." See now, I can put these "pictures" on the "internet" for your viewing enjoyment. I will not have to send these pictures through the mail in an evelope for you to look at, though that would work. But because I won't have to do that, this should be a pretty fast, efficient process...this viewing of my pictures from Japan, where I am now.

Can you spot the one who isn't 17 years old and Japanese?

These guys make really good food called Okonomiaki. It's like a pancake, but not at all. I'll show you a picture of okonomiaki in a bit. I eat okonomiaki more than I probably should.

Ok...this is okonomiaki, that is about to be brutally massacred by two Americans named Craig and Katy. These Americans, who incidentally are married to one another, are particularly heartless when it comes to devouring okonomiaki. They make quite a show of it to tell you the truth.

This young man is quite a guitar player. His name is Tokata I believe. Or it could be Takota. It is one of those two names. This young guitar virtuoso played at the same concert that I played at.

This picture contains many ALTs. Ok clockwise from bottom middle: (Heidi-Finland, Lena-Ireland, Mabel-England, Maddy-England, Fiona-England, Emily-U.S., Karin-Germany, Titia-U.S., Jennifer-Guam, and *Sayoko-Japan) *Denotes a non ALT

This is a student of mine named Ai ("eye"). She also goes by Crazy Ai. No futher comment needed.

This is part 1 of the view that I have of my students each class. (Notice how the boys are not impressed at all by my spontaneous decision to take a picture, while the girls are about to die from excitement. Welcome to Japan!)

Part 2.

The peace sign is bigger than Ichiro over here.

This is one of the teachers I work with. She is great! Her name is Hadano sensei. The reason for all of the food and cooking in all of these pictures is that we were cooking food for our final class of the year. Hence all of the food and cooking in these pictures.

My workspace. Cluttered because when you're smart you clutter your workspace. Studies have shown this. No, I didn't arrange it all cluttered just for this photo. You have no proof. Leave me alone.

Jen and Leif performing at Japan's grammys. Just kidding. We didn't win a grammy. Politics.

So...I will be going now to Thailand for a few weeks, and won't post for a while. I have become quite a binge poster. Anyways, hope everyone has a good Christmas.

International Day (long overdue)

2005-12-06T21:59:00.000+09:00

Hey...this happened a long time ago, but I thought you guys might want to see a picture of me with Japanese kids, as that is my life right now. Notice how we are all giving the peace sign. Do you see that? That is what everybody does here in pictures. If you don't...then you are not cool. Anywho, these are some junior high students that I chilled with a few weeks back for an International Day. On this day, 20 or so of us foreign ALTs invaded a rural Junior High somewhere in Shimane and showed them how to be Western. These kids all thought I was much cooler than I actually am, and for that...I love them. I normally work at a highschool, where the students think they are "cool" and that there being so "cool" doesn't allow them to think that I am "cool." Little jerks. I prefer the junior high students. They know what's up. For real.

Super Exciting Concert Fun Time!!!

2005-11-28T18:09:00.000+09:00

So kind of a hectic post...be quiet to all of those who say that I don't know how to post pictures. I know! Show me how to and I'll stop sucking at posting pictures in the "right" way. (Take that Koren, Dan and all the other naysayers!! H hahahah). Sorry these pictures are all blurry too. That wasn't my fault. Anyways, yesterday I played in the Kawamoto music festival or something like that. Twas fun. I and my friend Jen decided a while ago to get a band going, and so far we're only two, but we hope to have a drummer, bassist and whatever else soon. But for this show, it was just us and we did a good job. Especially for our debut. We only played two songs and they were both by Coldplay. "Clocks" and "Politik". Good, safe songs to start with. Very easy to play and pleasant enough on the ears. A little background on the show...I was asked about 2 months ago to do something for this music festival. I hadn't played piano seriously since highschool jazzband, but I decided to try to pull something together for this. I began to practice in between classes at school, and once Jen got involved, we met twice to practice together. Jen, who I can only assume is Guam's premier guitar player, is cool and was really quick at picking up these parts. (You rock Jen!). On to the actual show....a bunch of friends came to give us support, and we kind of made a weekend out of it. Good times Rob, Lena, Leslie, Fiona, Jason, Alan (sp?), Kate, Sara, Matt, Koren, Kaori, Sayoko, Carol (allah strike me dead if I forgot anybody). We started with Clocks, which is easy and repetitive, but we were both nervous, and I screwed up some parts (idiot), but recovered (awesome). Jen was flawless. Next we played POlitik and played better according to most in attendance. Particularly Rob, who knows everything, and is pictured in a few of these pics. So explaining the pics, in one we our outside our dressing room (because we are rock stars). The others you can probably figure out. Random shots are of traditional Japanese dancing, girls playing cards in my apartment, the Kawamoto mountains, and post concert celebratory stuff. As for the band, we will be playing more "shows" soon (once in december) and yeah. Lalalalalalla. Happy day to all!!!!

Groin update...

2005-11-25T09:55:00.000+09:00

...Hurts really bad! Ouch! I hope that everyone else's groin is doing well.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I'm going to put a (!) after everything I say in this post! This should spice things up a bit! Even sentences that otherwise wouldn't be exciting are! Like this one! Which technically isn't even a sentence! Either was that one! These are all sentence fragments! Except for that last one! That one was though! I hope that you have an exciting day!

Did you ever notice....

2005-11-15T19:21:00.000+09:00

...that's it's a lot easier doing the Robot when you're all by yourself. The Robot is a dance with a lot of inherent pressure, because, by doing it, you're basically saying, "Hey, look at me! I'm doing the Robot. Isn't this a great Robot!?" This makes it tough, when you're Robot actually sucks. But if you're feeling down about your subpar Robot, try doing it at home with your curtains drawn and door locked. I guarantee you will improve noticeably. You could even video tape it and play it for your friends. Observations from Kawamoto-cho, Shimane-ken, Japan.

Hey....Look!!

2005-11-15T19:13:00.000+09:00

This is me playing in my band Arcade Fire. Have you heard of us? I wrote most of the songs one day while taking a bath. We're pretty popular now!

I suck at blogging

2005-11-15T18:37:00.000+09:00

Sorry, It's been a while. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, not a whole lot to say today, or the past week. I've been pretty busy lately. School's improving. Those little punks are listening a little bit more. (I don't remember being that much of a punk when I was in highschool), and that helps. It's getting really, really cold here. Bollucks to that. There are a few things that we can do here to stay warm. One being drinking copious amounts of sake, of course. The other involves an electric table that you put your legs under. I have one. It's fun! Hey, do any of you guys like Harry Potter? Has the movie come out yet in the states? I pulled my groin, which is too bad. We have soccer tournament this weekend, and I need a replacement groin in the worst way. I'll be fine, don't worry! Hey! Guess who still hasn't bought a camera? Hahahaha. If you guessed me you're wrong! I have no idea if you still haven't bought a camera! How should I know? I'm in Japan, stupid! I was talking out me, Leif. Hahahaha! Suckers. But seriously, I haven't bought one yet. I don't know why. I have come up with so many valid excuses so far not to buy camera (like just not feeling like it or wanting to buy something else) that I really can't complain about my not-having-a-camera status. I am accepting free cameras shipped over here (shipping costs assumed by the shipper, of course). So I guess you won't be able to see any new pictures of me until that happens. Ha! Take that friends and family. Jerks! Ha!

Be may Dear Abby for a day!

2005-11-02T10:08:00.000+09:00

Ok...someone please help me out with this tough question. How does one stay productive at work when there is nothing to do? And, yes...I know that there is "always something to do," wise guy, but there is only so much planning ahead someone can do before they cease to live in the moment and become a robot. The difficultly I have is that I can either only be a hopeless procrastinator or a hopeless worrier about planning ahead (perfectionist). I'm trying to get away from both extremes, but sometimes it feels like I'm bumper bowling. (Do you remember those birthday parties, where we bumper bowled and we still couldn't break 100? Man we sucked at bowling. "We" meaning myself and maybe you. I'm not positive that you ever bumper bowled. But if you're from the midwest, chances are good.) Forgot what I was talking about for a minute, but yeah...bouncing between procrastinating and being so lost in the planning are both bad! Any strategies, friends. Neil, you might want to sit this one out. Just kidding.

Let's see...what else. Oh, I started to play taiko yesterday. It's this rad Japanese traditional drumming art, and I rock! I felt like a Japanese God playing yesterday for the first time. (I'm so arrogant sometimes, sorry! We all have to power trip sometimes). I have always loved to drum and taiko is just that. Pure unadulturated drumming! Intense rthyms (is there anyone who knows how to spell rhthyms (god that word sucks to spell!)). Joyful beats! I played drums for a while back in middle school and my good friend Hans has been teaching me some phat beats on the drum set, but taiko is where it's at. Also, my *karoake skills (see previous blog entry) are starting to pay off big time. I'm all set to play piano and sing simultaneously (it can be done, folks) on November 27 in the town concert hall. So hurry up and buy your tickets! They are going for free, but who knows for how long. I will be singing along to the musical stylings of Coldplay, who aren't superly amazingly dope, but have very catchy piano tunes. I'll be playing Clocks, Politik and maybe th Scientist (if time allows). Anyways, I also hope to learn guitar here soon, cause apparently playing the guitar is "in" at the moment. Not so sure about that, but we'll give it a try. Peace out!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's Friday night...all hands are in the air!

2005-10-28T15:44:00.000+09:00

...Wave them from hear to there, if you're a wanna be mack or an OG player. You see the hood's been good to me. Ever a since I was a lower case G, but now I'm a big G, and big G's get the money. Dolla, dolla bill y'all. If you were from where I'm from, than you would know...that I gotta get mine in a big black truck. You can get yours in a 6-4. But whatever it is...the party's underway, so pick up your truck(?) and throw your hands up, let me hear the party say."

Sorry...really bored at work.

Oh, there you are! Welcome back, loyal blog enthusiast!

2005-10-23T22:35:00.000+09:00

The Cold Sucks (though it is nice to talk to long lost family)

2005-10-23T08:57:00.000+09:00

Early Sunday morning. I always feel cheated when I can't physically sleep in on the weekends. I would give nothing more on my average weekday for that extra hour of sleep, but today when I do have the choice to sleep late, my body is ready to go at 7:30 am. What a cruel, cruel trick to play, oh body of mine. But I guess you, the blog enthusiast, benefit, because now I write. And maybe later, you read. Had a good binge telephone day yesterday. Finally able to speak to Neil and Ilse (little bro and sis), and they seem to be doing very well at Madison. Those jerks also saw The Decemberists (ultra awesome band) play a live show the other night. Unfortunately, concerts in Japan are extremely expensive and do not happen much at all in my area. I have to go to Osaka or Hiroshima to see any worthwhile bands, which isn't a huge problem, but is a lot different from my experience of living in the music mecca of the world, Twin Cities, last year. Anyways, Ilse is playing a lot of soccer and taking some cool classes it sounds like, among them Italian and Shakespeare. Neil is playing a lot of soccer and probably becoming more of a indie movie snob by the day. Good stuff. Halloween is next weekend in Madison, and hopefully this year it will go down without riots, but given the last couple of years and the fact that Ilse Griffin is now a resident of Madison, I can't say that I'm confident in that. It is really, really getting cold here and I have no jacket. I guess I thought Japan was a tropical climate throughout the year. That's a reasonable assumption, right?! Thought I'd be sipping mango drinks with umbrellas on the beach and teaching once a month or so. Actually, I'm not quite that ignorant. But still...you all know what I'm saying. Make it warmer for this American or there'll be a steep price to pay. I'll get my buddy George on the phone. I guess the moral is that, even though I'm from Minnesota, I've never gotten used to the cold. Don't make that assumption about Minnesota people. We don't all love frolicking in the snow and playing hockey until ma calls us inside to wash our hands and comb our mullet before dinner. While I did briefly have a mullet in the late 80s early 90s, I never enjoyed winter. In fact I think that I've just learned to hate it more and more every year. And I'm not going to change my rotten attitude about the cold just because I'm in Japan. Take that, Japan! How does that one feel!

soccer shots!

2005-10-17T22:01:00.000+09:00

bout time for a new blog

2005-10-17T21:35:00.000+09:00

Wow. The Minnesota Vikings are really biting it this year. It's actually really nice being out of the country for it. I feel like I'm out of a bad relationship. I do think it's a nice testament to Randy Moss that the team is so bad this year. Their off the field actions are obviously well-documented already, so no need to write about how offended I am (the Minnesota papers are loving it right now. Way to go Pat Reusse and the other guy. Is there a more bitter person than a Minnesota sports columnist?). In general just a sad situation. Anywhoo...thankfully college sports are still ok. Haven't watched any, but the Badgers are doing well. Apparently a crazy finish with the Gophers. I think I'm going to watch them this weekend online (which you can do if you pay a bunch of money. Umm, yeah...anways...not much to say at this juncture. bla bla bla. Going to Thailand in December. Should seriously be a blast. Bla bla bla. Getting married someday. Holla, holla, holla.

Sup

2005-10-10T17:30:00.000+09:00

Everybody ok I hope! I just got back from a long, tiring weekend and I'm trying to get geared up for what's hopefully a good week at school. So, this weekend, I went to Mount Sanbe for a JET welcome party (yeah they're still throwing us these things a couple months after we got here) It was fun. Mt. Sanbe is about an hour away from me, and it's a really nice, scenic area. I swear I'll post some pics soon. I think I'm going to buy a camera in the next week or so. Waiting on my paycheck. After Sanbe, the Shimane area soccer team for JETs had a game in Masuda, in the south of Shimane. We played a local junior high team and it was a really good time. Definitely great to play soccer again. We'll have a tournament in November. Should be fun! So...the weird thing about this weekend, and why I'm writing about it I suppose, is something I realized about myself. Throughout the weekend, I couldn't shake this weird feeling that I was going through the motions. I'll explain better. This was supposed to be a "fun" weekend. I've been looking forward to hanging out with all of the JETs at one time (it really is rare-only happens 2-3 times a year) and playing soccer (nobody plays in Kawamoto) so it was really built up in my head, and not surprisingly, it didn't play out at all like I expected and it drove me crazy! I wanted to have the absolute best time of my life, bond with every JET and discover the truth of the universe in the meantime on this life-changing weekend, but unfortunately I had forgotten how much expectations suck! There were too many people at Sanbe too really get to know anybody beyond just saying hello and small talk. It rained. I had a cold and was exhausted and had zero enthusiasm. Why does this happen? When I was a kid, the more I anticipated something (i.e. Christmas, Birthday Party, family trips etc) the better it was when it finally arrived. I think one of the harder things to realize as an "adult" (not quite there yet) is the let down that comes from expecting too much. Anyways...this really isn't about me venting about a bad weekend. The reason I write this is because I came to this strange realization about an hour ago after much brooding, that I did have a good time. Just not the time, I had envisioned. I wonder if any of you reading this have similar issues with expectations and what you do to temper them? Thanks y'all...still doing great in Kawamoto.

Leif

I also came back today (Monday) to hear for the first time about the terrible earthquake in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. The world is such a crazy, random place a lot of the time. It's really hard to process everything that's been going on lately. The natural disasters, the manmade disasters and all the other bad things that happen to people. I'm not so eloquent about it, but maybe you guys can relate to these semi-thoughts. Anyways...until next time.

Karoake is a state of mind

2005-10-03T23:46:00.000+09:00

My new skill (Karoake ga daisuki desu yo)

2005-10-03T21:27:00.001+09:00

Hello loyal friends and blog enthusiasts!
I am back with a vengeance. Ok so check it out. I love karoake! Love it love it love it love it love it love it love it love it. And, thankfully, it loves me even more. I am approaching God-like levels of karoake potency here in Shimane-ken, Japan. It won't be long before I am as famous as Beckham over here, so...get in where you fit in. If we haven't talked in a while (Ilse, I'm looking in your direction!) get on your horse and give me a call. This guy is about to blow. At this point, you are probably expecting me to say "ha, just kidding. I'm really not that good. I'm just being funny. Ha ha ha!" Well, if you even began to think that, I feel sorry for you. I am amazing at karaoke. The best. Number 1. I could beat Whitney Houston in her prime at her own stupid songs. When I sing, it's like I wrote the songs I'm singing. I'm not joking. I wrote Abbey Road, The Bends and...cough...a bunch of Avril Livigne songs. It's really weird. Anyways...I challenge anyone...anyone (got that, Thom Yorke) to a Karoake Duel. Pick your top 5 karoake songs, I'll pick mine and I will destroy you until you are completely destroyed-ed.
Actually, what is kind of funny (not my singing mind you-that, my friends, is sublime) is that I didn't know if I'd be good at karoake. I was self- consciously totally like, "Man, karoake is for lame-os, and this guy is anything but, so no karoake for this guy" but ever sense I found out that karoake jouza (skills) are actually a barometer of one's awesomeness, I have steadily ascended to unprecedented levels of singing glory. So, the morale is, compadres, jump on the Leif bandwagon before it's too late. Sayonara and see you at the top of the pops. and enjoy these pics of me and my friends rocking it like tommorow never came.

2005-09-28T15:51:00.000+09:00

"It's been a long time...I shouldn't have left you, without a fly rhyme to step to."-Rakim.

I am exhausted at work right now. Class didn't go super awesomely well today or yesterday. I feel a lot of pressure to be a good teacher, and I hate feeling like I'm boring the students. I need to step my game up, as they say. I think I need more visual aids and more games to play. Not just for the students, but for me to feel like I'm actually doing some adequate teaching. I'm trying to think about teachers from my past that I liked and what they did well and how I can emulate it all. What I do know, is that it takes a lot of energy, courage and selflessness to be a good teacher, so kudos to all of the teachers who impacted me. A little late to give thanks maybe, but I don't think I fully understood how much work went into being a good teacher until now. It's not just something where you can walk into class everyday and breeze through by the seat of your pants.

Ok, what else...I need to give big ups to the Badger football team for beating Michigan this past weekend. I do have a lovely cousin who attends Michigan, but sorry Marit, I saw Wisconsin get their hearts broken by the Wolverines four times in my four years at Madison. This ain't nothin but sweet redemption! Enjoy the victory and soak in its spoils Neil and Ilse!

As for the other Griffin sibling, my older sister Erin recently started a blog which you can view at http://americana-a-roma.blogspot.com/ She is blonde, and I assume the title of her blog refers to the fact that she has lived in Rome, Italy for a number of years. She recently wed a strapping young Italian man named Vincenzo, who cooks, cleans and incidentally plays a mean game of beach volleyball. Ahh, internationalization. One couple at a time! I will try to do my part and marry a lovely Japanese woman. Almost there, mom!

Fear and Loathing in Osaka...

2005-09-20T14:35:00.000+09:00

(Note: I'll explain the above picture eventually, but it really has nothing to do with my post).

Actually, Osaka was probably the best weekend that I've spent in Japan so far. We had a long weekend over the 16-18 or whatever, so myself, my good friends Titia and Heidi took the train to Osaka to see Common (a hip hop artist from Chicago) perform. The weekend got off to somewhat of a rough start when we weren't able to get bus tickets cause they were sold out, but Titia and I (Heidi came the next day) dug down deep into our wallets and paid for the bullet train to Osaka. It was actually pretty fun, though a one way ticket was $100 U.S. We arrived in Osaka Friday afternoon and the concert started at 7 pm. After checking into our cheap hotel (which was cheap because it was in the porn district of Osaka--right in between two "massage" parlors) we got "fly" and went to check out the show. For those not knowing, Common is one of the better rappers in the U.S. Really intelligent, socially conscious lyrics and I've been a fan since I was 14 or so. I've never seen him in the U.S., so I jumped at the chance and it was completely worth it. It was a great show, and while I wish he would have played more of his old stuff, the new album is fantastic and he was great. He even brought one of my friends, Embry, on stage for one of his songs and sang to her. Even better, after the show, Embry was able to take all of us back stage to meet Common, and Titia sang a song for him. I was hoping to get to hang out with him more, but he was a little bit more interested in meeting the girls (why I have no idea), but it was still a rockin good time. The rest of our stay in Osaka was glorious as well. We found a really decent Mexican restaurant, which may seem minor to you back in the states/canada/etc, but as Mexican food doesn't seem to exist in Japan (or at least my area) it was heavenly. I gained about 32 pounds spread out over the long weekend, but totally worth it. We also went clubbing, shopping (not a huge fan) and walking a lot. I am completely exhausted right now at work on Tuesday, but I wanted to let you guys know ASAP. Classes are going a lot better now it seems. I'm not as nervous in front of the students and there's actually one class that seems to enjoy having an English teacher. I will post some pictures of Osaka very soon so keep on checking. Also, on a random note if you are into good websites, please check out my friend Andy Joanis' website which is www.bigcheesepress.com and finally, at the top is a picture of my dog Hubert. Many of you have met him, but for those who haven't, he is somehow 1/2 poodle and 1/2 golden retriever which added up equals one strange looking dog. The funny part is that he doesn't realize how funny he looks, so he's not very self-conscious about it. Anyways, in Osaka I was out clubbing one night, and all of the sudden missed Hubie and the rest of the fam a lot. Sometimes I wonder if Hubert knows that I am gone, and I think part of him might. Maybe I will section off part of this page for just Hubert watching. It sucks that I can't see him grow up, but apparently he's knocking them dead in obedience school. OK, peace out and thanks for reading.

Another pic

2005-09-15T12:54:00.000+09:00

Ok...this is from kind of a welcoming party for new JETs. Here I am (wearing a pink shirt incidentally) with my friend Yumi. Yumi is about my age and she is my financial consultant. Actually, she is just a teller at the local Kawamoto bank, but she does know how much money I have in my checking account, which means that she probably won't be pursuing anything further with me. It's cool though. It just goes to show that In Japan, it's actually possible to make friends with a bank teller, whereas in the states these people usually seem so pissed off at me. Yay! Oh, and that is tea that I am drinking, mom.
The peace sign is apparantly pretty big over here.

Here's a teaser...

2005-09-11T22:09:00.000+09:00

Right...my historic first picture from Japan, and it looks like it could have been taken in a basement in Eagan, Minnesota. (Not that there's anything wrong with Eagan...go Wildcats, Mike Jones and Andrew Murray!) I swear I am in Japan though, it's not a joke! My friend from Utah, Brooke is to my far left, and next to me is Lena, from Ireland. Still haven't gotten a digital cam, so until that happens I'll have to throw you scraps like this. Holla!

It could have gone worse...

2005-09-09T15:03:00.000+09:00

Taught my first classes today. It was an odd feeling being the only person talking in the classroom and seeing 18 faces staring back at me in bewilderment, not knowing a single word I had said. I guess that's why they have the JET program, but I definitely didn't realize how tough the challenge would be until today. I basically did a self-introduction, talking about America, Minnesota, St. Paul, the fam, hobbies etc. One funny moment came when I decided to show off my soccer juggling skills in class to emphasize my tendency to play soccer (I know...so cutting edge and out-of-the-box with my teaching methods) and proceeded to hit a hanging light with my first juggle, almost knocking it down phantom of the opera style and killing everyone in the class. I taught 2 classes, and by the second one I had already gotten a bit better. Oh...about that typhoon...it turned out to be somewhat of a false alarm, at least in my area. It definitely did some serious damage to the south of Shimane, but everything ended up being ok in these parts. Apparently it was downgraded to a category 1 after initially being called a category 4. Well, gotta go. Peace out.

Typhoon on its way!

2005-09-06T21:38:00.000+09:00

Konnichiwa! A category 4 typhoon named Nabi or something like that is about to hit close to me in Japan. I am on the west coast of Japan (look it up on a map). The southern most island of Kyushu was hit pretty badly yesterday, and I am on the next island up called Chugoku. Everything will be fine (I'm basically up in the mountains, although only 30-45 minutes away from the coast), but it still is still pretty surreal especially after what has happened in the U.S. Crazy. Anyways, for more information, CNN.com has more up to date info on Nabi (i think it's called). Just thought I'd drop a quick update on that. Hope everyone is well and I'll probably post more on the typhoon tommorow.

Leif

Blogging is for awesome people!!

2005-08-31T13:48:00.000+09:00

Well all...thanks for coming to this special place on the internet (apparently it's not used just for pornography anymore.) I'm pretty skeptical of this whole blog craze, so this is definitely just a trial thing. I guess a lot of it's success depends on whether people actually care that it's updated (besides my mom and grandparents). But really, in the end, the blog is a pretty self serving thing, so even if it does suck, I'll probably still keep it up just to feel important. Ok so...blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, bloggitty blog blog. Getting the hang of this! Japan is blogtastic. Plenty of blogging to be done in the land of the rising blogs. Sometimes I can't understand the Japanese being spoken around me. It just sounds like "Blog blog blog." In other blog news, did you hear what that one blog guy wrote on his really important blog site. That blogging blew my brain into berry bits! Have a wonderful, blog-filled day and keep checking back! This can only get better folks!

Leif Blog-an Griffin

Why do I have a blog?

2005-08-03T14:48:00.000+09:00

Blogs are stupid!