zoo love

it went a little something like this...i would like to think

rrrrriiiinnngggg!!!!!:

my landlord: hello?

trash monitor: good morning, i'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning, but it appears someone is not using the city issued trash sacks.

my landlord: i see. i'm very sorry about that. well, we have had a lot of new people move in recently, and perhaps they dont know the rules for taking out the trash.

trash monitor: well, do you think it might one of those foreigners?

my landlord: that could be it! you know the mind of a foreigner is a strange thing.

trash monitor: yeah. god only knows, what kind of strange trash customs they have in their own country.

my landlord: well i am terribly sorry, that someone destroyed the harmony of our street's trash dump off site. i will take care of this. i sincerely hope it never happens again.


rrrrriiiinnngggg!!!!!:

my landlord: good morning, i am sorry to bother you this early in the morning. however it appears that one of your employees, kevin san, has not been using the city issued trash bags, as you may know, those are the ones with the green picture of the world on them.

my supervisor: i see.

my landlord: well, we simply cannot have this happen again. the trash monitor was terribly upset. i would hate to have that happen again.

my supervisor: i see. well, i am very sorry to hear that. perhaps kevin is still having a hard time remembering how to take out the trash. we will talk to him asap. i assure you it will never happen again. i humbly apologize for kevin's horrible mistake.

my landlord: i see. well you know if this happens again, we may have to rethink allowing foreigners to live in the building, as you know, not every apartment complex in the city allows foreigners for this reason. you know, they cause a bit of bother, with them leaving their bikes out in front of the building, loud foreign music and tv at night, big voices, and of course their inability to abide by the trash rules.

my supervisor: yes we are very sorry. thank you so much for letting kevin stay in your wonderful apartment building. we will definitely talk to kevin about this now.


rrrrriiiinnngggg!!!!!:

me: yeeellloo! this is kevin, who dis is? who dat dere?

my supervisor: hi kevin, this is your supervisor.

me: oh heh, what's up wit up, vanilla face?

my supervisor: are you currently using the city's trash bags to take out your trash?

me: oh for sure. you know i dont trip. (actually, i was too ashamed to say i did not take out trash for the week)

my supervisor: well, yeah i guess your neighborhood's harmony was destroyed because someone has not been using the city's trash bags. it appears you are being scapegoated.

me: well, gosh yeah it wasnt me, i wish it was me, i love living up to stereotypes, but however, like shaggy said, "it wasnt me".

my supervisor: well, i would not worry about it too much. just make sure you use the right bags.

me: aiiight then, stay up, player

my supervisor: well cool, stay trill.

me: yes indeed.


so now, my whole neighborhood association, my co-workers, the entire educational office, think i have problems obeying the trash rules. the accusation is all i need.
i should have just admitted to it. it would have made no difference at all. everyone thinks i did it, anyway.

of course, it would be too hard to ask me directly to my face, so i am thankful that my landlord and supervisor were bothered. the same procedure would have taken place if i was making to much noise. my place of work would be contacted first, instead of me. in fact, i would not be surprised if the head office had to hold a special meeting to discuss just how they should approach me about it.

by the way, the little old ladies in the picture monitor the trash dumping in the morning. often, they check to see if i am taking out my trash properly. very uncomfortable, to say the least. i really should open up my trash for them, so they can inspect it before i take it out. i try to sneak by and dump it off without them noticing. but they have eyes like hawks. no one else in my neighborhood has to deal with this crap.

there was an instance of an english teacher in a small town in japan, who locked herself in her apartment, and went insane. she only left her apartment at night to get food from the convenience store. she refused to go to work, or leave during the day.

what happened?

well, she took out her trash, and the trash people inspected it and found that she did not wash her trash, before taking it out. they put her opened up trash bag in front of her door. when she came back home, she freaked out, and thought people were watching her every move. so she locked herself inside, refused to go to work, when her co-workers opened her apartment, they found her inside with months of trash and newspapers everywhere. needless to say, she was sent home.

long post.

the rebel clique

carhartt keeps bringing solid shows in on the bathroom tour. the latest was a german-u.s collaboration, the rebel clique. after the show, fat jon continued to dj, playing some j dilla among other nice stuff.

big suprise...sachi!

fresh off a graduation, followed by a two month trip through central and south america, an old friend is starting her new life with a big company in a big city. things change. getting older is cool, but also strange.

friday party

around my place of work

most cemetaries i have seen in japan are relatively small. the one near my place of work is probably the biggest one i have ever seen here. not the size of say, wyuka, back home in nebraska. but big enough to take of those doublemint double takes.

killing some time...watching sumo

i got the hat...it's mine now!

just me and my squad

in case you need it

american gladiators is on espn classic.

baseball

i took the train out to kusanagi stadium on thursday night to catch the tokyo
yomiuri giants take on the yokohama baystars. i was sad to see that the foreign helpers and sound base running failed to show up. otherwise, i enjoyed the game. oh, but i did leave early before it got interesting. so maybe they showed up after i left.

this was first time that i went to any type of baseball game or sporting event that allows you to bring your own food and drinks into the stadium. people everywhere were carrying in 6 packs of beer and potato chips. even if you forgot to bring your own snacks. the food and drinks in the stadium were quite reasonable. for example a beer would run you about $2.75.

i felt like a local celebrity like patrick duffy or rick moranis. former students, co-workers, teachers and friends were often stopping by and talking to me. even people i did not know were coming up to me and giving me alcohol induced pearls of wisdom, such as, GIANTS, GO TO HELLLLL!!!

boy fascinated with stray cat

the big mac has a brother

this burger has two all beef patties, an egg, bacon and special sauce on a seasame seed bun. this sandwich is addictive. i ate one about four hours ago but i am comtemplating getting another one. i feel like crap though. oh in case you were wondering, i drank 5 diet cokes today.

when i came to japan i weighed about 83kg. currently, i am at 77kg. my diet is very unhealthy. however, i dont eat as much, and i am way more active than back in nebraska. imagine if i went back to eating tofu salad every night and exercising 6 times a week. i would be all like body by jake, and stuff.

class trip

at a train station near my house, i often see many people exiting from tour buses. at this time, many of those people exiting the tour buses are jr. high school students. for their class trips, the two popular destinations for the 3rd year students are either kyoto or tokyo disneyland. the 1st and 2nd year students often take trips to local places of interest. in high school, the destinations can turn more exotic, like hawaii, australia or new zealand.

we got a great big convoy

EVERY MORNING, i run into a pack of about 30 students on bicycles. they are cycling to a nearby high school. they take over the street and cars stop or pull over to side. for a block or two i ride wit them, but i have to head off in a different direction. but during those two blocks, i feel like i am a part of something bigger than myself.

they took your job part 2

they took your job

now some retired teacher aged between 60-65, who is waiting on collecting his social security, is pissed. he just lost his part time job to an electronic sign. maybe he can work security at kappa sushi.

i am a comedian

on my way there by bike

shopping

one of the many things i like about shopping in japan, is the variety of clothes and products inside the many small independent shops. back home in nebraska, if i wanted to buy a pair of air force ones, most places i would only have two options in colors, but in japan, there are dozens of options to choose from. it's not just with shoes, but with many things, like clothes and music, you get so many more options. the only downside is if you a hat or jersey of a team that does not have a japanese player on the team, you could be out of luck. however, sometimes you can get lucky if you ask, they just might have your favorite team's hat or jersey stored in a box filled with all the other team's apparel with no japanese players currently on their roster. they will have 20 different colors of new york yankees caps, but if you want a kansas city royals hat, you will most likely get some head scratchin combined with a confused look.

i bet

as i was taking this picture, someone behind me said, i bet brazillians really like this store.

otsu cannon

dance contest in 16s

dance contest