today i don't feel like making any decisions

i've got this vietnam trip on my mind and it is really stressing me out, i'm not sure why. i guess it just seems like too much to sort out in such a short period of time. also, june and july are becoming so busy, squeezing a trip to hanoi in there (including the expenses) seems at this point a bit excessive. however, vietnam is definitely on my list of places i'd like to visit before i leave, and with esther being there it really is the perfect opportunity. and, since i've decided i won't go anywhere in august due to other commitments, why shouldn't i have this trip?
6 days of nenkyu. ouch. i know i can't complain with my (so much) nenkyu situation...it's just nice to have some reserves sometimes. and how i WISH i could fly out of niigata.

last night as i was in my apartment waiting for some friends to arrive for dinner, it suddenly occurred to me that my bike was still in the bicycle parking at the JR station. i'd left it there on saturday when i biked to get the train and i'd completely forgotten about it. so i left tomoko in my apartment and went to collect it. it was just after 7pm - and at that perfect time of dusk. i arrived at the bike parking area and collected my bike. as i was biking home, listening to sneakerpimps on my ipod, in the dusk of the evening, i had one of those 'japan' moments. they happen less and less often now that i've lived here for so long, but it's like a little rush and a feeling of 'oh. i'm in japan'. it's like you're on holiday, that feeling you get. so i took a detour home, cycled by the japanese gardens and even by a temple i'd never even noticed before. the temple is huge - and only about two streets away from my apartment. it's got a bit of dense bamboo forest and a large graveyard. it's all walled - i could only see in while standing up on my pedals. sorry tomoko...

fish egg-stuffed smelts on the menu for kyushoku today. good.

stolen from debs' blog: debbie, kat, kate, me, kelly, holly, anna and yuko.  

stolen from debs' blog. laura, me, debs...keito's bday party  

the brief moment we spent watching the boys playing football 

LINDSAY'S STAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i'm estatic, over the moon, dumbfounded, sooooo happy!!!
(bit of a deja-vu from last year: http://jbeansblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/lindsays-staying.html#comments)
WHOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love you, my 'other half'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

i just had the most pathetic meeting with one of my japanese english teachers. it's just after 9:00am, and we had a short meeting to discuss our 2nd grade class together during 4th period. H-sensei is this incredibly buoyant, extremely energetic man who's always talking really fast and with just so much conviction and vigor. he really takes his teaching seriously and strongly believes in making a difference with the students.
in contrast, this morning i feel like absolute mush. i have no idea why, but my brain has just refused to wake up. my body has been up and at it for over two and a half hours but my brain just absolutely refuses to catch up.
we went over today's teaching plan, and he asked for my input on several things - ie - questions to ask to students about a particular dialogue (MLB, baseball dogs). the warm-up is going to be my speech about baseball in canada, and my interest in it. "did justine-sensei watch MLB in canada?" he asked me. i looked up at him with tired, unfocused eyes and simply answered, "no." i could see the disappointment in his face and his determination to remain positive and genki. in his oh-so-delicate way he said, "ah! justine sensei! do you think...ah! could you...ah! would it be possible for you to say "YES I DID!" and tell all the students about baseball in canada!? i think they would be very interested to know about baseball in canada! could you say YES please??"
he then discussed the next part of the lesson - where we would take an idea from the dialogue, and make a "did you ~?" sentence out of it. he asked me for several ideas about these sentences to ask the students. "ah! justine sensei! will you please make a 'did you' question for the students!?!???" i tried desperately to register what he was saying but it was so difficult. i stared at the piece of paper in front of me for about four solid seconds before replying "um. yes." what is it going to take for me to wake the hell up this morning?
also desperately trying to sort out plans for july. just found out my friend esther will be in vietnam and i'm trying to see if it's feasible for me to skip over and meet up with her for a week or so.
life is tough man, life is tough.

the jon charity: a public service announcement

so. jon. he's a good dude. he's funny. he's friendly. he and i like to take the piss out of other people, when it's just the two of us. and oh how we laugh.
so jon, like me, is a photographer. a bloody good one too.
jon's aspiring to be a photo journalist. but jon's first got to put together a portfolio. particularly, he's got to include some photo essays.
so jon needs a topic.
let's brainstorm here. something he can work on while he's in japan. any ideas?
(you're buying the sushi tonight, right jon? *wink wink*)

in other matters:
if it's sunny on sunday, who's up for climbing mt. yahiko? i however might be singing a different (not so genki) tune come sunday morning after the festivities saturday night...right kate? if it is warm, maybe the beach is a better idea. though lindsay was there on monday and said that the ocean is already filled chock-a-block with jellyfish. apparently they come early, go away for a couple of months, and then come back in august.

i taught a class the other day in which the japanese teacher referred to me during the entire class as 'jennifer'. and because he's really hyper and somehow this lesson was tied into me and saying my name over and over, it was almost as though the focus of the class was about jennifer. during our meeting before the class where we were discussing the plan, he had called me jennifer a couple of times and i had pointed to my nose and said, in an inquisitive way, 'justine?' and he said eee? and apologized profusely for about 10 minutes. and then we taught the class. please repeat after jennifa sensei. jennifa sensei, do you think...? jennifa sensei, is this...?
good thing i like him.

and i'm going to kobe. hotel booked and everything. yay for kobe.

stolen from tam's blog. the crazy bubble-ball dancers. 

although humiliated truly

i've just tried to book a hotel online for a trip to kobe in a couple of weeks. there was some kind of error in the system, and this message popped up:

Now, since a hotel system is maintaining, reservation cannot be accepted. Although humiliated truly, you reserve time anew or please give me reservation by telephone.

that's just the funniest thing i've seen in a long time.
.
.
.
.
.
so following are a few photos from my most recent trip to tokyo. the design festa was so incredibly large, and just absolutely crammed with little booths where artists could showcase and sell their creations.

taking on the city 

somewhat busy 

shinjuku... 

waiting for the monorail...tam, polly, laura and dave 

polly and dave 

these girls were freaky...check out tam's video of them:
 

 

interpretive dance? ok, you can interpret this any way you want... 

experimenting with my new polarizer 

 

this dancer was pretty neat 

what? 

i wondered how she kept that kimono so paint-free 

what you lookin' at? 

is it friday yet?

omoshiroi desu ne

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060514x2.html#united_states

thoughts on a boring wednesday

sometimes i feel as though i am constantly fighting the feeling
of having my soul being sucked away
because 75% of my days are so mind-numbingly dull, i try to ensure that after i leave the office i don't just go home and sit on my ass. in front of the computer or in front of a movie.
so it's this constant fighting, every single day. what am i going to do after school today? and it has to be something that i see as productive. getting outside and cycling or driving to the city or excersizing or visiting friends. but i feel it's this constant pressure every single day to do something productive with my evenings. but i guess it's because i know myself. if i just go home and veg within two days i will be going absolutely crazy. but sometimes it gets a little obsessive, because i am so consumed with thoughts about how i'm going to do something worthwhile in the evening, and sometimes i don't even want to do it. but then i get these guilty thoughts about what i should and shouldn't be doing. it's a bad cycle.
and i can't stand having obligations in the evening. social obligations are fine, and i look forward to them (ie - dinner at mine tonight). but things like having to take my bike in to get fixed, or having to teach eikaiwa, or having to nani-nani. it a stupid way these obligations twist around and turn in my head all day, and i come to actually dread something that is really no big deal. so i expend so much energy on trying to give my day a positive spin. and this can be exhausting after a while!

 

wish this weren't so blurry... 

some shameless self-promotion

(this expression always reminds me of my friend devon who used to say it of our video production prof)
anyway, i've updated my photoblog tons, so please check it out!
http://www.justinesphotoblog.blogspot.com/

DOMO ARIGATOU, MR. ROBOTO

or,
domo arigatou, mr. ikarashi (my car salesman), who saved me from a fate worse than...paying 3.5 man.

i'm experiencing the TGIF 3:30pm post-coffee high

and so i feel like rambling.
this week has been incredibly boring. tuesday through friday i only had one class scheduled for each day. so you can well imagine how the rest of an 8-hour day is spent at ones desk.
i've decided a few things:
i'm buying a one-day pass to the fuji rock festival this year. for the saturday. Y16,800 ($168.00) for one day but it will be worth it. big headliner that day is the rolling stones, though laura also knows the guys from clap your hands say yeah which is why we're going on the saturday. a bit gutted to miss broken social scene on the sunday, though i just can't afford the Y39,800 ($398.00) weekend pass. so we'll drive down early saturday morning, and camp for the one night.
also i'm organizing a group to go up to lake towada (where iwate, aomori and akita meet). probably be a few hour drive up north, but a weekend filled with foreign (as in, not niigata-ites) JETs, trivia, onsens, mountains, lakes, hiking and japanese food sounds perfect to me!
i'm heading to tokyo next weekend with tam and laura for the DESIGN FESTA held in odaiba (http://www.designfesta.com/02_en/00_df_e/index.html) which i'm so incredibly stoked for.
following that is kato's *BDAY WEEKEND* (what are we doing, keito?) and then following that is another weekend in tokyo where i'm going to see my long-time ichi-ban, future husband mr. ben harper at Zepp.
and this just brings me to the beginning of june. and a whole summer ahead of me.
sugggggggoi!
other things:
1. lettuce is growing on my balcony. i don't know what kind...i vaguely remember planting something last year. dare i risk it?
2. yosuke started his squacking at 4:10am today. i shoved him in the shower-laundry room and closed the door. but it was almost completely light out. at 4am.
3. jon and i went to fujitsukawa (sp?) beach wednesday night, both armed with our cameras. we are such a couple of nerds together, the two of us snapping away at mating lizards and beach sunsets. i love it. will plan a picnic there soon.
4. even the most bad-ass kids at monkeybridge school don't bother me anymore. i manage to smirk through even the most appallingly uncontrollable classes.
5. my post-canada high isn't wavering. it must be the warm weather. must be?

* art show *

jon and i are talking about organizing some kind of exhibition or gallery space in tokyo (much like we did last year). possibly for some time this summer. we'd like to get several of us together (photographers, painters, whatever) and split the costs of a gallery room for maybe a week or so.if you know some artists in japan please spread the word and hopefully we can sort something out.

hehe

"Sixty-five new junior high school textbooks that debuted this April contain a combined 208 typographical and factual errors, it was learned Wednesday."

"Among the mistakes in one English textbook was the word "something," which was spelled "someting.""

(japan times)

i know i don't look very happy, but i was! this is from tomoko's birthday, a few weeks ago. taken at niigakusho, a european-style coffeeshop owned by master-san (mari's dad). left to right is Karl (standing), Jon, Chiharu, Tomoko, me, Kauru-san, Miho, Lindsay and Master-san 

a few shots of the GW trip...

a nice family shot - tamara, chris and cliff 

i've been searching far and wide for a restaurant named tong poo. now i've found it.