bits of the xmas season!

Xmas was crappy! but so stoked the next day when I got that package from my pops! lol I mean santa!




on the 24th went into Tokes with the lady, it was alright...went and saw tron which was pretty saweet...this pic was taken in Shibuya...pretty poppin spot in the city I suppose...



Was talking to a customer the other day who was living in Kofu and moved into Tokyo. He said that's where it's all at if I want to start pursuing other interests here in Japan. He does voice overs for radio and TV and said I could easily slip into that line of work, decisions decisions. Here's some other pics!








There we go that gets rid of a lot of typing that's like 5,000 words or something. That was the first game played on the Mario chess set...had to beat him :P(my buddy Sho)

All in all I guess it was not as bad as I thought it was. Next up New Years!! In any other job I would look forward to making at least $500 in tips...shoot at least @ my job I look forward to not drinking and watching everyone slowly(or sometimes quickly) get drunk and do something stupid lol... Saturday was snorting a line of salt, do a shot of tequilla, then squirting lime in their eye. Known as a suicide in England it was friggin stupid! LOL funny to watch people in agony though, hey I warned them!! The two guys doing it actually did it 3 times in a row!!! One of them reads this blog(or read it) lol super funny though. If that's the highlight of the evening I think I need to spice things up around there!

The pic didn't post

Check it you non tweeters

http://twitpic.com/3e0r8n

Whoazers

At a train station typing and a high speed train just zipped passed!!! Brrrrrrr

Things are going as well as they can. Kinda hit a rough week though... Lost in fantasy football, catching a bit of a cold, and just got dropped a bomb with my old job's principal saying he won't help me out to try and get a visa. That was earlier this afternoon. Went to the doc so got some mess for the cold I should be over it soon.

Going to immigration no matter what by Friday, more likely I'll drop on tomorrow because I need to get this stuff handled and know what's going on fast so I can act faster! Talked to my friend in mammoth yesterday and he said there's still a job for me if I get out there = snowboarding everyday in one of americas finest resorts(always nice). Everyone here is telling me I should just go to Korea and come back because then I'll have a 3-month temporary visa. That's always a possibility but then I won't exactly be working legitimately in the country until I work score another job in the spring with another school.

Funky stuff either way but any which way immigration handles things will be interesting.

On a good note I got to see my cat today!!! CHICHI!!!!

Well let's hope the pic can make it... Now on the train I was waiting for and I go through a couple long tunnels so we'll see. Can't wait to go snowboarding!!!! I really hope mi madre didn't send my stuff by boat or else I won't get any of my gear till halfway through the snow season and may even be back in amurica by then. But don't worry mom I have a big snowboarding back just incase I do have to go back I'm going to take the most important stuff back with me.

Most likely if worse does come to worse I'll just divide the stuff up between my friends until I come back.

I know a lot of peeps want me to come back which is really tough. Not gonna lie, things aren't as good as I thought they would be over here but I'm doin my best to keep my head up and make things happen which is all I can really do. I am meeting a lot of cool people in the city working where I do which is great... Lots of really cool connections have already been made and I've only been working for two months. My darts game is getting better too, last night alone I got two hat tricks(bulls-eye 3 times in a row) I've only actually done it two other times. The best part about it was my girlfriend had come down to visit me at work and got to see it. Not to brag but one of those times I got two more bulls after that!!!!!! I've realized darts is about 80% mental the rest is form.

Also went underwater in pool!! I guess working where I do sometimes does have it's perks!!

Ok my stations next I'm out!!!!!sorry for any stupid auto correct typing mistakes !!!! No time to check

not a train wreck!!!

LOL

One of the new songs on the latest Weezer album is called 'trainwrecks' have a listen. A line in the song is, ' we don't update our blogs, we are trainwrecks'. Sarcastic of course but trying to stay on the ball around.

I have finally went from hating my job and feeling unappreciated to dealing with the job and just pretending to be complimented how good I'm doing when I should be! :P It was all actually from the wedding I just went to.
The table I sat at with had a couple foreigners that have lived here for a while and know a little more about Japan and way of life than I because of their experience here. It was a nice coincidence they were all there too because their opinions really helped me out a bit with things around here.

Basically, like most jobs here in Japan you need to put in your time! Japan is super big on seniority and it's kinda the way things are here. Which makes sense, I was kinda jumping the gun on the vault expecting a lot of stuff because I'm a kind of fast acting type of person. Once I stepped back for a second I noticed that I've only worked here for just over a month! It's going to take some time to implement my goals for that place.

It's nice that I have a chance to though, and most of the people that come into the place are excited to see what happens with the place. We had a great show the other night where my friends came in from Tokyo and put on a great live set. VERY FUN.

Finally with some days off I got a little chance to unwind. It's so nice having all day off!!!!

I haven't really had a chance to explain on here...or to any of you that aren't living here how things are and what I've been up to and certain new plans I have. But I will...No really interesting pics to throw up at the moment because they're all still on my phone. Check my facebook for a funny vid of last night at the game center. My friend sho's a riot! Can't believe my best friend here is someone I only speak to in Japanese, pretty tight though. Some of the foreigners here are just too nerdy and anti-social...I can only go so far on the nerdy scale(that's a lie) but also with my schedule it's hard to link up.

Anyhow...later!

LISTEN TO THE NEW KANYE WEST!

quick wedding lovies

Congrats to my peeps Akina and Laurence

Lol

As I sit here, at my friends house after the vaults 7th anniversary(that's where I work now btw) boiling water to drink my hot sochuu with my friends who came in from Tokyo to play who are asleep already. I actually appreciate the job I have and realize being from las Vegas can help in some ways. 5:01 says my iPhone(which I'm typing this on) and one quick nightcap to finish off this crazy day. I'll be updating a little more, things have been pretty hectic and I've gathered up a lot of pics and videos on this thing since I've been back in japan. I can't believe it's been 5 weeks already... I also can't believe how well I can type on this little phone.

Went to my first Japanese style wedding today... Everyone would know this if their on twitter( thank goodness a couple people on here are with it)... Super fun but tying in work after was pretty hectic. Waters about to boil!?!???!? Jya ne

Doin work~!

Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera tomorrow when we go to Hopi Falls. We go down to set prawn traps using coconut meat and then jump into some waterfalls that are running right from the top of the mountains by our house here. So much fun even can sit under one of the falls if you maneuver yourself just right. They have a water proof camera so I might try and take some snaps for on here.

The waterfall isn't too powerful either. It's a bit of a struggle to swim through it without it taking you under, but safe enough so you can let it take you and have it be fun. The jump into is nice too...about 15-20 feet. Have to rock climb sorta out too, good thing I've done a bit of that too. PICTURES WILL BE EPIC I promise.



First stop of the day @ Kelihiwai beach. The point was breaking hard. Found out Ben Stiller lives @ the top of the cliffs on the right there[NAME DROPPING]. My cousin Donovan said while he was surfing over off that point a shark swam through there!!!! It was packed full of like 40 people. Which is super dangerous, I for sure didn't go out there unfortunately. Just not good enough yet it's...that ain't no vacationer spot that's for sure.

Re-set the traps around the afternoon. And hit up this place called Donkey's afterward. Body surfing and got worked! Super strong waves out I would try and dive under and a couple times the wave almost scooped me up! ALMOST GOT CRUSHED!


BTW THIS THING IS THE BEST EVER!!!



INDOBOARD FTW! I bet OK_TEA will like that.

So fun I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Quick glimpse of around the house in Kauai

So far this place hasn't ceased to amaze me. The cousins are getting better @ surfing, the avacados taste better! And I'm not as sunburnt as I will be in a couple days lol. The orchard is looking a lot cleaner too!

Lilokoi!

coconut trees(of course!)

Nice vine!


There's a bunch of other stuff but was only in my bare feet so didn't want to get pricked!!! Full moon last night with a little bonfire at the beach was very nice. It was cool going into the orchard @ night too because it was really bright!! Look a rooster!



If you ever come here this is a super common site, went bodyboarding yesterday and while driving through a golf course to get to the spot we saw about 50 lol! Serious!

So stoked!

That I put out a post and got a response back! hahaha THanks mom! :P But whatevskiz I'm so stoked things are coming together it just want to buy a smart phone and twitter it!!!!!!!



With this Boddingtons, that I orginally bought to replenish the Boddingtons I drank earlier this week. LOL....I am proud to pronounce things are going well and the end of my 26 years of age era is coming to a close rather well. This summer has been quite amazing. Dare I even recap;

Tokyo
London
Bristol/Bath/Wherever we were staying in between those places :P
Paris
Brussels,Belgium
Rome
Nice
Southampton
New York City (METS GAME)
Tampa Back with DAD!
Canada!
Tampa RAYS GAME
LA
LAS VEGAS
Seattle [THATS NOW BTW]
back to Tampa!
Honolulu to heal up!(birfday)

...the back to J-Pizzle to stack cash for career settle down mode to come...and get good @ Japanese. PH ~ LOVE IT!!!! And I can't thank everyone enough! JYEAH 0'10 it's gonna be our year!


WHAT IS EVERYONE GETTING ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

...better hurry up and decide (@&!!!!!!!!!!!)))))))

:P

SEPTEMBER!

I'm stoked! It's even getting a little colder here right on que. Could see my breath when I went for a walk tonight...I can see the Milky Way it's so dark out here at night. The neighbors house behind us has an apple tree in the back and my mom said that she's seen deer eating them!! They just started to fruit so maybe I'll see some deer when I wake up.

Now that it's super foggy in the morning I think I'm going to go trail running when it's like that..I bet it would be a great experience....Maybe I'll bring a camera lol, it'll be like 'YES MAN'...'REDBULLLllll!'

Had so much fun with the kids @ the game and got our bobble head! I want to try and go to another game while I'm here...I feel a foul ball or even a BP homerun would be nice.



And wanted to tweet this sucker right after I took it, but I'm so lazy and really need a smart phone so I can just tweet my little heart out with ease. Everyone should get twitter.



It was funny I was looking at my mom's calendar she has at her shop. Right over the 19th it said 'Brian's 27th birthday'.....gnarly! So stoked I'm going back to Japan in October I didn't really plan anything for my b-day...hopefully I'll just get to see everyone before I go back out there.

I really think a little more time will be good for me out there. All my friends are doing great and I'm not really worried about anyone without me here. Going to miss the family but they'll be ok too. Thinking about possibilities in England for the holiday's too! Rather 'proper' I would think...might have a different feel. Lol it'd sure be a lot nicer than Japan during Christmas.


Things are coming together in J-land happenings. Just got my receipt for my ticket in the mail...it was shocking see actual proof of hopes and aspirations on a piece of paper...ONE MONTH AWAY. Still figuring out where I'm going to live...found a couple apartments to choose from but without really looking at them it's hard to decide. There's plenty of options when it comes to where to stay for a week or so if I decide to peep them out beforehand.

Most important though is picking what mountain I'm going to get my season pass @....

@ Misaka; closest...least amount of park
@ panorama; not as close, little bit of park, biggest resort
@ fuji-ten; best park, farthest, most crowded, maybe smallest resort. but on mt.fuji.

Working a lot on the weekends which is great...on that paper chase!!!!!!

a potential project...

With all the projects going on around the house I think I may have found one for me.



Found it in the backyard when I visited last Christmas and the tires still had some air in them(a good sign). The chain and gears are a little rusty but I think with a little TLC I can make a decent road bike out of this NISHIKI. The front brakes are pretty cool too.

I think it would be fun to go into Seattle or Bellevue with this sucker and roam around. Since I'm really only driving my moms mini-van(AHHH) right now this could be a cool other means of transportation.

Other than that things are going well. No serious complaints. Managing my moms shop this week it's fun!

Ok quick update.... SUMMER '010

OK

Getting back on track after a lot of hustle and bustle. SEATTLE is great, but being stuck in traffic isn't and there's a lot of it around here. j33z I don't even know where to begin. BUT a lot of people surprisingly asked me why I didn't keep this up(mainly probably just my sister ROBYN(g-chatting me when i'm just in the other room).

Right now I can't find my pictures :( my old iphone is my main camera but I'm working on upgrades eventually. I figure everyone will facebook me pictures anyways.

This week has been super busy and productive. Exhausted from playing in my first official soccer game since I was 11. So much fun, but working 8 hours @ CABLEPALOOZA(seriously that was the name) throwin crab cakes, vietnamese spring rolls, and 'a sesame crepe with asian duck and a little arugula' at peoples chitter-chattering lovely faces the next day has me aching. Haha but it was pretty fun and working on the water front has it's perks. Also got some cool free swag(MAN v. FOOD cooking aprons!)and touch L.E.D lights(probably perfect for camping!) so it was alright.
HAHAHAHAHA while in traffic today I seriously contemplating driving with a mannequin in the passenger side all dressed up because I was going CRAZY. Found out the air conditioner didn't work but luckily Seattle @4pm with the windows down is 85 but still just sitting in the car changing the radio station and hearing that SAME FRIGGIN EMINEM WHOEVER GIRL SONG was wearing me down. I don't think I was ever happier to get to work and out of the car in a while.

anyhow...

Working weddings all weekend and trying to help my mom out with her shop. To help I have to do the one thing that made me change my major in college and hate business stuff = ACCOUNTING. Going to attempt to help map out the sales of the shop and work on getting some sort of cool graphic exel chart things(SO EASY) just to try and document what really sells and what lags.

Also really trying to get everyone pumped up around here. I used to love DVRing everything but this household take it to the EXTREME. Unfortunately I have taken a turn for the worse also and can't play online chess for maybe about 2 hours a day. I was(am) even contemplating going to the Seattle Chess Club to their once a week 'Meet & Play' every FRIDAY NIGHT @ 7pm. And I think I'll beat like 2 people there!!!!

We'll see how my Friday night will turn out! Much more to say but I want to keep the audience interested (HA). Hmmm let me find a picture I can put up I need something on here!

Quiz time!!!

Haha this will be funny....

This past week/weekend had a great time. Archery on Sunday and also went to some great restaurants. Thursday went to a sushi bar with a great chef. In Japan a lot of the chef's and people who work at these little sushi places also own it, in Japanese they're called SHOCHYO(I think) but you can also call them just 'master' lol it's pretty fun. Anyways my friends were talking so I started talking to the Master about this and that, then asked if I can take a picture with one of his sushi knives. He loved this then started showing me all of them and the differences. This was funny because every knife he showed me he was like,"Ok, take a picture..."

It turned out to be not only a great way to practice Japanese, but I also learned a lot about different types of knives you use for sushi. NOW, for the quiz...which one of these bad boys is an UNAGI knife(unagi = eel).








Hmmmmmm, GOOD LUCK.

So that was Thursday, Friday went to Yakitori...was very very good! Met another different "Master" because as we got there some good friends were leaving, peeps I went camping with and since it was our first time to this place(and they've been going for a couple years) they brought the master over and basically told him to hook us up :P (just got some fries!) But, quiz question number 2! Anyone care to take a guess at what this delicious thing is :)



Fast forward to Sunday...



And some Karaoke @ night(GAGA!!!)

Very fun.


2 weeks until I need to be out of my apartment!!!

Say it ain't SOoooOOooO

Just happens to be playing while I'm writing this. But jeez say it ain't so;

1. The oil spill really SUCKS
2. My mom's house caught on fire!!!!(everyone's ok)
3. I'm leaving in about 3 weeks
4. Katie's getting married

SAY IT AIN"T SOOoooOOooOo

and Chi-CHI!!!!!!!!



'TEAR'

She's the friggin coolest cat ever! We'll see what happens with her she's still young. JUST LIKE ME! 27 this year JEEZ. It's been getting better each year though so I'm stoked for 27...moving on..

This past week was rough coming off a great vacation, I was honestly in a bad mood and wanted to be a prick to everyone, except the kiddo's that is. But I didn't and rose above!!! Dropped into Tokyo to drop off a baby present to some good friends of mine. Got them some one-zies! Nice to just dip into Tokyo when I see fit, always refreshing and funky at the same time to change it up a bit. Tokyo always freaks me out with how many people speak English!! And I'm always happy to come back usually which is good. BUT! I really would love to live there for a year or two somehow, the style is insane!!! I think it'd be tough though seeing that many people and really never speaking to anyone...it's funky.

TIME IS COUNTING DOWN. Better start to get on it. Looking forward to this summer and things to come!!! Will do my best to keep everyone updated. Archery again this Sunday! w00t!

My phone broke!

Hence not so many pictures! I pulled it out of my pocket one day and I dropped it on the edge of my coffee table! It sucks...BUT

CAMPING THIS PAST WEEKEND WAS AWESOME.



I threw the one that's not on FB for a little something different. Perfect weather, and perfect people. I had so much fun it's not even funny. All day and all night for 3 days straight. Shimoda( where we stayed) is beautiful! And the people @ the beach were really nice and we had a small volleyball rivalry with some of the locals and did all right.

Sunrise...



We drove all night to beat all the crazy weekend traffic(it's gnarly out here because the 10 million people living in Tokyo are also off = no fun)

As we first pulled out to get our first view of the ocean, BOOM! Bright red sun. Never figured out why they called it that until Sunday. This was a different pic on a different day but it was BRIGHT RED. Couldn't believe it!

One more month (33 days) until I'm out...gonna be busy!

A nice Sunday...

...Mock Samurai battle by day(had to be dragged out to this, but was worth it)



And trying my hand at Sangria for the first time...just finished it now time to wait!




Saw some pretty stuff on my walk to the battle on the river....






Not a bad weekend considering I have to work Monday, normally the second day I have off. It even snowed on Saturday! The weather has been really funky but Sunday was nice and warm. Picked up some camping gear for a little camping trip I'm having with some friends at the beginning of May because it's a big holiday over here. Beach camping's the way to go! Haven't done it since I went to Kauai but I'm looking forward to it....probably even going to bring my barbecue!

BEWARE OF THE CHICH!

Sushi FTW

So I was at my new branch on Fridays, which is actually a pretty fun day. I only want to murder one kid!! Actually my goal is to break his "I'm all that" attitude and bend him to my will, which will in turn make him a genius at speaking English. Shouldn't be too hard he's only 6 :)

I have a nice little 1 hour 20 minute break in between classes, so I went to the grocery store and just look what they had calling my name. All this for American $5.00 I think there's just about every fish plus some right there...



Ok so since my blogger is funky and I can't see my pic until I upload everything I'll just list off what there was from the top of my head.....

1. tuna
2. octopus
3. squid
4. unagi(eel)
5. shredded tuna
6. baby squid :P(bottom right)
7. sweet egg(egg cooked in sugar rather than salt)(it's good!)
8. shrimp
9. crab
10. some white fish next to that tuna in the top left

I usually save the sweet egg until the end because it's really good! Haha now you know!!!!! So the order basically went start at the top(tuna) then just handle biz until the bottom left. Needless to say it was a good break.

Since this week was a the new school year, I have a mix between good and bad classes. It will be interesting to see my Saturday classes since it's probably my worst scheduled day...7 CLASSES. Yes I know what you're thinking...SO FUN j/k as they say in the internet world FML. If you don't know what that means ask Katie.

Turned in my letter of resignation in today as well. IT"S OFFICIAL. I'll be outta here 6/7/10 JAPAN TO LONDON THAT'S HOW I ROLL. Lets see if I can dig up the eternal words of the RZA, although he had the lyrics backwards :P

AHH what's up with this new stupid youtube layout! Sorry just click the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Zimjh0JgM

buzz FTW

Fresh and ready for this new school year, which starts today actual Brian Sensei back in action...



...and one of the last photos with my dew! The other guy heres name is Katsuo, he's a cop but the police are paying him to move to Tokyo for two years to learn Thai. He speaks a little English but we always saw each other at the gym recently and did a little hanami @ hung out this weekend. Very nice guy.

ARGH why won't it load!

KATIE PICK UP YOUR SKYPE PHONE

I wanted you to be among the first!!!


and YES...did it. A lot harder than I though.

8 more weekends!

Until I'm off to England....very crazy when I think about it. Had a good time this past week. Time to throw some pics up!!!

Last day with some funny students!


Curry and Kiwi's!



I need to teach somebody the word moderation....



Snowboarding with my bud Yas!



Chi-chi relaxing




Cherry blossoms on a windy day....


GRRRAAAAAAWWWRRRRRRRRRR



It's been good so far. I've been trying to study a lot! I've found great online study tool and it's been working great. I'll probably be able to almost get down all the information to take a level test in July that will look good on a resume if I ever wanted to do anything with Japanese. Although I'm very far from where I want to be I can't let that gap get me down, and it had been for about the past month.

It's funky, my learning curve really plateaus every couple of months. I probably plateau and speak the same Japanese for about a month...learn a little bit more the next month. Then get super stoked that I'm learning I study like crazy the following month. Then I usually get overwhelmed and hit that plateau again. Repeat.

In the coming month I'm going to start sending stuff back to America!!! Aghhh I think I'm going to start being a very busy bee! Hopefully I'll keep up on the blog! Hope everyone liked the pics...gotta do laundry!