feelin that aloha!

Could be from the surfing with my friends and teaching them about the dangers and safety of the waves a couple of weekends ago. I can't believe how much I learn when I'm out in Hawaii that I would never have picked up in this concrete jungle or the other ones stateside.

Kinda jealous my brother is getting to go out there again next week!! I hope he has fun. Honestly I would probably give up the snowboard for a chance to live in Hawaii and as easy as it is to do it's not I think. Out of respect for the people and the paradise that's being crazily over populated at the moment I don't think I'd move there. Although it would be a nice blend of Japanese and American culture that I can easily find a career in, especially with my background in the service industry...let's call it the easy way out for now.

I've had a weird week with a bunch of ups and downs. Just recently sprained my right ring finger indoor snowboarding. Lucky for you all that read this you're too far away to hear me complain and whine, although you may have seen some of my TWEETs! IT HURTS. The whole car ride home I was messing with it too because it felt like I could crack the knuckle but it just needed a little extra umph...you know what I'm talking about!! But iced it down and this morning couldn't even make a fist! Iced it a lot all day though and should be good to go in a week or two.

After work today and prepping for the coming school semester I'm actually getting a little excited, or rather not fearing the fall semester that's coming next week. When it comes down to it my job is actually not that difficult, it's just a bunch of busy work mostly. And now that I've got most of the prep out of the way it should be smooth sailing for a while.

I put a post out on facebook a few weeks ago on an inspirational movie that I should show the kids in high school. Took the pop's advice on THE KARATE KID and since they also need to do a debate essay we're going to take a look at 80's culture(a personal favorite of mine) and cross compare the 80's culture of Japan vs. America. So mom and dad be ready for some photos if you can dig any up. I think it will be great for the kids to interact with their parents as well. It's odd here the relationships of parents and their kids aren't exactly the same as they are back home. But this will be an excuse for communication and for them to learn a little about the 80's!!!! LOL, these kids are so up on mainstream whatever it'll be a good chance to take a step back.

There's another FUJI climb in a couple weeks! And a fire festival tomorrow(8/26) where the city below Mt.Fuji is going to light a bunch of bonfires in hopes to calm the god of Mt.Fuji so the mountain won't erupt this year! Hey,! After climbing that sucker I feel like I should pay my dues. And also right after climbing I think I'm ready to do it again. DID YOU KNOW Mt.Fuji is the most climbed mountain in the world! Some people hate it, and hey! I didn't climb it for two years because I thought it was STUPID, but now it's super fun and it's such a good feeling to get to the top....very cheesy but when I got to the top I felt like I accomplished something! Very hard these days for my lazy self, so might as well do it again!

Hope you dig the jams!

A little time for the blizog!

Well,

It's been a little while and now in the midst of my summer holiday I've finally stumbled upon my digitally dusty blog and I suppose it's time for an update.

Basically, things are going well, not too badly sunburned with all the outdoor adventures that have been going on. Honestly not doing too much these days. I bought a big TV that I hardly ever watch, a PS3 I really only use to watch movies, and a kettlebell that I LOVE!!!!!

Finished reading a pretty good book, and now I'm going to devote my "book reading time" to study time. I was at dinner the other day after a 3 day, 2 night camping trip on the beach....we were all looking at the menu and I COULDN'T READ IT! Well, I could read quite a bit of it but I was at the table, among a lot of friends with varying levels of Japanese and I was the worst :( So it has motivated me to study just a little more. I might as well as I think I'm going to be here for at least another year.

As I've said before to my fam and friends... I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL YOU COME AND VISIT ME. So it's up to all ya'll to come and say what's up! Then I'll hightail it back to reality. I can't believe I've been here for this long. Although it's been great, I've made amazing friends and seen a lot of cool stuff...I miss America quite a bit sometimes. But, on the other end I have an amazing life here and I still generally keep in contact with a lot of people back home which is great. Anyways...I know you want to see some pics so let me dig some stuff up.!!











Well there's some stuff from my latest iphone upload. I kinda cracked my phone so I can get free ringtones and a few free apps and what not so I don't upload so many photos these days! Can you believe it...I only got a 16gb one and it's already full!!!! People in the 1980s probably couldn't even comprehend how to do that so quickly!! :P Basically a lot of goodbye parties..that one in particular(2nd photograph) were some really good friends of mine. The first was on a train to go to a wedding. 3rd a little cutie I got to do to dinner with her and her family. Then some summer stuff.

Summer's been good to me so far. Getting a lot done and being pretty healthy. It's hot! But I love the air conditioner and especially the starbucks I have literally across the street that I'm usually at to use their air conditioner :P I'm actually going down to meet a friend who's from Gabon, Africa! Funny funny guy, who's reading Japanese books like nothing. One thing I love here is how international of a life I'm living. lol btw his name's Parfait...which usually gets a little giggle when you first hear it. But! In french it means 'perfect' HOW YOU LIKE THAT!!! Anyways he's alright...horrible at pool though, good at everything else! Gonna meet him in like 5 so I'm out!

Cinco De Mayo!!!

And my Lakers are losing!!

It feels like the last post was more than a year ago!!! I feel like I haven't snowboarded since last season! Great weather but not in the best of moods. New job going well. Drama on the decline, which is good. Things always looking up. Moving to a new room in the same building this week. I'll fire back with some pictures. Got big plans for my new place. Ready to change up the lifestyle a bit too.

jeez feb's almost out the hizzy!

I thought not having a job might help with the regularity of this but I guess not....

Jobs are coming through though finally and it looks like in April I should be set. Wohooo more or less. It will be fun to go back to hanging out with kids teaching them English I think...just depends on where that will be. Luckily in the meantime have been doing a lot of free snowboarding...!

And not the free where I poach runs always nervous if the people working are going to ask for a pass I don't have. Lately peeps I know have been hooking things up and the oh so great gf pulled out a couple free passes too. LOL off some guy that was hitting her, and what a great girlfriend she gave them to me! It's nice riding a lot because you make friends with all the people working there. Just like a bartender gives free drinks to regulars sometimes I get a pass and some free food from the peeps on the working @ the slopes.

But after this past weekend going to Nagano, I think, although it's weird to say it...that I've gotten enough snowboarding in this year and I'm happy with my level of progression. Or maybe I just saw people that were so good and I'm just not pushing myself as much as I want. Who knows it could be the other factors in my life too...but I'm good on snowboarding for a bit. Time to count the days!! dun dun dunnnnnn 29 days riding this season...hmmm maybe I counted wrong before but I thought I was doing better than that. No worries though



That's my bud Alex, he actually lives in my old apartment. We hang out quite a bit actually...it's funny hearing English humor all the time(he's from sheffield to the narth of london I think) but he's fun and we always have a good time! Also brought my friend Mana whom I tweet on the regular!! She's probably one of the funniest Japanese girls I've ever met, check her gear!



But yes if it wasn't for those two my trip wouldn't have been as fun. It's funny I go on a trip in Japan, but everyone speaks English and everyone wants to speak English because most of the tourists can't speak Japanese. If it wasn't for talking to Mana I probably wouldn't have spoken any Japanese except when I said "domo" to the lifties! Well, and my buddy Sho was around...JEEZ I forgot to mention he hit a big kicker(jump) last week and really messed his sh*t up..came just to hang out though what a trooper! check it




It didn't turn out to be that bad, but he was wearing sunglasses and after he hit the jump the smashed into his face!! Effed up some ligaments in his knee and his ribs are a little bruised but hey! All in one piece!! :P I felt bad though because a friend hit the jump...then Sho looked at me to go next, and all I did was point to him...then he's upside down in the air and all I could see is my friend who hit the jump first unstrap his bindings and start running(!) over to where Sho was. BUT! that's life.

We'll see what the week has in store...Lots of lifting I think I need to get swolllllllllllllllllll. One last pic..lol at the lodge there was an ant crawling around...thought I'd try and make him famous :P (not really but how else am I going to use this pic!)

And the verdict is..

I don't know!

LOL Immigration always takes forever...on a good note though all the paperwork went through. Also someone hooked me up with a private lesson once a week come April and I'll probably pick up part time at the vault, which I mentioned before.

Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm we shall see. Today was pretty relaxing. Chess, laundry, coffee and a book, ran into a friend and now I'm tw33ting the sis.

LOL for some reason couldn't fit studying in there. Learning all the time now though, going to start reading a comic to try and work on my kanji practice. Any other ideas for stuff to do..anyone??lol katie ? craft ideas.. Really though I'll probably start kicking up the studying quite a bit here. Gonna call a wine farmer guy I know who wants to go snowboarding..lol he grows grapes, is like 55, and REALLY wants to go snowboard with me. Hey more power to ya, bet he'll blow me away too lol. Just want to meet him to talk about wine. I need to do more stuff like that because it will force me to speak Japanese for a designated period of time, it's so nice with the iphone too if we get stuck on a word BOOM it's right there. Yeah that's what I'll do...this guy will be stoked too I think.

February will definitely be a crucial month!!! Jeez I thought 2011 was going to suck too! :P

Well, January has been interesting to say the least

Thems the snowboarding days of January...lot of them free which is good and super discounted. Finally I actually decided to document how often I go snowboarding...I go a lot! Lately it has been a little theraputic, not for my finances but jeez immigration stuff has me frazzled.

Went today with the president of a company that wants to hire me and they said NO! I have one more chance, which is tomorrow. The company is going to Tokyo immigration to try again. If they say the same thing they said today I need to be out by 2.6.11! A very interesting thought which I think you would agree with.

At least I got to see chi-chi today! We needed to print up another contract and my girlfriend has a printer and the president of Borderlink(the company) was heading in that direction so after we met with him and signed a new contract Haz went to finish getting ready and ms.chi-chi was around. She definitely recognizes me it's really funny, even to see how she looks at me, I think she's a little mad because life there is good, but at my place it was way better because I'm more fun!!!!!!



hmmmmm...anything else going on??? Snowboarding a lot...getting better every time I go I've never progressed so much in a season in my life!



It was pretty cold last night though. Night riding is pretty but the resort my friend Chris and I went to is really busy in the day time, and it was super packed hard snow at night. After two days of snowboarding prior to last night my knees and body just weren't really feeling it. Thankfully when we got there we asked some people leaving if we could have there passes and they gave them to us for free!!!! Timing is everything!! It also helps to be super nice and know a little J.

I will definitely know how good or bad my timing is for living in Japan come tomorrow....what do you guys think??? Either way it's win win but this tour de Japan things are looking up. I have a lot of really cool job offers. Day jobs and night jobs...and the owner of the Vault mentioned me working there again part time. Although it's not the best there...it's like Japanese class x20. I really can't tell you how beneficial one night is there. It's like 8 hours of speaking japanese because nobody understands you. Speaking more of timing;

5 minute games mind you...I'm PLASTICBEACH


...yes that'd be 48 seconds vs someone who's supposed to be better than me! It felt good to say the least.

Anyways cross your fingers for me tomorrow everyone. THANK YOU!

UGHHHHHH

I WANT TO COME HOME SO BAD!

But I know I should just try and make it out here! I have had a couple interviews now and it seems like everything for April is locked down...with the combination of both interviews I had it seems like I have my pick of anywhere I want to live in JAPAN! It's too early right now since the school session doesn't start for a little while(April) but it feels good thinking I can pretty much do anything.....if I pull through with a visa.

Anyways I'm broke! My last day was last Monday!!! And I know I shouldn't have but I went on a snowboard trip...it was the best time of my life though....best snowboarding in my life for never really hitting a jump or rail!!!! I'm talking Powder waist deep....I smash through it so fast and steep I can't even see because I'm creating mini avalanches behind me. Then the snow settles and there's powder as far as the eye can see!!!!!!!!!!!!! Started @ 9 and my legs gave out on my by 2 I was charging so hard!

Picture??? OK



Anyways when I came back to reality I got back on it. 17 days until my visa expires!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I should be applying by Monday at the latest, I'm going to go into immigration tomorrow to ask for another extension I think because the last company that I talked to on the phone said they would apply for me in a heartbeat but even if they applied tomorrow they said....the time for processing would take at least 2 weeks :( So I'll start how I finished... UGHHHHH

I hear wedding bells(lol @ mom!) just kidding!!!!!! Anyone want to fly me back to amurica :) :) :) :) :) :)

well well well in a bit of a pickle!

MY VISA DIDN"T GO THROUGH!

and now my passport looks like this!



lol I actually have a new visa...for one more. It's called designated activities!! Man that sounds really cool and all, it'd be really nice if I had a designated activities visa for like 5 years!! I'd feel way cool :P

So now my current options are!

Move to Gunma(a prefecture close to here) and work possibly
Move back
Secure a job here in the spring and move back in the meantime
Crying and self pity
go to Korea and come back on a tourist visa and work part time jobs
get married

lol those last 3 aren't really in the equation, except one usually sets on right before I go to sleep. This week should prove very interesting...........any thoughts. I'm talking to you Katie my only loyal follower lol

HAPPY 2011

This past year went by really fast! I can't believe it. It was even surreal working just because even work went by quick! Which makes me think this next year will be flying by as well.

I can't believe this year I'll be 28!!! Never thought I'd be where I am right now when I was in highschool thinking about what I'd like to do with my life, but it's going well so far.

Had a great ski trip to finish off the year in Hakuba with my friends...check out the ride we went it!



It was a very fun trip...although I hate waiting on people sometimes when there's fresh powder and everyone wants to 'stick together'. LOL Ok I"M NOT COMPLAINING!! I'm just sayin! hahaha one of my resolutions was not to complain so much! and tune up my manners!!! I thought of the latter when I asked someone if I could use their wax to wax my board before the powder day...and I didn't even think to wax theirs up to say thanks. SO! I'm going to try and work on that, that's just not ME! :P I'm talkin about this guy josh!(who also was that guy involved with the salt in an earlier post)



The trip was great! I love going to the resort that we go to...the owner and I have become friends, considering last time I went I went down a closed course to destroy the powder and got caught, using his season pass and they resort took it! I felt pretty bad but it was kinda something that made things a little more memorable. It's so funny everytime we come too when I call him to confirm he's like, "Brian I put a room full of 5 beautiful girls right next to yours!" and then he introduces us at dinner it's hillarious!!! He really knows how to take care of his customers. Don't worry you guys I'm not a scumbag(japanese = uwakimono!) I stay faithful to the GF but hanging out with pretty girls is better than hanging out with ugly dudes!!!

I'll be sure and try and snag a picture of Kato next time I head up to Nagano!




Last day was epic(aka 2nd day)I went to sleep at like 9:30 the night before and was able to wake up nice and early and get up to and off the gondola by 9am the next day, ahead of everyone else. Smashed powder solo jamming to my ipod for about an hour and a half until I saw everyone else. Met a cool family on a different gondola and cruised with them for a little while too. People on the resorts here are just so much more friendly than back home sometimes it's amazing.

Going to the local shrine today for new years(shogatsu) pretty popular thing to do for the holidays. I'll take a pic maybe :P those tweetharts will definitely be seeing something!!!