Sho mo nai!

Wedding Photos

2008-09-25T09:37:00.001-07:00

Hey all, in case you check here, be sure to scope out mattandjulie.shettler.com for our wedding photos.

Even if you're not invited.

2008-02-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

The wedding website is finished! Or at least, I have run out of time to work on it, and it is in an acceptable state for people to see it. There may still be another tweak or two, and there will certainly be a couple of content updates. But ready it is!

mattandjulie.shettler.com

Getting Married!

2008-01-22T20:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Dearest Everyone,

It has been a long long time since I have done anything to this blog. Life has been busy enough without trying to blog about it. There have surely been more than enough interesting things that would engage and enrapture every reader who should chance upon this blog, but I have scarce had time to write those incidents down, let alone write them well or humourously.

Nonetheless, I should mention that there are changes afoot in my life that threaten to alter the neon-spotted fabric of my lifestyle. I am getting married! Not only is a wedding of epically casual proportions going to happen, it is going relax its way along in Hawaii at the beginning of May.

I am fully joining the ranks of the middle class this year. Not only shall I wed, but I have been granted my first really real job. While other jobs consumed my time and life as factually and monetarily as this one, this job is unique in providing my first full paid employ in my chosen career of graphic design.

Things to watch out for in the coming year include are: the website for the wedding, some real work to be done establishing my proper website at shettler.com, and a raging water buffalo charging down the street for that. Watch out for the wedding site in the next month or so, and for the shettler.com update sometime in the summer, and that water buffalo, well I'm not telling you. You'll just have to keep your eyes open.

Geiko's Transforming Inusrance Policies

2007-07-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of a customer getting less than optimal service from his car insurance company.

All work and no play makes Matt a dull boy.

2007-06-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

So... anyone want to hear about how much I work?

Yeah, I kind of figured not.

I've been reading a properly terrible science fiction book lately. I can't even remember what it's called. I'm probably halfway through the book, and I still can't figure out why the author bothered to write it. It's got no new central idea, no clever exploration of anything, just shallow characters with no motivation, and it has more clichés than the Arctic Ocean has hydrogen molecules. I continue on in the vague hope that somewhere all of the vague and disparate elements of the book will suddenly tie together and have meaning, rather than just being vague appropriations for unsuccessful generation of interest.

On the bright side, whatever I read next will surely seem the brightest, most well-written book ever.

Homesick

2007-06-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

I have been really homesick for Japan lately. I really want to go back. Things keep coming up that I really miss. I miss the onsen and the sento, I miss the food. I miss the humid and wet rainy season, and the muggy hot summer that follows it. I want to be dancing Awa Odori every day, and I want to be back doing jujutsu. I miss my friends from Japan (who have all left anyways) and I miss getting to speak Japanese every day. I want to go back.

I know it had its problems, I know that I don't really want to live there for the rest of my life, but I don't want Japan to disappear from my life either. I miss Kamikatsu. I miss the culture and the lifestyle. I miss my home in Japan.

Where is this homesickness coming from? Am I hitting the five month wall of culture shock with my move to Vancouver? That's very possible. My problem is that I make everywhere I live into home. Winnipeg is home. Kamikatsu is home. And now, Vancouver is home. Everywhere I live is my home, but from another perspective, I have no home at all. "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head." I understand how that feels, a bit.

What I'm doing these days

2007-05-31T00:39:00.000-07:00

I don't have time for much. And right now I'm taking away precious sleep hours to post this. But it's worth letting you all know what's up anyhow. Here it is in brief:

- working for free as a design intern at industrial brand creative (www.industrialbrand.com)
- working for pay at starbucks
- borrowing a car from a friend who is away on a cross canada trip in one of his other cars
- driving down to see julie every weekend, since she moved to washington from hawaii a few weeks ago
- going to housegroup at derrick funk's every wednesday
- see phil on the weekend when he comes in sometimes
- saw dan mutch in seattle this past weekend
- the odd freelance design project here and there
- reading on a plan to finish the bible in a year, mostly doing the reading over breakfast (my only regularly scheduled meal and relaxed moment)

what i am NOT doing, for lack of time:
- getting enough sleep
- rebuilding my web page (shettler.com)
- reading much
- eating particularly well nor regularly
- exercising

In an ideal world, I'll get full time paid design work by the end of the summer. I'm enjoying my busy life for the moment. I think I do it to myself often enough. I take on too much. But I think I kind of like it that way.

What are you up to these days?

Shettler.com and being under the weather

2007-04-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

I have now officially registered my first domain name, and it's quite a good grab at that. Shettler.com is up and running, and ever nearing a more complete and clean look. I still need to sort out just how to do the Internet Explorer hacks, but it's coming along.

The last three days have been pretty rough. I made a major push last week to get a lot of things done by the end of the week, especially the web page. I worked 18 hours on Friday, and was starting to feel sick even then. On Saturday the sickness was sinking its claws into my flesh, and I could see it would get worse before it got better.

But running a fever didn't prevent me from playing soccer for two hours on Sunday. That may have been a bad idea, since I was destroyed on Monday morning with a high fever and difficulty staying conscious. Nonetheless, that did not keep me from participating in Austin's stag. This was not a drinking stag, by the way.

We kidnapped Leah and made Austin follow clue to clue to clue through a gauntlet of eggings, water balloonings, shaving creamings, and being hosed down, and he got to rescue his fiancee at the end. He had a lot of fun.
Following that was two hours of volleyball, and then a massive barbeque at his parents' place, his mom and sisters having vacated the premises for that night.

It was good. But I was extra crispy the next morning. I had tried to keep myself well hydrated through the volleyball, and then again after, but man was it rough. The sickness entrenched in me keeps me from sleeping well, but it is slowly letting go of its hold.

New website.

2007-03-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

I've been taking an xhtml/css course, and the website is starting to become something. I should think about getting a domain name better than the one that we have with telus, but that can come later. For the moment the hard work is poured into making the site itself. But if you google me, it still doesn't come up. Since the biggest reason for the site is as a vehicle for my portfolio, I need people to be able to google me and find it. So I'm linking to it from everywhere I can, and I'd appreciate if you would too. Thanks!

Matthew's Portfolio

<Oops! I'd used a colon instead of an equals sign in the link. It should work now.—Matthew 2007.03.31>

Amazing Race

2007-03-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

I guess the Amazing Race will be going through Vancouver this season. I know this because there were guys at the front of the bus wearing pinneys, and they got off at a run down the street and it said Amazing Race on their shirts. I presume I was noticing the staff who were following the participants.

Lost with soap.

2007-03-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Does anyone watch Lost?
Perhaps I was blind or ignorant before, but now I have seen that Lost is really just a massive soap opera. The following lines spoken in a hospital setting did it for me:

"Are you the one paying the bills?"
"Yes."
"Who are you?"
"I'm your father."

Good greif, eh?

Clear Horizons

2007-03-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

Wow! I just looked out the window, and for the first time since I've been here (that I've noticed) the horizon is totally free from clouds, and much to my surprise, I can see Mount Baker. Crazy!

Web Class

2007-03-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well, there's all sorts of fun stuff to talk about that happened this week, including a couple of days doing some freelance identity work for one of the design studios in the city, and a meeting with the President. It's been a very encouraging week. Now I have lots to do for next week—on the president's advice I'll be first bandaging and then reworking my portfolio. Revise revise revise! This will be the third major revision of my portfolio in about as many months, but you don't make something great without putting in the sweat. And the better my portfolio is, the higher my chances of landing a really sweet job. It's very exciting being out here. There are a lot of fantastic studios.

One thing that's been really encouraging has been realising that I come from a city that really has quite a good design scene despite its relatively small size. If you don't know some of the amazing stuff Winnipeg has to offer, try Neuhaus, Spacecadet, Circle, Bounce, or Guppy, just to name a few.

And now I'm also taking a web class to get all my skills in order, to fill in that gap in my ability. I should have started this a long time ago. It's really not all that hard—it's just another language, and one closer to english than Japanese is, and it's a design exercise. Why did I wait so long to get into it? Web design can be fun! I think it was just that streak in me that dislikes being associated with what's popular. Funny thing for a designer, eh? But it's fine if my client is associated with the popular. Learn learn learn, we continue to learn. It's been a great week/month/six months/year for that.

Oh, to be six again...

2007-03-01T10:02:00.001-08:00

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her Birthday.

"I'd like to be six again", she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day!
He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there was.
Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head wa s reeling and her stomach felt upside down.

He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure! Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingl y asked, "Well Dear, what was it like being six again??"

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. "I meant my dress size, you imbecile!"

The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.

-----
That made me laugh.

Did it help that I was wearing a suit?

2007-02-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

On the way to drop off resumes this morning, I had something embarrassing happen. I was sitting on the bus at the very back left corner, and in the middle seat was a girl who looked like she'd had a bit of a bad morning. As we neared my stop, I started to get up and pick up my portfolio, umbrella, and bag. As I was trying to pass this girl, the bus lurched and I fell backwards! I stuck out my hand backwards to try to steady myself against the back so I didn't fall on top of her. However, as I shot my hand out backwards, I elbowed her solidly in the middle of her forehead! Her head snapped back as I touched the back wall to steady myself. I apologized profusely and rushed off the bus. I felt so bad! And I felt worse because afterwards I smirked every time I thought about it! She must be having a bad day of sitcom proportions! Oh dear.

On the bus home, I had another embarrassing encounter! The bus was PACKED with people on their way home from work. I was standing right in front of this Japanese couple who were sitting down. I was evesdropping on their conversation in Japanese. At some point, I felt a huge fart coming, but couldn't bear to subject all the people on the bus to that, and didn't want to embarrass myself. But it silently sneaked its way out anyhow! But at least the bus was packed and nobody would know it was me, right? Then one of the two Japanese people said (in Japanese), "Man, that stinks!" And the other replied, "Yeah it really stinks. I think it was him." And the first subtly pointed at me as he asked, "This guy?" And the other confirmed, "Yeah." And then they both said again, "Man, that stinks." and "It really stinks."

Did it help that I was wearing a suit?

I don't think so.

Meant to be.

2007-02-19T23:03:00.001-08:00

I had a dream last night where I found myself back in my room at my folks' house in Winnipeg. It felt so wrong to be there. I knew I shouldn't be there. Mom and Dad came in and asked if i was back to stay. I said, "NO! I just came back to get some stuff." And grabbing my soccer gear out of my dresser drawer and my snowboard gear and board out of the closet in a rush, I was out of there. And the dream ended.

Faith Challenge

2007-02-19T15:34:00.000-08:00

I think it must be a principle that any time we take a step in faith, that we act in faith, there must be a challenge that hits right to the core and tests the faith used to step out. I came out here to BC in faith that it was God's timing, and the right thing. And being here I am more sure of that than ever. It feels right in more ways than I am capable of describing. And I believe that God has a job here for me, too. A place where I will work hard, learn a lot, and make a difference. The challenge is finding it. And it's a process. But right now I am finding myself colliding with challenges that are testing my faith, that bring me to a point where I am asked, "Will you continue to have faith despite this difficulty? Will you belive God in this, too?"

And by His grace, I can say heartily, "Yes!"

Because He Loves Her

2007-02-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, this whole job application thing is really taking it out of me. Stress, stress, stress! Cold-calling places to find out who the person who hires is stresses me out. It's all the uncertainty. At least I have a list of the places I'd like to work, having looked up almost every design studio in the city on the internet. I have yet to work on looking up all the ad agencies. Julie has been a real encouragement. She read through What Colour Is Your Parachute recently, and she took very good notes. And Debbie at Mars Hill in Winnipeg gave me some good tips for calling small studios, too.

As for the title of this post, that may have something to do with why he moved.

Take the plunge

2007-01-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

Dare the Mighty Deed

That seems to be the theme of my life at the moment. Why? Because on returning to Winnipeg, I find myself suddenly pushed to go west and look for work. In two weeks I am off to Vancouver to look for work. I may be back in a month, but Lord willing, I'll find a job and a place to stay. For the moment I'll be staying with a few friends of a friend who are willing to put me up for a couple of weeks. Look out couch, here I come. It's pretty scary. I really want to find work doing graphic design or working at a print shop straight away, but failing that, anything. And then a place to stay if I can get work. Hoo boy.

I was talking to a friend who was telling me about doing rappelling every day in basic training.
He said that of course you know you trust your harness, and the ropes, and the guys below, and you know it's safe. Even so, when you stand at the top and get ready to go over, you feel something like, "This is stupid. There's no way I should be doing this." And then you do it. Because of course you are going to do it. But that fear still jumps up and tries to slap you in the face. That's where I'm at right now. I'm going to do it, I know I'm going to do it, I know it's safe and that all that can come from this experience is positive, but there's risk, and its scary.

But for me, it is time to dare the mighty deed, to do the very thing I am afraid to do. Even if it seems stupid.

No Time

2007-01-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

Visiting Julie in Hawaii was amazing. I am back in Winnipeg, but I have no time to make a proper post yet. And at this rate, it probably won't happen.

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

2007-01-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

So Phil got me this worst case scenario daily survival calendar, and this is the one for tomorrow, the day I fly to Hawaii. At least I'm going via San Francisco, rather than via Los Angeles. Crazy coincidence or grim forboding? You decide!

2007-01-08T20:08:00.000-08:00

Today I sent an email to some friends back in Japan, and as I was writing it I realised that it would also be appropriate as a blog post. So here is the section trimmed out of the email, posted on-line for all of your enjoyment, if you haven't heard it all before.

----------
As for myself, It's been an unusual few months. I've applied and become an
associate member of the GDC (society of Graphic Designers of Canada), but it
will take me maybe a year to get myself to a point where I could become a
full member. I need to do more real work first, and pass a portfolio review.

I did have some leads on jobs before the holidays, but they all fell
through, so now i start the application process all over again.

I've been going twice a month to the Japanese Cultural Center in town to sit
and chat with people in Japanese, so I don't lose it. More than that, until
midway through December, I'd spent a bunch of time hanging out with Dion and
Ayumi. Do you remember Dion? He taught in Naruto for three years,
leaving as Julie arrived. He's from Winnipeg. But now they've moved away. He
couldn't get into med school in canada, even after two years of trying, but
he did get accepted to a school on a tiny dutch island in the carribean. Not
to shabby. From the sounds of it it's got its ups and downs. They left just
a few weeks ago. I was sad to see them go.

Christmas and New Year's and the holidays in between were pretty good. My
best friend was in from the west of canada, and my sister in from the east,
and I hadn't seen either of them since coming back to Canada, so that made
for some great times. But it wasn't Christmas that I'd been looking forward
to this year. My sister left today, and I get to leave this Friday. Where
to? I'm going to visit Julie in Hawaii! I'm so excited. It's only for ten
days, but I haven't seen her in almost six months, so that's way better than
nothing. To quote Coldplay, "Nobody said it was easy, nobody said that it
would be so hard;" the long-distance thing is strange but we compensate as
best we can by talking a lot.

We've been using the program Skype to talk for free on the phone a la the
internet. My days have been spent in a mix of a few things: painting houses
or businesses to keep money in my pocketses, doing some kind of design work
(for myself, mostly) to hone my skills, and either hoping to talk to julie,
or doing so. We'd both rather be able to talk to each other every day, but
life and time zones make that difficult. Some weeks we get to talk nearly
every day, other weeks it seems like only once or twice. But in just four
sleeps I'm off to visit her! Hooray! I've been counting down the days since
I bought the ticket 86 days ago.

I guess that's pretty much where I've been at the last while.
Looking forward to hearing back from you,
------------

Fletcher

Here I Am Send Me

2006-12-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

Show me a vision like Isaiah saw
where the angel touched his lips and he sinned no more
let me hear a voice sayin' who should I send
I'll say send me lord
I'll follow you to the end

Show me a vision like Ezekiel saw
an army of life from a valley of bones
breathe life into these lungs of mine
so I can scream and shout
of your love divine

Search light, burns bright
floods my eyes
invade me, serenade me
i'm giving back my life

Here I am send me
here I am send me
there's noting in my hands
but here I am send me

a Delirious song

It's my prayer.

Do I look like Josh Groban?

2006-12-12T05:02:00.000-08:00

I've just been told that I look like some singer I've never heard of. So I googled him, and now I leave it up to you all to decide. Do I look like this Josh Groban fellow?

Julie says:

2006-12-12T04:46:00.000-08:00

i seem to be living in a dream these days. being in love has totally changed the chemistry of my brain. a good thing???

And I feel pretty much the same.

Christmas is approaching

2006-12-07T04:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I am still jobless, and working all the time.
I've been painting houses etc for my old boss while I wait to hear back about jobs. I suppose I should be continuing to apply, hit the streets and hand out resumes. I'm waiting to hear back on a job at the Winnipeg Sun and Nygard Clothing. The actual work itself and the designer crew at Nygard seemed pretty good, and it would be great to work again with my friend Mike who works there. He's a really hard-working guy with good ideas. But it sounds like the leadership of the company is less than ideal. The way lots of people who have had dealings with the company have been telling me, the man who established and runs the company is not a trusting delegating man. It's fascinating that his company has grown so much when he seems to micromanage and scold so much. It's like it's all focused on him personally. Not the kind of company that grows leaders. At least that's what people seem to say. But it has grown to be a pretty large and successful company nonetheless, so obviously the man has SOME leadership skills. So there could be some really good sides to it I cannot see yet. However, if the Sun is willing to hire me, I'd sooner have that job. The man who interviewed me and who would be my supervisor seemed really passionate about design, and that's something I want in a boss. And he really seemed to enjoy his job, and made it sound like his employees do too.
Both jobs are fast paced, which is something I want, so that's good.

Aside from that, it's just getting ready for christmas, and doing a ton of design work in my evenings. Perhaps I'll post something up here a little later. I keep postponing further work on my portfolio. So many things to do!

I'm now a member of the GDC, though just an associate member, not a full member yet. There is a portfolio review in January though, and I hope to pass that review and get accepted. But I haven't really done much "commercial" work, which is all they want in the portfolio. I guess it's only the stuff that has been professionally printed which I can enter. Hoo boy. It's been a while since anything I've done and been really proud of has been professionally printed. But we'll see how things go. If I don't get in this time, they will at least give me a ton of tips and tell me what to work on in my portfolio for the next time, and for someone not in school anymore, that kind of feedback is priceless.

The snow has been nice as well as a big adjustment. It really has been years since living with snow and cold has been part of my life. But I'm getting used to it again I think. As long as it stays around -10 and 20 km/h winds I'm pretty happy.

Also this whole being in love thing is something else, isn't it? I'm not sure I ever have been before. It's like nothing else. I'm falling more in love with Julie all the time.

Oh, I have so much growth to do. Mentally, emotionally, in responsibility and self-discipline, and especially spiritually. The need to keep growing never really ends, does it? You've just got to keep on learning and rolling with the punches. Take your time.

Amazing Stuff

2006-11-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

Dave Titterington just emailed this to me. Very cool stuff. It's by a Japanese guy called Daisuke Yamamoto, and it's called "One Week of Art Works." Check it out.

Love and Pieces

2006-11-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

Julie and I had this exchange where she asked me to break off a piece of myself so she could have it. I asked her what she wanted, and she told me she'd like one of my hands. So I thought, "As you wish."

Then I sent her a mail saying something like,
"I'd give my right hand for you."
And this photo:

But Julie's got no stomach for gore. And my humour is darker than hers. She found that a little too much. Good thing I didn't use the blood.

Then she said that she didn't just want a piece, she wanted all of me.
But Canada post won't let you mail things that weigh more than 20 or 30 kg. And I weigh at least 65. So I thought, I'd send myself in installments.

I was going to do it up right with blood everywhere, but thought she wouldn't dig it, so I just cleaned it up and sent the next piece expediently.

She was shocked. Good thing I didn't bother with blood. I thought it was pretty darn hilarious. So I wanted to share it with you all. It's not all that great a photoshopping, but not bad for five minutes' effort.

Welcome back/birthday party

2006-10-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I had a party to welcome myself home and celebrate my already passed birthday. The last Saturday in the month, it was then or never. I had waffled all month long whether to throw it or not, and deciding a week in advance obviously wasn't enough time to get as many people as I wanted. No invites, telling most people only once, probably most had weekend plans already. If I'd decided right at the beginning of the month, I might have got the 40+ attendees I half-expected. Nine came. But we had fun. We did a class of games so I could do my English teacher (game-teacher) thing, and we could have some fun and learn about what I've been doing at the same time. A Chopstick game, a couple quiz games, and the janken train game (janken is the rock-paper-scissors game). That was only about an hour though. Otherwise there was potluck delights, some slides in the background, and later a crazy Japanese tv program in the background. When many had left the remainder of us played Carassonne, which was pretty fun. Also, Dion and Ayumi brought me something from their private stash shipped from Japan:

You don't know just how happy I am to have some proper bottled green tea from Japan again. Mmmm this is going to be great!

While on the train with Dan...

2006-10-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

"To the passenger who lost a damaged elk, we found it in first class, near the front of the train. Could you please come and pick it up."

"That's my damaged elk!"

"Can you prove it is your elk? Where is it damaged?"

"Erm... left rear leg?"

"I'm sorry sir, it's not your elk."

Still no job.

2006-10-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of no job. I have yet to land a job I really want, but in the meantime i'm back to painting a few days a week. And it's depressing. The guys I work with are great, and my hands remember how to use a brush as well as they ever did, and the work is no problem. What's a little frustrating is that it feels like a step backwards. I threw out all my painting clothes before I left for Japan, promising myself not to ever go back. "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." (1pe5.10) That was in my bible reading today. I recieved it as a promise and something to cling to for hope.

Long Lost Update

2006-09-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well my dear Julie has gotten a job working at a spa, and she starts today. On the other hand, I am still at home unemployed. Aside from working on resumes and my portfolio, and trying to update my knowledge on important software, I spent most of my free time either emailing or talking to her. But now that is not an option, so I look to fill my free time with my hobbies again, such as blogging.

I am eager about getting back into graphic design. It's such a fun profession. But now I am seeing that it was erroneous of me to never apportion time to learning web design, for that lack of knowledge threatens to hold me back now. So I need to come up with some kind of project to teach myself both Dreamweaver and Flash. I suppose an online portfolio is as good as anything? Both Dreamweaver and Flash offer 30 day free trials, so I'm thinking I need to do as much of the up-front work as possible before I download them. Which is planning and comps, I suppose.

It would be nice if I could actually design my blog as part of that, too, rather than have to use the blogger template.

hmmmm... lots to do.

Also, I have had an offer to do some freelance work. Yay! And not pro bono! Yay!
But we have yet to negotiate a price. I need to get back to them with what is fair.

.
.
.
.

Come to think of it, I haven't done absolutely nothing. I've gotten back on my bike and cycled around to some places, playes some soccer, watched a couple of movies at the theatre, played some settlers, destroyed a small island republic, and I made dinner on Monday. And somehow I've managed to screw up my body clock so that I am now having a hard time getting to sleep before two. ["Somehow" is most likely my reluctance to hang up the phone at a reasonable hour.]

And Canada? It's all the same and different. But more the same than different. Except that I can speak Japanese now.

2006-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

It's a Saturday, I am finally back in Winnipeg, and I don't know who to call to find out what is going on. It's been more than a week of mostly just sitting at home, and I'm ready to get out of the house. I wish there was something like this where I could look to see what's going down. We used to have one in Tokushima. But then, everyone lived so far apart, we really needed it. And now, though I am closer to the heart of a major city than I have been in years, It seems like it's harder to find the scene my friends are on. Bizarre.

Found!

2006-09-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

class photo from last year of design at u of m, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Well, for those of you who never got to see me with a hawk, here you go. Now that I'm home I know where to look on my storage disks to find the photos that I couldnt get anyone to send before.

Accused

2006-09-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

I'm just back from Carla's cd release party, and I was accused of not ever mentioning on my blog that I have a girlfriend. So I will take the time to mention it now. I am dating this wonderful and beautiful girl by the name of Julie. We went to the same church in Japan for the last two years, but it wasn't until we travelled around Kyushu for a week with Brian and Christine and their friend Lorraine this past April/May that we became so attracted to eachother. Then because school was slow we got to know eachother much better chatting on the google chat while at school. So it was less than a month later that I asked her out, and our first date was June 2nd.

But both of us were finishing up our contracts in Japan, so the last time we saw each other was July 22nd. Phil was here then. He and I left for Tokyo and Fuji that night. Julie went home to Hawaii three days later.

Since then we've just had emails, phone calls, and now that I'm at a home with broadband, skype to talk with. So if I say to you I want to go to Hawaii, now you know that it's for beauty greater than tropical paradise.

Julie looks just as hot with her short hair as she did with her long, but I didn't really have big photos of her with her shorter hair use for this. She only got it cut the day I left for Tokyo, you see. The guy with her by the cactus is her brother Kevin, who lives in Arizona now.

2 minutes to post

2006-09-14T03:35:00.000-07:00

at gatwick airport
expensive internet - 50 per minute means 3 dollars for 15 minutes
somehow managed not to pay any excess baggage fees
squeezed my bag into the size check box by loading my pockets
even duty free alcohol seems crazy expensive here
board in an hour or so
will be home in 13 hours or so
will be home at about 5
don't know what to think
but its the right thing

times up

Soon and very soon

2006-09-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well I'll be on my way home to canada in just a couple of days. one more day in london and then the day after tomorrow i fly home. ill be back in the evingin! \i think im ready to come home. england is so expensive. japan is so over. theres a lot to do and im ready to stop procrastinating and start doing it.

im in a hostel in london and having to pay a pound per 20 minutes!! what the hell kind of hostel charges for internet, and then on top of that charges $2 for 20 mins?! i am not pleased. it would be nice if they had wi fi or something so i could use my own computer at least. booooo-urns. oh well. ill be home soon enough and then maybe ill take the time to blog properly about all the stuff ive been up to the last few weeks. Grapevine, a massive christian conference, northumberland, castles, scotland, whiskey distillery, lake district, and on and on. \it s been fun. i have a bunch of pictures a la dan's digi cam to post. but that will come later. and now im down to just a couple of minutes left. thats whawt i get for leaving bloggin to the very end.

see y'all on the other side of the pond!

My mind seems ready to attempt Canada

2006-09-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

i was so disappointed when I woke up this morning. I had been offering my brother a sausage and egg McMuffin in a green melonpan bun, and as I sat up to pass it to him, my vision cleared and I was awake and sitting not in my parents' living room, but in the spare bedroom of Dan's grandma's place in Northumberland.

In the dream I'd had a box of six egg McMuffin melonpan, and my parents had refused them on the grounds that they thought they looked disgusting. My brother, however, said, "I'll try one. Pass one here."

Before that I had been tying a Zorro cape to the power cable outside the house. Because the new Zorro movie was coming out.
"Who's in it this time?" my dad asked.
"Antonio Banderas, of course," I replied.
When I did wake up in reality, the word "Zorro-astrian" was on the tip of my tongue. Funny.
As I tied the cape to the line, I realised that it might be confused with a batman cape. Also, I realised that it wasn't a proper heavy fabric cape, but rather a cheap promotional garbage-bag-with-a-string cut into the shape of a cape. Even though I had taken the cape off of the real Banderas whom I had pulled out of the cover of a movie box or a poster, when he was posing as hard as he could, trying to be sexy. There had been music, too. But when I got him out, he was only about half life-size. And a doll.
It was very windy as I tied the cape. A voice, possibly my own, possibly that of a passerby said, "I love your cape, Zorro-man!"

Before that, I had been talking to Phil from the stairs outside my parents place, though they were like 20 feet high. I was singing a happy tune i made up on the go about how I no longer neeeded the spare power cable to use the microwave. And by power cable, I mean one coming into the house from the outside. But I electrical taped this new power cable to the outside of a larger cable already leading into the house.

Earlier in the dream I had asked Ron MacLean/Ken Peters about which bible verse was the hardest to preach on. And he gave me a reference. I looked it up and it was the one with Jesus about crayons and the end of the world. I laughed, because I could see how that would be difficult. It was pretty confusing. I also asked which line he would rather use, of the many coming to the house. He said the fat one, which was thick like the trunk of a tree, and had bark patterns, but was black like rubber, and though hard like old wood, a power cable. He said he picked it over the thin little one because it was stronger.

So then when Phil came I asked him, and he asked, "Why?" And I told him which the pastor had chosen and why. And he said, "In that case, Derek [Funk] says the thin one."
"Why the thin one?" I inquired.
"Because I didn't have time to think just now." Phil replied.

Lost, Lost, Lost, Sheffield, London.

2006-08-24T01:41:00.000-07:00

On Monday Dan and I went to Sherwood forest in the morning.
The first thing we did was walk to Major Oak, where Robin Hood is said to have hidden from the sheriff at one point. The tree is really old now, and Natalie (who is from Nottingham) said she went as a kid she was so disappinted that she couldn't climb on it like Robin Hood, and she was annoyed at the fact that its branches are now held up by posts.

Then we went for a walk, and not knowing which path to take, or if we should go back to the visitor center for maps et cetera, or what, we stood at a crossroads. So I said, "Well, let's just go get lost." And off we went. And after a while we sort of did feel like we had gotten lost, but after a sit for to eat some packed sandwiches in the sun, we did find our way back. It was a beautiful place to get lost in. It was also very different from the forests of Japan, which made it interesting in other ways, too.

On our way back from the forest, we passed a maise maze (corn maze) and having an extra couple of hours, decided to give it a go. Some of the paths were a bit poorly marked, so I think I took a few shortcuts that weren't supposed to be paths. In fact I know I did. I ended up at the end right at the beginning and worked my way around the whole maze, but couldn't sort out where I was supposed to end up. It was pretty fun anyhow. The sun came out, which was nice.

That night we had curry for dinner, satisfying me desperate need to get some rice into me system. Mmmm... chicken tikka masala...

And I started downloading season 2 of Lost so that i can watch it and be in the know when I get home. We watched Pride and Prejudice in the evening, and it was pretty good.

The sun goes down so late here! It throws me. After three years in Japan, I feel like if the sun is in the sky, it can't be much later than six, ever. But the sun stays up until like past ten at night. So often its nine at night but I feel like its five. Of course, when I first went to Japan it was the quick sunset that drove me nuts, rather than the reverse now. Ironic.
And Nottingham is a little farther north than Winnipeg. Winnipeg is 49 degrees and 50 minutes north, but Nottingham is about 53 degrees north.

Tuesday Dan and I went into Sheffield in the morning, walked around, and then met Natalie for lunch at a pub, and then Dan got his football (soccer ball) which we kicked around for an hour before he had to run to the dentist. Sheffield was a nicer town than I had imagined, because of the way everyone seems to joke about it.

Yesterday Dan and I hopped a train from Nottinham station into London and walked around all day.

The station in Nottingham had a very different atmosphere from what I'm used to. And instead of reliable mechanical gates, they had people checking and taking your tickets! Crazy!

So we got into town, hopped on the tube, and started our day of walking around downtown London. We walked down to Trafalgar Square and saw Nelson's column. And while we were there, we checked out the National Gallery. I'm not so partial to much painting pre-baroque, and given our limited amount of time, we just did from 1600 forward. I'm sure it's tragic that I missed out on seeing some of the great stuff they surely had, but time is a limited commodity on a one day trip.

Then we walked to the parliment buildings and Big Ben, crossed the river thinking of taking the London Eye to check the city out, but summer tourism making the lines it makes dissuaded us from following through on that. So I posed with Winston Churchill for a photo, and after checking out Westminster Abbey, we continued on our way.

On the way to Buckingham Palace, we also stopped at the memorial for dead Canadian soldiers, as well as the Victoria Memorial.

There were lots of tourists outside of Buckingham, but it was interesting enough I suppose. Then we walked to Hyde park, and Speaker's Corner, which was set up hundreds of years ago for people to exercise their freedom of speach and get up on the metaphorical soapbox and speak against the government, or whatever. Not much to see, but interesting to have been there.

After that we hopped the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral, the main place for the Church of England (Anglican Church). It was really money. It must have cost so much to build that place. Not my bowl of fish, but worth the trip, I suppose. After walking around for a bit, I sat down in a chair and took a cat-nap. I was woken with a start when a choir started singing. It was really nice with the acoustics the building offers. Then a preist (or is he a reverend? I don't know) got up to lead in some brief prayer.
Then we went down to the crypt to check out where rotting shells of dead people are kept for some reason. Lots of names on plaques. We played the "walk around and see how many names you recognise" game.

Then we walked accross the Millenium Bridge to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. Unfortunately we only had time to do one floor of it (hour and a half) before it closed. But much good art was seen. Any good vacation includes a few trips to art galleries or museums, in my opinion. We were going to check out London Tower and the Tower Bridge, but it started raining. We retreated to a pub in hopes that it would let up altogether, but it was not to be. It only let up enough for us to make it to a station to get on the tube, to get to our station, to come home, to sleep the sweet sleep of people who have been on their feet all day.

Everyone Loves Robin Hood

2006-08-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

Matt Hood, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

I haver arrived safely in Nottingham. Yesterday we set out to check out the downtown, which is a massive collection of not office buildings but small shops and stores; lots of shopping. It reminded me of America-mura in Osaka, or Harajuku in Tokyo, or perhaps a theme park, because there were so many people amongst the many shops, and it all seemed so foreign and just impossible to be real. Where were all the Japanese people? It's really very strange.
We also swung by Nottingham castle grounds, and I sat on Robin Hood. He's so strong and cool! Arms like bronze, I tell you.

Oops, I think we'll be heading off to church soon. When was the last time I went to church in the morning instead of the evening? I don't actually recall.

Better rested now.

2006-08-19T02:37:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Nottingham, London, after a comfortable but long day of sitting and standing.

I did walk to the subway and then stood on the subway with my suitcase, computer bag, and snowboard. Then I sat on the bus from Umeda station to the airport (about an hour) and then stood in line for check-in.

Then I sat while they urgently tried to get me a visa to China. Then I sat while they gave up on China and tried to sort out a solution for me and bought me a new ticket to England. Then I stood in several different lines in the process of going through immigration et cetera.

My flight to London was twelve pleasant hours of sitting and reading and watching movies on my private tv screen. I love the new planes JAL has! And being a fit young guy willing to help out in the case of an emergency, I was able to score a seat by an emergency exit, which is nice when your legs are as long as mine are.

Then when I got into Heathrow I called Dan and he said they'd be happy to come pick me up if I was willing to wait. He'd wait for Natalie to come home, then they'd have some dinner and set out to get me. Which translated to five hours' wait. So I happily sat down and continued to read my book.

So precisely 24 hours and 5 minutes after I had woken up in Osaka that morning, Dan and Natalie found me at the airport. And then four hours later (we stopped for a bite to eat for an hour) I was comfortably in bed.

And here I am in Nottingham.

Travel is so unpredictable.

2006-08-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

I guess I won't be seeing China this time after all.

The problem? They won't let me fly without a visa. Why don't I have a visa? Why didn't I look into it? Well, my trip and tickets were arranged by a travel company, and the guy I went through was sure that for a mere three days I certainly wouldn't need one. He sorted out all the stuff I would need. But overlooked the visa, it would seem. So my flight leaves in 50 minutes, and it is highly unlikely that I will be on it.

Now, China was just a bonus, and I suspect that they will pay for me to stay somewhere in town tonight and fly me out tomorrow, or the next day, and I will just change planes in Beijing without actually seeing it. Which makes me kind of sad. I was looking forward to my two days of travel.

Oh, no, wait, they are going to have me fly today and just arrive in London like two days earlier than planned. Which is fine, I guess. I'm going to need to call Mr. Moore and let him know what's going on.

So I'm angry at the Nishikawa-san (the travel agent) for thinking that a Canadian would enjoy the same privileges as a Japanese and so neglect to think about a visa, I'm sad that I don't get to enjoy a couple days of adventure in China, I regret that I am going to have to spend money to pay for where I am staying and I regret having told so many people that i was going to be in China, but I also forgive the travel agent for the mix-up, and am thankful for the efforts to which they are going to get me to London nonetheless.

China will just have to wait. I wonder if I will ever go now? I hope so.

[sigh] Oh well.

I suppose that if there is a lesson to be learned here it is to be very carefully aware of what is needed for travel, instead of relying on someone else to work it all out for you.

It's funny how much I want to go to Beijing now. If I had never made the plans, it probably would not have been a big deal to never go. But having made the plans and had events negate them, to be denied the chance to go somehow makes me want to go all that much more. I was so close to a new experience, to seeing a few really famous things.

But like the verse in James says, don't go around saying I'm gonna do this, and then I'm gonna do that. Instead say, if the Lord wills, I will go to this or that place and do this or that.

And I don't need to worry about missing out on China now. I trust God that he will work it out for good. I may not have been able to enjoy it anyhow, if the typhoon makes horrible weather there for the next couple of days. And that has been a concern. I was psyching myself up to get soaked.

Oh wait! Now they are just flying me straight to London!

Last Moblog From Japan

2006-08-17T03:46:00.000-07:00

Last Moblog From Japan, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Well cell phone, its been fun. I've given you lots of abuse but you held out for three years and for that I am thankful.

The next photo blog entry may have to wait until Canada now.

going out for dinner

2006-08-17T03:37:00.000-07:00

going out for dinner, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

derek and emi are joining me for my last dinner in japan

osaka at night

2006-08-17T03:16:00.000-07:00

osaka at night, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

this city keeps its heat really well in the evening. but air conditioning pouring out open shop-doors is as refreshing as the smell of greasy unhealthy ramen is tantalising.

chillin in osaka

2006-08-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

chillin in osaka, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Goodbye Japan

2006-08-17T02:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Nihon,

I'm going to miss you, Japan. I've fallen in love with you and your people. I love the way you think and the way you talk. Your songs have such beautiful lyics. Your language fascinates me.

To people who don't know you, you often seem so cold and mysterious. But you have a heart of gold. You welcome visitors and lavish kindness on them. Even if you aren't keen on them staying forever.

I wanted to get to know better, but you are so emotionally complicated that you made it hard for me. I have enjoyed our three years together, and I will never forget them. But you have made it clear to me that we don't have a future together, we just can't seem to live with eachother. I do want to come back and see you again someday.

It's hard to leave you here, Japan, when I really don't know what comes next. But it is time to leave. I'm glad I stayed as long as I did. You taught me so much, helped me to grow as an individual.

I pray that you too will grow and develop, and mature into a country even more full of admirable character.

Farewell.

Sincerely yours,
Matthew Shettler

On Travel's Way

2006-08-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

On Travel's Way, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Well, that was very sad.

2006-08-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well, that was very sad., originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

A lot of people came to see me off. Hideki and Otsuka-san arrived just in the nick of time to say farewell. I almost cried as the bus departed. Goodbye Tokushima, goodbye everyone!

gross!

2006-08-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

gross!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

this was a dangerous snake

group shot

2006-08-15T03:19:00.000-07:00

group shot, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

curry dinner

2006-08-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

curry dinner, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

i am so full! a liter or more of water and a huge pile of rice with curry later, ive almost forgotten the pain of the day's dancing. now i just want to rest and digest.

more old folks homage

2006-08-15T01:06:00.000-07:00

more old folks homage, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

us actually dancing!

2006-08-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

us actually dancing!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

i got someone to snap some shots while we were dancing this time

waiting waiting waiting

2006-08-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

waiting waiting waiting, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

and we're done!

2006-08-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

and we're done!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

tokushima was a blast, people seemed to really enjoy us, and crowd response gave me the boost i needed to make my solo bit a real success!

a good night, sore blistery feet and all!

in the thick of it

2006-08-14T03:03:00.000-07:00

in the thick of it, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

we did one of our three or four performances and i saw my friends yuki and fumi, who were on thir way to dance with arasowaren, and they stopped to watch. we (kocho-ren) also passed iya joe an jordan.

six o'clock

2006-08-14T02:06:00.000-07:00

six o'clock, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

we're in tokushima, we've eaten our udon dinners, and we're getting ready to dance. but because we are a small and seasonal troupe we cant dance through the main streets like in the back there.

pocari!

2006-08-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

pocari!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

the old folks home gave us Pocari Sweat to drink after we performed

last location

2006-08-13T06:23:00.000-07:00

last location, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

i got my friend natsuko to take some pictures while we were dancing at the festival. but due to the low quality of my camera-phone they didnt turn out so well.

.

2006-08-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

., originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

in the hood

2006-08-13T01:21:00.000-07:00

in the hood, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

now half done, we just danced through my neighborhood.

on to location two

2006-08-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

on to location two, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

ironically i cant take pictures of us actually dancing

but we've done our first kamikatsu hour performance and are on to kamikatsu location two

and my shoulders are killing me

good to go!

2006-08-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

good to go!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Getting Ready

2006-08-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

so we dance a bunch today and we're all getting suited up.

goodnight tokushima

2006-08-12T05:48:00.000-07:00

goodnight tokushima, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

dancers everywhere!

2006-08-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

dancers everywhere!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

You cant even buy fruit without being accosted by Dancing Fools! All i wanted was an apple...

let's get my face in there

2006-08-12T03:27:00.000-07:00

let's get my face in there, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

because i forget what i look like

many troupes crammed together

2006-08-12T03:07:00.000-07:00

many troupes crammed together, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

waiting for their chance to progress down the road

so it begins!

2006-08-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

so it begins!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

awa odori starts tonight and here it goes!

i get to watch tonight

Visible Finish Line

2006-08-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

I am now down to just one week left in Japan.

And this last week has been one of the most relaxing weeks I have had in the last three years. I tied up most of the really important loose ends before I moved out of my apartment on the second, and though the place I'm staying is really something else, i've been able to properly relax and enjoy the summer weather. I don't even need to show up at school! I just do what I want. So my rhythm has become something like
wake up between nine and eleven
email julie from my cell phone
eat some bread etc for breakfast
lie naked on the roof suntanning
go for a swim in the river to cool down (not naked)
eat lunch at the cafe with the beautiful view
do some errands or something in the afternoon, maybe come to school to check a little email
read a book/watch movies/go out at night.

So very relaxing.

And I do feel like ive earned it. All that preparation and running around making myself insane while also making a book and trying to see the girl I love as much as possible. So now I get to just chill out, think, relax, listen to music, and generally recover from the tyranny of the urgent which I so easily succumb to.

I should probably write something about all the awesome fun stuff I did with phil, and how it sucks to be so far away from Julie now, but maybe I'll save all that for later.

Crazy Environmentalists

2006-08-08T01:41:00.000-07:00

Crazy Environmentalists, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

The road goes ever on and on

2006-08-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

The road goes ever on and on, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

So Phil has just left onthe bus to kansai airport. It was super fun having him here and now its back to closing down my life here. It's sad to say goodbye, but change is healthy. Only two weeks left!

THE BOOK IS PRINTED!

2006-07-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

THE BOOK IS PRINTED!, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Okay, so i need to find out how many copies i need to buy to bring home, so could you all please either mail me or respond here so i can get a count? 1200 yen each, maybe plus postage.

Yachiyo Ryokan in Kyoto

2006-07-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yachiyo Ryokan in Kyoto, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

We've had amazing meals here, gone for a beautiful walk through town at night (despite weariness from Fuji) and now we are just chilling by our garden view before we start our day.

0I7sh0018.jpg

2006-07-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

0I7sh0018.jpg, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

0I6sh0017.jpg

2006-07-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

0I6sh0017.jpg, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

With Atsushi

2006-07-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

with atsushi, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

At the Gengis Kahn Lamb-chan restaurant. Note the fashionable bibs.

Unfortunately I didn't think to get a cell phone picture when Kazuya was still hanging out with us earlier.

SPAM pizza

2006-07-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

SPAM pizza, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

We're in shibuya and my knees are bleeding up a storm from a wipeout on concrete rushing for the bus. but i dont mind; a fair price for spending that extra time saying farewell to julie (^_~)

Depresso

2006-07-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

Depresso, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

"For when you are feeling too good."

torii

2006-07-22T20:37:00.000-07:00

torii, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

wish you were here

2006-07-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

wish you were here, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Last entry until when?

2006-07-14T01:41:00.000-07:00

Life has been so crazy busy. So much stuff going on and the last thing I have had time to think about is blogging what's going on.

And because I'm in such a rush to write something, anything, I will once again resort to listing.

People who have inadvertently have kept me from blogging of late:
1. Julie
2. Colin

What time I have to use the computer at school is inevitable consumed by these two people. If I am on-line on the school computer, it's usually emailing or chatting to Julie. If I am working away on my computer at my desk, it's laying out and playing with the book, trying to get it done. With these two things that bring me such pleasure, you can understand maybe why I don't make time to write while at school.
So what the heck has happened to my time at home, why don't I write anything at home and blog it later? Well, I do write a lot at home still, but it has been more of the journal variety of writing than of the blog variety. (Am I repeating myself? So sad to have no new thoughts to share!)

But it's not like I don't have other things that take up my time either. I took a half-day off last week Tuesday to go to the immigration center, and then went out with Julie after, seeing as how I was closer than normal, and finished what I needed to do really early.

Last week friday, I went down to Anan to have dinner and sing karaoke with Colin and Jenny, Jonny and Emi, and Sarah and James. That was a blast.
Saturday afternoon I went surfing again with Colin (he leant me a board again), and then in the evening was the Tokushima JET Sayonara Party. The party was down at Maze no Oka campground again, and the skeeters weren't nearly as bad this year as last year I'm told (they don't like my blood in this country, so I didn't notice either time). It was pretty good, better than last year. But perhaps I feel that way because for me it really is goodbye this time, and thus it was more meaningful. It was also good this time to go home after instead of trying to sleep in the rain. Even though I didn't get back until like 2:30. But good dancing and hanging out was done and had, and good farewells were said at the end. And a very tasty LLT (lamb lettuce and tomato... with cheese, too) was made by Colin and consumed by me. Mmmmmm!

Then on Sunday I still got up reasonably early to go out for lunch with Julie and then we went to hang out at Ron and Andrea's for the afternoon. It was also Josh's birthday, so we picked him up a cool helicopter LEGO set. Andrea made an outrageous truck-cake, and the bed of the truck was loaded with animals-- in gummy candy form! Such a massive sugar rush! Cake+loads of icing+gummies+ice cream= potentially very wired kids. All in all a very relaxed and enjoyable afternoon, and the conversation with Ron and Andrea was fantastic.
In the evening, bible study was at Brian and Christine's. They made everyone mashed potatoes, salad, and shish-kabobs for dinner! So Tasty! The bible study was on Psalm 139.

This week I only had two regular days of school: Monday and Thursday. I took Tuesday off to gather paperwork for my car to save whoever buys it some trouble. One of the places I had to go in the doing so is Kitajima, near the high school that does the English camp I've helped at the past couple Februarys. So I made a plan with some of the students there that I email with from time to time to meet for lunch. It was nice. And then using my being in the neighborhood as an excuse, I had also made plans to go out for dinner with my girlfriend. Just to a gyudon place, pretty much fast food, but I still got to see her, eh?

Wednesday was my second last day of elementary, and because it was the last day of classes with the grades four five and six kids, we just did all games in every class. Some of the grade five kids started to cry at the end of class, and saying goodbye to them almost brought me to tears, too. They told me how much they loved my class and that they wished I could stay and so forth. Pretty sweet stuff. The other two classes were easier, letting me go with a smile and a wave, a thanks that was fun, end on a high.

There's a part of me that says, "The sadness is an emotion that is tied up in leaving, and it's good to deal with it, to accept it and feel it. It's natural to cry when you are leaving something that has meant so much to you." But on the other side, I really do like to leave on a high. To cross the border at the high pass, at the climax and peak, and deal with the valleys and difficulties in the midst and course of life in a place or situation. That's probably why I find leaving easier knowing that I get to travel and adventure a little on my way home, even if it's just to a country like England.

Mind you, England is probably a really good middle step if you think about it. It is a nice cultural middle step between Japan and Canada. Both Japan and England have had that island nation mindset as a major influence on their cultural development. Both have long histories and deep developed culture. Both are geographic patchworks of groups who speak the national language in very different ways. And then obviously Canada was a British dominion, we both have western culture, blah blah blah, you all know what kinds of similarities Britain offers Canada.

So I don't have to leave the country looking down into the long valley of readjusting to my "own" culture, but rather looking up at the next adventure. And it makes leaving easier for me, I think. Of course that still awaits, but I think that after a month of travel I will want to be back somewhere familiar. Surely my mind and custom will want that familiar place to be my apartment here in Japan, but with that metaphorical door closed firmly behind me, I'm confident that I will find that my "real" home is much more appealing and desirable. It will be, "Ahh, good to be back," instead of, "Aww, I'm back again."

Then after school was my last Japanese class, where we went over three of the speeches I'm going to have to make in the next while. I still have two more to finish and translate.

And then at jujutsu I had my most successful day of fighting yet! I won twice! Now of course I was fighting against someone who had fought two bouts just before while I was resting and then helping a new guy learn to fall properly, so I had serious advantage, and he had barely anything left to give. However, even when in that situation before, I've had a hard time finishing; a hard time taking my knowledge into action, and finding a way to get the other to submit. So despite unfair advantage, it still felt like an accomplishment, a confidence builder.

Today (still technically), Thursday, I realised was to be my last day of classes at the junior high. Luckily, it turned out that four of the five classes I have at the school were scheduled for today, and we were able to switch the last of the five in as well, trading with the gym teacher for a different day. So none of the kids had to miss out on one last day of all games and fun with Mashuu-sensei. It was good to have all the classes in one day, one last hurrah. I even had my last English Conversation Class in the evening. It was the busiest Thursday I've possibly ever had in Japan, and it felt good. One, Special Ed, Three, Two, Lunch, Sign Language, Staff Meeting, Eikaiwa.

Also, for the record, today was stinking humid. They turned on the air conditioning in the staff room at some point, and all the windows fogged up. On the outside!
When I went home my apartment was really really hot and muggy. SOP says strip down to nothing but underwear in that kind of heat. So I followed procedure. And after a little bit of tidying, lifted weights a little. And let me tell you I was sweating in unprecedented volumes, far in excess of what would be expected for the amount of effort I was exerting. A cold shower never felt so good. Except for the day before after jujutsu. I guess we are into summer now: cold shower season.

I'm sitting at Colin and Jenny's typing this on my computer, because I've taken the day off tomorrow and we're going surfing. And we're leaving at 6:30 am, which is why I'm crashing here tonight. With a little luck I'll get to post this before we leave. But I don't know when my next real posting opportunity will be, because:

Saturday: finish the book if possible, go out for dinner with Derek and Hideki and friends, and Julie too!

Sunday: climb a mountain in the morning? hang out with church friends in afternoon, last church service with everyone there that night.

Monday: one-day vacation! take advantage of that last statutory holiday to see a little more of the country

Tuesday: taking the day off to clean the apartment, english teacher's goodbye party (only 4 people!) in the evening.

Wednesday: last day of elementary, grades K123, all games, and a goodbye party or something as well, it would seem. That night is the junior high staff End-of-Term and Farewell-to-Matthew party.

Thursday: closing ceremonies at the junior high. clean out my desk, delete my links etc from the school computer maybe. Phil arrives that night, and chaos ensues.

Friday: last game of settlers with brian and christine in the afternoon, maybe dinner with colin and jenny that night.

Saturday: goodbye party with friends that night, then night bus to tokyo
Sun, Mon, Tue: Tokyo
Tue, Wed: Fuji
Wed, Thu: Kyoto
Fri: Osaka, then I come back to Kamikatsu for the saturday night summer festival, phil goes on to himeji and hiroshima

And then just a couple days to hang out at my place before the new ALT comes and we've got to move out and go stay somewhere else.

So I hope you can see as clearly as I can that my life as I know it ends with closing ceremonies this coming Thursday, now less than a week away. And i hope you can see that I don't have much potential blogging time between now and August fourth. But probably I will do the mobile blog thing some more with my poor dying cell phone.

english?

2006-07-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

english?, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

Logo Entry

2006-07-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Smitha asked to see my entry to the logo competition for the JET 20th Anniversary quite some time ago, but I never got around to posting it until now. But here it is anyways. The result of a couple evenings's very rushed work. And it didn't win. But at least I tried, right?

2006-07-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

It would seem that I am down to a rate of posting only once a week these days. That's certainly not due to a lack of things to write, or even to a lack of time spent writing. It's just that June was a really busy month, and now July looks to be even more so. I think the deadline for my second draft of the book is going to be next week wednesday. At the same time I have three speeches to finish writing in English, and those plus two finished ones to translate into Japanese before next Tuesday. Tonight I have an Eikaiwa class, tomorrow night I have what will probably be the last dinner and karaoke in Anan city with Jonny Lawless et al. Saturday is the JET goodbye party at a camp down south, and I'm going surfing with Colin in the morning. Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, though of course the Sabbath really was the Saturday until Constantine decided to change it. At least next week I am taking Tuesday off to sort out some stuff with my car, which should give me some extra time, if a little too late.
Which reminds me, I still have a bunch of phone calls to make about that...

In the last week I have
said my goodbyes to the Nursery School kids
gone kayaking on the sea in two different boats
eaten a nasty fish dinner
gotten a haircut
taken my belt to the embroiderers
bought a new swimsuit (desperately needed, first one Ive bought since like grade 12)
bought a rash guard (mostly for jujutsu, but also good for surfing!)
said goodbye to my friend Kris

On Monday our school went on a field trip to see the movie "baruto no gakuen" which could be translated as "The musical paradise of moustache" and was about WW1 german POWs in a Tokushima prison camp. Then we went to go see the location and set where it was filmed. And after that we went to the "German House" in the area. I played a japanese word game with a few of the students all the way there and all the way back and on all the trips inbetween places.
The best story of the day was how one of my favorite shirts was ruined. Your favourite shirt is always going to get ruined or lost sometime, but rarely by having an overweight swordsman spewing a mouthful of spicy korean food across the table and getting it all over you and the math teacher sitting next to you. It was pretty funny. And very surprising. And just a little bit gross.

Tick tick tick tick tick...

2006-06-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

HOLY CRAP! Do I seriously have less than a month until life as I know it comes to an end? Our last church service with everyone here is going to be July 16th, that's just a little over two weeks away!
Next weekend we're going sea kayaking,
the following weekend is the Tokushima JET Sayonara Party,
the weekend after that is the last church service with everyone here,
and then four days after that Phil gets here and all hell breaks loose! (read: we travel around Japan)
And then when we get back there's only four days left before I've got to be out of my apartment!
So basically I only have three weekends left where my life holds any semblance to what it has, and then it's all change, change, change. The leaves say, "Change, change, change."
"Winter spring and summer fall/ the seasons never cared at all/ that I'm still changing"

Meanwhile, this past weekend has been good.
On friday night I went down to wish Melissa a happy quarter of a century, and then at the party just hung out with close friends (uncharacteristic of me? perhaps), and at the end got to watch the Ukraine game on the big projector screen. Sweet! I rushed home from half-time to see if I could make it back in time to catch the end of the game, but to my sorrow found that I don't get the channel! So I had to watch the Spain game instead and wait with bated breath for the highlights. And the results were good! But as of writing this I have yet to see or hear the results from their ensuing game... [more trepidation].

On Saturday we had school. PTA day. There is just no way to love school on a Saturday, I'm sorry. Nobody's really happy to be there, despite getting Monday off in return. But it goes okay, and in the last period we all got to try our hands at making soba noodles. Mine turned out pretty good I think. The people who saw my noodles were impressed at how thin an professionally I had cut them. It's all that training with box knives and poster board, I tell you! Keep me off the airplanes, I'm dangerous!
Ahem. Anyhow, when I got home all that school on a Saturday had tired me out so much that I needed to take a nap. And slept for a very long time, making myself late for the Awa Odori practice that night. Oops. Ah well, I'm good enough that I don't need the practice, right? Heh, but the endurance needs to be earned. Ouch, my arms and shoulders.

Somewhere in there I also managed to make my apartment nice and clean, so that when Colin and Jenny, Brian and Christine, Julie, and Eiko came up to Kamikatsu for our Bible study/ Kamikatsu day, I was not ashamed to have them see my cave. Erm, apartment. But we did see caves, too! After a lunch at the necessary Ikkyu-chaya we all hopped into Colin and Jenny's van and went uphill to check out the local caves.

But the local caves are connected with and managed by a Buddhist temple. Which was kinda odd in two ways. In one way it was kinda good, because all of us being Christians could all just opt out of all the prayer and Buddhist stuff and just crawl and scrabble through the caves. In another way, it was odd to be doing what had effectively become a little Buddhist pilgrimage on Bible study night. But it made for good discussion afterwards.

If you recall, these were the same caves that really creeped my sister and I out about a year ago. They weren't so bad the second time, but consensus was that the guide was too slow and we could have made it through ourselves much faster just trying to figure it out on our own. As it was she could only give directions to the front three people, and the ones at the end pretty much just figured it out for themselves anyways. But it was nice to know that, "Facing left here is the easier way through, and you can turn around after 10 more feet." So it's still better to go with the guide for peace of mind. Not that they let you go without.

After that was Bible study, which was on the book of James, but talking about stuff in James led to discussion about the experience in the afternoon, and we ended up focusing on 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 a bunch.

And then we went to dinner at the onsen, and finished up with a dip in the onsen before everyone went home. For a change, I had a very short drive home and everyone else had a long drive home. Home was VERY quiet when I got back.

Yesterday (Monday, technically today, because at the time of writing this I have yet to sleep), I spent most of the day laying out Colin's book, Common Plants and Animals of Tokushima. I did give myself the leisure of sleeping in until nine, though. Book book book in the morning, another lunch at Ikkyu teahouse, book book book in the afternoon, a dinner of honey garlic beef, potato croquettes, and frozen mixed veggies, and more book book book until the first draft of the layout was complete at about seven thirty. Then I rewarded myself with a long phone call.
And then in the middle of my obligatory Japanese homework, I ended up doing just a little bit more on the book, and then this, and oh look it's way past my bedtime. I'll just save this puppy, get a photo of the layout a bit, drop it all on the flash memory and have it ready to blog in the morning. Lets hope I don't oversleep now. Over and outie.

Completed, Packed, and Mailed!

2006-06-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

the box, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

For those of you who have heard me going on and on and on about making a big box for my snowboard, it is finally done! I finished the box and packed it on Friday. And with the help of the school principal Mr Yoshioka, I took it to the post office yesterday, and mailed it.

In other news, UKRAINE WON! Shevchenko is in and making it happen! Ukraine redeemed themselves from their 0-4 loss to Spain with a 4-0 victory over Saudi Arabia! The Math teacher at school said, "You didn't have much to do in net last night, eh?"
All hope is not lost!
I hear that offiicial World Cup Ukraine jerseys are sold out in Winnipeg.

And sadly, if Japan wants even the slightest chance to move on to the next round, they need to defeat Brazil, scoring bare minimum TWO points in the process. And that only works for them if Oz loses their next match. If Oz ties, then Japan needs to have scored three points against Brazil. And if the Aussies pull off a victory, then it would be all for naught anyways. Tough break. If they had scored just one goal on Sunday it would have made a world of difference.

I'm In the 'La La Stage'

2006-06-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Everthing is getting pushed aside. Packing, working on the book for Colin, cleaning my apartment for when everyone comes over in a week and a half, and so forth and so on. All of the things that should be pressuring me have yet to bring their true pressure to bear. It's one of the consequences of spending so much time looking waaaaay down the road months in advance. I feel like I've already been over all the stuff that's going on, spent time thinking about it, and now all that's left is to follow through, if I can be bothered. So though these next five or six weeks until June 20th promise to be really busy and full of things that need doing, they don't seem all that sad or killer intense. Just the daily business. Perhaps its all the things I need to do each day that take my eyes off of the passage of time and the approaching end. Perhaps its all the things on my dayplanner and calendar that promise there is lots to come before it's all over.
The fact that Phil is coming makes the end of my time in Japan exciting, one last trip to a bunch of places, and then one last Awa Odori.
The fact that I am going to England on the way home makes the return easier. It's not the sudden transition from interesting life abroad to sudden sameness of the life I grew up with, but instead and adventure in a Western culture I have never seen in person before.
And then beyond that, it's looking for a job, trying to save money to go to India, trying to save money for a road trip East in Canada at some point, which I've never done before. Having stuff on the horizon, having goals and plans makes everything so much more bearable for me.

I have been writing a lot lately, but it's all been just for myself, never to be seen on a blog. I haven't really worked on the Kyushu story lately, have I? I should really get that done in the next couple weeks or else it will never happen...

For the record, in the past couple weeks (since I havent been posting), I have:
- eaten at the trendy Casablanca restaurant which has that amazing urinal where you try to hit the targets
- eaten at that Korean restaurant in Komatsushima (!!!)
- seen the hotaru (fireflies) in Katsuura town
- been to the church in Hiwasa (great folks)
- seen the doctor for the annual check-up, and despite pain after jujutsu, no fractured ribs! Still waiting for my knee to feel better though.
- gotten back into the habit of spending forever talking when dropping someone off at night

Ukraine, What the Hell?!

2006-06-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

So there I was, all set to cheer on Ukraine, to see their road to victory. Last night was their first game, and it was against Spain. Now, I recognise that Spain is by all rights the superior team, and that in reality Ukraines hopes in general are few. But what's with all the falling down when there is nobody near them at all? What's with the general lack of trying to get the ball when it goes right past in front of you? Like really, what's the problem, Ukraine? I'm not sure if they were just diving like weiners, trying to get play stopped, or if they were cowering in fear. Yes they were slower and less agile than Spain. But that's no reason to fall over every time you touch the ball! SHEEESH!

Oh, and did anyone else think that the keeper looked like my long lost twin brother?

Titanium Flash!

2006-06-06T01:02:00.000-07:00

So I got my brand new usb memory stick in the mail today, which once again enables me to move stuff to and from the school computer, yay! No more borrowing floppy drives to use floppy disks! I can now move a ton of photos all at once! Hooray!

I don't know why I feel like mentioning it, but all I have been listening to for the last few weeks is Jimmy Eat World (Bleed American and Futures), Seiji Honda's piano rendition of FF7 songs, and Kevin Prosch's Kiss the Son. If you know any of those, it will tell you something of the mood I have been in for the last two or three weeks.

Kyushu Trip Part 2

2006-06-05T23:51:00.000-07:00

Well if this isn't long overdue, I don't know what is. But I've been more busy than you can imagine, so busy that I surely ought to look as worn out as Brian did on the morning of Day two:

And speaking of Brian, here are his and Chrisine's tales of our trip:
Intro and Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four, Day Five, Day Six, Day Seven, and Days Eight and Nine: the Conclusion
And Lorraine's summary of the trip.
And my previous entry about the trip.
------------------------

The second day of their trip found them waking with the sun on a crisp mountaintop morning. The tents were wet with the morning dew and the sun was only just peeking over the top of the hills do help them dry. Bundling up in additional sweaters they breakfasted on Brian's homemade banana bread. When the tents had dried enough to be packed, they collected everything back into the trunk of the car and remembered they had yet to pay for use of the site. Finding nobody at the main building, Matthew entrusted the ´2500 ($25) to the gas station attendant at the associated gas station, with no doubts that the money would safely find its way into the correct coffers.
Brian had wanted a better look at Kurokawa in the daylight, and nobody was much opposed, so their first event of the day was a seven o'clock stroll through a little tourist town.

Still needing a proper bath, they continued along to Aso, a town built in the caldera of a volcano, fully 26 kilometers wide. A second breakfast and a couple hours later they found a nice-ish onsen in which to properly clean, though the outdoor bath was unpleasantly rich in sulfur.
Now clean, the five compatriots planned their angle of attack for getting to the active mountain in Aso, the caldera within the caldera: Naka-dake. It turned out that for the meager charge of 500 yen they were able to drive right to the top, practically to the rim. There was a green smoking liquid in the volcano, and none of their chemistry chemistry knowledge was keen enough to offer an educated guess. Thus Matthew was nominated to ask a Japanese person who looked in the know. When he later looked up the word in his dictionary, three people had told him that, "It's because of the lava." Matthew made a vow to remember the word for lava the next time he had a question about volcanos in Japan. Then maybe he could get a better answer.

They even made it down the mountain without scraping the undercarriage of their over-laden car. And then it was on to Takachiho, the famous river gorge, with a brief stop for some healthy soba noodles and seasonal mountain vegetable tempura.
Takachiho greeted them with gobsmacking beauty and no parking. The crowds were thick, and the sun hot enough to warrant everyone's changing into shorts and lotioning up.Lorraine commented, "I feel like I'm in Lord of the Rings." For indeed it was awesome and wondrous in the immensity of its unusually patterned cliffs and the pretty patterning of ivies and other plants across the faces of the cliffs. The river ran a crystal blue and looked perfect for a boat ride. Much to everyone's dismay, the line-up for the rental boats was over sixty people in length, meaning at least a full hour's wait in line. So they walked the length of the gorge again, pausing to look again at the waterfall and doing their best to avoid noticing the abominable concrete paths and bridges laced through the canyon.

They were beside themselves when they realised just how much they had done and seen, and how far they had gone already. And the daylight promised to hold out for a good while longer. So they started on the next day's itinerary; they drove the three hours to Miyazaki city. There they parked at Miyazaki Station and just made it to the tourist desk in time to grab some restaurant guides. Miyazaki is famous for two very different ways of preparing chicken. One, called jitori yaki is roasted over charcoal, and the other, chikin namban is a sweet deep fried chicken served with a kind of tartar sauce. Walking into the restaurant and entertainment district, they asked a man who was handing out maps to the restaurant he obviously worked at where they could try these dishes.

"Well, we sell them both at my restaurant," he said in Japanese.
"Does your restaurant cook them in the typical or traditional way? The real Miyazaki style?" Matthew rudely inquired.
" 'Maruban' over there is the most famous place in Miyazaki for jitori, but if you're still peckish afterwards, or want chicken namban, please come to my restaurant," he replied quietly.
"Thank you very much," Matthew said in his best Japanese.
"No, don't say thank you," the man replied unhappily.

So they went to Maruban, which was as dingy as every other locally popular yakitori restaurant any of them had ever been in. In fact, it probably was the dingiest. And what everyone in the place was eating off of silver platters looked fatty and revolting. But they sat down anyways. Matthew wondered if he'd been tricked somehow. The waiter came up and asked if five to start off with would be alright. Like a deer in headlights, Matthew froze, but somehow managed to get the opinion of the group, and they just ordered one, along with a beer each for Lorraine, Christine, and Matthew. While they waited, they looked around doubtfully at the food being eaten by everyone. Matthew tried his best to be positive, because he felt to blame for their being there. The chicken, if you can still call it that, came and was fatty and still bloody in places. In fact, there seemed to be more fat than acutal meat. Brian couldn't eat more than one bite, saying he felt like he was eating charcoal. Because it tasted very strongly of the coals it had been cooked over.

Matthew didn't find it as inedible as everyone else did, and so it fell to him to eat it. Brian noted that all the Japanese people around them were raving about the same food that they could barely swallow. Matthew still felt like he had been tricked somehow. And he continued to chew his smoky fat. The beer helped to wash it down. He asked for everyone to please help him finish. And the bill was outrageous; fully double what they had expected.

Then they moved on to the other place, and when the man saw that they had come back after all, he was more delighted than Matthew expected. Maybe it hadn't been a trick. They ordered some rice and two plates of the chicken namban, and at the man's reassurance that the way they prepared it was lean and less smoky, another plate of jitori. Much to their surprise, they recieved two plates of jitori, the second one in gratitude for their coming back. And it was better. But the chicken namban was far superior.

Feeling contented in both the realms of strange food experiences and of good meals, they walked back down fragrant tree-lined streets somehow reminiscent of lilacs and home, and drove south to a campground near the beach, for one of their warmest nights camping. Miyazaki has some of the warmest water in Japan, due to the way the warm Pacific currents flow.

After showering at the facilities, they packed up and started doubling back to Miyazaki city. On their way they paused at Aoshima, a small island with broad unusual sandstone beaches that appear and disappear with the sinking and rising tides. It was a very pleasant walk with which to start the day, circling the little island to the sound of breaking waves.

Back off the island, they also came across stores with massive grapefruits.

Hopping onto the expressway, they made their first stop the Ebino Plateau, which was to be the first and only major disappointment of the trip. The plateau was so thick with mist and fog that they could barely see the hill in front of them, let alone the vast expanse they were meant to look out upon. So it was that when they took a bathroom break on the hillside, even the girls went out into the mist and hid behind rocks. And then back in the car and two hundred meters down the road there was a cluster of hotels and restaurants and myriads of tourists. Fog is funny that way.

Driving down through Kagoshima city, they hoped to catch a glimpse of the famous volcano-island, Sakurajima. Having no luck they continued on their way to the southernmost point and the town of Ibusuki. There they had the pleasure of not only seeing beaches with volcanic sand so hot that the water was evaporating off of it in places, they also got to be buried in it! As it's a form of onsen, they wore nothing but the thin provided yukata (like a cotton bathrobe) when engulfed in the hot sand. It is possible to be scalded by the sand, so the staff kindly ask that you mind the clocks they place everywhere and not exceed ten or so minutes. And the ten or so minutes was indeed long enough to be sweating excessively everywhere and feel on the verge of burning in the places on arms and calves where the yukata didn't reach.
But it was also very relaxing. After that they adjourned back into the onsen itself to wash off all the sand and sweat.

Now, there are few camps in that southern part of Kagoshima prefecture, and it turned out that the one or two which would have been convenient for these five travelers were completely booked. But there was a campsite in the navigator machine and an oldish map book which had been given to Brian and Christine. And it was conveniently close. Upon making the 40 minute drive, they came to a beautiful campsite with great access, the sound or the waves breaking on the shore nearby, palm trees at the entrance, flat flat grassy ground ideal for tenting, and a sign which said in Japanese, "Camping Prohibited." They decided to get dinner and come back after dark to set up camp. Dinner was found at another soba restaurant, and a variety of foods were partaken.
Because the forecast was for rain, they picked up some tarps to put over their tents. Four of the members were delighted to be camping for free, but Christine maintained that the necessary purchase of the tarps meant that it was not actually free. Also, Julie told Matthew that since he was the only one who could actually read the sign, "If the cops come, you hide, and let us do the talking." Everyone else was much better at faking a total lack of understanding any Japanese.

On their return, they found that they were not the only ones who were willing to deke around the law a little and stay for the night. A man in his Nissan Cube had also parked in a way which suggested he would be staying the night. Setting up their tents and tarps, turtle and caterpillar, the sky stopped showing any likelihood of falling on them. So it was that they sat out under the starless sky, encircling their butane torch and munching on snacks.

When they'd had enough of feasting and chatting, and felt the night had grown long, though it was surely no later than ten at night, they got ready for bed. Julie and Christine were less than at ease about the mysterious man in his Nissan Cube at the other end of the lot. Matthew reassured them that between Brian's muscle and his own jujustsu/judo skills they would surely be more than a match for one man, should he try anything. Nonetheless, Julie moved to the center of the tent from the edge, Christine having said that it would feel safer there. Matthew smiled ironically to himself and said nothing about the center being closest to the door.

Factors Contributing to the Mounting Insanity

2006-06-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

1. Speech contest speeches are in, and I am in the process of fixing their English- this will consume most of my at-school free time until who knows when.
2. My apartment looks like a warzone; I'm in process trying to pack and build boxes and sort out how to mail my snowboard home. Messy room, messy mind.
3. Colin just handed me the copy for the book I am supposed to put together for him. Three weeks to a month of work and I need to sort out how I'm going to do it in two weeks or less, on software I've practically never used before. (This would be the biggest factor).
4. Something which is unfairly consuming my mental space. (But life's not fair, is it?)
5. Planning the summer vacation stuff (which now is thankfully mostly over).

The random bits of life and thoughts

2006-06-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

In the past week or so I have
-Gone out with my friends Hideki and Sasakion for okonomiyaki, and caught The Da Vinci Code with Hideki after. I'll not waste your time by posting my thoughts here, but at least I was able to de-bunk the fiction for Hideki.

-Went to a barbeque on the riverside with "the justsystem crew" and Julie, Joanna, Joe, and Mel. Pretty fun. Uklele and shamisen were played, stones were skipped, boats were rowed, the river swum in, and volumes of tasty meat and vegetables were consumed by all. The lamb was especially good. A fun and chill time it was, despite some occasional spitting rain.

-This week my flight plan has probably finally been finalised.
It looks like I'll bus into Osaka on the 17th, and fly out on the 18th, arriving in Beijing at noon that friday. Then I have all day Saturday to explore, and on Sunday August 20th I fly on to London. There I'll hang out with Dan and Natalie Moore for like three weeks, surely doing London, Nottingham, Sunderland, and probably Edinburgh, and maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to see Oxford, too. Then I fly out on September 14th, and the 12 or so hour flight direct to Winnipeg will take technically three hours.

-Today, as you have maybe noticed is Saturday, and I'm at school blogging and mailing. We take what chances we have, eh. So far this weekend has given me nothing to put on the blog, but there's a song that pretty much encapsulates what I've been feeling and thinking lately, especially the second verse. So here are the lyrics for ya:

A Praise Chorus
by Jimmy Eat World

Are you gonna live your life wonderin'
standing in the back lookin' around?
Are you gonna waste your time thinkin'
how you've grown up
or how you missed out?

Things are never gonna be the way you want.
Where's it gonna get you acting serious?
Things are never gonna be quite what you want.
Or even at 25, you gotta start sometime.

I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
Now all I need is just to hear a song I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.

Are you gonna live your life
standing in the back looking around?
Are you gonna waste your time?
Gotta make a move or you'll miss out.

Someone's gonna ask you what it's all about.
Stick around nostalgia won't let you down.
Someone's gonna ask you what it's all about.
Whatcha gonna have to say for yourself?

I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
Now all I need is just to hear a song I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.

Crimson and clover, over and over.
Crimson and clover, over and over.

Our house in the middle of the street,
why did we ever meet?
Started my rock 'n roll fantasy.
Don't don't, don't let's start, why did we ever part?
Kick start my rock 'n rollen heart.

I'm on my feet, I'm on the floor, I'm good to go.
So come on Davey, sing me somethin' that I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.
Here tonight.
I wanna always feel like part of this was mine
I wanna fall in love tonight.

Waterfalls, Gyoza, and Two Pretty Ladies Seeing Stars.

2006-05-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Joanna and Lily came up to Kamikatsu. I took them around to see the two waterfalls, which were both spectactular since the week of rain had just ended that morning. We tried to do the caves, but there were four tour buses of people ahead of us, so no chance. We also ate lunch at Ikkyu Chaya and later had a dinner of gyoza from Miyazaki. Lily brought Choco-cro all the way from Kagawa with her, and we had that while enjoying sunbeams in the afternoon. We also watched people get hit in the butt with canes as punishment for laughing in a game where everyone tried to make them laugh. It was funny. And then we went for a drive up the mountain to gaze at the stars, which were nice and clear. There were even a handful of shooting stars. While of course any day I get to spend hanging out with a couple of pretty girls is already a good day, the weather was also prime, and I haven't had a day that pleasantly relaxing in quite some time. Very satisfying.

On Sunday I did a test pack of all my clothes and posessions to see whether I have enough stuff to justify sending a whole cubic meter back. I don't think I have enough stuff. Especially if Phil lets me send a suitcase back with him when he visits.

My apartment is also unusually clean, due to having the girls over and preparing for the test pack. I feel like I could almost leave tomorrow. Living with your bags packed. But I'll need to unpack them again.

Today is Monday, and I only have nine weeks of classes left, inclusive. That's crazy.

I Have Bloated Tiger

2006-05-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here's an exercise for you all. Before you read on, grab yourself a scrap of paper and a writing utensil of some kind, like a pencil. Or if you don't have either, just grab a knife and get ready to carve your answers into the desk. You'll be glad you did. But if your desk is stone, maybe don't go that far. So here it is:

You have four pets. They are a cow, a horse, a monkey, a sheep, and a tiger. Name them. Really make them your own. Maybe even briefly describe them if you want to.

Are you ready? Have they all been named? Okay. You love your precious five pets, and don't want to get rid of any of them, but you are going through some tough times, and you can't afford to keep them all, no matter what you try. Which one do you get rid of? Put a number five beside its name. But things continue going downhill for you, and one after another you need to get rid of you beloved pet animals. I'm sure you're well ahead of me now, so just go ahead and number the rest, leaving number one on the animal you get to keep until the very end.

Now to make sure you don't get the answers spoiled by an unfortunate glance, I will tell you about my animals and their names, and you can find out the conclusion at the bottom of the page. And don't go changing your answers after or as you read mine. Feel free to skip down and look when you're ready. I'll give it a nice headline so you can find it easily.

I named the cow Bar-B-Que, because I have heard of a cow named that before and I think it's ironically funny. Bar-B-Que is not a Jersey cow but one of those brown cows, and she gives chocolate milk (I've wanted one since they told me about that when I was a kid).

I named the horse Delicious, which in Japanese I would write as 馬井 and would read as "umai" meaning delicious. I also find this terribly funny, given that I ate horse for the first time a few weeks ago. Delicious would be a good hard working horse. I can't decide if I want to eat him, but I'd probably better not. Horses are higher maintenance than a car.

I had a hard time with the monkey, because I couldn't think what to name it. What is a monkey good for? You can't eat it, it's not really entertaining, it just kinda hangs around. Maybe I can train it to gather mountain vegetables [山菜]. And I couldn't think of a name. So I called it Simon, because that's what I call all the palm-sized spiders when they take up residence in my room from time to time.

The sheep was the easiest. I named it Sheepy-Beepy, after Dave Perry's legendary character. I said it gets into trouble because that's what sheep do. It even jumped through the kitchen window once! Sheep are stupid.

And the tiger I called Cuddles, because it's a fun ironic name. Cuddles is a bengal tiger, and he lives in the jungle outside the back of my apartment. I feed him steaks, and he's an expensive pet, but SO WORTH IT. I imagine myself wrestling and playfighting with Cuddles like you see the trainers at the zoo do. If worse comes to worse, I figured I could just feed the other animals to it.

So then when worse did come to worse, the monkey was the first to go, because I just couldn't sort out what it would be like. No conception at all. Simon - 5. Simon got set free into the wild, just like all those spiders. I don't squash them or kill them like I do other bugs. They're my roommates you see.
Then went the cow, because it's such a boring pet and then there was all that disappointment about the not actually giving chocolate milk and whatnot. Bar-B-Que was partially eaten by me, but mostly frozen to feed to Cuddles. Bar-B-Que - 4.
The next was a debate. The sheep is tastier, so I should save it, but the horse is useful and also more of an expensive delicacy. So the sheep went. Bye-bye Sheepy-Beepy. Sheepy-Beepy - 3.
And then the horse was next, and I don't think I ate it in the end. Either I sold it or Cuddles got it. Cuddles is eating me out of house and home.
But Cuddles I kept. How can you get rid of a tiger anyways? I've already imagined it in a situation where it comes and goes as it pleases, so it's not like I can set it free into the jungle, now, is it? And who wants to buy one? And if I can afford to keep one, I may as well keep the ultimate awesome cool one.

What the Animals Represent

Probably you guessed some. I intuitively understood the first two, and guessed the third only after our answering time was up and it was too late.

The cow represents money. Cash cow, it gives milk, it can be sold for meat.
The horse represents work. Workhorse, work like a horse, we associate it with work.
The monkey represents romance or love. I suppose this is because it is the only one that is a pet by the standard definition.
The sheep represents Children. Sheep are dumb, you need to really take care of them, and look out for them, show them the way to go, but they are all wooly and soft. Just like kids.
The tiger represents pride. It doesn't do anything. It's just there to show impress your friends and others.

"Oh, I feel sheepish."
And no matter what excuse I have tried to conjure up, it is apparent that I kept Cuddles for pride. Mind you, out of all the animals I imagined the most affectionate relationship with the tiger, so maybe he was my 猿役割 replacement monkey as well. At least that is what I have been trying to convince myself. I would have liked to have romance at the top, you see. But as I have thought about it, I have realised that my sister did this test on me when she visited last spring, and last year the monkey was first to go and the tiger the last one to stay. I remember that because she laughed and said it made sense given that I have no love life at all. Fair enough. I'm pleased to know that money was so far down the scale of importance. And since the only kids I have are the ones at school, it makes sense that work and kids would vie with each other. And it probably reflects a reality of my closeness to the kids at the school that work won out. In the end they are more just something to fill the days, goals and tasks than they are my own kids. And given that they are students and I am a teacher, I suppose that is the right order of things. They already have parents.

So I threw out romance (which was easy because I have none and don't know what it's like), didn't care about money, sent my kids away (and I'm leaving the country soon enough anyways, so that's the reality), kept my job almost as long as I could,
and when I had nothing else left, I only had my pride. And that's too bad. I mentioned that to someone else and they told me I have more going on than that. But nonetheless, I think my priorities need some straightening. But how do you get rid of pride? Especially when you've already given it free reign? And who would take it from you?

What confuses me is that when you consider the monumental volume of brain space, thought time, and journal paper that I have spent on various girls, that romance was still the first thing to go. Perhaps the truth is that I have just been too proud for too long a time, always waiting for a girl more perfect, always waiting for a time more perfect, finishing up my school or job or whatever first, waiting for a financial situation more ideal. And so perhaps it does make sense that the monkey is at the bottom. Maybe romance always has been for me. That's a bit of a shocker, since I've long fancied myself a romantic person. Correction: romantic idealist. Aye, there's the rub.

I think life in Japan has fattened my Tiger. My pride gets fed a lot here you see; people tell me how great I am and it goes to my head. I have little to do at home so I work at learning Japanese. I hang out with the kids at school, and have some input into the special education kid's life, perhaps. I try largely unsuccessfully to save money. There are few single Christian girls around, and I am not in a relationship with any of them. Tiger horse sheep cow monkey.

I should be embarrassed that my pride is the thing I clung to the most. What good is pride? Hopefully someday when it has been long enough for me to again forget about this little "just for fun" test, and someone poses it to me again, I will be pleased to find that the sheep and monkey are at the top and the the cow and tiger are at the bottom.

What are some good ways to begin humbling oneself?

The Cat Came Back...

2006-05-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

(The next kyushu post will have to wait until I get better internet access, so please be patient)

So last night after church was interesting. And by interesting I mean uneasy. Stalker-Girl showed up I guess partway through the service, and afterwards she asked someone who Matthew was and was pointed over my way. Little did that person know. Thankfully after a short while Barbara was close at hand to save me from talking to her. Augh, it made me so uneasy. She started asking me if I was still in contact with Derek yadda yadda, and thankfully this time I could say in all honesty that the last time I saw him was the last time he came here. (Not specifying that here meant Tokushima, and that the last time was like a month ago) And also that I couldn't remember the last time he came to church, which was also true; I don't remember the date. So under the law, everything I said was true, and it came out sounding like I've been out of contact with him since time out of memory. 20 points to me! But minus ten points for not finding a way out of that conversation sooner.

Thankfully Chris was wanting me to try burning a DVD for her again, which meant I got to go hang out in a far corner behind a computer screen and beside a girl, which is pretty good stalker repellant, I think. And stalker girl left! Yes! I hope that some of the others were properly welcoming to offset just how cold I by necessity had to be with her...

So 45 minutes later, after the DVD failed to burn, and we still hadn't sorted out the issue, we gave up. Some folks had gone off to this moderately expensive restaurant called The Saigon Cafe, and corraling those left at the church, we decided to go see if it wasn't too late to join them.

Being the efficient (read: aggressive?) driver that I am, I arrived fully six minutes before the others, even though it was only a 6 block drive. How does that work. There were five people at the table, and a seat in the middle that looked perfect for me, between Noam and Julie, who were sitting accross from Yoko (an english teacher from Naruto JHS) and Kaz (a guy Julie invited to church that night) respectively. It wasn't until I sat down that I realised to my utter shock and horror that I had seated myself directly opposite my stalker. She smiled, and the blood drained from my face, I'm sure. So what went on from there was on my part an exercise in lack of social grace and practical cruelty.

I did my best to ignore her and make as little eye contact as possible. This was picked up by Noam who wrote a note on his cell and showed it to me under the table, asking if this was the infamous stalker girl. I nodded. He said he'd been getting a weird vibe. Later, Julie said the same. I really feel bad when I am ignoring anyone, but it's only going to make trouble if I give the girl attention; who knows how she would interperet it? But that didn't prevent me from having engaging conversation with everyone else at the table, which had gotten five people longer when the others had arrived. Unfortunately, it seems that no matter what I said or did contributed to the obsession of said stalker. I guage this by the claps, gasps of delight, and random photo taking. Even though I was pointedly and icily ignoring her.

ANYWAYS

Has anyone else noticed their self-esteem taking great jumps since they came to Japan?
Comments from last night directed at me included, "If you stop talking, you look like a Greek god." and "Matthew can get away with being weird because he looks good," and "He has a great butt." To be fair, these all came from Yoko, who is pretty ayashii [umm, suspicious, dodgy, ...?] in general, but she's Japanese and it's from Japanese girls/ladies that I tend to get these kinds of comments. Hahaha... yeah. So though she conjectured that I would look like a Greek god if I would shut up, a) it's hard for me to shut up and b) there is no way I can avoid smiling when all conversation at the table stops and people look at me expectantly. In the end they gave up. Which is fine with me. I'd much rather be known for being smiley normal guy than for looking like an indifferent Greek god. Wouldn't you?
Hah, and I'm sure my butt is no more impressive than the next guy's. A rule I have learned in the course of my graphic design education and many years of observing girl's butts is that it's all about packaging. So I just happen to have a well-chosen pair of shorts. And I've got foreigner mystique here, which is worth like a bazillion points in this country. And I think why I get away with being weird is experience. Everyone knows that experience is cool ("shibui" in Japanese) and I have been doing weird since grade school. I get away with it because I am comfortable with it.

Example: For some reason the word "superfluous nipple" came up in conversation, and we wanted to know what the Japanese word for it would be. This ended in me explaining it in Japanse loud enough for all the other tables around to hear, and there to be a moment of silence (read: mild embarrassment) at our table after. See, if everyone else is embarrassed for me, why should I be, too? I think everyone laughed after that moment of silence though, so it was all okay. Funny is good.
Rejoice, eh.

Part One

2006-05-13T02:38:00.000-07:00

This is a story of a trip to Kyushu taken by five Canadians from Tokushima, Two of the Canadians were married. One Canadian tried to pretend he was actually Japanese. Another wasn't actually from Tokushima. And one of the Canucks was actually a Yankee, but Hawaii is barely a State anyway.

Two weeks before departure, the waffling began. The most lily-livered of the five began to panic about trivialities like money and whether he would be granted leave from school to go. But remembering the words of his father, he ultimately decided to spend the money, and try to eat nothing more than peanut butter and bread for the duration of the trip. Perhaps it need not be added that sissy-boy was also naïve.

Sissy-boy cemented his decision by purchasing travel guides in Japanese which enabled him to switch into his alternate identity of Geek-boy. This novelty alone would indeed be enough to commit him.

After a week of travel planning, judo-throws, confusing grammar points, logo design conferences, missing out on cute girls from the mountains visiting his town, our lily-livered protagonist also managed to pack a bag and transport himself to the fashionable concrete earthquake shelter known as B&C's apartment.

There three of the crew were assembled and psyching themselves up by watching the latest episode of The Amazing Race, freshly obtained from out of the air itself (which happened to be filled with wireless internet signals). Jet lag clubbed Lolé unconscious at precisely eight o'clock. Two hours later B&C drew the secret sliding doors out around their plateau-room, leaving Mashuu to fruitlessly scour the interweb for some kind of TV torrent which might intrest him.

Pre-trip morning showers occurred in order of ascending awkwardness and probable length. Breakfast consumed much of time-sensative food in the cool-box, especially the milk was ingested with Muslix.

Picking up the fifth Canadian who wasn't as Canadian as many Japanese were to believe; driving to the port on the other side of the island took three hours. This was enough time for some to get more sleep and for everyone to line up in the least advantageous place for getting on the ferry.

The day was sunny and bright, which meant that the ferry could be a beautiful and wonderful one-hour ride, if it wasn't also three hours long. Some sunburn was had.

Hell turned out to be pretty disappointing. But the hilly green town which contained it was pretty. There were white pillars of billowy steam rising out from random holes and pipes everywhere, as though the town were a green built upon some great engine. It had a feeling of a place from fiction. The town was Beppu.

+= About Beppu =+
Beppu is a tourist trap, and though everyone knows it, they still go. It's an effective trap. It has many onsens (hot spring spas) and it also has a tour of several hells. Hells are not the Christian place of eternal punishment, nor the Greek Hades; they are simply places where water springs and pools from the ground and maintains near-boiling temperatures. Because the island of Kyushu is quite volcanic all around, the hells are hardly unique to Beppu, but Beppu is lucky enough to have a variety of types (regular, white, blue like the sea, red like blood, geyser, mud, etc) in a small enough area to be a minor attraction. Take eight minor attractions, carefully surround each with gaudy concrete, liberally sprinkle zoo animals around one or two of them, make some stamps, and then boil with eggs and cook pudding in the water, decorate with real flowers and fake wood, and voila! Tourist trap. You can now charge exorbitant prices and set up souvenir stores bigger than the attractions themselves.
+= ------------------ =+

Innocently spending their money the five travelers were able to enjoy walking through moderately crowded areas to see the various boiling hells, smell the stench of sulfur, pity the crocodiles and alligators, have their pictures taken with demons, feed the sickly elephant some nutritionless crackers and get snot on their hands, watch the male peacocks try to get some action, eat boiled eggs and sulfury-smoky-custard pudding, and even try the prefectural specialty, "dango" soup. The best hell was the "Pond of Blood Hell," where there was a place to soak their feet in ferrous water, and the worst was the meager geyser, which seemed like a bad joke.

Left to right, top to bottom: Hell to Cook in; Priest Hell, (muddy hell, just what is that man thinking!); boiling Demon Hell where the crocs were near; Sea Hell; disappointing geyser Tornado Hell; White Hell, Mountain Hell where the feeble zoo was, Pool of Blood Hell.

Hellish pudding; hell-boiled eggs, sweet potatoes, and corn; dangojiru soup.

They decided to postpone their bathing in sulfuric mud until the end of the trip, and instead used the daylight to take in the scenic Yamanami Highway on their way to the volcanic Mount Aso. The very hills were different from their "native" Tokushima. More grassland, more volcanically hurled boulders lying in those grasslands, and many of the mountains showed evidence that lava had once flowed down their slopes. Though much had yet to turn properly green, the drive was indeed scenic enough to justify the slight detour. They even had the pleasure of seeing an active volcano belching ash up into the atmosphere.

Their course led them up to area around Kurokawa, another famous onsen town, and to their first campsite. Arriving too late to actually pay for the site they camped anyways, with intentions to pay in the morning. The venerable Mr. Ohnishi, a social studies teacher from Brian's high school, had kindly lent us his in-car navigation system, two expensive tents, a butane lamp (which got stepped on!), mats to lay down inside the tents, and a variety of other things for which there just wasn't room in that over-packed trunk. The joy of a quality tent is the ease with which it is set up. The flaw of these tents turned out to be their zippers.

Examining the standing two-man and four-man tents for the first time, Brian looked at Matthew and said, "There's no way the two of us are going to fit in that two-man tent. If it rains, we'll get soaked. What do you want to do?"
"Well, I'd rather not be in a tent by myself," Matthew replied.
"Okay then, so it's the big tent either with me and Christine or with the girls."
Weighing the awkwardness of being in the tent with two girls against being in the tent with a married couple, and then considering the pros of each option, Matthew responded, "Well, if it's okay with the girls, I'm happy to let the two of you have the small tent." Besides, Matthew thought, if anyone is going to be happy to be squeezed together it will be the two of them.
"Anything is fine with us," Lorraine called out.
"Well, that's that then." Brian said, leaving the slightest impression that he had just gotten precisely what he wanted.

Knowing he may desire to at times hide in the corner, Matthew took the right side of the tent. Julie hid on the other side and Lorraine was left the middle. Now set up, they set out for the onsen (hot spring spa) town of Kurokawa. Though the town's name sounds ominous, translating as Blackriver, it was a lovely town to walk through at night. The roads were tight and somewhat random in layout, such that what lay thirty meters ahead was generally around a bend and out of sight. Yukata-clad (think Japanese bathrobe-clad) patrons sporadically weaved this way and that along the pathways, en route various hot springs.

So it was that they found themselves walking along a river at night, and walking into respective guys and girls caves in the mountainside underneath a large traditional old hotel. Much to Brian and Mat's surprise and confusion, there was no soap or showers unnaturally imposed upon the caves. Japan is really particular on you being clean before you bathe, but since there were nothing more than stone, water, and baskets, they simply shrugged their shoulders and shrugged off their clothes.

The water was quite hot, and the caves dimly lit. The steam gently rising and the sounds of nighttime gently wafting in made for a truly relaxing soak.

Later they encountered signs which explained the lack of showers was to better experience the effects of the unprocessed water, and the lack, nay; ban on soaps was to keep the river and environment clean and healthy. But it meant that the boys and girls weren't as clean at the end of their day of traveling as they had hoped. Nonetheless, late dinners of tempura and pork "katsu" more than made up for it. Soon enough they were back to their tents for what would prove to be their coldest night camping.

New look for Sho mo nai!

2006-05-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to change to this template for a while because my web skills are sadly lacking and it is more intuitively editable than the green beast I've been using for so long. I don't think this will be the permanent colour scheme, but it may stay unchanged for a while given my lack of regular internet access and my general upcoming busyness with moving from country to country and so forth.

A Tax On Car Owners

2006-05-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

A Tax On Car Owners, originally uploaded by irodoramatic burnorama.

And there's no joke in that at all. I have to pay $350 in tax because I own a car with a certain size engine.