Must Not Be Long

Some of you may have noticed that the relevance of the title of my post to the actual subject of the post is rarely a positive correlation. This one merely is a double-entendre, meaning both that it's almost 2AM and I'm teaching tomorrow, and that the last title reached all the way across the page, almost.

But I've just been granted all night access to the internet, and it's very hard to resist. Not having much internet access is great for a very short time. Then I suddenly needed it like no other medium.But I will limit myself. There is only so much fun to be had telling a variety of people you know about your day. But it's still fun, and I can look back at this and smile. Or look back at this and curse the server for deleting my blog. That is, if the server deletes my blog, which it may.

I posted earlier, and then I left and sat in on another lesson. My first ever handout was handed out, one that is used to describe the difference between On, At, In, For and until in relation to time placement. Yoko edited it so that it had Japanese explanations, and corrected an ambiguity I had left open in "In". But still, I had a sense of pride in seeing my work put to use. I can't wait to be paid for it though.

We made our way to another izakaya, which seems to be a nightly occurrence for me now. I tried more food, and I deeply regretted the two slices of pepperoni, laced with "Worlds Hottest Sauce". I did try this strange food that Yoko wouldn't eat, which seemed like green, undercooked thin rice noodles suspended in raw egg white (should that be egg clear?). I have no idea if that's right, but it was survivably edible. For the rest of the evening (apart from some really good ice cream), the girl sitting next to me helped me devise my Kanji name. I'm sick of writing リプトン as my name, it stands out way too much. So from now, I will be known as to my Japanese friends (and English friends who can read Kanji) as 利富敦. It means something like clever-wealthy-faithful, which while not describing my ego in any way, is pretty accurate.

The lowest denomination of coin here is the ￥1 coin, which is so abundant for me, and so worthless that I just can't get rid of them. Even with the low price of food it would take a truckload just to but a small mean, and considering they're thicker than the 1p piece yet worth less than half, I am getting an ever increasing pile. One thing to notice, though, is that they are light. They are strong and extremely light, leading me to believe I can collect a few more hundred, take them home and build a small personal aircraft out of them, or use them to buy a stick of gum.

Yesterday I chose to take my CD player with me to town, so if by chance I had forgotten my key again (which I already knew I hadn't), I would have something to listen to while waiting in the doorway. Having not taken it in my bag for a while, I forgot to put the remote on hold. Needless to say, it pumped all 10 albums on the MP3 CD to a headphonless socket for enough hours to completely deplete the battery. So I took a chance, and plugged the charger (which said 230v only) into the wall, risking the safety of my terribly expensive CD player, rather than face the prospect of having 36 CDs being completely unplayable, leaving me musicless. It worked, so... happy.



That's Mido-suji street, a gorgeous, four-kilometre-six-lane-one-way shopping street, with everything from the Osaka iMac store to the Mido-suji Starbucks (where I see the same gaijin every time I pass).

My rearranged Karaoke takes place tomorrow, and I am very excited. I have been thinking of a few songs I can sing, one of which is Pardon Me by Incubus, just because I know all the words and can sing it pretty fast, but the rest are secret, because I know Yayoi reads this. Karaoke! Karaoke! I will also take Emma to sing, because I know that Emma has an awesome voice and if it's a closed room, there's nothing to stop her letting loose. I hope the same can happen on the street, because I lugged a huge guitar case all the way here, and I don't want that to be in vain.

I don't know how it looks above, but in this editing mode, "because I know" lined up three times. Either it's a sign of amazing tricolon, or I should increase my vocabulary. Bah, any excuse to increase my vocabulary. I have decided that I want to learn how to read Korean. I don't particularly want to be able to speak Korean, but I have heard that it's a very good system of writing, as it can make any sound, and so therefore can be very expressive. Once I know Korean, I'll learn Arabic, just so that I can read most things written down in the world. Not necessarily understand, just read. Phonetically. Rock. From there... Music Notation!

I tried Green Tea chocolate. Really not bad at all, I enjoyed and enjoyed. I will try and sample more strange Japanese sweets, maybe even bring some home. Now, I have been typing a while, it must be time to sleep.

Pyro totally rules, because she commented when no one else would.

Anyone interested in the new rap sensation of "nerdcore" music should check out MC Plus+, I hear he's pretty down. Or something.

Anyway, from Kishiwada, Osaka, Japan... this is 利富敦 saying goodnight. Or English people, good afternoon. Americans? Good morning. It's still the 27th for you over there? Crazy. It's the 28th here. But don't worry, I won't tell you what happens. Laters.

Post Script: I just spent a very long time trying to find out the spelling of the word "tricolon", as it appears on none of the electronic dictionaries I use. But it does exist, and I got it right first time. Just wanted to add.