私の生きた証拠

I just finished re-installing the filters I took out for washing in my air conditioning set.

By god it’s not exactly the first time I’ve seen a layer of dust thick enough to bring a fur coat to mind, but it’s never a pleasant experience.

At least it’s clean now, and will be for a while.

I did mention that I was bringing girls around Chinatown (this happened three days ago, on the 9th). I realized that it wasn’t so blogworthy after all, except that girls from Akita aren’t what they’re always made out to be. A certain someone who stalks this blog ought to know that. Anyway it went okay, except that I learnt yesterday that high school students technically aren’t supposed to do this job. Of course the reason wasn’t explained to me, but I’m sure it’s some trivial and ridiculous one by my somewhat innovative view of life. So much for being innovative.

Anyway, I’ve been more or less wasting time recently. I mean, I did go for EJU yesterday (and completely screwed up the math section [though expected] and partially screwed up Japan and the World [not expected, but it happened, so oh well]), but since it’s an exam I don’t exactly need to take it can be taken to be a waste of time.

I also attended some ‘party’ organised by some animation company that’s trying to set up shop in Singapore and offer courses in animation. To be honest it was pretty shabby, but I spent a long time talking to the guy in charge (a Sagami), who (as expected) preferred talking to me because I could sort of speak his language (albeit butchering it quite bloodily; yes I know my Japanese is supposedly good for a typical foreigner, but I don’t exactly want to stay a foreigner forever). I gave some random comments on the English text on the ‘contact list’ (where ‘female’ was spelt ‘femail’ and ‘ordinary’ spelt ‘ordinal’; Sagami said that some locals [i.e. Singaporeans] did it. The thing’s that I’m not surprised - at the fact that Singaporeans screwed it up [I don’t have a very high opinion of the average Singaporean anyway], or that the Japanese didn’t realise it [since they’re ridiculed for their inability to use English with just cause; just that I purport that the Singaporean isn’t much better].) and some other random comments on the need to emphasise the economic value of their course (which I honestly think is lacking; some people have been telling me horror stories like animators getting 300 euros a month in Japan), and gave a few tips on how to deal with Singaporeans (like their obsession with degree, the education system here, etc) and other random stuff.

So much for that. After the party I went with the IRC crowd to karaoke (yes it’s my first time). It just shows how many times I turned down (or missed) K-box outings with the class and such. Anyway the joint catered mostly to a Japanese clientele, which explains well the amazing selection of Japanese songs. I ended up singing a lot (got carried away sometimes) but it was all very fun, since everyone’s off-tune and no one seems to care whether they’re following the lyrics or not (except me, since I got the feeling that I’m the only person who could read the hiragana on the screen fast enough; probably that’s not true, but after a while I stopped caring anyway). The video going on the background was usually nonsensical (some songs featured a video of the African safari, and another a girl dancing with someone in a dog costume in a TV studio; gives off 8AM kids’-show-on-channel-8 vibes), but on some a really hot girl (sometimes dressed in the old-fashioned way I really like) would spend a lot of time running across a field or do random things that all seemed quite cute. I just hope she got paid decently to do all that. Japan’s penchant for exploiting its labor (be it salarymen, seiyuus or even popular actresses; only high school girls engaging in enjo kosai seem to get paid well, and that’s highly UNSKILLED labor at minimum cost).

On another note, I managed to get my dirty paws on what amounts to several days’ worth of radio talkshow (actually it’s PONYCANYON STYLE まるなび！？), and naturally I was feeling excessively emo.

In fact, I went to sleep right after listening to an episode because I was overwhelmed with emotion. Terrible thing to do (as if the show put me to sleep), but it just causes sheer exhaustion. Listening to Noto Mamiko (能登麻美子) read poems (that she wrote herself; free verse, not haiku or tanka) is surefire emo material. To be honest, I’d probably like a girl who writes the sort of stuff she does (assuming those were her own thoughts and reflections and not ripped off some Korean or Japanese drama). I wonder if Ayako-sama does the same from time to time too.

Well.

The thoughts running through my head are just too confused to set down on paper (figuratively), so I’m leaving it at this.

Yesterday I did a job. Basically it involved taking a group of high school second year students from Akita Prefecture’s Oodate Kokusai Jouhou Gakuin high school around Chinatown. More on that later, but once again I was immensely impressed by the punctuality of ordinary Japanese. Anyway for about five hours’ work 30SGD isn’t too bad.

Contrast, contrast. Right now I am waiting for a bunch of dudes (20 minutes and counting and blogging this from my phone) at the station. It’s almost a given that people will be late without a very good reason for them to be - this more or less applies to me as well. In fact arriving early or on time seems positively stupid. Yes, arriving late is a virtue because it makes you normal, predictable, and SEEM efficient and smart.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH SINGAPORE AND ITS PEOPLE? And even I am getting tainted by its evils.

Salvation lies a plane ride away. I shall look forward to that after all.

It’s confirmed; we’re all going to Disneyland.

Now, if I were half my current age I’d jump for joy. But they originally promised us a free day that I had hoped to use to do certain things.

I suppose it’s a somewhat-overdue lesson on the way Japanese society functions (basically the bad parts of Singapore, amplified to a considerable extent). No wonder they’re so poor and their birth rate so low.

Wait.

It’s no longer a ‘they’re’ or a ‘their’ issue.

It’s ‘we’re’ and ‘our’ now.

No kidding.

Ol’ Ben Franklin once said that only death and taxes are certain in life, and I might actually agree now.

I was just suddenly thinking how nice it would be to buy a large bottle of vanilla essence (in powder form) and make vanilla milk every day. ^^

Yesterday was kind of strange.

1. I shot pretty badly at the range. And almost came to blows (figuratively) with someone at the range. Not that it was all that unusual, but generally I shoot better, and usually get along with people.
2. Ate at Yoshinoya for lunch, and ran into Horiike (堀池)-sensei at Bishan station. Turns out that he’s living in the area (rented place, in true Japanese fashion), and he thinks it’s CHEAP in Bishan. Considering that he’s from Hiroshima (which isn’t exactly very cosmopolitan; yes it’s near the place that got A-bombed), that says something about rent in Japan, in other words, F***ED UP.
3. Spent hours in the library doing EJU papers and gawking over pictures of hawt Japanese girls. ^^
4. Ran into Jonathan, Xuewei, Esther and Chinyang at the canteen just as I was about to go home. Turns out that they were going for dinner. So I tagged along. Of all places we went to Chinatown (which is like pretty strange for little kids like us) and at the table there were of course the customary jokes about not understanding Chinese. I felt pretty poignant then, but said nothing. In all I was bankrupted by the meal (9.70 per person), but it was sort of worth the money. I spend more at Mos Burger anyway, and it’s indeed sort of fun to be with the class. I just wish I had more money, that’s all.
5. Headed back to Bishan for a Hot Vanilla (essentially hot milk with vanilla powder mixed in) at Coffee Bean. Had a pretty long talk with Perry (who seems to be in even worse shape than me; he says it’s nice to be obsessed about going somewhere, i.e. Home [with the capital ‘H’] for me). I never quite thought of my continued discomfort at being trapped on this piece of rock as ‘nice’ but I guess I get what he means - sometimes having a distant, painful goal is better than having none at all.

Then after reaching home, I barely said a few words to Jodie before falling asleep. I feel quite about that. I mean, suddenly the conversation window just goes completely silent; not very nice, right? I don’t quite understand why I need so much sleep these days, but I end up having lots of it, somehow.

Guess I’ll hate being a salaryman. Especially in Tokyo.

So what the heck will I be doing there?

And no thanks, it would be a disgrace to Soudai if one of its graduates ended up freetering.

The past week (running from Oct 29 to Nov 4) was a phenomenal week for me. It was matched only by May 14 and 17 of this year. But I guess in retrospect after the experience in May I’m ready for anything.

What went on?