Tekken 7- February 22nd

Tekken 7 has been out even before I came to Japan, but I have finally gotten around to taking some video of my arcade game play. I know its really old and it's kinda dumb to get excited about Tekken 7 anymore considering it has already  been expanded to Tekken Fated Retribution including Street Fighter's Akuma, a prelude to the release of the much anticipated Tekken x Street Fighter I hope. None the less, I still enjoy playing Tekken 7 at my little arcade in Toyohashi and the big arcade next to the movie theater that also features Pokken Tournament and the new arcade Final Fantasy RPG. Today was a pretty good day. I got to chill with my boy Julio, eat some yakiniku, and basically get my but handed to me in Tekken, which I spent too much money on lol. P.S. I kicked Julio's butt in Pokken tournament.

Dual Careers- February 25th

In my ealier posts this year I came tothe  conclusion that I want fo be a music producer and performer, which I still do, but I have discovered a fews things about myself. The idea of working one job for the rest of my life scares me because I enjoy variety, different challenges, and new adventures. I also like and have aptitude for multiple different subjects including Japanese language and culture, business administration and finance/accounting, education and counseling, as well as a true passion for music. So only focusing on one aspect of my skill set would be a total waste of my potential. Thus, I have decided to pursue two careers. One, utilizing my love for music. Two, utilizing my people, language, and business skills. I want to pursue work in International Education and more specifically in a role that focuses on Study Abroad. I'm currently interested in becoming. Resident Director for an American Study Abroad program here in Japan and help America students as they study Japanese, learn about Japan and Japanese culture, and explore the unique landscape of Japan. It'll take some graduate study, native level language aquisition, and a lot of experience but I want to give it a shot! Wish me luck:-) 

Psycho Pass 2- February 24

I finished watching the entire 2nd season of Psycho Pass called Psycho Pass 2. If you don't know what it is m,i'll tell you. Its set in Japan, Tokyo I think, and the city is run by a computer system called Sibyl who montiors the citizens individual crime coefficients to see if they are high enough to be considered latent criminals. Based on this assessment the police that consist of regular agents and enforcers, latent criminals that have been given a chance to attone for their actions, montior and protect the city by taking the necessary precautions and actions based on Sibyl judgement through specialized weapons called dominators. I don't want to spoil anything, but essentially both seasons deal with the flaws and corruption of fhe Sibyl system and questions the ethics of its so called objectivity. I really like the theme of the second season. The main character Akane Sunomori knows the secret about Sibyl, but chooses to stay with the force and work with Sibyl to create an idealistic world. Her motto is, "the law doesn't protect the people, the people protect the law." Meaning that despite a flawed system, unfair circumstances, and a corrupt world it is up to the people to decide to make the best out of their situation for the betterment of themselves and society as a whole. This speaks volumes to what is happening in the world today. With endless amounts of hate and selfishness in its many forms seeking to consume this world and lead even the best of us astray, it is important to remember that all of us can effect change and make the world a better place in our own way eventhough there is so much working against us. We must have the strength and the will to fight for justice, speak out against oppression, and stand up for everyone because we all have a right to life, liberty, and happiness. As a generation, our work is not finished and our fight is not over. In a lot of ways it is just beginning. We all need to ban together to make this world a better place for all. 

Bad Luck Day- February 23rd

Julio had a bad luck day today and I got caught in the cross hairs. So this is how it started. We met up and at around 11 am so we could run some errands. We had to go get a bike from our friebnds place first because we were going to be traveling a lot. So after some searching, texting, more searching, and heavy lifting we finally get the bike and the tires are flat, but has enough air to ride. Our first stop was the glasses store, which is where I really wanted to go so I could learn how to get glasses in Japan, and it is closed for renovations for the next 4 days. Our second stop is the post office sp Julio can figure out how he can get his Mt. Fuji walking stick back to America. We both completly fail at using our Japanese, but we finally manage to get the clerk to uderstand us enough to tell us the length limit of their shipping. So we go back to his apartment and measure the walking stick and it is too long and can't be shipped without shortening it. Our third stop was to get  curry for lunch, which is the cheapest time to ge curry, we ride to the furthest place that has the gpod curry and they are closed. So we settle for the other curry place who gave us a free and much needed good lucl butter nan even thoufh we were completely stuffed from our lunch sets. I ended up eating most of it while Julio only ate a little. On the way back to his apartment we are stopped by policewomen who asked to see our registration papers for our bikes, the first time I have been asked for them btw, necause she was looking for a bike theif. Neither of us had papers because O never got them from my landlord or sold me his friends bike and Julio was riding his friends bike. Thus, we had tp show her our residence cards and she copied down our information. I don't really know why you need to register a bike anyways- WHY JAPANESE PEOPLE WHY!!?? That was the extent of the bad luck because after that we just went  grocery shopping, went to the gym, ate some dinner, watched Deadpool and played some monopoly with Pete and Ashley. I totally was winning the first game before the gym, but we had to startover because Pete and Ashley cleared the table for dinner and so she can play. Ashley didn't even end up playing and Julio beat Pete and I. Guess he got his luck back by the end of the day haha.  

JPLT N4 in July- February 21st

I finished preparing my study notebook of readings, example sentences, vocabulary and grammer from my Japanese Language Proficiency Exam N4 books. I was originally going to push myself for 3 months and try for N3, but I figure if I just do N4 my foundational Japanese would be a lot better. Also I can take the N3 in December after I pass the N4 in July. As a side note, my goal to be proficient not only in writing, reading, and listening Japanese, but also speaking it because I believe second-language stick a lot more once you learn how to speak it. I know its a lot of work but I want to gambaru and start my journey to become truely fluent in Japanese!!! 

Otaku- February 20th

Bad news... I MIGHT BE TURNING INTO AN OTAKU!!! What is an Otaku you might ask. Otaku is the Japanese word for geek or nerd, and more specifically the special type of Japanese guys who are obsessed with mange, a paraphernalia. There are the typically pizza-faced, glasses wearing, overweight, nonathletic, completely self-absorbed men, or women, that you see around and just think wow, but that's just the stereotype and we all know I'm nothing like that. I'm just saying that since I'm becoming more of an adult I have been finding my own tempo and settling into the things that I like. One of them is watching cartoons and playing games all day, which I have been doing since I was a kid. It is still appealing to me and I look forward to weekend where I can just relax and just chill at my apartment by myself just watching some of my favorite shows and playing video games that I like. So it might not be that I'm becoming an Otaku, but realizing that I have always sorta been an Otaku and I'm okay with that. Although, I don' think I will ever get to the point that I completely lose touch with reality, pretend that I'm married to my favorite anime character, and start buy all types of suggestive figures and the like. I will never do that haha because above all else I am a people person and an extrovert!

 

ALT Work- February 19th

This wouldn't be a good blog if I didn't mention the fact that I am an English teacher here in Japan. More specifically, an ALT, Assistant Learning Teacher, of English. I teach in 3 high schools in Tahara: Seisho High School, Atsumi Nogyo High School, and Fukue High School, but I think I have already mentioned this to many people. The point of my post for today is that along with teaching English I have to check/grade papers. In high school, I always heard that grading was a nightmare and I really didn't understand it until I had to grade my own papers. I have already checked so many papers this year so far. I usually only check around examination time, which is  3 times a year if I may add, and this coming week I have to grade another 225 papers. So I want to give a shout out to all teachers who not only make sure students are learning the subject matter, but also take the time to check and grade the mounds of insurmountable tests, essays, and homework for all the students in their classes. This is not easy work people and if you think it is I want you to try it and see how it feels.

GATE- February 18th

So my buddy Eric gave me a new anime to check out and I love it already. It's called GATE and it's about a gate that opens in the middle of Tokyo that connects to a different fantasy world full or mages, knights, elves, gods, and dragons. The royal empire of the fantasy world sends in it's army to conquer the human world and are met by the Japanese SDF, Special Defense Force. I don't want to give any spoilers, but it is absolute carnage and the what every anime/game lover has wanted to see- a fight between fantasy warriors and a modern army. After that the anime touches on some pretty important issues with diplomacy between nations and the like and it is very interesting. I'm current watching the 2nd season which isn't finished yet and I am absolutely hooked. You should check it out! 

Fate- February 17th

This is kind of a stupid post, but when you have to make 365 you will have some duds lol. So anyway I had a teachers meeting in Kanayama today.  Julio, Pete, and I were able to get there early enough to catch the lunch buffet at El Salavadore, an Italian place. After the meeting we usually go to OXO, a British-style pub, to unwind with a few drinks. While sitting at our table I found exactly 275yen. I decided that this was good because I could use the money to buy a drink when happy hour started so I could get the 50% discount. At 5 o'clock I went up to grab a drink, forgetting my coin pouch on the table, with only the change I found in my pocket. Without thinking I ordered a Smirenoff Lemonade because it looked delicious and it ended up being exactly 275yen. I know it's a stupid story, but it was really a weird coincidence, so I though I would share it.

Fragile Age- February 16th

I had a lot of free time today to do a lot of things. I felt very artistic so I decided to finally finish my overhead drawing of my tabletop RPG character Kuroin, a Rakshasa familiar, from the game Fragile Age that my game developing friends made. My roommates from college Matt, Emily, and Thanos have worked really hard to create this game and this is the second installment. We played the first installment of the game my senior year of college and started our current play through after I came to Japan. It's all set in the same universe which is in ancient history around the time the Greek Empire ruled, but also includes legends, gods, mythical monsters, and all the good stuff you want out of an RPG. I have had a blast playing so far and can't wait to see what my team can do this play through. We have a big battle coming up next weekend hat I can't wait for and I'm so excited. I hope this really becomes a game and I'm so honored to be apart of its development. 

Tips for Speaking a Second Language- February 15th

Since I'm an American in Japan and my native language is English I have been trying to learn Japanese. I've studied Japanese on and off since jr. high school, but I have found that learning a second language is school is a lot different then actually using the language in everday conversation with native speaker. Not only that, as an Assistant Learning Teacher or ALT I've had the amazing opportunity to teach English to students as thwir second language. So through my own experiences of learning Japanese and teaching English I have come up with 3 tips for using your second language no matter what your level is: 

1. Use the language that you know  

It is impossible to know every word in a language and you don't have to in order to be considered fluent. Also in the middle of conversation you won't always have a dictionary handy. So don't worry about being perfect and use the few words that you do know and the pthwr person will be able to piece togetherthe  meaning. 

2. Use examples or references that tour audience is familiar with to help explain your point.  

This is pretty straight forward, but a lot of people end up having conversationa where literally everything needs to be explained because they use references and examples that their audience don't know. So picking up a few useful examples of popular culture from your audiences home country will take you a long way. 

3. Observe and use your surroundings

We live in a global society where a lot og things are similar or universal. So sometimes you just have to point and have your audience pay attention to something to help explain tour point without even knowing the words. Sometimes your audience will even say the word of the thing you pointed to and bam you've learned a new word.  

Self-serve Yakiniku- February 14th

Omg after drinking all that Tequila all I wanted from life was some delicious food and what is better than a secl-serve yakiniku. Yakiniku is all you can eat meet usually and also salads, bar foods like kaarage and fries, and also desserts. Most places offer a nomihoudai ir all you can drink too. This only lasts for teo hours and you have to prepare all the meet at your table on a small grill. I was so happy to go and my body was thanking me for the amazing hangover food. Everyone else had to fly on home, but me and my buddy Eric smashed at yakiniku and hit the arcade next door to play some pokken tournament, Tekken 7 and Ultra Street Fighter 4. 

Tequila Party!- February 13th

The Tequila party went great and gave me the nostalgia like I was back on OU's campus in Athens throwing down on a typical weekend. I invited the cool kids from Tahara and Toyohashi and also my boy Eric to come and play some drinking games while we finish a bottle of Tequila and celebrated Breanna's birthday. We played all the classics including kings, beer pong, quarters, flip cup, and boom. It was a blast, some people got to drunk , and everybody had fun in my little apartment on the cold rainy February night in the Hash!!!

 

Deadpool and Xmen in August😡- February 12th

I'm so excited to see the upcoming marvel movies Deadpool and Xmen Apocalypse while I'm here in Japan...or so I thought. Two of the most action packed movies of 2016 will not premiere in Japan until this August. What am I going to do!? This makes me so angry cause it seems like most other countries will have their premiere a few days at most after they premiere in America. Guess I'll have to wait even longer to see these movies...or should I make a quick trip to South Korea hmmm... 

Cleaning- February 11th

So we all have had chores since we were young whether it was taking out the trash, cleaning our rooms, or cleaning the whole kitchen after our parents have cooked dinner. But, when I was younger I didn't really understand  how much it took to keep a place clean. Living in my own apartment alone has enlightened me to the amount of dirt and messes that I produce by myself, let alone combined with a family. Its safe to say its a surprising amount, and something always needs to be cleaned everyday. I miss the days where I only had to do chores instead of taking care of myself and a whole apartment. 

Charlie's Angels!- February 10th

I just rewatched one of my favorite movies of all time Charlie's Angles based on the old TV show and stars Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Lie. Even though my Mom bought this movie for my sister when we were younger, I definitely watched it way more than her. It's everything you could want in a movie. All of the leading ladies are femme fataleas, absolutely drop dead gorgeous and dangerously brilliant. Drew reminds me of my friends Shelby haha. The movies is full of kick butt action and lot's of laughs. Not to mention, my girls Destiny's Child made the hit single Independent Women for the movie. My favorite part is towards the end when Lucy Lui double jump kicks the creepy thin man after he rips out her hair. This movie will never get old. 

Happy Birthday Becca!!!- February 9th

I wanna give a shout and wish a Happy Birthday to my best friend Becca!!! Her and I go all the way back to elemetary school. We didn't become close until high school when we did marching band and winter drumline together. If you don't know, my friends and family are very special to me and I would do anything for them. Same goes for Becca aka Peacemaker. She is one of the most kind and caring people I know not to mention a fantastic artist and an amazing cook. This is one girl who can take care of herself and keep up with the guys. Just ask the whole drumline who counted on her to play the heaviest and one of the technical drums- the quads. Eventhough I'm far away we still manage to keep in touch, but I miss her very much and wish I could be in Atlanta celebrating with her. I love tou Becca and no mattwr where we end up we'll always be besties. Best of luck to you and I can't wait to go to an art gallery full of your wonderful masterpieces!!! 

A.N.T.I- February 8th

OMG my girl Rihanna just released her new album on January 29th and if you haven't heard if you need to pick it up. I bought the album last week and I have to say that i'll be hooked on it for a while haha. My favorite track on the album so far is," Kiss It Better," which features logatto guitar rifts, a laid back beat with a strong kick rhythmic high hat and powerful clap, and all that combined with Rihanna's amazing voice with a beautiful echoing affect that only accentuates her golden pipes. Other songs that you I think are good and you should check our are ,"Work,"featuring Drake which is now her single and, "Yeah, I Said It." I think all her songs on the album are good and per usual she shows her versatility in each and every song. So you should go and check it out. 

Capcom Cup 2015- February 7th

I'm a little late, but I finally got around to watching the Capcom Cup 2015 that happened just this past December. If you don't know what it is, i'll tell you what I know. The Capcom Cup this year was for Ultra Street Fighter 4 the final installment of the Street Fighter 4 series. 32 Pro gamers from around the world come to compete, but in order to compete they had to qualify by getting a certain amount points that they can only win by competing in smaller tournaments over the 9 month period before the Capcom Cup. This includes famous fighting game tournaments like Evo 2015 which features multiple different fighing game competitions including games like Samash Brothers and Mortal Kombat. I had no idea what these fightinf tournaments were till I got to Japan. Just watching them makes me want to go watch the competitions live or even compete myself, which would require  a 40 hour a week committment if I may add. Any who shout outs to Ryota Inoue better known as Zazunoko the winner of Capcom Cup 2015 and the $120,000 1st place prize money and crushed the competition with Seth. Nobody really had a chance and he didn't even lose one match. 

Honey Cheese Nan- February 6th

Ao it wouldn't be my blog without mw putting food on it every once in a while. It was a little out of the blue but after working today, yeah on Saturday I know right, I went and got curry and nan. My favorite type of nan so far is honey cheese na and it is amazing. I have come to like curry a lot, and just so you know I like both Japanese and Indian curry but only the Indian curry places sell nan. If you haven't had it ypu meed to try it. This isn't my picture cause I'm really bad at taking pictures for myself, but this is what it looks like. Oh and yes it tastes as good as it looks m. 

Fantastic Mr. Fox!- February 5th

Fantastic Mr. Fox is on Netflix in Japan!!! I love the stop motion animation, the voice acting, and the story. I have never read the book, but I really enjoy the movie and it's super fun haha. Last time I saw the movie was probably in high school, but I still think it is hilarious and it is one of the very few movies I think I'll never get sick of watching.  

Marathon- February 4th

So I completed the marathon with the 1st year boy students at Seisho high school. I wasn't feeling to hot or confident during the run so I decided to hang back in the back. I managed to run all the way from the school to the bottom of the mountain, but I quickly stopped toward as I started up the mountain. From there, I took turns kinda sprinting and walking up the mountain road and sprinted during the last .3 km. I had a student that stayed with me the whole time which was really nice. He even sprinted the last .3 km with me in an epic race. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm not really allowed to take pictures of my students per company rules... 

Chili- February 3rd

Not a big day but I finally got the gumption to make chili. Japanese supermarkets pretty much have eveyrhing you need to make chili except I couldn't really find the kind of chili power that I would usually use in America. Sp I improvisedand used a popular Japanese chili spice called shichini which is a blend of 7 different spices. I found it at gyomu supermarket, which is a super market in in Japan that has quite a few internatiobal foods and large amounts of meat for cheap. I was apprehensive at first, but my chili turned put to be very delicious!!! 

New Registration Card- February 2nd

Its now official official, I just got my residence card for the next year. I will be staying in Japan. I still want to move toTokyo, but that's still up in the air. Staying in Toyohashi wouldn't be awesome, but I really feel my destiny calling me to music. I want to move to a bigger city with more opportunity and variety to get my feet wet in the msuci industry. So fingers still crossed that my plans work out. 

Assassination High School- February 1st

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu or Assassination Classroom is a fanastic anime that I have started watching. The anine is about a biologically engineering super being who is goingg to destory the earth, but makes an agreement to postpone for a year and teach the lowest class, Class E, at Kunigigaoka Junior High school giving the students and fellow teachers the opportunity to assassinate him... If they can that is. The theme really resonates with my current view of education. Besides the obvious underdog theme, the anime emphasizes bringing out a students potential and nurturing what they are good at. The monster, also known as Koro Sensei, encourages the students and pays extra close attention to each students and their learning styles when teaching and giving exams. He doesn't baby the students, but pushes them to be the best they could be.   

Self Reflection- January 31st

Today I spent sometime really considering what I want out of my music career and what it really means to be a musician... I started by thinking about of the kinds differnet kinds genres, instruments, types of musical performance I have done. Those include band, choir, show choir, accapella choir, percussion, marching band, drumline, musical theater, music synth (production), songwriting. Out of those I tend to scew naturally to singing, songwriting, and music production. So I have now realize that what I really one is the create, produce, and distribute my own original music. Also, as a performer, I want to a be able to creat love shows the wow audiences and truly shocases my music. Thus, I have a goal- to create my own music production company, but it will take me a while to achieve this.