Random Music Moment
I've been listening to Puffy a lot lately. And no, I don't mean that lame-ass, track-stealin' mark, Puff Daddy, or P-Diddy or whatever he's calling himself this week. That guy is an artistically bankrupt leech and I wish he was standing right here so I could punch him in the throat. No, who I mean is the original Puffy, a Japanese Pop (or J-Pop, as it's called) duo of two of the cutest Japanese girls you've ever seen, who never fail to make good-feelin', foot-tappin' tunes that you just cannot, try as you might, get out of your head. Their latest (and I think best) album, Spike has even been brought to the states recently, though their name has been changed to Puffy-AmiYumi (Ami and Yumi being the names of the girls, respectively) so as to avoid any confusion with dire states of wackness.
That's Yumi-chan on the left and Ami-chan on the right. NOTE: If it's the last thing I do, I will marry Yumi-chan. (maybe not, but it's a nice daydream that helps me through the slow days, ya know?)
Anyway, the particular track that I just can't get enough of lately is called Swimming Pool and I have an mp3 of it on my iDisk here if you'd like to give it a listen. It's more mellow then most of their tracks, but still very Puffy-ish. Let me know what you think, or if you want to hear more. I'm always up for doing my part to facilitate the birth of a new Puffy fan. :D
On With the Pics!!
Okay, enough lolly-gagging. I know that you're all only here to see the pictures anyway. You can click on any of them for a larger version. (I apologize for the spotty layout of the pics on this page. They look all nice and lined up within PageMill, but when I test them in my browser they're all over the place. I don't know what th' dilly is.)
School
Here's the school where I work, in all it's glory.
No, this is not the city dump. This, believe it or not, is actually the Teacher's Room. Take a look at the larger picture on this one; you have to see it to believe it. Thing is, every Teacher's Room at every Japanese school I've been to looks exactly like this one!!
Thanks for teaching me to clean my room Mom & Dad - this is what I could have become!!
People
Don't let anyone ever tell you that Japanese Jr. High kids are anything but great! Granted, I only have the experience of one school to base this broad statement on, but I still believe it. ;)
This is boys Basketball team on their way home after practice.....ON SATURDAY!!
Here's the Girls Basketball Team, doing likewise.
This is my supervisor at the Town Office, Ikeda-san.
Fletch at the Softball game with Haga-sensei on the right and some random homeless guy on the left. (No, he's not really homeless, but no one seems to know who he is.)
Fukuma-machi
And here's some random photos from around town. Nat, in particular, said he had never even seen pictures of a Japanese town before so I offer a few random snaps for the hell o' it. There's more and better on the way.
These next two are different views of my apartment building. I think that white car was stalking me. :O
Well, that's all for this update. I'm thinking of the next feature either being about Fukuma-machi (the town I live in) or my apartment. If you have a prefrence for which you'd rather see, by all means, drop me a line and let me know. Until next time...
