An assortment of random thoughts

Before we begin, congratulations are in order for Dave Blankenbaker, for being not only the first to answer my racetrack question, but to get it correct as well. It would indeed take a speed slightly greater than that of light on the second in order to make a 2-lap average of 100 mph if one averaged 50 mph on the first lap. The question, for everybody but Dave and Jon Balfe, is why?

Okay, so I wanted to update for you all, and by you all I mostly mean Mom and Dad, who tend to wonder if everything is okay if I miss more a day of blog updating. Alas, there has been no major event over the past few days with which to base a focal point for this entry, so I will just start writing thoughts as they come to me, and hopefully they make sense and are maybe even interesting.

The last few nights I have gotten less sleep than usual, for the dual reason of going to bed too late for no reason, and waking up several times in the middle of the night. I felt this in a big way during the second section of lessons today, because by the gods I was tired. As I explained to my classmate Christian (which just made me realize, one of my updates soon will be about my classmates, I have lots of good thoughts to share with you all about them), it is for these extra-tired moments that I drink as little caffeine as possible during my standard daily routine. The reason being that even a small cup of coffee, as I had today, will wake me up in a hugely substantial way. It made the rest of the day much better.

Speaking of better, I am enjoying my time in Okazaki more and more with each day. I really am enjoying learning Japanese, and I just love all the little details that are different in Nihon than in America. For example, respect is very important in Asain culture, and especially among the Nihonjin. Because of this, the little day-to-day phrases, of which I have to memorize way too many a day, are really much more polite than their English correspondents. Furthermore, part of respect means staying true to the law of the land, so the crime rate is extraordinarily low. Even the pettiest of violations, such as jaywalking, are shunned, to the point where every time I jay walk when a lot of people are around, I actually get embarrased. But I am not complaining. There is so much that they do better here, it is no wonder that the Nihonjin have by far the highest life expectancy in the world. It's not genetic (nature), it's the very essence of their way of life (nurture) that is the cause. The concept of living well and healthily is so important in Nihon that, despite how incredibly horny everyone is (I'm not sure of the cause of this, but pornography, sex, and eroticism in general is far more prominent in the culture of Nihon), only 2 Nihonjin are known to have AIDS, total, out of the entire population.

While we're on the topic sex, eroticism, etc, I would like to note that we started a new two-week session of classes this week, complete with a couple of new students in the class, and one of our new primary teachers in only 20 years old and is SMOKING HOT. It is definitely a distraction in class.

On the nerdier side of news, in order to simultaneously fulfill my need to have a Region 2 (Nihon) compatible DVD player and play some Nihon-exclusive games, I bought a brand spanking new white PS2, which is dirt cheap in Nihon.

Roughly 5 of my readers are now jealous. 1 of them, John Noyes, needs to go play more Final Fantasy VII. Contact me over AIM, John, to discuss how to play it using my computer monitor in my room in the middle of the night, when Mom and Dad are asleep.

In the political realm, many of you are undoubtedly aware of the present North Korea fiasco. This has made me slightly worried for the past couple of weeks, today moreso than ever. I read as much news on the matter as I can. Unfortunately, North Korea's nuclear missles are only capable of reaching Nihon. Fortunately, North Korea seems much more focused on the US, so I seriously doubt I have anything serious to worry about for now.

Finally, you are all smelly and are apparently uninterested in the Nihongo equivalent of your names. Therefore, I shall now list the Nihongo names of everyone who I know reads this blog regularly. Take that!

Nick:　ニク　(prounounced "Neeku," the "u" is silent)
Susan:　スーサン (pronounced "soosan)
Pat:　パト (prounounced "pato," the "a" is soft and the "o" is barely pronounced)
Skatie:　スケーテイー (pronounced "sukeitii" and the "u" is basically silent)
John/Jon:　ジアーン (the ア is supposed to be small, pronounced "Jaan" and the "aa" is soft)
Emma:　エツマ (the ツ is supposed to be small, pronounced "e ma" there is a deliberate pause where the space is)
Elizabeth:　イリザベト (pronounced "erizabeto," the "r" is a actually a weird "LD" and the "o" is barely pronounced)
Betsy:ベツツイ (the first ツ is supposed to be small, pronounced "be tsui," there is a deliberate pause at the space, and the "u" is not pronounced)
Dave:　デーブ (pronounced "Deibu" and the "u" is silent)
Meg:　メグ (pronounced "megu" and the "u" is silent)
Shane:　シエーン (the エ is supposed to be small, pronounced "Shyein")
Virginia:　ベルジーニア (pronounced "berujiinia" and the "r" is a weird "LD" sound))
Diana:　ダイアナ (the イ is supposed to be small, pronounced "Daiana")
Anonymous:　アノネムス (why don't you tell me your name, mystery commenter [see Crazy Bank Non-Adventures comments]?)

I'm sure there are many of you I forgot/didn't know about. If you feel left out, please let me know by leaving a comment. I have set this blog so that ANYONE can comment, whether they are a Blogger.com member or not