Japan PM

On the world front I've noticed some curious developments.

I have my own take on things, I amuse myself. One story that came out a few weeks ago is that Kim Jong Il, leader of South Korea, and the leader of Myanmar have decided to make nice. I guess they were enemies. Those two countries being enemies makes no sense, and one can certainly see why they would want to patch things up. They have a common enemy: everyone. So there was a meeting.

A very short time later, Abe, the PM of Japan visited the US. So to amuse myself, I picture Bush telling Abe, "They have a meeting. We have a meeting." Watch out.

THEN Abe goes over to China, "Hey, let's improve relations." (Not an exact quote)
I've been on this side of the world for a while. I was in school for a month in China. I know about the relations with China and Japan, and I can say honestly, that this 'let's patch things up' attitude seems right out of the blue.

It wasn't that long ago that Japan was playing the same old role of completely disregarding all opinions outside of their borders, engaging in controversial behaviors, like visiting shrines for war criminals, and maintaining their superior attitude on any issue raised by outsiders. There were bold statements made that there's not enough evidence to prove that Korean women were held captive and raped by soldiers. This is just one of many issues. China and Korea have beefs with them continually. Back and forth.It seems for the last year, there's always been something in the news. Someone made a speech, someone visited somewhere, there was a court ruling...all of it just Japan being superior, 'we don't care' Japan.

And them boom.
Hey let's make friends with China.

Here's what I think. I think they've got their eye on North Korea. When Kim Jong Il started in last year with this 'Go ahead, make my day.' stuff, Japan was jumping around like the kid in the crowd that wanted a rumble.

The latest news is that Abe wants to change the constitution to more accurately reflect their power in the world. Their constitution mandates peace for the country. As I understand it, they do not have attack rights. Abe wants to change this. On the news there was a story showing thousands of protesters in Japan that want to maintain their peaceful stand. One woman said in to the camera directly and succintly, "They want to change this so that they can kill people." Maybe there was a translation issue, Japanese aren't typically so direct. But I heard her Japanese sentence and it was very short. Her voice was strong and direct.

So, I think that all this is not passing news, and somehow these recent events are to shape world events to come.

Paris Hilton, It's All so Confusing...

I hate Paris Hilton on so many levels, but there's one level that's got me thinking.

When I think of her, I become a harsh, merciless irascible-mouthed person. At which point I feel ugly hearted, and I don't like myself. So that's the level I hate the most. She actually causes me to muse, 'what is her purpose for living?' I opine, if she died, the world would be a better place. How many people can you say that about?

Dear Paris' Mom,

*blinking cursor* *blinking cursor*

Nevermind.

Another reason that I hate her is this: I feel that my thinking time is precious. Her behavior and persona are so obnoxious that I contemplate her existence, and I want those wasted mind-cells back.

So I heave a sigh and think, "It's all so confusing..." which leads me to talk about a recent disturbing trend with my thought patterns. Lately, after mentally sorting through something irritating, I find myself ending the thought as Meryl Streep playing the Devil in The Devil Wears Prada. Whenever she demanded the impossible and then was dissatisfied with results she would feign lamentation and confusion in this soft, gentle breezy sigh, almost to herself..."It's all so confusing."

This is what's happening in my mind and almost outloud regularly now, and it's alarming me. Great, now I'm the devil. My default settings for punctuating these mind-jogs used to be just a little sigh, and now this Miranda Priestly applet has been installed. Do we say 'applet' anymore? Well I need to uninstall that little sound clip.

I've always cringed at the word 'confusing'. I believe that there's almost nothing in life that's actually 'confusing', this is a word that is used passive aggressively by morons and lazy thinkers. There is such a thing in the world as nonsense. But that's not confusing, it's just nonsense. There are things that are too difficult to comprehend. But it's unlikely that such a thing would have the natural property of 'confused'; someone somewhere sees it clearly.

I know there is such a thing as confusing. It's just that my real world experience with usage of this word is negative. I've only heard it from dumb people trying to get out of thinking. I've seen it used as a control tactic on teachers, where I was a captive student, an innocent bystander. "I'm confused!" I was always dying to retort, "That's because you're dumb."

So now, I'm doing it. *sigh* It's all so confusing. I hate Paris Hilton.

Spiderman 3-Cuter than Heckfire

If you're wondering who the target audience is for Spiderman 3, I live with him. I have the sweetest 13 year old son in the world. Apologies to all, but that movie was just for him. I hope you enjoyed the special effects.

Am I the only one who thought of Ghostbusters at the end? You gotta love the Sandman though. Even with all his unstoppable power, he chooses the old-fashioned *punch* to end his opponent.

Seriously, I hope the movie has wider appeal than my family. I hope that others were able to enjoy as much as I did Peter Parker's transformation from 'nerd' to 'strangely behaving nerd'. My son turns in to this character once in awhile. Now I can tell him, allright, go take off the black suit and comb your hair back. The day after the viewing, he ran into a friend of his the same age. His friend pulled his hair down over his forehead and said, "evil hairdo!" Laughs all around.

When Peter turns 'bad', it's cringing time. Don't worry, it's supposed to be funny. It's like a nerd's rendition of someone who's overly-self confident. The swaying hips and the finger guns pointing at strangers on the street are only temporary. My kid does that at home sometimes, so I leaned in to him during the scene, "so that's what you're up to? You're being bad when you do that?" No, he insists, not at all.

If you have a sweet young boy, this is a good flick. Peter even says at the end something like, 'You have many choices in life, and you can make the right ones.'
Cuter than heckfire.

My students (South Korean) had already reported to me that the story was a bit "childish". I agree that the storylines needed to be told in a more clever way to be considered a really great movie, but it's still pretty entertaining.

South Koreans Love Wentworth Miller

News is that Wentworth is going to China soon to help with an internet Chinese version of Prison Break. Following that story I came across this photo of Wentworth's March visit to South Korea to shoot photos for Bean Pole Jeans.

One of my students left here last week and emails me from the UK to say that her Prison Break watching days are over. She's staying at a home that does not have access to a channel that airs it, and internet access is not as easy-peasey Japanesey as it is in Korea where every one and everything is online all the time with probably the fastest connection speed worldwide. Korea has one giant internet system that is instantaneous. The students studying abroad here in the Philippines can hardly endure the connection speed here.

Anyway, Asia has Prison Break fever, but the Western world seems to be lukewarm to the show by comparison. Now, most students tell me that Heroes is better, so I'll try to catch that if I have access to it.

That's a pretty nice drawing he's holding there. What's he going to do with those teddy bears? I suppose give them to charity. I'm not sure why people give stars teddy bears. Maybe it's a controlling thing. They like to see their favorite star holding some huge stuffed bear that they gave them. I think it's weird. Better than giving him underwear though. Why do women do that? What's the point of giving your underwear to some guy, like he's going to wear them? A huge bear wearing your underwear would be weird also I guess. Okay that's enough.

Queen Takes Advantage of Exchange Rate

The Queen visits the U.S. taking advantage of the current currency rate. As American tourists shy away from the U.K. at this time, Englanders and the like take advantage and go on holiday to the birthplace of Elvis and America's Next Top Model.

George Bush again.

I know I make jokes about George Bush, but the plain fact is that I don't enjoy talking about him.

Today, though, I feel that I need to jot some things down here.

One, he was on American Idol last night with his lovely wife, who I will forever now only refer to as "Corrina". People who followed Hurricane Katrina (a group which ironicly does not include Mrs. Bush) will know why.

They were both stiff and wooden and reading from cards. George didn't seem to know what to make of his statement, and he akwardly had to mention Bono, which I think was a joke written for him that was lost on him. Frankly, I thought thanking Bono by name was a little strange myself, but...

So that was weird enough, but after the show there was a live speech on CNN. There's a time difference here so we were getting ready for bed.

I got so frustrated listening to him I told my son, just turn this off and let's go to bed, he's making me mad.

How? Well there's a chance I'm ignorant but I really felt insulted with his same old schtick of 'we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here' What? You're still saying that? Don't you read? (Sorry, I take it back). Since the Iraq war began terrorism has increased by 25%. That's a CNN stat.

And he kept saying something that was lost on me. He kept using the term 'global war'. Is it just me that's ignorant? It's a GLOBAL war now? So a few years ago he and his cronies wanted to convince us that there was no global warming, and now they want to convince us there's a global war (not warming for those of you paying attention).

Well maybe he is going to attack Iran after all. Maybe someone handed him the wrong speech. Maybe this is the one he's supposed to read next year.

Sunburned

May 1st our family and scads of my closest friends, about 30 of us, went to a beach for a day. It was really hot. It was really sunny, but my youngest autistic son has no concept of not going in the water. We're all sunburnt today. We minimized the burns using lotions and getting out of the sun and trying to stay covered, but my ankles and lower legs really got it. It's hard for me to walk.

My camera somehow broke at the beach. I'm thinking maybe it got too hot. So I didn't get to take pictures of the boat ride, or anything. I'm bummed. It was a good day though. The kids really needed a day out.

Antarctica: More To Come

Antarctica: More To Come

Wow, this blog for Antarctica looks really interesting. The pictures are great.

George Bush News...er...

Mystery fossil turns out to be giant fungus-link

No Chuckle Zone

Boy it has been a no chuckles day at work. Ok, that's an exaggeration. But only kind of.

I'll just quickly jot down a few things that the students say here...to add to my collection.

One thing lately is the guys have been coming in looking a bit tired. They explain how they are getting no sleep because of a certain noisy neighbor.

"Crazy chicken, always sing a song!" I guess there's this rooster over there that crows loudly all night. I did chuckle at how that was explained to me.

Today poor Bini was constipated and told me in the bathroom, "Today I cannot succeed!"

Here's one I hear regularly "I'm so boring!", meaning I'm so bored.

Enough for now.

Microserfs and Sake

CR=Comfort Room=Restroom

There is no toilet paper in the bathrooms here at the college. The management refuses. In the lobby of the school there is a cardboard box where sometimes there are methodically folded up squares of tp inside. The secretary folds them. In fact she was just doing a whole batch now when I asked her if she'd made the photocopies that I'd requested and she told me no, because the management said the students should pay for the copies. Scrap (flush) that idea, then.

Anyway. I just noticed today that the cardboard box I've been taking toilet paper from for the last 6 months (when management finally agreed after many student complaints that they might provide toilet paper sometimes) is a Japanese Hakushika Sake box.

I think I just noticed that today because I'm re-reading microserfs by Douglas Copeland. He makes life seem more interesting, thereby perhaps increasing my observational powers.

Even though I'm re-reading this, I don't think I ever read it in the first place. Two reasons. One: I don't remember it. Two: I distinctly remember not liking it. I'm reading it now, and I like it just fine. It's very entertaining and strangely current (current enough).

This book came out in 1995. 12 years ago. That's a decade plus. (Gotta remind old folks like myself that think that was last year.) Here's an excerpt.

There was a weird moment at the end of the night when everyone was pixelated. Ethan was carrying two flaming Sambucas, and tripped over a Planet of the Apes lunchbox somebody left on the floor next to a backpack, and the drinks sloshed all over the back of Susan's T-shirt, and she was on fire, like the "Flame On!" guy from the Fantastic Four.


I don't know, I mean that's no big deal I guess, but it seems strangely current to me. A book with so much technology in it should be absurd anymore. But this book isn't at all like an 8 track cassette. Douglas Coupland just has a way
Douglas Coupland really super cool interview.

Cho Seung Hui and George Bush

What's the difference?

A: George has opted to remain among the living.

(I'm in a bad mood today.)

Star Trek The Original Series versus Next Generation.

There is no 'versus'...Next Generation wins.

"There are four lights!" -Jean Luc Picard...very special quote to me.

Wentworth and Brad: Some Observations

Well my love hate relationship with the internet continues as I search for Wentworth Miller information. I'm really upset because come to find out, there are quite a few other people who like Wentworth, too. I'm jealous. I like to be the only one, or one of the few. It's the way I am. Just found out also that not only is he a Princeton Graduate, but his major was English Lit *fanning myself again*.

I'm worried about Brad Pitt's mental health. He complained about this Vanity Fair cover. He signed a release form for the photoshoot, and this is an 'art issue' of Vanity Fair. What's the problem? The problem might be that Brad is in love with himself as much as the rest of us girls are.

I have more serious blog entries to tend to and issues coming up, but for now... here's some drivel. Some might conclude that I may need a boyfriend.

Cho Seung Hui

This is how it unfolded for me. Yesterday morning in class, a student came in and told me he saw the shooting incident on the news. At this time. there was no information.

After I got home I turned on the news immediately, because my student said it was the biggest shooting in US history. At that time they were announcing that it was an Asian student.

As I was watching with my son, they showed the name on the bottom of the screen...Cho Seung Hui. I said "oh my...that's a Korean name." I told my son.

Cho is the last name. Korean Americans often times rearrange their names American style and use a more common first name. Example: Julie Cho. Even if they retain an Asian first name, they will rearrange, i.e. Song Cho.

His name starting with Cho made me believe that this student was actually from South Korea and was studying abroad there at V-Tech.

But...

Then I said to my son, I wonder how long he's been in the US.

Because in South Korea, they don't have guns. They are outlawed. It's not part of their culture, and often when students ask me questions about the US they ask me about the 'gun culture'. I report to them that even with a 'gun culture' in the US as it's called, I personally have never seen a gun (that I can remember).

It was puzzling to me that a student would study abroad and develop an immidiate and deep interest in guns. The reporters were announcing that he used a glock and was skilled. The nature of these shots were disturbing, each victim shot at least three times and some students said he just shot people point blank in the head execution style.

So, it kind of made sense when the news unfolded revealing that he actually moved to the US when he was 8 years old. He's very American. He's not a citizen technically, but a legal alien resident. I'm guessing from his name that his family has kept his heritage strong, and maybe their house is very Korean- language intact, customs, food. It's just conjecture on my part of course at this stage, but this is what I expect to learn.

I knew that South Korea would be horrified. I knew that going to work the next day would be interesting, if they've seen the news. They really do act as a cohesive group. I say "they" because they say 'they'. They lump people together into races and categories as general practice, and definitely hold the crimes of one person against their entire particular race or heritage. I have had several people tell me, "black people look like criminals to me"

So I know what they expect. They expect for the US to hold this against their entire population.

This morning I woke up early to turn on the news. I never turn the tv on in the morning. Before work I watched coverage of the victim's lives and families. I couldn't help but feel something. While showering I felt deep sadness for the gunman's parents.

At this stage that might be a controversial statement, but I'm serious, and I stand by it. The victims died innocently. But the Chos lost their son to suicide and the fact that he murdered 32 innocent people. There is no crime they could have comitted against their son that would warrant that kind of behavior. Sodomized kids don't act so badly. There just isn't an explanation or excuse. So, yes. their pain might be greater than all others.

I walked into my class room this morning and I erased everything off my whiteboard, which I usually don't do. I even erased something that has been written on the board for months. I erased everything. I wrote in the center, not too big...


Cho Seung Hui


I had to go out and check my schedule and prepare for staff photo taking. Mr. Moon, one of my bosses was behind a tripod and camera coaxing me, "Come on, smile...give me big American smile." It was hard, I felt quite solemn. (He hadn't heard yet, he thought some Chinese dude did it.)

Later when I entered class, there were students in there waiting for me. Two of my favorite students had serious yet warm looks on their faces. I said, "good morning..", they said "We're sorry." It actually took me a second. "OH!...yeah..."
I just smiled "you guys are so cute, so nice- apologizing for that..." I said in a nevermind kind of way. It bothers me that they are apologizing. I really like these guys. One of them is visiting the US after this place, and his face had gone completely pale from dread. He's going to San Diego. I told him, don't sweat it. It won't be a problem.

I turned around and one of my other favorite students, "Brown" appeared in the doorway- he was due to attend a class down the hall at that time. Brown is a senstive kind of chunky guy that reminds me of Sam from Lord of the Rings, but the students call him Frodo. We looked at each other. He held up a finger gun and pretended to shoot me "Pop pop pop." I burst out laughing and tackled him in the hallway. "I love you Brown!"

I have three more classes today.
Tomorrow I will erase Cho Seung Hui and I will write...


You are individuals.

Wentworth Miller

So I was wondering aloud in class whether or not Wentworth Miller might be gay. The students didn't want to think so. I don't know anything about him, but I don't hear about him dating. The thing is, that I don't really pay attention to celebrity news, I'll hear the big stuff, but most news I don't hear. So...I thought, well, there's no reason to think that he's gay except he's geneticly gifted and I'm attracted to him.

I'm attracted to guys like Anderson Cooper and Douglas Coupland, so you do the math. Of course, I also like Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt which puts me in the category of...female. So where am I going with this? Brad and Johnny aren't gay. BUT if someone told me that Angelina used to be a man, I would believe it.

SO what I'm getting to is that the other day I looking at Wentworth Miller news here on my own blog, with the link on the side of the page here...and this article came up. 'Wentworth Miller denies that he's gay.' So I guess I wasn't the only one wondering.

But what he said just made me chuckle a bit. He said he's not upset about the rumors because people have fantasies. It's ok, he just wants them to watch the show.

I'm guessing this guy likes himself.

I also see that he's a graduate of Princeton University. I literally had to fan myself.

So, Wentworth, you have a new admirer here, add me to the list, even if you're conceited. What is it about him? It's the eyes, and the -everything.

Being Married vs. Staying Single

So here are some insights into the Korean people in their 20's and early 30's.

One of the questions for class discussion is, 'Which is better, being married, or staying single?'

The first point of interest is not that ALL the guys are saying that being married is better, but it's the emphatic manner in which they answer 'yes' that makes it even more interesting. Common answers are "Of course marriage." with the emphasis on 'of course'. Or "Absolutely...marriage is better."

Next point of interest. While most women say they want to get married, I have had more than a few female students answer that single life is better and they wish to remain single. Some swear they will never get married. Hilarity ensues.

Whenever I've had this answer given by a woman in class, the men get upset, "WHY?" they demand. After almost a year here and spending hours with countless groups of students I've been able to piece together the 'why'.

Korean men = not good!

I personally happen to like some Korean guys that I've met better than any guys I've met anywhere, but...the overall situation is painted as bleak by the women. Right now in Korea girls are lucky because in their age group 20's-30's there are more men than women. This is something that I guessed. There was a certain way that the men acted that made me wonder if there is currently a women shortage in Korea. The students tell me, yes, this is the case.

This puts the women in a favored position among men. The guys have become very romanitc beings, and say that they want a girlfriend to be a wife and a best friend. They enjoy "talkative" women, they say. I'm like...huh? wha? Wow, Im in opposite land here on the other side of the earth. I mean, day here is night over there and vice versa, so why shouldn't people be completely opposite?

Well of course they aren't. But right now in Korea is the best time to be a chick than ever before as I understand it. So why not get married?

To sum up the various answers I get: The girls say that Korean men are fine and dandy BEFORE marriage.
Let's just leave it at that.

Wentworth Miller in Korea!

So, I'm adding page elements to my blog here, and one of them is the headlines element. I checked on adding Wentworth Miller news to the list, and up came this article about Wentworth going to Korea to promote Bean Pole jeans (March 21st). He was greeted at the airport by tons of giddy fans. They had some pictures there I looked at. Nice.

Yeah, he's huge in Korea. ALL the girls love him with no exceptions. After being told again in again in my classes how "good-looking" and "nice body-line" this guy was, I finally took note and caught the first episode of the first season on Star World here in the Philippines.

I'm hooked. He really is good to watch.

I wish I had known this news when it first hit, I would've announced it in class and had a fun discussion.

The guys love him, too.

It's been a long break...:) and CNN is TERRIBLE

I am refreshed from my vacation.

I'm also absolutely disgusted with CNN's non-coverage of the Iran- British sailors incident. I have a brain in my head, I don't need them to tell me what to think about snippets they barely want to show on tv for two seconds. A few seconds of a sailor smiling and then blathering commentary about how the leader of Iran is a genius at media manipulation was all that was going on. And it was insulting.

Questions like 'were they really in Iran's waters' weren't even asked, but commentary was given as if the answers were foregone conclusions.

Sorry, but I have questions!

There are three possibilities. One is that they were completely in Iranian waters. Two is that they were daring to enter a disputed zone and then refusing to acknowledge in the media very loudly that the area was disputed and controversial. (I heard it quickly once or twice that this may have been a disputed area)the third option is that they were completely inside Iraqi waters altogether.

Well, question...if they were completely in Iraqi waters, then wasn't IRAN violating something by entering AND taking prisoners? It seems incredible.

With the big deal that this was, surely western powers and Tony Blair would have blown a much louder foul whistle had it been the case that Iran dared enter Iraq territory and then take prisoners. Come now. Or is there no restriction on that?

I mean, how stupid am I CNN?
How stupid am I Tony Blair?

I mean, I've known CNN isn't the best source for news. I figured that with CNN I was getting shallow news, but it's news nonetheless. Now I question if any of it's news at all. Where is media I can trust?

I don't even LIKE IRAN~! But CNN is starting to make me more sympathetic just by virtue of their barely veiled cover-up and spin. What is this, a government news station? Is this China? Or worse, Fox? ( ha )

Anyway, Ahadinejad may have all these clever plots up his sleeve, but I don't need CNN thinking for me and failing to answer begged questions. Give me a break.

Goodbyes Again

Yesterday at lunch in a different restaurant, I heard the Goodbye Girl song again. It must be popular here. Sometimes I feel as though I do nothing but say goodbye to people.

More students are leaving again. These last two girls are making me sad. Tyra held on to me and wouldn't let me go forever. Her hair smelled really good. I just told her, "Your hair smells good." I had to explain to them that this good-bye thing happens to me a lot now and so I can't say anything, but I feel-feelings. I've quit telling the students how I feel. I can't do it anymore. It's easier to say 'give me your email address.' Actually that's what I was telling Tyra when I pried her pretty smelling being off my person, "I'll email you right away." "I'll email you right away." "I'll email you right away." She had these big croc tears.

She chose the name Tyra because of the Tyra Banks show and I would tease her about it. I told her if I ever catch a couple of minutes of that show, I can feel myself getting dumber. She says, well fine, I like America's Next Top Model better. Ok. I admit from time to time I find that show interesting. No where near as interesting as Project Runway though.

Some students here are majoring in Fashion, so we talk about Project Runway. They love it. I'm ready for a new season of that, I can tell you. It's the closest interest I have to being normal I think. For a girl. I probably would choose Project Runway over American Choppers, if they were both on at the same time. But that's only because AC tends to get redundant.

I think Natalie my email me some pictures so that I can post more here.