Evangelion 2.0 and the end of a terrible week at work

Well Saturday has come and gone and thankfully so has my week of observations at work, and after the terrible morning I had, I'm glad I won't have to worry about them again for a long time. I had thought that I had made some steps in the right direction, but that feeling came to a halt immediately after my first two classes when instead of having lunch I received a nice long chat with a co worker about my classes. It wasn't an experience I want to relive nor do I want to explain here. It was so bad, every other worker at my job came to me afterwords seriously concerned about my feeling. I got through the day, but I was pretty sad as I left work.

Thankfully tonight I had a great dinner with my girlfriend, who really cheered me up so much, and I got to see the brand new Evangelion movie! It opened today in Japan and even here in Kofu there were long lines to see the film. Of course only one theater is showing it in Kofu, but thats better than when the first new film came out in 2007, when it premiered in Kofu over a month after its showings in Tokyo. The film was pretty good, but it made major changes to the story from the original. In many ways, its like the new Star Trek film. The characters are similar, some of the look and scenes are similar, but the story has major differences from the original. There was one scene in particular that will shock some fans of the show in its change, and the ending of the film takes a particular important and memorable scene from the series and makes it even more important, and speeds up the story itself. There's even a brand new character in the film that confused me more than anything.

In the end, just like the first of the new Evangelion films, the film was a blast. Great animation, great music, a interesting new look at the Evangelion universe, and more. I can't wait for the Bluray disk of the film to come out, and hopefully movie three won't take two years to come out like movie one did.

Doctors visit, aka how I finally had my knee looked at

Well after worrying for a few weeks I finally went to the doctor today. It was quite a strange morning as I woke up to the news of the death of Michael Jackson. Quite a shock to wake up to that news. After that me and my girlfriend headed to one of the local clinics, one that focused on injuries. I had a x-ray and an examination and was told that my injury was one that many people get when they are young and do lots of sports. This is how I originally hurt my knee when I was young. I was told that unfortunately that its a permanent injury and that at this point all I can do is try to treat the injury and the pain as best as I can. However if the swelling in the knee gets bigger again, which it sometimes does, I'll have to have surgery on it in the future.

The doctor visit finished with a strange electronic message of my knee, that was quite weird. Afterwords I got some medicine and a knee supporter to wear when I walk and ride a bicycle. I wore it today and it was hard at first to walk, but it got better. Sadly my knee still is very sore at the moment, but I know what the problem is now and I know what I need to do to fix it.

In other things in life, I have now finished four days of parent observation classes. Day three was not the best day I've had, lots of mistakes and worries. Today was better however. I think the nerves of going to the doctor had a lot to do with yesterdays mistakes, as today was much better. Tomorrow is my last day of observations, and I can't wait for them to end. They are very difficult and stressful, but once they are over, I always feel so much better.

Tomorrow night after work I'm going to the movies to see the new Evangelion film. It will be nice to check out some anime. Its been too long since I've watched any new anime. I just hope work goes by fast tomorrow.

Observation days, 2 down, 3 to go. Plus a doctor visit

The difficult week known as parent observation week is off and running for me. Two days are down, and so far its been a mixture of very good and the usual. Day one was good as I was able to show off the work I've done to improve my lessons and my problems. Even my coordinator felt there was improvement. But I still have a ways to go. Day two was much harder and I made many mistakes, but I'm sure I'm doing better than I was. Days three and four will be pretty good I believe, and day five will be the hard one, but I'm sure I can do it. I have this weird burst of energy this week. I feel more comfortable in classes and I think its showing.

I'm a little worried about Friday however. On that day I'll be going to the doctor to have my knee looked at. I hurt my knee way back in middle school, and its always caused me trouble. Ever since them its been about two times the normal size. The pain comes and goes, but since sports day a few weeks ago, the pain has been pretty large. Now that things are going well and I have good medical insurance, I'm going to have it looked at. My hope is it can be treated simply.

Something weird for tonight. Since I had a super long day, I decided to relax to some classic entertainment. For me that means re-watching the Sakura Taisen live show that I went to in 2002 on DVD. Its been a while since I've watched it and I've always enjoyed. Its brought a nice smile to my face tonight.

Making a big mistake

I have made many mistakes in my life. I'm a very clumsy person. Lately I made a big mistake that has hurt a friend. A mistake I didn't mean to make, and one I feel horrible about. Today this mistake became even bigger and now I worry I have made things beyond fixable. I feel so terrible about it, I feel so terrible that I hurt my friends. I hope they are reading this, because even though I've tried to say it already, I want to say it again, Im very very sorry.

Observation week three

This week I get ready for another week of observation classes. This will be the third time I do these at my school, and the first time with most of my classes for the year. While many of the parents know me, some do not, and they will want to see how classes are going. There will be the added stress of my coordinators being in the room at the same time, which will mean lots of "constructive feedback." I have been told that I am expected to correct many of my mistakes by the end of the month, something I have worked very hard to do. My feelings have been that I have been, and will succeed at this goal for the month. However I do worry if that will occur as I know I make more mistakes than everyone and I tend to be too nervous at all times. My mistakes are embarrassing, and my attempts to fix them have been a struggle, but I have never given up and continue to try and get better. That is something I wish I could convey more to everyone at work, the fact that I do work hard, that I do everything I can to improve, and that I care about my classes so much.

The funny thing is that while I will be a bit nervous, I'm not as nervous as I was the last two times I did these lessons. I feel much more relaxed this time, and much more confident in my abilities. While I do have things I need to improve, there are lots of things I am doing better now I feel than I did before. Not only that, I have received a lot of great encouragement and support from everyone outside of work, which makes me very happy. And lately spending lots of time with my girlfriend and friends have helped me feel very happy again and regain my confidence.

My hope is that by next Saturday night, I will be celebrating a job well done! Good luck to me!

A wonderful Sunday in Tokyo

This past Sunday was one of the best I've had in quite a long time. Me and my girlfriend headed off to Tokyo for a day of shopping, having fun, and relaxing. It was quite nice to go back to my Japanese hometown as I call it and to get my mind off of the stresses of life. We went to many different places during our day there, and I even experienced some new things on this trip.

First we headed off to Harajuku to pay a visit to Meiji shrine and Yoyogi park. Going back to both always brings back memories as both places were important to me during my time at Sophia University. Afterwords we went shopping for clothes at some of the very fashionable and popular stores in Harajuku. This was a new experience for me and one that I found quite interesting. Many of the stores were quite packed with a festival like atmosphere that I had seen only on tv in shows about Christmas shopping or popular stores in places like LA and New York. After going to many of these stores, and enjoying the sites and sounds of Harajuku, we decided to go a little American for lunch and stopped by Burger King in Shibuya. This was the first time since coming to Japan that I had been to Burger King, so it was nice to have a Whopper again. Afterwords on our way to the train station we did some more clothes shopping and enjoyed the views.

Afterwords we headed to Akihabara to do some sightseeing and shopping. Sadly the thing I had come to buy there was sold out at every store in the area, and even sold out everywhere else I searched later that day. Disappointing, but it was still nice showing off the area to my girlfriend. We then headed to Shinjuku to do more shopping for tea and books. By this time the rain had started to pour down in Tokyo, and since we had no umbrella and it was getting late, we ran to catch the next train. Luckily we made it thanks to an accident at another station causing all departures to be delayed. It was a great day, and we both had a great time together! Even though we couldn't go everywhere or buy everything, we had the best time, and already we are planning our next trip there for next month. I can't wait.

There was one unfortunate thing however, my pain in my knee started to bug me again. Its been an issue for a long time, and after all the walking yesterday it was really a problem. I'm thinking of going to the doctor about it, but I'm worried they will say I need surgery.

Tomorrow I go back to work. Another week that I'm sure will be hard. I hope it at least goes smoothly. But even if its hard, I'm so happy right now to be in love!

Mostly recovered from last weekend, Tokyo countdown t-minus 2 days!

Its been a few days since my sports day and my body has finally gotten back to normal for the most part. The soreness is gone, although my chest is still giving me some issues. There's very little I can do about it however as I just have to wait for the bruising to go away. Luckily its almost gone. Work has been hard this week but I'm now at the end of the week so it should go much more smoother.

I'm personally looking very forward to Sunday. I will be spending the entire day in Tokyo with my girlfriend. I haven't been to Tokyo since February so I know I will have a fantastic time. We plan on going early and going around all our favorite areas of the town. It will be very nice to get out and have some fun. I need to since lately life has been very tough with so many things to do and so many stresses. I can't wait.

I hope this weekend to be able to take a lot of pictures. However I still only have my cell phone camera, which isn't the best. I hope I can get a new camera soon by next month, but I'm not sure if that will be possible. I guess I'll just have to wait and see on my next payday.

Recovering from sports day

Yesterday my school held its annual sports day. Just like the usual school field days in America, sports days are meant to give the kids a chance to have fun and play games. For me its a difficult event as it tests my asthma. Last year there were moments where I could barely breathe. This year I had planned on taking it easy, but as I've learned over the years, my plans tend to not go well.

The event was split into two parts, one for the younger kids, and a second for the older students. The idea of the event was for everyone to have fun, and of course use some English as well, since it is an English school. The first event was very hard. I ended up being a semi group leader, which meant making sure the kids were in their right teams. And of course I would play some of the games with the kids. We had an obstacle course that the parents could join in with the kids. I stood in for one kid's parent since they couldn't come. Running the course took a lot out of me, but the next event, tag, caused me considerable trouble as I started having chest pains in my lung area. Thankfully I got a rest and was able to drink a lot of water. That helped me a lot. We then played some dodgeball, and finished up with a treasure hunt for the kids. It was a fun morning, but it was only half way done.

After lunch the older kids came in. This time we started off with a dodgeball tournament. My team that afternoon really enjoyed it. A group of girls in the team kept wanting to talk and play with me, especially arm wrestling as they were strong! We then had a big treasure hunt and followed it up with my most hated game, duck duck goose. This is where everyone decided to bully me and kept choosing me. I had said before the event that I would sit out this game, but I decided to tough it out and try to do my best. It wasn't good for my asthma but I survived and the kids seemed to love my effort as they kept cheering me on.. We finished the day with a relay and some extra playtime.

Overall I had a great time, and it seemed to me that the kids also had a great time too. Myself and my coworkers worked very hard and did a great job. However after coming home the damage I did to my body was very apparent. My asthma had been activated and has been bugging me since. I can breathe OK but I feel ill. My muscles are also sore, especially my hurt knee. But hopefully I'll be healed soon. It was a fun event but I am glad its over.

Star Trek in Japan and other things

Last Saturday I went to the theaters to see Star Trek on its opening weekend in Japan. The extra wait that movies get here from their releases in America can range from a few days to months and even years! Luckily Star Trek came out only a few weeks after its release in the US so I didn't have to wait too long. Me and my girlfriend went to the film together and I was quite surprised that the local theater was jammed packed with people. Lately the theater, the main one in the Kofu area, hadn't seen much excitement, but this past Saturday it seemed everyone wanted to go see a movie. Most went to see a movie based on a popular manga that opened the same weekend, but the theater was packed for Trek as well.

Quick review, it was awesome! It was everything I expected in watching a new Star Trek movie and more. The battles were exciting, the story was great, and the actors were great bringing the classic characters back to life. It was a fun movie, and me and my girlfriend both enjoyed it. And I also ended up picking up a nice extra at the theater by buying a nice little souvenir book for the film. These are quite common in Japan and I try to buy one for most of the films I see as they end up being quite nice. I want to see the film again, but I'll wait for the Blu-ray release as going to the movies in Japan is too expensive for multiple visits to one movie.

In other happenings this week, the swine flu has come to my prefecture. No one is panicking, as it seems people in Japan have finally come to the same realization the rest of the world has on the truth of this flu. But today I went to the local used item store and noticed they were asking in a big pamphlet outside for people to sale them their unused flu masks. Kind of strange, but I guess they want to make a bit of money from the situation. And I have also found a wonderful solution to relaxing after the frustrations of the past few weeks, and thats revisiting listening to my old anime songs. Most of the week when I get home I've been turning on my computer and listening to lots of old anime soundtracks to cheer me up. Its really helped a lot. Makes me wish my ipod wasn't busted.

And lastly this week I got my city taxes bill for the year. Thankfully I pay in four installments, which is good as they went up a lot this year as this was the first year I worked a full year and didn't have the problems I did in 2007.

This weekend will be hard for me. Sunday is sports day for my school. Sports day was fun last year, but also hard considering I have asthma. My hope this year is that I won't have any asthma problems, but I'm a little worried about it. But if anything bad happens, I will sit out some activities. I'm not supposed to run for the most part anyway, and luckily the people at work have said its OK so I will do what I can. And on the 14th I get to go to Tokyo for a day of shopping, relaxing, and having fun. I can't wait!