How are my 2009 goals coming along?

Six months ago I made a list of goals I had for 2009. I decided this week to look back at them and see how I have progressed. Heres an update:

1. Visit Kyoto and Osaka - Not yet. Plans are being thought up for a trip this year still, but timing and other matters have caused me not to go yet. But I will hopefully soon.

2. Go skiing - Failed. I had planned on going skiing in the winter, but couldn't get anyone to come along with me. Plus other life matters got in the way. There's a chance I could go in December, but its looking more like a 2010 goal now.

3. Improve my Japanese and take the JLPT - Some success. My Japanese has improved a little I've been told, thanks to practice. But I missed out on the summer JLPT test. Maybe Ill take the fall test, but I haven't decided yet.

4. Concerts - Success. I saw Hamasaki Ayumi is a fantastic concert, and I plan on seeing a couple of more this year. But the one great concert makes this goal a success.

5. See my old friends from Sophia more - Failure so far. Again life in Kofu has made this sadly not happen. Its especially sad for me lately as I've started to think about my old friends there again a lot more.

6. Climb Mt. Fuji - Failed before it had a chance. With my knee problems and my asthma this summer, there is no way I'll be able to climb Mt. Fuji this year. A pity as I really want to try.

7. Make more friends, especially Japanese friends - Major success. Last year I made many new friends, but unfortunately I've lost touch with many of them. That made me sad, so I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again this year. And thankfully it hasn't. Especially since I have met my true new special friend, my girlfriend. I'm so happy about that, and I know Ill be even more successful with this goal in the next six months.

While there have been some failures, there have been lots of success too. While these are my main goals I do have other ones. For example, be a better teacher, get healthier, save money, catch up on things, and more. Hopefully I can succeed at everything.

Plans for the week

Last week thankfully was a very nice quiet one for me. Work was lacking the amount of stress that had been bugging me the past few weeks. My hope is that it continues that way for me this week but chances are that wont happen since work is going to be getting a little more difficult in the next few weeks. Camp is coming up and while I am looking forward to it, I also can't wait for it to be over.

With pay day coming up this week, I'm thinking of finally picking up a digital camera. I've had one picked out for a few months now but I've had other things that had to be paid for before I could get one. Hopefully I can post some real good pics and videos soon. Also I really want to go to Tokyo soon. The official unveiling of the life size Gundam is this week, so I want to go see it myself.

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!