linterry's blogger

Perhaps there is more to the Henry simulation than meets the eye. Going back to the Champions League final this year (where Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona): Henry was very upset at being kicked and roughed up by Puyol - and getting no calls from the ref. He was quoted as saying:

"Next time I'll learn to dive, maybe, but I'm not a woman" - Thierry Henry

He also uncharacteristically bad-mouthed Barcelona after the match, saying how certain players (including Ronaldinho) didn't even play well. It seems that he was pretty damn upset over the loss and it could be very possible that he held a grudge against Puyol from that day on.

I've watched Thierry Henry play in countless matches and I have never, ever, seen him go down so dishonorably like he did against Spain. Henry is not a diver - and everybody, including the ref, knew this. Refs are aware of players that have a reputation for diving, and don't give out cards as often when they go down and cry wolf. Conversely, when honest players go down refs will be more eager to hand out a card because it's unlikely that it's a simulation.

Henry pretty much cashed in on all those years of honest play to willfully land Puyol a yellow card with his acting. The retribution was made even sweeter that the ensuing free kick was the one that led to the critical 2nd goal by France. However, I really do wonder what this will do to his reputation. I mean, I still adore him as an Arsenal player, but I have to admit he is just not the same person when playing for France national team.

This is one f*cking hilarious video:

Watch carefully as Ruud van Nistelrooy misses a penalty, gets laughed at by an Andorra player (00:12), and then when he scores later... well... pay attention to how he celebrates. "ohohohohohohho" .... pwnage!

I never liked Ruud very much but I always have a thing for immature comebacks... so f*cking hilarious.

VIVE LA F*CKING FRANCE



France 3 - 1 Spain

Parlez-vous Francais? Parlez-vous Francais? Hahah, oui, je parle le francais, merci boocoo. What a magnifique match. It's the kind that makes me want to dig out my French-English dictionary and study Francais all night. Oh wait, I don't have a French-English dictionary. Wahaha.

Sorry, I'm just so exhilirated to see les Bleus beat down the Spaniards 3-1. It was a great match and thanks to the double re-runs on NHK BSHi and BS1 I was able to see the whole thing despite having to work from 2pm to 5pm today.


First off, the Ribery goal. Ahh, c'est tellement beau, ca. While Henry acted as the offside dummy, he snuck through the back line, cooly beat the keeper one-on-one and slotted the ball into the net. This was probably the first "breakaway" goal France had in the World Cup so far, and it was magnifique. Ribery kicked so much fucking ass against Spain. He was energetic, driven, and fearless.



Henry, however (seen here going backdoor on his captain Zidane) was still disappointing. He did nothing in the match except get caught offside a zillion times and giving possession away everytime he got near the ball. He just looks so lost and disoriented on the pitch - probably because he's not used to playing as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation. His only real contribution was weaseling a yellow card against Puyol which consequently led to the second crucial goal by Vieria off the free kick. It was blatant simulation; he went down clutching his face but Puyol clearly hit him in the chest. It's ironic because he is supposed to be one of the world's most honorable players.


Ahh yes, les bons amis... Zidane scored one monster goal in losstime. How many times have you seen a team move everybody forward, desperate for the equaliser, only to be fucked right in the backside by a counter-attack? Zidane totally undressed a backpedaling Puyol and put the dagger right into the heart of Spain in injury time. That was the goal that made me the believe that France has finally gotten the monkey off their back, and are back in form. Well, maybe it's too early to say, but three goals against Spain was way more than I expected given their super long drought since the 1998 WC Finals.


Yeah, take that Aragones, savor la pwnage Francaise, wahahah. I read from Four-Four-Two magazine a couple of years ago that he is a racist and once called Henry a "Black shit". Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but everything about this geezer creeps me out. The thick glasses, the strict, disciplinarian expression... he's the kinda guy who would give his daughter's boyfriends a fucking hard time for anything. Now, you get to go home. Au revoir, Monsieur Aragones.

OMG I just found my identical twin!!

Portugal 1 - 0 Holland

This was the best match of the WC2006 so far, not because it was actually good soccer, but because both teams were out to kill each other. It all started with a blatant assault on Portugese star Cristiano Ronaldo, in the 10th minute, which left him in serious pain



I mean this wasn't just accidental... on the replay, it looked like the Dutch defender Bouhravoz (or whatever his name is), went straight for C.Ronaldo thighs, studs up. It could very well have been an intentional play by Holland to injure C.Ronaldo early in the game to get an advatange. I've actually had the same thoughts when I played difficult matches in Winning Eleven... if you just tackle their best player hard enough, maybe things will be a lot easier...



Poor C.Ronaldo... he left the pitch in tears... and I know a lot of people would want to label him a crybaby (he is only 21), but those are tears of passion for not being able to play for his country in such a crucial match. I really like C.Ronaldo, half the fun of watching Portugal is watching him bust out some mad dribbling skills.



Portugal pretty much saw the assault on C.Ronaldo as a declaration of war, and things started getting real dirty after that. There were lots of scuffles, hard tackles, and blatant time-wasting (by Portugal). It just seemed like both sides kept retaliating in anger, leading to NHL-style confrontations. Here is Figo staring down Marc van Bommel, right before he gave him a nice headbutt a few seconds later.



LOL. You gotta love Figo. He don't take no shit from anybody. Of course, van Bommel went down like a pussy after the headbutt (like any player would to elicit a card from the ref) It was so obvious he was faking it. I don't remember if that got Figo a yellow card but I think it did.



In total, there were a shitload of yellow cards and four players got sent off by the end of the match. Nine on nine soccer!



Despite all the yellow cards, Arjen Robben (the only Dutch player that I like), got karate-kicked inches from his face studs up , yet mysteriously there was no call! Something was really fucked up with the officiating today, methinks.



Here Van Bronckhorst takes down his Barcelona teammate, Deco. Of course, there's a high chance that Bronckhorst never even touched Deco because Deco is known to be a professional diver. Nevertheless, the two were seen chatting with teach other after both getting sent off... which was a touching scene admist all the violence and aggression on the pitch.




Portugal end up winning 1-0 which is good because there's nobody interesting on the Dutch side except for Robben. At least with Portugal, you've got Figo, Deco, and of course, C.Ronaldo, so they are a fun side to watch.

Woke up at 9:30am this morning, guzzled some canned coffee and then headed straight to Ameku Shinotshi to give the trial lesson. I met up with Nakamatsu-san (English Garden manager) and we went to this strange looking office of sorts. I gave a rather adlib lesson to four guys in their 20's... it went really well according to Nakamatsu-san.

There was this really hot Japanese chick, Mika Kitajima who was a secretary and temp teacher of sorts at the company. She was hot to epic proportions, but I didn't really like her. She gave off this vibe that she knew she was hot, and thus expected every man who laid eyes on her to fall in love and worship her immediately. Maybe I've been influenced a lot by this article about the busu-boom. Pretty much, it says that beautiful women are so pre-occupied with being beautiful that they are unlikely to satisfy a man the way you'd think they could. Only less attractive women, who actually have to work hard to gain attention and approval, are willing to go the extra mile.

After the lesson I met with my gf and we shopped around the Shinotoshi area. Got a new shirt and carrying bag from Uniqlo and new pants from Sanye-Main Place. The drive home was absolutely killer. It was probably 34 degrees today and the air conditioner in our car was busted... you could not imagine how horrible it felt being stuck in traffic and getting outright baked by the intense heat. I had to change into shorts and take off my shirt and underwear in the fricking car, cuz I had already started develop to nasty sweat rashes. At that point I wondered why there are two cars with perfect AC's just sitting at home parked in the garage, while we have to get microwaved in this piece of shit Mitsubishi Minica.

I arrived home topless which must have shocked Rino a little since she was standing right by the doorway. Not that anyone would be impressed by anything... my body is more or less crooked and I have this huge cavity between my breasts that could probably balance an egg if I was lying down.

Later at night I went down to Haebaru Jusco by myself to read some books. I finally found a bookstore that sells English books but it's like this small pitiful section in the corner. I also found out an offical band score of Hyde's SEASON'S CALL.... I spent half an hour analyzing that work of art and memorizing the exact chords so I didn't have to pay 750 yen for a copy. Oh yeah, I know nobody cares, but it wasn't Hyde who wrote that song, but the guitarist, Kaz. I suppose that's reflected in those massively colorful chords like F/Eb and Bb/Ebmin9, and the fact that the song is supposed to be played with the guitars tuned down one whole step. I always like songs primarily written by guitarists more than those written by vocalists... the other example I can think of is Radiohead's Just which was really the brainchild of Radiohead guitarist Jon Greenwood. I can't get enough of that C,Eb,D,F progression which I play like 20 times a today on the guitar.

I'm having so much fun with the electric guitar it's almost criminal. After switching from the classical, I feel like I've gained a quantum leap in playing ability. Chord changes are smoother and quicker, upstrokes feel natural and I can get a nice rythym strum going in no time. Most importantly, I can play barre chords anywhere and they come out >80% clean (with minor occasional buzzing).

You know how there's those times when you're at home with nothing to do? Well if you're like me, 99% of the time it ends up with me plopping my ass in front of the computer and doing really useless shit like visiting my favorite xanga pages three times over. (I can also watch porn but that's capped at twice a day)

Yah but now I have a electric guitar within arms reach, look out mindless surfing! That 12,000 yen piece of wood is like my private window into the world of music. Just playing some basic open chord arpeggios gets me off in a big way... but of course, nothing beats karaokeing with some of my favorite tunes... on the recent hit list are songs like Cabron, Dani California, Creep, Karma Police . It's so nice to have a polyphonic instrument that's not the size of a fricking sofa (I'm referring to the piano, that is). I can play the guitar in bed, while watching a movie, while munching on chocolates, while staring out the window... it's kickass.

Oh yeah, my gf's sister Yuri mentioned to my gf today that "Terry sure has gotten better at the guitar". That sent me over the moon for like 10 minutes when I heard it from my gf. I'm such a sucker for compliments.

On Sunday afternoon, I'm going down to some weird company that prepares young Japanese people for overseas exchange programs. I'm going to give a trial lesson and if it goes well hopefully my school English Garden will get a contract. The owner, Takashi is just crazy... not only does he run English Garden, he also runs a Japanese school in the Philipines, and plays a bit of the real estate game. On top of that he also has a part-time job as an air traffic controller. He sleeps at 12:30am and wakes up at 4:30am every day. Crazy.... Anyways, I find it funny how ever since I got my Computer Science diploma, I haven't done a single shred of programming since. It's either music or teaching English, even though I'm not officially qualified for either.

Yesterday, after work, I decided to stop buy the second hand superstore in Oroku. To my surprise I found a couple of crusty amps that were selling for only 1500 yen that weren't there a couple of weeks ago. It then crossed my mind that I could probably get a working guitar and amp right now, with the money I had in my wallet. I could be jamming on a real electric guitar at home in just 30 minutes.

Motivation = Reward / (Effort*Delay)



I picked out this metallic blue Aria Pro II Magna Series guitar selling for only 12,000. To be honest anything in the 10,000 range was slim pickings... either it looked like total shit or the pickups sounded kinda weird. The AriaPro however, sounded real decent, especially when I hooked it up to the Photogenic PG-10 amp. I probably tested the combination for over half an hour to see if it was something I liked. After mulling over the decision for awhile and deciding that getting a e.guitar would enrich my life more than having an extra 13500 yen in my pocket, I boldly stepped up to the clerk and did the deed.

I've been playing it for many hours now and it's been a real blast being able to fret anything with ease. The best surprise: if I set the guitar to use the bridge single coil pickup (position 1), it sounds so much like a steel string guitar. I didn't really like the humbucker pickup because it makes the sound too "fat", but in combination with the middle single coil (position 4) it sounds pretty good for leads and riffs. I mostly enjoy playing ryhthym guitar though and for that I like the clear, twangy, single coil sound from the bridge.

Don't have much to say today, so I'll just put up a bunch of pictures




Kariyushi. This is a quaint farmer's market of sorts that sells tons of vegetables and fruits at unbelievably low prices. Since my interest in vegetables and fruits hovers around zero, I'm usually bored out of my mind whenever we have to come here.


This is a really weird fish store located at O-jima (in southern Okinawa). Nobody but the locals would know about it, because there isn't a single sign to be found. I thought the building was abandoned until I stepped inside...




It was pretty cramped inside but they sold some really fresh fish, literally the catch of the day since the fishermen are working right next door. I guess if you know places like Kariyushi and this anonymous fish store you can get much better produce at lower prices than the capitalistic supermarkets (I personally prefer the supermarkets cause they have Muzak and aircon)

In the afternoon we went to pick up Shinobu's aunt from Shuri and then headed down to downtown Naha for some miscellenous shopping for tomorrow's funeral service (1 of 8). I once thought that having all these ridiculous funeral services was a little harsh on the bereaved but now I understand it's actually the reverse... the funerals and the guests serve a purpose: to keep you busy as shit so you don't have any time to wallow in your own misery.


This is the arcade complex located near Kokusai-doori, featuring some of Okinawa's oldest shops. It kind of reminds me of being in Mexico for some reason. Naha used to be the place to do all your shopping on the weekends, but like Chinatown in Toronto, it's been abandoned in favor of superstores and shopping malls located in the suburbs. The atmosphere is still quite lively but there's definitely a feeling that this place has become obsolete in many ways...


Inside the arcade complex there was also this huge meat market.

I don't know about you but I really have a thing for dilapidated markets, especially those that sell lots of red meat. I like walking around the area and humming "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails... it's just one of my silly idiosyncrasies.


LOL. I'm sure this picture... speaks for itself.


Finally a picture of me and two my of students. Last time their mom invited me for an awesome curry dinner downstairs. I taught them how to play Super Mario in return. Everyone loves that song.

France 1 - 1 S. Korea

France is so disappointing. Even though they were robbed of a legitimate goal in the 1st half from the Vieira header (the ball clearly crossed the line), they should've have to be clinging to such marginal differences for victories. For christ sakes, they have so many world class players on the team -Henry, Trezuguet, Zidane, Gallas, Makelele - world class players who are starters for juggernaut clubs like Chelsea, Juventus, R.Madrid, Arsenal.... why the hell can't they produce results consistent with the quality of the team?



It's popular opinion on the World Cup Soccer boards that the coach, Raymond Domenech, is at fault (sorry, that was a weasel statement). He's been criticized for a number of things, but the biggest gripe most fans have is that he omitted Barcelona winger Ludovic Giuly from the squad (and picking the likes of Vikash Dhorasoo, who many believe shouldn't even be on the squad). He also started Wiltord over Trezuguet and Barthez over Coupet, both of which seem to be illogical decisions. I read somehwere that Domenech actually uses horoscopes and astrology to decide the starting squad... using quaint rules like never putting two Scorpios together.

Personally it looks to me that the French lack team chemistry, particuarily on offense. Forwards don't seem to be familiar with each other's habits and as a result you rarely have those defense-splitting passes that can release a striker straight thru goal. Also, I get the feeling that the French don't seem to play with much passion... they almost seem lethargic at times, maybe this is a sign of an aging team? In any case they are now at some risk of not even clearing group stages, and it's my personal opinion that they have no chance in hell at reaching even the final four.

So who's left to cheer for. Maybe Brazil, Argetina, or Portugal. These teams have been fun to watch. Cristiano Ronaldo is probably my second favorite player after Henry (who's been so disappointing despite that one goal in the S.Korea match). Keep an eye on him, that Portuguese has some serious dribbling skillz, not in the same league as Ronaldinho but very, very, similar.

It's picture time baby!


Ahh yes, the view from Hyper Hotel. This overlooks the Oroku region and the monorail. I drive this route almost every day... either to go to work or to take my gf to Senaga island to chill out.



One nice thing about having 600 people come to a funeral: the condolensce money. We spent nearly five hours last night opening up boxes of envelopes filled with 1000, 2000, 5000, and (mmm..) 10,000 yen bills. My job was to take all that money and organize it into countable piles. You can see the fruits of my labor above... 900 thousand-yen bills sorted neatly into nine lovely piles. 900 x 1000yen = 900,000yen ~= CDN$9000. There were also piles of 5000 and 10,000 but they didn't look anywhere near as impressive as this drug-dealer amount of cash.



NHK BS-Hi is just awesome. All 64 World Cup 2006 matches (plus daytime reruns) in full HDTV glory.. what more could you ask for? Oh yeah, English commentary plz. Speaking of the World Cup, wtf is up with Argentina. They are smoking hot. To beat Serbia 6-0 is just rude. As for Brazil, they didn't seem that hot against Croatia. Let's see what they can do to the poor Aussies.

(picture removed, apparently it's taboo because the picture will somehow transmit the misfortune onto anyone who looks at it.... ahem...)

Here's a picture of the shrine that they built in less than a few hours after my gf's dad passed away. Beautiful isn't it? I especially like the two discotheque lights on both sides.


I was reading the local sports paper today, when it suddenly dawned upon me, I can read this shit! Not just like... a sentence or two, but every goddamn line. While the rest of the world is struggling with cliched Japanese phrases like "kimochi ii" and "sugoi desu ne", I'm reading the goddamn paper. That's the result of spending over 99% of the last four years with a Japanese girl. Give up now, you will never surpass my mad Nippongo skillz.



This is the Jusco department store on the weekend. Crowded huh? I always check out the digitial piano section at Jusco. Usually there are a lot of kids just randomly mashing the keys... but I go in with a purpose... a real purpose... to play the Super Mario Bros theme song... in hopes of impressing any chicks that might be walking by. I may be a useless bum, but try naming someone you know who can play the Super Mario theme song authentically by heart. Exactly. Anyways, I pick a random piano, load up the Harpsichord patch (cuz that just makes it sound even more 8-bit) and start sending waves of nostalgia around me. I didn't attract any chicks, but a bunch of kids came running over going "sugoi, this guy can play mario... hey everyone come over here!" and they were like watching me like I was some kind of superstar. My five fucking minutes of fame....

Just some links for today:

Robot Dance

This is just one sick dance video. You gotta hand it to the Koreans, they are just as world class as the Japanese...

Weasel Words
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Avoid_weasel_words

Some people say that using weasel words is one of the greatest sins of English writing. LOL.

After the first funeral service in the morning, I attended a second funeral service at around 3:30pm in the afternoon. This one was conducted at a funeral hall and basically anyone who had any kind of connection with the deceased is allowed to come - colleagues, friends, friends of friends... anybody. In the case of my gf's dad, that's about 600 people - three times the regular turnout. It was a logistical nightmare for parking and there were huge lineups just to get into the hall.

Thankfully I got in early and was one of the very first people to offer my blessings and leave. It was a simple affair really. Just bow a few times and spread some incense powder around and you're done. Unfortunately there were so many people watching that when it was my turn I could hear my heart beating like crazy. I also had apprehensions when I bowed towards the male relatives... basically a bunch of serious looking geezers. I thought they might saying to themselves: "what's this chump doing at our funeral... gtfo now", cuz some of them knew who I was: a good-for-nothing slacker who does nothing but nibble on the eldest daughter to his heart's content. I know I'm being paranoid and probably nobody thought that, but that's what crossed my mind at the moment. Borderline Personality Disorder FTW.

In Okinawa, nobody sends invitations to funerals, because the whole invitation process is automated by one convenient medium: the obituaries. In Okinawa just about everyone checks the obituaries daily, just in case somebody they knew passed away. And if someone you know did pass away, well it's your responsibility to dress up, bring some condolensce money, and show up on funeral day. To be honest I think a lot of people use funerals as an excuse to skip work, but that's just my personal (and private) opinion.

After the funeral service, I headed straight to work. One student didn't show up today, so I ended up just playing Guess Who with the other student and her brother who came up from his house downstairs (yep, it's that informal!) After that, we went outside and started playing frisbee on the street. It was really fun... I mean, I felt like I was a kid again, reborn... as we tried to break new records for consecutive catches. We got up to 5, pretty pathetic.

The kids seemed to like me so much, I mean they were like touching me and dragging me by the arm. Their mom comes down from upstairs and hands me 3000 yen, saying "want to go to dinner with them?" At first I didn't really like the idea, but I thought, shit... why not... free dinner, and these kids seem really eager to be with me. So we headed off to this ramen shop, Kagetsu, and they're like asking me how to count in Chinese, while telling me stories about how they had this juice drinking competition and how they drank like ten kinds of juice in less than a minute and felt like throwing up later... it was a riot. The older brother, who sat so close to me that it was almost gay, started talking to me about Naruto and basically spoiled like ten different things as he kept talking about what happend to Gaara, and how Sasuke managed to enter Naruto's inner self area (with the caged Kyuubi). These kids wanted me to take to Lawson's convenience store but I told them I had to leave... they ended up pushing my car as I drove away. They're so f*cking friendly!

As I drove back home through Oroku I felt this warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart. But I also thought to myself... this isn't good. If I get attached to these kids, to this place... it will be so hard to leave later.

When I get back home, I get a call from the owner of English Garden - he's asking me if I have a place to stay because I told him about how I had to stay at Hyper Hotel cuz of a funeral. What a nice guy! I mean, we've only known each other for like a month and he's pro-actively offering me to stay at his house! Crazy. Could it be that Okinawa people are that friendly?

I recently uploaded a few albums on to Picasa Web:

http://picasaweb.google.com/linterry

So far I've only put up my gf's Cheuch studio pictures so that random visitors think I'm a bastard for having such a hot gf (the truth is that she doesn't look anything like that in real life, but it's nice to know that she has the potential). I also put up our trip to Alishan four years ago cause I think we took some pretty nice pics there. Those were the Golden Days.

The offical funeral procession is almost over... the first one, that is. Apparently it's Japanese custom to repeat the ceremony seven times - once every week. A gigantic buddhist monk came in this morning and somewhere during the ceremony he started singing this haunting chant in ancient Japanese... it sounded like the intro to Ghost in the Shell minus the beats and the strings. He often rang this bell like instrument that made me think of Charon and the River Styx. It was enough to send chills up my spine and was quite the tear-jerker. You could hear sniffles in the whole room. While I was also moved, I was more thinking along the lines of "if I could put some beats and some harmony into this chant, it will kick some serious ass".

Most people went to the cremation (which is about over now), I stayed behind along with a few elderly women to look after the house. I bought everyone a bento lunch box from San-e and we chatted for quite a bit. After the seventh and final funeral, my gf's father's ashes will be brought back to his birthplace, Kume-jima (久米島), and the aunt warmly invited me to go as well. I acutally look forward to it a little - I've heard that's it's so quiet there that most people's ears start hurting, and since there is practically nothing there you feel like you're lost in another world.

I actually took advatnage of my breakfast ticket at Hyper Hotel Naha this morning. I was surprised myself that I could climb out of bed at 8:30am without much struggle. It was really nice to see the morning light and feel like there is a fulfilling day ahead of me.

I just returned from paying my respects to my gf's father. And I stared at his lifeless body for a good ten seconds.

It was surreal. It's one thing to be told that someone passed away, it's a whole other thing to see the actual corpse. It's only then that it really hits home... he's gone... forever, and even though he looks like he's just sleeping, even though it's the same face, same body.... nothing will ever wake him up again. It's just surreal.

Driving back to the hotel by myself, I stared to think about a lot of things. Seeing death in person tends to put life into perspective for a little while. One thought that crossed my mind is... what if it was my girlfriend in that coffin, in the same house, lying motionless, not responding to anything from the outside world. I don't think I would be able to cope with that. I shed a few tears for her dad, but if it was my girlfriend, I think I'd just fucking go ballistic. Probably scream her name thousands of times all night long for weeks, thinking that I would somehow bring her back from the dead. I'd probably never make it past the 1st stage of the stages of loss: Denial. And even if I did, I don't think I'd ever get past #4: Despair for as long as I live.

To think that such a real and plausible Hell is just a car accident away - it's pretty fucking scary. Scary to the point where I think to myself... there's really no limit to human misery. It's boundless like the vast darkness of the universe. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see the zillion ways your life could get fucked up beyond belief, even if you think you've got it bad now. There are countless diseases, accidents and mishaps out there, and it only takes a few to send an emotionally healthy person down a one-way spiral to his own personal hell.

It does no good of course, to think of such tragic things everyday, but now and then I get reminded of just how dark and cruel human existence can be. History is filled of excruciatingly horrific stories of torture, rape, and murder, of ungodly diseases and plagues, and tragic stories of unbearable loss. If you were to add up all that suffering over the last few millenia, it's almost staggering just how much people have went through. All for a few crumbs and tibits of pleasure.

Last night, my girlfriend's father passed away.

At about 2am, I hear the phone ringing downstairs. Someone picks up right away, and within moments both Rino and Yuri are awake, getting ready to head towards the hospital with their mom. I knew immediately that something wasn't right.

At about 4am, my girlfriend comes back, visibly tired, and tells me that her father has passed away. Her father suddenly had problems breathing around midnight. He knew his time had come. Despite his poor condition, he mustered enough strength to address every member of his family and say goodbye to each. He lived properly until the very end.

Yet after his death, there was no time for mourning. Straight after my girlfriend tells me the news, she is back downstairs making preparations for funeral which would start in just a few hours right at her own house. Although I find this to be unusually cruel to the bereaved, it is Okinawa custom and they must honor it.

I come down with her and help her family move some stuff out of the way. Soon though, I feel exhausted, so I climb upstairs back into my room while there is a lull in activity. I lie down in bed, and before I know it, it's already 9 am in the morning. My girlfriend comes up and she looks unbelievably exhausted. Hordes of relatives and friends are occupying the house right now, she says, and it's best that I don't go downstairs because it will look very odd.

She goes back downstairs and I can hear a lot of different voices coming from the living room. I take a little peek and to my surprise, the entire living room has transformed into a shrine, with her father's coffin placed in the centre. Sheets of white cloth cover every piece of furniture. I find it hard to believe this all happened overnight. It's a great shock, like going to work one day and finding your office has mysteriously vanished overnight.

Nobody except for me slept a wink. They (the sisters and mom) were so busy making preparations - the food, the service, the funeral organization, etc. etc. Since their small house was basically filled to the brim with people, they couldn't even find a place to sit down and relax. I can only imagine how exhausting it was, having to deal with the logistics of a funeral service in the wake of their father's death.

I had to hole myself up in my room for about six hours. I did nothing but lie around and masturbate twice while processions were going on downstairs. I did feel a little guilty but I had already put some emotional distance between myself and her family ever since he was admitted to the hospital. Best not to get in the way and stay invisible, I told myself. My girlfriend brings me lunch at around noon and tells me that I should stay at a hotel tonight. I agree completely, since I'm tired of pissing on the roof and feeling confined like a prisoner.

A few hours later, I sneak out the back door with my laptop and some change of clothes. I get spotted by one aunt as I make my way towards the car and she offers me a Mr. Boss Coffee in a can. I thank her very much and she smiles. I notice that there is already this huge sign in the middle of the road that probably said something along the lines of "Uchiganeku Family Funeral Reception." A flower delivery service truck pulls out of the driveway and leaves off into the distance. I am still so shocked how fast things have unfolded. Just twelve hours ago, it was still life as usual.

Now here I am, at Hyper Hotel Naha. It's so great to be away from all this commotion. I got NHK BS (World Cup) and free Internet, with guiltless 24/7 aircon and a clean bed. All this for 4950 Yen a night. In one hour though, I will have to change into my recently bought funeral attire and offer my blessings to my gf's father at her home.

France 0-0 Switzerland

So I stay up until 3am to watch Les Bleus first match, and it was pretty disappointing. I absolutely hate 0-0 draws... it's like getting a striptease for 90 minutes but then the girl just walks out the door, leaving you with a big hard-on but nowhere to release. WTF. Then again, it looks like these two teams had a recent history of goalless or 1-1 draws during the qualifiers, so it's not like it was a big surprise.

So, let's do a What's Hot, What's Not on this rather bland match:

What's Hot

Claude Makelele
This little Chelsea defender is fucking tough. Makelele seems to win every aerial battle and somehow magically emerges with the ball from every scuffle he gets into. He's definitely got the gift. He cleanly dispossessed Swiss attackers several times which consequently produced some very promising attacks. Overall, my pick for best French player of the match.

Zinedine Zidane



Despite his age and sweltering heat, he certainly had a strong presence at midfield with his usual precision touches and long passes. He protected the ball well and very seldom gave it away. Good performance overall from the captain.

Franck Ribery



Never really seen this guy before since I never watch Ligue 1, but he showed a lot of energy and desire to push the ball forward. He seemed to be a little rushed and gave the ball away a few times, but I think his energy added a lot to the team. HE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE SHOT instead of passing to Henry in that golden chance in the 1st half. At least on the replay...there was one hell of an opening on the long side...

the weather
Holy shit, you could almost smell the sweat on the pitch... 31 degrees, and it looked like the sun was pounding down hard. I think some of the older players got affected by the heat... notably Henry and Wiltord, who looked really out of it with gobs of sweat dripping down on the pitch.

What's not

Thierry Henry
Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I sure expected a little more out of Henry. Sometimes it looked like he became invisible, a problem that sometimes surfaced when he plays for Arsenal. In the whole 90 minutes there was only two occurences when he faced the defender and tried to use his speed to create space. I felt he played much too forward and was caught offside several times... he should instead play a little back and try to bring the ball forward. He seemed to have forgotten how to strike the ball because the few shot attempts he had were pretty pathetic... almost no pace and straight to the keeper. He also interfered with Vieira's brilliant shooting chance in the 1st half. (maybe he's jealous that Juventus won the league title and Arsenal barely got a Champions League spot?) Overall he just couldn't get into a good rythym... he looked a little tired and did not make very good passes either. I'll blame it on the heat.

Sylvain Wiltord
Well, once again I have not seen much of him since he plays in Ligue 1 but I certainly wasn't impressed with Wiltord. He did not create much and I felt he was often dispossessed cleanly by Swiss defenders. He is a little old I suppose and thus he probably suffered from the heat more than others. I was hoping he would be subbed for David Trezeguet (who looked extremely animated on the bench), but it wasn't to be...

the referee
Way too many yellow cards dished out in once match. Completely missed a blatant hand ball by a Swiss defender in the 1st half (or didn't think it was deliberate enough to warrant a penalty)

Sometimes when I look at my gf's father, lying in bed, I start to think.. is this also how I'm going to meet my end? Lying crippled in bed like a vegetable, wearing diapers, having a nurse rake out my own feces with a finger, having to be tied up like Hannibal Lector because I keep pulling out the IV needles... not to mention muscle atrophy and skin lesions from lying in the same bed for hundreds of hours, and having all my family and relatives come see me in such a pathetic state...

While the physical symptoms can be painful, they can be taken care of with morphine or methadone. It's the corrosion of the human spirit that's unbearable... knowing that the end is imminent, and yet having to wait so many excruciating hours where life becomes completely and utterly pointless. 3pm, still in bed. 7pm, still in bed. 11pm, still in bed. 3am, still in bed. It's the same hospital ceiling for days without end. Can you imagine waking up every day, having nothing to look forward to but more IV needles, sharp acute pain when the morphine tapers, all while pissing and shitting all in your own pants?

I'd take a Brompton's cocktail and a lethal injection right away, if it were me.

Yeah, that's pretty depressing, isn't it. Life can seem so bleak sometimes, especially if you spend a couple of hours wandering around the intensive care ward of a hospital everyday. People moaning and wailing in agony.. for weeks without end. It's funny and tragic at the same time when people go "oh, it's just mr.nakata screaming again" for like the 45th time.

I've come to realize that it takes a lot of emotional resilience and discipline in order to successfuly maneuver through the later stages in life. In school, it's all good. You're generally healthy, looking for girls to fuck, and you're given a sense of purpose and progress every day from the school's curriculum. You just have to deal with the tests and the homework. And when things seem a little glum, at least you can tell yourself that things are gonna be better once you graduate and get a job and everything...

But going on your 9 to 5 routine for eight years in a row at the same job at the same desk... coming home to a wife who's more interesitng in spending your credit card than sucking your dick... and having to deal with bratty annoying kids who never listen to what you say... that's just on a whole other level. It requries a mega-dose of discipline, self-control, and patience... qualities that I dare say few possess today. Maybe it's our instant-gratification convenience-oriented society that's causing this phenomenon. Generation n+1 is always going to be less well-equipped to deal with the harsh realities of life than generation n. Your dad was never able to get that sheer cocaine-like rush from playing World of Warcraft when he was a teen or watch endless gigs of porn from puretna.com. Likewise, your dad's dad probably never even watched video porn and had to go through the atrocities of World War II... etc. etc

As our society advances, we can inject so much more pleasure into our minds, but certain things remain fixed... like facing marraige, kids, 9 to 5, and terminal illnesses, and the greater the chasm between the good stuff in life and the stuff that never changes... the harder it is to cope.

It's raining like hell today, almost to typhoon proportions. I don't think I've seen a clear day for about two weeks now. I was contemplating on going ice skating this weekend but I'm having second thoughts since there's a flu epidemic right now and last time I went, I got really sick.


Here is my gf giving the sitrep to her two younger sisters at the hospital. From L-R: Yuri (19), Rino (24), Shinobu (26). It's been the roughest on my gf because she's at the hospital a lot... she also takes care of the dreaded night shift all the way till ~9am. Total respect to her for stepping up and taking charge of a grueling situation ... playing nurse for ten hours straight can be intensely fatiguing, particuarily with someone as stubborn and fussy as her dad. Her sisters have thus had the luxury of continuing their own lives as usual...and they've taken full advatnage of that. So... they've been watching TV and going out for drinks with pals as their father lies crippled in a hospital, fighting a hopeless battle against cancer. Yeah, sometimes I get the vibe that they really don't give a shit... at least not deep down in their hearts. But then again I suppose it's not easy to give a shit about an alcoholic who has nothing intersitng to say at the dinner table and whose only purpose within the family is to supply $$$.

I guess that's the norm these days... people in general (including myself) are too self-absorbed with their own interests that it's almost impossible for them to sacrifice their own life patterns for somebody else. It's a lot harder than it sounds - when you can't eat when you want to, when you can't go out when you want, when you can't work out when you want, when you can't be at home when you want... all because you have to take care of someone else. It's difficult because unless you really need that person in your life... the only motivation for sacrifcing your own life patterns is so that you don't get yelled at for avoiding responsbility. I mean we'd like to think that we will all step up when someone in our family is in need... but when the responsibility is shared I've seen a lot of bickering over things like "howcome we have to take care of her for that long and you don't have to?" With kids like these growing up in the wings... I doubt the situation is going to improve anytime in the future.

The World Cup 2006 has officially begun! NHK will cover all 64 matches in hi-definition. Now if only there were English commentary....

Djibril Cisse suffered a broken leg in a warm-up match against China.



It's unfortunate news for les Bleus but thankfully it was Cisse and not Henry. I watched Cisse in a few Liverpool matches and he really wasn't impressive at all. I hope David Trezuguet starts with Henry, if anything, that's just how I play the French team in Winning Eleven 10.

English classes are going pretty well. It seems the kids really like me... and I like the kids too. There's a few pretty girls in my classes but they're all way too young. Still, it's always more fun to teach pretty girls than ugly ones, no matter what the age. The great thing about this school (called English Garden) is that it's very small and the owner is a really nice guy. We chat quite a bit and he supplies me with so many teaching materials... alphabet cards, picture cards, esl music cd's, "how to teach esl" books, etc. etc. It makes my job so much easier because instead of running the whole lesson adlib, I have some sort of structure to follow. Also, their classroom is really nice...



Anyways I'm just doing this job as a way to kill time and to remind me that I'm still useful to some people out there.

It's been raining endlessly over the last few weeks - they call it the tsuyu season here in Japan.

Recently I've been chauffering a lot of people to and from the hospital. My gf's dad's condition has gotten so bad to the point where he can't even stand up, feed himself, or go to the toilet by himself. On top of that he suffers from acute pain so intense that he needs to be injected with morphine 24/7 or else it would just be unbearable. He is also suffering from some form of dementia - rambling incesseantly about nonsensical things and talking to people who aren't even there. It's not a pretty sight, considering just a few weeks ago, he was still normal and walking around freely.

Did you know that the name morphine comes from Morpheus, the god of dreams in Greek mythology?

As it is, somebody needs to be beside my gf's dad 24/7. It's difficult to imagine just how much stress a disabled family member can inflict on the rest of the family. It's a lot of exasperating soul-draining work... you're basically taking care of an infant - having to be on beck and call 24/7, having to console them, change their clothes, feed them, clean up their urine and feces, and so much more. You stop eating regularly, you can't sleep when you want to, basically life is turned upside down.

My gf and her mother are bearing the bulk of the weight. The younger two sisters are shielded from most of the shock and can thus continue their own life patterns as usual (barring a few occasional visits). Lucky bitches.

My gf on the other hand has been a real trooper over the last few weeks... when she's looking after someone, she's totally in her element. Some people just have the gift I guess - when they see someone in need, they have this sixth sense of knowing what to do... like bring a blanket, fill the water, help them sit up... personally when I'm such a situation I'm like panicking and looking around with a "what the hell am I supposed to do?" look. I'll do stuff, but I need to be told what to do... and that essentially makes me useless because by the time somebody tells me what to do, they could have just done it themselves.

It's just like your average pickup basketball game, sometimes you're gonna have the mvp's, who are cutting, setting picks, making key passes, crashing the boards, hitting big shots... and then you have the useless dude who looks totally lost without the ball... so he just wanders aimlessly around the perimeter doing nothing but occasionally impeding the progress of his own teammates (and chucking up the occasional airball). In order to be genuiely useful, you just gotta be in your element... and that's not something that comes easily.


More Engrish at the hospital. It's quite shocking that a nation as anal as Japan would make such common errors a place as official as a hospital. Maybe it's just in Okinawa.


Yesterday, I was flipping through some "BS" channels on TV and discovered some interesitng stuff. Firstly in Japan, "BS" does not stand for bullshit, but "Broadcasting Satellite" which is some kind of high-definition transmission standard. For example, NHK (a government-funded tv network) has regular cable transmissions and also "BS" transmissions that support 1125i high-definition and... as you can see in the screenshot above... bi-directional data transfer. Since the World Cup 2006 is just days away... at a touch of a button you can call up match schedules, team data, player profiles... and view this shit on your tv set! It's totally awesome.

Cell phone pics started accumulating so I'm gonna offload them...

Trip to Ryukyuu University (or Ryu-dai as it's known to locals)

About a week ago my gf and I headed to her old university to put up some ads for English tutoring. I always love going to universities... mostly for the "I wonder what it would have been like if I went to school here" feeling. Ryu-dai is a nice school - peaceful, secluded, and slow-tempo. I doubt any students go through much stress here... since more than 90% have part-time jobs after school (this is supposedly the norm for Japanese university students). My girlfriend's youngest sister is currently a 2nd year student here and I don't think I've ever seen her study or do homework... which is kinda screwed up if you compare what Engineering students had to go through at UofT or any North American university for that matter.


Great view from a bridge


You'd think they'd get the Engrish right at an university....


Very peaceful...



Funny to see a sign like this in a blazing hot tropical island...



Standard pic of students walking around between classes...


The cafeteria.


Ordering food from the cafeteria


The standard meal. Doesn't look appetizing and to be honest it didn't taste that great either. But the amazing thing was...


...the receipt. It's so Japanese in the sense that it wants to organize everything so neatly.. It breaks down what you ordered into three food groups, Red 赤(meats), Green 緑(veggies), and Yellow 黄(bread/flour) and gives the respective proportions of each. It also tells you the total Calorie count (in this case, 675 KCal). Hospital meals also display the same kind of info.

I have to say walking around university and checking out all the nice chicks made me feel so young again. At least for people in Okinawa, university is usually the best of their life... school is easy, you work part-time and make some money, then you go out with your bf/gf and fuck each other's brains out in a love hotel.

Speaking of money, there's been a massive influx of classes from this one school, English Garden. I just had my first class today with two boys - 1st grade and 2nd grade, and although it was supposed to be a total nightmare I think it was pretty much manageable. The rest of the classes are pretty nice...

• 6th year elementary school girl
• mature woman (don't know how old)
• three elementary school girls (3rd year and 4th year) and one boy

I'm not going to claim that I'm busy or anything now because each lesson is only a paltry 50 minutes, but it's nice to have something in my schedule because life with no boundaries can be very distressing in its own way.

Last random picture:


What's the most random thing you've ever see pass down your street? Here, at my gf's house, you see bulls being herded while cars are passing by.


The nice guy offered to take my (blurry) pic. My hand reeked of animal shit after holding that rope for three seconds.