Thanks Drew for helping me understand in relation to the August 24th post. It's possible.

In the same thread, I've been flipped off here in Japan practically everyday. The guy at the convenience store flipped me off when I asked for directions. The gas station attendant flipped me off after pumping my gas. Even my pastor flipped me off on a number of occassions after I asked him when he was planning on taking his vacation.

Why? Well, here in Japan people don't point with their "pointer" finger. Japanese people point using their middle finger... I guess because it's the longest finger. I dunno. I think I've gotten used to a lot of the Japanese "quirks" but this one... this one never ceases to catch me off guard.

Back in July, I was in my pastor's office talking about the vacation he was about to take in August. I wanted to be sure I got the information straight so I asked him, "What days are you looking at?" So, he pulls out the wall calendar in front of us, and BAM! Out stretches the middle finger right before my eyes, and he points it at a Monday. And then he continues to drag his finger across the week.

So, OK. Maybe I exaggerated when I said that I've been flipped off everyday. But for that split second, it sure feels that way.

A Pearl of Wisdom

No Asian person... no matter how lactose tolerant they think they are should ever try to drive a liter (about a quart) of milk straight. I made the mistake yesterday. I make some cookies, and I wanted to eat em so, of course I bring out the milk from the fridge. Well, you know when you watch TV when you eat and you don't keep track of how much you eat or drink? Yeah that happened with cookies and milk. And before I knew it... I downed the entire carton. My stomach wasn't feelin good when I was trying to go to sleep.

One thing I can't get used to, here in Japan... the way guys cross their legs when they're sitting down.

When I sit down, I'll cross my legs by making something that looks like the figure 4. No, not the old school wrestling move. The actual number "4". I'll pick up one of my legs and put it on the other so that the ankle of one leg is resting above the knee of the other leg. Not only is it comfortable, but it also doubles as a mini-desk if I don't have one in front of me. Yeah, pretty standard right?

Well, apparently, it isn't here in Japan. The guys here cross their legs the feminine way. You know, with the knee of one leg above the knee of the other leg. Girls doing this is understandable. But guys? YO! Doesn't it hurt? Or at least feel uncomfortable? I mean, anatomically, guys shouldn't be able to do something like that.

Vending machines are everywhere in Japan. Not just in front of stores, shopping malls, and supermarkets. Often, you'll see a random vending machine right in front of some dude's house. It's really weird. But that's not the only weird thing about vending machines here in Japan...

1) There are a ton of vending machines but there are hardly any public trash cans. Often, you won't see a trash can next to a vending machine. And yet, there's hardly any litter on the streets. Just one of those Twilight Zone or X-Files things I guess... like where do the socks disappear to when you do the laundry and where do all the Corn Pops go?

2) This summer, the Coca-Cola vending machines have a special taller-than-usual can (about 16 oz) that sells for 100 yen. The normal can (about 12 oz) sells for 120 yen. The thing is that even though the vending machines sell the tall can for 100 yen, they also sell the normal can for 120 yen. And... on the display, the tall can is right next to the normal can. Who would buy the 12 oz for 120 yen when you can get a bigger size for cheaper?

For all you guys who just came back from PCJFMC camp... this article's for you. Man, I wish I was there. But looks like I'll be there for 2004. In the great words of the Kool-Aid man, "Oh yeah."

I've been going to the hospital for a while now to get rid of my warts. YUCK! Yeah it was pretty obvious that they weren't gonna go away by themselves, so I decided to go to the professionals. So, for those who've never had them before, there is no option if you go to the hospital. They have one standard treatment. Freeze it off. They have this can/gun full of I dunno... liquid nitrogen? And the doctor just shoots the stuff on the wart. If it doesn't go away (or scale off) a few days after the hospital visit, you get the same treatment again. Repeat if necessary.

Yo, that mess hurts! Whoever it was that said that it doesn't hurt... you're either really tough or a big fat liar. Or maybe I'm just a little baby. There's of course the initial sting from the hospital visit... but it hurts more when you go home and unknowingly wash the dishes. When normal water touches the affected area... YAOOOOCHHHH. Kinda felt like the time I accidently burnt my finger with a sodering iron... and then tried to cool it off under a sink. Yeah, BAD MOVE.

Finally able to webcam with Dean just yesterday. It was pretty cool, even if his video was really jittery for no real reason. Definitely better than our previous way of communicating... email. And definitely better than phone calls cuz A) I can actually see him when I'm talking to him and B) It doesn't cost us by the minute! And he got a pretty phat deal on his webcam... $35 with a $20 mail in rebate to make it a grand total of $15. Now that, my friends, are some Chinese penny pinchin' skills. The software is free... downloaded from iVisit (thanks Peter). If anybody wants to talk... let's do it!

Article of the day: Conan Ready to Mark 10th Anniversary. Yes, that's right. Conan O'Brien. How can you not like a man that debuts Triumph the Insult Dog on TV, frequently gets Mr. T as a talk show guest, and gets his band members to do obscure sketches with him (in the year 2000... in the year 2000). Definitely funnier than the overly sarcastic David Letterman and Jay "I Laugh at My Own Jokes" Leno. Sophomore and junior year in college, I'd watch his show almost every night and just pass out on the recliner. Oh, that was a lotta fun.

Oh, and because all xanga sites are down and have been down for quite a while now... and because Danny'll be away for a week, we'll be having consecutive BCS bye weeks through August.

A couple of days ago, I get this phone call. I pick up and of course I go, "Moshi moshi." The guy on the other side gives a really hesitant "Uhh." A few moments pass and I realize that it's Jerry, and he realizes that he didn't call some random Japanese dude. Congrats to that man for going through the ordeal known as support raising. In many many ways it's very tough process.

Today's article of the day: Dinner with the Sayyids. Thought it was a really interesting perspective on the aftermath of the whole Iraq war thing. I really thought that the end of the article discussing and suggesting the United States' part in this religious and cultural revolution was compelling.

Just now, I saw a TV commercial here in Japan for some eye drops. According to the commercial, the eye drops aren't for red eyes, allergies, or even contact lens dry out. No. Instead, they're being sold as eye drops that help you out when you're tired.

Eyes feel tired? Use these drops for ultimate refreshment. Forget going to sleep. Forget taking some vacation time. Need to work! Have to work! Must work! Put a drop in each eye and I'm good to go. After all, a few milliliters of this miracle fluid is the same thing as a good night's rest.

The article of the day: The Beast Goes East.

Yeah, I still don't get the phenomenon. The article is right on when it comes to this guy Bob Sapp. Japanese fame as many of you know is a very very strange strange thing. Ehh, but it's one of those things that you just go, "I don't get it, but that's cool."

Strange thing about my apartment... when it gets warm outside, guess what room is the most humid. My bathroom. Actually, it's just the toilet room because that's all that's in that room. A toilet, oh, I'm sorry, it also has the toilet paper dispenser. Regardless, it's the strangest thing to come back to my apartment in the afternoon, go to the bathroom, and get hit with heavy humidity.

For a while I was perplexed as to why the toilet room would be so humid when the rest of the apartment is fine. And then I peered into the toilet and discovered that the toilet water levels were like half of usual. DUDE! That's kinda nasty! Breathing toilet water air. YUCK! I might as well go and drink the water straight.

So why, you may ask, is Hideyo's toilet room so humid? Well, I really don't know. At first, I thought it's because there isn't any real ventilation there because it doesn't have a window. But then, I realized that most apartments don't have windows in their bathrooms... it certainly was true in my apartment at Berkeley. And we never had toilet water humidity problems at my Berkeley apartment. We only had toilet clogging problems there, and that was because of those stupid "water conserving" toilets that don't flush with the required "oomph." It'd just kinda swirl around and then get clogged. Oyy.

Oh, unrelated... here's the article of the day: The fine art of packing revealed. I particularly like the link to Jamiaca Jim the website listing travel needs for traveling to the Caribbean. Caleb, with Jamaica Jim, here I come!

Today, we had the English class for the little kids. Today, we drew clothes on pieces of paper with people who looked like gingerbread men. I would say something like "He's wearing a blue jacket," and the kids would draw a blue jacket on the pieces of paper. I thought two things were particularly funny about this exercise.

I said, "She's wearing a yellow skirt." And after the boys figured out what a skirt was they went to work. As I looked around I noticed that half of the gingerbread men had SUPER mini skirts. I mean the skirt would start at around the belly button and would end at about the hips. Since this is a "Mom and me" class, the moms got real surprised and immediately told their kids to make sure that the skirts would go down to the knees.

When I was walking around to see how the kids were doing, I noticed that one of the boys drew tears on his gingerbread man. Because I was curious, I asked him, "Why does he have tears?" And he said, "That's me... it's because I always get scolded." Poor thing. But sorta funny. Change that. Really funny.

Ahh, summer!

Summer is "matsuri" or festival time here in Japan. Today, was Date's special "musha matsuri" which celebrates the founding of the city. The parade of people dressed up in samurai armor during the day was pretty cool. The parade of people playing taiko drums and dancing in the streets was cool too. But as people who know me know, it's all about the food, and I got plenty of it. I had a stick-run where everything I ate came off a stick of some sort. Yakitori, chocolate covered banana, corn dogs.

Funny thing about Hokkaido... yakitori literally means grilled bird or chicken. And most everywhere in Japan, the meat is chicken. Except here. It's pork out here. Why? I'm not really sure, but it is. I asked a Hokkaido person, "If it's pork why don't you call it 'yakibuta' or grilled pig/pork?'" I'm yet to get an answer to that question. Interestingly, sukiyaki, the national dish of Japan which is usually served with beef is served with pork here in Hokkaido. In fact, some Hokkaido people don't even know that it's supposed to be beef. Them Hokkaido people love their pig and freakin' cold wind chill factor.

Today's article: The Professional Jerk. Interesting article about the guy who plays Stifler. I still remember the MTV Cribs of his apartment. I think that was the coolest episode ever. Still can't find it on Kazaa. I can find Master P's stupid house... and practically every member of No Limit, but I can't find Stifler!

Now is the time for me to semi-rant like an old man...

I was blog hopping (you know, when you jump from one blog to another through the links posted on the blog), and well, I went through a stretch of some youngun's blogs. Is it just me, or are those pop-ups with mini messages that show up before you enter the xanga/blog really annoying? Oh and don't get me started on the background pictures that make it really hard to read the messages posted. Asian people squinting is never a good thing. What's wrong with a simple blog? Then again, maybe I'm just jealous because all I can do so far is post text messages. I can't even post pictures.

As an aside... with the power of blog hopping, who needs friendster? Unless of course people start 'fessing up admitting that it's not a "networking" site but a matchmaking site.