Earthquake? Or Chicken Little?

Did we just have an earthquake? It sure felt like it. Just about ten minutes ago, at about 9:10 or so. If we did, it musta been real small, or else, real far away, cause it felt like a little ripple of a wave passed through my living room from south to north.
Or it coulda been my college days revisiting me again...

Retirement by FAX

I recently had a teacher on my staff who was teaching part-time, 4 nights a week, and hoping to move up to a full-time position. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, so I thought I'd give him a test drive first and see how it went before we went all the way. Initial reports were spotty. He thought he was doing a bang up job. Some students thought otherwise. Some thought he was too bossy, others thought he was too lazy. Some had no trouble with him one way or they other. Everyone's got an opinion.
One day, out of the blue, he calls me to say that he's getting divorced and will be leaving town forthwith, or so he thinks. The next day he calls me back to say that he's calmed the missus down and that all is good for the time being, so not to worry.

A few short weeks later, he comes in the office to write some student evaluations and reports, and assures me that he'll be finishing his contracts with us, at the same time asking me what his prospects for further employ from us are. I replied that I was pleased to hear of both his improved domestic situation, as well as the fact that he would be finishing his contract.

The next day, I received the text of his last penned FAX:
To: Four Seasons
From: Floyd Williams

Attn: Joe Libby
Re: Remainding Classes

My domestic Situation is extremely
Severe now!
My Competent to perform my
Job as an English teacher is in
question.

I'm under pressure to leave
Hamamatsu quick!

There fore, no time to finish classes.
Please cancel all remaining
Classes I have and give them
to Someone else.

Thank you Four Seasons for
your support.

signed: Floyd Willimas

go figure

September 13th, 2008. Quake?

So there's this big rumor passing around the Tokai region of Japan these days that "The Big One" cometh. On Saturday, September 13th no less. For those not in the know; Japan has lots of earthquakes. Maybe that's why I feel so at home here. But we here in the Tokai area (Shizuoka, Mie, Aichi and Gifu Prefectures) have been expecting a magnitude 8 or higher quake for some time now. Like forever. Actually there is some crude statistical evidence behind the expectation considering that roughly every 110 (plus or minus 33) years there has been a major quake in this region, and the last one occurred 154 years ago.
I first heard the rumor on Sept. 2nd from a student who said she had heard that a 'famous researcher' had made the claim. Another student claimed that the prediction was made by a person who correctly predicted the May quake in China. Another person claimed that the predictor (or a predictor) had also claimed to have predicted the staged attacks on 9/11, but neglected to mention it until after it happened–bummer.
Anyway:
"The rumor originated on a Website run by a Brazilian English teacher, Jucelino da Luz, who wrote about his prediction No. 81, saying: "An earthquake will hit
China and may cause a milllion deaths (if it doesn't happen in China, it might happen in Tokai in Japan and cause many deaths)."
from the Shanghai Daily website, which also states at the end of the article:
"Jucelino is 48 years old with four children and teaches English in a Brazilian middle school. None of his 80 predictions have occurred."

I'm not worrying about the prediction coming true, or not, we've heard a few before and we're still here. That said, we are 'overdue', and it could happen in 5 minutes, or then again it could another hundred years or so.

Summertime News

Well the band didn't make the cut for the Ika-Ten 2008 showdown, but we did have a lot of fun yesterday performing on the shores of the Tenryu River during Roland Music employee's annual BBQ Live. As a matter of fact, I started the day at 5:30 to be at Nakatajima Dunes for the Rotarian's beach cleanup. We all spent about an hour on the dunes picking up the detritus and refuse of modern life. Afterwards I went home and grabbed my things to head over to the BBQ Live, where I cooked up some Japanese BBQ with my band-mates for the next couple of hours. My little ones showed up around 3:00 and we skipped rocks for a bit before the show. We played a four song set and afterwards basked in the glory of our two adoring fans.

The kids didn't notice we had played.

We all cleaned up and packed up the amps and headed home.

Saturday was the evening of our locally beloved Iwata Mitsuke Naked Festival. My wife and two little ones were at her folks house where we met our guests and spent the evening eating lovely foods and (some folks) drinking copious amounts of beer and sake. I enjoyed a lite selection of assorted cold teas. After the little ones fell asleep around 11, first Shingo(no.2) showed up to eat, and then went home with his mother. Tetsuo (no.1) showed up a little before 12 and ate and chatted with us all until 2, when I finally decided it was time to call it a night.

I relaxed today.

Oh, I haven't written in a while. I have certainly been keeping busy with other things. Our band is currently working on a couple of really great sounding songs, and we have submitted a simple video to Ika-Ten 2008.
In other news, I replaced the mini plug on my iPod car adapter and switched out the defuct cigarette lighter in my van, so I have tunes again. It's been some time since I broke out the soldering irond I must admit. It was good therapy for me.
Now I'm off to beddy by time.
Life is good.

Truth in Marketing

One of my part-time employees showed me these fancy smokes he picked up the other day. I didn't try them out at the time, but the concept rubs me the right way. While most cigarette companies try to market their coffin nails as refreshing or cool, these are marketed as just what they are; a sure ticket down the road to the ever-after. Marketed by the Enlightened Tobacco Company, these smokes aren't kidding around: Death Lights. Doesn't get any more simpler than that.
Oh, and it snowed here today. Thought you'd like to know.

Must be February

Feb. is here and that means a weekend home sick in bed. Worse than usual because this time I've really been sleeping instead of the usual sit in bed and read, or organize e-mail. I did take a few minutes to start checking out Bento from Fiemaker, a very cool looking app that can really help me organize contact information for Four Seasons plethora of part-time teachers. Not sure what else it'll work for as yet, but for 50 bucks, that'll do pig, that'll do.
I also watched a wacky Japanese TV stunt on You Tube:
<>
Which made my poor wife cry when she watched it.
as well as Weird Al's 'White and Nerdy': <>
-yes, I realize that this came out two years ago, but golly, I've been trying to keep up with Lost, Prison Break, BSG, not to mention Dexter! I'm only one person you know...
Sorry, must be the cold medicine talking.
Hey, I just realized that I've reached day 150! Cool!

Earthquake

We just felt a small tremor roll through the neighborhood. No news yet on whether this was indeed a small tremor, or the effects of a larger quake somewhere else.

Happy New Year Y'all

Well, we made it through yet another year. Another rather large learning experience for most of us, water off the back of a duck for some of you. Although I envy the few who have a pretty free ride, I do at the same time agree with the old adage that says; 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.' I came a little closer to meeting my maker than I would have liked over the past twelve months, and I hope that I have gained at least a grain of wisdom from the experiences, in addition to the scars I've received. Mostly, I can hope that these fun little excursions can provide me with song writing material that can, in turn, put a smile on someones face, or a tune in their head, or a new thought in their heart.
I was unable to photograph the sunrise this year, but on the way to the Iwata Grand Hotel for the annual Japanese Ethics Association's New Years' Meeting at a little before 4:30 this morning, we did happen to see a rat run across the road in front (or maybe behind) us. As this is the Year of the Rat, I suppose this was an auspicious (さい先のよい) sign.
More news as it becomes available.
Peace,