すげぇ

The yen has appreciated so much to the Canadian Dollar in the past month that my yearly salary which was equivalent to 35,000 CAD last month is 46,000 at today's exchange rate.

じっくり考えないと。。。

Yesterday, I used my day off from work to visit Mori-sensei, an old professor of mine from Kyoto University. I had written him an e-mail last week asking if he would discuss some things about graduate school with me. He graciously invited me over to his house for dinner with his wife. We discussed many things over the course of the night, and Mori-sensei gave me a lot of good questions to think about over the next little while.

If I want to get into graduate school it seems like I have a good shot. However, before that, I really have to think about what it is specifically I want to study. I would like to do something economically related, but I am a little worried because I only did a minor in economics. I do know however that I would like to steer clean of analytic economics and take a more pragmatic approach, focusing on real world events and things like the why and how government policy.

Of course, I also really need to think about what I want to do with my life after that. Like, I told Mori-sensei yesterday, the most important thing for me is simply to find something I enjoy doing, and do that. Simply working is easy. Anyone can go out and get a job if they want to, but that doesn't mean a damn. Like my dad told me, "First you gotta find what you love. Then, you gotta find someone to pay you to do it." So, I've gotta think about whether grad school really is for me. I think it would be, but I have to be doing it for the right reasons.

So now, I think.

足痛い

Yesterday, a friend of mine invited me to the Taekwondo dojo he trains at in Kyoto for a trial lesson. The master of the school was (maybe still is?) the Japanese Olympic coach and seems like a really nice guy. He extended an open invitation for me to come back anytime I have some free time. One of the other instructors there took first prize at the All Japan Taekwondo Tournament for sparring. Lucky me, I had the chance to go toe to toe with the guy my first time back in real action in a year. Obviously, I got whooped, but I did manage to get him with a couple of the moves I picked up in Toronto with the Martial Art One team. He teaches at a place in Shiga on the weekends and also extended an invitation for me to come by anytime I had the chance. The other students as well were a really good bunch. Mostly university students, and the others were all adults, so it was all business and everyone was working hard. I tore up my feet pretty bad though since they've gone soft after a year of light training. I ripped up both of my big toes so bad they were bleeding. My legs are useless today as well. I've been hobbling around like an old man all day, but it was a fantastic night, and I'm looking forward to training more often with other people for a change.

この一ヶ月

Well, it's been about a month since I've wrote anything and that either means one of two things.

1) I've been too lazy and just don't care anymore
2) I've been busy doing all the things I need to get done leaving me with little/no time to write.

The truth is kinda in between the two, but for the most part I have been quite busy recently. The second semester kicked off Sept 1st, and we had our sports day event two weeks following that. This year I was actually given a job to do just like any normal teacher. I was in charge of video and photography during the event, and it was actually a very fun job, but there were times when I felt that some of the parents who were also trying to take videos were annoyed because I was up so close and maybe getting in their way. I told a couple other teachers about it at the party we had that night and they said not to worry about it cause it looked like I was doing a pretty good job.












After sports day was over practice began right away for the upcoming culture festival. This year I will be performing again, but not with an all girls band this time (unfortunately). This year I managed to get a couple other teachers and a couple of the older students to form a band for a one day only performance of Coldplay's Yellow. This year I'll make sure my camera is fully charged so I can get a video of the performance up.

There's been a lot of other stuff going on personally for me as well, some good, some not so good, but that's life, and I don't really feel like going into it much more than that on here. Hopefully, I'll write something else before another month passes.

噛まれた

Yesterday, I was out for a run and as I was crossing one intersection there was a lady with a huge golden retriever. It looked pretty chill as I approached, but as so as I had passed behind it, the beast turned around and bit my ass. I never wanted to kick a dog in the face more, but I just kept running as the lady wrestled with her dog who was looking for more. It didn't really hurt and I didn't think much of it until I got home and saw he had managed to break the skin and leave me with a reasonably sized mark. He didn't make any holes in my shorts or underwear though so I don't think I really have to worry about rabies or anything, but perhaps I should still get it looked at.