Remembering the past.

I brought a couple of trinkets with me to remind myself of the country I left. The first is a set of army insignia (sergeant major of the United States Army), the second, a one-piece United States Air Force insignia of a master sergeant, and the final, a patch remembering the officers of the New York Police and Fire Department and the Port Authority Police Department. I sit here typing sick, but, I remember that I'm strong, thanks to what I've been through in the United States.

Further, the country music I'm listening to gives me a sense of patriotism and everything that America represents, not just some lame rap music that encourages promiscuity and adult-themed behavior. . . . You think that doesn't have to do with anything but having encountered the music representative of Japan, the teenage-attracting, "boppy" music, I've decided to focus on something more contemporary and realistic-sounding. Sure, country singers' voices sound a little awkward but it's the message that counts, for sure. Different subjects of love, life in America, and music in general, are brought up in these country albums and it gives me a little nostalgia for that which is the New York/New Jersey area. However, considering that I'm an inquisitive person at heart, exploring Tokyo (or rather, Minami-Nagareyama, Chiba) will satisfy me enough.

Alas, time is the issue. Ice hockey requires my complete attention and basketball is certainly time-consuming and fun. School starts in a couple of weeks and I'm already thinking of what to do for school. . . . Speaking of, I forgot to register for the semester! wtf, man. Ah, well. Something I just remembered. I'm thinking of overworking myself for senior year. Besides studying for the GEDs, I've got to get a part-time job; hmmm, maybe working at Ice House might help a bit. I know how to skate, and hockey is basically a huge portion of my life. Ah, but coming back to the subject, it seems that there won't be time to relax on my end. I'm glad that I'm a little sick right now so that I'd get to type this entry, eh?

Yesterday, I went to Kamakura for a reunion. It was beautiful, not to my surprise. The cherry blossoms were there and I was able to meet a crapload of people from CIEE, most of whom have intriguing personalities. I'm glad to have done that, 'cause my shoulders were hurting from the kintoree (weight training) the other day. They still do. However, I'm not giving up my expedition to make myself stronger and confident; accordingly, hockey's still priority as far as I know.

Today, I'm planning to stay home until late afternoon, where I hope to meet a few friends for another karaoke session. I just refused to go to Roppongi last night because of the crazy things that happen there. I'm also not particularly interested in "clubbing" or that nature, though I admit that it's a good place to hook up with attractive girls and doing other stuff like that. I like to let them come to me, that's all. Here's to patience (raises glass filled with asahi beer)!

Taking it on the chin.

These last couple of days have been rather straining on me because I've had the obligation of going to hockey practice. I haven't even fully settled in yet and I'm expected to a thousand things at once. That's not to say that I haven't been having a good time, though, because there always has been something unbelievable happening right before my eyes and, no matter how stressed I am through not understanding certain things, I'm always happy with the opportunity to stand here.

Friday night I moved in a place called Dormitory Shin-Matsudo in Minami-Nagareyama, perhaps what I'd like to call the "Ridgefield Park of Chiba Prefecture." It's quiet most of the time, it has a main street that good numbers of people travel on, also a couple of parks and a nice river to just stare at when the days are slow (I also saw people fishing there today). The CIEE kids and I moved in, and after having done so, we basically went back to Shibuya to get crunked. We went to a nomihoudai, or "all you can drink [bar]," where I had three beers and two good flavors of whisky (in two different glasses, of course). We toured around the greater part of Shibuya, only to separate, relieve ourselves of "the call of nature" --- and very strongly, I might add --- and regroup along with a million other people going home.

I also saw my hockey teammates, who recalled that I was "recovering from flu," and they were generally puzzled as to my presence during being sick. I explained to them a couple of days later that alcohol generally relieves one of the worry of being sick. At least help me prove that it's true, guys.

One of my dorm roommates apparently convo'd it up with a member of a modeling agency on the train home. This roommate apparently is white and tall, both of the preferences Japanese girls have for dating (at least, for a good chunk of them). He got his business card, I think, and we proceeded home only to talk really loud on the Chuo line and sleeping on the Tsukuba Express (we take two trains to the metropolitan area, where our school is).

Saturday I decided to go skating in Chiba, where I would have my hockey practices on Monday and Tuesday mornings. It's a very nice rink, very new-looking, and right by the bay, so there's a good view. I practiced on my skating, though it didn't pay off because one of the drills in hockey practice involved skating backwards, which I still have trouble doing. These were really intensive practices, for sure, but I'm glad to hear that my teammates are understanding that those were my first practices with them.

Oh, Saturday, I went to go karaoke-ing with Devin, Brent, Danika and Chart (the last two are new CIEE kids), and that was very fun for me. I don't normally stay out at night, because I hate the fact that you have to wait for the morning trains; you're pretty much stranded if you stay out at night and don't have a car or don't want to pay the staggering costs of taxi cabs. However, I got to show off some of my vocal skills, which was cool. Also, drink some alcohol. I know, maybe my brain's degenerating, but it's the price you pay to have a good time. Intriguingly, I think I'm still smart.

I told you about Monday and Tuesday morning, except for the fact that both mornings I woke up at 4:00am to make it to practices so I could have some skating time. Yeah. It's tough. But I certainly had fun. Especially with the lunches --- we went to a cheap Italian resturant and played hacky-sack with hockey sticks before the place opened.

I don't know. Life's good. It has its crazy bouts. But I think it's worth living.