Goodbye and Sayonara!

Whelp, this is it. My last blog from Colorado. I'm feeling a little emotional right now, so I thought I'd share my deepest thoughts:

I'm really really hungry..

Anyways, I'll give you all the scoop about my crazy adventures that I'll hopefully have. I'm not sure when I'll have internet and all that jazz.

I visited my parents 3: Return of the Jedi

Well, my other post was acting up and was getting a little long, so I just created a new post. Whoopie!

Sunday:
-So I spent my last day with my grandparents and uncle/aunt before I went to Japan. Well, I didn't really spend it as much with them as I did with their annoying dog. I've come to learn something these past few months: goodbyes suck.
-My new blog name was a dismal failure, just like the rest of my life!

Monday:
-I can already tell it's going to be another fun day in Colo Spgs! I went around the house looking for things to photograph to help pass the time. I found this guitar in my closet that I bought from a pawn shop. I tried really hard to learn to play it for a couple of weeks, then I guess I just forgot about it. Now I don't know what to do with it. Hooray nostalgia!
-I got my international driver's license today. It has the worst picture of me ever taken. Maybe I'll share it with you all of I can!
-I also had the good fortune of finding an unused Best Buy gift card with my name on it today. I used it to buy the New Super Mario Bros for my gameboy. The game is mighty addicting and I'm glad I'll have something to do on the plane!
-The very surly side came out of me today when my mom drags me to Wal-Mart. The anthropologist in me despises Wal-Mart for what it does to communities and smaller business and I make sure to not give them any of my money. Plus I just don't like it because of the huge crowds and extremely cheaply made products. My mom knows how I feel about this place and still took me there to pick up a few miscellaneous things. For some reason I just freaked out and yelled at her. I was still coerced to buy things there despite my tantrum. I don't know what came over me, but it probably involves the joylessness of existing in Colorado Springs and the stress the comes with leaving the country and 5 days...

Tuesday:
-Here's what on the agenda for the day: 1) Do more shopping 2) Blog about how I did more shopping. Looks like you're in for quite a ride folks!
-More shopping as promised. Today was mostly spent on the futile search for shoes. They have this indoor/outdoor shoe rule in Japan and it's a big deal to never wear a shoe indoors that you have worn outdoors. This makes things really complicated when I have to consider work appropriate shoes, dress shoes and just casual shoes along with the strict luggage limit. I've been told a pair of sneakers is all right for work, but I just can't see myself wearing a shirt, tie and sneakers to class everyday. At this point I think it would just be easier to amputate my feet.
-The official countdown: 3 days left in America, 2 days left in Colorado springs. I'll be in Japan come Sunday. I haven't really felt nervous or excited, but I have been trouble sleeping lately and the days have been crawling by. I'm trying to try and savor my time here, but I really don't feel like I'm leaving that much behind. Now I'm afraid that there's not going to be anything here for me when it's time to come back...

Wednesday:
-Another night with not much sleep. I woke up really early too (well, 7:00 is really early for me). There's really not much to do at this time of day other than to deny friend request on myspace from whores who just want me to see their boobs (wait, that doesn't sound so bad when I type it out...) I still need to figure out the shoe situation today and then tomorrow it'll be time to pack. I wish I could just hit a fastfoward button to Sunday, but if I learned anything from the movie "Click" that would be a really bad idea. I never saw the movie "Click" mind you, I'm just trying to look cool and fit in...
-I finally got shoes! Now all of you can stop losing sleep about my shoe situation
-I also gave blood today. The nurse told me that I would be easy because I had big veins. This put me at ease with assured me that she wouldn't try and murder like angry dyke nurse back in Ft. Collins
-I'm blogging too much! Maybe a little break will keep my readers wanting more! I think you're all spoiled. Tomorrow might be my last blogging day for awhile, so that should put you all in your place!
-Colorado Springs is so conservative. How conservative is it?! Conservative enough for me to not make a joke about it without fearing that Focus on the Family will come and kill me in my sleep. Anyways, this basically means that the representative in congress is always guaranteed to be a Republican. That means that the primary is usually the big race here and politics here have been crazy now that the incumbent has stepped down. There have to be at least 8 people participating in a full campaign. Each campaign commercial pretty much shows one of them showing how much more conservative he is than the other. I never realized just how right wing this city was until I went to college and was introduced to new ideas and ways of thinking. I've changed a lot since then and now I'm pretty curious to see if the same thing will happen to me in a foreign country. Well, that's the excuse I'm using to keep this blog on topic anyway...

Thursday:
-Last full day in Colorado Springs!
-Today I went to the dentist, exchanged money and uninsured myself. I guess I have no choice but to leave now!
-I'm trying to avoid packing by any means necessary. My predecessor is back in town already so I'm trying to meet up with her and leave the packing to my poor poor mother...
-The Japanese yen is too big for my wallet. I can't help but think that they're trying to compensate for something...

I visited my parents II: Electric Boogaloo

Well, I survived moving out and all I lost was my left eye. What does that mean? I get to spend the next 9 days back with my parents! I'll keep you posted on all the insanity and weirdness that goes on during my last 6 days in America. Holy crap...

Wednesday:
-My parents went on and on about some talent show they watch. Specifically, they kept talking about some 7 foot tall gay Russian guy who does acrobatics and juggles. My dad kept doing an impression of him in his best gay Russian lisp "I no want to go home! Thees is all I hav!". This must be one hell of a talent show..

Thursday:
-I went up with my mom to Canyon City (aka hell) to drop off all the junk from my apartment into my grandparents' overstuffed garage.
-I went to lunch at this snooty French restaurant with my mother and grandmother. It's always an adventure with those two once the bill comes; it's a deathmatch to see who can pay the bill. My grandmother always wins. She fights dirty by distracting my mom as soon as she sees the waiter coming. She then hands over a $50 bill before my mom knows what hits her. They then bicker about it until we leave. Repeat at next meal.
-We got back to Colorado Springs during rush hour. It was also raining very hard causing traffic to go slower than normal. My mother had the bright idea to get off the interstate and go home the long way; however, that street would also be too busy so she would then choose an even more direct route. Repeat the process a few more times and add in a gas break and suddenly you have an hour an a half drive home which would have only been thirty minutes if we stayed on the interstate. This made me very surly indeed.
-My last family related blog mentioned that my dad likes to chastise me with the same conversation about my future every night. He wasted no time this visit asking me what I had planned after Japan. He became very irritated with me when I answered that I was too busy planning for Japan to look that far ahead and that I had no set plans. He then told me to become a dentist. I'm sure we'll have the exact same conversation tomorrow night.

Friday:
-The real estate agent who sold my parents their plot of land in Canyon City has kept trying to get my dad to come work for him to sell houses. I can't figure out why he thinks my dad would be good at that. I guess people are afraid to tell 6'4" 230 lbs ex-cops no. Anyways, my dad starts real estate school next week and he's already hitting the books hard, almost 6 hours a day. I'm trying to find a way to exploit this, so I'm open to suggestions!
-I escaped to Castle Rock for most of the day. My mom was clearly waiting up for me until I got home at about 1:30. She vehemently denied it, but my dad confirmed the truth today. I have a feeling she's not going to let me get on the plane to Tokyo if she can't even stand me going out of town for an afternoon... See http://kevinyoshida.blogspot.com/ for pics!

Saturday:
-My Uncle and Aunt came to our house on the way to my grandparents' house in hell (Canyon City). We had to keep their dog in our backyard while we went for lunch and to pick up a few things at Radio Shack. When we returned, the dog was behaving like it had been left alone for weeks and refused to move more than three feet away from my aunt or uncle. That dog is worse than some needy girlfriends that my friends have had (I'm not going to name any names Angela)
-I went shopping with my mom for some more new clothes. We picked up some dress socks with a sticker on them that said "Feel it!". Somehow the sticker wound up on my mom's breast and we didn't notice until we left the store. Luckily for my mom nobody saw it. I was hoping somebody would, I needed a good laugh..
-My dad and I had the some ol' conversation at dinner again...

Sunday:

-We came up to my grandparent's house to meet my aunt and uncle and have a big ol' family hootinanny. So far everybody has spend all day at my parents new house (under construction) and have left me here to take care of Boo, my uncle's dog who has extreme seperation anxiety. They better get home soon if they ever want to see this dog again!
-I'm going to change the name of the blog tonight! Why? Because I want to! I also thing a less strange name will make my blog more acceptable to the masses. I fully expect my blog to become the next big thing on the internet.

-I changed the name of the blog! bwahahahaha!

Moving Day: Can the Captain Survive?

Loyal Readers

As of today I have 10 days left before I get on that plane to Tokyo; however, first I have to survive moving day. Much like the major holidays, half the battle of getting through moving day with my family is survival. In fact, I would say that moving days are deadlier than both Thanksgiving and Christmas combined, so it's not looking good for me. Probable cause of death: shrapnel from my father's exploding head. If I never write another blog, it means I have not survived and you should call the authorities immediately. I just wanted to say that I love all of you crazy people who read my blog.

Regards,
Surly

Another Blog?!

It's true! I've created another blog. Well, it's not exactly the same as this one, so it's nothing to mess your pants over (this means you Kristenaugh!). I had the brilliant idea to create a photo blog. There's no limits to photo uploads and I can piece them together however I damn well please! I had to create another user name to keep my parents from finding this blog. Here's the link!

http://kevinyoshida.blogspot.com/

It's not much to look at yet but hopefully it will soon become a land of wonders. I'll add a link to the sidebar too.

Wedded bliss supplemental

Kristenaugh was disappointed that I left out a lot of details about the wedding, so I'll add them here!

-The wedding reception was held in these event room thingie that had garage doors around the walls that doubled as windows. This was funny because I had predicted the wedding would be in a parking garage earlier that day.
-Kristenaugh unmercifully mocked Sabrinuh's wedding dress. It was a plain looking white dress with some black trim stuff on it. Kristenaugh insisted it looked like a prom dress.
-We didn't feel so bad mocking it because Sabrinuh was already technically married. This was just a formality to please her parents.
-One of the kids swimming in the pool came up to the window to the reception area to see what was going on. She was a fat little girl in a bikini, which was disturbing in itself. Her gut was smashed up against the glass as she was trying to peep inside. The image is burned in my memory...
-Kristenaugh desperately wanted to catch the bouquet. When the bouquet was thrown, Krisetnaugh made a diving leap to try and catch it. Unfortunately, she lost out to one of the lesbians. This was clearly an unfair situation for the one straight female at the wedding.

Wedded bliss...

*Note: Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Kristenaugh tricked me to going to her friend Sabrinuh's wedding on Friday. I agreed for two reasons: I needed something to do and the vague promise of free booze. I knew Sabrinuh from a class we had together last semester; she was part of the pre-class beerfest as well. According to Kristenaugh, Sabrinuh laughed her ass off when she learned I would be coming to the wedding. I can only assume she was laughing because she was really looking forward to seeing me!

I figured I should get my one suit (with purple tie!) ready for the special occasion. I didn't get sabrinuh any presents. After all, my presence there should be a gift enough! Besides, I paid for dry cleaning AND gasoline! The wedding was at 7:00 and I left at 3:00, plenty of time to get down to Castle Rock and get ready right? NO! WRONG! DEAD WRONG! Let me give you an idea about how bad the drive was. It took me 45 minutes to get to Loveland from the time I left my house. The drive is usually 15 minutes on a bad day. The drive kept on getting worse. I finally got to Kristenaugh's house at 5:30.

Kristenaugh let me in her house and I quickly became introduced to one of her dogs. This dog was an attention whore and had the most pathetic looking face I've ever seen. Kristenaugh told me a sad story about everybody hating the dog. I guess the dog has developed a psychosis which gave it co-dependent tendencies because the damn thing would not leave me alone! I eventually was able to pull myself away from it and changed into my fancy schmancy clothing.

It took awhile for the two of us to get ready to our satisfaction. I was trying to get my tie to look right and Kristenaugh kept worrying if her hair was curly enough. We eventually were ready to leave but we didn't have enough time to get anything to eat. It didn't help that we were ambushed by Kristenaugh's mom just before we left; she insisted on taking pictures of us and forced us to deliver something to Kristenaugh's grandmother on the way to the wedding. Thankfully, we were able to get to the wedding on time.

Kristenaugh and I both felt pretty awkward at the wedding. She didn't recognize anybody there and I was wondering if Sabrinuh was going to laugh at me once she saw me. We also thought it was odd that Sabrinauh has so many lesbian friends. I think Kristenaugh was the only non-lesbian friend at the wedding, and I really have no proof that Kristenaugh is not a lesbian either. We went to find our seats as fast as possible to avoid any awkward mingling.

Kristenaugh and I viciously mocked the details about the wedding while waiting for it to start. This may sound mean, but the wedding had it coming! There was a busy swimming pool right next to where the actual wedding was going to be outside of the building. Screaming children and fat, shirtless tattooed men were no more than 20 feet away from the bride and groom. There was also an angry lesbian playing the guitar who kept leering at me...

The wedding ceremony itself was mercifully short. Everything about it was generic and unexciting. The judge who was performing the wedding kept losing his place which create uncomfortable pauses throughout the proceedings. He also whispered the vows into the bride and grooms ears for some reason. I'm guessing it was to appear that they had them memorized or something, but all it did was create more awkward pauses.

Once the wedding was over we were supposed to go to the reception line to congratulate the bridge and groom. Somehow Kristenaugh and I unwittingly ended up at front of the line. I was caught in an unwanted conversation with one of Kristenaugh friends (who is also doing the JET program) causing us to hold up the line. Kristenaugh went ahead to greet everybody and left me behind. Not knowing what to do, I just did the bastardly thing and skipped the line all together! I don't greet anybody that I don't want to dammit! Kristenaugh and I then went back inside for the reception.

We were both starving because of the aforementioned not having time to get dinner. Thankfully(?) there would be dinner at the reception! Kristenaugh and I had been mocking the white-trashiness of the wedding the whole night and the dinner only justified our perception. They had BBQ catered for the wedding. Basically everybody in their fancy clothing were about to eat the messiest food on the planet. Great planning! To add to the corniness, drinks were served in paper cups with the restaurant's name on them. Nothing but high class!

Everybody got their food and then the reception proceeded with normal wedding reception junk. Kristenaugh and I were trapped at a table with her JET friend (who also appeared to be a lesbian to go along with the theme). We engaged in trite conversation for awhile, desperately hoping that the booze would come out soon. Eventually it was time to cut the cake. Kristenaugh and I couldn't figure out what the hell flavor cake it was. Here's a picture so that you guys can play along at home!

After eating the horrible mystery cake and drinking free champagne, Kristenaugh and I (well, ok, mostly just me) were ready to hit the road; however, this would be easier said than done. We would first have to say goodbye to Sabrinuh because that would be the polite thing do or something. It was Kristenaugh's idea not mine! She was too busy dancing the night away and we didn't want to interrupt. As a result, we waited for a long time until she eventually did stop dancing. We quickly said goodbye and ran as fast as we could.

Kristenaugh doesn't like BBQ so she didn't have any dinner. We went to Applebee's because it was the only place open that late (and because it has buffalo chicken sandwiches!). The waiter we had acted like he was deathly afraid of us. We stood a good distance away from and muttered everything he said. He probably had a good reason to fear us; he caught us talking about bukkake at the end of the meal. We then went back to Kristenaugh's place and hung out for a little bit. I eventually left for Ft. Collins at around 1:00 AM. The drive wasn't bad at all, I actually slept through most of it!

Countdown....to destiny!

Well, in two weeks from I'll be on a jet plane leaving for Japan. I think things will moving by pretty fast from now on. Tuesday I'll be moving out of my house (God help me) and I'll be spending the rest of my time down with my parents. I also have to really get cracking on getting everything else set up and ready to move. I'm still really confused about the work shoe situation; I keep hearing that I just need slippers or something, but I cant imagine going to work in a shirt, tie, slacks and a pair of sandals. I also have to get things seamailed off at some point. I'm also pissed off that I forgot the cancel the cable in time, now I have to pay a whole month's worth of cable and internet for 5 freaking days. Maybe I can get my roommate to take the brunt of the bill since he's staying until the end of the month. I'd doubt it though, considering he's 2 months behind on the rest of the bills...

What a boring blog entry! I'll write one that's much more fun later on.

The origins of Captain Surly Pants (Finale)

I felt more than a little dejected after the interview. To make things worse, I had forgotten to even come up with a plan B in case everything fell through. By now it was too late to apply to grad school and I didn't want to try and get a fancy schmancy job before my rejection was confirmed. So what did I do? I resorted to heavy drinking!

What you have to understand is that my interview was at the end of February and I didn't get my notice until early or mid April (I don't remember the exact time). That's a lot of time to wait for a rejection letter, so I really needed to take my mind off of it somehow. At that point I started drinking way too much: Every Wednesday afternoon before class (and sometimes after), almost every Thursday night after class, the weekends (of course!) and probably a few times on Mondays/Tuesdays as well. My beer belly steadily grew as my bank account dwindled and I think I was noticeably becoming a wreck in front of everybody I knew. Strangely enough, this last semester was the only time I got a 4.0 GPA, so my advice to all of you is to drink all you want because there will be absolutely no consequences!

Eventually the consulate in Denver sent out an email. I think I was freaking out when I opened it, only to be horribly disappointed when all it said was "we're sending out the results today". I wish they hadn't even told me that because the next few days I was completely distracted from school and I developed a psychosis where I would check the mailbox every 10 minutes, even if the mail had already come for that day.

I think the results came about 3 days after the email (which was extremely fortunate for my mental health). Since I was expecting the worst, I was greatly surprised to see that they had sent me a large package instead of a small letter. Even I wasn't pessimistic enough to think it was the world's longest rejection letter! I opened it and sure enough I was somehow accepted into the JET program for 2006.

This happy occasion lasted for about 2 whole minutes until I called my parents. As soon as I shared the news with them my mom started bawling uncontrollably over the phone. At one point she even said "I was secretly wishing that you wouldn't be accepted!". Thanks mom!
That pretty much made me feel shitty about itthe whole ordeal for the next few days. As a result, everybody I told seemed to be more excited than I was, but I eventually came around as well.

I had to wait about another month for my placement after being accepted. This wait was considerably less nerve wracking than the others. The only rough part about this time period was when I went in to get to obligatory physical, but I digress. I was told I would be going to Fujiyoshida in early May. In the time since then I finished up college, searched for a summer job (and failed) and blogging. The rest, as they say, is history.

The origins of Captain Surly Pants (Part 4)

Winter vacation was the usual month of pure boredom. I would see some friends every once in awhile but most days were stuck in my house just flipping channels and watching TV. It was at about this time that I developed an unhealthy obsession with getting as much information about JET as possible.

Most of my time was spent looking up statistics and reading about the interview process and whatnot. I had a strong feeling that I wouldn't get an interview, but then again I've always been pretty pessimistic. The statistics made me feel even worse about my chances: something like only 25% of the people make it all the way through. Thinking about that number put me through a lot of pointless stress to go along with the already painful wait for the interview. At the time I didn't know that about 700 people are rejected just because they forgot to sign the application or some other similar reasons.

Winter break mercifully came to an end and I started up my last semester of college. My schedule was very light in spite of taking 12 credits. I only had to do any kind of work a couple days a week. This turned out to be a bad thing since it gave me that much more time to freak myself out over JET. The combination of lack of school work + lack of real work + boredom mixed with JET obsession lead to heavy drinking. I think I seriously started drinking 3 or 4 nights out of the week just to help the time pass by. I'm pretty sure that's one of the signs of alcoholism, but oh well. This also lead to me growing an ugly beer gut and being broke by the end of the semester...

Sometime in early February I got an email saying that I had made it past the application process and that I had been given an interview. Thank Jeebus (or Moses if you prefer)! My interview would not be until the end of the month, which marked the beginning of pain JET related waiting period #2 (of 4).

Relief quickly turned into angst again as I realized that now I would have to prepare for the friggin' interview. This lead to me reading up even more about the program, especially different people's interview experiences and list of commonly asked interview questions. All this really did was to drive myself crazy since the vast majority of questions were not even asked. I also think the ones I was prepared for may have sounded too rehearsed, but I guess everything wound up all right (I hope I didn't ruin the ending for all of you!).

My interview was at 11:00 on a Thursday in late February in a skyscraper in downtown Denver. I put on my only suit including my purple tie! I showed up about 45 minutes early and waited with some other interviewees on the 14th floor. They had three interview rooms set up in small, welcoming conference rooms on the same floor. Unfortunately for me, my interview would be in none of these rooms. When they called me for my interview they told me that I would have to make my way up to the 29th floor. This was such a long trek that I actually had to switch elevators at some point. I made my way to outside the interview rooms and had a seat in a small chair that faced the door which would decide my JET fate.

I became a nervous wreck for the 20 more minutes I had to wait outside that door. Eventually the door opened and the guy that was interviewed before me came out. He said that the interviewers were all friendly but at the same time seemed to be shaken up a little bit. A couple minutes later an extremely tall man ( he had to have been at least 6'8") came out and called me into the room.

In contrast to the small, comfortable interview rooms on the 14th floor, my interview room was set up more like an inquisition. The room was enormous and made to seem even larger by the fact that it was empty with the exception of a chair in the center of the room and a long table about 10 feet or so away. The room also had windows instead of walls on 3 sides which greatly added to the intimidating effect.

I had three interviewers: The tall guy who was a former JET, a female Japanese professor from a college in Colorado Springs and a Japanese guy who worked for the consulate (who I learned about a month later was the actual consulate general himself). The JET and the professor were very friendly and easy to talk to during the interview. The Japanese guy was mute and said two things the whole time. My interview started out well, but as it went on my nerves kept getting worse and the interview turned into what I perceived to be a disaster. Some highlights include:
-Me saying I didn't have any specific career goals
-Me repeating that I didn't have any career goals when asked again
-Saying that I wouldn't spend every afternoon after work volunteering to tutor two older women
-Not being answer the question "What 5 objects would you bring to Japan to teach children about America" at all
-An embarrassing demo lesson about the parts of the body that I still have nightmares about...

I walked out of the interview room fairly sure that I had just blown it. I had figured out that they took about 62% of the interviewees, and I was pretty sure that 40% of the people couldn't have done worse than I did. I guess JET just has a strange sense of what they consider to be a quality applicant....

I watched a really good movie today called Assisted Living. It's about an orderly and a patient in a nursing home, I highly recommend it.

Nothing else exciting to report. A kid yelled at me on my jog today for running on the bike path. "HEY! That's the bike sidewalk not the people sidewalk!" He sure showed me!

Saturday Night Boredom Madness

Well, I have nothing else to do so I figured I'd post a link!

Engrish.com. A pretty funny site, good to kill some time and whatnot!

Another time killer! www.myheritage.com has a deal where you upload a photo of yourself and it tells you which celebrity you look most like.


Me and Bob Dylan: seperated at birth?!

Coors Field July 4th Madness!

Since I didn't have any plans today for the 4th of July, I let my parents twist my arm enough to convince me to go to the Rockies' game/fireworks bonanza. I was never heard from again...

I met my parents outside of Coors field after about 20 minutes of trying to find a parking spot in the backstreets of downtown Denver. We then went to a nearby bar to get some beer and dinner before the game started. I had my traditional beer and buffalo chicken sandwich. There is no better food/drink combination on the planet. It also gave me the opportunity to watch this year's hotdog eating contest on TV! What luck! The Japanese guy won again. I have to say that it worries me a little bit that the Japanese are so good at shoving weiners into their mouths, but I digress.

My dad blew $40 on a ticket 10 rows up from the third base line with the hopes that I could move down later in the game. Attendance was pretty high because of the fireworks extravaganza, but of course it just happened that there was a plethora of empty seats around my parents and I had no choice but to go join them. This meant having to listen to my dad's nonstop amateur commentary which include such gems as "pop flies usually lead to easy outs" and "he needs to throw a strike here". I think he should work for TV broadcasting. Really!

Anyways, there had been a light rain for most of the night but it really started to come down in the middle of 6th inning causing the game to become rain delayed. Everybody packed in tight to the concourse to wait out the rain. It was so packed that it took me ten minutes to move about 30 feet to go buy a drink. We were standing near a very drunk and surly man for most of the delay. He kept saying "LET'S PLAY SOME BALL! YER ALL A BUNCH OF WIMPS!" while clapping his hands despite the torrential downpour and hurricane winds. This man is my new personal hero...

It rained as hard as I've seen it rain in Colorado for quite some time. It seemed inevitable that they would have to cancel the rest of the game, but I guess they were hesitant to do so because they wanted to go ahead with the fireworks. Eventually the rain stopped and play resumed after about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Throughout the night my parents had been trying to pressure me into wearing this incredibly dumb looking pancho. I had resisted most of the night but finally gave in after the rain delay. About a minute later I look up into the jumbotron and notice the profile of my face for everyone to see. I froze up and had a look of absolute horror on my face. It was like my worse nightmare had come true! Of all the drunken goofy dancing people in the stadium that would do anything to be on a big screen they pick the goofy looking kid in a pancho minding his own damn business. There's no justice in this world! Anyways, I eventually got over the trauma and the Rockies won 6-1.

The fireworks show was actually pretty decent. My one complaint would be the song selection, especially two songs in particular. The first song I'm not sure of the name of, but I've heard it before. It's that hardcore redneck country song that has the lyric "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way" (referring to Iraq or terrorists or liberals or something). This song pretty much is an anthem for ugly Americans and still pisses me off whenever I hear it. The other song was a not-so-stirring rendition of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". The song is dumb enough, but this version was a weird insipid, cartoonish sounding version. Needless to say I found it less than inspiring. After that I said goodbye to my parents and came back to Ft. Collins to write this blog.

I really need to find better ways to end these stories....BOOBS!

Monday Madness!

Ok, right off the bat I'll tell you that the title is misleading. I just needed a hook to get people reading!

I figure I'd just write a quick entry since it's been awhile since my last post. I can just imagine all of you getting restless without being able to read about the mundane details of my everyday life!

This last week as been pretty much more of the same: Tennis, sleeping, jogging and the occasional meal. I've also been going around to places to see if I can find some good deals on clothing, especially dress clothes (but what I really need is a bunch of freaking everyday clothes). I've also been keeping a little busy with this game called "The Ship" which I downloaded for a trial deal. You're put on a cruise ship and assigned to murder another passenger while being hunted at the same time. I can't get it to work on the internet so I'm stuck killing the computer controlled characters, most of whom seem to have a mental handicap. This means that they're obnoxiously easy to kill, and very rarely does one get up enough gumption to even attempt to kill me! I imagine this game would be 20x as fun with real people. I just don't know if I'd shell out the $20 for the real version.

Speaking of which, I'm broke again. Thankfully I just paid the last set of bills for my life here (I think). I also agreed to buy a whole bunch of stuff from the person I'm taking over for in Japan (including $70 for a phone. I was a little dubious about buying it but I didn't want to be an asshole about it either). I /should/ have more than enough money to bring over there for my first month without a paycheck unless I decide to go on a huge bender. I might move out of my place a little bit early to try and save some money by mooching off my parents, but this would mean spending a ton of time back with my parents. See "I visited my parents" for more details.

Last night I watched the documentary "Darwin's nightmare" about how a kind of perch was introduced into Lake Victoria and subsequently destroyed the ecosystem and the lives of the people who depended on the lake for subsistence. The Anthropologist in me thought it was pretty good but honestly I found it to be pretty dull. And yes, I realize the irony of me saying something was boring after watching several hours of tennis earlier that day.

I also feel that I should mention the supreme court's ruling which limited the power of military tribunals. I don't really have anything to say about it really, somebody just told me that mentioning current events in my blog will get me more traffic. Did you fall for it?!