| Nostalgic |
[03 Sep 2008|10:57pm] |
So remember back in the day when all I posted were random YouTube videos, but at least I was posting and at least people were reading? Well, let's relive some of those glory days with this:
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| Stolen from Audrey |
[19 Aug 2008|12:40pm] |
Hints on Pronunciation for Foreigners
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble but not you
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead -
For goodness sake don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt)
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
Just look them up - and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart -
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive.
I’d mastered it when I was five.
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| A Typical Conversation |
[13 Aug 2008|09:46am] |
Walking down the hall one day, a student pops around a corner...
Hiroki: Mista Clay! Do YOU rav ME?
Clay: Of course I do, Hiroki! But do you love ME?
Hiroki: Oh, yes yes!
Both: OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK
EDIT: Perhaps I should have mentioned that Hiroki's a dude? or did we already get that?
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| Stolen from Lexie |
[08 May 2008|09:55pm] |
Yesterday I was doing yoga and running through the Fukusaki night
Last week I was preparing for a Golden Week camping adventure.
Last month I was with Ryan in Aomori eating apples and delicious Mexican food.
Two months ago I was winning a speech contest on an absinthe hangover.
Five months ago I was getting myself into a nice little car accident after 負けing the JLPT
Six months ago I was in Hakone eating sulfur boiled eggs.
Nine months ago I showed up in Japan and felt very alone.
A year ago I graduated from Lewis & Clark College.
Not as interesting as Lexie's
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| The fruits of a Thursday |
[17 Apr 2008|05:04pm] |
So I work really really hard, which is why I was surfing wikipedia today and found these fun facts:
First, Kasai borders the city of Himeji which is pretty sweet and when people here don't know Kasai I tell them I live near Himeji, a la Seattle and Kenmore.
Fun Facts:
Himeji is the 25th largest city in Japan
Portland is the 31st largest city in the US
Himeji's population: 535,000
Portland's population: 537,000
Awwww, twins! Heartful get!
But then I dug into the metro area. First, I found Portland:
Greater Portland (Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton): 2.1 million
Way to go Portland! You show Cincinnati!
But then I discovered that Himeji, as well as Kasai, are merely a part of:
京阪神 (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe): 18.6 million
owned. Kasai is a part of this large sprawling blue mass
It's the light blue blob right above where the dark blue blobs stop on the left side
Luckily this sprawling mass is my favorite part of Japan.
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[12 Apr 2008|10:28am] |
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Whoa
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| All my greatest posts come from Chip Boles |
[11 Mar 2008|06:22pm] |
Isn't Identity a Funny Thing?
I can't decide which would be a greater affirmation of this site, me:
1. getting offended by it
OR
2. thinking "Oh man, us white people are TOTALLY like that!!"
Probably both.
Personal favorites include T-shirts, Japan, traveling, and coffee (but that last one only because I don't like it, which means I can join the diversity club! Hooray guys!)
EDIT!
For the other half of my readership
Can't vouch for this one, cause I haven't read it, cause I'm late for dinner. Time to get on that.
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| Some Stuff |
[03 Mar 2008|08:11pm] |
1: Has it ever bothered anyone else that in MC Hammer's "Turtle Power" Raphael is presented as the leader of the group? Cause it sure pisses me off. Leonardo is indiscriminately the leader of the turtles, and Raphael is the emo guy who always got in trouble doing his own thing. Not as if I really like either of them, I'm more a Donatello kinda guy myself. But I have a special distaste for Raphael, because in my group of four friends back at the compound in Ethiopia, I always got stuck with the 赤ちゃん because my much more charismatic best friend wanted to be Donatello. Thanks for reopening old wounds, Hammer!
2: Seeing pictures of the International Fair is making me really nostalgic for certain aspects of college, but seeing pictures of the rapidly changing campus is making me kinda freaked out. And gawd, have we all seen what they've done to the Pio?
3: My running is definitely starting to pay off. My shins were really upset with me last week, but thanks to helpful advice from the intarweb/real people they're getting over it. And, weighing myself last weekend, I've lost a full 6 kg over the past three weeks. That's a lot in pounds! Actually, having just looked it up, that's a pretty freaky amount that I'm not actually going to disclose. But today, it's like I almost couldn't stop myself from running. About forty minutes in I did and I was hardly tired. I guess this is a good thing?
4: I'm going into Akashi tomorrow to continue the complex process of attaining a Japanese driver's license. Blegh. Oh well, it'll be a conversation starter at parties back in the states/Tunisia.
5: Oh, I got acupuncture the other day. I was a little weirded out going in, which I'm sure everyone reading understands. But it was AMAZING! I hardly felt anything during the actual process, but when everything was over with it was like an entire year's worth of back trouble had melted away. Definitely going back to that guy.
Yikes, that's the most substantive post I've written in a long time... It's because I spend way too much time on my facebook albums these days. Oh, and if you're not looking at those, it means you don't love me.
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| I can't help it |
[25 Feb 2008|09:35pm] |
I must post this incredible video too!
Thanks Deana!
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| Hey Everyone |
[30 Jan 2008|08:44am] |
First, I'm writing to let you know that I've re-contracted with JET, so I'll be here until August 2009. Which gives all of you more of a chance to visit me! You can join the proud ranks of one particularly awesome person ^_^
Second, and at the risk of copyright infringement, here's a reading from our 3rd years' textbook, called "Freddie the Leaf"
[Spring came. Freddie, the leaf, was born on a branch of a tall tree.
Hundreds of leaves were born on the tree. They were all friends. Together they danced in the breeze and played in the sun.
Daniel was the largest leaf and Freddie's best friend. He knew many things. He explained that they were part of a tree in a park. He also explained about the birds, the sun and the moon.
Freddie loved being a leaf. Summer was especially nice. Many people came to the park.
"Let's get together and give them some shade," said Daniel. "Giving shade is part of our purpose in life. Making people happy is a good reason for living."
Old people sat under the tree and talked of old times. Children ran around and laughed. It was fun to watch those children.
Summer passed and fall came.
Soon the leaves changed their colors. Some turned red and others turned yellow. Freddie turned purple. They were all very beautiful.
One day a strange thing happened. Some of the leaves were blown off by a strong cold wind. The leaves became frightened. "What's happening?" they said.
"It's time for leaves to change their home," Daniel said. "Some people call it dying."
"Will we all die?" Freddie asked.
"Yes," Daniel answered. "Everything dies."
"I won't die!" said Freddie.
But his friends started to fall one after another. Soon the tree was almost bare.
"I'm afraid of dying," Freddie told Daniel.
"We're all afraid of things we don't know," Daniel said. "But you were not afraid when spring became summer, or when summer became fall. Changes are natural."
"Will we return in spring?" Freddie asked.
"I don't know, but Life will. Life lasts forever and we're part of it," answered Daniel.
"We only fall and die. Why are we here?" Freddie asked again.
Daniel said, "For the friends, the sun and the shade. Remember the breeze, the people and the colors in fall. Isn't that enough?"
That afternoon, Daniel fell with a smile. Freddie was the only leaf left on his branch.
The first snow fell the next morning.
The wind came and took Freddie from his branch. It did not hurt at all.
As he fell, he saw the whole tree for the first time. He remembered Daniel's words, "Life lasts forever."
Freddie landed on the soft snow. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
He did not know this. But, in the tree and the ground, there were already plans for new leaves in spring.]
DOUDBLE YUUU TEEEE EEEEEEEEFFFFF
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| Forgot about this one! |
[25 Jan 2008|11:42pm] |
Whoo, Happy New Year everyone! Now that it's a firmly established tradition...
January:
My Own Video!
At least I can get more work done on my Thesis... And my Netflix.
February:
I walked twenty minutes to the CIE through sweltering heat.
Clay happy.
March:
This is Björk. One day, we will be married.
World's Tallest Man Gets Married
April:
Sarah: Is it a caption contest?
I guess that's what these guys want...
May:
Let's narrow this down a little...
Well, with that little bit of pre-job anxiety out of the way, I think I'll go back to Family Guy and the Ming Dynasty.
June:
As most of you know, my life has been very exciting over here in Kenmore for the past couple weeks.
My guilt at not going off to the former Soviet Union right yet has been significantly assuaged.
July:
This would be funny if it wasn't so creepy...
Bad place for zombies, but good place for fun.
August:
I'm here in 新宿、and I am very very tired...
Donald making out with some balloons or something
September:
Oh readers, I'm so sorry I haven't been updating.
Thank you, Wikipedia...
October:
...but surf YouTube?
Happy Halloween everyone
November:
Studying for the 日本語検定 takes up a surprising amount of time when you cram it all into one month.
I hope this clears up any confusion. And Lexie, your picture wins.
December:
SO by the time you read this I'll probably be on a magical jet boat speeding to Korea.
"The beach is known as Stinky Bay because of the fermenting seaweed found there."
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| A video I took of North Korea |
[30 Dec 2007|04:49pm] |
So I'm back in Kasai, but tomorrow morning I'm off to Hirakata and then Tokyo. I just thought I'd check in by sharing this video I took at Panmunjeom, the Joint Security Area in the DMZ. Too bad you can't make out the North Korean guard who was glaring at us. Oh well, enjoy the Japanese with curious Korean accent. More pictures will be up on Facebook at some point.
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[22 Dec 2007|10:09pm] |
SO by the time you read this I'll probably be on a magical jet boat speeding to Korea. Just thought I'd let everyone know.
Also, Lexie, I was just in the salt sauna in the capsule hotel here (which is another story in and of itself) and on the teevee was a show about the Lincoln Presidential Library. Random. And nary as I watched but a young, pensive abraham lincoln appeared on screen sitting on a stump and wearing bags on his feet, in full wax relief. Suddenly I realized I had seen that young man before, in my dreams and in your postcards. Anyway, thought I'd let you know.
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| I want a tally of votes |
[29 Nov 2007|10:45am] |
Who doesn't get this, and who does get this?
EDIT:
And if Captain America really were in a band, what would he play?
EDIT
People, how can only one person get this?! It's Captain America playing a tambourine! It's pretty fuckin' sweet! Ain't much more to get than that. This picture explains it better than I ever could though.
I hope this clears up any confusion. And Lexie, your picture wins.
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| I wanna stay with you... |
[20 Nov 2007|12:29am] |
I look at my writing these days and barf a little in my mouth. It's like I can't even maintain focus within a single paragraph anymore. I used to be so much more cohesive. Then again, I also used to have a lot more emotional angst. Seems to be a trade off. Recently, leaving out words, like Japanese people.
Tomorrow I'm making hand turkey with my first and third graders. I'm pretty psyched.
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claymander's journal