Which way is my way?

I've found little to write about the past few months. I have done hardly anything to speak of since I've returned from Japan. I got a job about two weeks ago, it's my first paying job since I was laid-off by Ritz camera in April. I am interning at a local newspaper which has been interesting although I don't always feel as though it's necessary, some of the things I shoot for them, and I have found it progressively harder and harder to find interesting events to shoot. If you asked me a year ago what I was doing with my photography I'd tell you that I'm trying to become a wedding photographer, but I haven't even shot a wedding yet. I did get paid $30 for a cd of ballroom dance shots a week ago which was quite gratifying.

I can't really tell if I'm looking at things in a pessimistic way or just seeing reality. All I've done in the past few months is fool around on the computer or play video games as I let my responsibilities slip away along with what feels like my life. I miss my friends in other countries and my friends who are off at college and at the same time I'm wishing I was them without the responsibilities that currently loom in my mind.

Spending too much time at home leaves you somewhat lost, dazed and completely unmotivated.

A piece of paper with words written upon it, that's how I feel. I don't know what the words say or what the writer intends to write next. Maybe that has something to do with why I haven't had inspiration to write.

I did come to realize something about myself which I am thankful for. I've realized that I had always looked at my hopeful relationships as "I really like this person" and then sex pops into my head. I ended up scaring myself from the idea of thinking about sex when I think whether I like this person or not. Because of this I happened upon the thought that I don't want to have sexual relations even if the chance arose until I know for sure that I care about this person in the appropriate way. I feel that I understand how I work better as well, I like to move into everything I do slowly and it's the same with relationships although this whole time I've thought I want to get into a relationship NOW.

Learn some more Japanese with Joshua

This is my last list of Japanese I have for you before I get back to the states.

kyoku - song
dake - only
fufu - couple (husband/wife/married)
okusan - wife
karera - they
dannasan - husband
shitemasu - I know
shitteru - do you know?
kekkon - wedding
mainichi - everyday
subete - all (like zenbu but more polite)
iitenki - good weather
waruitenki - bad weather
okyaku - customer
misete okudasai - can I see please
noboru - climb
kori - ice
hana - flower
doushiyou - what should I do?
nanka/nanika - sort of/kind of
sunderu - living
sumu - live
koishi - homesick
natsukashi - nostalgic
kumosu - spiderweb
kumo - spider
ohagi - mochi w/ sesame seeds = awesome
otabe - anko inside thin mochi casing with cinnamon
kaizoku - pirate
kemuri - smoke
hiake - sunburn
nemui - sleepy
chikuso - damnit
kuso - shit
uso - no way/ bullshit
zou - elephant
yushoku - dinner
yakuza - japanese gang
tombo - dragonfly
ototoi - the day before yesterday/two days ago
mata ashita - till tomorrow
choshido - what's up?
hara heta - I'm hungry
ureshii - happy
umai - taste good (similar to oishii)
kaichidentou - flash light
yokoso - welcome
sukareta - tired
tadashii - correct
niteru - similar
hageshi ame - heavy rain
takusan - too much

The Fuji plight

July, 30th

One of my fears when I came to Japan was that I wouldn't be able to record everything that happened in the form of a blog. Turns out I was exactly right. My blog sort of stopped around week 1 although I do have spotty blog posts ready to be posted relating to single days I thought were worthy to write about right then. I had really hoped to blog about most of the stuff I did, though there was so much I did and because of that I hadn't time enough to write them all down.

Today marks my 6th day left in Japan. I'm both sad and over joyed about the fact that I'll be leaving Canadian farm, all it's oddities and all the misunderstandings that were had there. I'll be heading into Tokyo with my friend Derek on the 2nd who I met at Canadian farm. It's pretty ironic that we're both leaving Japan on the same day with the same airlines even at the same time yet we aren't on the same flight. It would have been a much more comfortable flight if we were traveling together but I guess coincidence wasn't strong enough this time, maybe next trip.

As I write this I'm in the car with Yuuki, Aya, Travis and Derek, we're heading to Fuji san. The big plan is to start our climb at 11:30 at night and arrive at the top at 4:00 in the morning to watch the sun rise over Japan. We're being a little rebellious in doing this considering that the weather reports have foretold rain the past week. As long as the top of fuji isn't all clouds I'll be happy since it's not very interesting looking at pictures within a cloud. I'm not currently very optimistic about my chance at good pictures but even If I come out with a nice group picture I'll be good. Anyways, Fuji san is 3700 meters which is I don't know how many feet but it's alot, maybe 11,000'. Haseyan expects us to be back sometime around lunch on Friday. That's what I told him anyways. I hope our attempt at Fuji works out with little to no rain but that seems like alot to ask for considering the circumstances.

Japanese with Joshua: part 2

hotaru - firefly/lightening bug

kora wa sageru iidesuka - is it okay if I take that?

shitsureishimasu - excuse me (polite)

daigaku - university, college

donata - who (polite)

dare - who

kasa - umbrella

keitai - cell phone

tokei - watch

kagi - key

shimbun - newspaper

hon - book

nan ji made desuka - what time do they close?

mo ichi do onegaishimasu - one more time please

kono, sono, ano - this, that, there, respectively.

kono - this. used when referring to something that's not physical, "I like this song"

yubinkyoku - post office

ginko - bank

supa - supermarket

hiru-yasumi - lunch break

yasumi - break

hiru - afternoon

asa gohan - breakfast

asa - morning

gohan - meal/rice

eiga - movie

irasshaimase - may I help you?/ welcome

____ mita? - have you seen _____? example, have you seen Joshua?

pasokon - personal computer

eigo - english

jisho - dictionary

dochi ga ii desuka? - which way is good?

dochi ga hayai desuka? which was is fast?

suru - do

watashi wa mosugu onsen ni ikimasu - I'm going to the onsen soon.

onsen e ikimashyo - want to go to onsen?

karasu no gyouzui - crow's bath

suki - like it

daisuki - love it

shiteru - do you know?

gurai - about

atarashi - new

wazato - on purpose/delebritely

momo - peach

kome - rice

asoka - I see

Meeting "Aussie meat"

I've been learning more about life here at Canadian farms and making a decent amount of mistakes along the way. My cell phone hasn't been helpful as a cell phone or even an alarm... you wouldn't think that would be too hard to mess up huh? I accidentally got up an hour passed everyone else one morning since my cell phone can't correctly tell time and missed breakfast because of it. I felt like a jackass waking up that late and not even helping with breakfast or anything. I'm not trusting my cell phone anymore, my internal clock I find works better.

Bokemaru still doesn't like me but that's not stopping me. I'll keep on trying to befriend him till I leave. He doesn't like almonds or cranberries. I need to get some better snacks that picky dogs might also enjoy.

I'm pretty sure but not positive that Matt, my first Aussie friend got to Canadian farms on the 16th, 4 days after me. First time I saw Matt he was decked out in a camouflaged jacket with a large straw hat and tall rain boots. He looked pretty serious about WWOOFing minus the large straw hat which look kind of silly. It was really nice having Matt there because I finally had someone who was a native English speaker that I could get my thoughts out onto which feels so nice after a few days of no one understanding what you actually mean. Matt turned out to be a great friend and also shared many of my interests. He taught English in Hokkaido for a year and a half I think. It was interesting learning from his past teaching experiences and all the other things he's done. He's been counting all the different onsens he's been to and he's up to 60ish I think which is quite a few. I have, since meeting Matt, taken more of an interest in Australia. Hopefully I can go visit Australia sometime and hang out with my "mates" again. Sohei and I have become pretty good friends. We play chess pretty often which is almost always a good game yet he beats me nearly everytime. Our record is something like 12 games him, 3 games me lol.

Learning Japanese with Joshua

These are all words that I have used around here and seem to be pretty practical. Well maybe they're practical, I don't think many people will be talking about sweet potatoes in Japanese though.

kochira koso yoroshiku onegaishimasu - Nice to meet you (said when leaving)
sochira koso - you too (more polite then anata mo)
kochira koso - me too (more polite then watashi mo)
masugu - straight (left, right, straight)
tambo - rice field
hatake - field
zenbu - all, everything
sentou - hotbath
onsen - natural hot spring
majide - really?, are you serious? (slang only used by people under 40 yrs)
satsumaimo - sweet potato
mecha mecha - very very (like totemo but a younger word.)
doko kara kimashitaka? - where are you from?
omizu kudasai - water please
sumimasen ocha kudasai - excuse me tea please
kakkoi - cool
____ wa itsu modette kimasuka - when will ____ come back?
denwa okashite kurimasuka - can I borrow your phone please
dakara - so, cause
tanoshii - fun
okashi - funny
chigao - different
onaji - the same
hi wo tsukete kudasai - please make a fire
mata ai mashyou - see you again

June, 13th>

I spent a lot of my first week in Canadian Farms just trying to learn how things are done and made a decent amount of mistakes along the way. First thing I think was Bokemaru (Bo-K-Mah-Ru), he's the dog around here, I'm not a stranger to dogs so I knew not to be too friendly with a new dog. My caution came in handy when Bokemaru tried to bite me after I'd called his name lol. He's a small dog about the size of my dog Milo but he's got some "shyness" issues, that's what they tell me anyways. My goal for before I leave Japan is to befriend the Bokemeister.

Some of my other goals are learning Japanese while I'm here and making a lot of new friends and contacts. Learning Japanese so far has been pretty interesting and at times not so easy... most the time not so easy. I've made quite a few good friends so far. I hope that they can come and visit me when I get back to the states. I'm starting to miss some of the food we have in the states that they either don't have here or they do have but isn't as good as the real thing like pizza for example, don't eat it here. Of course sushi, udon, rice, sweet potatoes (I prefer Japanese sweet potatoes now), various kinds of pickled things and so many more foods are way better here. Things in Japan haven't changed too much that I can tell, still have all the bizarre things I loved the first time only now I understand things better. There are these hilarious Boss commercials with Tommy Lee Jones in them for whatever reason. Boss is a kind of drink made by Suntory.

The first work I had at Canadian Farms was sweeping up maple seeds which seemed like it would take forever especially since a few hundred new ones fell everyday. Turned out it didn't take forever and now there are no more maple seeds falling. At some point during the week Haseyan and I went to the rice paddy and we planted edamame along the edge of the water. It amazing to see how fast the plants grow. I feel like they're my children except they don't speak, are green and are fantastic to eat. That's awesome since kids are easier when they don't talk, green is my favorite color and I love to eat. Anyways... yeah I've been very impressed by the power of plants and rain. It's rained everyday I've been here so far which also explains the growth of our plants. When it rains we can't work in the field which means after a few days of rain we have to do some serious weeding.

July, 5th. If I don't get to bed now I wont have energy enough to go hoe weeds tomorrow so sayonara.

June, 12th

While I was at Kaedenoki we all sat and ate some curry of which I've eaten soooooo much of. I love curry. Excellent with rice and we have plenty of rice. I'm pretty sure on average we eat curry here about 3-5 times a week lol. I know there was a 6-7 day streak of eating curry everyday about a week ago. After we finished our curry Haseyan asked me If I liked onsen and if I wanted to go. I love onsen. The onsen is a Japanese natural hot spring where everyone is naked. There is a bath for each gender and at some onsen they have co-ed onsens. On our way to the onsen Haseyan asked me which state I was from, I told him North Carolina and he said that there were two Americans at Canadian farm right now that he thought were from NC. I thought that was a pretty interesting coincidence. Haseyan wanted to stop at Canadian farms before we went to onsen so that's what we did. It was about 8:30 at night by the time we got there so it was really hard to tell what everything looked like. We went into the dinning room and I met everyone. There were the two Americans, John and Johnny, Nozomi, Yasuko and Eriko. Tonight was John and Johnnies last night so we ate a cake that Eriko san made. Before too long it was late and we had no more time for onsen but it was cool since I got to get to know some new people. I appreciated runnig into some native speaker since I don't have to explain myself to them. I feel like I've learned a lot about communication thus far since I've had to do it in two languages.

June, 29th. From now on I plan to blog in weekly increments because I've gotten so far behind and there are so many things I do here at Canadian farms.

Meeting new friends.

June, 12th cont.

Getting on the bus was sad for me but I was also ready to get out of the heat of Shinjuku and onto an air conditioned bus. As the bus was pulling out I noticed that Natsuko san stayed to see me off which I thought was really nice. She took a few pictures of me on the bus as we were leaving. Natsuko san and the rest of her family made me feel so at home. On the bus from Shinjuku to Chino I thought about a few different things like how much I'll miss living with Kosuke's family like I had the last few days and whether I was going to enjoy my two month stay at Canadian farms as much as I might enjoy Jiyugaoka. I wasn't looking forward to having to work in Japan for two months.

I was glad to have those Meiji chocolates that Hatsuko san gave me during that bus ride since I had little other food excluding the 8 pounds of almonds and cranberries I was transporting. About an hour before reaching Chino we took a 15 min. break at a rest spot which was basically a small super market. When I came to Japan 4 years ago we stopped at this same spot and it was pretty cool to be there again 4 years later. Everyone got back on the bus after collecting all the snacks they needed and relieving themselves in the highly advanced Japanese restrooms otherwise known as "toire" pronounced, tou-ee-ray. It turned out that the bus got to Chuoda-Chino, where I need to go, about 25 min. early. Very cool. Now I just needed to foot-it to Hotel Chino which I was told was 5 mins. away if walking. I had no idea where this place was but I saw this tall building with the katakana, "Ho", "Te" and "Ru" which means Hotel (hoteru) on it and figured that was a good start. As I rounded the building I saw a sign in English saying "Hotel Chino". I had to wait about 25-30 mins. before Hossan got there but I got to just chill which is something I didn't really have time for before. Hossan arrived right when I was told he would, with a few mins. to spare. He speaks English pretty well. (June, 25th, I've realized that Hossan has a Canadian accent when he speaks English which is kind of interesting. One of the common phrases he says is, "Cool, ey?".) Hossan and I had quite a few different conversations on the way to Kaedenoki (the second of Haseyan's restaurant). I found out that he cycled across Australia which is pretty crazy. Apparently he had a few bad experiences in the US like walking out the door only to hear gunshots and getting harassed by some sort of gang or something. We finally got to Kaedenoki, I could tell it was Haseyan's immediately from the woodsy feel and contrast to everything "normal". After a few calls to Haseyan, rice crackers and sips of Aquarius later Haseyan and Sohei got here. It was awesome meeting Sohei for the first time and seeing Haseyan again. I'm a lot taller then I used to be. Haseyan used to look like a giant to me but now I'm the tallest one here.

I think that's it for tonight but I hope you enjoyed it =) , June, 25th.

Goodbye my friend

June, 12th

My last day in Jiyugaoka was a kind of solemn occasion. Kosuke had to leave for school at 7:00 AM to get to school at 9:00 AM and I really only woke up early enough to literally just say hear him say "bye Joshua"... I said "bye" and that was it. I was a really disappointed that our last goodbye was such an unfriendly occasion but I guess the language barrier can't really be helped. Getting up for breakfast was equally strange because it was just me eating alone while Natsuko san bundled newspapers she was going to deliver. I felt kind of left in the dust as though I didn't matter as the rest of every ones lives continued. I had hoped to meet Kosuke again ever since I first made friends with him four years ago and it felt very one sided on our parting.

Natsuko and I were about to head out on a journey to ultimately get me a bus in Shinjuku to Nagano but their were many things to do before that. Hauling my luggage down from the 2nd floor felt more difficult then getting up in the first place. When I finally got down the perilous Japanese made anti-American stairs I made sure to thank Kosuke's grandparents a second time. Hatsuko san handed me a present that she said to eat on the bus to Nagano which turned out to be Meiji chocolates (very similar to Hershey chocolate). I asked them If I could take their picture before I left but I didn't get a clear response so I just left it at photographing the outside of their house.

After transferring from bus to bus, making a stop at a Japanese bank and hoping trains we got to Shinjuku where we searched for Tokyo tower where the Nikon plaza is on the 28th floor. As we were walking to Tokyo tower we past this discount electronics shop where there was this one older Japanese guy smoking. You'd think whatever some dude smoking, but this white dude came out of the electronics shop who apparently worked there and told the Japanese guy "not to smoke here" while using his index fingers to make a "no good" sign. I thought this was terribly funny considering that some white guy was telling a Japanese guy in Japan not to smoke while speaking Japanese. That is off topic though. Back on topic, I knew that I would enjoy being there but didn't realize exactly how cool it would be. I basically had every lens and camera body that I'd ever want to buy in front of me and the best part was I could use them. Let me tell you getting to hold an $8,000 camera body with a $2,000 lens on the end of it is pretty damn awesome. Needless to say I felt kind of annoyed with my camera afterwards because it just doesn't focus as fast or have as many focus points or shoot as fast... I could keep going but I'd become depressed. I discovered this super cool telescope thingy that I can't remember the correct name for. I've been losing the names of many different things lately because of these new Japanese words. Anyways this telescopemabob could see super far away. Unfortunately I don't have a good way of explaining how far but just know it was FAR. After leaving Tokyo tower we went to the bus station in Shinjuku for my 2:45 hour bus ride to Chuoda Chino where I was told I'd meet "Hossan" at 5:30 at Hotel Chino. Real quick let me fill you in on how crazy good Japanese transportation is. You often read train schedules that say they arrive at the station at 2:10 for example but then it says arrives at 2:37... Why in the world would they say 2:37??? why not a 2:35 or 2:40? It's because when they say 2:37 they mean they'll arrive at 2:37 lol. It's crazy, I've never gotten anywhere late. You either get somewhere on time or earlier, very efficient.

June 22nd, It's really late and I need to sleep but I'll post some more tomorrow hopefully.

University

June, 11

It was my second day in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo with Kosuke and his family and I decided to go to his University which is an hour and a half away by the way. We left from his house at 11:00 in the morning and walked for probably 20 mins to Jiyugaoka station. The neighborhood in Jiyugaoka is really cool, small streets, lots of flowers and just a nice looking area. Tokyo seems to be such a convenient area to bike in... I wish I had a bike now. Anyways, we got to the station, I bought a ticket. Kosuke used his Net pass (Metro pass?). Seems to be a cheap way to travel though I don't exactly understand it. While we were on the train Kosuke explained to me that his friends were crazy. I didn't know what he meant by that till I met them but they were really cool and glad to meet me as I was glad to meet them. I think we took 3 different trains and two different tickets to get to his college and spent about ¥400 doing it. Kosuke and I were walking down some stairs from the train station when a pretty Japanese girl started talking to him about something and she turned out to be his friend, Masumi. We ran into a few other friends of his before class. Kosuke's first class was a plant cell class I decided to use that time to explore his college and grab some food. I went to the cafeteria and wondered through the line looking at the food, prices and tried to decipher the kanji with no luck. I ended up get katsu, tofu (tofu W/fish flakes and scallions) and rice. All three of those things cost me a total of ¥390, that's really cheap. I knew that both katsu and tofu were normally served with sauce but I didn't know the word for "sauce" (It wasn't till later that I learned that the word for sauce is sauce)... plus I'm not able to read anything but Hiragana. Not too much is spelled with Hiragana and if it is it's mixed with Kanji which is very hard (muzukashi). After my rather tasteless meal I walked around Kosuke's campus until his class was over. I met him in front of this one building surrounded by Japanese that were previously ignoring me that turned to be his friends and introduced themselves to me. I really like his friends their all pretty cool people and It was cool that they were so willing to get to know me. Trying to remember all their names was not easy then and because I'm writing this entry 3-4 days late I remember even fewer of them. Everyone had a 10 minute break before english class. Most of Kosuke's friends seemed to be asking about me or talking to me directly. Kosuke's English class was pretty interesting. One kid was studying his electronic dictionary, another was playing Gameboy advance and others were talking to each other all while the lecture was going on. I think the teacher knew that people did all this but he didn't really seem to care. I don't know if that means he's not interested in the success of his students or just that they're repeated trouble makers. There were a select few people that had to read from this one book in English and when it came Kosuke's turn he told me to read it in very broken english but I understood him. As I started to read it to the class the students started laughing as they heard clear english minus the Japanese accent. I didn't really understand what was going on but it seemed as though that wasn't cool but you couldn't really tell from the teacher. The students thought it was hilarious though. Kosuke had to read it anyways. After class we hung out with Kosuke's friends for about 2-3 hours at his university. Masumi san from earlier approached me and started to talk to me as Kosuke was chatting with his other friends. Her English was really good I thought. After a while another of Masumi's friends came over and became the third in our group. After about 30 minutes in the hall we decided to go outside and we ran into even more of his friends. I now had 4 girls asking me questions about various things like who I thought the most attractive guy of the male group was. I thought it was a bit strange but I thought it would be Kosuke. Turns out Kosuke is very popular so my answer was correct I guess. Apparently he's very popular with the girls. One of the girls asked me who I thought the most attractive of the girls were. This became very awkward as I didn't want to offend anyone. I decided to go with "I think so many of the Japanese girls I've seen are pretty so it's really hard to choose"... Anyways It was really fun talking to them and making new friends. It started to get dark and the four people left including Kosuke and I decided to go home. After the second train Masumi went one way and we went the other. As Kosuke and I were walking home after the hour and a 1/2 train ride we stopped by a convenient store of which Japan has plenty of. I got some sweet potato yokan which was pretty good.

June, 14th, I gotta get going and help with breakfast now.

Japanzess, part II

June, 10th.

I met Kosuke at Jiyugaoka station and we used his net pass to take a bus to his house which was about 10 minutes away by bus. We walked from the bus stop to his house with me following in a very tired state after traversing all Japan had to throw at me. I saw a woman up ahead who was waving at us and she turned out to be his mother, Natsuko. His grandmother (Obaasan) , Hatsuko was also waiting outside for out arrival. After being greeted by Natsuko and Hatsuko respectively in the most welcoming manor I could ask for we went inside to set down my luggage. After getting in the door I took my shoes off and was introduced to Ojiisan Takahashi (grandfather). First thing he said to me was "You are welcome in my home" I very much appreciated hearing that especially from the eldest in the family. It really hit me while carrying my huge check in bag up the stairs how little space there is in Tokyo. Once I set everything down I met the 2nd to last member of the family, Sakiko, Kosuke's sister. Sakiko went to Australia when she was 16 or 17, I never found out which and learned quite a bit of english. It was comforting to know that I had a translator for my first few days. For the next few hours I sat at their table snacking a bit, talking with Sakiko and showing some of my photography. After dinner Kosuke and I went down to the convenient store to get some ice cream and Yokan! When we got back I met Kosuke's dad (Otosan), Isao san. He was just as nice as everyone else in the family except he seemed kind of tired from work that night so we didn't talk too much. Kosuke and I watched Japan play someone in a soccer match I wasn't able to figure out their opponents name. We also watched the Yomiuri Giants play the Softbank Hawks in a game of Yakyu (Baseball).

To mention a little bit more about Kosuke's family, Takahashi san was an English teacher for about 40 years. Hatsuko san teaches art in Ginza from what I understand. Natsuko san works at a bakery and delivers newspapers part time. Isao san works at a home for the elderly. Sakiko works for Olympus which is super cool, I didn't expect I would meet anyone who worked for a camera company while I was in Japan let alone my friends sister. Kosuke goes to NUBS, Nippon University of Bioresearch and something else with an S.

Japanzess

June, 10th

I decided not to make a separate blog but to instead use this one since I can't think of a good name. Here's how things happened from Atlanta airport and on,

I realized as I was boarding the plane how much I hate flying and then I realized I quoted Obi-wan Kenobi... in my mind. Pretty cool. The flight however was not pretty cool and while I was checking in to the airport and having all my luggage scanned, strip searched, hosed down, etc a man came up to me and said, "she dropped your computer..." me, "oh really?!". If there's one thing you don't do it's drop a $2,000 piece of equipment, especially when it's MINE. I just noticed later today that the screen leans to the left I believe and that isn't good. I'd like to say I gave her a stern talking to but that's not really my style especially when trying to catch a plane. The flight was boring just like it was last time except there were better movies this time.


I had been pretty nervous about not being able to get through customs and all that but everything went smoothly. Tip for people, always check what they want to hear on the form you get on the plane it makes getting into a country far easier. Extra tip, don't say that you have bombs or weapons... bad idea trust me (I have a friend who proved this point...). So all-in-all getting through the airport was easy it was just the fact that not many people spoke my language that threw me for a bit of a loop. I made the mistake of assuming getting from Narita airport to Jiyugaoka in Tokyo would be simple... I was proven wrong. I felt like I was in basic training with all the stuff I was lugging around. Trying to figure out the Japanese transportation system while avoiding getting run over by people who actually knew where they were going and doing it all after a 13 hour plane ride after sleeping for 3 hours previously really sucked. The very first train I got on went from Narita to Nippori. I didn't realize it but only cars 2-7 are non-smoking cars, the one I was in I soon found out to be a smoking car. I was asked to show my tickets to a train worker and apparently I got on the wrong train or was just missing a ticket since he kept telling me I need a 2nd ticket. He let me get off at Nippori where I had to go to Shibuya which is one of the busiest stations in Japan. I was lucky because on the escalator I ran into an American (I assume) and a english speaking Japanese man and they helped me get a ticket to Shibuya. Keep in mind the whole time I was riding these trains I was wondering how in the world I would contact my hosts since my cellphone didn't work, even after I was told it would by Verizon. That created lots of stress. I finally arrived in Jiyugaoka and was walking around on the train platform wondering what I should do. I decided a bench and a drink would be good to help clear my head and think my options through thoroughly. With my cellphone out of service all I had left was my beloved macbook and skype, thank the heavens for skype. In a moment of extreme faith and no other options I flipped my pasokon (personal computer) open and got some wi-fi by some miracle. Everything is encrypted there, makes it a little harder to get internet. So anywho, I got Wi-fi, checked my email to see if I got mail from my host family and I did. I then used the phone number I got from the email to call their home, using skype of course, and arranged for someone to pick me up. Within 15 minutes Kosuke, my friend from 4 years ago, found me and we went to his home in Jiyugaoka.

That's the end of the story for now. I'm tired.

It's all gone. No, we have no cameras...

Friday (22nd) we finished liquidating all of the store. Because we did such a great job, the liquidator we were working with decided to take us out to lunch which was greatly appreciated. My favorite thing in the world is food and going out to eat is my favorite activity I think lol. I've never gone through the liquidation process before so it was fairly interesting and over all a good experience even though I lost my job. I don't think I'd be leaving for Japan in two weeks if I had not had to deal with losing my job honestly. Because I was forced to make a decision on whether I wanted to get a lame job over the summer or go to Japan things became pretty clear as to what needed to happen. I've gotten off topic forgive me. I mean to talk about liquidating and what happened. You deal with some pretty interesting people when liquidating. Here's a list of stupid things,

1. Guy comes in to apply for a job at the store that says, "70%-90% off, everything must go!, Going out of business"... I don't think words are necessary here.

2. Woman gets pissed off because she realized we were liquidating after she had her prints done by us which for some reason meant that we did a worse job??? She seemed to think that we didn't care about our printing anymore because of the liquidation. None of us understood her logic.

3. Woman asks me if we have photography vest for her film and such. "no we don't have anything like that." her, "do you know where I could get anything like that?" No, I'm not sure. I would just get a vest at an outdoors store and put film in it..." she got mad at me because we didn't have the vest for her to buy after 6 weeks of liquidation... Evidently I didn't understand what her question was because she kept repeating, "you don't understand" She never explained herself any further. She stormed out of the store saying "Now I know why my daughter doesn't like coming here." (well it's probably cause you raised her to be a biatch just like you.) I would have liked to have said that.

After we had sold everything from the store and came back the next day to clean things up and throw crap away we had more interesting customers,

4. The gate is down but not locked. Dan is the only person there and he's on two phones trying to figure out what to do about payroll because our manager wasn't there to sign our time sheets and he needed to fax them in that day. Some dude opens up the gate, walks in and asks him while he's on the phone if we're closing.... the store is COMPLETELY empty! no products anywhere.

5. Later that day I came in to clean and help with things. The gate is down. Some guy walks up to the gate and says, "So you guys are closed huh?" Dan, "yeah..." "Do you have any cameras left?" Dan, "Nope..." What the HELL?! Why in the world would we have cameras left? Oh yeah we've been hiding them in the back lemme go get you one.

I have taken away from this experience that just as soon as you thought you've seen it all you'll see something even dumber then that. So remember to never underestimate the stupidity of people. And that is the moral of the story.

Ritz camera: Ghost town of the mall

Holy crap man the store is sooo empty. I'm constantly amazed by the crap our customers find to purchase for themselves. What would we do without these bargain shoppers? Loose our jobs probably. Wait, we're already loosing our jobs. If I'm lucky we'll have enough customers to prolong our demise until my next paycheck. I'm really enjoying the lack of lab activities on account of the lab machines being packed up in what appears to be saran wrap... not sure about that. I also take joy in telling our customers our lab is packed up/closed and we're not able to develope their film. It may sound synical but I'm just not a big fan of developing film. We have these nice chairs previously used for our customers at the print bar (which isn't there anymore) currently behind the counter, I like to set my computer up on a shelf under the counter and watch a movie or two while taking advantage of our new seating. Good fun. Oh! and we finally got a sign that says "only 10 days left!" we haven't hung it yet. I take this as a good sign because it atleast tells me we're not closing before 10 days lol. I was about to forget the most hilarious part about working at a store going through liquidation. Signs all over the place (Big red signs 3' x 12' that read Store closing sale.) explaining how we're closing our store. Customer comes in, spends about 15 mins looking around and says, "are you guys closing?" me, "yeah... see the big red sign that says 'closing sale'?" him/her, "ohhh so are you guys moving or closing?" me, "no we're closing." him/her, " oh that's too bad I wish you guys were staying open." "yeah me too...". Good times though. Lots of interesting stories. Our clock is missing... it's really bothering me.

It's about 24 days till I go to Japan. That is sooo soon... I'm pretty nervous about going back but at the same time so excited about it. It feels really surreal to think I'm going back since it's been almost exactly 4 years. I'm going to miss my friends, dogs, cats and family quite a bit when I go. I feel like I have this sugar coated dillusion of what Japan will be like and I'm afraid I'm going to be let down.

I have made some really cool friends this semester and I'm kind of sad that I have to leave them for the whole summer. My best friend is graduating from high school right after I leave and his birthday is the day after that, what horrible timing on my part. I'm hoping I can still hang out with people after I get back before school starts for the fall semester.

Recap on things

I haven't updated my blog much it all lately but I will start back up soon. I'll cover a few things that went on in the absence of my writings. Ritz camera, the place I work at is closing which means I'm out a job. Started taking computer art at Abtech (community college) got B's on first 4 assignments, dropped class because I couldn't handle the speed of the class and gained a teacher I can't stand through it. yay.... I wiggled my way through printmaking without producing anything that was acceptable to me and getting a B+ I think... not sure yet. My art teacher has something against posting grades... I've met some really cool people this semester and got aggrevated with the same dumbasses that seem to inhabit Abtech. That pretty much covers the things that went on within the last few months.

When I heard that our store was closing I was not particularly saddened or happy that work was ending but in a state of disbelief as to how it happened and why us. I am so thankful for the push that life gave me when I had come to realize I'd be jobless soon and that if I didn't do something I would just be squandering my summer and money away in the hunt for a job. So my plan is to go to Japan! So I started contacting my good friends in Japan and arranged for a place to stay. So since my grand decision to go to Japan I've bought the plane ticket, read up on Japanese transportation and figured out it doesn't make as much sense as it seems it should, Stolen hours from a friend at work, asked many questions of my Japanese friends and spent too much money on things that have nothing to do with Japan... note to self, stop spending money.

I spoke to my good friend from Japan today for the very first time in 4 years and even though we had kept in contact over the years through email there's nothing quite like actually talking to them for the first time in years to bring back the memories. It's a little less then 1 month until my dream of the past 4 years finally reaches the light of reality. I'm ready to live in the midst of my dreams...

Lost friend

Facebook and other online communities are quite amazing.  I can't count how many people I have found through it that I wouldn't have normally even thought about.  Today I found one of my best friends from back in the day when we were in 3rd and 4th grade.  We used to carpool with each other back we went to school together so we got used to being with each other a lot almost like brothers would.  I had a chat with him tonight over facebook and couldn't believe that I had found one of my good friends from long ago and at the same time had no idea what to say to someone that I knew that well.  I really want to meet him again but I am somewhat weary about how I'll feel about my long lost friend after 8 years of no contact.  My first impressions based on photos and and what he's spoke about with me makes me think that we've both changed very much from when we were friends.  I hope we can meet soon and find that we're both still great friends... I'm just not sure if that will come to be or not.

BBBLLLLLAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH.........   Ok *sigh* that's out now.  I haven't felt like I have the time to blog or that I had anything to blog about for a while.  I don't think I have anyone reading this except for John now which is cool but somewhat lacking... but hey when I'm older and wondering what the hell I was thinking I can come back to my blog! and rediscover the genius of my logic.  Until then I'm going to have try and make things interesting.  

Almost a week ago my mom and friends held a service for a friend of theirs that died, I was the photographer.  During the reception I was running around taking pictures and eating cookies until I approached by a friend of my mom's and someone that I enjoy talking to as well.  We started talking about photography which involved him asking me questions about it.  He owns some land in Panama and evidently panama has some strange laws for immigration so you have to have so much money invested to live there.  So Joe is trying to get a co-op of people to pool a large amount of money together so a group of contributers can go live there.  At some point in the conversation he asked me if I had a passport, I said yes and started to wonder at why he would ask me that.  Turns out he needs a photographer to take some real estate pictures in Panama and his photographer doesn't have a passport... (laughs maniacally) he proceed to ask ME if I wanted to do it.  I wanted to say "hell yeah" but felt that "Of course I want to" would have been adequate.  Joe, "It would be a free plane ticket, All expenses paid and you'll get paid too" Me, "... wow... that sounds awesome, I'm in."  So that's where I am right now with that.  All I know is it happens around June and it will be around 7-10 days long.  I'm really excited to go to another new country.  I will have been to Asia and Central America after this.  Pretty cool.

I need to still fit Japan in somewhere because I feel like if I don't go now It wont happen for a while.  Maybe this trip will help promote myself as a photographer and help with my income but we'll see.  If I can just afford a plane ticket for Japan I think that would be a huge step in getting there.

Don't forget to name your layers!

Picture from my trip to Japan; I'm in the middle, friend Joshua to the left and friend on right met through trip.

I'm trying to save my money this time for a new camera because my old camera, old meaning 4 months, is not quite good enough for handling the kind of pictures I'll be taking at the first wedding I will have ever done which is in march. So at the moment I'm trying to figure out how much equipment I can buy/borrow for this upcoming wedding. I know you probably are thinking, "Joshua why are you spending all your money as soon as you get enough to buy some new gadget?"... maybe you're thinking that who knows, but I see these things such as my macbook pro, lenses and this new camera as investments that will pay for themselves in the long run and yes they are also some of my favorite toys.

I'm trying to figure out my next trip to Japan somewhere in this equation as well and I fear it will be in the backseat for a while since I'm college age and have no solid source of money. Because I have no major source of money I am going to try and get into this wedding photography stuff more and hopefully I will at some point be good enough to be able to pay for my trip in just one shoot... that's my dream anyways. Every job I have ever had, the first thought that crosses my mind is, "finally I can get back to Japan and visit all my friends and of course make many more good ones" but life doesn't work in such a way and of all the average jobs I have worked I have never had a chance to make anywhere near enough to pay for a plane ticket and 2-3 months of expenses. I know that Japan is meant to be though because I have dreams of Japan and being there speaking legit Japanese with real Japanese people, even a dream where I woke up in tears from meeting my old friends from Japan.

*sigh* So much to do. I am trying to get my grades and all good enough to go to Savannah college of art and design in Georgia. My best friend is looking at going there too for video which would be quite exciting for both of us to be there, we'll see how that pans out. My best friend who also shares my name, Joshua, has already been there and says it's amazing as in 2-3 monitors hooked up to a mac pro for the serious videographer. I want to see what they have for photographers and am currently planning on visiting at the end of the semester.

I think I'm out of words. I didn't think I had anything to say when I started writing this... Wrong!

Hookah Joe's!

Myself and a friend went out shooting at this Asheville rocks thing and I just thought this was somewhat amusing seeing security next the words hookah and I like the balance of the picture.

Snow delay is a delay on life...

It snowed last night only to about an inch and now I'm sitting here waiting for class to start because of the delay that one inch caused.  On top of that my boss called me earlier to tell me I should come in 30 minutes after my class ends but because of the one hour delay I'm going to have to call him back and tell him I wont be able to get there till 7:30.  *sigh* This snow thing is messing everything up.  

Oh man... It's finally 2009 and so comes a new semester of college. I had my first printmaking class today which sounds like it will be an awesome class. I got to hear what everyone who is taking the class is about which was interesting. I also got to meet my computer art teacher. I have heard really good things about him and lots of really bad things but of those things he is said to teach good material so I guess that helps lol. Almost every semester I have ever taken at Abtech I meet someone who is either Japanese, is interested in going to Japan as much as me or has been, and this semester is no different. I'm quite excited about my classes I think this semester will be the one I get a grasp on photoshop in which is going to be rockin'.


I got my second wave of classes tomorrow so I better get to bed. I'll try and update more often then the normal has been. In the mean time check out the band Ratatat if you like cool beats and stuff.

The new year and good thoughts...

I spent my new years eve exercising my right to kill friends in halo until it was time to watch the ball drop in NYC.  As friends grew increasingly impatient of the somewhat normal sight of time square, Bill and Hillary Clinton they decided to break out the Nerf shotgun for target practice.  As small foam bullets hit the television screen I wondered if the targets of those bullets had ever wondered if anyone had ever done this before.  

I wonder if the new year will turn out to be any different then the year before, will anyone improve based off the less then smart decisions they made in '08 or do something that will effect the world in a positive manner.  I hope to become a photographer for this reason, to better the world in whatever way I can whether that is giving a bride photos of the special day that everyone looks forward to or promoting world peace by risking life and limb out in the field.  I seek the chance to do something extraordinary, with the support of my friends I will get there... one day.

I hope we can all add something to this "new" year that will aid us on our journey to happiness.