Here are some more random pictures I took (mostly just because I had my camera with my, so why not?) when I went out with februaryfour and some of the DDR guys in Tokyo (including seishinbyou).

Here they are, ready to go:



Rest are past the link. As per usual.

Some more pictures from a track meet this Saturday (I had quite the adventures getting there, too, which would probably make for a... Story). These aren't really that good, with a few exceptions; I should have spent more time down on ground level, I suppose, but I wanted to try some higher angles.

Here's one, in particular, that would have been improved by being on the other side (I moved over because the airborn shots looked, well, distracting from the other side, since they were basically jumping in front of the judge):



Anyway, click through for the rest.

Saw my first Japanese cockroach today, scuttling across the street. I'm actually surprised it took this long to see one.

Otherwise, it's raining season, which has mostly sucked so far (heavy rain + almost 2km walk to station = fail), but today has been kind of nice. It's still better than living in Houston. Except Houston is air-conditioned. And you don't walk everywhere. And such. So, I guess it actually isn't better than Houston, except for the whole not-being-Houston part.

Been pretty tired a lot, not sleeping that well (dorm is noisy, but that's just a contributing factor, but it's been a struggle to stay on top of things overall), and my feet have been a bit troublesome for track (mostly better now, though). But, well, still doing okay in class and all that, I guess. I may possibly be learning things.

Anyway, linky: proof I'm on the track team (a.k.a., find the Doug).

Also a few pictures, including an example of productive classroom time:



[Click through for the Jesus Body, bad beer, and your Little Peeing Boy of Hamamatsuchou Station update!]

Back to homework.

I think I'm bailing on Montreal, unless I hear some good offers for roommates or something. I think I don't really want to pay for a flight, the room (and, I suppose, my membership, since that's a recoverable cost), and I'm honestly not particularly excited about a WorldCon in Canuckistan, even Montreal (I could always go visit Montreal later, after all). Plus, I'll be jet-lagged and cranky, and having to turn around immediately after returning to Denver just to fly off to French Canadia causes me even less excitement than it might otherwise.

I probably won't make a final decision for a week or two, but... Well.

Woah. USA advances to the finals of the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Some related trivia, to give you an idea how amazing this is... Spain was ranked number one in the world... They hadn't lost a match in 35 games (the best run in soccer history -- they last lost a game in 2006). They'd won 15 straight (also a record). They hadn't even given up a goal in 451 minutes (since April 1st). They hadn't given up two goals (in a game) in 29 games.

The US, of course, was ranked fourteenth in the world going in.

The US national team had never before advanced to the finals in any FIFA tournament. And this after being all but eliminated from the tournament on the last day of group play.

This was one of the biggest upsets in US Soccer history.

USA advances?

I'm not really sure how they managed that. They tied Italy (1 win, 2 losses) in group play, and in goal differential (-2), but lost head-to-head. I guess that doesn't matter and the fact they scored one more goal breaks the tie? Either way, it's kind of silly (they again, they beat Egypt, who beat Italy to also tie with 1 win, 2 losses). Rough group, but Brazil runs away with it.

Anyway, up against Spain in the Confederations Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.

Anybody I know looking for a roommate for the WorldCon? Not random people, though, I'd want to share a room with someone I know.

Considering the expense of going solo (and the ridiculous price of airline tickets these days), considering canceling the whole thing if I don't have a roommate. I'm sure Montreal is nice and all, but it's also not that hard to get to on my own some other time.

Another assignment was due yesterday -- here's what I wrote.

Those of native fluency will (hopefully) note that it is less full of errors than previous entries. This is not because I did not make those errors (oh, I did), it's because a native-speaker I am acquainted with helped me figure out how to write certain things, and general offered corrections. Of course, any remaining errors are mine alone -- there are probably some left and/or (re-)introduced, but I shall see those soon enough when the 作文 are returned.

Otherwise, it's not a very interesting paper.

私の趣味

ひまな時、私はカラオケを歌ったり、レゴを集めたり、旅行をしたり、ハイキングをしますが、写真を撮るのが一番好きです。ずっと写真を撮っていて、もちろん今東京に住んでいるので、東京の写真をよく撮っています。

十年前にコロラドに引っこした時、コロラドの景色が大好きになったので、写真を撮り始めました。その時フィルムカメラを使っていましたが、二年ほど後でデジタルカメラを初めて買いました。そのカメラが大好きで、写真をたくさん撮りました。今ニコンD７００を持っていて、とても大好きです。

色々な写真を撮るのが好きですが、きれいな景色が一番好きです。時々動物園へ行って動物の写真を撮っています。そして時々花や友達の写真を撮っています。もちろん旅行の写真もたくさん撮っています。最近上南戦の陸上競技会で写真を撮って、上南戦の写真コンテストに応募しました。

写真を撮るのが楽しいです。よくない写真を撮ることもありますが、いい写真が撮れた時いい気分になります。いつも自分にチャレンジを続けたいです。

Hmm, fourteen pages of homework this weekend. That's, ah, a little more than usual. And doesn't count any studying for tomorrow's quiz. Gah. Also, the 梅雨 has commenced... Took four days into the rainy season to actually get any rain (er, how do they decide it's rainy season if it's not raining?) but it's been really muggy. I hate Japanese summer already. :(

Various things:

No doubt everyone has seen the 上南戦 pictures already. Obviously, there was a 上南戦 last weekend. I didn't run or anything, but, well, yeah, pictures. It was entertaining and fun, I think, but I honestly don't really have that much to say about it except, well, look at the pictures.

Saw Star Trek. It was okay, nothing special. Went to Denny's... It was everything I heard it was -- exactly the same as in America, only swap Japanese comfort food for American comfort food. Somewhat bizarre, frankly, and not really that good, but there you go.

Got buzzed by a pigeon in Ikebukuro. Also, forgot my bag in Ikebukuro, which led me to say 紙袋で池袋を落としました。 Well, it amused me, at any rate. And it's better than when I said かえるがかえるかえるがかえる, but then I just wrote that, too, didn't I?

Also, bonus picture:



Yay, プリクラ.

A few more pictures from the original batch. Completely by accident, it makes an even 100 for the total set, up from 87.

I have two other similar ones to this, but strangely I missed (what I think is) the best of the three the first time through:



As usual, click through for the rest. The new ones are to the right in the main photostream (since they're out of order in the set, which is sorted by when they were taken, not when they were posted).

This weekend was the 50th 上南戦 (Jounan-sen), the annual competition between 上智大学 (Sophia University) and 南山大学 (Nanzan University). Of course, I took a few pictures of the track and field events, where I attended with the 陸上部 (track club). I didn't actually participate in any of the events, though.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day:



Click through for the rest, of course.

For the record, we didn't win the event. :(

Also, apparently there's a photography contest for the competition... I need to see if I can submit anything, and pick a favorite picture (or favorites?)

Makes up for the beat-down by Costa Rica earlier this week, but they're doing solid overall.

Makes up for Baseball, too, which is blah, blah, blah. Three separate blahs, clever readers can figure out what for.

Took the camera yesterday, and took some pictures. Class, campus, butterflies and beetles, and some pictures from a track practice.

Here we were, fooling around with the high jump bar (but not very seriously):



[As usual, click through for the rest, old pictures to the left, new pictures to the right.]

Sometimes it's hard to remember I'm in Japan. Well, okay, that's a total lie. It's starting to feel pretty normal, though.

First part of my mid-term was today (two days left to go on the rest, though), listening comprehension and the interview. It went... Okay. Not great, though. But, it could have gone a lot worse, too, and I expect (hope) I'll do well on the reading comprehension, grammar, and kanji sections next week.

Anyway, this week is the big 上南戦, tomorrow wearing (one of) the new suit(s) for the opening ceremonies, then the real contest on Saturday (I'm not competing -- I'm pretty sure they're not doing any field activities, just track -- but I'll probably take lots of pictures). Sunday, we apparently play host to the 南山大学の陸上部, which seems like it should be fun.

I've just begun to realize how much the Japanese love clocks. Of course, there are plenty in train stations (something Denver seems to have difficulty with), but there are always clocks on all the tracks (and non-track places) we practice on (I suspect we're touring all the tracks in Tokyo, we've practiced in several places outside of campus so far), and I've started noticing more clocks in random places like parking lots and the like. Pretty much everywhere, if you can find them.

Saw a Chinook helicopter flying around when getting lunch at one of the school cafeterias today. Seemed a bit strange, the camo seemed likely to be Japanese (never seen American camo on a helicopter that looked like that), and it was flying awfully close to the Imperial Palace there in 千代田区. No idea what that was all about.

Missed a train stop for the first time ever in Japan today -- I was too busy screwing around on my iPhone to notice until the very last second, and decided it would be rude to rush out of my seat through people to try and make the door.

Another sudden stop today, out of 四ツ谷 station. People toppled, I barely moved. And then nobody moved for five or ten minutes. No idea why; Yamanote was a bit disrupted, too, but neither was super late, and I didn't catch anything on the monitors (because I forgot to look).

I keep winning things at コンビニ (not sure what I'm buying, though, that lets me grab stuff out of the boxes). A couple days ago I won some sort of frozen treat at 7-Eleven (not sure what, it actually looked kind of scary and is still sitting in my GF's freezer). Today I won three bottles of mineral water totaling 3020ml! Um, yay. (I just drink tap water, generally.)

And that's the news. Lots of pictures today, might get them posted tonight -- we'll see.

A few more random recent pictures up.

Ah, that crazy プリクラ...



[This was the best shot, I think. As usual, click through -- new pictures to the right, older to the left.]

And, well, here's your chance to put a face to someone.

On to the NCAA super-regionals.

Two games in one day (a loss to a certain team put them in the losers bracket briefly... It has clearly been properly avenged, however).

Final game tomorrow against K State.

Good opening for the NCAA regionals. Next up, Kansas State, which is a real place.

Track practice in the rain in Japan means running with umbrellas!

(Surprisingly, not all that bad.)

...

Also, to the f*cker that stole my umbrella outside the コンビ二 -- you're a f*cker and you suck.

That's three lost umbrellas since I got here... All stolen.

Some pics dumped off the iPhone, of perhaps mild interest to observers here.

上南戦 is coming soon... 上智ファイト！



[Newer pics are to the right.]

Funny how when I first got here, I had tons of time but not enough to do, now I have tons to do but not enough time (and with the long commute, the inconvenient -- for me -- track practice schedule and such, it really does wear me down, I haven't spent nearly as much time recharging as I should. Somehow it seems more fun to hang out with people and do stuff. Crazy, that). God, I'm really tired, but unlike last week, I feel more on top of things at least.

Also, apparently they're going to be doing water main work on the nearby road here soon. I didn't catch the days, though, I'll have to see (early June?) Also, apparently my Japanese is actually improving, or at least, I've learned some useful things here and there that have actual practical application (like, one, I can actually read 水道工事 on the announcement -- look at me, I'm almost pre-literate!) But I still feel like an idiot most of the time, cuz I don't understand the vast majority of the things people say to me. I mean, at all. :(

Anyway, observation and such...

Had a couple sudden stops on the train lately. Neither one was a 人身事故 but you always wonder about that. Didn't really say what it was the second one was (other than announcing an emergency stop, but the first one was apparently some sort of luggage-related incident). Also, speaking of trains, I swear that rush hour is specifically designed to aggravate sports injuries. Geebus. Incidentally, I don't think I actually have shin splints -- I just have "too much running on pigeon-toe-itis," which is constant sore muscles in weird places in my shins/ankles and knees. Ah, well. Doc wasn't much help, his response to me complaining about shin pain was "oh, it's because your kidneys are failing" (don't you think, you know, it might be the running? Anyway, my blood work came back fine -- better than Denver, so, uh, don't think that's it). Speaking of which, I ought to know my blood type... Whenever I get around to going back. In a couple weeks, I guess. They didn't manage to take enough blood the first day, though, so I had to do it twice (second time when talking about the blood work from the first time). Gah. Also, counting down before they poke me is not nice, I really don't want to know, that's why I don't look.

Had adventures with banks trying to pay my tuition, ended up visiting half the banks in Shibuya. And then wandered around quite a bit some more looking for suits. Ended up getting two for, well, a significant amount of money several days later, but, well, now I have a couple suits (or will in a couple days when they finish adjusting them), and in time for the 上南戦 or whatever other not-quite-justifying-the-purchase-of-two-suits events might still be in my near-to-intermediate future. Yay. The GF was quite helpful throughout these two events (actually, she ended covering the actual payment transaction for both for various reasons, while I covered her payment in cash -- although there was a minor, easily-remedied problem with the tuition thing -- I hope, anyway, at least they haven't contacted me about any further problems).

Also, I like CoCo Ichiban. So far, not really impressively hot, but I'm working my way up the scale. I expect a 10 will be nice, but not the hottest food I've ever had -- that's still my Thai cooking, or the hottest wings I've had in various places. A 10 is possibly the equivalent of the curry at the really kick-ass Indian place in Shibuya when I told them to try and kill me.

Time to study some more.

And they win the CUSA tournament, and their 15th straight conference championship (albeit in multiple conferences). On to the NCAA tournament.

Onward to the CUSA championship game.

The hits keep on... Hitting.