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Archives: December 2003Wednesday, December 31, 2003 New York, New YorkI'm back from New York. Had a nice two day visit with my sister, but I had forgotten how bad NYC can be during the Holiday season. It seemed like it was just one big line. I took Musubi-chan and Unagi-kun to see the Statue of Liberty. We take the Lexington Line down to Bowling Gr But Liberty Island was nice even though we could not enter the statue--9/11 has left its impression on even some of the simpler pleasures tourists might indulge in. Well, as many of you may know, I'm a night owl and I wake up late. I made an effort to wake up as early as I could, and we did get our start before noon, which is a big deal for me... But after the long line and waits and ferry ride back and forth, we arrived back at Batter Park around 5PM.
Anyway, all in all, we had a nice time in New York. Now its time to get back to work... Friday, December 26, 2003 Day after ChristmasThe day after a holiday, especially Christmas, is usually a blah day for me. Everything leading up to Christmas--putting up a tree, going to or planning parties, shopping for presents, wrapping them, etc.--gets me hyped up for one climactic moment: Christmas morning. And then, there is a let down--it's over; life goes on. I used to think that it was because I was getting older, but I have thought of an alternate theory. Not that I'm trying to make excuses or anything, but it occurs to me that a lot of Christmas spirit is a kind of shared spirit, and so the feelings I have are often influenced by those around me. Neither I nor Musubi-chan express a bah-humbug attitude, but I missed the joy that little kids bring to Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we had a party with families of Musubi-chan's fitness salon: 4 families with one child each. We got simple presents for the kids, 3 boys and 1 girl. Since we are unfamiliar with the kids and do not know what they would want or like, we got them what would be very boring, ubiquitous gifts: T-shirts. Okay, okay, like I said, I know its boring. Anyway, we didn't know there names so we left the name tags signed from Santa, but with no name in the "To" space. As kids, they picked up on this very quickly. Its amazing how perceptive kids can be! After Musubi-chan asked the parents for their names, she surreptitiously wrote them in on the tags, and in a few minutes they discovered them to their great pleasure. The boys seemed to show a genuine appreciation despite the gift's blandness--maybe because they are from Japan where the Christmas gift-giving tradition is not that developed, particularly between unfamiliar people, and receiving something from a friend of one's parents was unexpected. This was nice to see, and gave me a sense of self-satisfaction, perhaps more than I have any right to feel. But better yet was the little girl. The boys' T-shirts were wrapped in similar boxes, but we got the girl--the youngest of the group--a stuffed teddy bear and so the box was shaped differently. As the boys, grabbed their presents and ripped them open, the little girl's face, at first, betrayed disappointment, a "why-isn't-there-one-for-me" kind of look. We told her to look harder and nudged her toward the different box, and in an instant her expression changed. She beamed like only a child can beam! "Is this for ME?!?" She was so adorable. She opened it up and hugged the small bear so tight, I thought that even a stuffed animal might choke do death; and she carried it around with her all night. All four kids were great, and they provided me with a feeling that still reverberates. Thanks to them, I don't feel that day-after-Christmas let down. Thanks kids! Sunday, December 21, 2003 Last Samurai
But for those of you who saw it: Wasn't Hiroyuki SANADA kinda cool? In Japanese: Kakkou ii! Since I have a kinda bearnd and long hair, maybe I won't tie it back and leave it long and flowing. I wonder if students will think I look like a samurai? hahahahahah! Now if you guys compared me to him rather than Jackie Chan, I would be incredibly flattered! Anyway, after the movie and shoppping, Musubi-chan and I went to our favorite watering hole and we just got back. More on the movie later... Monday, December 15, 2003 More about...ME...Paiky says: too much information! information overload! AGGGGHHHHH! LAYER SIX: In the past month have you... LAYER SEVEN: Ever... LAYER EIGHT: Getting Older LAYER NINE: In a girl LAYER TEN: In The Numbers... One last time: I am not Chan, I'm Onigiriman! Ah crap, it rhymed even...
I'm just screwing around. BarbEric Bojo was taking cracks at me on his site, and i happened to see a portion of the Cartoon Channel the same night and decided to have a little fun. Man, I'm glad grading is finished. Now I can have fun and do stupid things like this again... At least until the next semester... sigh... Sunday, December 14, 2003 A list about my favorite subject...ME...But first about the car: Some have remarked that it looks completely different. Well its the lighting, the first photo was taken on a sunny snowy day. The second on an overcast day. But they are definitely the same car. And for the record its a dark green. CaptGaijin (I didn't know you still read this site) questioned my driving ability. True, my eye situation is not really condusive for driving, but I have been doing it for so long that I can do fairly well even in unfamiliar areas. Anyway, I haven't done a list lately, and since I've received a couple of e-mails lately asking me about info about ME, so here;s another one--although I'd be the first to admit that I am amazed that there'd be anyone who'd want to know more about a pudgy over-the-hill geezer... Anyway, I found this list on Consummate_Leah's site and stole it. Thanks, Leah.
LAYER TWO: On The Inside LAYER THREE: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow LAYER FOUR: Your Pick LAYER FIVE: Do You? Cont'd tomorrow Friday, December 12, 2003 Life and aging 3...Listening to: "Big Yellow Taxi" (the original) by Joni Mitchell. Here's the coninuation of yesterdays questions: 1) What's life like at your age? 2) Has your perception of life changed? 3) Whats important to you now? For example, while my brother is and always has been important to me, I rarely see him or talk to him except when I'm in LA, and I now find some friends more "important" than him. Don't get me wrong. I would jump on the first plane to LA if I thought he needed me, but under normal circumstances I think of my friends before I think of him. At this very moment, the most important thing is my immediate family--wife and stepson. Next would be my sister. Then dad, and then a few of my UCLA buddies, and of course my students. This hierarchy of importance is based on emotional attachment, but if I consider how much time and effort I expend, then the top spots would be occupied by my wife, my students, my stepson, my sister. This has to do with physical closeness: I'm with my students all the time. However, the emotional investment is rather lower for a variety of reasons: who among you have thought about being close to or hanging with your professor? Very few I would wager, which is understandable, given the age difference and the divergence of interests. Indeed, virtually every student who has come my way has more or less disappeared after they graduated. I must point out that the last class, 2003, has been in touch more than others, and a couple even liked to "hang" when they were students and now--to an extent; this pleased me more than they probably know, hehehe. I love to know what they are doing. But this is mostly due to this Xanga thing--Aha! A tangible reason for Xanging. In any event, most students don't keep in touch until that moment when they want a letter of rec. Well, that's okay too. It is nice to think that they still look to me for something. And I am always happy to accomodate them. There are, however, 3-4 (out of huncreds) who keep in touch, and for them I have a lot of appreciation. But, of course, this is no a competition. And I didn't mean to go off on a tangent like that about my students. Although they are an important part of my life, which means, I suppose, I consider my job/career important. Hmm... this is not what I wanted to say... No wait, it IS what I wanted to say. Because this has to do with the deep, honest answer. If you're reading this far (and please tell me), you should know that ultimately the most important thing is myself. I know, it sounds very selfish and self-serving. And you're righrt, it is! But I feel that I need to have an appreciation for myself, a sense of importance in order to--are you ready?--help others. Yes. I get off helping others. And I think all of us should continue to develop a similar attitutde. It is two way street, a world in which nothing is stable; everything is in flux, affecting each other constantly. (I talk about this ad nauseum in my Lit. class.) Does this make sense? I feel good about me, so that allows me to feel confident in helping my students--study, advice about the future, etc--they show me their appreciation, which fuels my good feeling about myself, and allows me to feel confident in talking with others about problems, maybe those who are not my students--like some on Xanga? And the cycle continues and expands. So feeling good about oneself, feeling confident, considering yourself an important component of your own life is not a bad thing; indeed, I think it is an essential component in growing and ultimately expanding into society and helping others as yourself... Hmm... the second answer sounds just as hokey as the first one..Hah! Anyway, thanks to those who have responded and showed some sort of interest in what I have to say. What do you guys think? Are you important to yourself? Or do you feel sorry for yourself? Do you feel the victim? Well, we all feel that way at times, but don't let it consume you. It will pass in time. Feel good about yourself, and tell those who make you feel bad to screw themselves. Feeling good about yourself will lead to better things... Trust me... or not, hahahaha. Let's see. If you've read this far, then you must be bored, so here are a couple of sites to bore you even more: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 Life and aging 2...Here's the continuation of yesterdays questions: 1) What's life like at your age? 2) Has your perception of life changed? There is a major drawback to this. When I get drunk--like, all the time--I'll say things without thinking about it. Now, we have perhaps all experienced something similar--whether it be drug or alcohol induced. Unfortunately, since I have know that what I said may affect others, when I sober up, I sometimes go through an incredibly horrendous guilt trip... no, more like a journey sometimes. Have you ever felt bad enough to want to crawl into a little hole? I sometimes will stand in the shower and cringe in the corner, lightly knocking my head against the wall, muttering alternately, "Why did I say that?" and "I'll never drink again." Hah! We all know how long that lasts... Anyway, my perception of life has changed. For me, I take things much more lightly. I don't make such a big deal over anything anymore, because things change so often and frequently that getting into a huff about anything becomes pointless after awhile. Lakers don't reach the championship series? So what. They'll reach it again soon. Bruins get their butts kicked by SC? Crap, this is definitely harrd to take, but got a roll with the punches. Besides there are far more important issues than sports. The death of my mom a couple of years ago really made me realize that some of the things I placed emphasis on--money, career--are ephemeral. Can't take it with you, and they are the least important things when you know you're going to die. It was an eye opener. Hope you're taking notes, whoever you are... 3) Whats important to you now? Tuesday, December 09, 2003 Life and aging...A reader sent me an e-mail asking me some pretty heavy questions. I considered writing back but instead decided to post it here: She asked three questions: 1) What's life like at your age? There are and have been, of course, many frustrating aspects of my life. But these have mostly been self-inflicted, so please don't think that I am trying to blame anyone else. Since I was a goof off for many years before returning to college with a serious attitude, I fell far behind the "success curve" that many of my friends were following. They had cars, houses, money, something that I too wanted to enjoy but did not have the job, money, or career to accomplish what they did. Of course, I have been told by more than a couple of old friends that they envy my path, that they would rather have taken life at a slower pace, making career choices that please the soul rather than the pocket book. I will tell them that I am pleased, that I am doing exactly what I want to do. But my life is certainly simpler than theirs. I have no stock portfolio, I don't vacation in Europe, I can't lavish my wife with jewelry or fancy dinners, I don't own two cars--damn, the car I have, I inherited. So I do tell them I often wonder what it would have been had I been a glob (Good little Oriental boy; read NLUTE on the JA Journal for more... what a plug!). As a glob, I would have studied hard in HS, gone straight to college and started working right away or right after grad school, like most of my classmates. But I had to take my own path; to some it seems the harder path, but to me it was the easier path as I have been able to do what I wanted. There have been other frustrating events: divorce, living away from my daughter, and of course the current circumstances at work. These porblems are self-inflicted as I stated and so cannot bitch about them too loudly... just loud enough. So now that I'm here, two years shy of the half century mark, I have to say that life is fine for me at my age. I have a job that I love, a mortgage, a family, household responsibilities (electricity, water, phone, shoveling snow!). I am satisfied with what I have done and what I have accomplished. And in fact I still have things to look forward to. Maybe someday publishing the book that is keeping me from getting promoted at work, or becoming a chef... That would be fun, too. 2) Has your perception of life changed? 3) Whats important to you now? Monday, December 08, 2003 My Addictions...
But I finally quit when I remarried and have been smokeless for 3 years. So I suppose there is hope for me with this Xanga thing... Sunday, December 07, 2003 Tora, Tora, Tora...Today is the day of infamy, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor... It was the beginning of a war that totally destroyed Japan and took the lives of many people: American, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Dutch, Australian and countless others. What a stupid war. Japan had visions of grandeur, colonizing neighboring countries, becoming the major power in East Asia. Why? The question is too complicated and I will let the historians deal with it. I will simply take the position that war is usually unnecessary, and started by closed-minded men who will ultimately make other men die for their decision. I wonder how many soldiers with the surname Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeldt have died in Iraq? Virtually zero, I would wager.
I feel like I'm rambling... I 'm not trying to blame anyone or any segment of society. It was what it was... How do Asian youth feel today? Is the feeling similar? Would you wave a J flag--or a kendo shinai--during The Last Samurai? Saturday, December 06, 2003 Lazy day...
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een and emerge into Battery Park.We see a sign that says "Tickets to Liberty Island Ferry" and a long line forming around this round building. Ok. Its not that long... We get in line and get to the ticket line in about 30 minutes. Upon leaving the window, I ask a Park Service officer where the ferry entrance is, and he says the line is over there and points his finger to a line that seems to continue into the horizon. My jaws kinda dropped. Musubi-chan rolled her eyes. We walk and walk and walk and finally reach the back of the line, but it seems to be moving along so I'm not too discouraged. Unfortunately, I begin to talk to some people and learn that there is a ferry every half hour, so the line moves briskly for a few hundred people and then stops for half an hour... I guess I waited for about three ferries worth of people, an hour and a half. Blah... 
We then head back Uptown and get off at 33rd to see the Empire State Building, where there was--yes, that's right--a line, down 5th and around the corner of 34th. My sis was nice enough to get me tickets in advance, so I asked if I still had to stand in line: Sorry Charlie, EVERYBODY stands in line. So we stand in this line that seems to be moving steadily. We enter the front door and down the hall to see another line. The sign says "Tickets to the observation platform". Wait! I have tickets, I tell the usher. He tells me that I don't have to stand in line, that I should proceed down the hall and go up the escalator. Great! We walk quickly and climb the escalator: Observation platform left, then another left. Alright! There's the entrance to the Observation elevator... BUT--you knew there was a "but" coming--there's another line! This is worse than Disneyland. Then after another 45 munutes when we finally get onto the elevator get to the 80th floor, we get off to find... YES! Another line to the elevator that take us up 6 more floors. Ugh! This is so frustrating. But we finally make it to the top and got to see the sparkling lights of Manhattan and the surrounding borroughs. It was an amazing site, and perhaps worth the lines... 
Still, the trip was nice. My sis treated us to the Broadway revival of "
We also had a few nice meals. We ate at a couple of celebrity restaurants. For you Food channel afficiandos, we ate at 
Another place we went to was 
Saw the movie, finally. But it is too complex to talk about on the spur of the moment. I went with Musubi-chan and Unagi and later we went shopping for my daughter's Christmas present; I haven't seen in about two year. Sometimes its just not possible, even if you wanna see your own kid. (You reading this Sarah?) Anyway, I will comment on this movie extensively later, but for the time being, I will say I was rather impressed. I was afraid that I would HATE the movie. You know... Whenever you hear really good things, expectations are built, and then there is the inevitable let down. Well, not with this movie. What I wanna know is, no matter how drunk you might be, how could anyone have slept through this movie... I will not name names here... Hahahaha
Of course, when I go out, I have to put on a mask, and I must admit that this mask looks vaguely like the Chan Man. This is the mask I wear. Okay, I realize its not as handsome as the REAL me, the one above, that loveable clump of soft, smooshy cooked rice with the roasted crunchy nori (seaweed) wrap on the outside. But, hey, if I didn't go out incognito, someone might try to grab me from behind and take a bite out of me. OUCH! Now that would smart. And what would CSI do when they found my body? I mean, I see CSI every week, Thursday night on CBS, Friday night on Spike TV, and despite all their fancy gadgets and scientific knowledge, I'm pretty sure they know nothing about the anatomy of a Japenese riceball, let alone Japanese cooking in general... 
But using this mask has placed my in a quandry! I have just learned that they have used my image to caricature the now infamous Chan Man. Will you look at this?!? This is supposed to be the Chan Man on the Cartoon Network's Jackie Chan's Adventure. Now seriously, does this look like Jackie Chan to you? I mean, look at it! It doesn't look anything like the real me, but it looks pretty close to my alter ego. And man! If they were gonna "borrow" my image, you'd think they'd do a better job. This is the worst bit of farking I've ever seen. Geez, they shoulda at least changed the color of the sweater, ya' think? Hahahahahh.
LAYER ONE: On The Outside
Your heritage: Japanese
Your bedtime: Anytime between 2AM and 6AM.
Like(d) high school: No, did not. But I liked my high school years 16-18: that's "years-old", NOT 1916-18, dummy. (talking to my imaginary blogger friend). This was when I was in a band. Re: NLUTE. Photo is when I was 18 back in 1974... 
There are, I suppose, different levels of addictions. A recent hardcore addiction is Xanga, "the weblog community". I can't go a day without writing an entry, editing, reading other peoples blogs. It is kinda scary these days. Another hardcore addiction would be chips: potato chips, corn chips, Fritos. ANYTHING. Its bad. With all the carbohydrates I put into my body, I'll probably get type 2 diabetes before I turn 50... wait, that's only two years (and one week) a away! I also like fruit flavored chewy candy and was in love wth Skittles for awhile, but my new fling is chewy Spree. Oh yeah, and lest I forget, beer...
Previously, I was a hardcore Marlboro Red, two-packs a day smoker. I started at 14 and continued for the next 30 years. I must have black lungs. At around 34, I cut down my cigaretters by eliminating the "circumstantial" smokes, the ones that I smoked without thinking: coffee-smoke, driving-smoke, after meal-smoke, waiting for someone-smoke. I let myself smoke only when I craved the nicotine, and cut down to about 4 a day, but since it was to feed a craving, I just couldn't quit. I craved the nicotine and I continued smoking for 10 years...
As a youth, I was just as stupid. As a Japanese-American, I thought, rediculously, that I was Japanese. When the war movie, Tora, Tora, Tora came out (early 70s), my friends and I went to the Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood to root for the Japanese. As the Zeros were torpedoing the battleships and bombing the airstrips, we hooted and hollored and waved our Japanese naval flags (right) in the theater. You can imagine we were received with loud boos and a storm of popcorn. But we were young and stupid and "Japanese". Of course, I now realize that I am not Japanese. Indeed, the more I study Japan, the more I realize that I am not one of them. So why were we like that? Well, as JAs, we were marginalized in the country of our birth, the good ol' US of A. We certainly didn't feel like we belonged to any segment of the society and so we ended up imagining we had an affinity with our cultural heritage, the land of the rising sun. Since the mainstream didn't allow us to swim along them, we had to create or imagine our own tributaries. And for us it was a connection to Japan. As unrealistic as it was, it still made us feel good. The 70s was not the best of times to be a minority, but it was a good time to feel like a minority: On the coattails of Black Power and Chicano Power, it felt good to have some kind of identity, and for us it was to be Japanese. 
Last nights party was very pleasant, although the drive was rather harrowing at first. I don't like driving in the rain, but to have the white particles shooting at you as you move forward is kinda scary. But I drove safely and got there without incident. It was coming down pretty hard so we decided to say hello, have a glass of wine and then leave before the road got really hazardous. Well, you know me and Musubi-chan: Couple of drinks and we ain't moving. We didn't get drunk: It was, after all my boss's boss, but we had a fun time. Driving back was not too bad; the snow had subsided significantly. Thank God for small blessings. I must say that my confidence in driving in the snow had increased as I drove, but of course it might have been the sangria... And of course, we had a night cap at the local sports bar... 
Today the weather was fine: Sunny, blue skies, snow lingering on the roofs and branches. The photo on the right is the street I live on. I was supposed to do some work today, like grade papers and quizzes, but i ended up just enjoying the beautiful weather. It was cold--around 33 degrees?--but it was just too nice to waste on work. I'll do it tomorrow. Onigiriman, the procrastinator, strikes again! By the way, the photo above is my special Onigiriman mug! Hah, I made it to see what it would look like. How narcissistic can one get? Speaking of which, my hit total is slowly approaching the big 10,000 hit mark. I must admit that I NEVER thought I would get this many hits. And I am flattered, truly. After all my ranting and bitching during football season, I am surprised people still come and visit and even leave comments. Thanks to all of you and know that I appreciate all your support!
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