久しぶり日本。。。japan...it's been so long... sort of...

reba and i just barely survived our first of many 14 hour days. towards the last hour with the worst symptoms of jet lag kicking, i had the hardest time keeping my info straight for the kids on the tour.

reba crashed soon after dinner and i stayed up until 11 to make sure the kids kept quiet, sober, and away from other naughty elements available in tokyo. i THINK i was successful.

this morning we whisked them to their first day of japanese classes.

up dates in austin - veggie dog eating contest

here's a post that i almost completely forgot about. last weekend reba and i were in a rare mood. we we're feeling young... successful... urban... and professional. we needed to go out and finally enjoy our fair city. what did we find? the veggie dog eating contest. $5 brought us free samples of dairy free, locally made and owned ice cream and all the cardboard tasting veggie dogs you could eat. pictured: the contest winner with a whopping 21 veggie dogs in his tummy.

ittekimasu - another year another 45 kids...

1. wake up @ 530

2. drive reba to the airport

3. get lost on the way back

4. drop over packed luggage at work

5. drive home to leave car in front of house (to give the illusion that we are waiting at home, baseball bats in hand, prepared to defend our meager belongings)

6. tell asian roommate boys to lock doors, turn on the alarm, and not set house on fire

7. walk to work

8. drown myself in coffee

9. beg boss to take me to a friend's house w/ luggage

10. beg friend to give me a ride to airport @ 530

here we are again... full circle. it was almost a year ago when i started this blog. fresh from leading 45 HS kids in tokyo and kyoto for a month. although rewarding, i felt like a year of my life was sucked out of me. i needed this past year to regain my mental capacities only to dive right back into the fire. this time around i dragged reba in with me.

i remember the enthusiasm of wanting to lead groups to japan to introduce the language and culture that so enriched my life. ' living in japan and learning the language did so much to open my eyes to the world,' i used to repeat at rare family get-togethers, 'and i want to pass on that experience!' what happened to that naive little grad student ignorant to his growing debt and fragile psyche?

comic updates

another several months and another comic. when i first started posting comics on the internet, i was under the impression that i would be able to get new episodes up regularly every month, have hordes of adoring fans, and money to be creative in anyway i please. then the weight of the world broke me, and here i am.

this month i finally get the chance to introduce mr. ambiguous, a character that i've kicked around in other comic ideas as well as yellowpages, sketchbooks, and doodles on important office memos. now, mr. ambiguous gets to kick back.

New Jersey and... North Korea...?

After probing for 'relevant' stories about New Jersey, I rediscovered this story about a Jersey BBQ restaurant owner that has somehow become a key liaison between two lingering cold war adversaries. key word: relevant...

ayellowworld | gallery updates

this past week i had the chance to update the gallery section on http://www.ayellowworld.com/sketchbook.html. my personal favorite was a small collection of art that i found in the trash at work. among the many hats i TRY to wear, my mornings are spent teaching ESL near UT in austin. the school puts me in contact with a lot of "characters." one was this italian travel agent, who never felt the need to come to class, but when she did, she spent most of the class periods doodling. at the end of the semester, she showed up 50 minutes late for the last class only to empty her notebook of sketches into the garbage can.

Let's go to the movies

coming back from life in japan often feels like being rescued from an uninhabited island cut off from all things fun (but trivial): east coast thin crust pizza, seats that are made for people taller than 5' 2", and MOVIES. after reba and i moved to japan, the 2000 yen or $20 movie ticket and the lack of non-tom cruise films more or less squashed our desire to casually spend a few hours with the local hoodlums at the cinema.

AND to answer your question... no, there is not a treasure trove of oscar worthy japanese films and animation waiting to be discovered. we've also wasted a good part of our lives there watching a lot of crap that mostly just leaves you shaking your head.

then before we knew it the question, 'do you wanna check out that non-tom cruise movie?' disappeared from our conversations. we turned in earlier and earlier, and now we're that bitter, old couple that occasionally shows up at annual family gatherings.

this weekend for one reason or another i had an evening free and the urge to watch...something...ANYTHING.

LIST OF MOVIES NEW TO THIS OLD MAN
1. the simpsons movie - met expectations and will be watched again ad nauseum.
2. diner - this had been on my 'to see' list for a long time, but came back to attention after a friend from home (who we'll call - Arty Parse) mentioned that one of his favorite movies was the Kevin Bacon vehicle 'Quicksilver'. My immediate response was, 'Kevin Bacon - No one's favorite movie star? Has he done anything that I liked.' The answer... 'Diner'.