Date: May 4, 2000 Time: 11:51 pm Right now I'm feeling: Great! Right now I'm listening to: Olivia Olivia: Dress Me Up Me with a very smug and satisfied look on my face after consuming hamburgers of the gods. Quote of the Day: "Self confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings." -- Samuel Johnson BBQ This is "Golden Week", a string of national holidays so I'm off from work. I was thinking of going to a nearby island to see one of the greatest castles in all of Japan. I also thought of going to see a friend of mine in Gunma. I also thought about going to Kyushu, where I have a couple other friends, BUT... it just so happens that during this week everyone and their mom, and her pop, his cousin and his damn little doggie are out on the highway, in the trains and on the planes, making travel at this time uncomfortable to say the least. Getting somewhere to stay once you've got to where your going is also a problem. So, I'm sitting here, pecking out my random thoughts out to you good folks in Journal-land. So How's life? Mine's ok. Pretty good. Today I worked on my bio section. It's going to be getting a major overhaul within a couple days. Simplification. Simplification is good. I also had a barbecue with my Canadian friends and my neighbors from Hicksville, USA. The Canadians have this miniature Japanese gas barbecue which totally rocks. It would probably get guffaws of hilarity if you were to pull that thing out on the Fourth of July at a park back home, but, hey, I'm here on this God-forsaken little island and one of these little babies is the shit, you know what I'm saying? Anyway, so you hook one of these little gas canisters to the side of the bbq grill, light it up, and viola! Tasty burgers, kebabs, or whatever else you feel like cookin. Burgers taste 10X better grilled on this bad boy than fried in a pan. Ahhh. BBQs are different out here, big time. The table you see in the picture is actually built to be two heights, kotatsu level, or normal-human sized level. Not only that, but the hot dog and hamburger buns they sell in the stores aren't sliced!! Who ever heard of slicing your own buns?? But it was great. Good food, friends, fun. Who could ask for anything more on a gorgeous spring day? I have to say it's wierd being out of school again so soon. Then I got to remind myself that I have to go back on Monday. It feels like a vacation, but not really. It's only three days. BUT, I've had my two days of regeneration so now it's off to the races. I should make a schedule of things I want/need to do or I won't do anything but play Starcraft all weekend long. I gotta write some of my students back, my friends (before I lose any more for being a total bastard and not writing them back!), and I simply must clean up this sty of an apartment. I still have to learn this abyssmal language and I've got to write two more proposals up for Dragon Magazine. Hey! This is vacation!! I'm supossed to relax fer God's sake. Sigh. J-Pop Ruminations Y'know, I know a hell of a lot more about J-Pop than I did about any popular music back in the States. I have no idea why. I suppose it's turned into a sort of hobbby... any little fact about a singer or group that one of my kids tells me or one I read on a website or wherever is automatically tucked away in my wee brain. I suppose it took over the area of the brain which was occupied by physics and math; all of it has gone... realized that today when I couldn't remember the value for 'Pi' out to three decimal places. AHH!! I am so losing my memory. Anyway, so today's J-Pop selection is from a sleek and sexy vixen called 'Olivia'. Which can't possibly be her real name because it's not a Japanese name. But her English is flawless. She probably speaks better English than I do. She has an English version of 'Dress Me Up' which I actually like better than the Japanese version, but I thought you guys would appreciate the Japanese version more. I've gotten a couple requests for me to add the J-Pop to the MIDI jukebox, but that would require me to update the jukebox at least weekly and I'm not sure I want to tackle reformatting the jukebox right now. But it's a definite possiblity for the future. Stay tuned. It was also pointed out to me that all my selections so far have been female artists. And well, I have no witty comeback for that. It's true. I'm guilty. Look for some good male talent in the near future. I'm off to sleep. G'night, true believers. May the Force be with you. Peace out.