I’m Back!

Hello everyone! I’m not dead. I’ve just been hibernating…and getting dragged around on an abandoned mattress behind a four-wheeler.  The plum trees are blossoming so I thought I’d drag my ass out of my cave and have a sniff of the pre-spring air. I’ve been full time martial arts boy of late–eating, sleeping and breathing it while leaving just enough leeway to drink a few beers now and again.  Went to the States over the holidays for the first time in two years.  It was a great time getting to relax and catch up with most everyone.  Of course, there were too many desires and not enough time to see everyone and do everything on my list, but I got to shoot guns and ride a mechanical bull and walk on the beach in Oregon.  That was at least enough to satisfy me until next time, so long as next time isn’t too far away.  I also proposed to Yuki while we were in Oregon, and we’ll be getting married in the spring of 201o. After a long lazy slump I’ve begun to study Japanese again; I finally reached a point where I started to feel like kind of a dummy not being able to talk to people I interact with every day which precipitated my now renewed drive to talk pretty someday.  My recent heroes are Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Hicks (all stand-up comedians) and Frank Zappa. Zappa’s music is so varied and insanely genius that I just can’t get enough of it, especially since I discovered that his live performances are where all the elements of his art converge, and that there are many many hours of high quality live recordings…enough to keep me occupied for months, at least.  I would also like to declare two firm beliefs I have acquired:

1) the September 11 World Trade Center attacks were inside jobs, that is, the buildings were blown up from explosives planted inside the buildings NOT by the planes that crashed into them.

2) there is widespread election fraud being perpetrated in the US by insidious members of the Republican party. This fraud is systemic and was used to win Bush the elections in both 200o and 2004.

I’ll be happy to point you to the sources that led me to these beliefs if you’re interested. Like George Carlin says, “Everything you’re told in America is bullshit and it’s bad for you.” God rest his grumpy soul.

I’ve cooled off on my current-events fixation since the election (that’s right…go back to bed, America) in favor of a more introspective perspective. It’s a little frustrating as well wanting to get involved and be politically active for the first time when I’m thousands of miles away from the States and pretty firmly rooted in my life here, so I’m tending to my self at the moment, trying to write more and get more centered in order to bring up my level of practice in the dojo. There is a barrier to my level of training in Aikido that in order to surpass it I must increase my ability to concentrate and maintain a calm focus while practicing.  So that’s where I’m at.  Oh, and my favorite snack at the moment it Oreo cookies.  There’s more to come. Oyasuminasai