the Galactic Truth

——7/5—————–

What makes me think it’s a good idea to sit and write
one of those sappy reflections on the general state of
living…
  It’s not just that I turn 30 today,
  – It’s the fact that I’ve spent the last few days
locked in a dingy little room, in some part of Asia,
with nothing “important” to do,
+  Yes, some amount of sentiment.

“What is important?”.

If I didn’t really need the 2 shots of insulin every
day I could have made different decisions down the
line. 

On the 2nd day – the day they gave the tests back to
the kids/ the other day that they didn’t need me to
come and sit here for 9 hours (with nothing
“important” to do), I wrote a letter to Micheal Moore
(who has just released a movie about health care.  I
thought he might be interested in my “solution” to the
health care problem in America. 

“Move to Japan.” – I said. It’s a humid, crowded, mess
of cracked greying concrete, but
Everyone in Japan is required to have health
insurance.  You can buy it from the city/ town that
you live in, or from a private company, and they can’t
refuse to cover you.
  The drawback to my “solution”, is that you have to
stay in Japan, and if you have any health problems
when you’re outside of Japan, they are your problem:

- Some obese Englishman drank half of his box of wine
and decided to join in our no hands sumo competition.
I had my arms tied behind my back when tackled me.
I was only in Australia for 3 weeks, but I had to
spend  that last week and a half carrying around my
backpack full of paint with however many
cracked/broken ribs (I never did find out for sure).

- And I cut my arm while I was visiting my family in
America.  I asked my dad to stitch me up with dental
floss, but he insisted on taking me to the emergency
room.  …Think of how many starving families we could
have saved with the more than $3,000 that they finally
reduced the bill to…
…    So now I’m back in Japan…

+ it’s my 30th birthday, and I’m locked in a dirty
little room that is stuffed full of beat up furniture
that was made in the early 60’s.

  I was born in ‘77 – Beat up all through the 80’s and
early 90’s.
  Just a few hours after his own wedding, my brother,
through shaky nerves or nostalgia, thought it’d be fun
to punch me awake from a nap.
  His previous best was the time I was in junior high
school and he snuck up behind me, and punched me in
the back of the head, as I was brushing my teeth. 

When I was in grade school he got me to crawl under
his bed to look for something he dropped, and when I
crawled back out he smeared his own s@%$ on my face.

There was another time where he repeatedly hit and
headlocked me, so that he could record me calling him
a $%#face, and play the tape to my mom and dad (who,
of course, were not interested in the circumstances
leading up to the name calling). 

 I have to confess, …this is another reason I took
to living in Japan.

It all gets beat up, and it all gets repaired (like so
many other things) with duct tape.  The desk tops here
were single pieces of wood, now split clear across
(from end to end).  , some of them in more than one
place, some of them wobbling more than others, some
bits of bent nails stick out here and there.

On the 1st day that they locked me in here, I finished
up some bits of cartoons that I’d been waiting to do.
It was a test day.  There’s never anything for me to
do here on test days, but they always want me to come
here and sit from 8am-5pm anyway.  Rat-Bastards!

There’re these 4 or 5 kids that never go to class
who, oddly enough, didn’t feel like taking any tests,
so they came in the little dingy room I have to occupy
on weekdays.  One of them went to sleep on the couch
for 2 periods.  The others did the best they could
with the beat up chairs.  Sometimes they got up and
looked around for something to play with. 
  I stayed to keep an eye on them for as long as I
could, but 4 big cups of tea will always win out over
time. (TOILET!)

There’s a lady here who gave herself a serious medical
condition by worrying over every stupid little detail
of everything. – Her chair got broken on that 1st day
that they locked me in here.  The back of the chair
was touching the ground – something I’ve never seen a
chair do – It was really pretty funny to look at.
But she gasped, and shrieked, and yelled, and moaned,
and whimpered, and cried, and whined… for almost an
hour.  She asked me who did it, + I said I didn’t
know, but I thought it might be: the one that was
asian, who had black hair.
She started crying again, and made some loud frantic
angry phone calls, then she muttered to herself about
her medical condition for a while.  Then she asked me
if students in America ever broke their teacher’s
chairs – To which I replied “they, in most cases,
probably don’t”., and she put her head in her hands
for about 10 minutes, then started all the wailing,
whimpering, and phone calls all over again.

Later that afternoon an art teacher wrapped a load of
wire around the back and the bottom of the chair – to
keep it together.  He said it’d hold, so long as
nobody leans back too hard (which would seem to make
it as good as it was before).  A couple of people
watched his wire wrapping technique.  Then they all
decided that the door to this room should be locked
not just when there is nobody here, but anytime anyone
isn’t actually passing through it.
  This is nice, because it keeps the distractions to a
minimum, but the people that ought to come in here to
consult with me over things – seem not to want to have
to bother to unlock the door, …
and they don’t.

On the 3rd day that they locked me in here, I hooked
the outdated scanner I bought up to the outdated
computer they keep.  I scanned in some of my smaller
cartoons.  I had lunch with the special class, and the
teacher there informed me that they would all be
weeding their garden in the rain after lunch.  I, of
course, volunteered to help.
It’s good to get outside, and it’s also nice to get
some good exercise occassionally.  This one kid just
kept walking around, so I made it his job to hold all
the potatoes I kept finding.  He got happier and
happier with each potato I came across.
After that, I sat here and read some Batman comics.

Batman is cool! 

When I was in Junior High School I liked Batman, and my father berated me for it: “When are you going to grow up?” he’d ask.
  Today I’m 30 years old …grown up by most accounts,
but I still like Batman – moreso in fact.

Yesterday/ the 4th day that they locked me in here/ my
birthday, I took a 4 hour nap, then I read Batman
comics, then I had some cold curry for lunch, then I
wrote part of this, then I left.

———–7/6———————
I went out this morning to find the lady who I have
class with now, but she said that because we didn’t
talk about a plan at least a day beforehand, she
doesn’t want to have to do anything with me now.  It’s
sort of a peculiar thing to say, because she gets the
same copies of all the schedules that I do, and I was
here all day yesterday with nothing to do (except read
Batman comics).  It would have been an opportune time
for us to discuss anything at all, but she was not at
school at all.

Perhaps she’s aware that I skipped out of school 2
hours and 5 minutes early, and she’s upset about this
- although, again, she wasn’t here herself yesterday.

Why does it always rain on my days off?  Yesterday was
a beautiful day/ my birthday, and I had nothing to do
here.  All the other teachers were gone, and most of
the students too…  After sitting quietly in this
little hole for 6 hours, I went downstairs to ask the
vice principle if I could go to the doctor’s, …but
the vice principle wasn’t there, nor was the
principal, or indeed anyone else.  I could have left a
note saying that I was heading out, but I thought it
unlikely they even notice me gone.

After escaping I thought better of going to the
doctors.  I don’t want frightened nurses sticking me
with needles and giving me dissapproving worried looks
because I won’t wear those slippers that are several sizes too small that they leave out for the patients. 
  I don’t need more of that crap,

 not when the weather’s so nice outside. 

 My insulin supply is good for a little while longer too.

I went home, got my backpack full of paint, and I
drove down backroads – where I’d be less likely to be
spotted.  I stopped just past the bridge, on the way
to the temple that they built on the side of the
cliff, and I painted a pair of pictures – of cliffs,
the river, and mountains.  They’re good pictures – if
I may say.  Being that I was at work  until late
afternoon – it’s really suprising that I finished one,
let alone finish one, and get a good half of another
started.
The weather, as I remarked from the widow of the
little room they keep me locked in, was fantastic.
Better, perhaps, having been shut in for all the
earlier part of the day.
The bridge was not near my school, but the road that
runs over it is busy enough to make it likely that
somebody saw me painting from it.
I was concerned, but not worried really.  I tied a
bandanna over my head to hide my not-Asian colored
hair – I didn’t want anyone to get wise to the fact
that I wasn’t where there was no need for me to be.

Long ago, when I changed from my old company, to this
(slightly less evil) one, I had a bunch of job
interviews.
The interviews consisted of: someone looking me over
to be sure that I’m not Japanese (or dreadfully ugly),
and them pretending that there was anymore to the
interview than that.  3 or 4 questions seems to be the
average – before they offer you the job right then +
there.

I got lots of offers for jobs that it turns out I
didn’t want.
… Nowadays I sit in a dark little office all day for
no real reason, and indeed, do very little of value to
anyone else while I’m here. 
I don’t mean for it to sound like that bothers me at
all, it doesn’t. 

 What bothers me is that I could be earning as much money as I do now, and a prisioner for a lot less time.

I have a friend from Canada who has been offering me his job for about a year.  He’s going home – to Canada, next month, and his company wants me to take
over from him.

The psychic advisor whom I decided straight off to never pay for advice said that there would be a good financial opportunity coming to me soon.

There, I wouldn’t have to put up with the crap I do here,
but it would be naive to think that there wouldn’t be other crap…

250,000 yen a month – 45,000yen rent, -15,000 car rental fee for a minimum 45 hour work week (9 hours a day) Coworkers are alternately nice/ a huge drag
pretty mountains + lots of good places to paint nearby, + I know what to expect.
  V.S.
245,000 yen a month – 60,000yen rent, + whatever train fares add up to 15-20 hour work week (2 hours on Saturday – Sunday/Monday off)
It’s a concrete wasteland, but my girlfriend lives in the same city.  I could wear shorts and a T-shirt to work, and not work on Christmas.

It’d be a pain in the ass to move again…,       

  I like having Nature nearby…..

Dunno’.   I go back and forth. 
I might have to get the I-ching out of the closet.

——————————————–

I got offered a job where I would be working – on average: 3 hours a day -
for the same salary I make now.
I`d have to move back to my old city, + give up my 3 week summer vacation/
+ $1,500. bonus…

…but I could/ would!  wake up at 10:30, and be home by 3.
Free time in that city is nowhere near as valuable as free time here…
I could paint pictures of cockroaches/ trees that`ve had all their branches
cut off…

I had 2 classes all of last week, but I had to stay here in this stupid
little room for the requisite 45 hours regardless.
There are nice mountains here, but I can only play on them during non-rainy
weekends that my girlfriend isn`t around/ tired of mountain climbing.

They had a wee birthday party for me at a little vegan cafe in Tokyo on
Saturday.  Then we had tea in some lounge on the top floor of the most
expensive hotel in all of Japan (I was told).  You can see the emperor`s
palace out the window  + I suppose if you had a really good pair of those
opera-scopes, you might be able to see the emperor hanging out his laundry.

I had a $20 cup of tea, but somebody else paid for it.  They got ripped
off.

I checked my website just now to see if I made 10,000 visitors in the
course of the year. It was 9,600 or so last I checked, but It`s gone now! 
It`s suddenly a black single`s dating page! 

Can someone reasonably competent please make me a webpage?

—————————————–

7/12

The I-ching said not to go chasing after dragon’s
gold – which is easiest to interpret as: stay put…
but there’s something to be said for waking up at 9am
and coming back home before 4.

There’s something else to be said for living someplace
with trees and birds and plants.

But then what good is all that nature when you have no
time to go out and enjoy it?

But again and then and again…  What good is allllll
that beautiful wonderful time, if there is nothing
beautiful any closer than a 2 hour train ride back to
where I am now?
It’s a dilemma.

I had the interview on Saturday morning, before my
vegan birthday gathering.  My girlfriend got me to the
correct station at the right time, and was going to go
for a wander, when the lady from the other company
approached and said it would be perfectly fine if she
came along with us. 

They looked me over and asked maybe 3 questions:
Why did you come to Japan?
What kinds of students do you like best?
Can you start work on the 1st of August?

My girlfriend asked them about healthcare.  They said
it’s easier for everyone if I just buy it from the
city – easier to get a rebate if I quit and go home…

During the interview – people were calling/ writing to
my cell phone – presumably to ask about my vegan
birthday gathering.  The vibrations tickle me.  The
battery went dead.
A girl I knew from my old town in Nagano wrote to say
that she would be in that exact part of Tokyo, and
free in time to come, but of course I couldn’t get
that message until long after everybody had already left.

——-7/18——

I had to fax a letter to my company today to tell them that I’m leaving them for a younger sexier company, and that I never loved them.

  I don’t work very hard at my present job to be sure, but 45 hours a week versus 16…

 It’d involve me moving back to Saitama I’m afraid, but that’s better for the environment