Wednesday, November 14, 1990.
I'm up at 7:10AM. The neighbour dog is up at 7AM. Bastard. I do some dishes and head for the office (Ohtawara Board of Education - it's actually situated right beside City Hall, in a kind of out of the way spot in downtown Ohtawara).
It's a nice day - kindda like a Toronto September rather than a Japan November. Beats me how I'd know that. I have no frame of reference except that it's a nice day. I know. I already said that. Anyhow, I'm late for work, and I don't care.
I've brought along a whole bunch of letters from friends so that I know who to write back to. I've said it before but letters from home... it helps emotionally. It's how you know you still matter to people back home.
I also bring with me a slip of paper that I think indicates I have a package at the post office - and, lo and behold, Kanemaru-san confirms that very fact. Dropping everything, he gets Hashimoto-san (the driver!) to take us to the post office. If you've ever seen an episode of Little House On The Prairie, you may know that post offices are very small, cozy places where everyone knows everyone - it's kind of like a place to gather, except you aren't allowed to mill about.
While milling about awaiting my turn to be served, I notice the Wanted posters placed up on the wall. Yes, these things still exist. Now, I don't have a racist bone in my body - I hate everyone equally - but dammit, looking at the guys in the posters had me wondering how Japan ever solves a crime. I'm looking for a male, Asian. brown eyes, black rimmed plastic glasses, black hair with a Moe haircut. Last seen wearing a blue pin stripped suit carrying a black attache. Okay, but FYI, there doesn't seem to be much crime in Japan - at least not too much violent stuff. (Although I did know that the JET Programme discouraged hosts--cities and Board of Education offices--from placing female AETs on the first floor for safety reasons like privacy from Peeping Tom's. I could see that. It didn't stop them from placing Ashley on the first floor.
At the Post Office, I run into Jeanne Mance Blanc, a fellow junior high AET who lives a floor above Ashley in Nishinasuno-machi (town). Jeanne is from la belle province, Quebec and seems mature enough to realize I'm a dink. Still, I chat with her and invite her over for dinner next Tuesday hoping everyone else I have yet to invite can come. Man, have I become the social butterfly. Back home, I prefer to company of my own solitude in the basement of my parent's house.
Picking up my package, I'm driven home to drop it off--inside are letters from my wacky brother Ben and mom, birthday cards, microwave popcorn packs, condoms (when I find the photo, I'll explain the ins and outs of condoms to you with an amusing story or two. Promise.), and a couple of shirts. Now I'm very happy!
I spend the afternoon creating the fumetti pasting photos of myself and Ashley onto a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.
(Here's the original cartoon... the fumetti exists somewhere, but damned if I know where it is - I've seen it recently as a bookmark, but where?)
I also study some Kanji, and am now up to over 150 symbols now. Apparently one needs to memorize 1,942 of them by the time a student graduates grade 12.
After work, I head over to Iseya for milk and a few food stuffs--the reason I go shopping so often is that my fridge is only 3-feet high, so I can't store a lot of stuff in it - see photo at top... the fridge sits below the microwave - for scale, my head was about an inch or two above the base of the cabinets over the nuker). I head home knowing there's no kyudo (archery) today because Kanemaru-san says he has to work.
Ashley and I are enjoying our kissing (see, we're not fighting!), when the doorbell rings. It's Kanemaru-san saying he finished his work so lets go to kyudo. Let me tell ya, I'm sporting a lot more than a a bow and arrow at this time and really am not interested in anything else.
Whether it's psychosomatic or not, I couldn't tell you, but I no longer feel right. I feel scared now, and reluctantly go to kyudo. I don't practice however, as my shoulder hurts when I pull on the bow, though my ribs have stopped hurting (bike meets car accidents). I grouch for awhile, as I'd like to play pain-free, but I'd also rather be hitting a different target in my bedroom.
Ashley has progressed to the real kyudo target today, and on her second shot she hits the target! Unfortunately, it's her only hit, but she's light-years ahead of me.
After kyudo, we ride back to her place so she can get the package Jeanne is holding for her, but unfortunately she's not home. Ashley makes some really bad cheeseburgers with charred bacon - ensuring that I remain the cook in this relationship. At least the Kalula is good.
As I'm about to leave at 9:45, her phone rings. It's Rod Coover, a dwarf of an AET that likes Ashley, and whom I'm convinced she likes back. This is me having zip confidence in myself back in 1990. I had a feeling he was going to call. Apparently he and Ashley are going to dinner in Utsonomiya (where he lives) tomorrow night. She wasn't going to tell me because she thought I'd freak out like I'm doing now. She tries to make up for her faux pas by giving me a really nice good-bye kiss. I enjoy it, but I'm not buying it. Coupled with kyudo, my mood is destroyed. God damn Paranoia.
I'm also ticked that she has been invited to Utsonomiya for a junior high school speech contest tomorrow - that should be my job, not hers, regardless of the fact that Matthew, Jeanne and I hated our inclusion at one last week - see HERE.
I go home mad, but continue to work on the fumetti. It looks good as I hit the hay at 12:30.
Somewhere starting to self-destruct,
Andrew Joseph
Today's title courtesy of The Kinks.
