I Don't Like Mondays

So... I finally have the girl of my dreams over at my apartment. She's looking even more spectacular than I recall... it's been a couple of months since I saw her last... why is she getting better looking?!

I'm 26-years-old. Single. I'm tall, reasonably good-looking, in shape. I'm a Canadian, born in London, England of Indian parents (dot, not the feather), and I'm living in Ohtawara-shi (Ohtawara City), Tochigi-ken (Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. And I'm horny. And she—Kristine South—likes me too. In fact,  she has come 500 kilometres from the west to visit me and see the sites of nearby Nikko-shi (home of the 3 wise monkeys).

We're both AETs (assistant English teachers) on the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching Programme)... it's August 19, 1991... a Monday.

Oh... and I'm sick as a dog, compliments of dysentery. Not exactly a sickness that makes a beautiful young woman want to hang around you... hormones be damned.

Despite spending last night at my place, we spent it in separate rooms. I know what I was thinking when Kristine asked if she could use my place as a base... I was going to pitch a tent for her.

But... the best laid (unlaid) plans of mice and Andrew often go awry. It's why I usually never make plans and try to go with the flow. Who knew that would imply going to the toilet eight times a  day for six days? 

Feeling my pain from a goodly distance, Kristine got up bright and early and went out to get me some medication. Kristine has only been in Japan as long as myself (almost 13 months), but she speaks Japanese quite well. She may have the advantage of being half Japanese and half American, but she's also quite smart. Smarter than she looks.... that sounds like an insult. Just remember, however, that she is drop-dead gorgeous... so I'm paying her quite the compliment as far as her sexy brains.

I sure would like to suck on her intelligence. 

The medicine helps a little bit... at least my toilet frequency is now every two three hours instead of every two. Small victories, eh.

Kristine leaves my place at noon to go to Nikko. I would have loved to have joined her... and gone to Nikko as well, but doodie calls.

So instead of walking along the ancient temples and shrines of Nikko arm in arm with the woman of my dreams, I instead sit on my balcony (west one), and soak up some sun rays in the hopes of getting that wonderful copper tan I get.

But... when it comes to me and the sun, I never seem to win... at least not here in Japan. The clouds come rolling in - but it does not rain. So, I go back inside and sit around watching a video I had rented (It Happened One Night), a fantastic 1934 romantic comedy with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, that was the first to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay). Considering my mood, health and Kristine, I probably shouldn't have watched that one.

Kristine's ex-boyfriend Rory calls me up from Tokyo to tell me that the U.S.S.R's General Secretary of the Communist Party (ie: the leader of the country) Mikhail Gorbachev had been overthrown. Holy smokes!

As well, there's also a hurricane brewing.

Hmm, I hope my mom will be okay. She's here visiting, and is currently on the road out in western Japan... by herself. I don't know how she does it. I get lost crossing the road.

Kristine comes back, tells me all about her wonderful trip, and on any other night I would have taken her out and got us both dinner and drinks... but today, I'm just not very good company. I don't like Mondays.

Sorry Kristine.

Somewhere sitting alone on his throne,
Andrew Joseph
Today's blog is by the Boomtown Rats: TELLMEWHY

Stem Cells For Nuclear Workers?

Because I happen to enjoy a kettle of fish - let's open one up. Okay... I'm opening up two kettles of fish.

Apparently Japanese officials are looking to collect and freeze blood stem cells from the engineers and water canon operators who have been working to clean-up and fix the Dai-ichi (Big One) nuclear reactors in Fukushima-ken following the near nuclear meltdown caused by the March 11, 2011 Sendai 9.0 Magnitude earthquake and subsequent 10 metres high tsunami.

Why? Just in case these workers have been exposed to high levels of radiation - a distinct possibility. Exposure to the high levels of radiation can cause serious illnesses and death - from bone marrow cancer... but the contingency plan notes that if someone is treated very quickly after exposure and gets stem cell transplants, people can recover.

How doe you get stem cells? In this case, the nuclear workers take a particular drug for a few days straight that makes the bone marrow release stem cells into the bloodstream. The patient is hooked up to a machine that filters their blood and extracts the stem cells.

More than 50 hospitals across Europe have agreed to help Japan if needed.

Of course, while the stem cell transplant would indeed help resolve any bone marrow problems due to radiation, there is still the problem of what the radiation is doing to other soft tissue organs, like the lungs or skin.

While some in the medical field feel this may resolve only one problem out of many, it is still a waste of time. Really? What should they do... nothing and wait until people get sick, diagnose what the problems are and then try and figure out how to cure them while lamenting the fact that you can't do anything?!

It's called trying.

And, just like how the whole country is reeling with the tsunami and earthquake victims still homeless or hungry - you have to do something.

Japan is trying to ensure there is still a country left for the earthquake and tsunami survivors to live in by ensuring that the country doesn't explode in a nuclear conflagration. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise - radiating a large chunk of Japan was a very real (almost happened) possibility that is now under more control.

Make sure no one else dies. And, if that means people have to suffer a little bit longer, so be it. But... maybe the people not affected could do more than give money or cloths or tents or blankets. 

While Japan's precautions regarding its Dai-ichi facility are well known as not having been good enough in the past, right now people in charge of the workers are trying to have a cure for those who may or may not get ill. Granted it's just one possible cure for one possible problem... but you have to start somewhere. 

For the rest of Japan... don't worry. Be strong. Be brave. Be yourselves. I always found the Japanese to be extremely kind and warm and generous. Open up your homes to families that need the help. No one needs to be homeless right now. No one.

You have to do something. You have to try.

Somewhere on an ivory pedestal,
Andrew Joseph
PS: I know it's easier said than done - but many small deeds can lead bigger and better results.