first of all, i'd like to know which crackhead at microsoft decided to wreck cascading style sheets in ie 5.5? whoever it is, i'd just like to thank you for making html that much more tedious and time-consuming. bastard.
i found a guide to my apartment left here in 1998 by the predecessor to carmen, lisa. lisa, if you ever read this, you have my undying gratitude. thank you so much. basically, i now know how to operate my japanese telephone, microwave, washing machine, and where everything is in my town.
i've been treated to two sushi lunches in the five days i've been here. mmmm...sushi. an interesting difference in the rolls at the place i've been to and the american sushi places i've eaten at: the rolls here have rice on the bottom, whereas the ones i've bought in the u.s. have the rice surrounding the fish/veggies in the middle. interesting. and the soy sauce already has wasabi added, i think. the otya (japanese green tea) is very good, of course.
i'm trying to get back up to speed on my japanese, but even so i'm having a hard time understanding some of the japanese here. thank goodness for those poor souls who have to try and get this big dumb gaijin to understand. they've done an amazing job so far. topics of conversation include: my hometown, my japanese studies in college, my hobbies, my age, the earthquake at 3am friday morning, etc. speaking of the earthquake, it was my first one. it woke me up, and in my half asleep state, i thought it was the neighbors, until i realized that even the biggest speakers couldn't shake my apartment for 20 seconds. it wasn't severe at all. so now i know a little bit more about what life must be like in todd's world. :-) watched _the seven samurai_ today. what an amazing movie. i highly recommend the criterion collection dvd, which possesses an excellent commentary track on the techniques/motifs kurosawa employs throughout the film. also watched the spanish inquisition episode of monty python's flying circus. i'm beginning to appreciate the conversations in _japanese: the spoken language_ a lot more. as strange as they seemed during my studies at tech, they are really right on the nose for the foreigner living here. well, i'm tired. mata ne.