i'm hoping to start an online journal dealing with my experiences in japan, so first i probably should describe my expectations with regard to japan before i go over. other than general excitement, my upcoming job really hasn't evoked any sort of emotion...i am ready for the change; i feel as if i've dug myself into a bit of a rut here at tech (check out the "living conditions" section if you don't believe me), and the challenge of applying my japanese language studies seems quite welcome. naturally, there are several things that i regret leaving...not being able to watch the braves play on tbs is one, and not being able to follow my beloved colorado avalanche is another (not to mention the thrill of watching tech whip uga...to hell with georgia!). of course, i will miss my family, friends, and fellow geeks a lot, but that's what e-mail is for...and this journal should be another way of keeping in touch/provoking discussion. i should mention that i have absolutely no idea what to expect with my teaching situation...my "ability" to speak rudimentary japanese should help break the ice with my co-workers, but, hey, i might be an outcast. and i don't even know where i'll be placed! do not let it be said that i haven't prepared myself, however...thus far i've read several books on japanese culture/history, a metric buttload of web pages and journals by jets currently in japan. all this, of course, has been facilitated by the slack schedule i've had this semester. i'm probably the laziest graduating senior in the history of tech. two classes, one a beginning programming class that covers basic material that i'm already familiar with. awwww yeah! so, basically, i've gone to seed. but i've learned a lot about myself and my need for motivation. i really don't know how thematic i should make this journal, so forgive me if i jump from topic to topic...i joined a fantasy baseball league before the season started, and it's really changed the way i watch baseball games. i no longer care as much whether the braves win or lose (i mean, they practically inherit a playoff spot every year, right?)...instead, i root for the players i have on my team. if this isn't a mild form of gambling, i don't know what is. "c'mon, chipper! hit one out for me!" one of the biggest kicks i get watching sports is seeing a tech grad do well (no, i don't mean marbury...i wrote "tech grad"). a good example of this phenomenon is kevin brown. it is so rewarding to see that graphic pop up on the screen noting that brown majored in chemical engineering here. (mike asked me last year if the chem e's here should count brown's $10 million per year salary in the average of chem e undergrads' salaries. :-) another thing i have really enjoyed during my time living in downtown atlanta is the variety of movies i am able to rent. there's a place here called "movies worth seeing" that has almost every foreign film imaginable. i mean, they have paradzhanov, and if he isn't obscure, i don't know who is! there are a few japanese films i still need to rent (_ikiru_ and kagemusha by kurosawa, tokyo olympiad by ichikawa, tokyo story by ozu...), but i've been really moved and provoked to thought by such films as enjo, andrei rublev, the mirror, and breathless. i'm also going to miss the variety of concerts that come to atlanta, but a) cornerstone this summer should sate my appetite for a while and b) most of the bands i have yet to see are either too expensive or european. allow me to finish this entry with some thoughts on andrei rublev...i was able to rent the dvd, which had some very interesting commentary pointing out the techniques tarkovsky used in filming his masterpiece. there are a couple of standout sequences in the film, the first being the part where rublev's protectorate is swept away by tatars, and the second being the erection of the bell tower as overseen by the teenaged son of a dead bell-caster. (the commentary notes tarkovsky's doestoyevskian displays of both love and hate for God, and the doestoyevsky comparison is apt. the works of both masters are rich mines of allegory with sublime, poignant moments of relevation and sorrow.) in both sequences, rublev is serving out a self-imposed vow of silence, yet we learn more about rublev through his silence than through his dialogue. rublev often makes offhand remarks and jests that distract the viewer from his actual mood, but his non-verbal communication reveals how he processes information and learns from it. in the movie, rublev remarks to his master danil that he, the pupil, sees the world through his teacher's eyes; by the end of the film, rublev has, assisted by his silence, become the eloquent teacher, and we see/understand the world through his. anatoli solonitsyn does a masterful job portraying the medieval painter/monk, and he is an absolute joy to watch.