TheLeong.com

a website

Sprung

February 27, 2008 at 3:03 AM No comments

I guess winter’s almost ready to end here in Japan. About time. Last week it was pretty warm for a few days, then the weekend had mad crazy wind. It was cold again, then today we had some of the heaviest rainstorms I’ve seen in a while – and they lasted only a few hours. And I think the super winds are back now. The rest of the week is supposed to have highs in the 50’s.

I feel like I started this entry with a bunch of ideas, but they’re all gone now. Uhh… Well I guess that’s all for now.

Oh but one thing! This year’s かなまら祭り(Iron Penis Festival) is on April 6th. Anyone going? I thought for some reason it was in late March, but I checked and it’s officially on the first Sunday of April every year. Also checked this site. Steve Cochrane will be in Japan that week, and Macie is coming as well, so those two will probably enjoy seeing the weirdest freaking event on the planet. Need I remind you of last year? I’ll have to think of some other weird stuff to show those two while they’re here. They’ll probably be here right as the sakura bloom, which is perfect. And of course Namja Town is on the menu.

Now that I think about it, I don’t know if I really want to go back to the Kanamara Festival, since the old Confederate guy with the dog might attack me or something.

梁健鴻はまた良健康

February 27, 2008 at 12:54 AM 2 comments

I’m finally recovered from my cold and back to 100% health. I spent most of Sunday evening napping or laying down, and by Monday I was down to just a slight cough. Totally good now. Oh, and as I mentioned in my last post, here is just a sampling of some of the Japanese potion medicines that I took. I also took a few Dayquil/Nyquil tablets, but overall I think sleep is what cured me. I’m usually able to fix most illnesses by sleeping. I guess the medicines help a bit though. And while this is just a sample of what I took to get over this cold, it’s an even smaller sample of the hundreds of different medicine and energy drinks they have here, most served in tiny little glass bottles.

葛根湯など...

From left to right:

  • 葛根湯(Kakkontou) – Kudzu root extract. This is supposed to be taken as soon as you start to feel cold symptoms, as an early medicine. A few times I tried this last year and I was completely fine within a day or two. This time I didn’t get kakkontou in time, but it still helped a little bit I think. It costs about 800 yen for 3 vials at a drug store. You’re supposed to take 3 a day.
  • C1000 Lemon – Not really medicine, but I always feel like this helps. It’s like a tiny bottle of really carbonated lemon soda. The main selling point here though is that is has 1000mg of vitamin C in each bottle – a lot. Costs about 100 yen at any grocery or convenience store.
  • ルル・ゴールドＧ(RuRu Gold G) -This is an energy drink specially made to help relieve cold symptoms, like fever, sore throat, fatigue, all that fun stuff. It has all kinds of weird ingredients in it: vitamins, royal jelly, nicotinic acid, ginseng, ginger, etc. This is the super version, and costs about 600 yen at a convenience or drug store. The regular one is only 300 and doesn’t have as much mojo in it. You’re supposed to take just one a day, or you risk turning into Ultraman.

A little bit different than just taking some ‘tussin.

Snot all fun and games

February 21, 2008 at 10:24 PM 3 comments

I caught a cold, for the first time in over a year if I remember right. Over the weekend I was laughing as I heard of various friends getting sick, thinking that this was a great time to not constantly be around the public, especially Japanese students and co-workers who would seemingly rather wear a surgical mask and infect the rest of the population than actually stay at home for a day and recover. But yeah, I got what was coming to me I guess.

I went to sleep really early (for me) last night, and slept on and off for most of this morning and afternoon. I really don’t feel that bad, just a stuffy nose and slight sore throat here and there. I think I’ll be better by the weekend. I’ve got some Dayquil/Nyquil still from the US, and have also been taking some of the Japanese energy/health drinks. I’ve taken so many little vials of Japanese potion medicine that I’m starting to feel like a Final Fantasy character. I thought the kakkontou worked at first, but I was a little too late I think. Kakkontou is supposed to only be good if you take it as soon as you feel any cold symptoms.

I’m going to do a bit more work for tomorrow, then sleep. I have a job interview and some corporate classes, then will probably spend the rest of the evening sleeping.

,

Monk-y Magic

February 19, 2008 at 1:56 AM 2 comments

Sent off my application and writing samples for the textbook-writing job on Monday morning. We’ll see how that goes. Hopefully I’m close to getting a job there. I’m supposed to get some kind of answer back next week. One of the samples I had to write was just a personal essay about something that impacted your life, and what I wrote was pretty much exactly the same as some of my blog entries, maybe a bit more serious and formal. But not all that much. Oh, and I guess it had a little bit more structure than the usual brainpuking I do here.

I’ve been watching a lot of the TV show Monk this past weekend. I’d seen random episodes here and there in the past because my parents watch it at home, but watching it from the very beginning has been better, although there’s not really much stuff that transfers from one episode to the next. It’s pretty much the same as watching Detective Conan, just with a different gimmick. Instead of a little kid with a bow tie and a stun-gun watch, you have a middle aged dude with OCD and a bunch of other phobias. Oh yeah, and Monk‘s not animated or in Japanese. Pretty much the same thing. Other detective shows like CSI are OK, but I like the ones that aren’t too serious, so this is a good.

I suppose it’s proof of my own OCD that I have to watch them all in order too. I don’t really like just watching random episodes of shows, even if it’s really episodic.

,

Life as a long weekend

February 12, 2008 at 2:10 AM No comments

Today -Monday – was 建国記念の日 here, or something like National Foundation Day according to my Google Calendar. Most people had a 3-day weekend, but that kind of thing doesn’t effect me too much these days.

Yes, life has been been pretty relaxing recently. This month I’ve been cutting back on the freelance-type work, primarily in order to focus more on finding a full-time position. Smash Bros has sort of interfered in the latter, but I’m still making some progress. I’m actually currently in the running for a full time position at the Shinjuku head office of a company I’m quite familiar with. It would be a pretty interesting gig – writing and planning lesson material and textbooks for a national company. We’ll see how it goes. Actually right now I think it would fit me perfectly. Not TV or anything, but closer to business and I think working a job where I am project-based would be great. And in a way it would be media-related. I’m ready to do less teaching and more varied kind of work.

Last week was one of my slowest weeks ever; I had a lot of free time, which in many ways was amazing. Not to brag too much, but I think this is the kind of life people dream of. Not like lottery-winner life, but I mean a nice relaxing life where you’re not stressed out about anything. I’m making money and working, but not full time and thus have tons of time to stay up late, wake up in the afternoon, watch TV, play video games, and all that fun stuff. It’s a lot like college life, except you have more money and don’t have to go to class or study. Wait; I didn’t do those that much in college either.

But yeah, I realize it’s time to move away from this lifestyle and back into the working world. I actually want to work a full-time, more “normal” job, but I’m definitely going to hold out until I can do something that I’ll enjoy doing at least to some extent. Of course “the perfect job” at this point is far too idealistic, but there’s no way I’m going to settle for a job I hate.

,

JLPT Results

February 7, 2008 at 11:50 AM 3 comments

Finally got the results of the 日本語能力試験 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) that I took back in December. And whadda ya know, I passed it. So at least now I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

日本語能力試験２級、合格！

My best section was Listening, then Writing/Vocabulary, then Reading/Grammar. Pretty much exactly as I expected, and how I did on most of the practice tests. I’m not going to post my exact score, but I did a good deal better than just barely pass. Note, however, that pass was only 60% of the total 400 points.

No plans to study for and/or pass Level 1 in December 2008 when the test is administered next. I might take it, but I don’t plan on passing.

RSS

Recent Tweets

Archives

View Posts by Date

December 2024
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
Powered by WordPress Web Design by SRS Solutions © 2024 TheLeong.com Design by SRS Solutions