All the old posts from the old Your-Japan.com on the Your-Japan Blog Network

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world, it is also one of the most homogenous in terms of it’s ethnic diversity .The police over here are unfortuntely ill expereienced with handling foreigners. This is our comic take on the Japanese police, and the new laws being introduced here concerning foreigners, such as the fingerprinting upon entering and leaving the country and the increase in random ID checking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE9O9R7fFrE

Someone asked me, if I could only give a newbie ONE brief maxim on how to be successful with women, what would it be? After some thought I replied:

——————————————————————————————————————-
“The better you sexually satisfy women, the better women you’ll be able to sexually satisfy.”
——————————————————————————————————————-

It’s like how in business the more money you make, the better your new opportunities to make money become.

This is an iron law, applicable to all cases. Even take a below-average woman and pour your heart and soul into sexually satisfying her. The rule still applies, which means you’ll automatically - by iron law - improve your ability to get more desirable women.

So the shortest set of instructions on how a newbie can be successful with women is:

1) Get a girl - any girl - and go crazy sexually satisfying her

2) Use the additional sexual confidence to get better girls and satisfy them more.

3) Repeat step 2 infinitely.

Your sexual confidence will fuel your effort, which will drive your results, which will further spur your sexual confidence to meet and seduce more women - automatically. It’s a virtuous cycle. The wealth of experience you gain in the process of interacting with so many women will teach you the lessons you need to know to succeed more. This is one self-perpetuating loop, forged of self-discipline and driven by love for women, that you can always rely on to push you upward rapidly as long as you stay focused. Any questions?

(The Foundations series will be continuing fairly soon.)

A lot has happened since my last post. I got fired from my movie theater job for eating a movie theater pretzel on my break and not paying for it immediately. After a few days of being generally pissed off and waiting for them to call me back, apologize, and beg me to work there again, I decided to find another job.I still work at IHOP in the mornings- as a waitress now, not a hostess- and I am a shift manager at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. That’s right- I got hired at Cane’s (which helpfully happens to be RIGHT NEXT DOOR to IHOP) and within three weeks, I was promoted. Bear in mind that I worked at that movie theater for nearly a YEAR, and wasn’t even considered for promotion. Needless to say, I like Cane’s a lot better.For those of you that don’t know, or might not have a Cane’s in your area, it’s a very quickly-growing franchise, founded by a guy who used to fish salmon in Alaska for a living. The “special sauce” has crack in it, and anyone that eats it will either spit it out and swear obsessively for a few minutes, or down the entire cup of it and rant for more. People either hate that sauce with a bitter, undying passion, or would sell their spouses for the recipe.In other news, being a waitress at IHOP is a lot more challenging than being a hostess. I’m basically whoring myself out to every young couple and old man that strolls in, laughing at their stupid jokes and fawning all over their spoiled children in the vain hope of getting two bucks on the table by the end of it. For now, there’s a lot going on. As some of you might remember, I come from a fairly wealthy southern family. Within a few weeks, I’ll be making my debut for one of the more prominent Mardi Gras crewes in New Orleans. If you’re not from ehre, you don’t know how big of a deal that is in the upper echalons of society here, which is probably just as well. Suffice it to say, I’ll be dressed in an extravagant poofy number and paraded around to all of the eligible bachelors, and engaged to the highest bidder.Though I have become accustomed to excessive amounts of money and a high station in life, I never want to be married against my will. Therefore, I’ve decided to join the Air Force, and become a Chinese Diplomatic Linguist. Naturally, my first inclination was to be a Japanese translator, but presently they don’t need Japanese translators; if I insisted on being a Japanese translator, chances are an AK47 would be shoved into my hands, and I’d be shipped off to the middle east. HOWEVER- if I settle for Chinese, Chinese translators are really high in demand, since China is still communist and all; the chances of them sending a “high-priority aid” like me to guard an oil tanker in Iraq is next to nothing.Naturally, my parents know nothing of my plan. I’ve already seen my recruiter, and taken the ASVAB- I got a 90, wich is more than qualified to be a linguist. Once I take my DLAB, I’ll be set to go. The only catch is- my ship-out date isn’t until February of 2009.I can only hope I’m not married off by then.On a lighter note- I’ve already began saving for a brief trip to Japan this April! I’ve decided to take a simpler, cheaper route and go with an agency- Pop Japan Travel. From what I’ve heard, the tours they offer are really fun and filled with all sorts of activities. For the curious, I’ll be going on their Gothic Lolita tour.Don’t look at me that way.Yes, I AM a Gothic Lolita freak. So sue me.I think the frilly frilly clothes, and the lace and bows and hats and gloves and parasols are nothing short of ADORABLE! My hair is naturally curly, and I’ve already practiced my wide-eyed-innocent look in the mirror. Also, I think my large breast size really helps me fill in those lolita tops much better than flat-chested girls. I can’t WAIT to visit the ORIGINAL Baby the Stars Shine Bright store, or go to Harajuku in full Gothic Lolita fashion- where it all started! It also helps that I won’t be alone; the tour will be full of other girls like me- we’ll take Harajuku by storm!!Er…AHEM.Anyway- I need at least three grand to go, and for now, I have barely a hundred dollars to my name. I know I have a ways to work, but I’m really counting on both of my jobs right now to at least make the $300 deposit by the cutoff date. I’ve already talked to Sukiko about it- and she’s thrilled! She was really counting on seeing me this Chistmas, but she said that on my free days during the tour, she’d be happy to meet me in Tokyo- with Fujiomi and the others, of course. When she said she’d be coming with Fujiomi, I’ll admit, I got a bit nervous. He never found out that I liked Gothic Lolita clothes- and the last thing I need is him mocking me the whole time. However, one thing made me sort of happy: according to Sukiko, Fujiomi hasn’t had a single steady girlfriend since I left. I know I shouldn’t still be holding onto the past, but I suppose I always hoped that Fujiomi wouldn’t forget me too easily.Call it a woman thing.I guess that’s my only news for now- a small job shift, a new goal to work towards, and a ball to go to where I will hopfully avoid engagement to a man I hardly know.Oh, and Christmas.Isn’t it pathetic when a holiday like Christmas plays second fiddle to IHOP and a chicken place…?

In Japan it is customary to close the past twelve months with an end of the year party: Bounenkai, or literally “forget the year party.” And what better way to forget the year then booze!

Japanese love to party and will shoehorn any significant happening into a drinking event because once the alcohol starts flowing people are free to say what they like because it’s just “drunk talk.” Having this explained to you while you’re drinking seriously hurts the credibility of this argument and some serious suspension of belief is required to believe that your co-workers are only saying these things because they’re whacked out on sauce. It’s a real don’t ask, don’t tell policy. I’m happy that I got to have an on-the-level chat with my bosses so to each his own.

However, the whole concept breaks down when you consider that half of my co-workers don’t drink. Generally things flow as follows:

We go out for a nice dinner with everyone and our Director, who we only see at times like this. Everyone plays his or her roles to a T and once everything is said and done we send the director home with in a taxi with the cutest girl in the office. Nothing dirty happens you filthy dogs; it’s just a service to make him feel better about being 80 years old.

Ironically this is the only girl that drinks, so at this point the other two girls head home and me and the guys go the “Niji kai,” or after-party. This is where things get juicy and they talk about who is the best looking and best worker and most uptight and so on. It’s all very interesting as I rarely have a chance to interact with everyone due to our seating arrangements.

At the end of the night everyone makes a big how-to-do about paying, and whoever wants to look the most important ends up footing the bill (hint: Not me) and we go our separate ways.

Considering that the fiscal and academic year in Japan doesn’t start until April I don’t really get the whole “end of the year” angle but I’ll take it.I’d really like to go out with everyone, but that’s what the New Year party is for.

Back in the states, the gradual advent of Christmas songs on the radio and in malls is thought of as a harbinger of the end times rather than the precursor for the joyful holiday they are meant to represent. Noel hitting heavy rotation on the airwaves means you can expect excessive mall traffic, crappy weather, and a sudden dip into your savings. Christmas was the definitive half-way point between now and Summer Vacation when you were a kid, but the holidays only get more stressful and oppressive as you grow older. Bah, humbug.

Psudo-religious holiday re-invented through an agnostic nation of foodies=Christmas Cake

But as we all know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Cut off from the typical Christmas contrivances on the other side of the globe, everything about the season becomes enjoyable. Malls are open past 7:00 so I can actually go shopping. Shops start putting out awesome Christmas-themed drinks and candies. There¡Çs End-Of-Year, New Years, and Christmas parties happening all month. And for the first time in my life I actually enjoy Bing Crosby as I sink back into my seat in Starbucks, no-fat no-whip peppermint Mocha clutched warmly.

Kyoto protocol on its Winter holiday

But the weather¡Çs still crappy.

This new Foundations pickup series is here by popular demand based on my previous contentions that the basics of pickup are the most important and the most overlooked. It is modeled around Brian Tracy’s “The Psychology of Achievement” 1982 audio program, which I believe to be the finest work every created for personal development. Indirectly it also happens to be the very best “general instruction manual” you could ever have for what people often call your “inner game.” I encourage everyone to order it or find it somewhere if it’s still in print - it’s the one outside product I will stake my reputation on and always stand behind as I have for the past 18 years.

This series will draw heavily from the principles in Brian Tracy’s powerful program and show how to successfully apply them to pickup and seduction. It will without a doubt be the most important and helpful series of posts in this blog to date, even if the topics may look unsexy. Make no mistake, this is where the big power lies. This is the bedrock that underpins all the rest of the stuff I’ve ever written about.

First of all, I want to point out that pickup is about positive, healthy sexual and emotional expression. I don’t believe pickup is ultimately worthwhile if it leads you toward less health and less positivity, and does the same to others. Always making other people feel more positive and be more healthy is where it’s at.

Why do I keep mentioning the word “health”? That bland word that conjures up textbook admonitions to eat three balanced meals every day, get a good night’s sleep, do your aerobics and eat your veggies!? No, it’s much more exciting than that, because I don’t just mean “healthy” in the normal sense, but in every sense. A positive outlook, high energy, self-discipline, unbridled sexual lust, peace of mind, lack of insecurities, and all other aspects of physical and mental well-being. Is this not why we have sex? Is this not the gift we want to give to the women we encounter?

If you aren’t doing pickup to become happier and make others happier — and I’d say the best measure of happiness is health as I’ve defined it above — then why do pickup?

This isn’t just something I’m saying you should care about, but something that will actually affect your performance in the field and in bed more than any other single factor.

So let’s go back to the Pickup Success Pyramid and look at how we can build the very most basic, most important part of that pyramid. This is the very bottom line on the bottom slap of the pyramid, reading “Self-esteem/confidence (general) + lack of grudges and other emotional baggage.” Today we’ll cover only the self-esteem part of that, as high self-esteem and a healthy personality are really part and parcel of each other.

REPOST OF THIS DIAGRAM FROM EARLIER POST (note that it’s like the Food Guide Pyramid, where the foundation is most important and the tip is least important):

The famous achievement psychologist and success coach Brian Tracy gave an easy test for how healthy your personality is. He said a person “has a healthy personality to the exact degree to which they have a propensity to look for the good in every situation.” He went on to say, “Those with the healthiest personality can naturally and without effort get along with the greatest number of different kinds of people.”

This is an honest, reliable, objective yardstick for measuring how healthy your personality is. So here’s the question: “How often do you naturally tend to look for the good in situations?” And if you’d like another measure, “How many people can you naturally get along with without having to make an effort?” Don’t think about this now if you don’t want to…you’ll naturally remember it sometime after you read this, when a relevant situation arises. At that time it will show it’s truth and relevance.

This measure is so effective that you can literally go back over the course of your life and graph how healthy your personality was at different times in your life. All you have to do is remember that time in your life and ask yourself how you were responding to neutral things.

For example, when you see a new ice cream flavor in Japan - salt and milk flavor - are you more likely to think, “Why does all ice cream have to have such insipid flavors?” (accompanied by a slight negative sensation) or would you tend to get a little laugh out of it? (slight positive sensation). It’s really pretty simple: it’s whether you focus more on the positive or more on the negative aspects of things. Or, do you get along with people without having to make much effort? What kinds of people don’t you get along with? Do you find yourself being able to get along with fewer and fewer people recently? Or more and more?

The natural wear-and-tear of life and of pickup will drain you bit by bit. As Tracy says, the mind is like a garden, in which weeds or flowers can grow. But weeds grow automatically, without any encouragement, fertilizer or anything. So if we do not consciously and deliberately plant flowers, weeds will automatically tend to crop up, and - if left untended - will start to take hold and eventually choke out everything else.

The weeds are negative habit patterns, negative thought patterns, cynical beliefs, grudges against people, insecurities, etc., and they lead to every kind of unhealthiness in your personality.

A mental garden with as few weeds as possible is the very bedrock of healthy, successful pickup in every possible sense.

Even an experienced pickup master, who has had a very healthy personality in the past, can get taken over by these unwanted pests over time and before they’re aware of it. So a “weeding” is necessary from time to time, for everyone, no matter who you are. And I’ll tell you right now that 99.99% of people would benefit handsomely from this weeding process if they stopped everything and did it right now. But we’ll cover that next time.

For today I’d like to talk about self-esteem. Self-esteem is the very core of personality. It’s a measure of how much you like and respect yourself. It’s exactly what determines how healthy your personality is, and by extension it precedes and paramaterizes every element of your pickup performance.

Some people confuse high self-esteem with arrogance, conceit or vanity. This is a confusion, and in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Arrogance, vanity and conceit are actually the result of low self-esteem. The truly high self-esteem person does not have the insecurity that would lead him or her to hold others in contempt or have the need to prove themselves as better than others, or even to think about or care if they are better than others.

They are 100% secure in themselves. And that is why, as Tracy points out, people with high self-esteem ONLY manifest it in positive, healthy interactions with other people. And that includes pickup and sexual interactions.

And self-esteem is even more connected to pickup than that. It not only is the very heart of the self-confidence (including sexual confidence!) that forms the foundation for pickup confidence, it also determines how much you are able to like or love another person. To again quote Tracy, “It is impossible to like or love another person any more than we like or love ourselves.” In other words, a low-self-esteem person is really incapable of giving much love or liking. They are too insecure in themselves to do so, and when they get into relationships they may fall deeply in infatuation, but that’s not love as much as it is the need for security.

There are plenty of folks out there who just HAVE to be in a relationship, and that is - I think - the reason why they often have trouble staying in relationships. They are coming from a place of emptiness and need to fill that loneliness with something. They have low self-esteem, so they are not capable of giving so much — only taking, so the relationship becomes fragile. Most commonly, they “wet blanket” the other person a little too much and then either get in fights or simply repulse their partner in some way. This only drives their self-esteem lower, and it can be a vicious cycle.

Make every effort to engage in activities on a regular basis that raise your own self-esteem. Any activity, in which you seriously engage, that moves you closer to a goal you consider truly important and worthwhile will build your self-esteem. One person’s activities might be: hanglider piloting lessons, steps toward career advancement, study of something relevant to his personal or career goals, practicing giving speeches, working out, meeting with an important contact, fixing bad habits, building new good habits, learning new sexual techniques, eating cleaner food, or even just giving more effort in the things he already does. Spend time focused on what is relevant for YOU and your own goals based on what you value in life.

Another important thing is that it’s impossible to build someone else’s self-esteem up without building yours to the same degree, and impossible to tear someone else’s self-esteem down without tearing your own down just as much. I know it doesn’t seem this way at first: it can feel “good” in a way to shoot someone off their high horse. But really…how do you feel at those times? I mean really, really deep down. The answer has to be that the only reason you would feel “good” about tearing someone down is that you perceived them as a threat, and that is based in insecurity deep down. Of course if you see an injustice and you right that injustice (such as stopping someone from doing evil to someone else), you can feel good about that, but feeling “good” about hurting anyone is always bad, even if that person you hurt was a bad person.

I know I’m speaking in idealistic terms as if we’re all saints here, and I myself am no 100% healthy personality and I have plenty of negative habits and things that can plague me sometimes. The point is not to say that you have to be perfect, but that knowing what you’re aiming for and doing your best to get there is going to be the very best thing for your seduction and life with women.

So now we’ve seen that self-esteem is the core of your personality, of your interactions with women, and it regulates how much you can even truly like or love someone! In fact, to quote Tracy again, when your self-esteem goes up, “your ability to perform in every single area of your life goes up simultaneously.”

Everyone can always use more self-esteem. Some people challenge me on that, but that is because they are misinterpreting self-esteem for arrogance or self-conceit. Arrogance is, again, merely an expression of insecurity, rooted in low self-esteem. It’s not the same as liking yourself at all, and this is an absolutely critical distinction to grasp. A super-high self-esteem guy will not be arrogant at all. Such people are pretty hard to find, but they do seem to exist.

And notice that the rest of the bottom - most important - slab of the Pickup Success Pyramid is also underpinned by self-esteem. Self-esteem gives you self-discipline, motivation, and even sexual confidence. Experience of course helps, but to prove for example that high self-esteem helps with sexual confidence is just simple logic: Tendency to look for the good in everything leads to the majority of one’s thoughts being positive. They are continually in a positive state. Well, horniness is a positive state; it’s fundamentally a feeling of sexual optimism if you really notice how you feel when you’re horny. You betcha that helps keep you hard when you need it! After all, the No. 1 cause of erectile dysfunction is insecurity, and high self-esteem simply doesn’t allow those irrational insecurities to crop up.

To get a bit technical, there are actually mini-self-concepts for every area in your life that you consider important. You have a self-concept of how good you are at playing piano (if you play and it’s important to you), how good of a driver you are, how good a dresser, and - germane to this blog - how good you are at pickup, sex, and relationship management. How much do you like yourself as a seducer? As a storyteller? As a giver of squirting orgasms and oral sex? All of these mini-self-concepts are fed into by your overall self-esteem, and they all feed back into your overall self-esteem at the same time.

So if you improve in an important area of your life, you’ll draw more self-esteem from that as the days and weeks go by. Naturally, because now you can like and respect yourself more, now that you’ve made a leap forward in something you consider to be important. You feel more like a winner in that area that is important to you, so you feel more like a winner in life in general.

And likewise, that spills over to every other area of life. It is that natural, hard-to-pin-down concept of “overall confidence.” The man who approaches everything in life with more gusto, more confidence that he’ll eventually get it right, more flexibility, more enjoyment of the process and no worry about failure. It’s that unquantifiable phenomenon of how when you sometimes just feel confident, you inexplicably do better at everything you try. You speak better at a foreign language you’re studying, play sports better, massage better, tell a story better, have better sex, etc. Ever wondered what that mysterious force was and how to maximize it? This is it.

So anyway the big question is, how do we get more of it? How do we get higher self-esteem? By engaging in activities that we consider to be sincerely worthwhile and valuable - those activities that move us toward our major goals and give us a sense of purpose and mission.

Even if we improve in areas that are not pickup-related, if they are important aspects of life for us, we gain general self-esteem and it spills over to give us extra confidence in pickup as well - to the exact degree to which we feel that skill area we improved in is important. That’s why you always want to have things going on in your life besides pickup. You know, take pride in your job even if you’re stuck in it. And if you really want out, take definite steps to get another one. Work on your other goals. Moving toward any goal you consider worthwhile is guaranteed to boost your self-esteem. The more worthwhile you consider it, the greater the boost.

So it comes down to this: How much time and energy do you devote each day to moving toward your goals, and how much time do you waste? Ample recreation and relaxation is fine, of course, but ideally each day you want to be making substantive steps toward some of your major life goals.

And because pickup is about interactions with people, your interpersonal goals are especially relevant. For example, one of my big goals for the next few months is to be more friendly to random people I encounter, like shop staff, to make everyone feel happier even from a brief interaction with me. Knowing I’m making the world a happier place makes me feel good. And this isn’t just a touchy-feely thing, because knowing I’m making people happier makes me like and respect myself more = higher self-esteem. And it ALSO makes me like and respect myself more as a person who makes others happy, which adds a turbocharge to my pickup because I know now - deep down - that every new woman I encounter is now more likely to benefit from being with me. Because I know I’m committed to making people’s lives happier, whether by giving shop staff a little lift with a warm smile or by giving a hot J-girl the time of her life in an environment where she is sure not to get attached to me but just to enjoy some great times and feel better about herself and sexier as she moves through the rest of her life.

So determine what you value in life and set long- and short-term goals based on those top values. And make a habit of looking for the good in situations, staying healthy in all aspects of your being, and building the self-esteem of other people as well, because that will raise your self esteem to the same degree every time.

This self-esteem and “inner game” stuff may not look all that sexy, but more and more I realize it truly has been that hidden element that has driven my success from the beginning. When I would teach other guys and they still couldn’t always do what I could do, I realized that this inner aspect - so obvious and integral to me that I’d previously overlooked it - had been the missing link.

So I say unto the community, a pickup artist does not have to be like what you imagine he has to be, or like you read in books, see in movies, or hear on the Top 40. He can - and I believe is obligated by his position of power to be - a force for good and for making the world a more peaceful and happy place. After all, like a president of a nation, the fate of many rests in your hands and you’ll be touching a lot of lives. Make sure you’re making a big positive difference. If you don’t believe a seducer can be a force for good, if you believe seduction is about selfishly taking advantage of women for your own sexual pleasure, I don’t think you’re gonna be happy in this lifestyle. Being evil and using people is never good, and there is no exception just because it’s this amazing and unconventional art of seduction.

Said another way, the reason I became good at this stuff is because I was determined - when I discovered that such powerful tools existed to win the hearts and sexual drives of women - to find a way to use them for good and not for selfish aims. I wrestled and wrestled with the concepts in my mind and I was unwilling to become a seducer if it would be mean I was going to be hurting people in the end, or even if it would preclude me from giving women tons of pleasure - as that is the whole point of this endeavor.

After much study, I did find a way. Much to my surprise, I found it was possible to have wild sex with many women and also “leave them better than you found them.” And later I would learn that, in fact, if I ever started not leaving them better than I found them the whole thing would grind to a halt and of course I would become unhappy myself, as I could no longer like and respect myself, because I would no longer be making people happier.

So, dear reader, please stay with me as I cover from the ground up, everything you need to know to create a healthy, positive, happy lifestyle with wonderful women you really enjoy and who really enjoy you.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I will cover how to clear your mind garden of weeds - harking back to the Release Your Brakes post I made back in the Spring.

Until then, I wish best success to all of you.

I wasn’t sure I was going to make it at first, but I’ve finished my first month of work (long and hard) and received my first paycheck (monetary awesomeness). Looking back at my last post you can tell how addled I was becoming at work. Things are hectic, yes, but a lot of it is just managing the hours. As I was lamenting in my last post, the hours are long. I’m at work roughly 12-14 hours with another hour of commute per day (30 minutes door-to-door each way). This doesn’t leave me a whole lot of time in between to get other things done during the week. I’ve managed to get through the first month intact. From here it’s just a matter of refining my morning and evening routine so I can get seven-ish hours of sleep per night, plus a real dinner and some time to relax. Things like whether you have breakfast at home or at the office, do you shower at night or in the morning, is everything for the next day set out the night before can actually make a significant difference to your time and how smooth your day runs. Let’s go a bit more into detail.

Saint wakes up at 6am. Shit, shower, and shave (the three morning S’s that we all know and love) and it’s 6:30am. Saint makes himself an actual breakfast (with proteins and everything!) because breakfast is important to him. He makes a quick cup of coffee because coffee is also important to him. Eat, dress, and Saint is out the door by 7 (:05 usually).

Saint briskly walks to the train station at manages to catch the 7:15am train on a good day (7:19am on a not-so-good day). The train starts at his station so he typically has the option to sit down, but chooses not to because he’s in a chair all freaking day. No sitting.

7:30am and Saint is in his chair, turning on his computer(s) and opening the blinds because the view kicks ass. Saint starts his work as his other coworkers trickle into the office.

It’s 8:30am and the woman who sits farther away from the windows goes up to close the blinds, complaining that it’s too bright (notice the ironic seating arrangement). Saint glowers. Saint rues the woman and promises that he will talk to the woman tomorrow and see if they can’t reach some more favorable compromise, like having the blinds not shut (Saint makes this promise to himself every day).

Saint looks up and it’s 9:45am, time to hop down to the convenience store for second breakfast because breakfast is important to him (see above).

Lunchtime falls pretty close to 12pm, but no one is able to leave their desks to go to lunch. One person takes orders, buys food and brings it back for the team. Saint doesn’t really have any tasks during this time, so he usually goes with just to get outside. God help him when he learns what tasks they do during lunchtime.

The Japanese market closes at 3pm and all hell breaks loose. Saint transforms into his alter-ego, an excel ninja that imbues the Microsoft Office knowledge of Bill Gates with the badass-ness of Samuel L. Jackson (hey, it’s my story). He loses grip with reality and when he comes to, it’s after 5.

Things have calmed down at the office, but there is usually enough work to keep Saint there until 8 or 9pm. With an ¡È¤ªÈè¤ì¤µ¤Þ¤Ç¤¹,¡É Saint bounds out of his chair, rediscovers the use of his legs and dashes out of the office.

Saint arrives home variably around 8:30-9:30pm, and by that time his ladyfriend is already back and has started dinner. They eat while watching on his laptop (lately, Firefly) and after dishes and a shower, it is time for him to sleep.

And there you have it. My day in a nutshell (and in third-person, no less). This is the quasi-routine that I’m on at the financial company that I work in.

One anecdote that I found funny lately is my boss (who sits beside me) often says ¤²¤Ã¡ªvery loudly whenever she hits a problem spot. In Japanese, this is just a standard exclamation of surprise. When I first heard this, I thought she actually said ¡ÈGay!¡É and I almost broke. Everytime she says this now, I can’t but help she’s saying ¡Ègay!¡É

It’s little things like this that add brightness to your day.

My sleep schedule is off again.

Normally I¡Çm in bed by Midnight and up by 7:00, but lately I¡Çm lucky if I can fall asleep by 1:00 and bump my alarm up an hour when it wakes me six hours later. Even though my body is telling me to sleep my mind runs circles around itself when I suffocate myself under the futon at night.

Maybe I¡Çm over stimulated.

My friend Amy used to say “You’re never too young to be a dirty old man.”

I took up ¡ÈBreakfast of Champions¡É again and it has reaffirmed my faith in, well¡Ä the idea of having faith in something. Vonnegut was able to get away with his tar black criticisms because he was right, and because he was funny. Presentation is everything. Dually noted. Similarly I just wrapped up ¡ÈNingen Shikkaku¡É (Barely Human), which everyone (Japanese) considers to be a depressing blurb about suicide but I found to be humorous and uplifting in a J.D. Salinger kind of way. Remember, alcohol is comedic, needles are tragic, and any buffoon of an author should know better then to mix the two!

My body wants me to become nocturnal.

That’s DAMN good coffee!

I¡Çve gotten used to not seeing natural light anymore—Japan doesn¡Çt have Daylight saving time and likewise is one shade away from Midnight by the time I get off work. The problem is my brain finally wakes up right when my eyelids start to give out. Maybe it’s the caffine from the coffee and tea I drink to combat the chill in my bones catching up to me 6 hours later. Or maybe I should stop watching ¡ÈTwin Peaks¡É before I go to bed. It¡Çs like eating too much candy before you sleep; it keeps me up and gives me crazy dreams.

I missed out on Halloween and I¡Çm not sure how to feel about that.

Kids should quit while they’re ahead before they grow up to be a bunch of pissers.

I was in Tokyo that weekend, so the lack of partying was completely my fault. There¡Çs always next year. Further proof that I¡Çm becoming a home-bodied old man is the satisfaction I felt from my Children¡Çs Halloween Event. This is the first self-directed event I¡Çve done at my job and it made me feel well enough to keep me from running away to Tokyo. For a while, at least.

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH

GOOD. GOD. Has it really been so long?!?!

To make a really, really, REALLY long story slightly shorter, I’m STILL NOT back in Japan living with my old host family. Not yet. But, I think I still have to get used to being home before I can go back to the Land fo the Rising Sun. The reverse culture shock was scarring. As soon as I got back, I tried (TRIED) to eat a lot of the food I had missed while I was in Japan– shrimp po’ boys, crawfish etoufee, jambalaya- but I simply couldn’t. I mean, when you combine the daily fish-and-rice diet with Washington D.c.’s fat-free obsession, I haven’t eaten real food in going on a YEAR. So when I finally got back home to New Orleans, all the good home cookin’ tasted like flaming seafood waste. I used to LIKE spicy, flavorful food. Now– I weep at the thought of what’s happened to my taste buds.

Also, I was supposed to be in Japan as soon as my stint in Washington D.c. was over, but that had to get fucked up, too. My parents, who were none too keen on me going to Japan in the FIRST place, refused to pay for me to go a second time. Plus, my trip to Yaoi-con in San Francisco cost me quite a bundle, too. So– that meant little Pandora had to conjure up quite a sum of money on her own, and she didn’t have too much time to do it.

I had to get a job.

Or, to be more specific, THREE jobs.

Have you forgotten what kind of over-acheiver you’re dealing with?

That’s right, bitches, THREE jobs. I was a hostess at IHOP, a ticket taker at my local movie theater, and an over-night stock girl at Walgreens. I got about three to four hours of sleep a day between jobs, and my car guzzles gas like it has nothing better to do. Everyone always asked me, "What’s a young girl like yourself doing working so hard?" Finally, after getting NO SLEEP and not bothering to tell my whole story, my answer had become a terse, "I wanna go to Japan."

I’ll tell you this: it’s NOT easy. There are SO MANY TIMES I wish I could be a normal teenager and go out with my friends, and buy clothes and makeup and nice things. It’s taken a LOT of effort on my part not to strangle the bitchy girls that come into IHOP at two in the morning and boss me around, or brutally beat down the annoying twelve-year-old brats that try to sneak into R-rated movies at the theater.

And in case you haven’t noticed: TIME STOPS AT IHOP. Next time you go, make sure to notice what time you go in. Do the same when you leave. It might FEEL like your meal took you two hours, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t only 35 minutes.

OMFG– I didn’t really work there that long, but MY GOD, I already have horror stories.

First of all, the menus there should be classified as deadly weapons. They are laminated to the point of RAZOR SHARP EDGES. Trust me, there were many times where I considered taking one to my wrists and ending it all. Fortunately, the customers have a special way to protect themselves from menu cuts. Neither the servers* nor I are quite sure how it happens, but before the customers even ORDER, they already manage to get gobs of syrup on their hands, thus coating over the deadly menus quite welll. Needless to say, this causes quite a few problems for us, the workers.

*I’m not sure about the neck of the woods you live in, but if you accidentally call a server a "waiter" or a "waitress" here, they get SO offended. Apparently gender differentiation is a crime now, so instead of titles like "waiter" or "waitress", they decided to make the job titles unisex and call them "servers". I don’t really see what kind of difference it makes, because at the end of the day, you still serve crappy food to mean people and get paid peanuts, just like a waitress. Just sayin’.

Not ONLY do we unknowingly pick up these menus, only to feel sticky, warm syrup on our hands, if the customers somehow manage to get syrup on the inside of the menus, and we don’t notice, and we then give those menus to other customers, they get mad at US, like we purposely splayed heaps of maple syrup on the inside of their menu as a sick joke. Besides, cleaning those menus is a sucidal job. Armed with only a damp, 8-year-old wash rag, you have to clean off GALLONS of syrup off each individual page whilst trying to avoid slicing your hand open on the edges. Not an easy task, to say the least.

ALSO- if you HONESTLY expect the food you order to actually look like the picture: your standards are too high. Because with eight Mexicans squeezed into a 10′x6′ "kitchen", all trying to churn out a dozen tables’ worth of food at once, and considering the fact that each cook makes each dish differently from the next– there’s no way in hell it’s gonna look like the wax model in that picture on the menu. If your standards are THAT high, you shouldn’t be eating at IHOP. At least three times a day, I had bitchy old women or mean old men calling me over saying that what they got wasn’t what they ordered.

Me: Okay- what did you order?
Them: The blueberry crepe/breakfast sampler/Happy Face Pancake
Me: *looks at plate and sees said menu item* Yup- that’s what you have
Them: That’s not what it looks like in the picture!!!!

And there would be people whose ENTIRE DAY would be ruined because they were dissappointed in the food/service/table they got. They would storm out in an ANGRY RAGE, hollering and screaming at anyone who could hear that this just ruined their WHOLE DAY, and they were NEVER coming back to IHOP EVER!!! EVERRRR!!!

Like I care. Go cry, emo kid.

Our FAVORITE people to serve were people to had to be at the AIRPORT. Apparently, because they had to be on their flight in half an hour (I’m not kidding you), they thought they could just get booted to the top of the wait list, have go-speed-racer-go service, and make it out in time to fly to Timbucktoo. I wanted to SHAKE THEM and scream, "HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN TO AN AIRPORT BEFORE?!?! Why aren’t you already THERE if your flight leaves in thirty minutes?! Between checking your bags and security, you should have been there an HOUR ago!!"

I think the worst part of working there, though, was that I was a hostess. Not a server, no. A hostess. Which means I didn’t make tips. Even though I took To-Go orders*, dealt with people’s shit, shipped food out for servers, and sang that damned IHOP HAPPY BIRTHDAY song so much I heard it in my sleep, I got paid crap.

*A separate rant about To-Go orders and answering the phone at IHOP:
We hate To-Go orders. I’m sure this is true for WHATEVER restraunt around you that offers Pick-Up and To-Go as well. WE HATE IT. People that work there RUN from the phone when it rings. Because when the phone rigs, we know it could be a fellow worker, calling to say they’ll be late, OR it might be yet ANOTHER person wanting detailed directions on how to get to IHOP from their work/house/insane asylum (No joke- someone called from the local nut house wanting to know how to get to IHOP. He had just been released and was craving pancakes. Go figure. I gave him directions to the IHOP down the street, just to be safe.). However, we’d rather not take that chance, in case it turns out to be someone wanting to place a To-Go order. On my second day on the job, I was standing at the podium, minding my own business, when the phone rang. A server, standing RIGHT NEXT TO THE PHONE, looks at it ringing, looks at me- expecting her to answer it- and then looks down at the floor and says, "Oh- my foot is on fire!" and RUNS to the kitchen.

When you call, you BETTER KNOW what you want, and NO, I will NOT describe everything on the menu to you and how much it costs because I have an actual JOB to do. I was just nice/naive enough to answer this phone and take the time to take your order. Also, when we SAY "It will be about __ minutes until your food is ready." DON’T WAIT that amount of time to LEAVE YOUR HOUSE. Because after your food is made, it waits up front in a bag with your name on it until you pick it up. So, if you show up TWO HOURS LATER, and your food is cold, that’s your own damned fault. And if we forgot anything, or if something is slightly askew, don’t bitch. Just tell us, we’ll fix it. All you have to bear in mind is that while you were watching Seinfeld re-runs and slipping on your Reeboks to pick up your food, I was dealing with four crying children, a deaf person wanting to order half the menu in sign language, and three old ladies asking when their iced tea would be ready. AND TIP THE PERSON WHO TOOK YOUR ORDER. They TOOK THE TIME (or, more likely, were abandoned at that phone and forced) to take your order and make sure that it was right and fairly fresh when you came to get it. TIP THEM. TIP THEM WELL.

My other job at the movie theater has it’s own set of problems. It seems like only the most ignorant people go to the movie theater. Even though we have GIANT GLOWING SIGNS everywhere, it’s like these people are completely oblivious as to what we sell and how much it costs.

You would be suprised at some of the dumb questions we get asked. We have twenty screens in our megaplex (ten on one side, ten on the other) and we understand, when you’re in a labrynth of movie screens, no matter what side of the theater you’re on, it all begins to look the same, especially to kids. We understand this. Now- MOST people would take the TIME to LOOK at their movie stubs and say, "Gee- my movie is in screen two." then proceed to the right, where it says "Screens 1-10" and go to their movie, enjoy it quietly, then leave.

These are not the people that come to our movie theater.

We seem to attract the deaf, blind, bowlegged, unemployed crowd.

Now, when you work at a movie theater, you’re never assigned to just one job, like ticket taker or concessions worker. You’re trained for everything, and when the management sees what you’re best at, that’s where you usually get stuck nine out of ten times. For me, it was ticket taker. This was mostly due to the fact that I was one of TWO people that stopped underage kids from going into R-rated movies. Between the new Halloween coming out, Good luck chuck, Saw 4, Kingdom, American Gangster, etc. etc– just about EVERY movie that has come out recently has been rated R. Don’t ask me why, it’s not my fault. However, I WILL stop the little bastards that try to sneak in. They all look and act the same, too. The girls are usually a bit more descreet about it, but the boys are just fucking morons. When a group of rambunctious thirteen year old boys all buy tickets for Hairspray– I KNOW they’re not going to see a fat chick from the 60’s bopping around and jiggling her fat ass to Broadway show-tunes. They’re gonna try to sneak in and see something they shouldn’t. Which, I admit, I’ve done, too. Everyone has. Because of this, the younger workers at the movie theater tend to let the kids slide, and generally- as long as the kids aren’t acting up or being obnoxious brats, me and the others will let them slide, too. They’re not being loud, they’re not bugging anyone. Let them scare themselves shitless if they want. I did, when I was that age.

But when I get a group of eight or nine kids, all yelling and cutting up, handing me tickets to Hostel that I SAW them buy at the automatic ticket machine with Mommy’s credit card- No. I’m not letting them in. Even if the parents that tried to drop them off bitch and bitch, "I give them permission- why can’t they see it?!" I don’t care. The LAW SAYS that for a rated-R movie, anyone under the age of 17 has to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian age 21 or over.

Other than people that randomly bitch at you about people talking in screen 12 (Like I can do anything about that), or wanting a refund for their movie from you (Sure, let me whip your money right out of my ass), you really just stand there, completely isolated from everyone else by your podium, and deal with the same dumbness over and over again. For instance, no matter what the weather is, about half the people that pass you feel the need to comment on it in some way. After hearing "Is sure is hot/cold/rainy/sunny today, huh?" a MILLION times, it all becomes the same mind-numbing drivel. Now, when you work ticket drop, all you do is tear tickets, give people their stubs, and tell them which side their theater is on.
"Screen one on your right."
"Screen thirteen on your left."
Etc.

EVEN THOUGH, we give them directions, as soon as they pass us, they hold their ticket stubs, and look around so pathetic and lost before ASKING you where their theater is. There are MANY times where we want to scream, "I ALREADY TOLD YOU!! WHY WEREN’T YOU LISTENING?!?!" And really, it’s the little things that piss us off. We KNOW we don’t really have a hard job, and YES, we ARE getting paid to do it, but still- there are a lot of little things that the customers could do to not be such fucking dumbasses. For one– if you are accompanied by your husband, mother, father, mother in-law, father in-law, and a litter of nine hyperactive children– DON’T pass every single person in your crowd their own individual ticket. Just hand me the stack, I’ll tear them all at once, and the whole group of you can go in. I’ll take your word for it that there’re enough tickets. I really do not care enough to count them. Another thing- don’t pre-bend, pre-tear, crumple, fold, or put your tickets in your MOUTH before handing them to me- and please hand them to ME, instead of placing them on my podium and walking away. Also- and this is just common courtesy- if you smell of rotten fish, wet dog, or used dental tools- DON’T walk right next to me, stop, and try to talk to me. YOU SMELL. GO AWAY. And this is a tip for ALL of you– when you WORK at the movie theater, you NEVER have time to SEE a movie. I don’t know if you like to go into YOUR office on your off-days for the fun of it, but I don’t. So don’t ask me if I’ve seen the movie you happen to be going to, because chances are, I haven’t. Now go away, you’re holding up the line.

Now, that’s just ticket taker. When you’re an usher, your job description gets a LOT more interesting. When you’re an usher, normally, when a show lets out, you go clean it. This is no small job, and believe me, we find a LOT of things in those theaters that we don’t exactly sell at concessions. Starbucks, Arby’s, and booze bottles are the top three things we find. We found an UNOPENED BOTTLE of Pinot Grigio stashed beneath a seat. The managers took it for "classifying and storage" and we haven’t seen it since. Other than that, your job as an usher is to pick up the millions of napkins, the spilled nacho cheese, the popcorn thrown EVERYWHERE, the drinks and Icees spilled EVERYWHERE- and even the human excrement occasionally left behind. For example- for the scarier movies, it’s actually quite common for a seat or two to REEK of piss. Not that Hint O’ Piss, like someone who couldn’t hold it, but didn’t want to miss any of the movie, leaked some out before finally running to the bathroom and running back. NO. It’s like TWO OR THREE PEOPLE TOTALLY RELIEVED THEMSELVES ALL OVER THESE SEATS. The weird part is, we don’t even smell the piss first. We smell perfume. Yes- these people PISS ON OUR SEATS, then try to cover it up using whatever kind of perfume or cologne they have on hand. So, when we go into a screen where the air is SATURATED with Axe or Obsession- the more experienced veterans tend to send in the newer workers, and stand back while the noobs clean the screens, eventually finding the source of the piss, and then shrieking in horror.

There was also one case- ONE, LEGENDARY case- of a kid shitting on a wall.

I had been working there about a month, when I was walking along with one of the more popular managers. He’s young, really cool, and is like the wise older brother to just about everyone that works there. As we pass one of the bigger screens, we see an usher stumble out and slam the door shut.

Manager: Hey- don’t slam the door while the movie’s going! What’s wrong with you?
Usher: Dude…..I went in there to check, y’know, making rounds….Someone….shat…on the wall.
Manager:………………….What?
Usher: I don’t know– but someone SHAT. On. The wall.
Manager:……….
Me:………..
Manager: No way. I don’t believe you.
Usher: I’m so dead serious. Just walk through that door, man.

Sure enough, the manager OPENS the door, goes to take one step in, then slams the door shut with the most DISGUSTED look on his face. I didn’t look for myself, but when he slammed the door shut, a gust of wind blew in my direction and I SMELLED it.

I wanted to remove my nasal cavity entirely, it was that bad.

Apparently, we found out later, some kid had to go REALLY BAD, ran out the movie theater, and as he was going down the hall- he didn’t even make it to the DOOR- he pulled down his pants and projectile shit all over the wall. We never found out who it was, but I made sure to dissappear when they were hunting down people to clean it.

Also, when you’re an usher, you’re responsible for removing people who are creating "disturbances". Talking on cell phones, crying children, kids running up and down the stairs– it pisses other people off. Stop it. Though techinically only a manager can remove a guest, when it’s a busy Friday or Saturday night, and the theater is packed with about fifteen hundred people, the managers tend to turn a blind eye to whatever the regular workers do, as long as the work gets done. So if we snap back at an annoying guest, or kick some kids out, if the managers didn’t see it- or sometimes, even if they did- it didn’t happen. Now, because I’m one of the few that ENJOY kicking out kids, the managers will occasionally form a small squad out of the ushers and use us specifically to kick out kids. They’re called Excursions, when they call us on the walkie, give us a brief description of the kids, and tell us what area they’re in. These kids are fucking NINJAS, too. Most of them aren’t satisfied with sneaking into one movie and sitting down to watch it. Oh, no. They movie-hop, from one screen to another, from one end of the theater to the other, all over the damn place. The only thing with that is, the kids that pull this shit tend to wear the most obnoxiously obvious clothes ever. So when my manager tells me to kick out the kid with Rainbow Brite streaks in his hair, blue and red striped pants, and neon green converse sneakers– that kind of narrows it down a bit. One kid was dumb enough to wear a GLOW IN THE DARK shirt. Do you know how ABSURDLY EASY it was to find that kid?! In a pitch black movie theater?!

I suppose one of the easiest and most entertaining jobs is projection. Now, the people that work in projection are all pale as death, incredibly thin, and slightly off-kilter. There’s one kid there that looks like a blonde Harry Potter, who does nothing but watch Futurama re-runs on his laptop. I haven’t been trained there yet, but when there’s nothing to do, it’s fun to go hang out up there and see what the people up there are doing. On a really busy night, it’s SO FUN to just look down from our little window, and see what the audience is doing. Actually, the projection people are the ones with the MOST interesting stories. They’ve seen a lot of people do a lot of stupid things in those theaters when they thought no one was looking. Most of it, of course, is sex-related. I myself have been witness to quite a few teenage blow-jobs at the top row of the theater. Trust me, if you’re standing in that window with a laser pointer, like I am, there’s no limit to the fun you could have.

One time, I was working ticket-taker and I saw this 14 year old girl and a guy about the same age- OBVIOUSLY on their first date. We employees ALWAYS know, and we think it’s adorable. The girl in THIS case, though, was a complete hussy, and the poor guy obviously hadn’t realised it yet. I made sure to remember what screen they were going to be in, and when I went on my break 20 minutes later, I went to projection and stood at that window. Sure enough– that couple was in the third row from the top. The previews had just ended, and the guy pulled the patented "Yawn, Stretch, and Slowly Put Your Arm Around the Girl’s Shoulders" move. It was so classic, and he pulled it off so well, I almost wanted to clap. The girl, though, moved much faster, and immediately put the arm-rest up and cuddled next to him. Damn harpy. Within TWO MINUTES- she turned to kiss him! I’m thinking- You SLUT!! The opening credits aren’t even over!! At least make him WORK for it! She turns, he turns, and I whip out my laser pointer and aim. The first time- I hit her cheek with the pointer. The guy stops, pulls away, and I turn off the laser. Though I can’t actually hear what’s being said, I can guess by their reactions.

Girl: What’s wrong?
Guy: Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw something on your cheek.
Girl: Oh- you’re so silly!

They lean in again. I take aim- and keep it focused on her forehead. At this point, three people sitting BEHIND the couples notice the laser pointer, and these three people and the guy all whip their heads around, looking for the source. Naturally, none of them think to look up at the projection window, and there’s no way to tell where the line of the laser is coming from in the dark movie theater, so I keep it focused right between her eyes. They finally tell her what’s going on, and she claps her hands to her forehead like she’s afraid it’s gonna fall off and begins freaking out. Around that point, the guy in projection comes up behind me and asks what I’m doing. I put the laser pointer back in my pocket and tell him. He laughs, then tells me that one of my friends and co-workers was looking for me, so I head back downstairs. She’s in concessions, and I help her out filling orders, when about ten minutes later, I see that couple again, walking through the lobby and filing a complaint in Guest Services. They never found out it was me.

The most annoying job, the one everyone hates, is concessions. Yet, it seems like no matter how much we raise the prices, people STILL BUY THE FOOD!! The stupidest part is, my theater has NO RULE against bringing in outside food! You could just waltz right in with a Kfc 24-pack, and there would be be NOTHING we could do about it. Instead, people come up and buy our shitty food for exhorbitant prices, and then bitch to us, like maybe if they bitch enough, we’ll just give it to them for free. No. Almost worse than the bitchers are people that come up to us with absolutely NO clue. They don’t know what they want, what we have, or how much it costs. The following is just about EVERY conversation with almost every guest we encounter:

Me: Hi- what can i get for you?
Guest: What do you have?
Me: *points to giant glowing menu mounted on the wall* That. All of that.
Guest: *stares up at the menu like a turkey in the rain* Uhhhhhh…….
Me: *waits*
Guest: I guess I’ll just have a popcorn and a cold drank.
Me: *sigh* What size?
Guest: Huh?
Me: What SIZE popcorn?
Guest: Regular
Me: Small, medium, or large?
Guest: Uh, medium?
Me: What kind of drink?
Guest: Large.
Me: *pulls out large cup* Okay- what kind?
Guest: Large.
Me: No- what KIND.
Guest: Laaaarge.
Me: WHAT DO YOU WANT AS YOUR BEVERAGE?
Guest: Oh. What do you have?
Me: *good GOD– points to drink dispensers*
Guest: *looks at them for several minutes, swaying back and forth* Uuuuummmm…I guessss…Spriiiiite-NO! Diet coke!
Me: *goes to fill the cup*
Guest: Wait- how big is a large?
Me: *It’s fucking BIG you moron!! -holds up cup-*
Guest: Oh, no, just give me a medium, then.
Me: Okay, that’ll be eight fift–
Guest: Wait- can I add a hot dog?
Me: *I HATE YOU*

I haven’t even touched on Box office or–even worse– Guest Services. And I haven’t mentioned my over-night stock job at Walgreens at all. If there’s an interest, I’ll be more than happy to continue my rant. Other than that, until I get enough money to go back to Japan on my own before I ship out (That’s right- I’m in the military now), I’ll be working a lot and traveling in my free time, so that’s mostly what I’ll be blogging about.

Thanks again for reading, and feel free to comment and ask questions!

I’ve finished my first two weeks at my new job. There have been tons of new experiences, some of which are specific to working in Japan and some of just come with the ¡Ègetting your first real job¡É deal. I apologize for any overlap as I am yet unable to sort out the difference. First of all, the hours are loooooong. Being employed at a financial company I’ve got a hunch that this is very much a ¡Èfinancial industry¡É thing. However, given Japan’s reputation for overworking its employees, I’m wondering if I get some sort of special double-layer effect. Long hours because it’s finance times two ’cause it’s freakin’ Japan. Yeah, I’m still trying to adjust from a college lifestyle (two hours of class and an addition two [maybe] of studying per day) to my current salaryman schedule (14 hours a day). I’m really hoping this feeling of ¡Èpaid imprisonment¡É will pass soon. I try to remind myself that people don’t turn down ivy-league schools just because they’re worried they might spend too much time studying. I’ll let the reader draw the connection there.Secondly, for all intensive purposes I’m in an all-Japanese environment. People in my team can speak English and I do have some foreign friends that I met in orientation, but all the day-to-day stuff is in Japanese. This is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Most of my communication with my coworkers is either receiving orders (hey, could you send off that confirmation?), having stuff explained to me (then you select this file and put it in excel like this), or just regular conversation (albeit politely because everyone is my senior). Before I started, I thought I’d have to be talking about crazy financial concepts that I don’t even have a firm grasp of in English. Nah, turns out most of that ends up as borrowed words in Japanese anyways. Unfortunately right now things seem to be especially busy for my team, so people don’t always have the time to go through things step-by-step with me. This creates a lot of downtime for me while I wait for people to be unbusy again. As the weeks go by and I learn more of what I’m supposed to be doing things will get better.I apologize if this post is poorly written. My English brain becomes sort of addled after a long day at work. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that I’m alive, some initial impressions, and maybe an insight or two.