Patricia Danielle

running this morning got my brain running too….but with thoughts. dont take offense to this because this is MY blog. here goes:

1. I hate when people say “whatever happens, happens.” NO IT DOESNT. What happens is because of choices and decisions and results and consequences. What would be the point of living if “whatever happens, happens” was really the case? This would leave use void of free will and keep us confined to the world according to the “happens.”

2. I don’t cuss. But I sure want to sometimes. Like this morning when I ran past the guy with the awesome legs. The guy I see every morning. The guy whom I say hi to every morning. The last couple of times Ive run past him, he hasnt even acknowledged me. I wanted to say f-u-see-k y-ew to him. What a jerk. Or the other night when I was sitting next to a guy in my monday night class who wont shut up. ever. i wanted to say “shut the H.ell up!” Oh, and then there’s every time I’m doing something that’s difficult, the s-word would come in to good use there.

3. I really think that people should ALWAYS keep their dogs on leashes. Especially where there are people running. Doesn’t everyone know that dogs chase moving things? Especially people who are running at tops speeds down mountains? And please spare me the lecture about how great and safe and nice and friendly your “not-on-a-leash” dog is….

4. And while Im ranting, please spread the word that it is ILLEGAL to smoke on California state beaches.

i need a nap.

1. after my hour long 545am lift class, and 20 minutes running, i spent 10 minutes on the elipti-HELL machine this morning, in front of a tv showing a cartoon with purple and green talking blobs. i think i could actually feel brain cells shriveling up to die.

2. 4 day candy strike is officially over as of today at 906am. HAD to have a york peppermint patty. had to.

3. if there is one good thing coming from working out, it is the fact that when i am at the beach and have to use the bathroom, i can squat over the toilet without my legs shaking like a polariod picture.

1. why would an educated professional reporter ask the president during a press conference this morning, why his trip to iraq was so secretive? hmm, im dont know, maybe because he doesnt want to DIE? stupid liberalists!

2. i love when people say “hi” or “good morning” while im out running. and i hate it when they dont.

3. needing and asking for forgiveness after youve apologized feels really liberating. and good.

4. im in need of a haircut change. but for now, a 10$ trim will do.

last thursday morning, when i got to school, i noticed that all of the students were in their PE uniforms. since this time of the year is always made up of a million different physical checks, i figured one was scheduled for first thing in the morning until i saw all of the students headed for the sports field. i asked ms. shimowada what was going on.

“we will pick up weeds for 15 minutes.”

“15 or 50?”

“of course, 50!”

so i had to use my favorite “i can do ANYTHING for (insert time here) 50 minutes!”

while i was following one of the classes to a place to pick weeds, i told ms shimowada, “this adds to my “ridiculous things we do at school” list. she told me to “please help the students. or just sit and pretend.” i spent all 50 mintues picking weeds. even the tiniest of them. picked.

but i had to be thinking of something while i was spending 50 minutes in the MISERABLE humid, wet, hot, thick aired, moka “rainy season” weather. i sat there and tried to think of the last time something happened at school that i added to the “list.” but i couldnt remember it.

that is, until yesterday when i was told that the teachers all had to go to the kendo gym for the yearly “sensei competition.” this year’s game: indoor bowling. thinking that i was going to be able to leave early, the added hour to my day for “fun with teachers” wasnt very fun for me. thats ok, just one more thing for the “list.” which, also reminded me of last time i was forced to do something “ridicuous.” it was just a couple of weeks ago! the day that i had to go to the kendo gym with the rest of the teachers to learn how to use “the sticks!” god bless this place.

so. the 3 most recent “ridculous things we do at school” are:

1. learning how to use “the sticks” as a defense mechanism against “strangers.”

2. picking weeds in “rainy season” for 50 minutes.

3. playing indoor bowling where i learned that though i was on the winning team again this year, it happens to only be because i am on cocho sensei’s (the principal’s) team and he gets mad if he loses, therefore, the teachers are very sure that he never does. i have the most appropriate song for him:

no fun. no fun. cocho sensei is no fun.

the other morning while i was out running, I was thinking of things that i wanted to write about. for some reason they all started with a “b.” of course now, none of those things are coming back to me…..

1. i started reading another book (he loves me, he loves me not, by paula white), in the middle of reading the book i put on hold (Living history, by hillary clinton), to read another book (watership down, by richards adams). geez….lots of partial books all over the place. but speaking of being all over the place, it’s easier and easier to be tidy when almost all of my stuff has been sent home, and most of my other stuff is in the 2 suitcases im taking home with me in a month. yes, one month. one month from today.  yesterday in class, i started thinking about going home. i started thinking about that walk onto the plane. its hard to think that it may very well be the last time i am ever in japan. if for no other reason, 2 years of japan is enough to hold me over for a life-time. actually, i think its enough for a whole small village in the south of france.

2. the other day, i walked into the slow-learners class risa shouted out, “Ni-How.” Which, as far as I know, is “Hello” in Chinese. Yes, my little student who refuses to learn anything in English, despite the last 2 years of English classes, now knows how to say hello in french and in chinese! spectacular!

3. im watching a REALLY old episode of “the bachelor” with “bob” and the CRAZIES! it’s basically a big cry-fest right now and making me laugh. it’s a weird reminder that im 26 because the girls’ ages all flash on the screen everytime they are are on camera. i see these chicks and think, “im OLDER that THAT girl?” or “oh my gosh, “im older than that girl!!”

4. i was chatting with marin and my sister on-line last week when there was a 5.-something earthquake in Southern California. i read their “we just had an earthquake” messages and started to respond when, we had an earthquake here. in japan. and there seems to have been a lot of them lately. at least every other day or so. and i would just like to say, that i know that living here in japan has prepared me for a life-time of future earthqukes in CA, but i think im going to be pissed if im at home in SoCal when “the big one” hits. i think ill feel a bit picked on, as if the world was waiting for me to be in place, if “the big one hits” in SoCal!

1. i spent friday at an elementary school. higashi numa elementary school. i love that the schools way out in the middle of no-where, moka, japan have SUPER small classes. the second grade class has 6 kids, 5 of which are girls. 4th grade has 5 students, 4 of which are boys. too bad i left my camera inside during recess when i went outside and was on the swings and a whole bunch of other playground equipment. i forgot about playgrounds and recess time. i miss swinging. after friday, i now only have 2 more elementary school visits until i leave. one on june 27 (next mon) and one on july 19 (the day before school is out). only 2 more opportunities for pictures like this:

2. im now wishing for every day to go by faster and faster. i remember during the weekends, i used to always hope and pray that time would go by SO SLOWLY so i wouldnt have to go back to school. now i sit and grin as i watch the time go by….faster and faster…weekdays, weekends, it’s all the same. i have 5 more weeks in japan

3. lenny kravitz’ song “where are we running?” is one of the songs on one of my running mixes on my i-pod. everytime im running along and it comes on, i just want to shout out, “home lenny. we’re running home!”

4. last night’s movie was “count of monte cristo.” good flick. liked it. it was near the end and things were getting me all nervous, so i turned to val and asked, “ok. who dies?” she looked at me with that “wait and see” look. problem is, i HATE not knowing what’s going to happen. so i told her “no really. please tell me.” thank goodness she did. “the blond one dies.”

5. went to a cultural fair today at the boy’s high school. all of the classrooms were decorated and either had games or restaurants set up in them. the first room we stopped at to play a game had the silliest thing i have seen yet in this whole country. there was one of those “hit the heads as they pop out of the holes” game, only, it was life-size, and the heads popping out of the holes, the ones to be hit on the head with the plastic hammers, those heads were real people. real high school boys wearing helmets and masks. i got video of it, but no pictures. maybe this will help it to all make sense:

3 lessons for me from “RagamuffinGospel” by Brennan Manning

1. “you will trust god only as much as you love him. and you will love him
to the extent that you have touched him, rather, he has touched you.”  i love
that god is all about experience and love and knowing him.

2. sin is bad…and the effects/affects are awful, but people are real and are often hurt by others who are trying to do “right” unless things are done in the deepest level of gods love. im reminded of my friend who had a pro-life “very snarky”  bumper sticker on his truck. the first time i saw
it, it hurt my heart….abortion is horrible…but so is a sticker like that, so empty of grace and void of mercy.

3. “god is kooky with love for ME.” i love to be reminded of how much god loves me.

#1. So I found this website about coming clean. I think it’s really fun. My confession was about liking Kid Rock. Because I liked the site so much, I donwnloaded the screen saver. Today was the first time I have seen it in action….then I read one of the confessions…”I enjoy phone sex.” NICE…It made me think about deleting it as my screen saver, considering that I work at a junior high school, so though most everyone doesnt know English, Im SURE they would be able to read the word “sex” if they saw it flashing on my computer screen. But the next confession was “I took money from my kids to pay the pizza man.” See, thats fun…what to do what to do!

#2. I just saw the kyoto sensei placing the newest bunch of protection-sticks, all over the school. This started a few weeks ago with a stick here and there. They are supposed to be available and within reach if some kind of preditor were to approach the kids. Really though, it has just gotten WAY out of control. I went over to Mr. Ishikawa and asked “Do you personally think it is necessary to have all of those sticks all over the school?” He told me that the head teachers and the board of education required the schools to have them and I quote “It has been on TV. Those sticks are sold out all over the country. Kyoto sensei has been going to Kanseki (our want-to-be Home Depot) for the last month trying to buy more sticks.” Personally I think it is a conspiracy, thought up and spread throughout the whole country, by the stick makers!

***Pics of the sticks can be seen in the school pics album through the link on the side of the page.

2 things to laugh at:

Number 1- This. I love the eye-brow raises.

And number 2. The size of the back-pack I am taking to india that will be holding 4 weeks worth of needs.

1. when i woke up on tuesday morning, I opened the doors to my room to find i had left the living room heater on full-blast all night, my computer was unplugged, and the refrigerator door was open. either i was REALLY tired when I went to bed, thus not noticing ANY of this, or I was SO cold, that I had to get in bed ASAP to avoid frost-bite after my shower…..or maybe it was like marin said, “you have a ghost.”

2. i can tell the weather is about to change, or is changing, because the frequency of earthquakes is increasing. we’re talkin’ like almost every other day or so. last night, the first one was a smaller one, but went on for a long time (5.6)….then there was another one about an hour later….bigger this time (4.5)….on Monday in class……it was a short but powerful one that really shocked (scared) me…..and last wednesday, there was a 5.7 right before 5am, which woke me up and kept me awake praying for around an hour. if you didnt get the main point of this…it is that:

changing weather ahead!

3. i  trimmed and inch off the ends of my side layers of my hair last night. this morning, i feel like im in one of those “finesse” commercials, hair swinging side to side, whispies, bounce….it made me feel so good, i want to trim the rest tonight.

4. its 922am. ive been at school for exactly 80 minutes, and i have already chewed 5 pieces of sugar-free gum. right now i am on my 6th.