A while back, son sold his latest and greatest paintball gun, pocketed the money (actually put in his bank account) and from there I thought he had plans to find a job and use what he has now as his own money to put down for a vehicle.

Well, that's not the case.  He's been looking on-line now for another paintball gun, being driven I believe that a friend from jr. high, who is now in Japan, plans to come back over the holidays to visit with his family here (its a long story so....)  and that they want to go out to a paintball field while he is there.  So rather than be embarrassed by renting a paintball gun for the day (they are crappy), he's looking.

He's shown me a couple of paintball guns for sale on Craigslist & EBay which if he bought, would pretty much clean out his bank account.  His money or not, I've said, 'No!'  But it dawned on me that....

There is a kid in his high school, the same year, who son went to school with in elementary school.  This kid was the butt of much meanness son told me, including being the recipient of a swirly while in elementary school, but lo and behold, like the ugly duckling, this kid has overcome adversity, is now a pro, sponsored paintball player, goes all over the country and sometimes aboard, for meets son tells me.  I'm guessing the kid now has more girlfriends than he can deal with too.

But anyway, it struck me that son should contact this kid since they were in class together back in the day, to see if there might be something that could be worked out to provide him with a paintball gun at a good deal.

Oh, no!  I can't do that, says son.  I don't 'know' him anymore; he's probably too busy, not allowed to do this, in short every possible excuse for not at least asking.  Hell, the worst this kid could tell son is, 'Hey, dude, I can't help you.'

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Son can still provide unintentional moments of mirth as with this morning.  He comes downstairs at his usual time, but unusually, was still in his training shorts and Tee which he uses as pajamas.   

I was on the couch with my de rigueur cup of coffee, watching the local news broadcast and for a split second was puzzled but then I understood.  Told son "Nope, we are on the wrong side of the mountains "(The Appalachians), meaning all the snow and ice had/is falling much west of us, and unlike the students there, he has school as scheduled today.

The look on his face as worth a photo as he slowly turned to head back upstairs to shower and get dressed for school.

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Have mentioned a few times in this blog about Sake Dojo Alumni and while I was rummaging through a box of old letters the other day, I discovered a photo I had taken in 2005 I think, during a business trip to Japan of the very place.

Sake dojo 001

The Sake Dojo is just off of the Keihan line's 牧野駅 In Osaka. As you can see its small, seating perhaps a dozen or so people only at a time.  It was well situated being on the main path to and from the station to the nearby university we 留学生 and Japanese went to.  But in recent years, customer traffic I am told has slacked off as the university moved its main campus elsewhere and the owner runs it more as a hobby now than a business.

As I said, it small, opens only in the evenings and is very earthy (a nice way of saying grubby).  Cleaning as I recall was not done very regularly for I swear remembering there was at least a 1/4 inch of grease on the walls.  And on my first trip in, I was 'greeted' by a ゴキブリ which climbed out of the はしたて in front of me.

But the joki's of draft beer were cheap and the yaki-soba memorable. One Sake dojo Alumni actually met his wife there.   I didn't, but when we were dating, I took my wife there for the experience and afterwards she said she'd never set foot in the place again.  Still I wouldn't mind another trip back, even if I am greeted again by a ゴキブリ   climbing out of the はしたて.

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Had a debate with brother Pound Salt, the trigger being me grousing about a company which advertised a position, to which I applied for, only to be 'told' a couple hours later, that I wasn't who they were looking for.

Given that fast turnaround, my resume was parsed by a computer program, not seen/judged by human eyes.  The impersonalness of the process is what I was unhappy about.

Pound Salt told me that the resume was thrown out probably because it did not contain key words the program looks for.  Fair enough, I understand that. But where we diverged is that he has said repeatedly I should add in my resume I am proficient with Microsoft Office applications - continue to be used to being unemployed.

For a job such as an administrative assistant, certainly, that's pretty relevant, but for a white-collar, manager or above position, saying one is proficient with Microsoft Office seems to me like adding in the resume, one can also read and write. 

 Or am I off my rocker?

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Son found this while on the Net (he was supposed to be doing his homeowrk too!) and thought, with tongue very much in cheek, that this would be a nice holiday present for his uncle, Pound Salt.

A gun nut nor gun hater I be, but this is not just over the top, but waaaaay over the fence.

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Is the title of the 2-page essay son finished, after 2 days, on Macbeth.  An effort interspaced often with side trips to Facebook (I'm just checking to see if any of my English class mates are on -line now, so chill!).

The premise, that the gender roles of Macbeth and his wife are reversed for most to the drama, is an interesting one.  I just wonder if he came up with it by himself or was the idea borrowed from  an on-line website.

Interesting use of words too.  Had to rewrite a couple of passages in which he describes Macbeth as 'freaking out.', or that Macbeth is a 'wimp'.  More intriguing is, is this a window in to his view of men & women?  Have wondered as of late, if son is channeling the thoughts of his less than enlightened uncle, Pound Salt on this matter.

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Son is writing a paper on Macbeth, and he supposedly has read it. Noticed on his FaceBook page, he's groaned how much he hates Macbeth.

He asked me last night about a certain character (Banquo) Searched my mind, but all I can come up with about the plot for son was, Macbeth was generally a nice guy, but had The Wife From Hell, kills the king, and then gets his in the end. Concise enough? :-)

But more to the point, there are a couple of things which are regrettable. First is I am guessing his lit. teacher is one of the brother/sisterhood of all lit. teachers, who teach their subject, with an air of 'If you can't appreciate these great works, then so much worse for you, you cretin', making the subject for most students, including moi, about as fun and cutting away a bad hangnail on one's big toe.

The other is, and a point I've only recently understood, is that yes lit., should be taught to bring kids into contact with good works of literature, but also that it should be impressed on students that the real purpose of delving into depth of character or plot is to have kids develop interpretative and analytical skills, skills they can use almost anywhere later on.   It's a shame this is not impressed on kids and a shame son doesn't recognize that now too.

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After much procrastination, brewed some coffee, sat down after son left for school and wrote the checks for the monthly bills. 

Funny that sometimes for me, certain tasks brings back memories from the past that I never thought I would recall.  In this case, it was when  I was at large International Automobile Manufacturer #2,  it was lunchtime, and I was sitting at the small table in the lunchroom (had a killer view) with a woman, hired after Large International Automobile Manufacturer 2's widely publicized HR problems. 

In its aftermath, this person was hired to take charge of corporate diversity.  She was a nice person, at the time studying at a divinity school (that brings back another story), who also would tell you how it is.

So here I was after eating, with the monthly bills spread out and writing the checks for each and grumbling.  Recall she looked at me and said I should be thankful I had a job so I could write checks.

Never imagined I'd see the day that I could fully appreciate what she said.

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Never have thought much about why in Japanese, 'Ts" sometimes become "D's", "H" can become a "b", etc., but I guess saying Agetofu' would be a bit awkward.

In my never ending challenge to find something to do with the loads of leftovers son & wife create,  figured I'd try my hand at using some tofu that's been in the fridge longer than you want to know and made the agedofu.  Using that tofu  なまwould have definitely been   殺人行為.  :-)

IMG_3177

I think it came out alright. And just as I had set the stuff out on the table, wife walks in early from work, so it was still hot for her.  I wanted to serve it with a warm sauce, but Google yielded scant information on a sauce in which Agedofu  is usually (or at least I like to have it) served in. 

I also like to order Agedofu when I've gone to Japanese restaurants. I like it as a starter and for me, generally if the Agedofu is good, then I can look forward to a good meal, likewise, it is crap,  the remainder of the meal has been a disappointment.

BTW, in the corner of the photo is  奈良付け 漬け (oops!).  The dog as she always does, pesters me while I am cooking, and to 'shut her up' so to speak, I threw her a piece, which she ate!  A dog that'll eat 奈良付け 漬け(oops, again!) , now folks, that's  tres weird..

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No, I did not venture out... have no interest in mall to begin with. They are soooo boring for one thing. Mcshopping for McGoods and Christmas shopping is sadly a thing we will not be doing for the second time.

The local news as you'd expect, was saturated this morning with stories, one of which, well.....  There was a live broadcast for one of the bigger malls her and the camera crew did a close up, twice on 2 girls, probably high school kids, in a deep sleep, mouths wide open, on some of the seating provided for mall customers.

Now I know someone they know probably spotted them in the broadcast, and they'll probably never hear the end of it.

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