(My) Decision ‘08

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As many of you know, I am usually swamped with work–teaching, grading, advising. You probably also know that I am a J-drama addict. I am currently watching Zettai kareshi (Absolute boyfriend), Muri-na ren’ai (Impossible love), and Rookies (Rookies). There are a few others that the family wants to watch, so I get my hands on them so we can watch them but I don’t really pay attention to them. One of them, Change, seems vaguely familiar–Kimura Takuya is the son of a Representative who dies and he suddenly finds himself thrust into a political campaign he didn’t really want to engage. He narrowly wins because of his honesty and uplifting character. When he reaches the Diet, a scandal breaks out about the Prime Minister and he is forced to resign. The party reputation is tarnished and they need a fresh, clean face to represent them. Yes, the new kid, the young kid steps up to run for party leader, promising henka (change), a different path than the old politics.

Sound vaguely familiar? The Japanese system is parliamentarian, but the parallels are hard to miss. The character is from Kyushu, I think, but it would have been more amusing if he had come from the small city in Fukui famous for chopsticks, Obama.

Speaking of which, the people of Obama are actually considering ways to relate their city with the Illinois senator and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate to drum up tourism. I wonder what they plan to do? Rename the high school Obama attended? No wait, the high school is already called Obama. Then how about registering the house where he grew up as an historical site? Oh, I forgot. he’s never been to Fukui prefecture.

Only in Japan…

Anyway, besides being hooked on work and J-drama, I’ve also developed the habit of watching talking heads on TV. I’m no poli-scientist, but I’m fascinated with the politics of our times. I no longer watch American drama–with the writers strike, there was nothing to watch anyway. So I fill up my time watching CNN and MSNBC whenever I’m not grading or watching J-drama. I mean, I have always watched the Sunday morning shows, usually Meet the Press, and now The Chris Matthews Show (which I think is the best on Sunday morning). But I am now mesmerized on a daily basis as I watch Hardball or Countdown or the political segments of AC360, especially when David Gergen is on.

But things were getting bad. I had to make a decision. I just couldn’t spend my time vegetating in front of the boob tube, regardless of how I may justify it–Japanese drama provides Japanese context, MSNBC informs me on politics. Well, I couldn’t afford to go to the Betty Ford Clinic, so I did the next best thing my limited brain could think of–I decided to return to Xanga. B-) Well… at least for the time being. We’ll see how long it lasts this time.

Meteor-illogical event

It’s been truly crazy weather of late. Tornados in the flatlands of middle America. Snow in the Rockies. Floods in the upper Midwest. Yesterday I jogged in the stifling heat–over 95 degrees. It’s been at least 10 degrees higher than the seasonal average since Friday. But at least the heat isn’t destructive, and as a SoCal boy, the heat is something I can deal with. I have learned to deal with the humidity as well, thanks to living in Japan for a number of years.

So yesterday, as I jog through a local park near our home in northern Virginia, I passed a “public house” there. No, it’s not a beer joint, but a county-owned facility that residences can rent for events such as weddings. It is also the local precinct polling location. And yesterday, Virginia held its primary for congressional seats.

The seat up for grabs is Virginia’s US House of Representatives, 11th District. It is the seat that Tom Davis (R) holds. Yes, the honorable Tom Davis whose office helped us with M’s permanent residency. As I believe most of you know, I am no dyed-in-the-wool liberal, but I tend to lean a little left of center politically. Still, Tom Davis did me right and I would have voted for him, if he was running for re-election. But he is not.

Anyway, as I was running/walking by the public house, I noticed the sign “vote here”. I had forgotten it was election day. So after I returned home, I showered, did a bit of work and then set out to vote around 6 PM. There was virtually no one there, so fulfilling my civic duty was pretty painless. I then headed for a local watering hole called Famous Dave’s on Chain Bridge Road. It has pretty good ribs but that’s not why I went. I needed to whet my whistle after four consecutive days of running outside at least one hour each day.

There, I saw the regulars–Matt, the bartender, Gary and his girlfriend Debbie, and a few others. After my third beer, we begin to hear thunder. Oh crap, another summer thunderstorm. These are fairly common, actually, but can scare the shit out of me. We debated about which is the scariest natural phenomenon. I insist its thunder, because even though it’s random, you can’t escape it if it has your name on it. The others blanch when I tell them that an earthquake is no big a deal–I’ve been through many, including the Sylmar quake of 1971 and the big one in San Francisco in 1989. I’d rather be in the middle of an earthqhake than be struck by lightening. Then suddenly someone said, Tornado.

“What?” we all looked out the window. “There’s no tornado,” we laughed. But we did see hail falling from the sky and getting larger right before our eyes.

“Doesn’t it hail when a tornado appears?” someone nervously suggested.

“……….”

Well, it hailed for about fifteen minutes, getting as large as small walnuts at one point. But it ultimately subsided with no sign of a tornado. Whew…

This weather is crazy. I mean, 95-plus degrees in the afternoon and hail in the early evening? How illogical is that? Is this a by product of global warming? The thought of a dented up car crossed my mind, but when I checked it out later, there didn’t seem to be any damage. Fortunately, the thunderstorm was just another freaky summer storm in a summer of unfortunately freaky weather everywhere else.

Backward camel

Holy moly! It’s freakin’ cookin’ outside. It’s 95 degrees, 45% humidity and feels like 102 according to weather.com. But I didn’t need them to tell me. I feel like a roast cooking over a low heat. If it would only melt off the fat…

Still, I went running outside for an hour. Well, more like walking and jogging a bit. I didn’t want to kill myself. As I walked through the park, I saw an acquaintance with her three year old daughter and we exchanged greetings. I reminded the little girl that she should make sure to drink lots of water because of the heat, and she proudly showed me her water bottle.

“Where’s your water?” she asked.

“Me? I’m a lemac.” I told her.

“What’s that?”

“You know what a camel is, right?.”

“I know,” she assured me.

“Ah, and you know that camels have a hump, right? What’s the hump for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s where they keep water, so they can cross the desert without drinking. Do you have a hump?”

“No!” she cried out adamantly.

“That’s why you have your water bottle. And where’s the camel’s hump.?”

“On it’s back.”

“Right. And I don’t have water because I have a hump too. But its not on my back,” I said as I patted my stomach. “That’s why I’m a lemac. I’m the opposite of a camel.”

The girl’s mother forced a smile at this corniest of jokes. But I didn’t care, my audience was the little girl. Unfortunately, she didn’t laugh. She didn’t even grin. She just stepped up, patted me on the stomach and asked, “That’s all water?”

Green card

It’s been a long time since I’ve really written anything–mostly bitching about work. And when I have written anything, it’s been pretty half-assed. For whatever reason, I just haven’t been able to put my heart into it. Which would explain why I would easily get bored and stop writing.

Not that anything I write now will be whole-hearted, of course. A lot of it is just a process, getting into the habit of writing. But upon reflection, I think a lot of what I did a few years back, when I wrote a lot, was based on my dissatisfaction with my life and career. My status at work was very precarious, and I felt as though I had been disrespected in a very significant way, although most–students and colleagues–would not realize this as I am pretty good at masking my feelings. And writing on Xanga was an escape of sorts from self-doubt and self-pity. Someday I will write about it (in a protected post, of course).

So where were we…

I think I may have mentioned this briefly before, but since people ask me about it rather frequently, I figure I haven’t really discussed it in detail. So without further ado:

Musubichan got her greencard!

Yes, after two years of Hell, she finally got it last May–has it been a year already? Anyway, I’m sure my regular (former) readers remember all the hassles CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Service, formerly INS) subjected us to. Back in July of 2006, we went for an interview and the case officer treated us as if we were criminals. She suspected us of just trying to procure a green card under false pretense and that we were not really married. I had renewed my drivers license late–VA law allows one year for renewal–but the officer insinuated that I got the license simply to make it look like we lived together. Further, she claimed that someone in the office saw M walking from the train station to the CIS building alone, insisting that we had come separately. I was incredulous. I insisted she produce the person who made this “siting” but of course, she backed down. I had heard horror stories regarding US bureaucracy and some of the mean-spirited people who work there, but I guess you have to experience it to get the full measure of there arrogance, an arrogance they exhibit if only to hide their incompetence and stupidity. It was truly aghast.

Fed up, I finally decided to write to my Congressman–I think this is something that Sunjun actually suggested once way back when–Tom Davis (R). I wrote an impassioned letter detailing our journey through the bureaucratic Hell known as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Amazingly, I got a response from his office within two weeks telling us to renew–for the millionth time–M’s metrics (finger printing). We were hopeful that we might, in fact, get an interview by the summer to resolve this fiasco. In another two weeks, we got letter from CIS. Wow! That was fast, we exclaimed. But when M opened up the envelope, we were taken aback. It did not contain instructions for our next interview. Instead, to our utter amazement, out popped the actual green card!

Oh my freakin’ God!

Well, you can imagine our glee and our incredible relief. Finally. The first thing I wanted to do was dance a jig, but since I don’t know what a jig is, I settled for going to my Google calendar to note the expiration date of this green card in 2017. There is no way I’m going to let M’s permanent residency lapse again.

Lifetime sentence

Oh boy, now I really did it.

I just figured out a way to make myself write more… I became a Lifetime Xanga member.

Gulp…

My Office

Messy as usual

I gotta stack of papers to grade: Midterms for Bungo (literary Japanese) from last week, and today’s Lit class midterm. Well, it’s the 12th week of the semester so its really a latter-term exam. I do this to bring relief to my students. They are usually drowning in study during the 7th through 10th week when every oher prof gives midterms. My students don’t have to worry about me until now, when they have nothing else to do… well, relatively nothing else to do. It also allows me to test them on more stuff, exactly eleven weeks worth of stuff. I mean, what’s an exam if its not comprehensive, right?

Anyway, back to grading for me. The lit exam was seven pages of multiple choice, true/false, fill-ins and matching. Piece of cake, if you ask me. There was also an essay component, but I give them the topic 24 hours in advance on-line, and they have to submit it typed and formatted. This allows me to grade the essay normally (read: strictly). But that’s the nature of a take-home, even if its partial.

Okay, okay, I’m going. Back to work…

Happy belated

New Year!

Man, have I been out of it or what? How is everyone?

Happy belated

New Year!

Man, have I been out of it or what? How is everyone?

Merry Christmas

Okay, according to some, this is not very politically correct, but I’m a psuedo-Christian–i.e. a Catholic who hasn’t gone to church in ages and has a number of questions about some of the stuff the sisters force fed me in elementary school. Still, my core beliefs are similar enough to consider myself a Christian of sorts, and as a result, I still celebrate Christmas. It is, for me, the season of giving, and hoping for peace for everyone.

So Merry Christmas
to you all

…and just to cover all the bases,
Happy Holidays too!

Peace to all all of you!

What’s in a name?

Thanks for all the good wishes. Any birthday beyond the half-century mark needs all the happy wishes it can muster. Thanks to those of you who wished me well on FB, too. I am truly grateful.

should i call u Onigiriman or Ray Kanzaki then?
tanjf

On Xanga, I will always be Onigiriman, so please continue to call my Onigiriman.

Sounds like a Street Fighter name.
Street Fightin’ Japanese literature professor. Sounds about right.
Smart_BAd

I agree. It has an edgy sound to it. More street fighter than J-Lit prof, if you ask me.

Happy Birthday to you! But I still like calling you, O-man!
PicsesTiff

Girl, you can call me anything you like, but O-man will do nicely.

The last name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but it will do. xD What kanji would you use to write your new last name?
onigiri

There’s a critic in every crowd. Personally, I think it sounds rather cool. And for your information, Kanzaki would be written 神崎, but he will be a Japanese American so the kanji is not so important, I think.

today i made onigiri with some college kids for a party. i was a bit worried bc i’ve never made them before- but they turned out ok… but we argued over how to pronounce the word.. so i come to the expert- the o-man!
jerjonji

I’m glad to hear that you made some tasty rice balls. And just for you, Jerjonji–play this to hear the pronunciation of my namesake and my name.

People may not understand this, but I’m actually pretty particular about how I pronounce my name. “Onigiri” is a Japanese word and so should be pronounced with a Japanese accent. Oh-nee-gi-ri. The “r” in Japanese is a tongue flap of sorts, much like how it is in Spanish, but only one flap. Don’t roll it, or you’ll sound like a Japanese hoodlum. “Man”, on the other hand, is English and should be pronounced with an American accent, much like Spiderman. For me, at least, the name itself has that quintessentially American comic book ring to it. Superman, Batman, Ironman, Onigiriman… Okay, maybe its just in my head…

Now this may be a stretch for you guys–please feel free to disagree–but for me it is the perfect representation of who I am. A Japanese American who values both heritages, is steeped in both cultures but tends to keep the two distinct, if not exactly separate. Like, Onigiriman–both Japanese and American (English), but joined together to make a single identity.

Back to Ray…

Just so we’re clear about this: Ray Kanzaki is the name of the main character for anything I will now write. In fact, you can plug his name into any of my old stories, as well. I’ve felt that using my screen name sounded wierd in some of the stories. It’ll be good to use a name that actually sounds like a name instead of the obviously fictitious Onigiriman–although this is preferable to some mixture of alphabets and numbers that represent aspects of my life, but end up looking like words in the game, Jumble. I could have used eastla55bruin, but that would really sound stupid in a story.

So I’m still Onigiriman–or O-man, if you prefer. Ray is just my in-story pseudonym.