November 26, 2018

November 26, 2018

Life’s kinda funny, sometimes. I just got home from the hospital. Nothing serious, just a checkup because I was worried about a few health issues, so I got a blood test and a few things that needed to be done. I’m fine, save for a bit fatigued and dealing with a foot fungus. It’s funny because, I was going to be upset. Upset about the bureaucratic nature of the hospital system where I couldn’t get a reservation unless I saw a local doctor, then they recommended me to a bigger hospital. That’s annoying. But then America goes “Hold my beer,” And gives us the news story about a hospital refusing treatment to someone and giving them a prescription of, “Fundraising for your therapy.” What is happening to the world? At least here in Japan, you don’t get a friendly note after a hospital visit saying, “Please fundraise 10,000 dollars before we treat you,” you just get a flat, affordable price(I paid less than 50 bucks for the tests I went through, though it did take a good 4 hours.) Said it before, I’ll say it again single payer healthcare kicks ass.

Sigh. Rant aside, life’s still pretty good here. I’ve changed up my teaching style a bit, but it’s always been an evolving thing. I’m a bit sad because a few of my students, cute, smart, wonderful kids, have to leave because of financial reasons. Others still are super tired from testing. I feel for them. I’m being a bit boring, honestly. I’ve done a lot of local things, like exploring, onsens, and pizza, but nothing too far out. The reason for that being my significant other and I talk on the weekends face to face via the internet, and we have a good time with movies, games, and the like and I don’t want to miss out on that.

I did go to Matsushima again recently on one of my student’s recommendations. There was so much fun to be had. I love the ocean in winter. It’s classy and romantic. But I also love museums. I got to see the orugoru museum, or music box/calliope museum. It was quite a sight and I got to listen to things like smash mouth or the Beatles on old fashioned music makers. I also got a music box that was very nostalgic for me, having an old love song in it from my college days. I didn’t need it, but I did buy it.

Following that, there was a fascinating museum with facts about the life of Date Masamune that even I didn’t know. For example, after the battle of Sekigahara, did you know he wanted to create a ship to open trade relations with Europe and Mexico and managed to get diplomats from Japan to meet priests in Europe? It was all told through wax dolls, life sized, that represented battle scenes. Creepy at first, but riveting later. And next door, there was a stereoscopic 3-d museum that had art which tricked the human eye. Yes, I have pictures and I’ll put them up later. It was super fun and I enjoyed the chance to see the cleverness of artists made manifest. My trip ended with me getting cheese sauce cow tongue, which was great.

I also went shopping recently, mostly to pick up a few gifts. I’m preparing a second set of care packages after the first one went out following my Hokkaido trip. And speaking of Hokkaido, I’m planning my next big adventure already. I hope that I don’t have to leave Japan. I do love it here, despite some of my issues.

In other news, it’s finally cold enough that I am wearing my coats every day and having my heater on during the evening hours. I got to buy some cool Switch arcade games that I want to play with my girlfriend somewhere down the line(Right now we’re doing PC co-op only because that’s all we can do.) I finished a game about Fist of the North Star that was very very stupid, but in the best way possible. Nothing says classy like using the divine Hokuto no ken to mix a cocktail, do medical treatment, or play arcade games. It’s silly, but dragged a bit near the end. I’m trying to get back into MTG, which I like for the complexity, but hate for how it screws me in card draws. And while I still love Gwent, it’s probably not going to be played much by me in the future. It’s a well designed game and far better balanced than it used to be, but sadly, it’s just not very exciting right now. That could still change, but I had my fun with the story mode, Thronebreaker, and now I’m playing the Witcher 3 again because I want my fix of that world. Anyway, I also finished Castlevania on Netflix…I have my issues, but it’s a damned fine adaptation. 

Life continues as it always has and it feels like this month came and went superfast. But I’m still here and I’m still happy. I just hope that the US gets its act together. Because I do have to go back at some point. People I love are there. Super tired from my hospital visit, so I’m gonna rest now. Photos of my trips to come soon. Till then.