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Post by beta on Aug 30, 2024 4:31:59 GMT
An old friend of mine told me that he and his wife love going to the beach. I had no idea why. He told me to give it a chance this summer. Dude knows me better than I know myself. I love the beach. Jeepers, what the fuck was I thinking for the last 100 years!! Anyway, it was a good day at the beach today yet again. I can only stand the beach when the sun's gone down a bit, but then it's pretty nice. I live pretty far north so it usually fairly comfortable from 4:30 p.m. until sundown. I don't usually spend the whole day at the beach, but if I do I spend the stupid hot hours in the shade, which here in the middle of nowhere is abundant. The sun going down a bit is when it gets really comfortable so I can stay put and watch the sunset. |
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Post by Ladyfingers on Aug 30, 2024 6:21:59 GMT
I can only stand the beach when the sun's gone down a bit, but then it's pretty nice. I live pretty far north so it usually fairly comfortable from 4:30 p.m. until sundown. I don't usually spend the whole day at the beach, but if I do I spend the stupid hot hours in the shade, which here in the middle of nowhere is abundant. The sun going down a bit is when it gets really comfortable so I can stay put and watch the sunset. Sydney's sun is brutal, so that's my schedule too. Whenever I see people baking in the middle of the day, I wonder what's wrong with their brain. I need a beach to be kind of scenic and not too crowded, so the major destinations here are not much fun, but a bit of a drive gets you to Palm Beach, which is spectacular. |
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Post by beta on Sept 1, 2024 20:26:32 GMT
Much more progressive ads on Japan Today than I remember being there previously.  |
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Post by beta on Sept 2, 2024 21:58:34 GMT
 I was looking for Time Bandits online to see whether it streams anywhere. What do I see? An ad for a television show. Wild. And then, I had to ruin it all in my mind. |
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Post by beta on Sept 3, 2024 4:54:16 GMT
FWIW RE: Bread in Japan/ I think consumption is basically 50/50 rice/bread now but the bread is still obviously processed white shite loved by GIs in the '50s. I have funny memory of visiting a local bread factory as part of some day camp in the early '70s. They gave us a full loaf of bread, of which I ate nearly half of on the way home. Probably made me sick and that's why I remember. Hiroshima has a famous bakery in the city center that makes really good sourdough and other rustic breads, so that helped when there was a yearning. But once you bought the fancy ham and cheese and mustard, you're eating a 1000-yen sando. I remember everywhere in Australia saying they had sourdough as the table bread but it was the weakest sourdough I ever tasted... For the 13 years of dealing with western food in Japan, I have been well rewarded in Sai Gon. Tons of options with a constant increase in quality. Being able to order a decent delivery meal for 1500 to 3000 yen always makes me thankful. Seems that Covid has kicked up the delivery game in Japan but good pizza options? This post got me interested in sourdough bread. Now, well, I have it on hand either because I baked it or I have bought it at a local "health food" store. Thanks, sukebegg. I absolutely love sourdough bread now. |
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Post by sukebegg on Sept 3, 2024 8:08:43 GMT
FWIW RE: Bread in Japan/ I think consumption is basically 50/50 rice/bread now but the bread is still obviously processed white shite loved by GIs in the '50s. I have funny memory of visiting a local bread factory as part of some day camp in the early '70s. They gave us a full loaf of bread, of which I ate nearly half of on the way home. Probably made me sick and that's why I remember. Hiroshima has a famous bakery in the city center that makes really good sourdough and other rustic breads, so that helped when there was a yearning. But once you bought the fancy ham and cheese and mustard, you're eating a 1000-yen sando. I remember everywhere in Australia saying they had sourdough as the table bread but it was the weakest sourdough I ever tasted... For the 13 years of dealing with western food in Japan, I have been well rewarded in Sai Gon. Tons of options with a constant increase in quality. Being able to order a decent delivery meal for 1500 to 3000 yen always makes me thankful. Seems that Covid has kicked up the delivery game in Japan but good pizza options? This post got me interested in sourdough bread. Now, well, I have it on hand either because I baked it or I have bought it at a local "health food" store. Thanks, sukebegg. I absolutely love sourdough bread now. Oh! Great...Used to eat "San Francisco Sourdough" as a kid. Rye bread was also a big fav. Kosher salami on rye with swiss cheese and mustard. So, so not kosher but alas my mom was a Shiksa Goddess with books on Buddhism in the dusty garage...The family of a good friend in Mexico City, who made a Johnny Rotten/PiL documentary a few years ago, owned a bakery that made the only rye band you could buy in the supermarket there. One time he made a loaf or two of sourdough rye for me that, of course, ruled... www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rLPFJYpKIg |
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Post by beta on Sept 3, 2024 16:10:02 GMT
This post got me interested in sourdough bread. Now, well, I have it on hand either because I baked it or I have bought it at a local "health food" store. Thanks, sukebegg. I absolutely love sourdough bread now. Oh! Great...Used to eat "San Francisco Sourdough" as a kid. Rye bread was also a big fav. Kosher salami on rye with swiss cheese and mustard. So, so not kosher but alas my mom was a Shiksa Goddess with books on Buddhism in the dusty garage...The family of a good friend in Mexico City, who made a Johnny Rotten/PiL documentary a few years ago, owned a bakery that made the only rye band you could buy in the supermarket there. One time he made a loaf or two of sourdough rye for me that, of course, ruled... www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rLPFJYpKIgI enjoyed the documentary. Cheers! Sourdough rye--sublime. |
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Post by beta on Sept 4, 2024 6:20:42 GMT
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Post by beta on Sept 4, 2024 15:16:07 GMT
 No prototype is safe as long as DJt and Shady Vance are lurking. |
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Post by beta on Sept 5, 2024 11:54:02 GMT
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Post by beta on Sept 9, 2024 17:41:08 GMT
 Sprague is hilarious. |
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Post by beta on Sept 9, 2024 22:13:02 GMT
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Post by Detrimental on Sept 9, 2024 22:36:28 GMT
Sprague is hilarious. I actually do have a funny accent |
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Post by beta on Sept 9, 2024 23:45:45 GMT
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Post by beta on Sept 11, 2024 5:00:09 GMT
The debate was a bit lopsided.
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Post by sukebegg on Sept 11, 2024 6:11:58 GMT
They hate our freedomz...
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Post by beta on Sept 11, 2024 6:40:32 GMT
They hate our freedomz... Exactly how I remember it! |
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Post by beta on Sept 14, 2024 22:55:42 GMT
Saw this on Pexels. I edited it to my taste, which is not particularly popular thank goodness. Osanbashi Wharf Bridge. I like it in real life.  |
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Post by beta on Sept 16, 2024 19:47:16 GMT
 Bird was the word. |
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Post by beta on Sept 16, 2024 21:17:44 GMT
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Post by beta on Sept 21, 2024 23:08:52 GMT
I would love to vote for a Kennedy. He swallows Falun Gong propaganda a bit too much but the US definitely needs to have its shit stirred even more. Kennedy seems to have bowed out for a low price. It makes me wonder how much shit is going to go unstirred. |
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Post by beta on Sept 21, 2024 23:12:43 GMT
“I will pull up at least 5 spreadsheets (ranging from actual important pricesheets to recent Company Softball scores - it doesn't matter, as long as it's an Excel Document.) I print them out, then walk to the other side of the office building to copy them. Somehow, in my mind, this makes it look like I'm working - and looks are the most important thing.” I know I mentioned this somewhere but this was one of the first things I figured out at AEON. If I’m walking from the school area through the lobby towards the shared area by the elevators, in my 10 minutes between classes, you pretty much know I’m trying to go to the bathroom. In order not to be interrupted every single time with some nonsense about special tactics about how so and so can improve their listening skills I’d grab papers or those cool opaque plastic folders that seem prevalent there, head up, confident, walk with PURPOSE. Why would I bring documents to the bathroom? Because then I get to go to the bathroom. The buzzwords part was great too, I suppose everyone has experienced this but there is a certain type of person who either has an MBA and/or reads Twitter a lot, doesn’t want to really learn what people are doing, but seem to realize they need to do something which usually equates to telling people to work more, and faster. So if there’s something not super important that was prioritized until next week, they tend to “forget” and 2 days later there’s an impatient email with misguided questions, which someone answers, and then, stymied, they suggest we look at this as an opportunity to use cross-team functionality. Great, thank you for the insight, without your guidance the project would never have been done. AEON. I used to hear about it from Chris from Let's Japan. Survivors! Both of you are survivors. That place seemed like some kind of cult, but what the fuck do I know! |
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Post by nikkeisindex on Sept 24, 2024 13:18:20 GMT
“I will pull up at least 5 spreadsheets (ranging from actual important pricesheets to recent Company Softball scores - it doesn't matter, as long as it's an Excel Document.) I print them out, then walk to the other side of the office building to copy them. Somehow, in my mind, this makes it look like I'm working - and looks are the most important thing.” I know I mentioned this somewhere but this was one of the first things I figured out at AEON. If I’m walking from the school area through the lobby towards the shared area by the elevators, in my 10 minutes between classes, you pretty much know I’m trying to go to the bathroom. In order not to be interrupted every single time with some nonsense about special tactics about how so and so can improve their listening skills I’d grab papers or those cool opaque plastic folders that seem prevalent there, head up, confident, walk with PURPOSE. Why would I bring documents to the bathroom? Because then I get to go to the bathroom. The buzzwords part was great too, I suppose everyone has experienced this but there is a certain type of person who either has an MBA and/or reads Twitter a lot, doesn’t want to really learn what people are doing, but seem to realize they need to do something which usually equates to telling people to work more, and faster. So if there’s something not super important that was prioritized until next week, they tend to “forget” and 2 days later there’s an impatient email with misguided questions, which someone answers, and then, stymied, they suggest we look at this as an opportunity to use cross-team functionality. Great, thank you for the insight, without your guidance the project would never have been done. AEON. I used to hear about it from Chris from Let's Japan. Survivors! Both of you are survivors. That place seemed like some kind of cult, but what the fuck do I know!
That's a fair reference. The paranoia at our first training in the "house" in Omiya with the observers being observed and giving feedback to the feedback givers.... super weird. I think it just stemmed from Japanese management terrified of letting foreigners do anything but realizing they had to.
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Post by beta on Sept 24, 2024 22:09:15 GMT
AEON. I used to hear about it from Chris from Let's Japan. Survivors! Both of you are survivors. That place seemed like some kind of cult, but what the fuck do I know! That's a fair reference. The paranoia at our first training in the "house" in Omiya with the observers being observed and giving feedback to the feedback givers.... super weird. I think it just stemmed from Japanese management terrified of letting foreigners do anything but realizing they had to.
Holy. Moly. |
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Post by sukebegg on Sept 26, 2024 5:30:42 GMT
AEON. I used to hear about it from Chris from Let's Japan. Survivors! Both of you are survivors. That place seemed like some kind of cult, but what the fuck do I know!
That's a fair reference. The paranoia at our first training in the "house" in Omiya with the observers being observed and giving feedback to the feedback givers.... super weird. I think it just stemmed from Japanese management terrified of letting foreigners do anything but realizing they had to.
No one: What if a bunch of Japanese Mormons started an eikaiwa school? Interac: Hold my...uhm...non-alcoholic beer-flavored beverage. *** I was lucky to only have worked at Interac for a year, and I have a few other highlights that I won't go into but the best was the salesman at our Hiroshima office creeping out on one of the secretaries - sending her bouquets of flowers and whatnot - sure he was married with six kids already but, you know, Mormons! |
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Post by beta on Sept 26, 2024 11:10:08 GMT
Trump 24/7/365 crime-o-rama presidency seems to be shaping up. The race is still close from what I have been reading. It could still happen. Wild. And the possible Trump presidency would be off the rails from the beginning more likely than not. I used to wonder whether the SCOTUS would survive another Trump presidency. Now, well, the SCOTUS may well end up as evidence that the USA became a failed state while the circus distracted most of us. |
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Post by beta on Sept 26, 2024 18:13:58 GMT
Sprague is hilarious. I actually do have a funny accent It is the syntactical differences that really set us all apart, though, isn't it? |
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Post by nikkeisindex on Sept 26, 2024 18:58:43 GMT
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not but training was so controlled and so surreal that they were basically giving, I'm sure well-intentioned advice. I mean in a group of 25 foreigners or whatever you gotta play to lowest common denominator and some of them are gonna be complete morons but the list of rules like "ALWAYS wear your sport coat and AEON company pin even on your commute on the train"
I can't remember others but the atmosphere was so thick and bizarre and truly culty..... I swear I'm not making up that you couldn't have drinks (water) etc in the training room, and there is a LOT of group repeating (they had the genius idea to teach the teachers how to teach in the style of an AEON class (I could not make this up)).
So it's just so strange and it's gone on for so long that by the time they got to "And do not cross your legs when you ride the train" a guy asked "Can we cross our legs in our apartment?"
and no one laughed and to this day I have no idea if that guy was serious or confused or trying to be a smart ass.
I also did work at Interac and I'm sure all my stories are old and repetitive but I think I had to be there like 8:15 and I was like 5 mins late once and they dialed in to Interac and made me make up the time, so I had to leave at like 4:05 instead of 4:00. Bear in mind: I "taught" usually 0-2 classes per week, so this is strictly just making me sit at my desk for 5 extra minutes.
Interac fucked me hard on the way in, long story that I'm not going to get into here, but then I basically never heard from them again -- which is fine.
You know, YMMV, overall I still think AEON was a better set up over all -- but I would not say that's the case for everyone.
Obviously when I got out of the whole thing and just pieced together my own visa, apt, and jobs, those were the glory years. 0-2 classes a couple weeknights a week in summer, essentially same pay.... why exactly did I leave again....
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Post by beta on Sept 26, 2024 19:25:49 GMT
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not but training was so controlled and so surreal that they were basically giving, I'm sure well-intentioned advice. I mean in a group of 25 foreigners or whatever you gotta play to lowest common denominator and some of them are gonna be complete morons but the list of rules like "ALWAYS wear your sport coat and AEON company pin even on your commute on the train" I can't remember others but the atmosphere was so thick and bizarre and truly culty..... I swear I'm not making up that you couldn't have drinks (water) etc in the training room, and there is a LOT of group repeating (they had the genius idea to teach the teachers how to teach in the style of an AEON class (I could not make this up)). So it's just so strange and it's gone on for so long that by the time they got to "And do not cross your legs when you ride the train" a guy asked "Can we cross our legs in our apartment?" and no one laughed and to this day I have no idea if that guy was serious or confused or trying to be a smart ass. I also did work at Interac and I'm sure all my stories are old and repetitive but I think I had to be there like 8:15 and I was like 5 mins late once and they dialed in to Interac and made me make up the time, so I had to leave at like 4:05 instead of 4:00. Bear in mind: I "taught" usually 0-2 classes per week, so this is strictly just making me sit at my desk for 5 extra minutes. Interac fucked me hard on the way in, long story that I'm not going to get into here, but then I basically never heard from them again -- which is fine. You know, YMMV, overall I still think AEON was a better set up over all -- but I would not say that's the case for everyone. Obviously when I got out of the whole thing and just pieced together my own visa, apt, and jobs, those were the glory years. 0-2 classes a couple weeknights a week in summer, essentially same pay.... why exactly did I leave again.... I worked at Nova when I first arrived in Japan. Aeon may have been culty, but at least people knew the score. It was the same at Nova. We were not supposed to interact with the students outside of work. 30 years later, I am still talking to people whom I met at the branches I worked at. I do think that policy was somewhat good to lay out there, because the LCD was that some guys would sleep with at least two of the clients, the two women at least would find about the other(s), and drama would ensue. The whole thing fell apart long after I found my own deal, but, in the main, it was okay to get set up. Interac. Heard of it, had a friend work there, but didn't ever work there. Aeon seemed pretty controlled from what Chris told, but that was the case at any behemoth in the 90s in Japan, wasn't it? Also, Chris was full of shit once he had some drinks in him so I never really know what was fact or what was alcohol-fuelled madness. I will be laughing all day and into the night about the crossing one's legs question. Why the hell not ask that question?!!! I know why I left, and am. glad that I did, but it had nothing to do with the work. I liked my work schedule, too! My life here is 1 Easy Street financially. Then again, I didn't work six days a week for so long overseas so that I could work seven days a week now. |
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Post by nikkeisindex on Sept 26, 2024 19:42:05 GMT
My finances were so controlled then, the numbers were really small but always ran a surplus. If I made what I make now but lived in an Y80,000/mo apt in Tokyo I would feel wealthy beyond all reason. But I don't, I live in an American house with cars and a family and our obnoxious healthcare system. It's better overall.
It's hard for me to think back, I spent so much time sweating JET, AEON, NOVA, ECC, etc. In retrospect I think I made the right call for myself in that AEON gives you your own apt (I was 28 and had already lived on my own for awhile) and would put you in Tokyo. But I'm not sure it makes all that big a difference at the end of the day. Maybe JET vs Eikaiwa does, but AEON/NOVA/ECC, I'm not so sure.
I actually give Let's Japan and a couple other sites a lot of credit for a realistic head's up. I was not there to reform the educational system. Head down, blend in (to your role), fulfill the duties, and when you're off the clock, you get to enjoy your life. I felt really bad for people frustrated by the constraints on their genuine will to teach!
I met Chris once, MacGyver too at an LJ meet up. Everyone was nice and I was impressed Chris picked up the bill. Not at all necessary but nice and I do remember!
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