After the Fundoshi: Yokozuna Out to Farm

When athletes retire from other sports, they usually retreat into a life full of terrible clothes, even worse golf and lots and LOTS of apparently really good food. If you have any doubts about what that means, look no further than our favorite big man from yesteryear, Sir Charles Barkley…
Clearly the man has not missed a meal!

But what happens when you’re already a big guy, say for example, a sumo wrestler? The recent retirement of the the baby-faced (but drunk and violently tempered) yokozuna, Asashoryu, had me thinking: what do sumo wrestlers do when they leave the sport? Do they go for what they know and take up coaching? Or do they get in to showbiz? Or do they spend their later years knocking down residual groupies? We see you #23!!!
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Get ‘Em Tiger!

“It’s been a long time! I shouldn’t've left you….”

Indeed, it’s been a minute since my last post! So long so, I have to start off by saying, “Happy New Year!!!” And it’s damn near the middle of February! How pathetic is that!?! In any case, I’m back and I don’t plan on leaving you again any time soon. And now with that out of the way, on to the post….

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The Gregorian New Year started 40 days ago but the Traditional Chinese New Year doesn’t start until Sunday, February 14th. As you must know by now, according to the Chinese zodiac this is – and will be soon in China – the year of the tiger! Tiger years are often described as being a time of great personal and social upheaval. But for the brave and the strong, this is the time to show courage, to summon great inner strength and rebelliously throw the things and ideas that have held you back. In short, it’s a time of personal revolution.

So I ask you what are your goals for 2010? What is your personal revolution?

2009 Kanji of the Year

It’s that time again!!!

Japan Today reports that the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation has conducted it’s annual Kanji of the Year survery. And in a public opinion to find of which single character out of the 3,000 over so Chinese characters used in standard Japanese best represents and reflects the events of the past year, voters selected 新 [shin - new] as this year’s character.

With a new prime minister, new American president, and a “new flu”, 2009 has been a year of new things in both Japan and the that mystical land, known here affectionately as, 外国 [gaikoku - foreign country]. The announcement was made in Kyoto, with a priest at the famed Kiyomizu Temple ceremoniously writing the character on traditional Japanese paper. Ironically enough, the announcement was presided over by the new president of the foundation as the last was arrested for mispropriety. How’s that for “new”?

Anyway, it may be the Kanji of the Year for 2009, but I’m co-opting it for 2010. See, 2010 is a new year, one filled with endless possibilities to start over, do it better and get it right!  Here’s to 新!!!

Music: Kid Cudi

Earlier this year, in my daily worship at the altar of Kanye I discovered a new GOOD Music artist by the name of Kid Cudi. The video for his lead single Day and Nite really grabbed my attention. Sure, it was mad creative, but what would you expect from one of Kanye’s artists? Still, the video resonated with because it’s really just a guy going about his day imagining his life as something other than it is… walking in his own daydreams as it were. If you know me for real, you know that’s pretty much me!

Listening to the album, Kid Cudi really takes you there with the depth of introspection and emotion. He’s something like Kanye minus the ego, something like hip hop emo. And I was feeling it from track 1. Months after I first “acquired” it, Cudi’s Man on the Moon is still in heavy rotation. It’s something the soundtrack to my day on the grind! And perhaps no song primes me up for that daily grind more so than this track here….Pursuit of Happiness!

Grind with me on this one!!!

If you ain’t up Man on the Moon yet, you LATE AS HELL! Lemme help you though…

Man on the Moon: The End of the Day

Shitsugyoteate II

Blogging wirelessly from my bedroom at my Momma and Daddy’s house…. in Oklahoma! G-D bless their technologically striving hearts! =)

I don’t even have to tell y’all how hard it is being broke! Two years in to this recession – yes, despite whatever the J-Gov says, it’s STILL going on – we’re all very familiar with the feeling by now. I’ve mostly gotten over it for real. Instead, I, like the rest of you, have learned to scale it back to something alot less fabulous and alot more pragmatic… like “if I can’t eat it do I still need it???” :-/ LOL

So yeah, being broke…. I can manage that. But through this whole ordeal, the one thing that I’ve looked forward to has been going home to spend Thanksgiving with my family. The tickets were bought back in April so the date has been set… November 24, 2009. As the months waiting dwindled to weeks and days, my anticipation was palpable. But then a monkeywrench….

Continued after the break

Mission: MBA

In my last post, I wrote about Japan’s Yakuza hitting the books for their mobster MBA’s. I got mad jokes about the yakuza and just how pathetic some of them (lemme make sure I don’t wake up swimming with the fishes!) have become in their attempts to wade their way through this recession. Honestly, though we all gotta respect the hustle, especially when that hustle means getting an education. As an MBA student, I especially gotta respect that!

Thinking about my last though, I realized that I’ve made several references to going to school here in the City under Red Sun but, I’ve never really done a post on my educational pursuit. Truth is, that is the MAIN reason why I’m still here even after all the drama of the past few months, and really the past two years! A post on what I’m really doing is like waaay past due!

So here it is….

I’m a second-year MBA student at Temple University Japan, and in less than 6 months I will have earned my MBA. I still remember distinctly looking at schools all over the US, certain that I wanted to go home after my 3rd year on the the JET Programme. But, wanting to study international business, it just made more sense to try to find a program abroad. Yeah, I studied Spanish so there was alot of thought given to going to, you know, one of those really beautiful countries with warm climates and hot boys. But ultimately, I was already here in Japan and it seemed reasonable to stay put (read: I forgot all the Spanish I learned!). If nothing else, it would give me a chance and a valid reason to relocate to the city.

I studied for my GMAT, took the test and got all my application materials together and sent them off. I was so nervous when I came in for my interview that I needed buckets to collect all the sweat from my hands. My voice trembled and when Dr. Leeds extended his hand for a handshake, I felt that my wet, pruney hands sealed my rejection. But about a month later though, I was surprised to discover an email in my inbox kindly informing me that I was accepted! With a scholarship!! WHAAAAT!!! Boy, you couldn’t tell me nothing that day. Blasted that Kanye song ALL the way home! Bounan Middle School just don’t know, I was ready to quit on the spot!

My first class started about a month after that. And so almost every Saturday from 9am to 6pm, you can find me here on the 4th floor of Mita Hall taking in all in. It’s ALOT of work, I can’t lie. And it takes up ALOT of time. But me being me, I think these two factors have kept me out of alot of trouble. It’s also kept me from getting too too caught up in my own ever-changing mental, emotional and financial states. Like, you can’t spend all day in the bed depressed, or all night in the, ummm, far end of that street in Ni-chome when you got a case to write and presentation to prepare.

Looking back on these past 18 months, yeah, it has been alot of work. I’m always saying that I’m studying. And it really seems like I am. even though I’m man enough to admit that there are times when I’ve used studying as an excuse for being anti-social. But for real, IT IS NOT A GAME! And I haven’t been out on Friday night in only G-d knows how long. But I honestly, I feel like I’ve learned what I’ve needed to propel my entrepreneurial spirits. Six months from now when I graduate, I don’t know whether I’ll be staying here in my beloved City under Red Sun or moving on to fairer pastures (read: someplace where I can actually get paid something resembling what I’m worth), but with what I’ve learned in my courses, I really believe that I’m capable of doing it big, doing it right and making millions. And now I’m hungry!

I’m definitely not getting paid to say this! My, how I wish they were!!! But if you’re looking for an excellent MBA program (or any higher learning experience) in an international and very unique learning environment, Temple University Japan might be a good look for you.

Shitsugyouteate

Yeahhhhh, boy!

So in my last post, I had just left the unemployment office WITHOUT the getting paid my 失業手当 [shitsugyoteate - unemployment allowance]. Yeah, I was hot ….and broke!!! The ¥1,000 that I had in my pocket was all the money I had in the world at that point, and I needed half of that just to get home! Normally in situations like this, I’d spend the next few hours yelling the F-word at the top of lungs every 5 seconds. It’s an aggressive (violent even) response to negative stimuli, which serves to focus me on the one, singular source of my anger and attack it. But these days, there just hasn’t been much fight left in me. So today, I pulled my hood low over my face and cried! ALL.THE.WAY.HOME….

I went home and got right in the bed, clothes and all, hoping to sleep straight through my birthday, straight through to Friday. My eyes were closed, but truth is I couldn’t sleep at all, mind following every thought in the darkness. But when I opened my eyes – 18 hours later!!! – I was literally blinded by the light! October 29th…. my birthday!!!

I was done crying, but maybe not quite ready to face the world. But still I did somehow feel better. Renewed. Stronger. For better or worse, I was going to HAVE to stick it out right here… at least until I finish my studies. And maybe that’s why I didn’t immediately call home. My folk back home definitely mean well but would have insisted that I come home right away, without fully accounting for everything I’ve been working for these past two years, namely my MBA program, which I’m 5 months away from completing.

So yeah, most of my birthday was spent in the apartment, studying and generally regrouping, getting myself fully in the mindset that I’mma stand tall, right here, whether I got a million yen or a single yen. By the time the Great Logistician came by to treat me to dinner, I had amped myself enough to face the world and fight another day.

Friday morning, instead of my 4 episodes of the Wire, I only watched two episodes of Omar rocking Avon’s world and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day studying for my Managerial Accounting exam. Yep, all in all, it was a productive day! What I didn’t know was the Unemployment did NOT wait until November 5th to deposit my 失業手当 [shitsugyouteate - unemployement allowance]. No, at some point doing the day, my money was deposited.

I had just chalked up the fact that I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent, and that Miss Lady that’s letting me sublet her place was just gonna have to be mad at me until Thursday. Last night, though, I decided that I’d just give go to ATM and give her whatever was there. Last time I had checked it yas ¥5!, but then this morning….

¥¥¥

Y’all know I ain’t the religious type, but this was something like heaven-sent… EXPRESS! And I had to send up some praises on that one! Praises, indeed!!!

The Dream….

OK, OK, OK! I’ll promise! From today, I will be posting AT LEAST twice a week! My word is bond!!

So the post…..

My dreams are very deceptive experiences. They’re so real I often go to sleep in the dream only to wake up in “real life” confused as to where/when I am, and if that last bit of craziness really just happened or not. Needless to say, they’re all quite memorable. And while I generally make it a point not to share my dream experiences, this is one that I have had repeatedly over the course of months, years even. I thought I’d share this one because it’s taken on some many new and profound meanings. So without any further ado, the Dream…

It’s cold. The night sky is moonless and dark, and the stars sizzle and pop electric in the crisp, cold air. I’m climbing a rough, rocky ridge. The jagged rocks cut my hands as I pull myself up. Pulling with my heads, pushing with my feet… no harnesses. I’m doing it all on my own. Indeed, I’m alone on this climb.

Pulling and pushing. I can’t see the ground. Pulling and pushing. I can’t see the peak. Blood, sweat and everywhere the metallic taste of iron. Pulling and pushing. Heaving and the heavy thumping of my heart.

And it comes as an unnerving shock. My hand reaching but not finding. Finally there is nothing left above me. Pulling myself up to the craggy landing of a summit, I can see the subtle lightening of the sky. A rainbow in black and indigo heralding the coming of the new day. Absolutely quiet. The world is still. All of G-d’s creation charged with anxious anticipation. I know now that I have come here to witness an event. And then bursting forth on the horizon, there is not one but TWO SUNS! And I know things will never be the same.

Behold the two sun dawn!

I know I (still) have a few loyal readers. I loved to hear from you. What do you think it means? And are you ready for your own two sun dawn?

The Catch-Up Part IV: Party Like It’s 1999!

With my descent in a full-blown depressive state slowing, I was thinking that I might actually want to go home. Part of me needed to go home to be with my family after a rough past few months. But apart me want to go to take part in the festivities that was my 10 Year High School Reunion! Yeah, that’s right…. 10 years!!!

After weeks of ambivalence about going, I finally made up my mind: I was going! All the mixed feelings aside, I had an awesome time. And it was exactly waht I needed to get my mind off my all my troubles, and level myself out of my depression. Booker T. Washington Class of 1999, you f-ing rock!

Resident Extraordinaire: Anthony Moynihan

So I took my Brother Pat, who was here visiting, up to Ageha for party. It was a yet another drunk night in which the details are all a blur. But I remember at some point I was cornered by two very beautiful ummmm, “women”. At first we were talking about my frat brand, but then the conversation turned to piercings. “Do you have any piercings?” ummm… she asked. “Yeah,” I replied. I can’t remember know how I was convinced to show them. I was drunk so I prolly didn’t need very much convincing at all, but right there in the middle of Ageha I pulled out my joint and showed them my piercing. Let Anthony tell it, he was in love with me from that very moment! (But then again, isn’t everyone! LMAO)

We exchanged numbers and it was only after 3 months of emailing back and forth that I realized that the “woman” I met was actually a man!!! Yeah, I’m slow but if you see how beautiful and fabulous Tranny, as he’s most affectionately known, is as a woman you’d be inclined to forgive my country-boy dense-ness.

We became fast friends! Hitting all the fabulous parties, meeting all the beautiful people, experiencing the city as absolute rockstars. A native of London, he’s been here in the City 13+ years now, and as a fashion designer, stylist, interior designer, party host and all around diva idol, he knows EVERYONE (and just about everything)! But more importantly, EVERYONE knows HIM! He’s the archetypal Resident Rockstar Extraordinaire, and my 先輩 [sempai: mentor].

All the many outrageously fabulous (and fabulously outrageous) parties aside, he’s a true angel-heart, who’s taught me so much about being true to myself and living my life in abundance. He’s helped me find my own inner fabulousness and showed me by living example how to live boldly in it. And then, when my world turned upside down last year, he was there to help me pull it all together. And it’s for that I’m eternally grateful.

I could go on and on about just how absolutely amazing Anthony is as a person, an artist and a friend. He’s just that kinda spirit that not only commands that kinda adoration but inspires everyone he meets. Yes, I stan for him!!!

This is waaaay LONG overdue! But yea….

I love you, Tranny! XOXO
Tranniliciousness After the Break!