I live in Tokyo now but most of my friends and family do not. The main idea here is that I can tell these people about interesting things that happen and are seen.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Situation Update, and, Ninjas: Where Are They Now?

Here's what's happening now:

1) I'm going back to NZ for a little under two weeks, flight is tomorrow! I'm looking forward to coffee, meat pies, and people I ain't seen in too long (if you're reading, you may be one of them: hi!).

2) I've got a new job writing academic materials... as Shakespeare was to ignoring grammar and making up words, I shall be to illustrating the difference between present perfect tense and present perfect PROGRESSIVE tense.

DIGRESSION:
Grammar quiz!
What's the difference in meaning between the following statements:
"I have lived in Tokyo for ten months."
"I have been living in Tokyo for ten months."

Answers to Comments section please! If you have a good explanation, I will show it to my boss and you can come take my job off me.

DIGRESSION: Abort Phase

3) After my holiday I gotta go through a visa application process that rivals childbirth in its extravagent levels of pain, struggle, and sheer rigmarole.

4) I received a few gifts from some of my students in my last week or so of work, such as a Winnie the Pooh soap and flannel gift set, and some chewing gum. Best of all, however, was a book about ninjas. Consequently I have been thinking about ninjas in a serious way again, despite their return to a state of cultural overexposure in recent years (i.e. once again they are PRETTY PLAYED OUT doggs).

So next time I have a chance to visit the Kansai area I intend to visit Iga and Koga, home to the two main ninja krews of antiquity.

In modern times, the Iga school appear to have diversified from spying and assassinations, and now provide workshops and team-building exercises for those in the corporate world. Check the practical advice on the website... how to reduce stress the ninja way.


I have a backlog of photos I ought to flickerize... most of them dating back to the time of Mum and Dad's visit. Some more have been uploaded tonight.

5 Comments:

Blogger etnobofin said...

Hope you have a great time back in NZ :-)

Wed Jun 06, 01:40:00 AM PDT

 
Blogger SNARC said...

"have been living in Tokyo for ten months" more strongly implies you're going to continue to be doing so; whereas "have lived in Tokyo for ten months" seems to need "now" at the end of it to ward off an imminent departure. But the operative word is "implies" as this is far too subtle a *potential* distinction to care about.
I'm a geek, I know.
In other news, your blog is helping me not to die of boredom while I wait for a mate to pick me up from work. Thanks - can't believe I haven't picked it up before!

Thu Jun 14, 11:42:00 AM PDT

 
Blogger test238543735 said...

"Have lived in toyko for ten months" doesn't specify when in your life you did it. It is "perfect" or "having been entirely done" to literally translate the Latin root of the word "perfectum".

"Have been living in tokyo for ten months" is a statement about a continuous event which began in the past and is still happening.

"I have been hating myself ever since I wrote the above two paragraphs" -- note how I imply that I may continue to do so for some time!

In other linguistic news, I finished reading a reader's digest edition of a pirate novel called Birds of Prey. I understood everything that happened but a lot of the words were too long for me.

In other strange-but-true news, I am looking after my friends' pet monkey while they go to Rio for the weekend. He is cute and eats food off my plate. He is about the size of a squirrel. Does not have the same mean streak most other species of monkeys have. He is basically the perfect pet monkey. If amanda had actually met him she might think I am less of a terrible person for associating with people who have pet monkeys or "monkey slavers".

In tech news, I'm getting a laptop this weekend.

In celebrity romance news, I sort of started going out with a brazilian girl and remembered how difficult it is for terrible people to have relationships. It's not that I don't care about other people's feelings, it's just that I don't care about the feelings of people who I'm seeing. I cling to this distinction.

Travel news, I might be going travelling again but I have no idea where. Probably I will go to Rio for a capoeira conference at the end of July and then try to go by land and sea to Mexico where I will spend any remaining time eating tortillas and wishing that tequila was as nice as caipirinhas.

Food and wine news: I made beef stew today and now have enough beef stew to last me for the rest of the week if my flatmates don't eat it all.

Arts and literature news: this comment post was too long.

Hi!

Thu Jun 14, 03:52:00 PM PDT

 
Blogger test238543735 said...

hey how come my google account name appears as "hey fuck you google"

oh yeah, they asked me to enter my name again, or something like that. Well, I stand by my rash words because I don't know how to change my name. Never mind.

(it is me, jeremy)

Thu Jun 14, 03:55:00 PM PDT

 
Blogger Miss said...

Hey Hey Fuck You Google, aka Jeremy, I never said anything about monkey slavers OR anybody being a terrible person! You besmirch me so. Also, hello everybody and Murray, it is mighty humid here and my futon smells sweaty even though I air it all the time and sleep on two sheets that I wash every few days. Halp!

Thu Jun 21, 07:21:00 AM PDT

 

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