Sickness

So I've been sick this past week. Yikes, and I'm still kind of sick right now.

It started on Monday, the morning after my junior high's sports festival. Well, after the 飲み会, which took place later in the evening.

Symptoms:
Fever, probably from walking home drunk in the cool night breeze. Headache included.
Muscle pains (mainly in the legs), from playing too hard at the sports festival.
Food poisoning (or a reeaaally messed up stomach), probably from something I ate at the party...yet the only thing new I had was some es cargo-looking food. Cut in appetite included.

So yeah...I was pretty messed up on Monday morning. It was a damn good thing that it was a day off for the school (to let everyone rest from the sports festival).

On Tuesday, when I took medicine in the morning, I failed to realize there was more than one type of pill mixed in the medication...so I ended up taking sleeping pills. I was wondering, all day, and especially at Inotsuki Elementary, "Why the hell am I still feeling like shit?" I didn't find out about the mix-up until I returned home.

Wednesday, my headache was down to a minimum, and today it's totally gone. However, my stomach is still kind of messed up. It's annoying, because I can't eat as much as I normally can without the urge to yack.

Hopefully tomorrow will prove to be a complete recovery.

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There was a centipede which I spotted a few days ago that scurried it's way under my tub as I showered. It was too fast for me to chase it down when I first saw it, so when I took showers I would constantly look around me to see if it was there. Today, I did the same, though I guess I didn't look -behind- me. As I finished my shower and exited, I looked back, and lo-and-behold. There it was, posted behind the spot I was standing. It must've been crying at its failed attempt to surprise buttsex me.

So what did I do?
I first disabled it by knocking it off its feet. I took a bucket that was filled with water and poured it on top of the bug, making it swirl around my shower floor for a little bit until it was closer to where I was. Then I slammed the bucket (still filled with water) on top of it, crippling it. I did it a few more times, then washed it down the drain.
Now, the score is:
Japan's bugs: 0. Ray: 55.

Though I wonder how big that centipede was, compared to an average size. I always imagined them to be a bit bigger...

Photography Rant

I love cameras. I love taking pictures.
I think it really jump started when I first got my D80. I was snapping pictures left and right. Throughout time I learned the camera and grew as a (wannabe) photographer.

Now, DSLRs are the in-thing, even to folks who don't know a thing about photography. Granted, some folks really want to get started on learning, and I applaud them for that. But some folks don't even bother and treat their DSLR like their old Point and Shoot. Maybe they think that just because it's a DSLR, their pictures will be magically better?
I guess that's why they have so many different models out there. And the camera companies are making a killing off of them, so I guess that's a good thing.

I think what makes me angry the most is this: people taking 10 pictures of the same subject AND uploading ALL of them. There's only so much one can take of a frickin' lake, for example, or a statue, etc. It gets me angry and annoyed. When scanning through pics that friends upload of their latest trip, I think it's annoying that out of the 500 shots they took, there are only 20 notable or unique shots.
I rant because I was one of those people; take pictures of anything and everything, not really taking into account my subject(s), and uploading all of them. I've grown to dislike my old habits (photography, etc), and even more so when I see other people doing them.

Lately, I try to take pictures with the intent on making each one unique. That means, each picture having its own subject. I believe, as someone who would browse through newly uploaded pics, that it's important for each picture to be looked at for more than a few seconds.
In other words, I wouldn't want a visitor to think "Flower...same flower...same flower, but with flash...same flower but from the left side...".
Rather, I want a visitor to look at each picture, and have a different experience with each one.

I'm seriously thinking of browsing through my Flickr and delete every single 'duplicate' just because it annoys me a lot. I hate having to shuffle through pages and pages of the same subject.

Annoyances

Folks that romanticize Japan are some of the folks that I get annoyed at the most.
Also, in addition:

-Folks that say they'd love to live in Japan...when they really mean they'd love to live in Tokyo / Kyoto / Osaka.
-Folks that swear they've experienced all the culture, people, and pleasures of Japan when Tokyo is the only city they've been to.
-Those same folks that say "I miss it there" and "I remember doing that" or "I'm due for a return trip soon"...as if they've been there and done it all...fool you only went to Japan for 5 days.
-People that diss the JET Program, thinking they can find a better (and they won't ever admit it, but easier) way to move to Japan. Alright, I say to them, but you'd wish you had our benefits.
-日本人になりたいfolks. Particularly a lot of the folks who go and adopt Japanese names even though they are clearly of non-Japanese decent. Granted, I'm good friends with a couple, hence why I said "a lot of the folks who..."
-Folks that think Japan is everything they loved in the manga, anime, and games that they've played.

Japan is not the Mecca of anything, folks. It's a country just like the one you call home.
I'll never say I'm completely in love with Japan...and a huge reason is because I miss Californian Mexican food. =P
(and drivers that actually step on the gas)

Golden Week

Golden Week is coming up in two weeks. I'm probably the only JET without a plan to go out of town / prefecture / country. It's all good though. I need to save money. After the hectic travelling this month, I was left with only 100 yen in my bank account and two unpaid bills. Thank goodness for theflyingpig.com, a website that delivers Costco goodies around Japan. They accept Paypal, and because of that I was able to order groceries that lasted me these past 2 weeks. It's been tough, though. Now I know not to plan two trips in one month. Ouch...
I'd say this month was worth it though. Kagoshima was fun, and Kim's friends are hella cute. Tokyo / Kyoto was fun only because it was great showing Chi around and catching up with old friends and making new ones. But now I'm missing out on an Okinawa trip during Golden Week...

まあ、いいや。I'll be here for a while. There's plenty of time to travel.

I'm gonna do one of two things during the holidays. Play video games (I plan on buying a TV of some sort this week or next) or drive around and see where I go.

First post

Alright. This is the new blog of Raymond Arcega.

I had a LiveJournal before, but it's been abandoned for almost a year. So I decided to jump ship to good old Blogspot. I had a blog here before during the good ol' emo days.

Anyways, I'll write more later.

Please check out Green Tea Graffiti.