So after reading my brother’s blog and Alan’s blog, I’ve decided that I’m an overly selfish hedonist. The writers are always talking about how frustrated they are with the world around them: Palestine, academia, US politics, war, economic unrest…
Right now I’m aware of it and take a fairly Left (thank you, Alan) view of things, but that’s it. I don’t feel compelled to go about changing anything that I feel is wrong. I’ve grown complacent in my travels. Perhaps I’ve over-adapted to the tune of inaction. I know and like adbusters, and have all the good, balanced answers to many current events. But no action. Or maybe there are no leaders left to support out there.
Concurrently, I no longer have a Mer element in my life, so to speak. When we hung out, she was always questioning things and challenging the existing assumptions. I felt like my personal fibre was being accosted, and it was slightly uncomfortable. But it was the uncomfort of healthly inspection. Sure, I now believe that Mer had some naive thots about some things, but at the same time, her passion for oneday ideology was driving. And it was her pushing to be actively out spoken that I now miss and need.
So now what? I guess the first step is always recognition. But in a land where you can’t understand and be understood, there’s little left to do but stay aware. Go the Guardian.
Compounding things, there’s little fun here. I connect politically with a few folks around me (Aroop, Nick, Peter - none are American), but we only debate things and hash out all the details. That’s all well and good, but there’s some element missing. Since culture shock has begun, life feels like a 9-5 and living for the weekends. And the weekends are crap. People just go out and get drunk. I have a drink or two and then get sour that I cannot just let go and get stupid. It’s not enough.
Oh, and most of the other JET folks are wankers. It’s like a suburban parade whenever I meet with people outside the J-A-N-P clique. There’s a cool guy into philosophy named Brad, and fun American named Conaire, but a lot of people are bland as. Fake smiles, fake small talk, trendy clothes. Bollocks.
Now, back to the fake small talk. Sports day was on Friday. My school had a whole day of sports contests - tug of war, relays, other silly races. It was a good laugh and I snapped a few photos. Maybe I’ll post em after this.
I built a computer on Saturday for Nick. He bought all the parts (with some advice from me), and he let me put it together. It’s a pretty sweet system and was a good time to piece together. Too bad I had to put WinXP on it. Another one for the spyware baddies.
I didn’t feel any of the massive quakes over the weekend that devasted Northern Honshu. And the typhoon lost a lot of power by the time it reached us.