Friday, September 19, 2008
September 19th
On this day...
...four years ago, I was a student at UAlbany just a few weeks into my first full-time semester of college in a decade. I was nervous about a lot of things but, aside from having no roommate, I felt like I was on my way to making new friends and adjusting to a new environment. Indeed, I went with a classmate to Schenectady that morning in search of a kendo lesson that never materialized. We would eventually get in the door, but after one visit I knew kendo wasn't for me. I certainly could have used the exercise - I'm sure I weighed well over 210 pounds at that point.
...three years ago, I was an exchange student at Kansai Gaidai just a few weeks into my first semester abroad. In fact, I was about to surpass my lifetime record for time spent in a foreign country, period. I was nervous about a lot of things but, thanks to my invisible roommate, I was confident that I could enjoy Japan on my terms despite living in a dormitory full of people I didn't feel I could really get along with. Part of that uneasiness sent me looking for Japanese people to meet over the Internet, and today happened to be the day I first met Mako for a tour of Kobe. It wasn't a date, but we both had a good time, and I looked a lot better than I had a year earlier thanks to an entire summer of eating better and working out daily.
...two years ago, I was living in a small Albany apartment, readjusting to American life and tackling my senior year. Mako and I were beyond dating - we were now dedicated long-distance-lovers chatting online every morning. School wasn't too challenging but every semester I managed to overload myself on one day of the week, in this case it was "Iron Monday." I made an audioblog concerning the details of this particular day but the company has since gone belly-up and it seems the files are lost. Serves me right for taking a shortcut?
...one year ago, I was still very much getting used to the idea that I was now an English teacher working in rural Japan. Although my confidence was shaky, with each new lesson I was rapidly convincing myself that I was able to succeed in this job. I wasn't really blogging at all, but I do remember the day pretty well. After a light day of classes, I rushed home and went to straight to city hall. Thanks to a weekend of filling out forms, I was ready to get married...alone. Once I submitted the proper paperwork at city hall, Mako and I would officially be married even though she was not present at the time. I made sure to call her later that evening to tell her the good news. That, and I had a couple beers to celebrate even though it was a Wednesday night and I don't like to drink on weeknights. But if you can't get a little tipsy on your "wedding night," what's the point? Especially if your new bride is still living with her parents!
...zero years ago, er, today, things are going pretty smoothly. Mako and I have been living together for almost an entire year (she moved in within two weeks of the marriage) and my job is pretty much under control, even if little things go wrong from time to time. Today I had my busiest day of this month so far, but it's all good because I don't have another class to teach until next Friday. There was a typhoon supposedly heading straight for us today but aside from some dark clouds and spirited, non-threatening winds, it never materialized. The only real "bad news" of the day was the phone bill. It turns out that my first full month of moblogging involved sending a hell of a lot of data through my mobile phone, skyrocketing my bill past $100. Mako and I looked over our options and we're confident we can wrangle these charges down in the future, but Step One means no more uploading video from the phone for now. A single 2MB file can potentially cost me fifty bucks worth of data fees!
So...happy anniversary to me. Feelin' fine. Feit...content!
...four years ago, I was a student at UAlbany just a few weeks into my first full-time semester of college in a decade. I was nervous about a lot of things but, aside from having no roommate, I felt like I was on my way to making new friends and adjusting to a new environment. Indeed, I went with a classmate to Schenectady that morning in search of a kendo lesson that never materialized. We would eventually get in the door, but after one visit I knew kendo wasn't for me. I certainly could have used the exercise - I'm sure I weighed well over 210 pounds at that point.
...three years ago, I was an exchange student at Kansai Gaidai just a few weeks into my first semester abroad. In fact, I was about to surpass my lifetime record for time spent in a foreign country, period. I was nervous about a lot of things but, thanks to my invisible roommate, I was confident that I could enjoy Japan on my terms despite living in a dormitory full of people I didn't feel I could really get along with. Part of that uneasiness sent me looking for Japanese people to meet over the Internet, and today happened to be the day I first met Mako for a tour of Kobe. It wasn't a date, but we both had a good time, and I looked a lot better than I had a year earlier thanks to an entire summer of eating better and working out daily.
...two years ago, I was living in a small Albany apartment, readjusting to American life and tackling my senior year. Mako and I were beyond dating - we were now dedicated long-distance-lovers chatting online every morning. School wasn't too challenging but every semester I managed to overload myself on one day of the week, in this case it was "Iron Monday." I made an audioblog concerning the details of this particular day but the company has since gone belly-up and it seems the files are lost. Serves me right for taking a shortcut?
...one year ago, I was still very much getting used to the idea that I was now an English teacher working in rural Japan. Although my confidence was shaky, with each new lesson I was rapidly convincing myself that I was able to succeed in this job. I wasn't really blogging at all, but I do remember the day pretty well. After a light day of classes, I rushed home and went to straight to city hall. Thanks to a weekend of filling out forms, I was ready to get married...alone. Once I submitted the proper paperwork at city hall, Mako and I would officially be married even though she was not present at the time. I made sure to call her later that evening to tell her the good news. That, and I had a couple beers to celebrate even though it was a Wednesday night and I don't like to drink on weeknights. But if you can't get a little tipsy on your "wedding night," what's the point? Especially if your new bride is still living with her parents!
...zero years ago, er, today, things are going pretty smoothly. Mako and I have been living together for almost an entire year (she moved in within two weeks of the marriage) and my job is pretty much under control, even if little things go wrong from time to time. Today I had my busiest day of this month so far, but it's all good because I don't have another class to teach until next Friday. There was a typhoon supposedly heading straight for us today but aside from some dark clouds and spirited, non-threatening winds, it never materialized. The only real "bad news" of the day was the phone bill. It turns out that my first full month of moblogging involved sending a hell of a lot of data through my mobile phone, skyrocketing my bill past $100. Mako and I looked over our options and we're confident we can wrangle these charges down in the future, but Step One means no more uploading video from the phone for now. A single 2MB file can potentially cost me fifty bucks worth of data fees!
So...happy anniversary to me. Feelin' fine. Feit...content!
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