Blogostino

Houston, we have a problem… 17/01/19 vs. Nets

Paul — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 06:16:01 +0000

How did the Rockets lose to the Nets at home when they were up 7 with a minute to go in OT? When you’re the Houston Rockets, you will find a way because winning winnable games makes too much sense.

Call me a hater. Call me a Harden doubter. Call me Al. I don’t care.

After getting so close that they could basically taste the NBA finals last year, outside of Harden’s production, this year has been a mess for the Rockets.

Spencer Dinwiddie hit three back-to-back three pointers to keep the Nets in the game in the 4th quarter. My coach would’ve benched me if didn’t contest one with the game clock winding down.

In overtime, you can see just how happy the fans were. James Nunnally had just hit a three pointer to put them up seven with a 1:28 to go.

All they had to do was stop the Brooklyn Nets from scoring. One may argue that this thing called ‘defense’ is a fundamental part of basketball.

Instead, the Nets convert a weak-side corner three on a broken play.

1 minute to go. 4 point lead.

James Harden gets the ball just inside the halfway line and starts burning clock while anticipating the foul. Then he throws the kind of pass you’d see an 8-year-old throw in desperation because there was too much defensive pressure on him, leaving Austin Rivers to try and create something.

Nunnally drives, gets blocked, Tucker recovers and airballs a fadeaway as the shot clock expires.

47 seconds. 4 point lead. Nets ball.

PJ Tucker gets caught watching the ball, so Jarrett Allen cuts to the basket for a wide-open two and picks up an and-one in the process, which he then misses and the Nets grab the offensive rebound. (Props to Jarrett Allen, by the way, 20/20 double-double!)

Dinwiddie calls for a high screen, drives and draws a foul on Tucker while hitting a soft floater and converts the and-one.

28 seconds. Nets up by one.

The pursuing Rockets possession encapsulates everything that is wrong with them.

Harden, for some reason, did not bring the ball up.
They wasted 16 seconds trying to get the ball to him.
Harden inexplicably looks for the three-point line.
Harden gets trapped by a double team and dishes the ball to Austin Rivers, who misses a wide open three.
Jarrett Allen grabs his 70,000th rebound of the night and instead of fouling him, they allow an outlet pass and then foul Joe freakin’ Harris.
Game Nets.

As someone who watches a lot of basketball, I can only imagine a shred of the disappointment that Rockets fans tasted this evening. Clyde Drexler shared his thoughts on where the Rockets failed, then I swear he muttered the word ‘damn’ to himself.

So, to recap:

Harden drops 58 and they lose to the Nets at home.
Rockets attempted 70(!) three point shots
Both teams combined for 106 three point attempts, an NBA record

Imagine a league where you take just about twice as many three point shots as your opponent and still lose… And that brings you to today’s NBA!

That Time of Year

Paul — Sun, 23 Dec 2018 00:48:55 +0000

Returning to Melbourne after spending a few Christmas’ (Christmases? Christmas’ees’? Christmay?) in Japan has reminded me of just how crazy things can get around this time of year.

So, here’s a rundown of some ads that are playing on Japanese TV around this time, plus some older, but favourite Japanese Christmas commercials.

My personal fave from that collection is a bunch of cats licking cat food sachets around the 10-minute mark, because what says Christmas more than tormenting your pet? Just feed them, ya grinches.

I’m pretty sure I’ve written at length about the cultural differences surrounding Christmas in Japan, but here’s a rundown of the main ones:

If you’re single, find a date
If you have a partner, book a fancy restaurant, or plan a day full of activities to spend with your partner
If you’re eating at home, fried chicken and Christmas cake are considered the norm
Just about every store that sells fried chicken will accept pre-orders for their ‘special’ Christmas chicken, including convenience stores and KFC, and some will even sell out

Whatever you’re up to at this time of year, I hope you have a safe and wonderful time with those special/close to you.

The State of the Bulls Organisation

Paul — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 23:23:21 +0000

When I first became interested in basketball, I soon became a Chicago Bulls fan. The allure of Jordan and Pippen at their peak was too great to ignore for an 11-year-old learning how to shoot, dribble and play defense.

Following our last title came the lockout season. Full-blown tank mode. Shipped Pippen to the Rockets. Named Tim Floyd head coach. Our biggest FA acquisition was Brent Barry. 13-37 record.

Fast forward to today and GarPax just fired their handpicked coach in the midst of his fourth season after…

Three seasons of poor roster moves
A reluctance to accept a rebuild/tank
Essentially trading Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson for… (drum roll) ..Cameron Payne
A stack of injuries to start this season

GarPax have to go. The fact that they still have jobs is astounding. Hoiberg was always going to be the fall guy to cover their ineptitude and lack of foresight.

I think the current roster has some nice young pieces, but we’re a long way off being competitive in the eastern conference. A tough-minded coach like Boylen isn’t going to make a lick of difference. If our goal was to get another high pick next year, why try to act like competitiveness is the team’s primary concern right now? Like so many other decisions the Bulls front office have made, it can be slapped with colourful adjectives such as ‘reactionary’, ‘uninspired’ and ‘clueless’.

Sadly, Hoiberg will probably not get another chance in the NBA as a head coach due to his tenure with the Bulls.

I can confidently say that I could do a better job than GarPax and I’m currently looking for work. Your move, Reinsdorf.

The Return

Paul — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 23:59:41 +0000

After a three year hiatus, I decided to start writing here again. A basic rundown of what I’ve done over the last three years is this…

I met someone very special, we got married and decided to move back to Melbourne.

There’s a multitude of other things that happened along the way. The conversation school I was teaching at in Kyoto promoted me to manager, which was an amazing experience and to this day, I feel very appreciative of everything I learned and achieved in that role. I worked with an abundance of amazing and talented individuals.

I’ve started putting a variety on things on paper about my experience living in Japan. I’m aiming to share it with everyone in the future in the form of an e-book initially, then hopefully a small print run.

As for the future, I’m currently applying for jobs and my wife Machiko is settling into Australian life comfortably.

I’ll keep this first update short and sweet. Be on the lookout for a whole bunch of random stuff, ranging from my thoughts on the current state of the NBA, to tips about living and working in Japan, as well as a whole bunch of random incongruity.

Here’s the low-down…

Paul — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 18:36:11 +0000

So, it has been well over six months since I posted in this blog.

But tonight was a solid reminder of why I should do my best to write at all and or any times possible.

I can’t even fathom why, but sometimes the universe just has a way of throwing these things at you.

Since my last update on Blogostino, I’ve had my heart broken twice. The first time this happened was with someone I cared about a great deal who had confessed that she held similar feelings towards me – negate the fact that she had a long-term boyfriend for a moment, if you’d be so kind – but I never wrote about it because this space was always something for me to be celebrated and enjoyed. Escapism from everything that is and will be, if you will.

I could never bring myself to write about that situation in detail because, well, there’s no point in doing so. Ultimately, the person in question made a choice. That choice was not me. I can’t hold a grudge against someone for making a choice. Ultimately, we’re socks. If you like a pair, you stick with them until it’s fucking done and there’s absolutely nothing left.

Following on from that particular time, another person entered my life. I still don’t believe that she is a bad person. However, after the events that transpired, I can only surmise as to what type of person she actually is – one that does not know what she wants. After a few months of not knowing exactly where I stood with this particular person – dates, sex, a relationship and whatever else came inbetween the two – she confessed to a friend of mine that she was indeed “serious” about me and that she wished to get married and build a relationship with me.

I was happier than a pig in fucking mud. Someone I liked actually liked me back.

However, it became apparent to me that some of my choices in life require second-third-fourth-fifth-sixth look overs.

I say this because no less than two months after this apparent meeting of the minds, the relationship in question came to an end.

I ascertain that I will not write ill of any particular individual on Blogostino. This place is not a place for naming and shaming, nor do I ever want it be.

At the core of everything that I am, I love to tell stories. I love to let people know what is happening in my life and why it is happening to me. Furthermore, why I am such a lucky individual to experience as much as I have, and will continue, to experience.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I’m listening to Billy Joel right now.

To paint a picture for you, dear reader(s), I was invited to a hanami party (sitting amongst and viewing cherry blossoms) this evening by coworkers at one of my many part-time jobs I’m currently working. At this particular party, everyone expressed how valued I am to this particular company.

Acceptance is something I’ve always struggled to understand. I don’t know whether it is something I’ve gone out of my way deny. I seem to have a positive impact on people wherever I go, but this lingering sense of self-doubt keeps nagging at me…

“There’s no way I could impact people in such a positive way!”

“Maybe they just think I’m a nice guy…”

“Why do people like me?”

..and for the fucking life of me, I can’t even begin to comprehend why these feelings exist or where they come from.

I have an amazing family, amazing friends and a pretty amazing life. I am blessed, and feel blessed, in everything I do.

Last November, I had to move apartments because my former housemate got a new job in Tokyo. I managed to find a place that was reasonably priced and in an amazing location in Kyoto. Reading this, you may not understand how lucky I am. To give you a relative example, imagine living in the heart of Melbourne, but paying a grand total of $100 a week on rent for the privilege to do so. That’s my current situation.

Tonight, my former housemate contacted me, as he was visiting Kyoto for a brief moment. Good times were had reminiscing about times past and what’s happened since we last saw each other.

Prior to that, I sat amongst cherry blossoms in full bloom, eating self-serve BBQ with geishas in training, established businessmen, young people trying to find their way in life, and a variety of folks I didn’t get to talk to. Good times were had.

Sometimes we focus so hard on what is happening around us, that we fail to see that there is more happening around us than we’d like to believe. At the end of this month, I’ll have been in Japan for exactly two years. I don’t regret anything that’s occurred here, only what I’ve missed out on experiencing in my home country – the birth of my newest niece, Raina, the growth of Darcy, Lachlan and Julia (my nephews and nieces) and the regular comings and goings of my friends and family.

Until next time, folks, find happiness in your life and milk it for everything its worth. Life is precious. Enjoy it.

Fireworks!

Paul — Fri, 22 Aug 2014 07:12:44 +0000

It’s hard to know where to start with this entry. My usual process is take notes of my day-to-day happenings and reflect on them when sitting down to write these entries in one sitting. However, I haven’t been taking ANY notes lately. Since coming back to Japan, actually. I want to make more of an effort with my writing, so I’ll cover single topics with smaller entries instead of several topics in one large chunk.

Onwards!

I traveled to Miyajima with a good friend of mine last week. Unfortunately it was a really short trip which had to be re-arranged due to a typhoon passing through Japan. It literally rained for three days straight here in Kyoto with slight intermissions that allowed me to step out and get something to eat when I could.

This was the second time I’d been to Miyajima. But this time was to view things blowing up in the sky. Like so…

Sitting on a coastline watching fireworks in front of a massive temple gate will definitely go down as one of my defining memories of my time here in Japan. Commuting to and from the area was a bit nuts, because thousands of people travel from all over Japan for this particular fireworks event. More photos!

The echoes that bounced around the island with each explosion – as many as three or four at a time – are sounds that I’ll have a hard time forgetting. Situated directly behind where I was sitting on the beachfront is a temple with several wooden walkways. With each firework going off, the sound was amplified and tossed around these walkways as if it was trying to find a way out of the temple.

You can see the famous temple gate in the picture above. When the tide is out, you can walk underneath and around that gate. When the tide comes in, it is submerged in water. The last time I was in Miyajima was during my first trip to Japan back in 2010 with Greg. I distinctly remember it being a ridiculously hot day, 36-odd degrees with cicadas chirping their heads off as you’ve seen or heard in just about any anime depicting summertime in Japan.

This day was no different heat-wise. Stifling, oppressive and humid with the occasional ocean breeze wafting through for a temporary respite. Yet people flocked in the thousands to this island for these fireworks. Granted, they were impressive, but the conditions and commute are not for everyone, as I witnessed several incidents of people pissing and moaning about how hot it was or complaining about how long was it going to take to get on the ferry, even though they just got to see a free fireworks display that lasted for an hour or so.

A fair warning to anyone intending to go to this festival: if you choose to sit on the beach, right in front of the temple gate, the tide WILL come in while you are watching the fireworks. Until next time!

Some Reflections

Paul — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 07:27:50 +0000

I can adequately sum up my time in Australia by using one word…

Busy.

I can’t even accurately recall most of my time in Melbourne because it was largely a blur. I feel terrible because I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted to catch up with.

But my trip served a far greater purpose than I expected it to – the realisation that Melbourne will be the city I spend most of my natural life in. That may seem like a fairly easy decision to come to for some people, but since coming to Kyoto it made me think about other places in the world I would like to live. It’s a surprisingly short list, upon reflection, but one I’d like to attempt to complete.

I can’t honestly say when I’m coming home, but my gut feeling is that it’ll be sooner rather than later.
There’s no apter quote than Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – “There’s no place like home.”

There’s every chance that my circumstances/situation might change, but while I’m sitting at this keyboard and typing these words, that’s how I currently feel.

I snapped back into Kyoto life pretty quickly. That is to say, drinking to excess often with a variety of folks. Here are some highlights from my first week back.

I’m not really sure to make of this…

Firstly, buta means pork or pig in Japanese. But ‘U’ is pronounced ‘oo’, but the other two ‘O’s in the title look like a pair of boobs. So… pig boob parking?

One of the biggest things I indulged in while I was back in Melbourne was coffee, so I went out of my way to find more coffee places in Kyoto. I came across one near Fushimi Inari called Vermillion. I kind of feel like I should set myself a challenge – walk/jog/run to Vermillion every day, my reward being great coffee, and then walk/jog/run home covering about 10km in distance.

They also happen to have some really nice sticky date pudding…

Another day was spent going to no less than three festivals in one day.

First up, the Saiin Music Festival. I managed to get to it last year too and vividly remember a cover of John Denver’s ‘Leavin’ on a Jet Plane’ which hit me so hard in the feels I had to lean against a wall to stay upright. This year I tried to watch a performer known as ‘Guitar Panda’ but completely misunderstood the directions. For the sake of clarification, ‘Guitar Panda’ is a rock’n’roll outfit that largely consists of a guy playing the electric guitar while in a panda suit. And this particular set was going to be played on a train ride between Arashiyama and Saiin. Regret doesn’t quite sum up how I feel about missing that event.

But I ended up at Cafe Front, where a good friend of mine was supervising all of the day’s happenings there. Cafe Front looks like it hasn’t been touched since the ’70s, or perhaps even the ’60s. I’m not great with estimating interior design decades, so I’ll let the picture do the talking instead.

Later, on my way back to Kyoto, Nakamura-san contacted me and told me to swing past a local festival that was taking place.

This event was held at an abandoned high school. It was lterally an event being held to celebrate the neighbourhood, from what I could understand.

That kid had some serious skills, for the record.

And last, but not least, I checked out the same light-up festival I went to last year around Sanjo Kamogawa.

And then another night of my first week back consisted of an all-you-can-eat/all-you-can-drink Taiwan-themed night at a local bar near my house, which led to karaoke, which led to extremely drunk wandering home and a 4:30pm wakeup the following day.

The Night Before a Flight

Paul — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 14:51:44 +0000

I’ve never understood why airlines maintain this nonsense about arriving 3 hours early for an international flight.

They basically just want to make you wait for the sake of waiting. First, you wait to check in. Then you wait to have your bags scanned and ‘random’ explosive device scans. Then you gotta bypass customs – guess what – more waiting. After that, you have to wait at the freakin’ gate some more. Finally, you get on the damn plane and you have to wait for it to take off.

So yes, I haven’t updated this blog in some time. I have been busy/occupied with all matters of nonsense, some serious, others not so much. Some of the not so serious stuff included digesting one of these.

Yes, that’s another variety of Gari-Gari Kun. This particular one is shou cream, or CREAMPUFF flavour. You can only get these in 7-11s around Japan. It is probably one of the most amazing ice-creams I’ve ever tasted. It even has custard in the middle which isn’t frozen solid.

In other news, I’ve completed my contract at Coco Juku. I worked with a great group of people and had many great students, but I felt there were better opportunities out there for me. I’m not sure where exactly just yet, but somewhere.

I know that I still want to spend more time in Japan. I’m still enjoying life here and my Japanese is steadily improving. There have been many different options discussed in the past two months, but most of them have been all smoke and no fire. Some of these opportunities could have been potentially life-changing. The others? Not so much. Job interviews, requests for interviews and things of that nature.

The month I’m about to spend in Australia promises to be an amazing one. I’ll be fortunate enough to spend a lot of quality time with family and friends before coming back to Japan for another stint.

More things that occurred at random in the past few weeks here!

At this particular bar in Kyoto, you have to pay a 200Y charge. Now, the charge system is nothing new to Japan, but not as many places these days enforce it or have one. It’s a service charge, in most cases, but you usually get something in return – a small snack or something like that.

This bar gives you all-you-can-eat peanuts for the mere sum of 200Y. There’s something immensely gratifying about cracking peanut shells. It’s one of those activities that I could spend countless hours doing over and over again, without any kind of goal or resolution in sight. Much like this blog.

Lo and behold, the wave of self-deprecation begins to show itself off the far coast.

Back to the bar. So you have all these shells lying around in front of you. What does one do with said shells?

Why, feel free to throw them on the floor in any way you see fit.

Naturally, I tried to find as many creative ways to drop peanut shells as I could, much to the bemusement of the staff and friends I was with. Perhaps I have a future as a prop comic?

To even write that sentence must mean that I currently loathe myself in a way I never thought possible.

When you’re trying to find luck, look no further than a bagel, apparently.

Sure. “Luck” is in the “hole”. Right…

The sign on the right there also states… My “Bagel” Life Start! ..it was a month-long promotion that had different bagel types on different days, but apparently the whole thing was that you should only be eating bagels every day?

On top of that, you could buy a bagel container of sorts that had 13 or so different bagel bits in it.

And of course, I ended up at Oktoberfest celebrations in Nara. Besides being a bit on the steep side price-wise, I had a lot of fun with a group of people I’d basically met for the first time. Dancing happened. I imbibed something to the tune of 4 or 5 litres of beer.

Well, I’m going to cut this off here. Japan, I will see you soon. Australia, catch ya in a day or so, cobber.

When the Words Don’t Flow

Paul — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 07:35:26 +0000

I’ve been finding it harder and harder to concentrate on my writing these days.

Boring you to death with the details would be unfair on you, dear reader, so I will focus on something I definitely know I can write about.

By and large, my time in Japan has been a very positive experience. Such is the nature of my personality that from time to time I drift into focusing too intently on any negative experience, no matter how minor or significant it may have seemed at the time.

But one particular moment in the last two weeks stood out to me.

It occurred while I was on a train ride home from work. This particular train is an express, so there’s often large gaps of time between stops.

At one particular stop, a young girl who couldn’t have been more than 9 years old boarded the train. She was being helped onto the train by a middle-aged man. He was holding her by the shoulders and at first, instructed her to grab onto the arm of another girl that had just boarded the train, at which point I assumed was her sister. But the other girl was reluctant to let her hold her arm, so the middle-aged man instructed her to hold onto the handrail right next to me, so I made as much room for her as I could.

At this stage, I assumed that the man I’ve mentioned was a relative – her father or uncle, perhaps.

As the train departed, the man started saying to the girl that she should work hard in school and go to university and things of that nature.

Then he stops talking and reaches into his bag and pulls out a large bottle of Japanese alcohol, half-finished, and starts taking swigs from it while trying to call someone on his phone unsuccessfully.

Once he has decided that his phone call was being ignored, he turned his attention back to the girl.

He started by lecturing her again on working hard at school and university and the like.

Then it became very apparent to me this man was in no way related to this young girl at all.

Because then he says the equivalent of “You’re very cute, aren’t you?”

To break from the narrative for a moment, my Japanese isn’t so great. Not great enough to tell a guy off unless I was going to use some really blunt, rudimentary Japanese.

But as soon as this guy started talking about how cute this girl was, I instantly felt sick to my stomach and hoped someone else would intervene.
The man kept routinely taking swigs from his bottle.

So then he switches from Japanese to English and says “Very beautiful” and starts making kissing faces at her, then says “Cookie girl” and pats her on the head.

At this stage, I am so overcome with anger that my hand holding the overhead rail starts shaking. I’m at a loss for what to say in this situation, so I look around at other people on the train and try to make eye contact with them to intervene or say something.

Only, no-one does a fucking thing.

There were several businessmen standing within earshot. Nothing.

It gets to the point where this guy keeps insisting she study hard and starts forcibly tapping her on the head.

Still. Nothing. The poor girl just kept saying “Yes” over and over again. And nobody said a damn thing to this guy. This frustrated me beyond reason.

There was a young woman nearby who was as distressed as I was at this situation, but she didn’t want to intervene while the train was moving.
When we arrived at the next station, the man said to the girl “Shall we go?” or something of that ilk.

Thankfully, the young woman I mentioned and her friend surrounded the girl and walked her off the train at the next stop, making sure that the guy didn’t follow her.

The drunken fuckwit continued to drink on the train, try to pick fight with random passers-by and then pass out on the floor in a pool of his own spit.

So when the words don’t flow, pick ones that do, even if they’re not great. There are plenty of times where my lack of Japanese can amount to slight frustration, but I decided I would never want any situation like that to play out in front of me again, so I’m studying harder than I ever have since coming to Japan.

One Year Anniversary and Visitors: Part 3

Paul — Mon, 19 May 2014 12:47:39 +0000

First! Umeda Sky Building.

So this building is 40-odd floors high. You can go up to what they call the ‘sky garden’, where there’s all manner of things to interact with and do. As a matter of fact, the more I say about these particular things, the higher the chance I’d ruin the experience for you. So I will say nothing except that it is well worth visiting should you find yourself in Osaka with not a lot to do.

So it’s about time to escalate the situation.

Ah, escalator puns. This shot is from the actual sky garden, which is basically a large observatory deck that you can get a 360 view of Osaka from. One tip I will give you is that those mirrors you can see actually have quite a neat visual trick. You could be standing right next to someone while looking at those mirrors, but they’ll be in one of the other panels. My parents and I spent – well, to be perfectly honest – longer than we should trying to figure the trick out.

What’s great about the Umeda Sky Building is that when it seems like it’s this massive chunk of steel that says more about technical advancements in architecture and buildings, there’s places like this to chill out…

..which you can walk through and completely forget that you’re actually near anything that has been built by man. The irony, of course, is that this is a landscaped garden. But it’s a nice garden all the same.

MORE THINGS TO LOOK AT!

This is Ginkakuji. I’d never visited this temple before, but it was well worth the trip. And it was nice to share something new to me with my parents.

HERE IS WHERE I AM WRITING THIS POST.

And back to the pictures of the pretty temple.

Shapely and awesome.

Right near Ginkakuji, I wholeheartedly endorse the vegan chocolate cafe, Cacao Magic. Why? You ask.

Because…

I’m sorry. I just needed to take some time to clean up all the drool from remembering how damn awesome that chocolate tart, almond milk hot chocolate and the chocolates were. One of the chocolates I ate had five different types of spices in it. Using the word ‘amazeballs’ doesn’t quite do it justice.

The Philosopher’s Walk is also near this particular area, which is a nice stroll that’ll last about 20-30 minutes if you take your time where you can reflect on, well, philosophy, I guess. There were also some homeless cats that hang around near one of the ends of the path. Oddly enough, that was the first time I had walked that path too.

And now here’s a shot of a building that I just could not make any sense of whatsoever.

If you say so, building. If you say so.

And what would an entry in this blog be without referencing something random I put in my mouth?

Someone asked me to describe the taste of these. The best answer I could give them was “warm piss, but if it was a potato stick”.

Here’s a list of things I would rather eat than these Mountain Dew flavoured potato sticks…

Demon shit

Hate-infused grapes

Burnt used nappies

Fire

Chocolate (dead rat flavour)

ANYTHING EVER.