I fight!

Now you get to see me do some sparring. Satoko took this video at my karate test today. I'm on the right, with a black helmet and white gloves. I am fighting my friend Shane.



Punches to the head and kicks to the groin are against the rules. This was one of 4 parts of the test. The others are basics (showing off kicking, punching, blocking, etc), kata (performing certain memorized sequences of moves), and some physical challenges like stretching and standing on your hands (I failed those two, but did all right on the rest, so I think I'm okay...). I think I did all right overall. I probably passed. The question is if I have a chance to go up more than one rank, which only happens when you really impress the judges. Dunno.

Happy Thanksgiving

I didn't celebrate the past two Thanksgivings that I spent in Japan. I had no plans this year, until last weekend when I was browsing TheFlyingPig.com and discovered I could order a frozen turkey and have it arrive the day before Thanksgiving. By coincidence, Thanksgiving falls on a Japanese holiday this year so everyone had the day off. I had a small group over for a potluck dinner which included turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, two kinds of mashed potatoes, cranberries, salad, and minestrone.

After much online help from my mother, I was able to pull off the turkey. It was awesome.

for your viewing pleasure

Last weekend my friend Shane, Dorothea, Satoko, and I went to Akita to watch a karate tournament. It wasn't quite as big as I expected, but was still a lot of fun. Here is the final adult match. Click on the comments to see who was judged the winner.

Halloween and Home

Announcement: I am officially coming home this Christmas, despite what I may have said before. I will arrive in Charlotte on December 22nd and return to Japan on January 7th.

Halloween came and went. I attended a party at a bar in Misawa last weekend and this weekend I went to a kid-oriented community party in Mutsu. Of course I've done multiple Halloween related English lessons over the past week. I once again wore the black mask that I made last year. I tried it with different combinations and found my favorite to be wearing the mask with my suit and a black tie. People found it creepy, and I may have made one girl cry. Anyway, some Halloween pics:



In other news, autumn is in full swing (okay - that is not really news, I admit). There are some nice color changes in the mountains around here, and Satoko and I have gone on a couple drives in search of pleasant scenery.







And, just for the hell of it, one more reason to vote Democrat this election: