3 March 2006

I am halfway into Day Three Of Having No Hot Water™. 

All is well... 

Do you know how much you use hot water? You use it ALL the time, yo. You use it for washing dishes. You use it for washing your hands (as opposed to the ice-cold water from the tap). You use it when you brush your teeth. You use it for shaving, and you use it for showering. 

Pretty much all the time. 

So when you are on Day Three Of Having No Hot Water™, you notice. 

I spent Wednesday trying to figure out what was wrong -- I assumed there must be something stupid, something obvious... Obviously there wasn't. So I couldn't shower, and therefore went to my classes at Denen wearing a baseball hat. Pathetic, I know -- but I spent so much time trying to get the thing working that I no longer had time to pursue alternative courses of action. So that was my stinky, baseball-hat Wednesday. 

Then yesterday I finally took a shower over at the church -- my first shower in 48 hours -- and though I hadn't time to shave (and therefore still LOOKED rough around the edges), at least I was, shall we say, less stinky. No more baseball hats, and I thanked the heavens it's winter (and not the steamy days of summer).  

Meanwhile, Satoh was really kind -- he called the gas company, then he actually WENT to the real estate place, then called the gas company again -- all that just to help me get someone to come check it out, and/or fix it, and/or relieve me of my non-bathed misery. 

Okay, so the guy comes this morning -- dressed in his pale green uniform, and talking up a storm. I can't understand a single thing the guy is saying he's talking so fast, so I kept asking him to please say it again, I'm sorry, can you say that one more time -- but the guy's shooting out Japanese words like a machine gun. 

But I can get this much:

"You no have hot water today. Maybe Tuesday."

I could say nothing in response. Fortunately, he could read that I was praying for a plague of locusts or some such on the gas company if they honestly expected me to wait until TUESDAY for them to fix this thing. So he gets on the phone, and after a couple of calls, I still can't understand what he's saying, but I got this much:

"Okay, we change outside today, tomorrow do inside. So today, you no have. Tomorrow, okay?!?"...

... and when he said "okay" he tilted his head to the side, held his hand up next to his smiling face, and gave me the universal sign of "okay"...

So I guess I need to gather up my stuff and head on over to take a shower at the church again. God is so good that this is merely an inconvenience, and nothing more. It's such a small thing, really -- but even such a minor thing like this makes you think about how much you have, and how much you take for granted, you know?

. . .

I'm not sure if you saw this one today, but the McDonald's restaurants in Tel Aviv have changed their logos from red to BLUE for certain restaurants, to indicate that they are fully kosher. I'll let them pick it up from there: 

Why?!? "Kosher" is critically important to these guys, I get that point -- but can't they just stick some Hebrew and English signs up there? I mean, how are tourists who can't read Hebrew going to know what the BLUE means anyway?!? 

I don't know why I even care -- but I honestly don't like it somehow... 

6 March 2006

Please -- it's important that you work on your English PRONUNCIATION...
   

9 March 2006

Kamaro-san is in da haus... 

I call him Kamaro-san because of his blue 1981 Camaro which has been parked outside my windows for the last year and a half. 

That car has sat there and -- as far as I have known -- not been moved or even TOUCHED for the entire time. I mean, back in December he came one night and was rummaging around in the back seat to get something -- but other than THAT, I have never seen the guy, and the car has not moved even one inch. Not one bit, for over a year and a half. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

But suddenly, this guy and his 1000 friends have decided that this is their new motorcycle gang hangout. The last three nights they have set up spotlights -- YEAH!!! spotlights!! -- which illuminate my entire apartment even in the dead of night... and THEN they stand 2 feet outside my window until past midnight smoking, laughing, leaving bags of McDonald's takeout on the ground, and revving the engine of that crappy Camaro. And dude -- that Camaro is gonna rumble this whole apartment to the ground. I've LITERALLY been in earthquakes that shook my apartment less.  

Clearly this is a horrible development. Did he just get out of prison or something? Did they just pull off a bank job up north and come back here to re-group? Or what? And yeah, I felt guilty for a second, because I wondered if I was supposed to go out there and try to be friends with them or something. Nothing happens by accident, you see, and them suddenly showing up must MEAN something. 

But then the guilty feelings that I had were literally rumbled out of my skull by them revving that engine and laughing at the top of their lungs -- something they have done for, as of this writing, almost 12 hours today... TWELVE HOURS.   

At any rate, let me say this, for the record: 
Either this is going to STOP, or I will do whatever it takes to MOVE. 

I'm serious, I can't take it. I don't know where I can move to, or how I can afford it, but I can't live like this, if this is their new plan. I can't. I won't. And there's not a single person in Japan who would, either. Trust me. 

That is all... 

. . .

Update, a few hours later:
I felt I needed to come tell you that just after I posted the above, I realized, "Hey, wait a cotton-pickin' minute -- what am I complaining for? I need to PRAY about these suckers."

So I did -- and fifteen minutes later they were GONE. 

No joke -- GONE. And I've had my first peaceful night this week. 

Thanks to God. 
   

11 March 2006

The Kamaro-san Saga continues:
Thursday night, after I got the answer to prayerification (noted in the post above), I finally went to bed, happy to settle down to a nice quiet doze. 

But only a few minutes after turning out the light, I was startled to hear a short, sharp breaking sound... It really freaked me, it sounded like it was in my apartment -- but it was such a short sound, I knew it couldn't have been broken dishes or anything. But it crossed my mind that it sounded like a window -- was somebody trying to break into my kitchen window?!? So I grab my mag flashlight -- you know the one -- the big heavy black one, the one that takes 4 size-D batteries -- the one that cops use to smash guys over the head with -- the one that I keep next to my pillow (not for head-smashing, silly! it's for earthquakes). 

Anyway, I gingerly (and silently) arose in the dark and peaked around the corner -- nothing. Duh. Sneaking around my own apartment like an idiot ninja in purple sweats. 

But, so what was that sound? I had no idea -- went back to bed and forgot about it, as visions of pizza buffets and the Marble Slab Creamery danced in my head... 

(seriously) 

Then yesterday (Friday), Kamaro-san and his cronies failed to show all morning -- maybe they were gone for good? BUT, it was pouring rain, so I couldn't get my hopes up -- you can't very well loiter in the rain, after all. Maybe it was just a break for inclement weather.  

Then, as I left for my afternoon classes at Izumi, I noticed the front windshield of the Camaro had been HAMMERED -- dead center, just above the dash. The whole thing was broken, a web of cracks radiating from the impact point like a web -- still in one piece but completely destroyed. And obviously THAT was the sound I'd heard the night before. 

So what happened?

Let me 'splain my theory. My friend wrote to axe me, "If Kamaro-san and his gang were being so annoying, why wouldn't somebody call the cops? Like they would in the States?" 

But my feeling is no one would want to do that in Japan. This may be WAY off, but this all makes sense, see? It's a kind of non-confrontational thing, right? Wait until the gang leaves, and the fat white guy who lives next door turns out his lights, and then SMASH the thing -- "That'll teach you rude buggers to rev that engine and shine lights in our windows!"...

(Naturally my personal suspicions fall on the NORMAL gang from this block, which is led by the kid who lives across the street. I think it must have really ticked them off that they were no longer the loudest, most annoying people in the neighborhood. Think about it -- as long as that Camaro was rumbling away, no one could hear them revving THEIR engines (meaning the engines of their 15cc scooters)... or their laughter at the hilarious things they say to each other as they hang out in the street all night... or the bad techno music they listen to at full volume... or hear their girlfriends scream in mock alarm at 3am)... 

ANYWAY -- whoever did it, it doesn't matter. The point is, Kamaro-san, who I suddenly felt sorry for (he was driving me to insanity, but I didn't want somebody to smash his windshield, for crying out loud) -- but the point is, Kamaro-san didn't show up all day yesterday since it was raining. I assume he had no idea his windshield was broken.

Then, this morning he came about 9am, started the thing up, and (GASP!!) drove it off. It hasn't moved for at LEAST 18 months, but finally, after a week of driving me (and at least one person with a hammer) nuts, he just ups and drives it away. 

If any new developments come my way, I'll fill you in...  

. . .

"China's socialist system comes from God. We should all protect it and obey it. This is what the Bible tells us to do." -- Anthony Liu Bainian, vice-chairman of the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (as quoted by the South China Morning Post).

. . .

I have to get my preachin' on tomorrow -- please pray for me, if you would... 
  

14 March 2006

I felt you needed to see this:

. . .

And my friend, Li'l Stevie Irwin, felt you needed to hear THIS....
  

15 March 2006

The Buddha Boy has disappeared. 

This kid, in Nepal, is claimed to have spent months "sitting in motionless meditation in the roots of a pipal tree without taking food or water, or using the toilet, since May 16 last year."

(I like how they specifically mention that he hasn't used the toilet)...

But now -- like mi amigo, Kamaro-san -- he's gone... And they don't know where to find him. 

Anyway, I love this one quote from the article:

"The boy's followers did not permit visitors to see him during the night, raising skepticism about claims that he had been surviving without food and water."

28 March 2006

"Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it." 
                  -- quote, from senior Afghan cleric Faiez Mohammed