The Last Lecture / Passions in Life

I recently watched a video that was very inspiring. It’s about a professor from Carnegie Mellon named Randy Pausch who was diagnosed with cancer and was told he had 3-6 months to live. The video is about his “Last Lecture” or if you were to give one last lecture before you died what would it be? The video has a lot of good points in it and I highly recommend watching it. Here’s the link:

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

In addition to this lecture there are few other lectures by Randy Pausch that I highly recommend watching. If you’re interested I can send you links.

There were many points in the lecture I found highly interesting. The first being: “Brick walls are there to keep out those who don’t really want it.” (Whatever task, goal, ect. “it” may be) There are always going to be metaphorical brick walls or obstacles you must overcome. If you don’t persevere you want break through them and achieve your goals.

One of my life examples is I want to learn Japanese. But they use a writing system that uses over 2000 different characters. This to me a brick wall I need to overcome in order to learn Japanese.

To summarize some of the other key points in the lecture.. (I won’t do them full justice so if you want to read on make sure you watch the lecture!) I agree with all of his points and want to apply them in my life, if they don’t already apply.

• Never lose your child like wonder (It’s just too important)
• Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore in life? (You can’t change the cards your dealt, but you can control how you play the cards) Basically find fun in everything you do.
• Help Others

Something to add to this point is that I remember reading an article I forget where that was about a study. The study was done to see what gives more satisfaction, giving or receiving a gift. Surprisingly giving a gift generated significantly more satisfaction and happiness than receiving. I believe this is true with no only gift giving but in general in terms of helping someone.

• Focus on others not yourself
• Apologize if you screw up (This sounds obvious but sometimes we don’t do it, myself included)
• Show Gratitude
• Get a feedback loop and use it/apply it
• Don’t complain, work harder

The example he uses is Jackie Robinson where despite being hated by millions and even spit on, simply worked harder.

• Find the best in everyone no matter how long it takes. (This one I believe even though it can be a draining task)

• Luck is where preparation meets opportunity

• Lead your life the right way and karma will take care of itself, your dreams will come to you.

Something else that the video said is something I’ve know but highly advocate. You won’t ever find real happiness in money or material objects. The real reward you get is from the experience you obtain. The difference between money and time is that you can make always make money back, you can never get your time back.

The video also made me want to re-examine what some of my passions are in life. By understanding your own passions it can help you figure out what you should do with your life, and how to live it. I think that pursuing your passion is one of the better ways to find happiness in life. One thing to remember is that everyone has a different definition of happiness and that there is a vast range of what happiness can mean. Although this may be true I think that no matter what your definition may be, pursuing one’s passions will lead to happiness.

Here is the list of my passions that I came up with. I wasn’t able to finish the list but I came up with a couple big ones.

Experiencing and Learning –
The world is a huge place, there are tons of people in it and there is also a ton to experience. I have the opportunity, why not experience it. This is part of the reason why I am where I am today.
For some reason learning makes me feel good, there’s something rewarding knowing that I’m becoming a smarter and better person with everything I learn and experience.

Helping others –
I’m not entirely sure but I’d like to think I’ve done a lot to help others over my life. I want to continue to do so. The satisfaction that comes from it is very rewarding knowing that you’ve made someone else’s life better, even if its because of some small thing you’ve done for them. I think I’ve given lots of advice to friends throughout my life. I don’t know if they seek me in particular or what but I really enjoy giving them advice. I hope that whatever their situation is or was I helped them with it. I don’t know this may also be a reason why I am teacher now?

Relationships/Making new ones and maintaining existing ones –
One thing I’ve realized over my life is that someone may say “Oh man I love (insert city/area).” I think one thing they may not realize is that what they really love is the people in that area that they’ve met/befriended. In my opinion it’s the people, not the place that makes one’s life great. An example I have and can share is Tokyo. I love Tokyo because there’s tons to do, but if I were to go back today it simply wouldn’t be the same. Almost everyone I met while studying there is no longer there, so it simply won’t be as fun or great as it was then.

Sports – Staying active
I don’t know what it is, I don’t drink coffee, nor do I really drink soda -- I’m not exposed to much caffeine, but I almost always have tons of energy. I was never diagnosed with ADD or ADHD haha but sometimes I can’t sit still. I love sports because they keep me active and because I have a healthy competitive drive. It’s important to also realize the difference between a healthy and negative competitive drive. What I mean by this is the means you go to achieve your goal. An example of a negative competitive drive would be if you cheat in order to win, or lose sight of the most important aspect of the game itself, to have fun/enjoy yourself. I believe competition is important because it drives us to better ourselves, improve our skills, and generally promotes progress. I think one of the reasons I like video games so much is because of the competition in the game. I don’t really play any games here in Japan but recently I’ve only been interested in multiplayer games that involve teamwork to achieve a goal. This is very similar if not the same as my passion for sports.

I have more passions, but this is what I’ve come up with so far.


What’s your passion in life?

A Fun Weekend

So from Wednesday to Friday I taught at Ueno, everyday went great. I get along with pretty much all of the teachers there really well. I wasn't able to show them my slide show but I talked with a few of the teachers a bit. The 2nd grade was great. I taught them for the first time, and now I think I've introduced myself to all the teachers/students finally. So no more introductions anymore! Which is good and bad because now eveyone knows me, but I like the self introductions, they're fun!

Friday night we all went out to Tanuma and tried to go to a french food place in a hotel, but it turned out it was closed. So we started walking around to find a new place, at first we wanted to get Pizza but we changed our minds, after that we met with Robb. He recommended a place close by so we headed there. We had a few beers and got some food. Here's my meal after I already ate some hah:


Good stuff. Matt was telling me a story of how he has this Autistic teacher at his school that say HEY MATT! Then just stands there. Or like says very obvious stuff like you have class today. He's like yep, then they both stand there for 10 minutes until the teacher walks away haha. So funny. Here's a video of it:

Anyways after that everyone wanted to go out to an Izakaya (Kind of like bar/food place) but I decided to call it a night because I was going to wake up early to go play Ultimate Frisbee in Utsunomiya. I had to get up at about 8:00am because it takes an hour to get there and I was supposed to meet someone at 10:00.

Saturday morning I woke up at about 7:30 automatically before my alarm hah because I'm in a rythm or something.. Anyways got all ready and headed to the station and barely made the train I needed to catch at 8:50. Finally arrived in Utsunomiya around 8:50 where I met Atsuhiro. I've emailed him alot but this was the first time we met. He thought I was going to be big and tall because I was American ahha, nope, he was taller than me. I told him I'm Japanese size and he laughed. Anyways he's a really nice guy because he picked me up and drove me to the fields even though he never met me.

We ran drills and played Ultimate all day, and it was so fun because it has been so long since I've played Ultimate Frisbee. Everyone on the team is really nice and apparently two of the girls on the girls team played in the world finals, which is amazing. One of them had most points scored at like 50 something, which is alot... They all did their best to talk to me in English, and I did my best to speak in Japanese, they said for only studying for 4 months I'm really good. Atsuhiro helped with translations from time to time, I also brought my Dictionary ha.

I asked for a group picture and they said why!? I was like what? Then they told me Why = Y and Y = Yatta which means YAY! So after that lesson in Japanese I took the pictures haha. Here's the teams, The boys team name is Hot Scream and the girls is Chaoz. They told me Hot Scream doesn't make sense in English and agreed, but said it was cool team name. Also Chaoz means gyoza apparently (I think? I don't really know.) I told them in English it looked like Chaos which meant crazy and they all laughed about it and were excited.

After playing ultimate with them all day they wanted me to come with them to go drinking. I had to decline because Atsuhiro had to go, and he was my ride so I don't think I'd be able to make it back to Sano if I stayed with them. Plus Atsuhiro was the only one who spoke enough English to really understand me and he was leaving hah. Anyways, next time I'll hang out/go drinking with them if they throw out the invite because that'd be alot of fun.

Atsuhiro drove me back to the station and I took the train to Oyama, where I waited around a bit then met up with everyone from Sano. After that we went to Adrian's place and had a little house party. I didn't drink but it was alot of fun. Just hanging out talking enjoying our convenience store food haha. I got potato salad, gyoza (which is like dumplings) and Peach Water haha. While at this convenience store this cat wouldn't leave me alone so I took a picture with it, because you know I like taking pictures with everyone.
Hahah... I think the flash made it angry. After that we headed back and just talked and enjoyed our time at Adrian's Place. He has a really nice place and its huge, but he pays alot for it apparently. I enjoyed the whole day really. Afterwards Yukari drove back home to Sano and I found out I couldn't get my bike because the parking thing I parked at closed. Anyways I asked Yukari if she'd drive me home because she lives close to me and she said it'd be ok. I was super greatful, we talked a bit on the ride back, all in Japanese. I was proud of myself haha! Turns out shes the same age and she just graduated. She was an English major but I don't think she spoke much English that night, but I think she understands more than can speak like me and Japanese.

She dropped me off then I went to bed. Woke up today and walked to the station for the first time, it takes me 40 mins to walk and like 15-20 to bike there, therefore I love my bike. On the way back I accidentally scared some little girl. I was passing a field and there were some crows in it, I made some crazy noises to scare them away but they didn't move. There was a girl walking up ahead of me, and heard me. I think she thought I was some crazy foreigner so she started running away from me haha. I felt awful but it was hilarious. I wanted to go apologize but I knew it'd just scare her more so I biked a different way home so I didn't scare her anymore lol.

Tonight we're supposed to go to a Mexican food place. I'M EXCITED because it has been a while since I've had mexican. I'll bring my camera I suppose.. BLOG ABOUT IT!

Autumnal Equinox Day

Tuesday was a national holiday and there was no school. One great thing about Japanese Schools is that there are holidays like Autumnal Equinox Day. National holidays -- for things alot of the time I've never heard of.

Monday night a couple of us decided to get together and went to Shidax Karaoke. After school I got ready and headed out. Karaoke was actually alot of fun because there wasn't that many of us (only 7 of us) which makes it alot more enjoyable. Another good thing was that because it was a weeknight and because we didn't get nomihodai it wasn't ridiculously expensive.
After Karaoke finished up alot of people went home, but Becky, Oliver, and I weren't ready for that so we headed back to Becky's for some drinks. We talked for a couple hours and shared some Sake. After talking about pizza for a while we all got the munchies so we took our bikes to 7-11 and bought alot of snacks. It was a fun time and Oliver is hilarious. We discussed possibly taking a trip to Russia. At about 2:30 or so we decided to call it a night.

For Monday I sent an email out seeing what everyone was doing. I planned on possibly going to Ashikaga again except this time by train ahha. I wanted to explore a bit and maybe go to the museum there. Anyways that changed when I got an email from Kristine about playing tennis. After that I headed to a store called "House-Off" which is a 2nd hand store (used goods). I met Becky there and we both bought tennis rackets haha. Mine was only $10.00, can't beat that price. Afterwards we decided to get pizza at Salzeria (since we talked about it the night before haha). We met Carrie there and actually saw the head of all ALTs Noshiro Sensei and his family.
Good food good times. After we headed for Sano station to go to Tanuma to play tennis. Carrie went home since she wasn't feeling too well. When we parked our bikes we talked a little bit to the guys who run the bike parking place. They told us we're in the newspaper. All the ALTs were apparently printed in the local newspaper which is pretty cool, I kind of want to get a copy.

Once we finally got to Tanuma we met up with Kristine and Graham. They told us about their Mountain adventure and how they had leeches on they. SICK. Anyways Graham had to take care of business so he went home so it was just Becky, Kristine and I, we played for maybe two hours. It was alot of fun and I was happy to play sports because its been so long since I have.

After sweating it up at tennis Kristine invited us for some Shabu Shabu. We gladly accepted because we wanted a big meal after playing tennis. Once we got to the restaurant we decided to go with Sukiyaki instead of Shabu Shabu. Sukiyaki -- It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef), or a vegetarian version made only with firm tofu, slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Before being eaten, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs. (But I didn't do that haha)

Anyways at the table I was trying to tell them my idea of a restaurant that after you eat a big meal you can sleep there. A restaurant that offers food and a nap basically. But when I explained it I was full and tired so I said... "so I wish there was a restuarant where you could stuff your ass." I was going to continue to explain but they busted out laughing so I just left it at that ahah.

Today (Wednesday) I taught at Ueno and taught the kids about color. I taught 3 first grade classes. They all went nuts over the game we played. Each class/teacher handles everything slightly differently so you have to be quick on your toes. Even though theres that ambiguity I still enjoy the job it keeps it interesting haha. I'm learning new Japanese vocabulary everyday and writing it on the back of my lesson plans, then when I get home I usually put it into my online flashcard deck. So eventually when I take lessons and learn more grammar I can put the vocab to use.

Last night I talked to a guy online who is a Japanese translator but from Japanese to Korean. He's really into American football and his favorite teams are the Bears and Giants haha. I told him I liked the Broncos and he showed me some videos of Japanese people playing football here. I didn't know it existed here but they actually play it. He wants to go with me to Tokyo sometime and watch some football. Maybe I'll meet him or go with him to watch the playoffs or the superbowl. On a side note I really want to get an electronic dictionary because its so much faster haha.

Tomorrow I might bring my laptop to school for the first time. I want to show the staff some of my slideshows and maybe videos haha. We'll see how that goes.

Earthquake and Being Screwed By A Japanese Person for the First Time

My weekend was fun, and pretty eventful. Alot of hanging out with friends, went to Ken's bar (I teach the owners son) and a nice authentic Indian restaurant (all you can eat buffet .. really good). You can see the pictures of Ken's Bar HERE there's also a video on facebook of Matt and Adrian dancing. While at Ken's bar I decided to get in a picture with everyone in the bar. Oliver wanted to join me, so between us we got a picture with EVERYONE in the bar. People back home know how I like to get into pictures with random people so this is a normal thing for me and them. Haha.


So today (Sunday) was pretty adventurous I must say. I woke up at about 7 automatically like normally. Except today, after I woke up, I was laying in my bed and there was an earthquake. It started with a slow low rumbled and worked its way up to medium rumble. I was like.. should I go outside? What do I do.. didn't really know so I just sat there haha. Nothing broke or anything but it was kinda weird because it was a long earthquake. I think that was probably the 4th I've felt since I've been here.

After getting up and stuff I decided to go to Utsunomiya today and meet Shea. So after doing the usual morning routine I headed to the station. After getting there I locked my bike where I normally do behind the vending machines. I just missed the train by 3 minutes. So I had to sit and wait for an hour for the next train to come, it sucked.

After finally getting to Utsunomiya I met up with Shea and we went and bought a 2nd controller for his PS3. Then we headed for his place and got some Gyoza on the way. After getting there Shea played some games then he wanted to go grocery shopping. I offered him all my help because he doesn't really know any Japanese, so I found the stuff he'd like in the grocery store and helped him translate stuff.

After that we headed back (it was raining so it sucked) he played the demo of Star Wars the Force Unleashed. Kind of cool game.

Anyways it was getting late so I decided to head back, and it takes about an hour to get back to Sano from Utsunomiya. Once I got back I went to where my bike was. I unlocked the normal lock that I use and then started to go... then I realized my bike wasn't moving. My bike came with a built in lock on the back tire that you just turn the key and take it out and it locks (preventing the back tire from moving). I never used this lock and just left the key in the lock. So apparently some Japanese person thought it would be funny to steal my lock out of my bike tire and strand me at the station.

After being a bit pissed for a while I carried my bike to a 7-11. I called Becky and Graham and asked for their help. I figured maybe since Becky has the same bike the lock would be the same/similar. I called Graham (since he has a car) and asked for him to help me bring my bike back to my house since I couldn't ride it home. After calling for help I bought a screwdiver set and started to break apart the lock. After taking it apart as much as I could with the screwdriver Becky showed up. She took the screwdriver and jammed the lock apart slightly at the weakest part of thin aluminum. After getting this foothold Graham busted out some pliers he had. We used our hands and the pliers to bend it as much as possible. After Graham and I tried to bend it for about minutes I finally decided I was going to do it. I went super saiyan and used all my strength and bent it enough to get it off.




If it wasn't for Becky's idea to rip it at the aluminum part and for Graham's pliers and man strength, I probably would have still been pissed and walking home.

Now I've decided to keep the lock as a trophy and reminder to A. Not leave the key in the lock. B. Not trust all Japanese People. C. Don't be a fool.

So I owe Becky/Graham alot of thanks. They're pros for coming out to help me in my time of need. I'll have to buy them a dinner/beer soon. If you're reading THANKS GUYS!