Karaoke, cute kids return, and the ups and downs of life in Japan

WOW. So where do I start. . . I have been here 11 months and I only went to my 1st session of Karaoke about 2 weeks ago. Now, when I listen to my Mp3 player I sing along with the music. . . and I think that I sing pretty well (and I know all the words!) in my mind anyway! After my session of karaoke I NOW know that I SUCK BIG TIME! Man, I am awful! Just awful. I was trying to sing songs that I thought I knew! I didn't the words to A LOT of songs! I tried Van Halen. . .and didn't Van-know half of the words to "Jump!" Then, I thought, "I should try a 2-Pac song! I know all the words to I get around!" So there I am pumping myself up to give a performance that would have made the late, great 2-Pac proud. The music starts and . . . IT'S THE BEACH BOYS. . ."I get around!" AWWWW DAMNIT!
Another thing that I forgot to mention is that I started my 1st time at karaoke sober. Bad idea number1. I was really nervous and I downed about 3 big glasses of beer in about 15 minutes. Bad idea number 2. So after an hour of trying to sing songs that I thought I knew we left the karaoke bar drunk and a bit embarrassed (well I felt that way!) But the next session went a lot better. . .but I was waaaaaay drunk the 2nd time. . . SO I know that I was DAMN good! Heh heh heh.

I'm still teaching little kids at work but I just picked up a class that only has one little girl in it. She is the cutest kid. She could melt Darth Vader's heart. She is 5 years old and the first lesson that we had together she was so scared of me that she cried the WHOLE lesson.
And all I did was smile at her. ouch.
But since then we have bonded and we get along fine. The best thing about her is can not say the word "green". . . bless her heart she tries, but it comes out "gleen". We rock out when we do our duet of "The wheels on the bus" of course, she can only really sing the "round, round, round" part, but it's the effort that counts! What bums me out the most is that I will only have her for about 2 more lessons then she will get another teacher! sigh.

I have been spending a lot of time by myself recently and that is one of the downers about Japan. I have only a few friends and my coworkers don't have the same days off from work so it can get a little lonely in a city of 700,000 people. Can speak a lot more Japanese now, and I can ride the trains without problems. But going places alone isn't really all that fun. I know that it will take time to make friends and to experience all the things that this country has to offer. I do miss things from home too (other than Mexican food!), like having a good conversation about music or movies or the latest episode of Family Guy!
But the odd thing is when I do feel down I think of the good times that I had back home. I sort of day dream about the fun things that I have done. I tend to feel better after that and I remind myself that I have overcome more difficult challenges in my life than being alone. I know that, I am in some ways, learning about who I am. And I (now know) that this is not an easy process. It's difficult to understand a lesson in life when you are still in the lecture part of the lesson. Only later do you truly understand what was taught.
shizzle

Oh one last thing. Congrats to all those 2006 graduates from Cal Poly, good luck in the real world. . .My only advice to you is. . . you should have stayed in school! The real world sucks.
Heh heh heh.