Winding up to wind down and completely wound up. Well, it appears as if OT has utterly dried up in my company, as well as planning periods for those of us, like me, who are ostensibly in charge of the branches we work at. It might just be the ideal moment to jump off the Nova boat, if it weren't for the gadloads of money they throw at me for flapping my jaw - relative to teaching in Thailand of course. I think I've got everything pretty much cleared up minus a couple things to be sold, thrown out or given away. The social calendar is really starting to fill. In fact, I got a bit of a surprise visit from Molly Fitzpatrick the other day. She was returning from Southeast Asia where she was doing some work related to a travel agency she works for. Living at home in Keene, she was bemoaning life in the US a bit, which always makes me feel justified in my choice not to return and take up my rightful place as an entry level insurance salesman, or junior department manager at Walmart. Plus, Molly assures me that all Americans are just as discontent as their televisions and print publications tell them they should be. Actually, now that I understand and can read Japanese, the very same thing could happen to me, so it must be the ideal moment to haul my ass out of here and to some place where three square is a worthy accomplishment.

Elated by W’s victory I decided to take the day off work; it
‘s my company after all, I’ll do as I please. Turning the key in the ignition, I rev the engine of my Suburban several times in a symbolic gesture to those who would cripple America’s oil supply. Although I have the time and the McDonald’s is not crowded, I opt out of eating in. Instead I order my Big Mac Super-Sized Meal via the drive-thru (eating while driving is a true act of Patriotism and I’ll do anything American on this fine day). After washing down the burger and fries with one of those gargantuan Cokes that resemble a carton more than cup I find a parking space on the main street. A shelter-impaired individual sits on the street with an empty Starbuck’s coffee cup full of change. I’m feeling so good Junior’s back in office that I give the man a swift kick to the face (instead of the ass where he needs it) and grab his cup of change, thereby enabling him to reclaim his financial independence, rather than leeching of the system. In what could only be described as serenedipiditious coincidence I notice the meter has expired on a parking space in which sits a Mercedes E class. Using my newly acquired change, I fill the meter and help out the unfortunate owner of such a fine piece of engineering (albeit not American, but our unknown driver is no doubt Republican, so I forgive this). In a celebratory mood, I make my way into Mike’s Gun Emporium and treat myself to a little number that I’ve had my eye on since the assault rifle ban ended last month. It’s an AR15 with telescoping stock, a 30 round magazine and bayonet fix. Thanks to my man George I can finally get my hands on this little guy. Back into the Suburban, I aim it homewards. On the way, I spot two long-faced liberals pulling up Kerry/Edwards signs. I roll down my window and pump several rounds into the damn Democrats. The Bible tells me ‘Thou shall not kill’, but truly these guys did not love America. At home I turn on my Direct TV to further revel in the win. Tonight I will make love to my wife for the first time in months (so what if she’s overweight, more than half of the population is, which is just about the same percentage of people who got GWB back in office). My wife loves America and so do I. We will fall asleep, ensconced in our Martha Stewart (BTW, insider trading isn’t such a big deal IMO) bedspread that is in the design of Old Glory, the American Flag. I will pray to the Lord thanking him for once again putting Bush/Cheney in the White House where they belong. God Bless America.

Sitting at home waiting for a call for OT. I've been going at it like mad. I already have 29hours this month. I had 46hours last month. All this work doesn't leave for much time and what little free time I've had has been spent doing an online TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) . I've succesfully sent off three boxes of stuff to Thailand and Jenjira is moving out of Bangkok next month to live with her mother up north until I come. We plan to live in a city called Khon Kaen, but in the interim she'll stay in her hometown, which isn't so far from KK. My course of vaccinations are almost done and next week I'll pick up a tourist visa at the Royal Thai Embassy of Tokyo. Almost there. It's been an extremely stressful half year for me. I'm sad to be leaving Japan, but definitely looking forward to the move.

Back at this after a long time absent. I logged 56 lessons of OT in the month of July, hence only two days off. Due to this work intensive lifestyle, I haven't had much time for anything of interest. All work and no play makes Matt a dull boy. I plan to keep up at this pace until December when I move to Thailand. My apologies for lack of wry prosiac insights into life in Asia, but I''ve never felt more Japanese than when doing fifty plus hour weeks.

Been a while since I've updated primarily due to the recent move that I've made. That done, I again have some free time, but not much as I'm pulling six and seven day work weeks in preparation (financial) for my upcoming move to Thailand. Tentative date is December 15th. I hope to be a bit better about contributing to this, but I am still at the mercy of my room mate as I sold my desktop and have yet to get a laptop.

Anyway, great stay in Kuala Lumpur at a very expensive hotel that was well worth it just for the view of the towers. We also had lunch at a rotating restaurant on the KL tower, so I got a good feel for the city and its layout. We took a plane for about one hour and a taxi for another to get us to a jetty from where it was another thirty minutes to the island. The journey was worth it for the isolation. It was probably the nicest place I've ever been in terms of well preserved beach/jungle and lack of people. However, we were reliant on the resort for all our meals and the food and service left something to be desired. The snorkeling was great. Coral lay at both ends of the half-moon shaped beach. It was the best snorkeling I've ever done and it was right off the beach - no boat necessary. Coming back we stayed at Khota Baru one night. It's a conservative Muslim city - everyone in full dress. Very interesting. I claimed I was Canadian at this point in my stay when questioned by a vendor sitting directly in front of a mosque, otherwise I said I was from the US and didn't get any special reactions. All and all another excellent trip that was much too short. The pics this time around weren't great, but definitely worth a glance. Just check out the picture link at right.

I'm back from Malaysia. Great trip...for the most part. Fascinating mix of cultures, ethnicities and religions. As usual, I've got a slew of pictures that I will post, but as I'm now at the mercy of internet cafes and friends for my online access, I will not be able to post pictures immediately. A quick rundown of the trip - after one night in Bangkok (no not the song by Murray Head)we flew budget airline Air Asia - you have to pay for food and no assigned seating - to Kuala Lumpur. After a long taxi ride we arrived at the Mandarin Oriental. This five star hotel was situated right next to the Petronas Towers, the tallest buildings in the world. From the 21st floor of the hotel we still had to crane our necks to look up at the towers. Anyway the hotel room was expensive, but well worth it. We hit a posh nite club and drank too much. The next day was shopping and a great Indian restaurant. (To be continued)

I've been told that this blog hasn't been online, but then again neither have I. Off to Malaysia today. Will keep you posted as much as　possible, but my modem is busted so...

The Alien is very tired, even exhausted, so it's probably good luck that he couldn't find overtime today. You can tell things are coming apart when you start talking about yourself in the third person. My passport came back with some new pages inserted. I'm very excited. I'm also reading a book by Anthony Burgess (wrote Clockwork Orange) about the post WWII period in Malaysia. Very interesting stuff. I think that I'm up to about two fifty in page count on the novel. I think I should take a nap. I'm looking for a new default homepage as I've decided that reading the New York Times everytime I sing on the net is depressing. Oh, by the way, the Alien has gone vegetarian, well, not really, but a little. It's almost impossible to avoid meat in Japan. The other day I bought a piece of bread that was advertised as corn and mayonnaise, but the still managed to conceal some ham in it. You may ask, "why the reduced meat diet?" That's for another entry.

Funny thing going to the American embassy in Tokyo, the security was tighter than a virgin's..., whoa, hold up, my mom reads this thing. Anyway, before I even got within three blocks of the building there was a cop asking me where I was going and why. I told him I wanted to get pages added to my passport. He let me through, but I played the Q&A game twice more before arriving at the gate. Before getting buzzed through the gate I had my bag searched and went through a metal detector. I was, then in the compound, but not in the building. Once in the building there was another metal detector and a Marine behind bullet proof glass buzzing people into the area, where, finally, I could talk to a paper-pusher about my passport pages. I felt damn important, I'll tell you that much. Thing is, after all that serious security, I get to talk to your typical happy go lucky American embassy staffer who can't resist sharing the latest lawyer joke he's heard. Gotta love the States.

In unrelated news, I'm adding a Japan section to my picture pages, so click on the pictures link to see what I've put on recently.