Okay, after the debacle of last weekend, hopefully my luck will make some kind of recovery. Hey, I just won a game of shogi (my second in total) against a rather skilled opponent. I used a couple standard chess tricks (forks, checkmate with a “knight”) and always went on the offensive. Shogi, like chess, is one of those games that benefits from an aggressive stance. In that regard, it’s not unlike everyday life, or the fine art of picking up girls, something I’ve found myself in the position to do more of now. Hmm… while that probably deserves an explanation, I’ll leave it for later.

Let’s just say that there’s a cute girl at the korokke stand in front of Seiyu who speaks English. Just wait, world, I’m coming to your doorstep with a bat.

I finally opened up the boxes that arrived on Wednesday. My computer was a mess. I don’t know if they dropped it or ripped it apart and didn’t put it together or what. The detachable motherboard mount had come completely off the case, bending the six metal clips holding it in place. The video card and wireless card had been physically rent from their positions and their mounting brackets contorted. The DVD drive was wedged back half an inch in its bay, and of course the inside of the acrylic side panel is marred with scratches. Thankfully I had the foresight to remove the hard drives in advance, but I’m trying to comprehend the impact necessary to do that much damage. What, did they drop it out of the f**king airplane at 30,000 feet?? I’ll be lucky if it still works at all.

The day started out with a bang– they wanted me to get a physical on Tuesday. That would have been OK except for the big Miyagi “orientation” from Monday thru Wednesday. So instead I got to run the gauntlet today. Yes, please check my blood pressure as you prepare to jab a needle in my arm. Also make sure it’s immediately after a battery of questions about my lifestyle IN JAPANESE. I’m certain that won’t affect the reading at all. Oh well, guess I did better than the poor guy who drove me. He nearly passed out.

Other than that, I learned how to play shogi (a variant of chess) from a student.

I just got back from a bug hunt with the science teacher from school (Nattori-sensei) and his wife and 5 year old son Yuki. I’m always stunned by the complete fluency of kids that age, though I’m about to the point where I can understand everything he said, if not replicate it.

Anyway, we drove out to the bridges of Kami-gun in search of bugs. And did we ever find them. Wow.

I’m talking about moths the size of your hand and pincer beetles several cm long. Yuki discovered (by accident) that the best way to catch a fist-sized locust is by standing over it until it flies up your pants.

I hadn’t mentioned this before, but the father also gave me a box with several large beetles in it. So now I have several pet bugs. Neat!