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As many of you know, I am usually swamped with work--teaching, grading, advising. You probably also know that I am a J-drama addict. I am currently watching Zettai kareshi (Absolute boyfriend), Muri-na ren'ai (Impossible love), and Rookies (Rookies). There are a few others that the family wants to watch, so I get my hands on them so we can watch them but I don't really pay attention to them. One of them, Change, seems vaguely familiar--Kimura Takuya is the son of a Representative who dies and he suddenly finds himself thrust into a political campaign he didn't really want to engage. He narrowly wins because of his honesty and uplifting character. When he reaches the Diet, a scandal breaks out about the Prime Minister and he is forced to resign. The party reputation is tarnished and they need a fresh, clean face to represent them. Yes, the new kid, the young kid steps up to run for party leader, promising henka (change), a different path than the old politics.

Sound vaguely familiar?

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It's been truly crazy weather of late. Tornados in the flatlands of middle America. Snow in the Rockies. Floods in the upper Midwest. Yesterday I jogged in the stifling heat--over 95 degrees. It's been at least 10 degrees higher than the seasonal average since Friday. But at least the heat isn't destructive, and as a SoCal boy, the heat is something I can deal with. I have learned to deal with the humidity as well, thanks to living in Japan for a number of years.

So yesterday, as I jog through a local park near our home in northern Virginia, I passed a "public house" there. No, it's not a beer joint, but a county-owned facility that residents can rent for events such as weddings. It is also the local precinct polling location. And yesterday, Virginia held its primary for congressional seats.

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Holy moly! It's freakin' cookin' outside. It's 95 degrees, 45% humidity and feels like 102 according to weather.com. But I didn't need them to tell me. I feel like a roast cooking over a low heat. If it would only melt off the fat...

Still, I went running outside for an hour. Well, more like walking and jogging a bit. I didn't want to kill myself. As I walked through the park, I saw an acquaintance with her three year old daughter and we exchanged greetings. I reminded the little girl that she should make sure to drink lots of water because of the heat, and she proudly showed me her water bottle.

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It's been a long time since I've really written anything--mostly bitching about work. And when I have written anything, it's been pretty half-assed. For whatever reason, I just haven't been able to put my heart into it. Which would explain why I would easily get bored and stop writing.

Not that anything I write now will be whole-hearted, of course. A lot of it is just a process, getting into the habit of writing. But upon reflection, I think a lot of what I did a few years back, when I wrote a lot, was based on my dissatisfaction with my life and career. My status at work was very precarious, and I felt as though I had been disrespected in a very significant way, although most--students and colleagues--would not realize this as I am pretty good at masking my feelings. And writing on Xanga was an escape of sorts from self-doubt and self-pity. Someday I will write about it (in a protected post, of course).

So where were we...

I think I may have mentioned this briefly before, but since people ask me about it rather frequently, I figure I haven't really discussed it in detail. So without further ado:

Musubichan got her greencard!

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Oh boy, now I really did it.

I just figured out a way to make myself write more... I became a Lifetime Xanga member.

Gulp...

Messy as usual

I gotta stack of papers to grade: Midterms for Bungo (literary Japanese) from last week, and today's Lit class midterm. Well, it's the 12th week of the semester so its really a latter-term exam. I do this to bring relief to my students. They are usually drowning in study during the 7th through 10th week when every oher prof gives midterms. My students don't have to worry about me until now, when they have nothing else to do... well, relatively nothing else to do. It also allows me to test them on more stuff, exactly eleven weeks worth of stuff. I mean, what's an exam if its not comprehensive, right?

Anyway, back to grading for me. The lit exam was seven pages of multiple choice, true/false, fill-ins and matching. Piece of cake, if you ask me. There was also an essay component, but I give them the topic 24 hours in advance on-line, and they have to submit it typed and formatted. This allows me to grade the essay normally (read: strictly). But that's the nature of a take-home, even if its partial.

Okay, okay, I'm going. Back to work...

Happy belated

New Year!

Man, have I been out of it or what? How is everyone?

Okay, according to some, this is not very politically correct, but I'm a psuedo-Christian--i.e. a Catholic who hasn't gone to church in ages and has a number of questions about some of the stuff the sisters force fed me in elementary school. Still, my core beliefs are similar enough to consider myself a Christian of sorts, and as a result, I still celebrate Christmas. It is, for me, the season of giving, and hoping for peace for everyone.

So Merry Christmas
to you all

...and just to cover all the bases,
Happy Holidays too!

Peace to all all of you!

Thanks for all the good wishes. Any birthday beyond the half-century mark needs all the happy wishes it can muster. Thanks to those of you who wished me well on FB, too. I am truly grateful.

should i call u Onigiriman or Ray Kanzaki then?
tanjf

On Xanga, I will always be Onigiriman, so please continue to call my Onigiriman.

Sounds like a Street Fighter name.
Street Fightin' Japanese literature professor.  Sounds about right.
Smart_BAd

I agree. It has an edgy sound to it. More street fighter than J-Lit prof, if you ask me.

Happy Birthday to you! But I still like calling you, O-man!
PicsesTiff

Girl, you can call me anything you like, but O-man will do nicely.

The last name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it will do. xD What kanji would you use to write your new last name?
onigiri

There's a critic in every crowd. Personally, I think it sounds rather cool. And for your information, Kanzaki would be written 神崎, but he will be a Japanese American so the kanji is not so important, I think.

today i made onigiri with some college kids for a party. i was a bit worried bc i've never made them before- but they turned out ok... but we argued over how to pronounce the word.. so i come to the expert- the o-man!
jerjonji

I'm glad to hear that you made some tasty rice balls. And just for you, Jerjonji--play this to hear the pronunciation of my namesake and my name.

People may not understand this, but I'm actually pretty particular about how I pronounce my name. "Onigiri" is a Japanese word and so should be pronounced with a Japanese accent. Oh-nee-gi-ri. The "r" in Japanese is a tongue flap of sorts, much like how it is in Spanish, but only one flap. Don't roll it, or you'll sound like a Japanese hoodlum. "Man", on the other hand, is English and should be pronounced with an American accent, much like Spiderman. For me, at least, the name itself has that quintessentially American comic book ring to it. Superman, Batman, Ironman, Onigiriman... Okay, maybe its just in my head...

Now this may be a stretch for you guys--please feel free to disagree--but for me it is the perfect representation of who I am. A Japanese American who values both heritages, is steeped in both cultures but tends to keep the two distinct, if not exactly separate. Like, Onigiriman--both Japanese and American (English), but joined together to make a single identity.

Back to Ray...

Just so we're clear about this: Ray Kanzaki is the name of the main character for anything I will now write. In fact, you can plug his name into any of my old stories, as well. I've felt that using my screen name sounded wierd in some of the stories. It'll be good to use a name that actually sounds like a name instead of the obviously fictitious Onigiriman--although this is preferable to some mixture of alphabets and numbers that represent aspects of my life, but end up looking like words in the game, Jumble. I could have used eastla55bruin, but that would really sound stupid in a story.

So I'm still Onigiriman--or O-man, if you prefer. Ray is just my in-story pseudonym.

Classes have come to an end, and I now have finals to look forward to. One has already been graded, for the most part. The rest is of my exams are scheduled for next week, which means once again I will be grading until Christmas.

Ugh!

But that's life for a teacher... grading, grading, grading.

Not much has been happening as of late, except for school. As the semester winds down, I get busier and busier

Sensei, sensei, can I take a make up quizzes I missed?
--Make up quizzes must be made up within a week.
Oh, sensei, sensei, pweeze, pwetty pweeze?

Sensei, sensei, can I come to your office? I don't understant how to conjugate these sffixes.
--You mean the ones we did at the beginning of the semester? Why didn't you come and see me then?
Well, I thought  understood them then, but... but... (tears well up) as I look over my quizzes, (head droops) I'm not so sure anymore.
--Oh man, DON'T CRY! Anyone who walks by might get the wrong idea!

I tell ya, it never gets easier... But then that is the beauty of this job. Every year I get a new group of students, each different, each bringing their own personalities. It definitely keeps me on my toes and helps me stay young... well, young at heart, anyway. Students I don't even know are starting to open the door for me. Is this a sign of aging? Noooooooooooooooo!

Speaking of which...

I turn half a century plus two today. Every joint in my body tells me that these numbers are not lying. So I've decided to give myself a rebirth. Well, not really a rebirth, but a new name. I've always wanted to see if I could actually write something that people would find intersting--not that this blog is an indicaiton of my talents, or lack thereof. But I thought it would be cool to write some stuff down, perhaps basing it on my own experiences. I would, of course, need a name for the main character--my alter ego, as it were--and I came up with the name Ray Kanzaki. Say it out loud. I think it sounds pretty good.

Before M came to the US, I used to go for a beer or two or five at a local hang out and the bartender there, for whatever reason, started calling me Ray. I'm not really sure why, but I never corrected him. I would just nod my head and say, "hey". In a way, it was fun--I felt like a different person, actually. But I also wondered if maybe I looked like a "Ray". You know how some people have names that seem to fit them perfectly? Well, maybe riceballs kind of look like Rays. Anyway, that's where I got the first inspiration for a character name. The last name just kinda came to me. It's not a common Japanese surname, but not overly obscure like my real name. And besides, it sounds like a real name.

So today, I release the name of my alter ego. It is now officially his birthday, as well. Please, say it out loud with me: Ray Kanzaki.

1:00; 5.13 mi.