I think I've scared myself out of attempting to write a novel this month. If I had an idea or two (really just one would be better than nothing), I think it would be fun.. but I have a big zero of ideas. I'm a bit dissapointed, but I keep reminding myself of all the other projects that I've been neglecting-stuff like learning to play guitar, submit more articles for publishing in a Tokyo magazine, write letters to the students who've written me from Nagano and continue my long distance learning courses to get me out of being a travel agent for the rest of my life. So- my new goal is to get myself to the library and attempt to explain why the librarian should be my exam proctor for Macroeconomics. I've been dragging my feet getting over there because I don't know how to explain in Japanese and can't imagine the reaction once I do. Oh, and if he/she says yes I'll have to lay out $500 to take the class/buy books- plus start studying again. Ahem. But I'm going to get it done! ASAP. That will make up for bailing on a novel writing project (Snort... no, the novel writing sounds like so much more fun!).

My trial three months are up at work so I should be signing a real contract this week. I feel like something of a failure on the work front too. Though I'm not ecstatic about my job, I've done almost nothing to find a new one- beyond e-mail resumes/letters to companies with job openings on the web. Needless to say, I've got no other alternatives besides teaching English. So- the Japanese travel agency it is. It is far from horrible and I enjoy my colleagues- I just struggle to find much *point* to the work. That's probably a very naive expectation on my part, but this is only my fifth year out here in the full-time work world and I still cling to the search for meaningful employment. Something that does more than pay my rent.

Fortunately, I can still volunteer at Second Harvest Tokyo to fill that void. Most recently, I became the co-chair of a committee established to plan the creation of Second Harvest Pantry. Currently there is nowhere in Tokyo supplying emergency food. We hope the SH Pantry will become that place. Before we get working on the Pantry itself, we've decided to try to supply food to 100 families around the holidays. We're starting by trying to locate families that would participate as recipients. Its so overwhelming to be starting a project of this magnitude from scratch- especially when I have the image of what America's Second Harvest has accomplished in the back of my mind. At this point, its probably best not to compare. It will be a great challenge, that much is certain. I just hope what we create is of value to Tokyo and that it can be sustained by both the Japanese and the international communities.

Okay, I can't even motivate myself to write about the craziness in my day to day yet for some reason my "hm... that sounds just crazy enough to dedicate an entire month to" interest has been piqued by National Novel Writing Month (NaNiWriMo). Probably inspired by the very-ordinary-ness of my current job, when not daydreaming of flying away to an exotic beach (danger of job in travel agency), I'm wondering if I could support myself as a writer. Of course, the people already signed up for this masochistic (or is it sadistic? I always mix them up) challenge all seem to have started eons ago. From skimming the forums, the NaNiWriMo authors- though none will start writing until Nov.1- have outlined, created main characters, sub-characters, invented languages (!), and some even draw pictures and maps! Yikes. That's way too much planning for this committed procrastinator.

And yet... something is still tugging at me. Maybe its the fact that I haven't written a term paper in years. Perhaps its an excuse to ignore the typical "start with small rarely read articles in local, unknown magazines and work your way up" process of becoming a writer. Why not chomp off more than I've even dreamt of being able to swallow- then everything else will be peanuts!! Or maybe I'll be so frazzled after the month of grinding out 50,000 words (that's the goal to be A Winner in the NaNiWriMo mission) that I will never want to face my laptop again.

Its got me thinking. Anyone have any good ideas for a novel?

It's coming.... (I'm approximately where his little pointer is pointer).  

More NHK broadcast. Apparently we're on typhoon number 23 for the year.  

From the current NHK newscast. Rain and flooding in Kyoto. 

This is the view out my door right now. Good thing my camera doesn't mind getting dripped on. Yes, that's right, its another typhoon! #20 something...  

The new Kuma-Tsugimoto family. 

Went to Machiko and Eitarou's wedding in Osaka this weekend... it was amazing. More photos and play by play later.  

More update on yesterday's typhoon from CNN.com:

As the storm passed through Tokyo and Shizuoka prefecture Saturday, it dumped more than 70 millimeters (3 inches) of rain in an hour, the Meteorological Agency said.
Since Friday, as much as 415 millimeters (17 inches) of rain fell in parts of eastern Japan -- nearly equal to the average rainfall for October of 470 millimeters (19 inches).
In Tokyo, workers cleared railway tracks of fallen trees and other debris that had forced the closure of local lines and mopped up several subway stations flooded by water pouring in from streets.

Back to just grey and cloudy today, ho-hum.

I really ought to stop underestimating Japanese typhoons!

According to the colorful charts and maps on the news- Typhoon number 22 (Japanese storm naming leaves a bit to be desired) is bouncing off Tokyo as I type. Airplanes are grounded, Shinkansen trains are stopped in their tracks, and the highway (tollroad) from here to Shizuoka (south of Tokyo) is closed due to wind and rain. Firetrucks are driving around with sirens begging citizens to stay inside. My door is shaking and my windows are creaking enough to make me nervous. And yet- where was I? Uh- at the mall waiting to see a movie.

Well- come on- you can only spend so much time in a two room apartment!! Seriously, it poured all night and all morning so when I woke up I kind of thought we were in the clear. A glance at the news showed we obviously weren't anywhere near clear since the big, red dot was in a direct path with Tokyo. So I went to Ueno park and handed out free food to the tent city. Logical, right? It was fun, anyhow. Some of those tents are almost the same size as my apartment- with little stoves, "doors", and what looks like sections for separate "rooms". One man was tucked inside with a cute cat- and I swear another had a TV (must have been radio). Of course, I don't envy them tonight. I hope the blue tarps hold fast.

After a shower and lunch, I had coffee and read a book across the street in a very friendly but rather empty neighborhood cafe. It was only 4 in the afternoon but it was dark enough that cars and buildings had their lights on. Then I made a spur of the moment decision to see if there were any movies playing. I rented a video- but that wasn't going to fill the whole day so I figured a real movie might be fun. By the time I got out to the "mall" (more like a department store/grocery store/Starbucks/cinema in one building), I was pretty soggy... but I bought a ticket for Fahrenheit 911 anyhow. Then I had an hour to kill so I "window shopped" my way through the bookstore, the clothing stores, and even bought some yarn to kill time tomorrow if it was still raining. To my shock though- when I returned to the theatre for the movie- they were announcing that they were cancelling all shows due to the typhoon!! I've never heard such a thing and wondered (still wondering) what the rain had to do with watching movies. We all got our money back and a free ticket for admission to another movie (if I'm reading the kanji correctly). Still in disbelief, I called Yoko and asked if I was missing something.

"What?!? You're WHERE??" Then she told me about the firetrucks... and as I was listening I reached the doors and noticed the 5 or so inches of water flowing through the plaza where the Starbucks tables are usually standing. Then I noticed the trees bending over.. hm... perhaps this was a bad idea.

I made it to the next doorway down before I dodged back inside to put my bag inside my jacket so something would be dry when I got home. It certainly wasn't going to be me. I'd been soaked during those first 10 seconds from door one to door two. The most worrisome part was that the street was flooded with water up and over the curbs. Squish, squish... I gave up on my umbrella and started jogging.

Halfway home I ducked, dripping, into a 7-11 and grabbed dinner: instant udon, some sushi, and a couple of beers... having decided Dominos' delivery wouldn't take my call for pizza.

Like I said when I started- I am finally tucked safely back inside my dry, warm home, and listening to the 24 hour typhoon news. They are cycling through live video feeds from around the country- showing bouncing boats, flooded neighborhoods, swollen rivers, and stranded travelers (don't forget -its the first day of a long weekend!). One of these days I will learn....


UPDATE: According to (more) typhoon TV News, we had over 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) of water on the streets here in Koto-ku (my area of Tokyo) at one point, with the stranded cars to go with. One of the subway stations next to Tom's flooded- with feet of water pouring in from the ceiling and drowning the tracks. There was a landslide in Nagano that crashed into a hotel or restaurant (I didn't quite catch it) and destroyed it- fortunately no one was hurt. In Shibuya (see photos below... sorry, they weren't taken tonight!) they measured over 60 ml of rain within an hour- and almost 300 ml since the rain started yesterday. I have to admit- I have no idea how much rain that really is in American English ;) but I can tell you it is really, really wet.

I'm learning to like my job. I must admit it gives me a warm fuzzy to think of all the crazy places I've called just in the last couple of weeks: New York, London, Barcelona, Milan, Shanghai, Mumbai, San Francisco, Rochester (NY), Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, New London (see below), San Jose, Chicago, Muscat (Oman-had to look at a map for that one!), Glasgow, Nanjing, and a bunch of places in between! Most of the folks I've talked to work in the hotels of these fine cities- I have also spent a fair amount of time on the line with airline offices in Tokyo (speaking in Japanese) and standing at the fax machine trying not to pull an "office space" move. My days are almost always busy. "Busy" as in I sit down at my desk at 8:35 am and begin sorting through the faxes and e-mails that have come in overnight, we have a staff meeting and morning excercises (rajio-taiso- this IS Japan), then I don't do anything but work, work, work until lunchtime at 12:00. I am usually on the phone and working on the computer on two projects simultaneously and have often forgotten just which hotel in which country I was on hold for! After lunch it is more of the same only with more pressure (because the end of the day looms) until 6 ish. The rest of my group seems to stay until late- 8, 9 or even 10. I leave before 6:30 pm. We will see how long that lasts. If it does, "I think I'm gonna like it here..." (la la la).

We had a big earthquake here in Tokyo last night. It was apparently about a 5 on the Japanese earthquake scale, which means it was bigger on the Richter scale. It was the biggest one I've experienced... but unfortunately (or fortunately), I was on a subway train between stations and in motion. The train came to a screeching halt and we were forced to sit on the tracks stuffed like squashed marshmallows together in the tight car for 5 minutes before the train re-started. So I basically missed it. When we did reach the station, which luckily was HOME for me, the clocks and hanging sign boards were still rocking. Everyone thought it was just huge- and Yukari, my neighbor upstairs said her fax machine fell down along with several framed photos. Nothing noticeable here except when I DID reach home- the elevator was stuck on the 7th floor. I just swore under my breath, hoped no one was inside, and dragged myself upstairs and to bed. (I'm not usually so dead tired- but had been out running and drinking till after my bedtime!).

It's almost Friday here, and its a 3 day weekend!

I called a hotel in New London, Connecticut this morning. A bit small world-ish since that's where my little brother went to school. I was trying to reserve a room for one of our Pfizer clients. As the operator searched for rooms, he asked me where I was calling from. "Tokyo, huh..? That's in... Hong Kong?". Hm... maybe not a small world after all.

This is a major interesection in Shibuya, Tokyo- while the crosswalk lights are red. Next... 

This is the same intersection while the walk light is lit. Tom stood behind me while I took the photo so I wasn't trampled!