Alllooksame....

Wow, I got a lot comments saying I look like Takeda Tetsuya! Is that right? Personally, I think the only resemblance is the fact that I'm a dedicated teacher who loves his students, and Tetsuya PLAYED a dedicated teacher (Kinpachi sensei), on TV. So, anyway, below are three photos. One is Takeda Tetsuya. One is Jackie Chan. One is me in 1996--I was 40 years old then. Can you guess which one. Take your time. Don't rush. Don't look at the profile pic on the left--that's cheating. Now, do we "alllooksame"? Ok, ok, let's make it easier: one is Japanese, one is Japanese-American (me--doh!), one is Chinese (Hong Kong, as if no one knew....) Isn't that easier? hahaha!

If you guessed the one in the middle, then you'd be right. Pat yourself on the back. This photo was taken around the time some people thought I looked like Jackie. Actually, we're brothers. Tetsuya, Jackie and I are all half: Hong Kong/Japanese. Tetsuya is the eldest, six years older than me. Then Jackie, a year and a half older. Tetsuya was really into Kung Fu, but never made it big as a martial artist, so he became an actor in Japan and used his Kung Fu in "Keiji Monogatari". But he really became famous as an the elementary school teacher, Kinpachi sensei. Jackie followed in his footsteps and became a star in Hong Kong in Kung Fu movies. You might have heard of him. Me? I avoid the limelight and just became a teacher... Ho hum... Oh yeah, and in case your were wondering, our real names are Manny, Moe and Jack. (I can't believe I just used an emoticon, ack! gag!)

Baseball is over....
The season is over but is baseball over too? This is a question someone asked on the RiceBowlJournal Forum. Is basaeball a dying sport? Is it too slow? Too boring? Is it past its prime? I left the following comment, in case some of you don't bother to click the RBJ icon and visit this virtual Asian Forum:

I have to disagree. Football is far to physical to be more than it is. Basketball, I think, can be short because the good players/teams can still be determined in that timeframe. But in baseball, the good teams are not so obvious in say 81 games (half the season). This is a sport that deifies players that hit the ball 30% of the time. Is there a sport that honors a player for a 30% sucess rate? If you hit only 30% of your shots in basketball, you're benched. If you complete 30% of you passes, you're cut. Baseball players are judged at such a low rate of success--and their teams succuss/failure hinges on this success--I think it probably takes longer to get an accurate read with regard to which player/team is the best.

That said, I think baseball will never be what it was. Many point to the speed and excitement of football and basketball--and I whole heartedly agree that they are fun to watch; I'm a football junky--but that is not the reason for baseball's demise. It's free agency. The free movement of players denies fans the opportunity to root for players who they feel represent them. While this is true in other sports, the nature of the game--speed, big plays--can overcome this. People can root for the team as well as any player. But in baseball, where the game is leisurely, where you sit in the bleachers with a beer in your hand and talk baseball as much as watch baseball, one needs to know his favorite team, know the players to talk about them, debate about them, and of course root for them.

In LA, the Dodgers of the 70s to 81, had the same infield: Garvey, Lopes, Cey, and Russell at short. The outfield was pretty solid for a number of years with Baker anchored in left, and behind the plate Ferguson and Yeager. They were likd cousins. You knew them intimately, albeit not personally. Loyalty to a team was based on the loyalty to players. But with free agency, that is gone.

I am no union buster, and the freedom to earn as much as you want is an American right, I suppose. And the fault is as much on ownership as it is to any percieved greed by the players. The did, afterall, treat the players like slaves for many years. Still, I think Kevin Brown makes too much and Alex Rodgrigues makes waaaaaaaaaay too much.

All Look Same

No, no, no. This is not another Asian American post, although I think I should post one soon--I've been writing too many inconsequential pieces for too long. School has kept me too busy to think too deeply about things that matter--not to make excuses, of course. Anyway, SammyStorm suggested that I look like Takeda Tetsuya. Look at my profile pic on the left or the photo below and compare it with this photo of Takeda. => Hmmm. I wonder...

Now if you're looking for look alikes, I think that Nefarious_hatter looks sorta like Yoshida Miwa of Dreams Come True.

The photos here are all of Miwa. The one on the far left really looks like Nefarious, at least from the photos I've had the chance to glance at. The other two look like her too. I was thinking of putting up her photo here so you could compare them, but I would need her permissions, which I haven't asked for... Hey Nefarious, do you think you kinda look like her? Or if anyone who know Nefarious in person, can you tell me if these look like her?

Actually, when I came back from Japan in 1996, I was much thinner. I used to workout regularly and had shorter hair. I was told on three different occasions that I looked like Jackie Chan. Hahahahaha. Okay, I laughed with ya. Two of them were non-Asians, so they don't count. No, offense, but I am refering to those who probably know few or no Asians and we probably all look alike to them. But one was a Korean guy who was working at Bloomingdale's in Tyson's Corner. When he said it--I presumed he had seen a few Asian faces in his day--I took notice. My sister, who was with me at the time, doubled over laughing. Anyway, if anyone wants to look at a photo from back then, holler... Maybe I'll scan one and you can tell me whether I look more like Testuya or Jackie.

I think I'll make another list

Any suggestions? I already did movies and foods. Shiroi_Norite thinks I should make a list of my favorite students. I know he's joking, cuz it would be way too narcissistic. Besides, I love all my students equally... Of course, those who take Classical Japanese are more equal than others. Haha.

: Growing Older :
But I recall thinking of growing older. As you may--or may not--know, I am fast approaching the half century mark, the big five-oh. So here--with a nod to Paiky who made his own list--are some of the bad and good you guys can look forward to

Bad
• Lower metabolism: this really sucks. Chocolate, potato chips, pizza, all the things I love to eat kinda stick to the body unless I make a concerted effort to work it off.
• Time flies: There simply isn't enough time to do everything I want. I feel that I am better at what I do, and so I can do them rather efficiently, but I also have a lot of it to do.
• A general decline in health: The body creaks, joints pop. I try to exercise, and this allows me to enjoy a relatively healthy existence--quitting smoking didn't hurt either--but recovery time is slower as well. My body needs time to recuperate from a vigorous workout, which for me would be running about 5 miles and then doing some weight training.
• Associated with this is a specific decline in sexual activity. Aah, to be 18 again. Most young men can get a woody without even thinking, its just a reaction. But as you pass 30 then 40, and reach 50, you can no longer take it for granted. For one thing, after a degree of experience, it takes more to get excited. Where once, a little cleavage would arouse me immediately, now porn ellicits little more than a yawn... well, most porn, anyway...
• Money worries: Ok, many may think that everyone has to worry about money, but I think it gets much more serious as you get older. In my 20s, money saved was for a car, or for a vacation, or maybe even for the "future", a house maybe. All goals for myself. Now, I save money just in case, like paying the plumber when the pipes begin to leak, or the critter control guy when squirrels clay and make a whole in the roof, or the dentist for a root canal for my son because he doesn't know how to brush properly.
• Lost brain cells: Warning to all you guys who like to party. Every drink you gulp, avery hit you take, you are losing brain cells. Yes we all lose brain cells as a matter of course, but the process is accelerated with these "poisons". I don't really know if this is correct, but someone once told me that's why you get high: All these brains cells are being attacked at once leave you in a temporary stupor. Whatever. Anyway, fewer brain cells become noticeable after a while. On days after drinking, I certainly can't function as I used to, and I con't focus as well as I would like sometimes. Perhaps some of my students will have noticed I that I will sometimes lose my train of thought. That NEVER used to happen....

Good
• Experience: I sure make fewer boneheaded decisions anymore. I often don't have to think things through anymore, because I already know the results of certain actions. Instead of thinking, If I do A, that will lead to B, then C, then D.... then Z, I now go straight to Z. Sometimes I can't even explain it. I just know some things are right and others wrong, like not eating steamed clams that don't have their mouth open. I attribute this to experience.
• Patience: Aah, this is truly something I have developed. There are many people who may think I'm pretty impatient, and in a way, I am, but I used to be REALLY impatient before. I had not time--I thought--for idiots, slackers, slow-minded people. But now, I'm beginning to realize that in many ways, I was the idiot slacker who was slow-minded, that I was stupid and too lazy to understand that people do different things at different paces. Indeed, with my fewer brain cells, I am often the one who is actually slower and the apparent slacker...
• Uh, I thought there were more good things, but I kinda got depressed thinking of all the bad. Haha! Oh well, If there's anymore, I will append it to this list.

Oh yeah, I was thinking of moving the the JAJournal here at RBJ. Not that it matters I guess. I've been spending some time on their forum. We'll see how long it lasts. Maybe you'll join me.

vs.

Football Saturday
Bruins sucked wind!!!! No offence. Matt Moore the QB gets sacked 8 times, to a team that only had 11 sacks in the previous 7 games! WTF is going one?!? Grrrrrrrrr. I'm in a bad mood. I think I need a beer or two or 17.... Will someone drive me home? No wait, I'm already home, Forget it. Grrrrr....

Holloween
Fewer children than I would have expected. I think about twenty and a bit came by. I wonder why? Are parents protecting their kids from the evils of sugar and bad teeth? Or are they keeping them from possible poisoning or worse, terrorist attacks? Either way, its kind of sad. When I was a kid--which would be make most of you about -18 to -20 years old--we went wild around our neighborhood. We'd get into our cheap Safeway-bought Casper the ghost or Superman outfit, take a large paper bag--there were no plastic bags back them--and try to fill them up as much as possible. Candy was pretty basic back then, nothing like the selection available today. I would usually end up with a bag of individually wrapped caramels and taffy bits. If I went to my cousins house in Monterey Hills, we sometimes were treated with an Abba-zabba or box of Milk Duds or a Milky Way bar. And back then, there were no minisizes, so it really was a treat. We never worried about poisons or terrorists, although there were random tales of rasors in apples... Well thanks to those days, to the delight of my dentist, I have a precarious set of teeth... Maybe my mom should ahve stopped me...

This year we made a Jack-o-lantern... actually a Yoda-lantern..

I guess they're a little blurry, but it gives it a spookier effect, no? (Ok, ok, I'm just making excuses.) But with a flash, you'd never see the candlelight... Musubi-chan said I kinda look like Sadako from the Ring... Or would that Sadao?

Holloween

H o l l o w e e n s coming!
Trick or treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat

Musubi-chan and I posed as models for the pumpkin last year. Although she won't admit it, I think the pumpkin looks exactly like her.

Everyone have a safe Holloween. And don't forget to give out kandy to the kiddies. They've been waiting since school has started.