Just forget the words and sing along

Monday, May 26, 2003

I'm currently having a debate with Chuck over e-mail in concerns to my future. It essentially works like this. 2 days ago, I get a phone call at work from head office. They want to offer me the position of "temporary emergency teacher." What this is is, for the next month or two, I get sent out to a school where a teacher went nuts and quit and I fill in for a few weeks until a permanent replacement can be found. It's a little more money, a company apartment, and I say how long I do it. Chuck, who found it to be a great act of corporate defiance when he turned down the same offer, can't understand why I, too, am turning it down. Here's the reason:

This has happened to me a few times in the past. I get in a fight with someone. The battle goes on long and hard. The war rages. But, finally, I see that I'm not making any headway. I'm never going to convince you of my opinion. And besides, you've reduced my face to a bloody pulp and I'm three breaths away from my last. I'm in a lot of pain and tired of the fight. So, I do the unimaginable. I agree with the other person, tell them they've convinced me, congradulate them on their victory, and try and crawl to the nearest hospital. But then, this stuns the other person. They can't take the victory. They start saying, "Well, you know, maybe you've got a point. I agree with you. Come back here and let's start fighting again." But I say no, the war is over, you won, I'm going to get over it, and walk away.

A few months ago, the company told me my lessons are of "poor quality" and told me that they weren't renewing my contract. That upset me. So, I started a fight with them. I called head office to complain. Representatives were sent out to have meetings with us and observe. I followed their advice and tried to really turn things around. But this wasn't good enough for a few people. I was soon left out of the daily staff meetings. Questions I asked about students were answered with growls. Recently, my head teacher asked me why I check the schedule 6 times a day. It's because you leave me out of the staff meetings, bitch. I need to know what's going on to do my job! Shortly before I left for my spring vacation, my head teacher got very upset with me. Because I was taking a few extra days off, one of private lessons had to be cancelled. My head teacher was very upset that, when I apologized to the woman, I didn't bow in the proper Japanese style. That's when I knew my face had been reduced to a bloody pulp and I was three breath away from my last. So, the company won. They're right, my lessons are poor quality. For the past month, I've only been doing the bare minimum required of my contract with the intent of getting out quickly and quietly. But, apparently somone noticed. They want to start the fight again. No, the war is over, you won, I'm going to go get over it now.

My parents told me to go with my gut. My gut says, "Let's go home."

And in other news, I finally went to Tokyo Disneyland. I had to get up at 6 am on Sunday to do so, which isn't too bad. When I get up at 6 on Sundays, I can watch Sailor Moon. (Sunday mornings at 6:30.) It's weird watching Sailor Moon in Japan. The TV station, naturally, shows an old print of it. It has a real, "We've been playing this for 30 years" look to it. I probably shouldn't admit to my studnets that I watch Sailor Moon. I was told once that it picked up a reputation for being a show for "dirty old men" and inspired quite a few porn knock-offs.

But you can't deny that Sailor Moon established the formula for every, shall we call them, "girls adventure cartoons." Our heroine is a typicaly neurotic, awkward, teenaged girl who, one day, is told by a cute talking animal mentor that she has superpowers and must save the world. Even though she's now this beautiful super-heroine, she's still awkward and neurotic in her civilian life, especially when dealing with the cute guy she really likes. She soon leads a team of similarly super-powered teenaged girls, and there's some friction in the group. They even get joined by a 10-year old superpowered girl, who becomes the requisited cute sidekick. Eventually, she gets her act together and starts dating the cute guy she likes and, surprise, he's got superpowers too, and eventually joins her superteam. But then, the forces of darkness corrupt his soul and turn him evil, and then she must save her boyfriend from the dark side. Once that's done, she defeats the ultimate evil and lives happily ever after until the next series. Do I about have that right?

Speaking of corruption of the soul, I feel I must mention that, although I still adhere to my belief of not drinking, I have had a few drinks in Japan. This is everything I've had to drink while in Japan:

One (1) beer - Because, after a meeting in which my head teacher spent an hour and half telling me how bad of a teacher I am, I, for the first time in my life, felt like getting drunk. One beer, however, reminded me of why I don't like beer.

One (1) glass of sake - Because I sent a bottle home to my folks so I figured I should know what I was sending.

One (1) vodka martini, shaken not stirred - Because, for once in my life, I wanted to be James Bond.

One (1) glass of red wine - Because it was the welcome party for my new manager and my head teacher just wouldn't lay off about how I don't drink. One swig shut her up.

Everytime I say I don't drink, the first thing often said by someone is, "Well, then, I really wonder what you're like drunk! I WANT TO SEE YOU DRUNK!" Only one person ever stopped saying that to me, it was after my contract wasn't renewed, I was still in a fighting mood, and spewing a lot of venom about the company. My friend looked at me and said, "I don't want to see you drunk anymore. Someting tells me you'd be an ugly drunk."

I'm about done here, folks. Time to call head office and officially tell them, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Next issue...side by side with Destro!

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