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Long time no blog

It has been far too long since I’ve posted a blog. My last post was way back in May. Well, there’s good reason for that. I moved back to the US, as you may already know. It’s been a busy few months to say the least.

So, here’s a quick rambling recap:
I finished teaching English in Japan in July. My last classes were in the first 2 weeks of July. That’s when summer vacation starts for Japanese schools. I had to give a couple of farewell speeches. It was a sad time. Although I was excited to return to the US, I really love Japan, and I miss those students and my fellow teachers so much. Many of the students wrote me notes to say thank you. To be honest, I teared up while reading them.
We had quite a bit of paperwork to get together for my wife’s visa. That took up a lot of time, and now, she finally has it. Besides that, there was the actual moving of stuff and persons. I shipped most of my stuff via boat, because it was cheaper. Those took about 2 months to get to the US. And it was still expensive. A couple of those boxes were damaged, but I had all my stuff, so I guess it was worth it. My wife left before me to stay at her family’s place for a while. I stayed back and finished cleaning up the apartment and my desk at the school.




I then completely filled my tiny car and drove across Japan to my wife’s family’s place. It was a fun 7 hour drive. I stopped half way in Kyoto and had lunch at Café Indépendants, a fantastic boho cafe in Kyoto.
There was an interesting art show upstairs, too. (Whenever I can find a link to that show or the artists, I’ll provide that.)


Japanese rest stops, by the way, are really clean and really nice.



At my wife’s family’s house, I played with my daughter a lot, and we visited many friends. My daughter is amazing. Playing with her is the most enjoyable thing for me to do. Anyway, after 3 weeks there, I flew to the US. It was so great to see my family in the US. My nephew and niece had grown so much. Now I really miss my wife and daughter. (They’ll join me in just about a month.)
My first meal was Tex-Mex. And a couple of days later, I had chicken and sausage Jambalaya. Back in New Orleans I’ve found a few of those pounds I’d lost somewhere in Japan.
And now I’ve been back in the US for about a month. I’ve been searching for paying work, and have finally found some. This past week, I was an extra in the WWE Productions movie “Knucklehead”. And in about a week I’ll start work as a Set PA on “Chesterfield”, which is filming here in the New Orleans area. So, I’m back in the movies.

Now that I have paying work lined up, I’m going to focus in on my screenplay I’ve been trying to revise. In my last post I mentioned that I’d just finished structuring Act I. Well, I’m nearly to the midpoint now. I’ve done some tweaking to Act I, and I’ve even written a few of the opening scenes out in the actual screenplay. I think it’s turning out much much better than that first draft. It’s really seeming to come together.
The plan now is to post blogs more regularly now that I’m back and settled in the US. However, I have a lot of work to do on the screenplay, as well as on my novel, so bare with me folks. I also have another story project I’m working on. I’ll let you know more about that when I’m ready.
Until then, stay tuned.

Structure - Act I

        I’m finally getting back into the revision of my first screenplay, “Sabbatical.” In a previous blog post, nearly a year ago, I wrote that the Script Revision Was Coming Along. Well, perhaps that wasn’t accurate. It was only getting started, and it’s been a very slow start. The truth is that it’s been mostly on the back burner for months. Around the time I wrote that post, I was also starting my venture into microstock photography. Now that I’m moderately set up with microstock, I’m switching gears back to the screenplay.
        For the first draft, which took quite a while, I just wrote it. It was a bit piecemeal and sort of haphazard. I wrote it straight as a screenplay. Of course I outlined the story, but it was done in the midst of the writing. Outlining and structuring was more of a way to refocus rather than a way to begin. Since that first draft, I’ve learned a lot. Without a doubt, I’ve still lots to learn, but I’m in a better position to revise this thing now.
        So for this round, I’m pretty much ignoring the first draft. The story’s been in my head for years, even years before the first draft, in one form or another. Now, I’m starting with structure, or perhaps more accurately, restructure. I had more or less avoided formula for the first screenplay, but now I realize how much I need it. To do the structuring, I’ve acquired Contour, my 3rd software purchase from Mariner Software. So far, it’s helping me a great deal to think through every step. And recently, I finished structuring Act I.
        It’s very refreshing to start from almost scratch. I needed the time away from the script in order to detach from it. I think it’s absolutely necessary to spend some time away from a first draft of anything. As Hemingway so aptly and eloquently put it, “The first draft of anything is shit.” Before this restructuring, there were so many holes in the story, not to mention too much dialogue. Not to say that there are no more holes to fill in the story, or that when the time comes to write the actual screenplay again I’ll have amazing dialogue. But I’m on a much clearer path this time around, and I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve written shit. I also feel freer to just write, now that I recognize how true Hemingway’s words are.
        This goes for the novel I’ve been writing, too. I started writing it around the time I finished the screenplay. I’ve only been working on the novel from time to time, however. As of now, my plan for writing the novel is to just write a bit here and there as a break from other projects. When I’ve written upwards of 1.5 to 2 times what I’d like to have in the novel, I’ll start trimming and cutting and gouging. Then, once that first draft is done, I’ll put it aside for a while and come back to it when I’ve enough distance to write a decent 2nd draft. And just the other day, I wrote a rough outline of the novel and already realized a character I can cut. For now, though, it’s screenplay revision time.

A Friend Who Could Stand Still and Avoiding an Incident

I had my first people photos accepted at a few stock photography sites. These are not the first people photos I’ve shot, but the first I’ve submitted as stock photography. A few weeks ago, I did this photo shoot with a friend of mine that agreed to be a model for my stock photography.

The idea was for someone to look calm in the midst of a busy city at night. I was primarily thinking of a shot on a moving escalator and a shot with car lights zooming behind. At first, we found a busy enough intersection, but not too busy so as to set up my tripod. The exposures I tried were between 2 and 5 seconds. Thankfully, my friend could stay still. Still enough, in fact, to have clear focus on his face. For lighting him, I handheld the flash from my film camera, and shot it off a couple of times at different angles for each exposure. I had just thought to bring it with me the day of the shoot. I’m glad I did.

For the escalator shots, again, I’m very thankful my friend could stay still. I used a tripod, of course, but it was on a moving escalator. There were a few bumps on the ride. I first rode up and down a few times to check the timing of the ride, as well as to feel where the bumps were. After many trials on one escalator, I almost gave up, but we walked a bit and found a better escalator. I used that one for the shots that are on here. There’s a slight blurriness in his face, but surprisingly clear considering those exposures were also timed around 2 or 3 seconds.

There was one near incident when shooting at the intersection. When we were finished there and crossing the street (with a green walk signal), some guy nearly ran into us, so I shouted, “Hey.” This guy then pulled over a bit up the road and approached us. He seemed a bit angry. I thought he was angry about my shouting, (even though we had the right of way), but he asked us what we were shooting. Since I currently live in Japan, it was in Japanese and my Japanese is mediocre. I had no idea who this guy was, but he told me that someone had called him about us shooting there. I’m not sure if they were complaining or just informing. We had been there about 20 minutes or so, I guess. So, I told him that I was photographing my friend, and I showed him the pictures we took. (Thank God for digital.) That seemed to be fine. Perhaps he, or the person that called him, thought that we were photographing the cars or pedestrians. Perhaps he was yakuza. Perhaps he was an off duty police officer. Perhaps I shouldn’t have shouted, “Hey” when he nearly ran us over. I have no idea. In any case, the situation was eased by listening to him, talking to him, and showing him the pictures. It was a bit scary, sort of exciting, and it made for an interesting photo session.

Research, Tinkering, and Too Many Irons in the Fire (again)

        If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself with too many irons in the fire. And at the same time, you’ll waste too much time tinkering or researching. My current pursuits include (but are not limited to): prayer (which should be first, but truthfully I don’t spend near enough time doing); spending time with my wife and baby daughter (This week I did mostly that!); revising my first feature length screenplay (it desperately needs it); processing more photos that I’ve already taken (including the few hundred I recently took in Tokyo); shooting more photos; working on my novel (a loooong term project); studying Japanese (I only have a little more than 3 months left here!); shipping things back to the US; reading (I’ve actually read quite a bit lately); and oh, my full time English teaching job (If you call 35 hours a week full time, that is. The French do.). Shall I go on?
        What happens too often is that I research what I need to do or what I’m working on. Research is important. However, research can quickly turn into “important” procrastination. It would be much more beneficial to just do it, as Nike would say. Another time waster for me is tinkering. I tinker on my website or on the layout of the blog. Again, it is important, but only to a point. What I need to do is get it laid out right, and step away.
        With my return to the US drawing nigh, I’m slowing down with the photography. I’ll continue to work on it, but at a much slower pace. Most pressing now is the return to America. Visa stuff, shipping stuff, wrapping things up here in Japan, etc. I also want to take advantage of the rest of my time here in Japan. I also need to revise that screenplay. It’s been sitting too long. It’s time to get it ready so that I can shoot it in the not too distant future. And, I’m going to spend more quality time in prayer, and with my family. Oh yeah, I should rest, too. I don’t do that too much.
        So, if you don’t hear from me for a while, you’ll know why. But what’s funny is that these times are usually when I tend to blog the most. Another form of procrastination? Perhaps, but it’s better than aimless research, isn’t it?

And another, Canstockphoto.com

        In mid April, I signed up for yet another photo microstock agency. With Canstockphoto, I’m now set up on 8 microstock agencies. I wasn’t too interested in signing up with Canstockphoto previously. It didn’t look too promising, but it seems that, after a merger with fotosearch.com, it’s having a come back according to an article on microstockdiaries and one on the blog of the world’s top-selling microstock photograher, Yuri Arcurs.
        The application process involves signing up and sending 3 samples of your work. If and when those are accepted, you can begin to upload more.
        As of this post, I have 42 photos uploaded to Canstockphoto. You can check out my portfolio here. You can also sign up for yourself, and if you don’t mind, use one of my links here to do so. As I’ve mentioned before, when the agencies have a referral program, I use the referral code in my links to those agencies.

Crestock, finally

Another microstock agency I’d been attempting is Crestock. I signed up in mid-October. I’ve been submitting photos since then and finally, on March 27th or 28th, one image was finally accepted. I’ll be honest here; it took nearly 90 rejections to finally have this image accepted:

I had thought several times to just give up on Crestock. The images I submitted have been accepted by other agencies, and some have even sold a couple of times on these other sites. However, Crestock prides itself on its high quality standards. They even reiterate it each time you submit a photo. For the most part, perhaps it’s true. However, there are some photos on the site that I’m surprised passed inspection. Not that my images are spectacular. I’m still learning what it takes for stock photography. Anyway, if I hadn’t had most of my images accepted at other agencies, I may have given up. But, I’ve rolled with the rejections and am trying to improve my photography through them.
We’ll see how long it takes me to have my second image accepted. Here’s my Crestock profile. And of course, you can sign up with Crestock yourself and give it a try. By the way, all the Crestock links in this post include my referral code. And for more information about Crestock, and the microstock industry in general, I point you to Microstockdiaries and/or MicrostockInsider.

Teacher Shuffle

        As I mentioned in my Junior High School Graduation post, the school year in Japan ends in March and begins in April. And there is a short time in between. This year there were only 10 days. Besides having to wrap things up from the previous year and prepare for the next year, many teachers also have to change schools. Every year, teachers are shuffled around the school system in the prefecture. Generally, around 5 to 10 teachers per school are moved. There were ten teachers who left this year, and ten who arrived, including our principal, school nurse, and librarian. We also lost one of our English teachers, who I really enjoyed teaching with.
        One of the biggest losses for me, however, was one lady, who took care of the office. She set up our lunches, made coffee, and kept the flowers beautiful. One thing you should know about Japanese schools is that we don’t have a cafeteria. Students eat in their classrooms, along with their teachers, and some teachers eat in the office. I ate in the office, and this lady took care of me. Whenever there was some fish heads, or octopus, or any other thing I have trouble eating, she would make sure I had something to eat. She also taught me many important ways to joke in Japanese.
        Anyway, teachers have roughly a week and a half to wrap things up, move if they need to, prepare for the coming year, and if possible, rest. Besides that, there are a series of dinner parties and school ceremonies (assemblies) to thank the outgoing teachers and to welcome the new ones.
        If that weren’t enough, the teachers often don’t know they’re moving until about a month beforehand. If the teachers have any say at all in their placements, it’s not much. And teachers have to keep it a secret until the last day of classes. After the students left on the last day of school, there was a meeting to say who was leaving and where to. Teachers sometimes don’t even know what year they’ll teach until a few days later. As an American, where some of our teachers taught at the same school for 30 years, I have trouble understanding any benefit in this system. It seems to me that they could shave some time off the summer vacation and add that to spring vacation in order to ease the transition. (Japan’s Ministry of Education, are you reading this?)
        Our new teachers arrived on April 1st, no joke. At Japanese Junior High schools, there is one office where all the teachers have desks arranged by year. They don’t stay in their homerooms. The students stay in one classroom, and the teachers go to those classrooms. So, when the new teachers arrived and found out their placements, we had to rearrange the office. We move the actual desks around the office, instead of moving our stuff to another desk. I moved to the place next to mine, which is where I was the year before.
        I’m sure, because of my limited Japanese comprehension, that there’s a lot I don’t understand about this whole transition system. In any case, it’s a confusing and busy, yet exciting time. And I must say, I’ll miss it.

日本語勉強

最近、日本語文法を勉強しています。私に取って文法は一番難しいと思います。12月、日本語能力試験を合格しました。三回目！2006、点数が34点でありました。2007、点数が57.8点でありました。この前の試験はやっと68点でありました。毎回、文法は一番下。漢字は大丈夫よ。マークシートだから！漢字を書くことは違うですね。私はしばしば漢字の意味分かりますけど、読めません。
僕は日本語が上手になりたいです。日本では後四ヶ月くらい。だからこれから一生懸命日本語を勉強するつもりです。
最初の日本語ブログを読んでいただいて有り難うございます。

Junior High School Graduation

        Today was the graduation ceremony for the 3rd year junior high school students. In Japan, the school year begins in April and ends in March. It was a bit sad for me, because these students were 1st year students when I began teaching. And it will be the last graduation ceremony at this school for me since I’ll return to America in about 5 months.
        A Japanese graduation ceremony is much quieter than an American one. Or at least the ones I remember having. As in America, the students’ names are called, speeches are given, and the school and national anthems are sung. And as you may expect of a Japanese event, there is much bowing. Another difference, besides the bowing, is that the students don’t walk up to get their diplomas individually. One student from each class goes up to the stage to receive all of them for his or her class. Later, after the ceremony, the students go back to their classrooms, accompanied by their parents. It is there that they receive their diplomas and such. And the ceremony still lasted nearly 2 hours. There were 5 speeches, I believe, none of which I could understand. My Japanese still has a long way to go. I can understand bits and pieces, however. Besides students, teachers, and parents; many community leaders, the city mayor, neighborhood leaders, and the area’s elementary school principals also attend.
        Students wear their school uniforms, and the teachers wear suits and dresses. The men wear white ties, but I don’t have a white tie, so I wore a green and grey striped one. It’s OK though, because I’m a foreigner here, I’m usually given some leeway. Parents and other participants wear normal suits and dresses. A few ladies wear kimono. And one student’s mother wore bright pink slippers. This is another interesting point about Japanese ceremonies. Slippers. In Japan, primarily in homes, but in schools as well, we take off our shoes before entering. Inside, we wear slippers or other shoes only for inside use. Many wear tennis shoes. So, although men wear suits, they wear them with tennis shoes, sandals, or slippers. To me, it’s a refreshing bit of irreverence.
        Anyway, as I mentioned, the ceremony lasted nearly 2 hours. After everyone was seated, the band played as the 3rd year students filed in. In a very orderly manner, each class walked up, bowed in unison, and sat down. The national anthem was sung, then the names were called and each student stood when called. The packs of diplomas were handed to the class representatives, and then there were a few speeches. After the speeches and the school song, the 3rd year students filed out.
        There were only a few times to clap. When the diplomas were handed over, and when the 3rd year students walked in and walked out. Otherwise, you could hear a camera shutter. The movements are very precise and military-like. And when someone leaves the stage after giving a speech, he or she turns back toward the stage before exiting and bows to the empty stage. Even many of the normally rowdy students were quiet and well behaved. And despite the image many Americans have, there are many students in Japan that aren’t studious. By and large, at my school, they are. But we do have our share of misbehaving students.
        After the ceremony and the classroom time, the students left and everyone took tons of pictures outside the school. And unlike in the US, these students only have about 3 weeks between school years. The other students have less, and the teachers still less. It is a busy time for Japanese schools. I’ll really miss those students.

(Note: In the photo, on the right it says, "Congratulations for graduation", then it says, "Read many books", then it says, "Let's have class together." Or something like that.)