Okay i vaguely remember last year making a countdown about leaving GS due to school purposes. I dont think that clock ever reached zero since the classes actually turned out to be easier than i imagined so i had no reason to leave. ANYWAY with that being said, i recently got a little bit of my future figured out. A particular thread at Gotei got the idea in my head. I know....the guy with the, "lets see where it takes us," and also the, "meh i didnt plan ahead; whatever happens, happens i guess," attitude actually thought ahead for once. So yeah its been decided that after a little more schooling and maybe a little more playing around, in 2 years i WILL be travelling abroad to begin my life which probably means my GS career will come to an end. I'll finally be with my partner and happy. Interestingly enough, it might be close to or actually be my 10th year here on GS. Thats a nice round number to end on right??? So start the clock!!!!

On another note....I HAVE NO FRICKIN MONEY AND ITS THE 4TH FRICKIN QUARTER!!!!! There are so many great games out and about to be out that i cant buy!!! It brings a tear to my eye how many games go unplayed on my PS3. i've been stuck on Level 12 on my PSN for ages. I havent gotten any new trophies in quite some time. Its saddening!!!! I need money but grad school takes all my available time away with the constant papers and killer tests and blah blah blah. As a gamer it kills me knowing that i cant get any of those games:- Fallout, NFS, Enslaved, Vanquish, Castlevania, Dead Rising and so on and so forth. Ugh!!!

Now the anime section.A small rant.....

You know what really pisses me off??? When people who dont see the entire anime and yet have the most to say about it. Like they'll drop it after 2-3 eps and say, "The entire series was trash! I regret watching it. It was a real piece of crap. OH i only saw the first couple eps though." That just makes me wanna smack that person sometimes. A prime example would be GRZ (Ga-Rei Zero). Somebody actually had the audacity to say, "Yeah i saw the first ep and i quit. The story looked likeit was gonna suck." Nowthe people who saw GRZ would understand how stupid that commentreally was.I feel that if you havent seen the entire title from beginning to end, then you shouldnt have an opinion on it AT ALL. Just shut the hell up and let the people who really saw it have their say. -Rant Over

To recap....I have no money and have a huge wishlist that cant be attended to, i hate people who drop titles prematurely and have the most opinion and most importantly, i more than likely will be ending my GS career in 2 - 2 1/2 years. Thats all for now. Until next time people.....

Okay i'll get straight to it. Laying around has gotten me in some bad shape as of late. I've gone from 195-225. For your foreigners and metric types thats.....umm.....88-102 i think??? Anyway the stomach is nowhere near where it should be and the abs have long since disappeared. now i figure that since the summer is finally coming to and end, its about time to start my workout again to get back in shape for sports next spring. Thing is....i havent worked out in so long that i dont exactly remember what i should do. And that my friends is where you come in. I'm not wasting money at a gym and plan on doing all my work at home so i need exercises at home that will get me back in form. I need stuff my arms, legs, and abs....basically a full body plan since baseball or better, any major sport requires your entire body to be in tip top physical shape to dominate.

So you know what to do.....NOW DO IT!!!!!

Of what i dont know but i have this general sloth or malaise nowadays. Now i know some of you will say, "But Nica, since you're so lazy and not doing anything all the time, how can you be tired?" To those people i say shut the hell up! Theres a difference between this type of tired and my usual "lack of motivation to do anything" lazy tired. I think my constant time in the city is starting to finally take a toll on my body.

The physical and mental stresses accumulated from outside parties and also within my own family have me to the point where i just dont care anymore. Again the cynic would say, "But Nica you're always care-free and easy." Again shut the hell up! Its different this time. Maybe dealing with the same things but just with different faces is starting to wear me down. The daily to weekly grind of the "same old same old" as they say. Allegedly a change of scenery might do me good but i dont exactly know where to go. Who knows, but one thing is for sure; i gotta get outta here. Even if just for a week or two, i need to reacquaint myself with the notion that i'm gonna meet new people and do new things for the next couple of days. I've pretty much forgotten what that was like.

I've lived a fast paced life up until say age 21 (some say i've even accomplished two lifetimes worth of stuff in those years) and then things just started to immediately slow down. Maybe its because of how i lived when i was younger why i've become so bored and disinterested quickly in a repetitive and mundane lifestyle. *SIGH* I guess its up to me to change. Realizing and accepting the problem is always the first step and now we'll see how i deal with it in the upcoming days or weeks or months.

To quote my comment on PSN: *YA~WN* tsumaranai.....

Yeah its time for another rant installment. What number this rant is i can only speculate and honestly i couldnt care any less. I'm only doing this to pass some time and attempt to take my mind off of the perstering heat that continues to attempt to melt the flesh off my body lol. Will you learn something by reading this....i doubt it. Will you have wasted your time trying to understand my thoughts....theres a severe possibility. Anyway lets get to it now i guess.....

First things first.....i dont know if you noticed or not but my banner changed AGAIN. It might be shocking to a few because they know that i rarely make changes mainly due to the work that has to be put into it e.g. thought and......well thats all i guess. HEY thinking is hard sometimes lol. Anyway Baka to Test goes out the door and one of my fave anime women of all time Mou-chan from Ikki Tousen comes in. I must say that this was quite an improvement; plus i'm not much of a pink guy a la the previous banner. Thoughts, comments and concerns???

Next....and i know i've mentioned this to a few people by now.....what the hell is up with all these blogs where users feel its neccessary to list their top 5 or top 10 movies, games, animes blah blah blah. Do you really have nothing better to do but to make a list of things like that? And why are all of them springing up at the same time? Who was the bastard who started that fad amongst the community? Hopefully it'll die soon but i doubt....especially when i see one of my friends doing a top 30 list. YES i said 30!!! Not 5, 10, 15, 20, or hell even 25 or 50. How do you come up with 30??? Ugh i'm not even gonna ask.

I posed this question once and didnt get much response to it so i think i'll pose it again. I think i'll only have funds for ONE game this quarter and i need suggestions on which one to go after. Those who know me already know that i'm pretty flexible with every genre with the exception of RPG. How i loathe the RPGs unless it does something overwhelming that really makes me forget that i'm doing the same thing over and over again a la T.W.E.W.Y. and Fallout 3. So yeah fighters, platformers, strategy, racers, action/adventure are all good with me. Sports not so much anymore though since i realized the repetitiveness with each passing year. I dont need another hockey game since i have the best one (NHL '09) and same goes for baseball (The Show '09) and i stopped feeding the Madden beast after '05.

Next up....for those of you still waiting for my answer blog, i doubt there are any of you left who still remember it hopefully, you will not be receiving it anytime soon. It was just something to pass the time with and now that the time has passed, so has my interest for it. What i will bring back though by request from a fan is the critically acclaimed Yankee-senpai to Yankee-kouhai series. I'm surprised that i actually forgot about that. The senility must be kicking in due to my old age. The last installment was way back in November so i have to make up for lost time. Learn more about my teenage misadventures in Japan with my nerdy sidekick and then pupil, Jun-kun in episode 4 of Y-sen to Y-kou.

Last but not least and probably most important....I've gone a month and a half without watching an ep of anime. I know its shocking that someone like me has stopped watching. I think this happens to everybody and some point in their life. They do something they like doing day after day but then suddenly grow tired and weary of it for a little while. You know....looking to try something new and fresh in hopes of getting away from the same old thing for a little while. Well i've gotten away and for some reason am in no rush to get back which kinda scares me. Have i given up anime entirely??? Will i ever go back??? Do i care enough to attempt to change my hiatus status??? Well one can only speculate on such matters. I guess its for the best though that i was starting to lessen my load considering how school is about to get very hectic in just under a month.

Oooh i know i said that was the last thing but this time i swear this is the last one. Did anyone else in the manga community notice all the manga disappearing and some of the manga sites getting obliterated by mounting legal pressure from manga publishers??? Just imagine if the net gets wiped clean of all the manga sites and people have to resort to paying to read their fave titles. I know i wont be one of those people. Granted we as readers ARE on the illegal side of this fight, it still will be hard to see all my precious titles go. Personally though, i have connections through Akihabara to get any manga i want PLUS i can read raws so this doesnt affect me as much as others. I feel bad for the scanaltion groups since as Kat pointed out, all their hard work and sweat and tears just end up going down the drain. Its a good thing i didnt volunteer to become a translator when i had the choice. Boy would i be pissed right about now. *SIGH* well at least i still have my manhwa. WHOO!!!! Go Korean manga lol!!!!

So yeah after about a year or so i figured it was about time to change up the banner and blog header. My kouhai did great work with my previous two items but i figured it was time to move on. ChaosmakerX did these works if you really cared to know....

Before:

After:

Though i am a HEAVY Baka to Test supporter, i would have to give the edge to my kouhai on this one. Seems more artsy or something. Still you wont hear much complaints from me since it is Baka to Test after all. If i chose to nitpick then i'd say i'd rather have Shouko as the covergirl rather than Himeji but i'm too carefree to make a big deal about one character. Rumor has it, there is another, improved banner in the works but who knows. It might just be pure speculation on my part. Moving on....

Before:

After:

The edge easily goes to the new banner. Mirai Nikki is one of my fave mangas of all time AND bonus points are given for the use of my fave character in the series, Yuno Gasai. Psychotic, overprotective, intelligent, able to adjust quickly to changing situations and also the ability to put on the good girl facade; i love Yuno Gasai. I had a thing for Noir back then but it was never a big thing to me so its not hard to part ways with it. Anyway those are the changes. Thoughts, comments, concerns???

Lets see....i feel like saying something but i dont know what. Seems like the right time to do a random rant again eh??? OH...my first semester of grad school finally finished. It was a lot easier than i expected but i severely doubt that'll last much longer. It sucked during the last two weeks ofschool though. I used to go to for the sole purpose of sleeping but in the final weeks, all the students would bother me and ask for help with their studies. Now i dont mind helping but not when the entire populace in every c!ass bugs me and when my naps are being interrupted on a regular basis. Arent professors paid for the sake of teaching and reviewing??? Their paychecks for those weeks shoulda went to me i tell you.

Oooh i got a new novel to read as some of you might already know. Due to my love for Ikki Tousen i decided to go out and purchase Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Volume 1 is only about 690 pages and so far its a pretty damn good read. The only problem is that its directly translated from the Chinese version so i dont see the familiar names, Sonsaku Hakufu, Ryuubi Gentoku, Sousou Motouku etc. etc. Still its good stuff and i definitely recommend it to anyone into historical type war type political type....i could go on and on about the genres. Just read it damn it!!!

Last thing....i swear i'll get to those questions and give answers. If you wanna ask more then by all means go ahead. My laziness prevents me from acting with immediate action. *YA~WN* i'm gonna go grab a snack so i guess i'll end it here. Another thing that i just realized....why the hell can i write c!ass everywhere without the stupid censor thingy but here in my blog i have to put the damn exclamation. Pisses me off....

Yeah yeah yeah its been a while since i created one of these and i guess i have spare time so what the hell right?! You ask questions about me now and i answer sometime down the road. First off though i wanna say something or better yet just point something out that recently pissed me off. It concerns Manga Fox and its removal of tons of my manga. Look Mr. Owner of the Site, i know you need money to maintain the site and i know that you want to keep your main provider happy at all times (in this case its those damned Google Ads) but making such a drastic decision without consulting any of your other users isnt quite right. Again yeah its your site and you're entitled to do whatever the hell you want with it but i dont think you realize how many users you're gonna lose or have already lost (me being one) by getting rid of our favorite genre of dare i say, literature.

For those who dont know, the owner of the Manga Fox website, decided to remove EVERY SINGLE TITLE of mature that had the label mature under its genre classification. This stems from a recent incident where the people of Google contacted said owner and requested a removal of their ads from his site since they dont want to uttered under the same breath with anything thought to be lolicon or shotacon or better yet the PC word for it, "child pornography." Though lolicon and shotacon arent child pronography, those without proper knowledge of the genre can easily label it as such and wont hesitate to in these days and times.

Anyway i'm starting to ramble....the point is this: Why remove everything for just those two genres. I dont read lolicon (older guys targeting younger girls or at the very least younger looking girls) or shotacon (older women doing the same to boys) but i must suffer??? They are two genres that only make up a combined 10-15% of the mature manga pie chart. I lose my psychological thrillers and horrors and such because one person overreacts to something they dont understand.*SIGH* anyway shame on you Mr. Owner for turning your back on us. There were alternative methods to go about this. You coulda been a true manga fan and got rid of the ads and kept the manga AND kept the readers to support you but NO you went the money grubbing route and kept the ads but lost hundreds of titles and as a result have lost thousands of readers. I hope you enjoy that extra $25 or so dollars in your pocket. All i know is that i wont be one to help contribute to it anymore.....

that was fun. now i just gotta breathe a little.....

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okay ask away. i dont care what it is and i'll more than likely answer everything at some point in time lol....

When i really think about it....the countdown began a while ago but i guess it took me this long to realize it. "Countdown, what countdown Nica???" Well of course the countdown for my depature of this....place. I wanted to think of some nice adjective to describe the site but i couldnt find one lol. At any rate, said countdown began in early September when i got back from my last trip to Japan. While checking the mail, i came across an old tuition bill for a few classes i THOUGHT i dropped in my fall semester of '07 (beginning of junior year). Anyway said bill was never properly....addressed i guess would be a good word, and it accumulated some pretty nasty interest.

It was at that point where i looked at myself in the mirror and wondered what the hell i was doing with myself. My wife graduated, has her psych degreeand is working over in Tokyo and hell evenmy little daughterAya-chan is over there as well but.....i'm not there. In fact i decided to come back home to America but why??? There were more than enough sufficient reasons to keep my ass in Japan but i didnt. I figured i'd do something with my life and continue my studies of Speech Pathology cuz finishing at the bachelor's level only completes about half of the requirements towards being a professional in the business. I shoulda continued right after i finished the 4 years but i felt like taking a little break. 2 years later i'm doing nothing at home, amused at how i wasted that time "working" in a company that went under. If you know me then you know what company that is and i quote working because.....well again if you know me then you should know why lol.

So that brings us back to said bill. The nasty 2 year interest raised the bill's price from the 3 digit range into the 4 digit range and not even low 4 digits but high 4 digits. So i begrudginly forked it over and signed up for my master's work in the spring seeing as how i came back Japan when the fall semester was just under a month old. Funny thing though....turns out that those classes i dropped WAYYYYYYY back in '07 are part of my new schedule in the spring. Funny right??? Needless to say, i was not happy nor was i amused. I have to think back as to why i dropped those classes in the first place. Knowing me, its probably a stupid reason too.

And thats the reason. Headed back to school and not just regular school but grad school so i'll actually try and....ugh....study and stuff. No using my laptop to stream animeand surfing boards on GS during classes anymore. And no manga either. Thats gonna hurt the worst i think. I love my manga. It'll be hard because i get distracted fairly easily nowadays but i'll do my best! Gradually i've been fazing this site out almost like someone whose coming off of meds. Cant just go cold turkey...ya gotta do it slightly and over a period of time. Its gotten to the point where i'll probably visit once a day and only go to one place to post maybe 2-3 things. Everything else has been erased for recovery purposes lol. I started stepping down from officership in unions about a month ago and now i'm down to like 3....or was it 4??? Anything thats left is only because its a fave place for me to occupy and i'll just wait to be demoted in those places. I wont forcibly quit but await demotion without qualms. Selfish i know but i dont care lol.

What was the reason for this blog again??? Oh yeah a countdown to my departure. Well the spring semester starts in.....umm.....damn i dont remember! At any rate, when i go, i wont be back for a while. Maybe i'll pull an ASJ and show up on holidays but one can only speculate. This isnt my farewell speech, thats why i havent written much. When the time comes, everyone will be properly notified and important people will be acknowledged blah blah blah blah and all that good stuff. Until then....let the contdown continue!!!!!

So heres the next installment. Took a little longer since i was reading a lotta manga lately. Just as a reminder....anything in parentheses followed by Italicsare my thoughts. This thing has been getting longer and longer with each release. Maybe cuz i wanna finish telling the story as soon as possible or maybe i'm dwelling on minor points too much. Who knows. Anyway enjoy....

"Damn it, pull yourself together Jun!" I say to him as we slowly walk down the street. "If we're gonna pull this off you're gonna have to start walking better." We reach his block and stop at the corner under a lamplight. "Alright, time for a quick check on appearance. Hmm…." I look him up and down. "Besides the little bit of blood on your shirt and the ruffled hair, you look fine for now. Now walk!" Slowly Jun limps without my assistance. He limps a few feet away and then turns and comes back to me. "Dou?" (Damn that doesn't look that good.) "Well in all honestly Jun, that looked terrible. Looks like we're gonna have to lie about this one. Umm…." I look to the sky while I think. "I got it! Plain and simple….you fell down some steps. Its short sweet and effective don't you think?" He looks at me and then silently turns and walks down the block towards the house. (Bastard! I'm just trying to help.)

We both walk through the front door and watching TV in the living is Jun's mom. I nudge Jun. "Get to your room or the bathroom and fix yourself up. I'll stall." He runs to the back. "Ta-da-i-MA!!!!!!!" (I love saying that!) "Okaerinasai. Jun wa?" The sound of the bathroom door closing in the background echoes to us and his mom nods. Ara, you two are back late again." She smiles to me. "Ha well about that umm….we were just walking around and lost track of time. Funny thing…well I don't know if you'll find it funny but Jun kinda fell down a flight of stairs." Her eyes widen. "No worries. He's okay but he has to clean his shirt a little and maybe have a cut or two treated. Maybe a minor limp here or there but that should go away by the morning time. It was actually getting better as we walked down the street so it might go away before we even go to umm bed. Heh heh." I'm a tad anxious to tell her this and the small almost nervous sounding laugh at the end didn't really help. She gets up and walks over to the shower room. "Junichi are you okay?" She knocks at the door a few times and it opens. She backs up as it appears that Jun is coming out. I look eagerly to see what he did to fix himself up. He walks out with less of a limp than when we were on the street and a change of clothes then smiles to his mom. "Of course I'm fine kaa-san. Theres no reason I wouldn't be." The sound of the washing machine next to the shower room can be heard. "Well…I had to wash my shirt and pants since they got dirty when I fell." He looks over to me and I nod. "It's not that big of a deal so don't worry kaa-san." I walk over and put my arm on his mother's shoulder. "See its like I said. He'll be fine. Jun and I are at an age where we recover super quick. It takes more than a minor fall to stop a teenager. Ne?!" I look over to Jun and he nods in agreement. "Hmm…if you say so, but I still want to take a look at those cuts you have Junichi. We can't have you going out with open wounds." (Aww…she's such a caring mother. That's sweet.) Jun's wounds were tended to that night and his clothes were washed and ready for the next day. He stuck to the story for the entire night and his mother's anxiety level finally dropped. After dinner and completing his homework, Jun and I talked in his room.

"So what am I going to do now?" He looks agitated and a little shook as he sits on his bed and stares at me. "I told you already….no worries. I got your back. You'll learn from me and people will rarely mess with you." I give him a cheesy smile and a cheesy joke like thumbs up. "Hold on, I thought you said that no one would mess with me again. Why is it rarely now???" I get out of my bed and walk over to the mirror and begin checking myself out. "Well that's simple Jun. Though the majority of about 75-80% will get intimidated and back away from a mere stare, the other 20-25% minority will actually stand their ground and attempt to fight you with the ability they THINK they have. Out of that group you encountered today, I would say only 1 of those 4 would actually fight you which actually plays into my 25% prediction. Ha!" The image of that bastard that kicked Jun in his stomach and then pointed his fist at me runs through my mind and I clench my fist. Through the mirror I see Jun watching my every move. (Looks like he's dead set on learning from me now. That's good!) I turn from the mirror with a smile. "Well I'll be accompanying you from school for a little while." A puzzled look crosses his face. "Before you ask….i just wanna see something. Plus I'll be looking out and providing sorta like a safety blanket while you recover. You're nowhere near 100% and you can fool your mom with it but not me." I turn off the lights and jump in bed. "I…don't know if I want you to…." (I'm not listening!) "Oyasumi Jun-kun." "You're not listening to…" (I'm still not listening. La-la-la-la-la!) "Oyasumi." "But you're still not…" "Oyasuminasai Jun-kun." I hear a sigh in the darkness. "*SIGH* fine. If you want to continue to accompany me then fine. Good night to you too."

In the morning, Jun appears to be fine. The limp is gone and his minor cuts and abrasions have been patched up. He leaves the house happily. It's probably because he thought that I was gonna protect him or something. The day passes quickly as my friend, Jun's mom, shows me around more places. She's still fairly young at 30 and still acts childish from time to time due to her childhood being robbed from her at the young age of 13 but that's another story for another time. We get home from our mini excursion. I drop my bags of souvenirs and immediately head over to Jun's school. (S**t, I had too much fun and lost track of time. I gotta hurry now.) I sprint through the streets scaring the calm, stoic Japanese people I pass. I turn the corner of the school just in time to hear the final bell ring. "Good…*haa haa*….i made it…*haa haa*." I suck in air and lean on the tree in front of the gate as I wait for Jun to come out. 5 minutes later he crosses the gate and looks around for me. He cant see me because I'm standing on the far end of the tree checking out the sweet Japanese high school tail passing me by. Its at that time the hottest girl that I ever saw (at that point in my 17 year old life) crossed my path.

She was about 5'5" or maybe 5'6" with long straight black hair and a slenderbody with a face to die for. She looks at me and I look at her. (*GASP* We made eye contact. This opportunity will not pass! I will take her!) I wink to her and she smiles and begins walking over to me. (S**t, what if she doesn't speak English? Wait…she has to if she's coming over to me right??? I mean I am gaijin and all. Well lets see how far I can take it.) She walks up to me as I try to look cool leaning on the tree. "Anno…you…American…deshou?" (Aww it doesn't seem like she has a grasp on the language. I'm kinda sad now.) I nod and smile. "Yeah I'm an American. Do you speak English?" She begins to fidget a little and acts shy. "Anno…etto…" (She's trying so hard to talk to me. Fidgeting like that so meekly is just so k-k-k-KAWAII!!!!!!) "Etto…otou-san…American. I Engrish a rittle." She smiles to me. "Sou ka. Your dad is American huh? (So she's a mix breed. I wouldn't mind making a mix breed with her.) She puts her hand on her chest which isn't that badly sized I might add. "Watashi no namae wa Tanaka Ami. Ami-chan desu!" She then points to me and I give her my name with a smile. (Ami huh??? That's cute! I have to get a piece of this while I'm still here.) I'm completely and totally oblivious to Jun and couldn't care any less that he's still waiting for me on the other side of the tree unaware of how close I really am. "So Ami-chan…" A hand drops on my shoulder and I quickly turn to see Jun. (No! Just 5 more mintues. Let me work on her!) "You were here the whole time?! I was standing at the front gate the whole time." My anger is slowly rising so I turn away from Jun and I see Ami-chan slowly inching away. "Umm Ami-chan wait!" Jun looks over my shoulder and notices her. "Ah Tanaka-san!" She merely looks at him without a response and then turns back to me. "Ja mata." (NO!!!!!! I want a piece of you!) "Ami-chan wait!" Jun nudges me. "Don't talk familiar with Tanaka-san. You don't know her." My anger is reaching new peaks. "Don't tell me what to do! I know her well enough so leave us alone!" (Now to get back to my project.) I turn around and Ami is nowhere to be found. (Eh?) I look around and Ami shouts my name from across the street. "Bye-bye!" She waves her hand, smiles and then runs down around the corner. "Can we go home now?" I lean on the tree with my head hung low. (My project got away from me.) I look up at Jun. (Its all because of this bastard!) "*SIGH* sure. Lets go home Jun, but first tell me something. Which side was it that you got kicked in yesterday?" He points to his left side and I immediately jam two fingers in the location he points to. The pain musta been excruciating based on his facial expression but he didn't say a word. He merely continued to walk along side me as we travelled home.

"So exactly what were you talking about with Tanaka-san?" I stay silent. (She got away. My Ami-chan got away from me!!!) "Okay then could you explain why you're travelling with me home?" I continue to stay silent but then notice something from the corner of my eye. I noticed it for a few blocks but now I was pretty sure what it was. "Come on Jun. I told you I wanted to see something." I stop and so does he. He looks puzzled. "So….did you see what you wanted to see?" I nod. "I saw it and then some. Do me a favor. I want you to translate something for me." He continues to look puzzled. "Yeah you're the Japanese guy. I'm a mere gaijin without a grasp of this language." He still looks puzzled. "Okay I want you to say, "I know you're all hiding. Just come out if you want to play." Jun does as he's told and one by one high school boys begin to appear along the block. (Hmm…2, 3 and 4. So we got 4 today huh? The same group from yesterday at that. This should be fun.) Jun is amazed. "Don't tell me you didn't notice them? Man your awareness sucks!" The boys regroup and approach us. I merely smile. Jun moves behind me. I look at the 4 boys and as anticipated, it is indeed the same group with that same cocky bastard leading them. I smirk, turn and put my around Jun's shoulder. "Lets go home. I'm super hungry right about now. The group slowly continues to follow us. "Chotto kimitachi. The leader calls out to us and I quickly turn and give a stare. "NAN DE TEMERA?!" The stare and the ferocity in my voice as I uttered that comment makes them stop in their tracks. My stare shows that I mean business and will not tolerate being messed with today considering the Ami-chan fiasco. I turn back around and continue walking. One of the boys runs passed us and blocks our path. "Cho-tto ki-mi!" He points at me. (So its gonna go down like this huh? Cant say I didn't give them a chance to escape.) I turn to Jun. "Hey get out of here. You'll just get in my way. Make sure to watch it all though. Take in as much info as you can." Jun nods and walks over to the side. I turn my back on the guy who blocked my path. (He's nothing to worry about. I stopped him with a stare before. I gotta focus on the side with greater numbers and more importantly, that bastard.) I stare at the leader who stands in the middle of the three. So there I stand, surrounded by four guys. A big smile comes to my face. "Heh….this is gonna be fun!"

Continued sometime later….

Time to continue my TRUE story. The only thing that you need to know to prevent confusion is that dialogue with parentheses are my thoughts. Thats pretty much it. So enjoy the second installment....

"So yeah, its not that hard Jun," I say as I slurp up my tonkatsu shouyu ramen at a local shop. "Damn this is so good!!!! From what I can tell, you guys, meaning the japanese, are easily intimidated by some of the most basic things and are quick to back down and that kinda amuses me. A well timed stare can make a whole lotta difference." Junichi fidgets in his chair. "But you, I mean….its just….well…." I look up at Junichi who continues to look down to his untouched ramen. I point at his ramen and he hands it over to me. "Alright! I get seconds!!! I have something known as gaijin power. You see, I bank on the fact that natives don't really want to have anything to do with me. At any rate, don't worry. I'll teach you well but for now lets get outta here. I'm done."

We begin walking down the dark street and continue to carry on our conversation. "So like I said, I have whats known as gaijin power. Its something done in many cities and places and hell even I do it. I mean if I KNOW that a person is a tourist then I'll do my best not to attract attention and avoid eye contact and steer clear of them in hopes that they don't ask me any questions in poor incomprehensible accents or even worst, have them speak to me in their language and expect me to understand." I look over to Junichi who appears to be processing the information. "So in other words, this policy is based on your thoughts of possible slight discrimination from us towards foreigners?" "SLIGHT?! You must be joking right Jun? Though I don't know much about this culture yet, I can pretty much guarantee that foreigners aren't the only ones discriminated against here." (Hmm?) I look over to a convenience store down the block and notice a girl of about 16 years old standing by herself. "Check it, I'm gonna ask her for directions to your house and lets see her reaction." I walk over to the girl. "Sumimasen!!!!" She looks up and sees me approach her and quickly twitches. (Damn she twitched before I even said anything) "Anno…." "G-G-G-Gomenasai!!! N-N-N-No Ingurish!!!!" She quickly turns and walks into the store. I merely turn to Junichi and give an "I told you so," kinda look to him. "Sugoi na senpai!" (Hold on…did this kid just call me senpai? We're the same age arent we? Plus technically we're in the same grade so his senpai claim would be….wait why the hell am I thinking of this?)

Tadaima!!!!! (I always wanted to say that. Tee-hee. Felt good.) "Okaeri. Ara, you two are back a bit late." Junichi's mother says as she sits in the living room. "Oh yeah, Jun took me to a ramen shop and I couldn't help but sample their wares, but don't worry, I still have space for dinner. Jun's mom smiles and walks into the kitchen. Junichi tugs on my shirt and whispers over to me. "Anno na senpai." "Hey no worries Jun. We'll continue the conversation later tonight after dinner." A few hours pass by and the conversation picks up again after Jun finishes his HW. "I'm ready senpai." "Mou ii yo!!! Enough of this senpai crap Jun!" I look over to him. "But technically you're taking me under your wing and teaching me something. Ooooh, then how about sensei?!" He smiles over to me. "*SIGH* just do what you want. So anyway like I was saying, a well executed stare can make a big difference in your encounters. Its one of the main factors of intimidation. The others being size, speech, ability and knowledge." "Knowledge? I have plenty of knowledge senpai." I look over to him as he sits on his bed with a look that shows he has hopes that he's one step closer to being intimidating. "Well not so much knowledge in your sense of book smarts but more along the lines of legend. People know you for what you've done. Whether it be something you did to someone or to a group of people or even to a place. As long as word travels and people know you for those exploits, then no one will want to mess with you. Makes sense right?" He nods in approval just taking in the knowledge. "Well technically ability leads to knowledge and legend when you really think about it. Anyway, get over here and lets work on the simplest and yet one of the most important things." He gets up and walks over to me as I stand in front of a mirror. "And that something is the stare."

Junichi looks at me and then looks into the mirror. He stares at himself for a good amount of minutes. "Come on….while we're still young Jun." He takes a deep breath and then makes a face. I look at the image in the mirror and then move to get a profile view. (Hmm…he's tilted his head and closed his eyes slightly but….what the hell??? He pouted his lips?) "Hey Jun, do you wanna intimidate them to back down or are you gonna make out with them?" "Make out with them?! What are you talking about senpai?!" "You've pouted your lips so the only thing you're gonna end up doing is either piss them off more or try to attract a boyfriend." He grumbles and jumps in his bed. "Enough! I'm tired of this!!!" He digs his face deep within his pillow. (Get the hell outta here!!!! He only tries once and then wants to give up because of one comment? This kid really pisses me off!!!) Junichi lifts his head. "It doesn't matter. I'll find a way to manage somehow." I continue to look over to Jun. "And how will you manage huh Jun? You gonna move away to another town like you did before under the pretense that your parents got a new job in another town?" Jun gets out of his bed and stares me down. (Eh?! Did I strike a nerve?!) For a split second Jun's stare causes me to hesitate a bit. (That's a good one. No tilt in the head, lowering of the brows and lowering of the eyes while maintaining direct eye contact and all without the pouty lips. Lets see how far I can take this.) "T-that was supposed to be a secret. How do you know about that?" "Well its far from a secret to me. So tell me Jun, now that you know that I know this, what are you gonna do about it? *YA~WN* Not like you could do much to me anyway." Jun growls. (I wonder what he'll do next. ) He runs towards me and lifts his right hand. (You've gotta be joking right? He's charging in with a right and its very slow and predictable at that. God his attack leaves so many holes to be exploited. Well I guess its time to bring him back down to Earth.) Jun swings his predictable right hand at me which I easily dodge by sidestepping and then I quickly counter by throwing an uppercut into his stomach. *NOTE- You're always supposed to punch THROUGH an object and not TO an object.* The blow drops him to his knees and then to his side as he rolls around holding his stomach. I crack my right hand knuckles as I look down to him. Yankee factor number 4(Yes I really did call it a yankee factor), ability. Don't you dare, as a person who has none even consider challenging a person like me, who has tons of ability, to a fight. Now know your place!" He slowly gets to his feet and runs into his bed. (I cant tell him that he made a great stare now, but damn that punch felt good! I got some of my frustration out finally.)

The next morning Jun leaves the house without saying a word. "Did something happen yesterday to Junichi?" I sip my tea and look over to his mom across the table who inquires to me. "I have no idea but you know us teenagers with our raging hormones and such. We can get moody at times." I smile and she smiles. Later in the day, I decide to pay Jun another visit at his school. I formulated a theory that Junichi would get beat down worst today due to my interference yesterday. Knowing that he had club activities, I went a little later. I hid behind a tree that's to the right of the courtyard entrance. Knowing that Jun had to make a left to go home, I figured he wouldn't spot me. So finally when he exits, he turns left with his face buried in a book (damn nerd) and as expected he's trailed by 4 boys about 10 steps behind. (Hmm…only 4 today. Maybe it wont be as bad as I thought. I trail a decent length behind as Jun continues to walk with his head buried in a novel unknowingly being stalked by four boys. The street lights cut on as the sunlight begins to disappear beyond the horizon. (Damn, how long are we gonna keep walking??? How come we arent home yet and how come those guys havent made their move yet?) Junichi makes a left around a corner and quickly the boys follow. (*GASP* what if the boys are merely trailing him in order to find his house and formulate a bigger plan later on?!) "CRAP, I gotta hurry. I might lose them!" I run around the corner and see nothing. (Where the hell???) Suddenly a garbage can lid flies out of an alley an onto the street. (Couldn't be.) I run over to the alley and slowly peer in. There I see Junichi with the garbage can raised over his head. (That's not too smart Jun. Even if he was to use that can effectively by throwing it, based on the size of the can, he can only hit 2 outta the 4 at best and then would be open to attack from the other 2.) He throws the garbage can but its easily dodged by all 4 of the boys. Junichi then backs up slowly and lifts his fists. (No Jun. Don't give them a reason.) *NOTE: By lifting his fists and presenting them to the boys, he in essence gives them the ability to say that they were merely protecting themselves or that he provoked them into battle. It's a tactic that I've used on numerous amounts of time. I think all the fights I won were based on a claim of self defense lol.*

One boy quickly runs up to Junichi who begins to throw another right. (Damn its that slow right again. Even an amateur can dodge that.) Junichi throws the right and as expected the boy dodges and runs past him. (Well that's it. His loss is guaranteed. Its hard enough for a skilled person to protect both his back and front so this kid has no chance.) Junichi turns his attention to the boy that ran behind him and instantly pays for it as one of the three boys on the other side throws a straight into his back. (Oooh that's gotta hurt.) Two of the boys link their arms with Jun's to keep him on his feet. (Hmm….i wonder if I should help him now. I did offer to help him and he did turn me down so….nah I guess I'll just continue to observe from the side lines. This lesson should prove to be quite effective.) The original boy that ran past him begins working his body. Shot after shot lands either in his stomach or to his sides. He then throws one more shot to his stomach that makes Jun cough something out. It was too dark to tell but it was probably blood. The fourth boy, who merely watched up to this point merely waved his hand and signaled a stop. (Hmm….so he must be the leader huh??? Too good to get his own hands dirty eh??? Probably thinking that if Jun ever told anyone, he could merely say that he never Jun and sacrifice his friends. I hate those types!) Slowly the leader walks over to Jun who has his head down and gasping for air after having his torso worked on for a good couple of minutes. The leader lifts Jun's head to look at him. (Okay Jun, just don't do any-) Junichi spits in the face of the leader. (Oh boy.) I don't know the leader's reaction since his back was to me, but he wipes the spit from his face and quickly throws a right into Junichi's jaw. A cross with so much force and speed that it causes both Jun and the two guys holding him, to fall backwards and onto the ground. The leader runs over to him and begins stomping severely on his back.

(Alright, I think he's learned enough for today. Its time to kick some ass!) I crack my knuckles and prepare to run into the alley. "OI KIMITACHI!!!!!" We all look up and see some oji-san peering out the window, screaming to the kids below. The little bullying group turns and begins to run out of the alley but the leader stops and gives Jun one final kick in the ribs for good measure. He then turns and runs out but quickly notices me and stops again. I merely stare him down as he stares me down. He points his finger at me and then makes a fist. I continue to only stare and he laughs and runs into the darkness down the street. "The audacity of that son of a-" *COUGH COUGH* I quickly remember Junichi and run back into the alley. Jun slowly begins to lift to his feet and spits out some more blood as I try to examine him. (I'll ask a dumb question.) "Hey are you alright?" I extend my hand down to him and he swats it away. "I can get up myself!" (Well…look whose grown a pair of balls all of a sudden!) " So what the hell are you doing here??? You were watching the whole time?" I nod. "Let me say this once Jun, don't use arbitrary items to fight with; even if you're outnumbered. It makes things a lot worse. And even if you do use one, make sure its an item that can take on ALL of your opponents. Oh and also don't spit into the leader's face. You see what happens when that occurs." I smile and he slowly begins to walk away. (Well this kid showed that he has something. His skill isnt there yet but he has heart so I guess that's something.) Jun slowly begins to tip over as he walks and I run to catch him. "Damn it, I thought you didn't need any help!" I put his arm over my shoulder for support.

"So is this how you plan on managing???" I continue to drag him along. "Shut up! I've realized that your way might be somewhat beneficial to me." (Hm?! Is he gonna admit that I was right??? Well, its not exactly the way I pictured it, but the lesson today created the desired effect. Geez, why is it taking so long to get home?!) "So will you help me?" I look over to Junichi who continues to look ahead but then quickly looks up at me. I immediately turn my head away and look in the opposite direction. "HMPH!!!! Just make sure that you fix yourself up a little before we get home. I don't want your mom worrying too much about you." Junichi begins to smile. "So does that mean…?!" "Yeah yeah yeah, I'll work with you Jun, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us. Make sure you're ready when you recover because I'm gonna teach you all I can!" Jun's eyes light up. "Arigatou senpai!!!" I kiss my teeth. "Don't mention it. I'm just doing this to pass the time. Damn it…I'm getting tired dragging your heavy ass around. Are we there yet?!" And with that, Junichi and Nica slowly continue their trip home down the dark desolate street…

Continued sometime later…

I was in Chiba visiting a friend the other day and as i was walking down the street that beautiful midday, i happened to pass by an arcade and noticed a lone student inside playing one of the games. I looked at my watch and it was just around 11:30 in the morning. "Skipping school huh? Wonder if he's a yankee," i thought to myself. I decided to get a better look for curiosity's sake and as i approached him, he quickly turned around, opened his eyes as wide as possible and uttered out, "Nan da?!" more in an attempt to threaten me. With an uninterested and carefree kinda glazedlook in my eyes, i looked him up and down as he continued to attempt to maintain eye contact. "Hmm....shirt not tucked in, disheveled hair and pants almost falling off. I must say thats a pretty good job though you trya little too hard with the eyes." I give a small smirk, place my hand on his shoulder and say, "Ii ko ii ko," (which essentially means good child, well in this case good boy) and just walk away and out of the arcade.

A few minutes later, i arrive at my friend's house and am greeted by my friend's son, Junichi (who i call Jun-kun), aproper 22 year old college student. Upon meeting him, i see that his appearance has changed to blend in more with Japanese society and it is this appearance that sparks a memory that leads to the creation of this blog......

Six years ago, a 17 year old carefree high school student known by you as Nica, made his first ever trip to Japan. At that time, he was breezing through his studies without a care in the world mainly because everything being taught at the time was learned by him in grades 6-8. It was odd. He was very calm and relaxed, yet very angry inside and was teetering on the edge at all times. Anyway, one day while on an outing with a newly made friend, he met his friend's son. He was a meek and shy looking fellow who wore thick glasses. You know....the nerd looking type. I extended my hand for a shake and he flinched. "Why is he afraid? I'm not gonna hurt him. I mean i could if i wanted to but i wont. Somehow though this kid pisses me off," i thought to myself. I look with a little anger towards him and he flinches again and turns his head away. "Yeah....he definitely pisses me off!"

My friend volunteered to let me stay at her house so guess who i got to see everyday??? Mr. I flinch at every move someone makes towards me. One day, his mother makes him show me around Chiba a little and i'm having a blast seeing all the sights and taking pictures blah blah blah....completely playing tourist. As we got closer to home, i decided to get something to eat from a convenience store. I convinced the kid that i was okay and didnt need a translator so he waited outside. About five minutes pass by and i exit the store chewing on some Pocky. When i look around he's nowhere to be found so i search the vicinity and eventually come across him in a back alley cornered by three other teenagers. "Hmm....i should help but....." As i contemplate whether to help,Jun gets knocked to the ground and the three teens begin to stomp him. *SIGH* At that point i guess i had no choice but to step in. Calmly i walked up to the three. With their back turned to the entrance, they had no idea i was approaching them. I merely gave a gentle push toone of them and somehow he went flying and fell hard a few feet away. The other two turned around and looked to me. I cracked my knuckles and awaited their move. *Silence* "These guys are scared. I can tell." Suddenly they turn, pick up their friend and run away and i go and examine my friend's son. "Hmm...they stepped on you pretty hard Jun-kun, but you dont look that bad."I extend my hand and help him up. "DAMN IT!" He screams out and kicks a nearby rock away. "This always happens! No matter where i go or what i do, they're always someone or some group that wants to mess with me. I hate it!" With an uninterested look, i merely dust him off a bit, put some more Pocky in my mouth and walk out of the alley. "Lets go home."

For the next few days, i watchedJunichi mope around the house after he got home from school. We shared the same room but rarely talked. Now i'm not the type to go out of my way to really help others but if i'm gonna see this kid every day for the next month or so then i need to at least make him a little less pathetic looking. *Sigh* "If i dont do something, this kid will end up commiting suicide or something soon." So i end up going to his mother to gather some type of info. Apparently he was always small and was a constant target. It got so bad that it forced the family to move to another part of the country. I ask for directions to his school and end up meeting him there at the end of his classes. As expected he was walking down the courtyard by himself, but then i noticed a small group walking slowly behind him. "Jeez....dont tell me he's about to get beat up again and he doesnt even realize it. I'll trail him a little and see what happens....for observation purposes of course." A few blocks away the group begins to make a move. Their pace has picked up and by now, Junichihas realized whats going on. He stops in his tracks and turns to face them which stops their movement towards him. In Japanese he screams out, "What do you all want?!" in a cracked, shaky tone ofvoice and makes a pathetic attempt to put a fearsome face on. Its so bad that i burst out laughing along with the guys who were following him. They slowly begin to advance on him again when i call out, "Jun-kun!!!" I run up to him, put my arm around his shoulder and begin to walk away. For some reason though, the group continues to follow us so i turn with my arm still around Junichi and give them my own personal, "F**k are you looking at?!" stare but this time they completely stop their movement and run away. "H-H-How did you do that?" he asks with wonder and astonishment. *Sigh* "You've got a lot of work ahead ofyou Jun-kun but i swear, when i'm done with you, no one will ever think of messing with you again! Now lets go home." And with that proclomation, thoughwe didnt realize it yet,Jun the Yankee was born.....

Continued sometime later