|
|
| 'Pride' TV show poster |
The commercials are sometimes are more interesting: McDonald's has begun advertising that they are now using 100% Australia beef. Then there's the one with the bizarre woodpecker with a human head poking holes in a tire. Despite all the commercials with bizarre and imaginative computer graphics, my favourite one has been one where a young woman was using a cell phone with a video display and conference call capability to have a rock, paper and scissors contest with four friends for a puppy she was holding. "Ara?, kachatta" (huh?, I won) was her reaction at the end of the commercial in classic startled and cute Japanese fashion.
Back to the subject of news, I was intrigued to read on a Vancouver news radio website that while I haven't stopped by the big discount Daiso store nearby the village for awhile, the chain opened their first North American store in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. Just where I need to go to buy some cheap bento boxes, plastic goods and cutlery when I get back home.
As for work, still doing a lot of work on the school's destination web pages though Declan's been having me do more text writing instead of photo placement and html programming. Not sure whether that means he thinks he can use me better as a writer and researcher while I am here. I do fine when it comes to research but I'm probably still slow when it comes to writing. Mind you, a lot of the places I'm writing about, like all the ones in Shiga-ken around Lake Biwa this week I've been working on, I've never been too, adding to the challenge. That, and the time it takes to rewrite my notes so that it doesn't look like I'm just copying and pasting someone else's text.
This work's been making me munchie though. They say you can get almost anything from a vending machine in Japan but it's a good thing there isn't one with snack food at the school (nor a store very close by). I've seen vending machines here selling bags of rice, ice cream bars, cigarettes, and hot dogs, but I've yet to see one sell off the shelf snack foods like potato chips, cookies or chocolates like I see back home. I've been pretty good at minimizing the junk food here so far but I have had my moments (like occasionally gorging through a box of caramels during a morning at work).
At least I'm not working as late as often as I have been earlier in the month, now that I've almost caught up with my working schedule after taking the 9th off for the Toyota tour. Maybe I'll finally get around to trying some karaoke one evening a week. After all, Roger's been kicking my butt at our post-work chess matches recently.