nihongo no mese-ji (a message in "Japanese")

I have just amused myself by composing what is for me a lengthy letter in "Japanese." For those of you with neither knowledge of nor interest in the Japanese language, my apologies--you need read no further. For those of you with anything beyond a dabbler's interest in the same, you have my apologies also, for I have murdered a perfectly good, if sometimes vague, language. My reason for the letter is stated (poorly) in the letter itself. Basically, I was just sitting and reminiscing about my time in Japan and my friends who are still there, and I thought I should like to "hear" the language, if only from my own gaijin lips.

Boku wa nihongo de kono mese-ji wo tsukuritai (da to omoimasu). Naze nara, nihongo wo wasurenai tame ni, renshu shitai desu. Saikin boku ga nihongo wo wasureteiru you ni kangaete hajimata. Okurahoma-shuu ni iru nihonjin ga sukunai kara. Dakara renshu shita hou ga ii you ni kimemashita. Mochiron honmono no nihongo janai dakedo. Kono nihongo wa gaikokujin no nihongo. Romaji de kaite America no kangaekata atte machigai ippakute nihongo desu ne. Ima yondeiru nihonjin ireba, gomen nasai! demo shoganai. Boku ga amerikajin desu no de, amerikajin no nihongo dake dekimasu. Issho ken mae gambatte mo, kono nihongo dake kakemasu. zannen desu ne. Nihongo muri! (joudan)

Tokubetsu na mese-ji ga aru kedo. Boku no nihon ni iru amerikajin ka osturariajin ka europajin tomodachi to boku no nihon ni sundeita koto aru tomodachi e. Saisho ni shitsumon aru: Kono mese-ji wakaru? Nihongo benkyo shiteimasu ka? gambatte kudasai. Soshite nihon ni sundeiru seikatsu tanoshinde kudasai. Saigo ni, Kami-sama no koto wo issho ken mae gambatte kudasai. Kami-sama kara moratta mokuteki wasurenaide kudasai. Ijou desu. Sumimasen. Otsukare sama deshita. Ojama sashimashita. Yoroshiku onegaiitashimashita. Osewa ni narimashita. Moshi-moshi, Migawa-chuu de gozaimasu...

Now That's Texas

I've blogged from Japan, Australia, Vietnam, the USA, and probably a few other countries besides, but this is my first ever blog from the land known as Texas.

A native Oklahoman, I've always had mixed feeling towards Texas, but that's now neither here nor there--for here is where I am and where I'll live, Lord willing, for several years to come: in Texas. In fact, I just signed a one-year lease on a duplex.

About the signing of that lease... It provided me with one of my first "now-that's-Texas" moments. Our landlord let us stay in our duplex several days before signing the lease since he was still getting things organized with the house--e.g. we didn't have any electricity the first night (which was kind of fun actually). Anyway, when he finally did come over to have us sign the lease, I let him in the door and noticed he had a buddy who was just hanging out on the porch. It just so happened that my landlord's buddy was even bigger than he is--approximately the size and dimensions of a bouncer or a hit-man. Then my landlord walks in front of me into the kitchen, and I see he has a large hand-gun sticking out of his back pocket. Then he hands us the lease and says, "Any problems, boys?"
Well, sir, now that you mention it--no, not a one.

Welcome to Texas. The NRA stronghold of the world.

(My landlord's actually a nice guy--former army, grew up in the c-of-c, about my age. But it makes a better story if I leave this part out.)