Months Wasted!

...and I realize my grammer and romanji are probably horrible.  But hey, its from memory and its only been two months.  ;)

Haha, Hi Jim! Pretty good Japanese:

Maybe I'm the "Ichiban Furyouna gaijin", but I'm doing pretty well. Do you plan to come over to Japan or use the Japanese in a career, or are you studying just for fun?

I started with Chinese, learned thousands of characters and everything, could speak pretty well and then just decided to go to Japan "for a while". I liked it (err...uh..."them") so much I couldn't pull myself away. Now I've been working here for 17 years. Seems hard to believe.

It's a fun life, almost like you're cheating, it's so fun, but hard on the family back home. Whattaya gonna do, though?

Best Wishes,

Dave

Thanks, NotDave! Furyouna wa nan dou iu imi desu ka?  I haven't run across that one yet. I've been doing a lot of things to try and "fill the void", so to speak.  I have an hour commute each way to work and back, so I figured instead of listening to talk radio and getting ready to spit nails, I would do something constructive.  Picking up a language seemed a good idea, and I've always been fascinated with Japanese culture, so it seemed the logical choice.  Plus, it has like the third largest economy in the world, so it might help me in the future in business.  I hope so.  It will make the resume stand out a bit, neh? I'm learning.  I go to a Japanese language meet-up every other Saturday.  Native Japanese speakers help me with my Japanese, and I help them with their English.  Fun! I desperately want to visit Japan some day.  I find the stupidest things fascinating... like the Japanese vending machine phenomenon.  I hear that they are EVERYWHERE!!!  You'll have to send me some pictures of some of the strange ones you come across.   I've seen a live lobster crane game on the internet.  Weird, but in a good way!!!  Who knows.  Maybe I'll be able to come over there on a missions trip.  But then I wouldn't be able to go to Roppongi.  DOH!!!  I want to sleep in a capsule hotel sometime too. I was of sumo size previously.  With the scale moving again, though, I may actually be able to go over there and look "normal"... for a gaijin, that is. I'll bet the smaller portions help keep you on the straight and narrow over there. Are you a regular reader of Japundit.com? You'll have to drop me an e-mail and tell me about life over there if you get the chance! [email protected] And let me know if you need anything from America sent over. Take care, watashi no tomodachi!

Great job Jim - I've not even tested sugars.  Nothing passes these lips that has more than 5g per serving of that forbidden ingredient.  Luckily I'm not much of a sweet tooth.  I do miss chips and salsa, but I'm only 4 weeks out so no go. Hang in there, 180# is a great job!  You might break 200# very soon at this rate!

You too, Jeff. Hey, are you "mental floss" Jeff?

Jim - it's better to plateau than to gain!  You've done what you needed to do to get the metabolism fired back up and that's what is important.  Just stick with it.  You know you still dump so use it as the powerful deterrant it is...and don't tempt fate. Good to hear from you - it's been too long!  Best wishes! Cards Fan "No More Excuses!  There is no tommorow!  The time is now!"

Amen on that, Cardsfan!

One and the same Jim, you'd mentioned that you posted so I popped over to check the mens group out.  Great, now I've got two threads to follow LOL!