Thoughts on the Tea Party

I suppose it's already been said somewhere several times before, but I think the Tea Party movement will fail, due to:

1)The unwillingness of its members to become a national movement (or anything bigger than a community, maybe a district-wide movement), which destroys any real chance of creating a viable, well-funded, system/paradigm-altering third party.
2)The willingness of its members to tolerate (either actively or passively) the interview-happy nutjobs who mug for the camera during or after a media event – this might just be an unwillingness to silence the loud minority in the midst of a murmuring minority.
3)The blindness of its members to the repercussions of their beliefs and, more importantly, the actions they push for. It's like watching teenagers smoke.
4)The hypocrisy of older members, who, in order to join this movement, would have had to either support past political trends (through fervor, ignorance, or apathy) or simply allow them to happen through inaction. (I find it ironic that it took the grassroots nature of the 2010 presidential campaign for the current Tea Party to find its balls and method.)
5)The ignorance of younger members (and quite a few older ones) to the actual workings of government.
6)Its overemphasis on the “size” (meaning “scope”?) of government, the admittedly occasional assumption that numbers alone are important (the US government presides approx. 308 million people in 2010, while employing less than 2.7 million federal employees according to the census – claims of elitism would be more appropriate for a ratio like this), and the belief that it is too intrusive. The Chinese government is “too intrusive”, and to them WE look “too intrusive”.
7)Its inherent selfishness – or to put it another way, its locally-centered theory of government – which explains the first point. American society has grown more insular after the '90s, and this point might just be an evolution of that.
8)The belief that the current government has strayed too far away from the original intent of the Founding Fathers. I agree, actually, but the Founding Fathers were more concerned with trying to keep the new country above water – bad as things are, that's not the case now.
9)The belief that the financial side of the government could be run better, while admirable and accurate, would require an expansion of the section of government (the GAO, I believe) that covers it, which is inconsistent with the “smaller gov” goal.
10)The willingness to dehumanize the opposition (considering a machine consisting of 2.7 million federal employees only as the single machine of government, decrying the liberal bias inherent in media, “Liberals”, etc.) - but this is a self-absorbed problem endemic in modern society, rather than just the Tea Party movement or any one political/social faction.

Their heart's in the right place, but their actions are at odds with reality.
And, because I have some time, some suggestions:

A) Conservatism in American Politics is basically dead – you don't elect Conservatives to office anymore, you elect Republicans. Stop pretending it isn't and work with the system you have.
Aa) Same goes for Liberalism.
B) Your heart's definitely in the right place, but you're not watching oncoming traffic and the future. Start.
C) If the government really is that intrusive, change it rather than reduce it. The only things that grow better when no one's looking are wilderness and cancer – which makes a better Free Market?
D) Doesn't matter if the media has a liberal bias – telling someone they're a jerk or a genius typically won't change the fact that they're a jerk or a genius. Stop wishing for better coverage and make it yourselves – are you or aren't you civilized adults?
E) In the last 15 years or so, the nature of American media and society have interacted together to poison the political system. Educate yourselves – turn off your damn TVs, read the damn laws, and have civilized conversations with people you don't agree with.
F) Electing 15 dyed-in-the-wool Tea Party-friendly members of Congress will only stop all progression/regression and force constant stonewalling, if not encourage even more compromising of values than there already is. You will accomplish little without going national.
G) Regarding E) – C-SPAN is your friend, and so is C-SPAN2. Try to understand what you're reading or talking about.
H) Emotional reactions to problems make them worse. How often do you see relationships fixed by an angry couple yelling at each other? Or societal problems fixed by a twenty-something's blog?
Ha) And how many couples like to be characterized as always fighting? If you don't want to be characterized by the one really loud, really drunk guy, what should you do? Let him be loud and drunk when the media needs an interview?
I) Seriously. Calling everyone that doesn't agree with you a Liberal doesn't make you look smarter or right (see (Aa)). Instead, go classic! Start calling them racists, homophobes/homosexuals, communists, nazis, commu-nazis, commu-spam-nazis, commu-spam-spam-nazis, spam-commu-spam-spam-nazi-spams, conservatives, feminists (no, better not – that would make you look chauvinistic or hypocritical depending on your gender), pinheads, sheep, sheeple, Protestants, Satanists, Un-American, or even the dreaded “Whig”. Be sure to laugh at them when they look at you like you're crazy.
Ia) Speaking of which, what's this “Democrat Party” I keep hearing about? Is there a “Republic Party”?
J) NO ONE WANTS HIGH TAXES. Stop acting like this is an unrevealed truth the faceless politicians ignore. (Also, taxes are the fee you pay to call yourself a law-abiding American.)
K) There's a worldwide recession going on, deficits are going to be a given, and just because you have a job doesn't mean everyone does. No one you support will be able to fix the Budget in the short-term (without bankrupting us further on down the line), and things are never so bad that the current deficits are insurmountable – or is 2 years all it takes to stop believing in the American Spirit?
L) For the last time, he's American, and you should be ashamed if you automatically know who I'm talking about.
M) How'd YOU like to be stopped on the street and asked for your citizenship papers? (Although, if you “lose” them or “forget them at home”, try Rick's Cafe Americain.)
N) There's a saying – if everyone tells you you're drunk, you should sit. Just because you think you're right doesn't mean you are.

Yeah (sunglasses). My stomach's been acting up, so I had to take yesterday off work. Also, Rachel's cat died, and she needed a shoulder. Still need to call my grandparents. Should do that now.

On coil florescent bulbs

Replaced one in Rachel's room. Wonder if, and when, she'll notice?

The problem with these compact florescents, for me, has always been one of sound. Before I left for Japan, the ones I could find all gave off a high-pitched whine. Without researching this phenomenon at all, I believe it's in the power regulator-thingy at the base of the bulb rather than the coiled florescent. Maybe? I should look into it.

Funny thing, though. The ones I bought after coming back to Seattle didn't make such a sound, and they were the cheapest ones I could find. (Funny story - the florescent I installed into the kitchen light at home only burned out some time after I returned. Given how long it'd lasted, I was eventually able to convince my mom that they were appropriate for the living room lamps as well.)

I like them. Given the chance and choice, I think I'll buy florescent bulbs over incandescent ones.

Book Review: MGS 2

Book review time! Read Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (Raymond Benson, Del Ray, 2009) on the trip to Canada. I'm amazed it got printed. Either a) Mr. Benson isn't a terribly good writer or b) he was heavily constrained in his plotting - seeing as how he's apparently written other books, I'm guessing it's b). It definitely conveys the incredibly repetitive nature of the game and is about as good a novelization as it deserves. He left out a bit (I was hoping to see Snake's "Infinite ammo" line), and either altered or left out the references to it being a video game ("Turn off the simulator right now!", for example, and no "Fission Mailed" bit). I think the references could have been left in - given how Raiden's Codec contacts work, Fission Mailed could be explained as him seeing himself from Arsenal's security cameras, or something. My main problem is that it's written as a novelization of a game, rather than that of a movie. I'd love to see it entirely from Snake's POV too. Now I need to hunt down the MGS1 novelization, to see how he did Psycho Mantis.

On eventful weekends

Went to a wedding reception for Rachel's cousin on Saturday, up in Surrey, BC. Nice place. Reminds me of Edmonds. Got a brochure and postcard from the hotel, so if I ever make it big somehow, I'd like to stay there a weekend.

Went to Rachel's neighbors' Fourth of July shindig on Sunday. Played pool. Ate food. Watched fireworks go off over the lake for an hour or so.

Spent yesterday and a sizable fraction of today sick from food poisoning (pretty sure it's the potato salad I had on Sunday). I really don't remember my stomach clenching quite that much last time I threw up (when I was 12, in Japan, likely due to not taking jet lag into account before eating dinner). Mostly liquid. Drank some Canadian ginger ale (not Canada Dry, oddly) before vomiting, so the taste wasn't that bad. According to Rachel, it looked like I had a fire hose attached to the side of my mouth.

On living in the USA

Huh. Been here for 3 months and change now. Time to write a blog post!

Got married again in April - rather, we had the ceremony here, and got the (American) paperwork signed. It was fun.

Found a job with RLB again. Temporary, just for the April tax season. In retrospect, that's the best employer I've ever had. Decent pay, work that can be measured physically (or in some other quantifiable way), Health and dental after six months, easy enough to get to. The only problem is that the neighborhood (from the Convention Center to South Lake Union/Cascade) is alternately skeevy and pleasant, but usually leaning towards the latter.

Went to Spokane with Rachel (6/18-21) and treated it as our first vacation as husband and wife - but not as our honeymoon. We went on a hike and went to a local country-themed eatery on Saturday. Sunday, there was a reunion, and I got to see my America Samoan relatives. My family tree is confusingly international.

Still unemployed. Currently going through Craigslist and the University of Washington job page, mostly.

Also, I seem to have an ulcer now. It started showing up during my last few months in Japan and got worse in April. Unemployment and a distinct lack of health insurance means I'll have to tough it out for a while. Luckily, I was able to find and purchase a significant quantity of Rolaids in Spokane, so I'm not empty-handed in my fight with pain.

On returning to the USA

So far I've: Sent a box of stuff to my parents in the states (sent it EMS, which was cheaper than standard mail for some reason, so it might just get there before I do...), packed my check-in luggage and sent that to the airport, and begun organizing what's left of my belongings in Japan. Still not sure what I can and can't take with me, and I'll need to send another box either way.

I don't like having to travel separately. We're married now - we ought to be traveling together - but there's no reason for me to stay in Japan past my last paycheck on the 15th. Other than to serve as her emotional support.

It appears I'll be taking a night bus to Tokyo, where I'll cancel my phone service and then go to Narita. This will set me back a bit over $100, but the alternative is a $70 night bus without a toilet. I think the extra $40 is worth it.

Feeling nervous. Can't wait to eat a proper pizza.

Huh. I'm married now.

Got married yesterday. We filled out the paperwork, put our new rings on (+1 to wisdom, apparently), and went out for dinner at Coco's. That's really all to it. 'Course, we've been living together for... 2 1/2 years, so it's nothing new and exciting. At the moment. Now I can start introducing her as my wife rather than my fiancee. It's shorter and easier to say.

Current music...

(This feels separate from the topic of the previous post, so I separated them)

Currently listening to Chou-wakusei Sentou Bokan Daileon, from Kyojuu Tokusou Juspion, sung by the ever-awesome Kushida Akira. The video uses clips of it in action, and even though it's all 25+ years old, the wirework and special effects are still pretty fun to watch - compared to the over-reliance on CG in giant-scale Tokusatsu sequences nowdays. I find it refreshing to see a time when live-action Giant Robots(tm) were agile enough that they could be expected to do an on-screen backflip. Most impressively, starting from 1:59, Daileon pretty convincingly throws a monster into the air and uppercuts it into an explodey end (the "Cosmic Crash" attack is normally the hover-dash double punch that starts at around 2:45).

Note that the post and comments are in Portuguese. Japanese shows often have a mix of commercialism and quality that allow for universal appreciation, and a number of Metal Hero shows were aired in Brazil. (To say nothing of Power Rangers in the US, and the various Anime aired in all corners of the world.) The bare minimum for these shows is to sell toys/merchandise/advertising time, and yet in the US, very few kid's shows (or TV shows in general) have soundtracks worth buying.

Also: 21 Accents. (Note that a few of them incorporate jokes about the culture. For example, the New Zealand accent: something about not really paying attention to minor things like your age, etc.) I tried to show this at work, but the computers we use aren't designed to project sound very well, so it didn't work too well.

Thoughts on... Teaching English

I've been teaching English in Hiroshima since October 2008. It's impressive, apparently, that I found the job after arriving in Japan (August 2008) and settling down in Yoshida. (Yoshida, Akitakata City, is roughly 45 kilometers from Hiroshima, close enough to commute but still far enough out to surprise anyone living in the city. As the number of languages in the link might indicate, no one is too surprised to see a foreigner here - no more than "hey, a new guy.") The commute is anywhere from 75 minutes (train + taxi) to 90 minutes (train + bus on an average day), but on Friday evenings it's 110 minutes (train or wait time + the 9:45 bus from the bus center 20 minutes from the office). The one thing I really don't like about the job is the commute. I gave serious thought to living in Hiroshima City (rather than Hiroshima prefecture), and there's a few apartments in Kabe that would do, but then I'd have to live apart from Rachel. So I live in Yoshida.

(Kabe is the suburb that serves as a halfway point between here and there - it's technically in Asakita Ward, but given that Kabe Station has a longer Wikipedia entry, I find it easier to just call it all "Kabe". Which is inaccurate, but oh well.)

I find the job itself difficult, with a ridiculous commute that only makes my frequent stomach problems worse. No, the work itself isn't hard, and I can count on one hand the times I've had actual problems with students (and even then, they're my fault). I enjoy working with my coworkers, and talking to people/students from different walks of life. But I have trouble adjusting to another person's pace - their likes/dislikes and interests, their rates of speech, their ways of thinking, etc. - and so my lessons tend to vary wildly in usefulness when there's more people. I can adjust fine to 1 person, up to 3-person groups, but any more and it gets difficult. Throw in a spread between the abilities of the highest and lowest students in a group (this is, very occasionally, a large gap, through no fault of the students), and I tend to start lecturing or speaking faster, to try to cram in as much lesson as possible in 40 minutes. Result: one of the main complaints against me is that I speak too quickly, and this is the main reason used to fire me...

(The full story behind February 14th being my last day is: My performance isn't as high as it needs to be, and while my circumstances include good reasons to keep me on board, after a year of plateaued improvement, it's easier to cut me than continue to employ me. ...which should come as no surprise to anyone I've talked to in the last year or so. I was originally going to be fired, and my last day was going to be Jan. 31st, but I tendered my resignation at the same time. I wanted to end on Feb. 28th, they wanted to fire me on the 31st - we compromised, and my last day is Feb. 14th. No surprise, no acrimony; it's my best "firing/quitting" yet.)

It also became a worry of mine that students weren't actually learning anything new in my lessons. About 6 months or so into the job, I started making an effort to make sure everyone learned something new. (Correcting pronunciation/sentence structure/etc. when possible, explaining the use of language in the textbooks rather than just teach it straight or through repetition, write and leave lesson notes with as much detail I can manage - the theory being that, even if I speak too quickly, someone can learn something from what I wrote... Whether or not the notes work isn't clear to me, but it's something no one's ever complained about - my handwriting notwithstanding.) People paid money to talk to me; I have to try and make sure I'm worth it.

Bearing in mind that I'm usually not very good at social things, I think I've done pretty well overall. The job has forced me to work with people, and I think I've grown considerably because of it. I look back fondly at the people I've met, and while I've always had trouble finding past successes (I can find my failures with ease, however), I at least know they're there. I have improved as an English Instructor in the time I've worked there, but I realize I don't have the innate talent to be a good teacher. I doubt if I'm a bad teacher, though.

It's actually started snowing as I write this. About what you'd expect for a town in the mountains (altitude: 120 meters?), but it's been unseasonably warm this past week. One more post coming up soon...