So I was on youtube the other day looking for some funny Japanese shows and I ran across this show called Silent Library. The basic premise involves a group of six contestant sitting at a table in the library. One person draws out six cards face down and whoever grabs the card with the skull and cross-bones must receive the punishment for that round. And because they are in the library, they cannot laugh or make a sound. When I watched this, I was cracking my ass off the whole time. The Japanese are the masters when it comes to game shows no doubt.
Archive for » January, 2010 «
Sunday, January 17th, 2010 / admin
“…the other day while I was visiting Long Beach, I ran into two crew members I knew from the cruise ships and then the next day I saw a commercial add spot promoting Key West. I’m starting to think it’s a sign that Carnival is telling me to come back to work.”
Mark Coger
(thoughts on Carnival Conspiracy)
After coming across the website alljapaneseallthetime.com I decided to take Khatzumoto’s advice and totally immerse myself into Japanese. I have already learned about fifty different Kanji symbols and picked up on all of the Katakana. Now I just need to learn the Hiragana and another two thousand Kanji. I’ve also stumbled across many Japanese videos on youtube. I don’t what it is but these Japanese game shows are freaking hilarious. Even though I don’t understand a lick of what they’re saying, I’m always finding myself cracking up. The United States should really take a look at Japanese entertainment for some fresh ideas. Reality television has gotten pretty stale over here.
To get a better understanding of Khatzumoto’s website, his method basically involves surrounding yourself with Japanese material 24/7; via television, movies, and music. Once you do that, he suggests learning the Japanese method of writing which includes three different systems: Katakana (マ）, Hiragana （ま）, and Kanji （敷）. Only after that’s completed, you start to learn various different sentences that you find in Japanese books, newspapers, comic books (manga), movies, or televisions. A total of ten thousand sentences are what he recommends you learn in order to become fluent. But only remembering what the sentence says is half the battle, you have to understand the structure, what each word says and how to read and write it in Japanese.
Category: Uncategorized
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Friday, January 08th, 2010 / admin
It’s already been about three weeks since I left the Carnival Freedom and oddly enough, it still feels weird to be back on land. The past six months feels like a faint memory to me already. The Kiwi I used to work with told me when he came home during his first contract he forgot about ship life all together. Even though I’m glad to be off the ships, I kind of miss the lifestyle and all the great people I ran across. Ship life was a very unique experience and I’m glad to have been part of it.
The idea of money has been a big adjustment for me. On ship you don’t really think too much about money since there are hardly any expenses involved. The other day at the golf course my brother in law was surprised that I bought a four dollar hot dog. One thing about ship life, you don’t think too much about prices. On many occasions I would go out to eat on port and pay a shit load of money for a meal. There were a few times on ship I would down forty dollars at the steak house without even flinching. Unlike the time when a bunch of my friends went out to this fancy restaurant to celebrate my friend’s birthday. When we found out the minimum price for a meal would be thirty-five bucks we bailed without a second thought embarrassed or not.
Night-time still feels a little unnatural. On ship you are always surrounded by some sort of light even when you’re outside at night. Not here on land. The other night I went out and it was pitch dark. Spooky! And also I’m hit with the realities of the real world once again. I don’t have a job and I need to get new tires for my truck and health insurance.
Category: Carnival Cruise Adventure
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