Confirmation that, yes, the world is indeed full of 'em

My training is going really well. And I'm very happy I chose this particular group to work with. I have to start with that, because it may sound as though I'm complaining. Not in the least as regards my company... they are on top of their shit. But my fellow trainee, the only other one going through this with me, is a bit of a douche. First, he leaves some important paperwork hours away, and demands time off from training to go and get it. The reason he gives is that he doesn't feel comfortable going out late drinking in Shinjuku without it. So he throws this tantrum about it today, and he still has not been over to get it, and after work, he wants to go to Shinjuku... his treat, he says.


Why not?


I'm tired but why not? I always like to experience as much as possible, and he says you can't come to Tokyo and not go to Shinjuku. It's the quintessential Tokyo. That's enough for me, so we go.

One beer, and then I have to watch him play this street-fighter game for an hour, and then get his ass kicked by a 13 year old kid (at the game, mind you--if the kid had actually taken him down I would be writing an entirely different blog about my rad night). So we spent an extra seven dollars on JR line tickets just to go play a damned video game... not to mention that Shinjuku, while impressive, is home to the Krispy-Kreme, McDonald's, KFC, Eddie Bauer... let's see, what other quintessentially Japanese establishments are there... oh there is the Koma Theatres, which cracks me up. They have a giant screen monitor outside the theatre, which they've awesomely titled, "Koma Vision." Yeah, I was feeling that. And I couldn't ditch the dude because, since he's been here for a month and I have only been in Tokyo for less than a week, I'm the one who's figured out how to navigate the train system.

So we get home after this adventure (I have been imagining that this entire evening would have been raucous and unbelievably fun with any number of you--my possible readers, especially with the Christmas lights up an such a spectacle going on, free J.Rock/Pop CDs being handed out, etc.) and one of the trainers asks if we had a good time.

Eh, it was all right, he says.

So what the hell were we doing there?

And then we walk out on my balcony, and I have changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and he is Canadian and wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and he's Canadian dammit, and he's shivering. It ain't cold. He's freaking out shivering. He's from CANADA!!! I'm from Texas, by the way.

But I found this funny, so whatever. Not seven dollars funny, but entertaining enough.

And that's my English-speaking friend in Japan. I liked it better when I didn't understand anyone.