Optimistic Pessimism.
Welcome all to my site. This is a place where you can see the stuff that I do on occasion. I want to document what goes on in my life an share my experiences with all of my friends.
Welcome all to my site. This is a place where you can see the stuff that I do on occasion. I want to document what goes on in my life an share my experiences with all of my friends.
[Home, SLO, CA]
...and finally some off time!
What a crazy last couple of days it has been. I think this weekend will be my only break until the end of the program on the 30th. I can explain a little more about the groups while I have the time now. There are 17 students from a 2 year college in Japan called Yamamoto College. They are from Matsuyama which is located in the Ehime prefecture on the Island of Shikoku.
The 3 subjects being offered for this special program are Social Wellfare/Medical Secretary, Graphic Arts, and Hotel/Travel Tourism/Sky Business. My main function for the group is driving them around. I have some teaching ESL backgroud so I can also help the teachers if needed. We also have translators with each of the groups. Last year there are only 12 students and I could fit them all in one van. This year we have 2 vans to fit the students, teachers, and translators. Well, I think it's time to relax so I'm gonna hang out while I still can because I know I will be very busy in the next week.
posted at 5:58 PM by Super Ben
Friday, July 20, 2001
[Best Western Encina Inn, Santa Barbara, CA]
Cell Phone No Worky
I'm pissed off because my cell phone hasn't been working since yesterday morning. There was a brief 15 minute period when I was able to use it in Los Angeles. I woke up to the message alert beep and read my mesages. I noticed I had voice mail so I checked those too. We then started traveling again and I lost the signal. I haven't had it since. I wondered, "How is it possible that I am not getting a signal in Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Westwood?" These are places where people should be getting full signals all the time. One of the students traveling with me had Cingular service too, but he was getting a good signal. I'm pretty much pissed off about this.
Universal Studios
Ive been to Universal Studios so many times since I started working for the language school. I love going there because it is always different. On weekdays one can see many shows movies or commercials being shot. My favorite ride is the Backlot Tram Tour because the ride brings you so close to the action and even trough it. I've seen shooting for the Grinch and Jurassic Park 3. Important scenes for both of those movies were filmed in the same spot in the backlot. The actually whoville buildings were placed in front of Site B's visitor center. You also can't go wrong with rides like Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. This summer the ride had a special Summer Spash feature to celebrate the release of Jurassic Park 3. I prefer this place over Disneyland any day.
Sunset Blvd.
While wandering about last night in LA on Sunset, something dawned on me. I don't think that the buttons that you press to cross the street really work. I think they are there for psychological reasons. Have you ever noticed that the button isn't really button-like. It's just a piece of metal on the end of a spring put there to make you feel better. It doesn't have that button feel to it like in elevators or on your phone. Sometimes the light skips over you a couple times and makes you wonder...
I though about that when I was leading a bunch pf people through the streets around 10PM. It was still early and the clubs were just starting to get opened. The people that I were with couldn't make up their minds. They had no idea of what they wanted to do. Some of them were even under 18 years old. I couldn't deal with them anymore so one person and I just darted down an alley and headed straight for the hotel. Besides, being with them made me totally look like a tourist.
posted at 9:19 AM by Super Ben
Thursday, July 19, 2001
[Wyndham, West Hollywood]
Too Many People
There are way too many people in the Los Angeles area. These people have to many cars on the road. Going down the freeway I saw that about 95 percent of the cars had only 1 person in them. LA should really invest in a large mass transit system. The result would be less smog less traffic jams and angry people. I hate Los Angeles. If I were going to live in a big city it would either be New York or San Francisco.
More People
Today we took a trip to the LA area so that we could pick up 17 students and a teacher coming from Japan. They are coming here to learn English and specific job functions such as graphic artists, social workers, or the hospitality industry including hotel, tourism, and sky business. We brought two 15-passenger vans down and met our boss in Santa Barbara to pick up him and his mini-van. One of that van's already had 10 students from the school in San Luis Obispo. In Beverly Hills we had to do a switch off of vans. One went straight to the airport, and I drove the others to get dropped off at City Walk at Universal Studios before driving back to the airport.
The students had already arrived by the time I got to the airport. They were just waiting for me. Their luggage was already loaded into the other one. I filled mine up with 15 people and the rest went in to the other van with the luggage.
Missed Good-bye
On the way down there was a little side mission. Two of my friends were going back to Japan, Yumi and Shinya. The last place I saw them was at the Beverly Hills Shopping Center, where we switched off the students in the vans. I told them to get into the one that headed directly to the airport. I briefly said good-bye because I thought I was going to meet them at the airport after dropping the others off. I ended up getting lost on the way to Universal Studios and got to the airport late. They had already gone into the gate and I wasn't able to say anything. They tried calling my cell phone but I wasn't getting a good signal. I should've said goodbye when I had the chance. No regrets because I know I'll see them again.
posted at 7:41 PM by Super Ben
Sunday, July 15, 2001
[Home, SLO, CA]
Sandwich Generation
I was watching CNN Headline hew this morning and one of the big stories was the Sandwich Generation. This generation is the middle aged people of today who are taking care of both their own children and their parents. I've been around families like that my whole life. Filipinos live in multi-generational homes. They are the only ones, because so many other cultures do so as well. I guess they're making a big deal about it because the "American" (read white) people are starting to experience this "strange" phenomenon.
posted at 7:24 PM by Super Ben
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