The Post About Twitter

I followed a link on Mattias Ink's blog that said Blogging Is Dead, pull the plug! It says Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, and Twitter are much faster and easier ways to keep everyone involved in your life, and they're easy on the ol' attention span.

Obviously after reading this I realized that I am lacking one of the four major self-publishing, self-loving memberships, and instantly signed up with http://twitter.com (no www's, that's so 2004), here I am at http://twitter.com/jeannetto.

Im not sure how Twitter will save my life yet, it seems a lot like the Facebook "status" thing (which I hardly ever update, right now mine says "Jeannette is planning her summer vay-kay to Mt Fuji...woohoo SPRING BREAK '97! OMGLOLz!" or something like that). But, Im thinking having more ways to make myself seem important by sharing my thoughts with people I met at a party once while I was in Montreal might be the push I need to get me back to the masturbation that is blogging regularly, which might ultimately lead to a breakdown of this block that has kept me from drawing anything neat in the last few weeks (ok, months). People need to know what I, Jeannette, think about all of this. I need to remind myself of how important I am. For my art.

Tweet. Tweet.

今日はほんと寒いね？

I love my new job.

I have too much free time, it can't be good for me. And now winter vacation is coming. I have about three weeks off and no money to go anywhere. My only plans so far are to finish a website I've been working on and possibly do my dishes more than once.

It's like my life has absolutely no purpose and I have no idea what to do next. But it's great.

Dancin in the Street

One of the weirder things I've seen since coming here.

There was no hat or tip cup. It mustve been 100 degrees out that day, too.

Motto's First Sloppy Joe

It took a lot of explaining. First, I had to describe what a Sloppy Joe actually was. Then, why it is so important. He couldn't believe it was vegetarian. He kept picking up little bits with his chopsticks and screaming, "THIS IS MEAT!" He loved them, and his awe for all things American grew along with his belly.

If any of you would like to help me feed this skinny Japanese boy, please send a box of Fantastic brand vegetarian Sloppy Joe mix my way. Every box helps.

To blog or not to blog...

The trend with blogs seems to be, you start a blog, pick a name, write a first post, email all your friends and relatives with the news, "I have a new blog! I am amazing!" Then, you continue writing, people somehow find it, they read yours, you read theirs. You start counting comments. You being thinking about life in terms of how what you're experiencing can be turned into a blog post. Then, all of a sudden, a slump hits. There's no time for blogging. You didn't blog about a vacation or two and feel like you've totally ruined this online narrative of your life. Or, as the angry mob starts commenting, "what happened to your once-interesting-insightful-funny-blog?," you begin to ask yourself, "why do I even write on this thing at all?"

My life is just as interesting without it. Just, no one else knows.

I started this blog to write about my crazy "Year In Japan." As that year is turning into two, and I'm growing more and more accustomed to this backward culture, I am left wondering why am I blogging at all?

My sketchblog, on the other hand, could use some attention.

Rainy Day

I love podcasts. I never have time to listen to them, but they can save your life when you miss a train and the next one isnt for another hour.

I'm Like, Busy

...and yet at the same time, not at all. My new job is sweet. The hours are short, but for the first few weeks it will be chaos. I moved into an excellent new apartment. The view of the smokestacks is breathtaking. I spend my free time taking bus trips to 100 Yen shops to furnish the place.

And there's the freelance project, and answering emails when someone lets me use their internet (we're back to that again).

And then there are the hours of reading comics, followed by even more hours of stomach-churning depression over the realization that I might be physically and mentally unable to ever finish anything.

And then it's donut time.

(Oh, and then there's my stalker/b.i.f.f.l.'s art show, Darryl Berger.)

I Have a WiP Card

I'm so exhausted.

Someone just left a comment on my other blog, saying they found my self portrait on Google. So if you type in "self portrait" you'll find mine on page 4. I freakin love Google Images. Ive actually gotten paid real money from people finding me on that site and me agreeing to do their projects.

Of course, it's only like 1 out of 20 that I end up doing because most people dont offer money and/or are asking me to draw some religious shit or tattoo designs. Yeah, I should write those as stipulations somewhere on my site.

1. Nothing's free.
2. No religion.
3. No tattoos.

I dont know why my stuff shows up there. I guess it's because Google owns blogger and my other blog is through blogger put published somewhere else or some technical crap that ive already bored you with my gloating and youre no longer reading but thats ok because this post isnt taking much effort on my part either.

I'm tired from training and teaching kids. Kids are so evil.

I'm drinking Calpis soda. Pronounced 'cow piss.' It's white and creamy.

What's with the internet?

In six days I'll be at a year in Japan. Right now I'm in Takatsuki, a city in between Kyoto and Osaka. I'm at a two week training for my third job in Japan. In a week I'll head back to Tokuyama and move into my third apartment.

I've spent the past week in nine hour training sessions, enduring long commutes, and eating コンビニ "convenience store" food because there's nowhere to cook and nowhere I can eat. I am a little depressed today. I didn't leave my hotel until 2pm. I stayed in bed watching a Japanese show about these four year old kids whose parents had them walk to the local supermarket and buy a bunch of stuff and try to walk back, alone. It was so sad, I was crying. One of the kids had down syndrome.

I also spent about 40 minutes this morning trying to think of the word "autism." I just couldnt remember what it was called. I kept picturing those little colorful puzzle-piece bumper stickers, that say, "Fight ----!" I thought it started with an "I." Then, I thought it probably started with an "A."

So I went to Kyoto after all this. I forgot my sunglasses and iPod, so I was pretty miserable. It was really sunny, so my eyes were tearing up, and I had loads of eye makeup on.

As soon as I got to Kyoto station I was exhausted. The thought of looking at one shrine or temple was totally unappealing. I really just wanted Mister Donut. I walked around a bit, not having a map or destination in mind. Finally, I returned to the station and found a Mister Donut. I ate two donuts and bought a $4 peach iced tea. I now have zero yen.

That was Kyoto.

Last Sunday I was in Nagoya, that day-trip was a lot better. I visited two art museums, went to an organic vegetarian restaurant, went to Starbucks, watched street performers. It was a nice day. I have some drawings from that that I'll probably scan in a few weeks.

Other than all that, I've been working on an illustration project for a woman in New York, eating a lot of sugar, and thinking about the future.

Poll

Is sitting at home alone, drinking beer, watching illegally downloaded episodes of Dawson's Creek cooler... because I'm in Japan?

Circle One.

Yes

No