miniMATT

A friend of mine posed this question to me about a week ago. It really stopped me in my tracks for a moment and made my mind dust off the cobwebs. This past year I would be lying if I said my life was golden. In fact, the truth is it was be plagued with potholes the like of which I never imagined possible. But this question made me wonder…. what am I really doing?

From the moment I moved to Japan my mind went into a hibernation. I became one of those sheep counters I mentioned before in Have a Dream and Count Sheep. I got into an endless cycle that negatively impacted me and apparently others around me as well. When this thought crossed my mind the lightbulb flickered from the slow cranking of gears that creaked from lack of use deep within the folds of my brain.

After this past week, I have come up with dozens of things I am enthralled to say I am thankful for. My sister, my newly born niece, my parents, my new friends here in Japan, for having a job, and even the difficult experiences that I have had here. I am grateful for all of them. I am even more grateful for being given the chance to live through it all and meet all the fantastic people along the way. I have found some of the challenges this year to be daunting thus far, but nothing has stopped me from moving forward but myself.

Today that changes.

To answer your question in one sentence, “I am grateful for being the one in control of my life and being able to have a positive impact on those around me.”

Posted on October 12th, 2011 by Dinof
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Later and I might actually come back to writing. I stopped sometime ago back in July (2010) because of some difficulties I was having in Japan. Those difficulties ever so subtly increased day by day till they came full circle and I am where I am now. As a way to keep in better touch with all of you (and most importantly myself) I will be reviving this blog and another site to accomodate it. I hope you are all well back home and abroad. Keep at things no matter what life throws at you.

Posted on October 5th, 2011 by Dinof
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Well then give me your phone numbers! Send me a private message or e-mail (matt@mattdinofrio.com) and I’ll get back to you!

Posted on June 12th, 2010 by Dinof
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There’s a squirrel in it! Enough said.

** August 27th, 2010: Fixed!

Posted on June 4th, 2010 by Dinof
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“Même dans le miroir. J’ai des oreilles.”

Alors, il est quoi ca? En fait, je n’ai aucune idée. Il est sur que la phrase est vrai. Moi aussi, j’ai des oreilles dans le miroir. Peut-être toi même? La réalité est que les Japonais adorent tous les choses d’autres pays. Je ne comprendre pas la raison, mais elle est le cas. Il y a toujours les titres, les phrases, l’alimentation, et plein d’autres choses des pays étrangers ici. Bien sur, je comprends complètement la situation d’alimentation. Moi aussi, j’aime bien la nourriture du monde. Il existe pleins de choses de gouter! Malheureusement je ne comprends pas l’obsession d’autres cultures.

Peut-être il existe une réputation chique? Je n’ai aucune idée. Et mes amis? Est-ce que vous trouvez un cas similaire?

Posted on May 25th, 2010 by crayten
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Well I had some soup, milk, rice, a concoction of vegetables I care not to guess about and um,… oh yeah, whale. How about you?

That’s a typical day at school. Sometimes I regret that I can understand the casual table conversation over lunch in the teachers’ room. Now let me say, it wasn’t that whale tastes bad. In fact it kind of tastes like… chicken, go figure. Regardless, I’d just rather not know I was eating whale at all.

Just to give you an idea of the BROAD assortment of food fed to kids here in Japan. Seaweed, jellyfish, seaweed, rice, bread, seaweed, curry, fried chicken, rice, spinach, rice, seaweed, tofu, whale, fresh water fish, seaweed, dumplings, crab, rice, small shellfish, beef, beans (fermented might I add), little fish that stare up at you helplessly from your rice, cakes the size of a pocket dictionary, seaweed, and oh…. more rice. Of course there are others I just haven’t figured out yet and probably should leave it that way.

Posted on May 13th, 2010 by crayten
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Realizations abound, I’ve finally come to terms with this blog. At first it was for my friends, but now I find it’s more for my entertainment. I can still share all the fun things with friends, but maybe I will do a little more writing of my thoughts on travel and other things. I have recently been reading a ton of articles on travel, learning language, photography, and moving (as in changing your living location). These are goals in mind for my future. Actually, I don’t see myself settling down anywhere for an extended period of time. My dreams are slowly evolving, changing, and taking on new persona. I hope for everyone back home I can share what I experience!

Now moving on, more to the title of the post. Setting goals is something everyone does in hopes for that dream. Even the laziest of people, such as myself, will do it. It’s ever so rewarding when the goals are actually accomplished (I know what you are thinking, but yes, I really AM lazy). I sometimes wonder where these goals will take me in life, but there’s no need to dwell too much on it. As long as I know my destination and general heading, I feel at ease.

On occasion I have the opportunity of discussing other peoples’ dreams and I think, “That’s fantastic,…. but why are you here?” I think people, especially in today’s day and age, get hung up (myself included). They get into something and stay there, call it being too comfortable or just plain lazy.  The goals they have will never come to pass because they are too busy “living” life, or so they say. As every day passes them by, they count their sheep till the next moment will come. In effect, they really are sleeping because that next moment may never come. Then you hit 65 and wonder to yourself, “What happened?” So let me ask now, “Why wait?!”

Well, I myself have grown tired of counting sheep. A bit of a paradox, seeing as counting sheep should make you tired! What I’m really saying is, I’m done waiting. Risk is a part of living and it’s about time I take action and do the things I’ve always wanted. Sure moving to Japan was a huge step in the right direction, but it never got me out of my old thoughts. Finally I realize that there is much more to life and it won’t get done till I do it.

Posted on March 23rd, 2010 by crayten
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Why white guys get Asian women

No need for a description, it speaks for itself.

Posted on March 15th, 2010 by crayten
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In February? Awesome cakes….. It’s already hitting in the low 50′s!

Posted on February 24th, 2010 by crayten
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So the other day my students were getting their mid-term exams back. Before the students got them, the teacher mentioned the class average. Upon hearing it, all the students laughed. Well apparently I’m not Japanese enough to get the joke.

But I’m pretty sure a class average of 42 out of 100 points is pretty bad. Or maybe they were just trying to laugh off that test score they were about to get.

Posted on February 18th, 2010 by crayten
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