Some linkage

As I continue to sink deeper and deeper into the abyss of freelancing under a tight deadline, I've found I have time for little else. The other day I worked 9 am to 5 am, trying to get everything done in one last big push. Oh how naive I was at that time in my youth, 3 days ago, I realize as I continue working on the same Excel document several days later. I had to report to jury duty yesterday...I wasn't chosen for a case and we were luckily dismissed around lunch time. But then I got to come home and continue working...

Unfortunately, the fact that I hardly have time to run to the grocery or recreate means that it's been difficult to make any substantive posts, as you, my loyal and frequent readers have no-doubt noticed.

For now, I'd like to direct you to a few nice posts that I've recently come across on some other J-blogs I like to read. If you're not already following these blogs, you may want to reconsider!

First off, a post by Eryk of This Japanese Life on humor in Japan. Despite reading this piece, the topic continues to be somewhat of a mystery to me. I know every country probably has a different sense of humor, but damned if I know how people can laugh for hours at guys getting hit in the balls and physically abused in the name of comedy.

Next, a short but sweet little post by Alice over at SHAFT. I don't want to give it away, but it's cute.

Finally, Orchid at 1000 Things put up a nice post last week about how she wound up in Japan. It's particularly notable because she usually doesn't talk about her personal life, and this was an interesting insight into the background of one of my favorite J-bloggers. Also, she enabled comments for this post!

Check them out or live with the regret!

Friendship Friday: Super Happy Awesome Fun Time

This is the first post in a new series that I've decided to start writing. If you're a Twitter user, you may have seen the hash tag #FF floating around on Fridays, along with what seems like a tweetful of spam. The #FF stands for "Follow Friday" and is a trend that entails choosing a bunch of your friends and/or followers and tweeting their names in the hope that some of your other followers may start following them. I think it's a nice gesture but ultimately a little too spammy for me.

But in the spirit of #FF, I'd like to begin highlighting blogs or websites that I enjoy reading. They may or may not actually be friends to me or JADJ, but they are, in my opinion, deserving of some additional attention. Not all of these blogs will come from my blogroll, as that mysterious amalgamation of links doesn't 100% reflect my like or dislike of a site; there are other top secret criteria that are applied during the consideration process. 

Our inaugural FF features a relative newcomer to the Japanese blogosphere; one that I've been following for a little while now and have enjoyed reading: Supper Happy Awesome Fun Time.

What?

Supper Happy Awesome Fun Time is a blog run by former presidents of Otakorp Alice (who is a fellow JET) and Sean. Its stated goal is to "explore all the cool/crazy/awesome there is to see and do here in Japan!"

Why I like it

It's the only website I know that can be acronym-ized as "SHAFT." One of these days I have to ask if that was intentional.

SHAFT has a nice blend of tales from daily life, pictures, thoughts about interesting products, and tips about Japanese language and culture. The blog is still a little young (as of this posting SHAFT has been around for about 4 months and change) so it doesn't yet have an overabundance of content, but I've enjoyed reading Sean and Alice's content and can honestly say that I look forward to Super Happy updates. A good sense of humor goes a long way.

Additionally, though I haven't interacted with Sean much to my knowledge, Alice is very friendly both on Twitter and in comments, so I encourage you to engage her if you see a post or tweet that strikes you. 

So if you have a few minutes, I recommend clicking over and checking them out.