And I filed them today, so screw October. Ha ha. (My state is dumb and piggybacks off of the Federal return, but doesn’t automatically piggyback any Federal extensions. What gives?) I get a return of $4 from the state, and thanks to my adjusted gross income of slightly over $300 (thanks to student loan interest payments), the standard deductible flatlines my bill. Love it. LOVE it. Can’t wait to do it again next year.

How are your taxes going? Didn’t you file for an extension? If you did your forms should be due in October. Working abroad makes taxes a bitch, don’t it?

If you want that kind of zoom, you’re going to need something like this: http://www.yodobashi.com/enjoy/more/i/cat_89_13530039_1600948_60593232/56864185.html
My dad has this one, and it’s pretty good. The pictures aren’t terribly sharp at full resolution, but it’s not bad. Well, I’m comparing with pro SLR lenses, so that’s not quite fair either.

SLRs are nice…very nice. But let me just warn you: The entry price is cheap ($700 or so) but everything after that adds up quickly. A kit lens probably won’t even give you a 3x zoom, normally in the range of 24-80mm or so. 10x zoom is just out of the question unless you’re willing to unload $1000s on a 500mm lens – they don’t make non-pro lenses in that range. Anyhow, if you get remotely serious about photography, prepare to spend $1000s. I’m sure Alex can relate.

If you want to shoot landscapes to mid-range portraits, I’d say go for Nikon. If you go telephoto, go Canon. Nikon does have nice telephoto lenses, but they are ridiculously expensive.

That’s my two cents.

I’m so glad it’s not just me who’s derailed by this practice. I’m fairly certain that it’s endemic for all of Japan, though, definitely not just Ehime. I don’t think they see it as such a “huge breach in moral ethics,” like we do. (Spot on, by the way.) I think that they feel like the student is an extension of the teacher, and therefore coaching involves literally writing the thing for the contestant…to a degree, I dunno. You’re right, though. The kids care less about it than the teachers do, and it does wind up being a trophy closet kind of activity if they’re learning nothing from it. Sigh. Frustrating, eh?

As for speech shinanigins … ugh DON’T REMIND ME. I have 34 students entering speech contest this year … WTF?! And I’m supposed to start getting some of them this week. I still remember the last year when I asked the student, “Do you know what you’re saying?” and she responded with a cute smile, “No!”

I suppose it depends on how far you can take your morals. I’d suggest subtly refusing to translate (you’re “not supposed” to use Japanese as an ALT anyway so they shouldn’t be asking you) but offering to “work with the student” in translating. I also don’t mind editing a student-translation as long as they’ve done it. It really makes a difference when the student knows what they’re saying.

Any rate … speech contest idea is good, practice is a HUGE BREACH in moral ethics. And the way the teachers treat it like life or death …. they care way more than the students. In the end, they want the student to win so they can put it on their resume. Do you think this problem is just Ehime or across Japan?

I kinda jotted what I was looking for down in a different post…hold for copy and paste department on line 1…

If I could afford it, I’d drop the cash for a Nikon or Canon digital SLR. However, realistically its not what I can do and I desperately want a camera. I’d be happy with one that had the same characteristics as my old one. I’m hoping for a reasonably compact superzoom (10 to 12 optical) and SD compatible, though that’s negotiable. I want to be able to shoot movies (something the DSLRs aren’t made for), at least 640×480 30FPS w/ sound and preferably in .mov format. RAW compatibility would be nice, but I’d be satisfied with JPG. Noise and halos and fringing bother me. That’s about it. Ha ha. I dunno – nicer would be fine, but it’s gotta be within my price range.

So, yeah. That’s pretty much it. I’m thinking of adopting the primary / secondary camera scheme. I want something to capture quick memories at the moment, but I do want to own a DSLR eventually. Maybe it makes sense to go with a small ultrazoom point and shoot until then. Payday was yesterday and I’m getting itchy.

By the way, I think you need a mixi. That’s where all of my blog posts went =P Gotta keep up that Japanese somehow, ya know.