Don't Stand for it

Going over my last post I felt that you - the reader - shouldn't have to stand for such a quick and trite post. I really must focus on other writing tonight but feel compelled to post. No particular topic jumps to mind except what I have in front of me now. Being a bachelor, I have made a bad habit of watching T.V. while I eat dinner. (The fact that I basically live in a house with one room has not helped.) Normally I try to time dinner with the 7:00 o'clock NHK news which is broadcast in Japanese and English across the country. I feel I am in a position where I have to balance my need for constant listening practice with my desire to accurately understand what's going on in the country where I live. I would also like to note that the NHK translation is horrible - sometimes hilariously so. There have been cases where between stories the sound goes dead, then a hurried voice starts in again late with a ruffle of papers. While seating in silence mid-bite my mind ponders over the possibilities: am I witnessing (abet mutedly) a wild animal attack in a studio in Tokyo? In any case, the English news of the Japanese broadcast maybe horrible, but it's what I got. Moving on, today's lead story - the issue at the very top of the national news - was about the beginning of private parking patrols across the country. Stop the press! This was news to me! And the story was covered so thoroughly is was almost farcical. Honestly, it made me stop and appreciate the country where I live now. It filled me with confidence. Just go and peruse Google news Canada, make the comparison yourself. It's filled with stories that makes one want to curl up into the fetal position. Every country has its things that are good and bad; but the most horrible newsworthy things in Japan are issues that I harbour no worries about. What a perfect time to write!