Little Red Wolf

This post is about a new up and coming author known as Paul Schumacher.  On October 22nd, his new book, Little Red Wolf, will be out in stores and is destined to be number one on the New York Times best seller list.

 

The story is a masterfully interwoven amalgamation of several different folk tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and Rapunzel. 

 

As Paul puts it, “Little Red Wolf is a fairy tale reimagining in which many of the female characters of these tales are empowered with modern ideals.  Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf team up with Goldilocks, to rescue Rapunzel from her tower.  Along the way they meet Prince Charming and find out he is sort of a useless jerk... but he IS royalty.”

 

When I get this book, what I really want to see is how Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf join forces.  I find it very interesting in fiction whenever opposing characters band together for a common goal; however we see it more and more these days.  Will Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf become friends afterward?  Now that would be amazing!  Maybe all the characters will share an epic adventure and through these extreme circumstances, they forge a bond of trust and camaraderie!  I’m already excited, and I can’t wait to read it!  I just hope I can get it in Korea, and if not, there’s always online ordering.

 

But more than an amazing writer, Paul is also a childhood friend of mine.

 

We met many years ago in group therapy.  I was 10 years old, and he was 11.  We both grew up in middle class families, in different schools, in middle class America.  We didn’t have abusive parents, problems with gangs, or violence.  But still, we had it rough. 

In schools all over the world, there are predators, and there is prey.  We were the prey.  I was targeted by bullies due to being overweight (that’s as good a reason as any) and Paul?  Well, I never understood why they targeted him, exactly.  It almost seemed like they just picked his name out of a hat.  But bullies never need a good reason to pick on people, just a desire to abuse power.

 

I remember he told me about a group of bullies he knew back in high school.  One day, Paul was sitting at a table having lunch with about eight of his friends when three stooges dropped by and declared they wanted to kick his ass.  Not one second later, all eight of his friends stood up, and glared angrily at the three.  Every one of them was prepared to form an impenetrable wall between those goons and Paul.  He felt like he wanted to give those guys a big hug.

 

When he told me that story, I wished to God I was right there with him.  Those three punks would have had to go through me first, and I wouldn’t have hesitated to fight them tooth and nail.

 

We were good friends for about five years, and then we just kind of drifted apart.  It happens.  And then one day, about 12 years later, I was sitting in my apartment on a November afternoon in Japan thinking about my old friend and what had become of him.  And so, I decided I wanted a conversation. 

 

I didn’t have his email; I didn’t know about facebook at the time, so I didn’t think to look for him there, and I didn’t even know where he lived anymore.  All I had to go on was his old phone number which I had memorized when I was a kid.  It was possible that his parents had moved away or changed their phone number, but I had nothing to lose so I gave it a try. 

 

As luck would have it, not only was it the right phone number, but he was actually there when I called!  We talked, and I had learned that he served in the army for several years, and was even stationed in Korea for two years.  For as long as I live, I’ll always be happy that I picked up the phone and called him out of the blue.  I was amazed to learn what he had done with his life.

 

And now he’s on the verge of becoming a bestselling novelist!  It makes me think about those three stooges he faced down back in high school.  Massive success is the best revenge!

 

I’d like to end this post with a great quote from the man himself:

 

“I want people to think about their dreams before they leap head first after them. Our dreams are important, but we have been deluded to think they are right in front of us for the taking. Our dreams require hard work, dedication, sacrifice, and a little luck to achieve, but with good friends and good networking skills, we can achieve them.”

All About the Nihonjins

All About the Nihonjins

Ah, Japan.  What can I say about it in just one post? 

Well, for starters, I lived there for five years teaching English as a second language.  For a while it was good, and then it wasn’t.  I taught just about everyone from senior citizens to kindergarten.  I’ve taught classes of just one student, and I’ve taught classes containing 80 students.  Sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn’t.

Japan is an amazing place!  There is literally something in it for everyone, and it’s not hard to find what you like.  Are you a nerd like me?  Check out the Tokyo Game Show, (a huge entertainment expo) with all kinds of new gaming technologies from Playstation 3, Xbox 360, even cell phone apps!  But you won’t see anything from Nintendo.  They got their own big show.  You can also check out the booth babes like I did.  I almost scored a date with this girl, but you gotta be bold.

Also along the nerdy trend, you can visit Akihabara and get all kinds of great deals on electronics and see all kinds of Anime in the works.  And when you're finished doing that, stop in at a cosplay cafe where the waitresses dress up as french maids and other colorful anime characters and serve you coffee and cake.  Heck, they even have a few stores that sell table-top RPGs (Look for the store, Yellow Submarine)!  Are you a big fan of Gundam?  Have a look at the Bandai Museum in Tochigi Japan.  They even got a Gundam café there!

Maybe you’re an outdoorsy person.  You like hiking and climbing?  Check out Mt. Fuji.  The view from the top as you see the sun rise is spectacular!  Like camping?  Have a look at Chichibu National Park in Saitama prefecture, an hour-and-a-half train ride North of Tokyo.  I’ve gone white-water rafting there, and the scenery is fantastic!  I even saw an eagle soaring above our raft as we passed down the tranquil river in Nagatoro.

You a history buff like my dad?  Japan has wonderful museums and ancient buildings to see.  My personal favorite is Nara Park in the city of Nara.  Nara Park is the home of Todai-Ji, the largest building in the world made out of wood, and houses the largest Buddha statue in the world.  The building was even bigger 500 years ago, but thanks to a fire, they had to rebuild it a little smaller. 

What is extra special about Nara Park is that there are about 1,000 deer roaming free in the area and they’re completely tame!  You can feed and pet them, and they can be quite affectionate (maybe a little too affectionate sometimes).  There are vendors that sell deer crackers called, “shika sembei” which you can feed to the deer.  And if you bow to the deer, they’ll actually bow right back!

As for Kyoto, some people like it, some don’t.  Some say it’s gorgeous (myself included) others say it’s too commercialized.  Whatever, I’m easy to please.  In Kyoto, my favorite temple is Sanjūsangen-dō, and no, I didn’t just sneeze.  Sanjūsangen-dō (which literally means hall with 33 spaces between columns) is a Buddhist temple that houses one thousand life-size statues of the Thousand Armed Kannon (goddess of mercy, also known as Guanyin) which stand on both the right and left sides of the main statue in 10 rows and 50 columns.  Around the 1,000 Kannon statues stand 28 more statues of guardian deities.  They say that each statue is slightly different from each other, and if you look long enough, you’ll find one with a face that looks like yours!

I wasn't allowed to take a photo, so I took a photo of the brochure

What about the night owl in you?  Japan has some of the wildest night clubs and bars in the world!  If you want to party, check out Roppongi, Shibuya and Shinjuku, basically in that order.  You can enjoy hip hop clubs, techno clubs, I’ve even heard of a reggae club.  You can go there and drink till your heart’s content, meet some beautiful women and men, and kick back after a long day of fun and sightseeing.

Yes friends, Japan is a GREAT place to visit…  But I wouldn’t want to live there anymore. 

Act of Random Kindness

Right now I teach at an elementary school in North Eastern Seoul, and today was a tough day.  I had five classes today, and one of them was the worst class in the school.  Every single teacher complains about this class.  But it came and went, and my other classes were better.  Still at the end of the day, I was feeling kind of down.  In another post, I'll tell you all about my school.

I went to the local E-Mart (It's like Walmart in America) and had some dinner.  Afterward, when I was walking home, I spotted a young woman in her early 20's talking to what looked like some of her friends.  I couldn't hear her from far away, but she looked very upset judging by the way she was shaking her hand in front of her.  For some reason, I felt I wanted to know what was going on here.  I wanted to hear what the problem was and I felt the need to empathize.  Human beings are like that sometimes.  We help each other out.

So I approached the group and said to the girl, "Oh boy, you look very upset."  It caught the whole group off guard, and the girl (who spoke pretty good English) confirmed, and said that she was very upset.  To which, I said, "Well, what happned?"  This gave her and her friends another pause.  Clearly they hesitated talking about their affairs to a total stranger.  So then I said,

"Look, I'm a total stranger.  I don't know you, you don't know me, and we'll probably never see each other again.  But if you tell me, it might make you feel better."

So she took a chance and told me what was up.  She was trying to sell advertising to an upscale restaurant near my home, and the proprieter flat out rejected her offer.  With tears in her eyes, she said, "The man treated me like I was some begger."  I could see how hurt the girl was. 

Rejection.  Well I sure know a lot about that.

So I told her about how I used to write freelance for a magazine.  But before that, I got rejection after rejection after rejection.  The point being, I have felt what she is feeling, and that she is not alone.  I then told her that the man wasn't rejecting "her" personally.  How could he?  He doesn't even know her!  He only rejected her offer, not her person.

So I told her this, and that seemed to make her feel better.  I didn't want her phone number, and I didn't have some ulterior motive.  I just wanted to help her. 

Just an act of random kindness.

So I said my goodbyes, and said that I hope she feels better soon.  She thanked me for my kind words, and I was on my way.

My First Post

Testing, testing.  Is this thing on?  Think so.

Well readers, I have finally done it!  I have created a blog!  It's been one of my goals for a while, and I finally got around to it!  Yay me!

So what's this blog going to be about?  And who am I?

This blog is mainly going to be about several things: teaching English in Korea and Japan, dating, pickup and relationships, writing, traveling, and whatever musings I have on my mind.

So who am I? 

My name is Brandon Snyder.  I am a writer/ESL teacher (English as a Second Language)/novice pickup artist/traveler.  I was born in 1980 to Barry and Benita Snyder; some of the best parents in the world, and I'm so glad I realized that years ago.  I have a highly charismatic sister named Nikki who lives with a first rate man; her boyfriend, Don.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and went to college at Southern Illinois University, and majored in philosophy.  For the past seven and a half years, I have been living abroad; five years in Japan, and two and a half here in South Korea.

It's been a long road, and I have learned a lot.  I've been to Hell and back several times, and I've had a taste of heaven here and there.  I've gone through a lot of changes, and as many of my friends and family can attest, none of it has been easy.  And for all this, I am a better man.

And so, I'd like to dedicate this blog to my friends and family.  God bless you all for staying with me through this long journey.  And to those who have come and gone, thank you so much for being excellent guest stars in this awesome adventure that is my life!