Hello Creative Communications class and possibly also my mother...

My name is Michael Obendoerfer and I am a first year Creative Communications student.  I was born and grew up in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada.  After I finished a degree at the University of Manitoba I moved to Japan.  This was mostly because of a girl.  I later married that girl validating that decision.

My time abroad helped me to broaden my perspective.  Unfortunately rather than foster a profound appreciation in all things, my experience generally made me more sarcastic and opinionated.  These are not traits that those closest to me would say needed enhancement.

Despite drowning in a sea of baseball, soccer, and creative/jarring interpretations of professional wrestling, my love of hockey grew in Japan.  Following and watching hockey online was one of my biggest connections with home, and hockey talk and debate served as a good motivator to keep in touch with friends and family in Canada.

Hockey also served as a source of intense frustration and anger abroad.  My coworkers from California, New Zealand, Ireland and other English speaking countries were hockey illiterate. The Japanese understanding of the game is equal in English, their own language, and Aramaic.  Sometimes in small Japanese bars I could find someone who was friendly/drunk enough to pretend to care.  There were no Habs fans I could berate for thinking Zdeno Chara should go to jail.

Like not getting enough sleep, such anger and frustration only builds.  This frustration, along with the internal deadness it leads to, should play a primary role in dictating the direction of this blog.  This may not be a good thing.