Mirrored with permission from Outpost Nine and Azrael
It's So Pretty
At one of my schools, I really don't like one of the teachers I sit next to. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why. But then it finally hit me - this guy is completely enamored with the sound of his own voice.
He is always talking. Always. If the conversation doesn't involve him, he'll butt in. If he can't do that, then he'll talk to himself. If he has nothing better to say, then he'll sing. Or just make sounds. Really, there is no point during the day at which sound is not coming from his mouth.
And that's not to mention that he's just always on the school's PA system. It's like his personal toy at this point. Half the time he's announcing things that aren't even that important. When there is something to be announced, he's the first to get up and say "Shall we communicate it?", and I can hear giddiness in his voice as he frolicks to the machine. And when he's on it, it's just pure joy. I can almost hear him thinking "I like this wonderful machine because it makes my pretty voice big, so that all may hear."
I also imagine that on the weekends, he drives up to the mountains, sets up a chair, and just has a conversation with himself using the echoes.
There's another teacher at this school who loves his own voice and is always talking too. Once he gets started, it's damn near impossible to shut him up. To say he dominates the morning meeting is a bit of an understatement. Ironically enough these two guys sit across from each other. Now, you'd probably think this would bring about The Apocalypse, but amazingly enough it balances out. They start talking to each other, but then they both get tired of waiting for the other person to finish so they can hear their own voices, so they give up and go back to talking to themselves.
But the first guy is still the champ. Last week there was a music performance in the afternoon, so all the students were gathered in the gym. The concert ended, and the students get up to leave. I look, and I see this guy giving out directions...with a bullhorn! I couldn't believe it! Allow me to explain just why this was so ludicrous...
1. The gym isn't that big. There's only about 330 students. It doesn't take more than speaking loudly to elevate your voice above the murmur.
2. He didn't say that much into the bullhorn.
3. What he did say everyone already knew. The sannensei leave first. ...Of course they leave first! They always leave first! I don't think there's been a day in the history of Japanese Jr. High Schools in which the sannensei didn't leave first.
So when I see this guy in particular holding the bullhorn, and you factor in those reasons, well, it amused me greatly, and I couldn't explain to anyone why.
I bet you that wasn't even the school's bullhorn. It was probably his own personal bullhorn he brought from home.
Then, as I was leaving school for the day, I saw him again outside with the tennis club, randomly barking orders into the bullhorn. Of course. Because it's a wonderful machine that makes his pretty voice big.
I don't think he even knows how to play tennis.
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