I've decided not to go home for the summer break after all. There definitely is time for it, but I'm planning on going home for the winter break anyway. Besides it'll be hotter than hell in Florida right now. I'd spend most of the time at home seeking refuge from the heat.

So.

August and September - no word yet on if/when the committees are meeting. I'm not about to ask. Here are some things I want to do to fill the time:

• Buy a sax and get back into playing regularly. I saw a nice vintage tenor in Tokyo a little while back. Next paycheck, I'll take a little trip and buy it if it's still there. If not, then pretty much any used modern horn will do. Heck, I can get a used Yamaha here in Shizuoka. I can't really practice at my apartment. I can keep the sax in my office. Over the summer I can just practice whenever. When the term starts back up, I can then practice after hours. Students who are in band are always practicing at that time. I can just go to the same general area and practice there.
  
  
• Climb Mt. Fuji, either early/mid August. For that I need to get into shape, which brings me to...
  
  
• I'd like to join a gym. Thing is, there isn't one nearby. What I'm afraid of is that I'll sign up and then pay 10,000 yen a month for something I hardly ever use. I have this fancy new bicycle. I haven't done any serious biking recently. There are roads that lead out of my neighborhood up into the hills. I should just pick one and GO. I need to just do some cardio, any cardio, to sweat and get my heart rate up. I've kind of soured on the biking to work idea - I get too hot and sweaty. I'm pretty sure the students would rather I not be dripping in sweat as I teach the class. There are only a few weeks left in the term anyway. I'm just gonna bus it for the rest of the term, and do my biking exercise after work.
  
  
• Study Japanese. Here I go again. What I need to do is buy some textbooks and make myself "go to school". Go to the library and study. Really study. No killing-time-on-the-internet-pseudo-studying. Listening and speaking are my strong points. Kanji and grammar and my weak points. I give my students advice on how to improve their English all the time. I need to take my own advice and apply it towards Japanese.
  

Yeah. I need to get off my ass and do this.

I have a stomachache. It started Saturday night and has continued into today. I took some Japanese stomach medicine this morning with breakfast. I don't know if it's doing anything. I have a couple of classes this afternoon. If my stomach starts acting up, I'm gonna start up group work and make a pit stop.

However, the weather is fantastic right now. Sunny and warm with a nice breeze. So I figured I'd sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I found a nice bench to sit on and was sitting there minding my own business when suddenly....

BEES!

Most of them just buzzed around my head, but some landed on my shirt. I quickly brushed them off and ran away from that spot. I must have looked like a fool. *sigh* And I really was enjoying myself up until that point.

So now I'm back in my climate-controlled office. At least I can listen to some music, have some coffee, and play on the internet try to get some work done.

Saturday - got an e-mail in the morning that my friend's schedule had changed. He could only meet on Saturday. So I hopped on the bullet train out of Shizuoka into Tokyo. Found his hotel and we met in the lobby. First we did a little walking around the Imperial Palace and Gardens. That was nice. Then we went to Shinjuku and Shibuya to see more "urban" stuff. (The only thing he's seen so far is the route he takes to work, which is fairly nondescript.) After that, we took the bullet train back to Shizuoka where we had dinner and then walked around downtown. Admittedly, it wasn't much to see compared to Shinjuku/Shibuya, but really he just wanted a chance to say he rode the bullet train. I saw him off and then went home. I was really tired and achy after that. Oh, and his job - his company is working with Tsutaya, helping them develop a DVD rental kiosk. Basically something like this. Coming soon to a konbini near you?

Sunday - Did some laundry, aired out my futon and re-did my computer. Well, I still need to re-install Office, Photoshop and a few other programs. I wanted to go for a bike ride, but I'm not feeling all that great today. I might even have the flu. I'm still achy and my stomach is kind of weird. :( Fortunately, I don't have to do much else today. I need to buy some groceries, but that's pretty much it.

Unfortunately, I have nothing to do. :/ My gf and I are still "taking a break". I am seeing a movie tonight with a friend, so that's something. After that though, it gets pretty thin. A friend of mine from high school is in Tokyo on business. They've got his itinerary planned down to the minute though (welcome to Japan), so he doesn't know if he can take some time to hang out. The best chance for hanging out is Sunday. So I was thinking that I could just make a daytrip out to Tokyo on that day anyway. That way if he can meet, he just has to give me a ring and I'm in the area. If he can't then I guess I could just look around, maybe check out some instrument shops, maybe see if some Tokyo people can meet.

My laptop has been acting up so I was also thinking about redoing it. Now that I have a fast internet connection, downloading updates will be a breeze. I think the heat is getting to it. (Hurry up July 18th so I can has AC!) It will also be 3 years old in August. I'm not really tempted to buy a new one though. Except for perhaps playing newer games, this one does everything I need. I have a bit of laundry to do as well, so I can just stay in on Saturday and do all that.

Work is going well, busy but well. This is the last round of classes until testing starts. I'm giving them their final over 2 weeks. Next week is the listening/writing final, the week after is the speaking final. Once I grade all that and turn my grades in, this term is done. The last day of finals is the 31st. I figure I'll take my time grading everything and turn my grades in on/around the 5th. No word on my committees yet. I was thinking of popping over back home for a couple weeks in Sept. I'm seeing flights for 74000 yen. Not bad, but you gotta figure in tax and other misc. fees. Hmmm....

When I got back to my apartment building last night I ran into one of the professors at this university. The dude is from Germany and teaches German and some other European related classes. He's been at this university for a long time, about 15 years or so. Anyway, he invited me out for a round of drinks at the yakitori joint down the street. He's a regular there. The master was hooking us up with extra helpings of the assorted yakitori bits. Started off with beer, got into some sake. They also had a shochu made from black sesame seeds, that was very tasty. Then we had a shot of the "world's strongest drink". They brought out the bottle and it was some Polish concoction that was 192 proof. As I picked up my glass, some of it dripped onto my hand and the sensation was like rubbing alcohol. We downed it and, damn, that was some hot shit. I had to chase that shit with a beer real quick like. Anyway, we also got to talking with the master about stuff and he's a big jazz aficionado. I noted that he was playing some Coltrane and he asked me if I liked jazz. I said I did and he asked if I played. I said I play the sax, but it's been a long time. Then he mentioned that there's a local jazz combo that plays there every now and then. I told him that I'd really like to see those guys play, then he said maybe I could play with them. I'm really out of practice and I don't have a sax here in Japan. So I said once I have a sax and get my chops back up maybe I could.

The German dude is pretty cool. He likes punk rock and early 80s alternative. For example, he likes Joy Division, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, Bauhaus, Siouxie and the Banshees, and some others that slip my mind. We also talked about the politics here at the university. Nothing revolutionary on that front, just confirmed some of my suspicions. We drank a little harder than I thought we would. We started at 7 and didn't leave the place until 11:30. Good thing we live just a block away, lol.

Anyway, I think I'm going to put my head down for a little bit before my first class.

I still wanted to get the air con, so I called up a Japanese friend of mine to see if he could help me out. He was a little busy but could help me in the early evening. So I watched a video and then took a nap. After the nap, I headed downtown to do a little window shopping. I was wandering around downtown when he called and said he could meet. We went to the electronics store closest to downtown, which was good because my experience at the other one was tainted. Once there we both looked at the various models and in a relatively short time someone came to help us out. The sales dude needed to know detailed info about my apt. I answered what I could, and asked my friend for assistance on the ones I didn't get. We finished the questionnaire and set an appointment for installation. The air con I selected wasn't in stock, so I have to wait until the 18th for the install. No prob, I just don't want to have to come back here to take care of this anymore.

So not that the store did anything spectacular for this to be an unfu*k japan moment, but my friend really did me a favor. (oh and my gf was busy today, so that's why she couldn't help out with this one. Besides, I don't want to have to depend on her for everything. I was hoping to do this one solo. Oh well.)

After that, I treated him to dinner where we talked about how crappy Transformers 2 was. Then we also got into a discussion about other things we'd like to see in live-action form. I mentioned that I'd like to see a live-action Macross, Yamato, Record of Lodoss War, and Area 88. He mentioned some obscure 70s/early 80s stuff which I didn't really know by name. From his descriptions I could picture the shows, but I didn't get the names. He told me how crappy the Dragonball live-action movie was and I told him that the Speed Racer live-action was actually pretty good.

So I went to the electronics store to buy an air conditioner. Wallet stuffed with money, I walked over to the air con section, picked up a couple of brochures, and started browsing. Then I noticed that the sales people had drifted over to the other side of the department. ooook... A few minutes later - seriously, I was standing there by myself looking up and down at the various units for about 5 minutes - a (Japanese) couple stepped into the department and instantly there was a sales dude at their side, going "いらっしゃいませ!" ooook... Then some barely-out-of-high-school looking kid walked up right next to me and again another sales droid appeared at his side, going "いらっしゃいませ!" wtf am I, chopped liver?! ARRRGH!!

So I left the store. I basically now just want to use up my points on this card and never shop there again. Jerks. I have 30,000 points on it now, and another 30,000 coming in later this month for signing up for internet. I figure I'll make a show of it too. I'll use up the exact number of points (or come as close as possible to doing so), ask to see the manager and cut my card in half right in front of them, saying: "I hate this store, no one helps me because I'm a foreigner."

It started out as a rather slow day, I did laundry and went to my friend's house to hook up her fiber optic internet connection.

Then I got an e-mail from another friend asking if I wanted to see Transformers 2 and go to the Tanabata Festival in Shimizu. The festival was nice. I had me a Budweiser to commemorate the 4th, lol. I also met someone from Indonesia that lives in my neighborhood! She's actually lived there for a few years.

( Then we went to see Transformers 2 )
ETA: The movie does get 1 bonus point for having the aircraft carrier where I finished up my Navy career: the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74). I was like "Hey... That's my ship!"

After the movie, we stopped by a foreigner bar which was surprisingly empty for the 4th of July. For one thing there were only a couple other Americans there. Still, it was fun and I met some cool folks. I'll have to come back sometime and hang out with them again.

I was wondering when that was going to come in. I suppose I'd better head down to Yamada Denki and check out some air conditioner prices.

I've been trying to write this up for a while now.

Work is going ok. Getting busy, but ok. Lots of little things have been coming my way and it's been a challenge to keep on top of everything. I'm afraid something is going to get overlooked sooner or later. The end of the term is coming up, a month to go actually. After that, I'm not quite sure what's going to happen. The next term doesn't start until October. As much as I'd like to think that we're going to get all of August and September off, I seriously doubt that's going to happen. I do know that some of the committees I'm on are going to meet and do some work. From what I gather, they're going to try and schedule those meetings at the beginning/end of the break in order to give everyone as much consecutive time off as possible.

I've been feeling kinda lonely lately. Part of that is homesickness. Odd that as I haven't been homesick for a long while. I guess I was due for a bout. Checking out family/friends' pics on facebook has really done it to me. Maybe I'd better just not check facebook as much. Also, I still haven't made many friends here outside of work. Moreover, my work friends are all older and married so they've got their own thing going on. Lastly, I haven't seen Miyuki all that much lately either. It was much easier to deal with the infrequency of meeting each other when we were living far apart, as it was something that just couldn't be helped. Now, she just lives about 10 km away and we still hardly ever see each other. I can meet where/whenever. She however, has been too busy to meet. Also, the few times we do get to meet, the mood has been well, kinda awkward. We did have a talk this past weekend, and she says her feelings for me are still there, mine are for her too. I don't want to put a timeline on things, but if we keep having these awkward moods I have to wonder if we really are right for each other after all.

In other news, my stimulus money came in. Good timing too as I just paid off my Saitama Residents' Tax. It is payable in installments, but I just wanted to get it over and done with so I paid the thing off in full. As the thing is from Saitama, the only place I can pay it off is at a bank downtown. I ended up wasting half of my day Wednesday to run this errand, and I didn't want to do that again, so yeah.

So I've been watching more of my digital cable TV and I'm actually kind of underwhelmed. It just doesn't have as much stuff as the digital cable TV package I had back home. On the flip side, my internet connection is about 5 times as fast, so I guess it balances out. With a good torrent, I can download a 700 mb video in about 2 minutes, a DVD-R image in 15. It's like having video on demand. Just the other day, I was in the mood to watch Tombstone and didn't feel like riding all the way out to the video store to rent it. Found a torrent, started it up, ran down to the Family Mart to get a drink and a snack, came back and the download was done! I might even cancel my digital cable. Still, it does have a lot more foreign sports and news, so I guess it's worth it for that. Oh and there is an add-on fishing channel. It's like 10 bucks a month. I might have to look into that.

Speaking of TV fishing, there was a fishing show on regular broadcast TV last night. They were going for yellowtail snapper. First they tried using live horse mackerel for bait. That wasn't producing anything so they switched to cut bait and then they landed 2 big snappers. One was 11 kg and the other was 10 kg. They served one up as sushi at the end of the show. It looked absolutely delicious, wow.

So yeah, I've been feeling kind of blah lately. Also, somewhat stunned at the news of Michael and Farrah. That really puts things into perspective. Oh yeah, and now Billy Mays, the Oxiclean guy. I totally went down to Target and bought some because of that infomercial!

At any rate, I'm going to try to not waste my Monday now and actually do some work.

Beat It - The first time I heard it, I was in 6th grade at a school dance. The song was so good I wanted it to go on forever. Every other song they played after that paled in comparison. I was overjoyed when they played the song again later that night.

RIP Michael - you were a bit of a freak at the end there but when you were good, you were BAD.

I was quite busy.

Woke up late and found out my digital TV tuner was en route. I was cleaning my apartment when it arrived. I set up the tuner, but it would take an hour for it to sync up with the digital TV company. A hour? Well whatever, so I finished cleaning. There was still a bit of time remaining so I re-watched Terminator 3. Terminator 2 was on TV last weekend and I got in the mood to see 3, so I grabbed it the other day. For whatever reason, I really got into it. Once I unplugged my brain, ignoring all plot holes, etc... I found it to be quite entertaining.

By this time, the TV tuner and digital cable company were in sync, so I turned it on. It's pretty cool. High definition stuff looks great, especially movies. I watched some of The Mummy and man, the added sense of depth is just amazing. As if I could climb through the TV screen and step right into the movie. Then Lord of the Rings: Return of the King came on and wow. In addition to the increased sharpness, motion looked a lot smoother - almost as if it had a higher frame rate, especially the CG stuff.

Still, I didn't have a router, so I couldn't watch digital cable and use the internet at the same time. On my bike ride to the electronics store, I couldn't believe how bad the traffic was. Freaking Sunday drivers, now I see how this was turned into an insult back in the day. Then when I got to the store there was a line of cars down the block waiting to enter the parking lot. Anyway, I looked around the store and found one on sale (normal price: 7900 yen, sale price: 5900). Just to make sure, I asked the NTT rep if this was what I needed, and it was. Oddly enough he didn't try to upsell me on the more expensive one. He even noted that if I didn't need wireless, that a non-wireless router or even a hub would work and cost a lot less. (But I wanted the wireless.) Then when I checked out, a special "time sale" was in effect - it was an extra 1000 yen off. Score!

So I brought the router home and set it up. Of course, all the menus are in Japanese... *sigh* p(^O^)q ファイトー！ First, I had to tell the router how to access the internet via PPPoE. Next, I had to set-up wireless encryption so my neighbors don't get free internet. Then I had to enable port forwarding for torrents. That was all accomplished relatively quickly. I unplugged my computer from the router and started doing everything via wireless. Then I hit a speed bump, getting the TV tuner and the router to play nice. There are no settings on the TV tuner to play with, so I had to get it done with the router somehow. Eventually I found out that I needed to enable "IPv6 pass through". It took a while to dig through the menus but eventually I found it. I shutdown and restarted everything. Once it all came back on-line, everything worked perfectly! Whew! I thought for sure that some crazy kanji-intensive error message would come up, but fortunately that was not the case.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for the technology side of my weekend. Some other stuff went on that I'm still trying to piece together.

I have surge protectors. However, I don't have anything that covers either my current VHF/UHF TV line or the fiber optic line coming into the apartment. Just to play it safe, I unplugged as much as I could. I couldn't detach the line going to the fiber optic modem so I unplugged everything from it instead. (You may be thinking "It's fiber optic, it doesn't carry electricity." It's still a line into the apartment connected to electrical gear on both ends.) The electronics store near my apartment didn't have a surge protector with co-axial cable line protection so I unplugged the power and antenna going to the TV. I'm going to have to look around for a surge protector that has that feature.

That being said, I'm now using my laptop as an actual laptop. I unplugged everything and I'm accessing the internet with eMobile. In this particular case I'm glad I have it. However, I don't know how much longer I'll keep it. I haven't used it since the fiber got put in. I figure this is about the only type of situation where I'll use it and this isn't even a priority. Next time a thunderstorm rolls in, I'll just do something completely different instead.

Should I cancel eMobile internet, I might as well cancel my eMobile cell phone too. It's not a great phone and my reception kinda sucks out here. I figure I'll just go with whatever Miyuki has and that way we can save a little money when we call each other. She either has DoCoMo or AU, I can't remember.

The rain has died down a little and the thunder & lightning is less frequent, although every now and then a big one will pop up so I'm leaving stuff unplugged for now. I had plans to play tennis tomorrow after work. I wonder if we're still going to have it. I hope so, I need to get my fat ass out there and do something. I've been biking to work but I reckon it's still a good deal less exercise than I was doing when I was going to that gym. I miss that gym.

My digital TV tuner is coming in this week (or early next week). From the install info on their website, I can use either a hub or a router on conjunction with the fiber optic modem to give both my PC and TV tuner access to it. I don't need anything super high tech, I just want one that will play nice with my laptop (and eventual PS3). I priced routers yesterday, they're quite a bit more expensive than back home. Oh well.

Speaking of internet, I noticed the Yokohama server for this internet speed test is back up. So I gave it another shot. Here's what I got at work today.


Now, here is my line at the apartment.


dang.

I have won two drawings: 1. back in the 80s I won a multi-disc CD Player from Musicland (it was an amazing prize back then, lol) and 2. then in college, a desk lamp from Sam's Club. I still have both at my parents' house. I still use the lamp in my old bedroom whenever I'm in town. The CD Player needs to go to Goodwill or something.

First time - Saturday, we went to a beach near her apartment. I didn't catch a thing, but at least I was in good company. Of all the people there, I only saw one guy catch one fish the entire time we were out there. It was a nice sized fish, so it gave me hope.

Second time - Sunday, we went to a port out on the outskirts of town. The place was packed. Yet no one was catching anything. The highlight of the morning was when this one dude almost caught a fish. Everyone made such a big deal out of it, I'm wondering if it is normal here to go home empty-handed. While it was nice to get out of the house, I really wanted to catch something. Oh yeah, and everyone there was throwing out so much chum it's no wonder that nothing was biting. The fish probably got full eating all the chum and didn't need to mess around with eating people's baits.

Anyway, I'm going to try and make this a semi-regular thing. Once I start actually catching fish then maybe I can make it a regular thing, lol.

Tomorrow Miyuki and I are going to try to go fishing. I can't believe it's taken this long for my first time fishing in Japan. I remember the first month I was on JET, one of the Japanese teachers of English and I were talking about free time and he says "I like to go fishing on weekends."
"Oh really? Where do you go? What kinds of fish do you catch?"
And he goes "Oh, there's a river in my town that has some trout. Also, I like to go bass fishing at a lake near my house."
"I love bass fishing! I'd like to try it in Japan sometime." *hinthint*
... *dead silence*
What was I supposed to do, as a 1-week-off-the-boat-ALT, ask him "Do you think you could take me fishing with you next time?" So yeah, the dude never invited me.
Another lady and I talked about going to the beach, and we did go. I totally forgot about fishing by then and we just planned on a nice day at the beach. When we got to the beach I got that fishing itch again that I never did get scratched. I ended up going back home soon thereafter. The last time I lived in Japan, I didn't live near any fishing spots so it was never an issue. This time around I finally have the time and access to go fishing. I'm not going to let this chance pass me by.

In other news, classes were good yesterday and today. They all ended a lot stronger than they started. Typical class: I walk in, the room is hot and humid, and half the class has their head down on the table. I have to really sell the warm-up activity in order to get them up and about. Once warmed-up we go into the textbook. Some heads go down, but at least this time they're a distinct minority in the room. We do a couple more speaking activities. Participation in these goes up as it gets closer to the end of the period. One last quick activity, everyone's (finally) fully into it, and we end the class on a high note.

I know I said I was going to try and cut them some slack. However, judging from their performance at the end of the class, I know what they're capable of. Their level of interest was highest when they were expending the most energy. When they just sit there passively, they just take notes and look like they're having an awful time. Once they start talking and moving about it's a completely different room.

The rest of the week has been ok. I went for a bike ride last night. It was surprisingly cool by the time I got home. It's doing the same today. I like these cool evenings. Anyway, Miyuki wants to go fishing really early tomorrow. I'd better hit the hay.

Yet I feel so blah.

I don't think it's the weather. Even though it has been raining on and off all day today, it didn't strike me as "Damn, it's raining again." or any such sentiment. If anything I was like "Whew! I'm glad I brought my umbrella today."

I bought a few things at the electronics shop yesterday. I saw a DVD/divx player that I wanted. However, the store was sold out. The sales droid then showed me DVD/divx player from a different maker, same feature set for about twice as much, ummm... no. Then I checked the internet when I got home and found out the PS3 plays divx. Uh-oh. No. I told myself I was going to wait until I paid off my student loans. That's not going to take place until the winter break so it looks like the PS3 will be a X-Mas gift to myself when the time comes.

I am concerned with my recent preoccupation with material goods. I know I don't need these things yet I want to buy. What for? I'm not sure. Part of me thinks I'm trying to fill a void in my life somehow. What void could that be? Perhaps it's because I miss my friends and family back home.

Work is going ok. I'm a bit behind in my grading but I'm a bit ahead of where I usually am regarding lesson planning. I'm going to spend half of my next research day on grading and the other half on lesson planning. That should be enough to get me back on track. As the temperature rises, the students' energy seems to fall somewhat. Fortunately summer break is just around the corner. Speaking of which, I just turned in my final exam schedule. Surprise, surprise I'm holding my finals at the exact same time and place as the classes are held.

I really hope Miyuki can hang out this weekend. I want to go fishing!

When I got home from work, dark heavy clouds had formed and, indeed, off in the hills in the distance it was already raining. I didn't want to go out and then get caught in that so I stayed home.

It never did rain. Oh well. The only thing I really need is a couple of surge protectors. I have power strips but I'd like to have a little something to protect against voltage spikes. I also want to get a mouse pad for my computer stand at the apt. Oh yeah and maybe a DVD/divx player, lol

I watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture again today. It was never one of my favorite Star Trek films, but I do remember liking it a lot more than most of my friends did. I still like it. However it's major flaw, especially in light of the other films, is that it just takes itself too seriously. The other films tend to have a lot more fun with it and are generally more enjoyable, that is IF they are well written. I still like Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan the best. After that is a tie between First Contact and Star Trek (2009). My least favorites are Generations (ugh, one of the worst movies I've ever seen btw), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Nemesis. This is an odd confession to make but I actually always wanted to be a trekkie. At the age that I started to get into it (elementary/junior high), I just didn't have access to any of that stuff and I ended up getting into other things - mainly video games, D&D, and comics.

So anyway, I downloaded a couple of, ummm, files and seeded them to well over 100% while watching Star Trek: TMP today. I'm not a big fan of hit-and-run torrenting. I feel one should at least give back as much as they've received. That was very difficult on eMobile. That upload was a fraction of the download (seriously it was about 10% as fast). Actually, with fiber optic fully maxed my new upload is a little slower than my download to tell the truth. I don't know what's up with that. However, since I took my download speed on torrents down a few notches and set my upload speed to match, I can do both simultaneously. By the way, I checked out my fiber optic modem. I have no idea how the digital cable tuner is going to jack into it. I wonder....

ok ok, I don't need to let everyone know what my internet at the apartment is like. I'm sure you all have figured out by now that it's pretty fast and I like it. Sorry about that.

My first class today wasn't as fantastic as what I had last week. For one thing it was really sunny and warm out today. Two, I suspect they pretty much had a "Case of the Mondays". So a little while later, I asked some of my upperclassmen students in a different class about what their classes outside of English are like and they said that generally their other classes have about 100 students each. The teacher gives a lecture for 90 minutes straight. The students take notes, maybe are assigned some homework, and every now and then have a quiz or test. Except for laboratory classes, the teachers never call on the students to answer questions about the lecture, much less ask them to do anything in pairs or groups in the class.

The point is I might want to ease up on the classroom participation expectations. Nothing irks me more than the students just sitting there in silence, like bumps on a log. However, this is what they do in ALL of their other classes, so basically they're just being good students, that is, according to what their other classes expect. Fortunately I've been rolling with it, but today perhaps I let it show a little more than usual. I had last week's set of classes on the brain and the bar was set pretty high today.

Tough call. I'd have to go with my friends though. I love my SO, but there's just a completely different sense of love, trust, and understanding that I have with my friends. Maybe that will change once I find the one and get married. At the moment however, it seems I get a new SO every few years or so while I've had (some of) my friends for decades.