I just wanted to reflect on what a waste of a day today was.

Well, first it must be noted that I went drinking with my neighbors last night. We hit up the yakitori joint and that was a lot of fun.

Slept in, and it was pouring when I woke up. I was feeling sluggish anyway from last night's festivities so I went back to sleep. Woke up for real, went through my morning routine and it was actually lunchtime. So I went and had lunch downtown. I had a real nice bowl of tonkotsu ramen. This one shop had the best condiments: a pepper mill, sesame seed mill, and garlic cloves & press. I had extra pepper and sesame, extra extra garlic on mine and it rocked.

After lunch I went to work. Didn't do any actual work though, I just tidied up a bit, watched some videos and listened to some music. Took a walk, dropped in on some teachers, took a nap, listened to some more music and went home.

For dinner I was feeling lazy so I just went to the 7-11 and got a spaghetti bento. It was quite good actually, grilled chicken with tomato & garlic sauce. (What is with all the garlic today anyway? lol.) Watched some volleyball on tv. Japan was playing Brazil in the women's Grand Cup Championship or something. Good game, Brazil was just too much though. I seem to recall this being the case during the volleyball Grand Prix a few months ago. At least this one didn't have that lame NYC Boys theme song. Anyway, then after the game I watched Biohazard (aka Resident Evil in the USA) on one of the movie channels. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Milla Jovovich rocks. After the movie, an infomercial for The Snuggie came on. Sadly it was merely the American infomercial dubbed over in English. I'd really like to see what a Snuggie commercial from a Japanese ad firm would look like. I bet it would be awesome.

Then I watched some basketball. They were showing a classic basketball game, Bulls vs Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals, game 3. It went into triple OT. I remembered this game yet I was watching it intently as if I were watching it for the first time, great game.

So yeah, basically did a whole lot of nothing today. Oh well. Good thing is that there's just 2 more days and it's the weekend again. I'd like to do something different this weekend, hmmm...

my sore throat had started to return towards the end of the period so I let the class out a few minutes early. I had them in discussion groups, and they started off doing the task in English. However, it's the last class on Friday and sure enough the discussion drifted over into Japanese and then about weekend plans & gossip. I would have had them then just talk about their weekend plans in English but that actually was a lesson a few weeks ago. oh well.

In a few minutes my colleague is going to come get me so we can go drown his about-to-get-divorced sorrows.

sheesh, where'd the week go? (Not that I'm complaining. ;)

Monday was a half-day. Morning classes were canceled for post-festival cleanup. Classes in the afternoon were business as usual. I had The Robots and they were especially lifeless then. We were going over a listening exercise at the end of the class and by that time I had finally had enough. Every question was met with dead silence. Fine. Write your name, student number, and the answers for the last set of questions on a piece of paper and turn it in for a quiz grade. Thing is, they got most of them right anyway. If they'd have just opened their mouths and said something none of that would have been necessary. *sigh*

Tuesday was a day off. What did I do? I think I stayed home and did domestic stuff. Later that night my cold came on as reported earlier. Took some medicine and went to bed.

Wednesday was my "research day". Rolled into work somewhat late due to feeling under the weather. Had lunch, took some medicine, did some lesson planning. Came home, had dinner, took more medicine, and turned in early.

Thursday was business as usual. Took some more medicine. Classes were good. Mt. Fuji looked awesome in the early morning. Then clouds rolled in and it actually cooled off a bit. It definitely feels like autumn. I ought to make nabe one of these days.

Tomorrow I have some high school kids visiting one of my classes. Wouldn't you know it, the powers-that-be picked my 2nd lowest level class for observation, ugh. Heck, the high school kids visiting are probably better in English than most of these students are. (Yes it could have been worse, they could have chosen The Robots.) Still, it's not really a bad class. They're just quiet and take longer to answer/do stuff. Other than that, it's just a regular day. My co-worker and I are going out for a few after work. I need to show a little restraint. I've been using cheering him up as an excuse to get obliterated. I don't really need to get bombed every time. Besides, I need to take it easy financially too.

Never made it out to that gym last night. As soon as I got home, there was an enormous mass of freakishly dark, heavy clouds overhead. If it rained, it would be a storm of epic proportions. So I stayed home, had dinner and watched a video. By the time the video had ended, the cloud mass had dissipated into a regular mostly cloudy-type cloud bank (O_o) so I started up my laundry and practiced for a bit.

Brought my sax to work today. Last week, some of my kids asked if I would come to the symphonic band practice this week. So I was like "Sure, why not?" Who knows, if it works out for everyone it may be a regular thing, which would be nice because I had been wanting to play with a group for a while now.

In my office now watching basketball via the internet. Boston vs. Cleveland, so far it's a pretty good game. I can't wait for tomorrow's game, Orlando vs. Philly. At least the Orlando Magic should be pretty good this year, unlike a certain collegiate football team... *sigh* They had one good game against BYU and then the wheels fell off. I still love my team, but the games are really hard to watch.

Ok, I'm gonna go plan some lessons, have a cup of coffee, listen to some music and watch a little basketball.

My last class just now, aka "the robots". The material this week was a little better, but with the crap weather (cold and rainy) I feared the worst. They somehow pleasantly surprised me by being quite upbeat and talkative (in English no less, lol) today.

But still, I feel myself getting into a rut again. I need to snap out of it. I know what I can do, I'm just so f-ing lazy.

For example, my typical day at work has loads of free time. I spend most of that time just playing on the internet. I do make some decent lesson plans, but if I would just put in just a little more time and effort I could come up with some great ones. Also, I could be studying Japanese. While it's something that I don't really want to do, it is something that I need to do (at least if I want to improve my odds of getting a better job here in Japan).

Then once I get home I have two other things that I could should be doing: practicing the sax and exercising. I've been ok about the sax, putting together a decent practice here and there. I just need to be more consistent and also play some new stuff. I've been trying to get my chops back playing stuff that I had played in university. I should get some new pieces just to mix things up a bit. They don't need to be harder, just different. Heck, maybe they need to be easier because I'm not as good as I used to be, and it has been frustrating making mistakes with that stuff when I knew it inside/out back in the day.

Exercising I've been REALLY slack on. Last year when I was really into the gym, I noticed a big difference both physically and mentally. I need to get back into that bigtime. I don't feel a need to relieve stress at all - for real, this job is the most laid-back thing ever AND compare that to the elementary school where ms. you-know-who was on my case all the time. However, I AM out of shape. My clothes don't fit as well as they used to. I think I will stop by the gym after work tomorrow (it's raining today, and the gym is a bit far) and see what the membership plans are like. Actually, there's a big gym close to Shizuoka station. I was planning on heading downtown for a bit anyway. I think I'll stop by that one before I head on home.

And my trip (did I mention I was taking a little trip?) was a bust this past weekend, but I'm actually in a pretty good mood.

To recap:
Friday - classes were better than expected. (The text was an especially boring unit imo, but the kids had a lot of fun with it, go figure.) After work, I went with a colleague for a quick round of drinks and a bite to eat at an izakaya. Then I went downtown and picked up a new blazer and pair or pants. Finally went to the foreigner bar for a couple more drinks, chatted up the waitresses for a bit and then went home.

Saturday - I was supposed to go to Osaka/Kyoto to meet a Japanese friend who has just returned to Japan after living in the USA for a while. However, she e-mailed to say that she felt sick, possibly the flu, and couldn't make it. It was raining all day here as well so I just stayed in and watched some videos. Among them, I watched The Godfather again. Pretty good flick, but I don't know if it is the #2 movie of all time (according to the IMDB).

Sunday - Did some laundry, oh and Tootsie was on one of the HD movie channels so I watched it. Great performances from Hoffman and Murray. That movie is A LOT better than I remembered. Then again, the last time I saw it, I was in junior high school and it was the edited-for-TV version. Still didn't quite dig the ending though. Anyway, then CV came over and we hung out for a bit. We had dinner at an izakaya downtown and then went to a party. It was pretty cool but with work the next day, didn't really want to get too crazy.

So now I'm in the office about to go look over my stuff for today. But first...

Riding the bus in the rain today, I thought about the car once again. Today the commute wasn't too bad. However, doing that during the rainy season was not my idea of fun. I'm planning on being at this university for another 2 years. After that, I dunno. If I can find some sort of tenured instructor position somewhere, I might consider staying in Japan. Otherwise I'm probably going to head home and try to find work at a community college/Intensive English Program, that is, if the economy isn't still in the gutter. Anyway, back to the car. If I'm here for 2 more years, I would get enough use out of a car to make it a worthwhile purchase. Nothing fancy, just a cheap used car that's easy on the gas. Then my other friend was like "You should get a wagon or even a mini-van. That way, if you stay in Japan but move somewhere else, you can use it to haul some of your junk over there." Interesting idea, I think I'll check into it.

Alright, enough procrastinating time to do a little work.

Well, I just heard the warning on the city's loudspeaker system to take care due to the excessive wind and rain. It's really coming down out there too. Listen to that rain and wind howl, dang. Still no word on whether classes at the university have been canceled or not. Hmmm.... Morning classes have been canceled. Looks like afternoon classes are still on, grr...

In other news, I made a reservation for a flight home for the winter break. Including all the taxes and fees, for the days I requested it's gonna be about $1500, ouch. Still, I should have enough saved up by then to pay off my student loans once and for all. Afterward I'll be poor but that monkey will finally be off my back. I think I'm going to skip the moped and just save up for a car when I get back from the break. (or I can just pay off half of my student loans and get a head start on saving up for the car, hmmm....)

I was also thinking about my career and stuff. I have 2 more years at this university. After that I'm going to need a more permanent position where the salary and benefits continue to grow the longer I work. I'm not asking for a professorship, but a tenured instructor position at least. If the opportunity to do that is not present here, I'm going to have to go elsewhere. It might be time by then to find a job in the states somewhere, either an adult ESL gig at a community college or intensive English program for international students at a university. If this university does offer me a tenured instructor position, I daresay I might just become a lifer. I really like living and working here. Once I get a car, I'll almost be settled down. If I somehow manage to get married, this apartment is big enough for a family.

ETA: The typhoon has passed. There's but a light breeze and no rain. Thank goodness they already made the class cancellation announcement. If they waited until now, morning classes would still be on. *whew!*

Turns out I don't have quite enough for the BluRay burner + NetBook after all. That and I need to use some of my funding to pay for registration at the JALT conference in November. So I figure I'll just buy one item with my funding and get the other item out of pocket. It will be a sort of belated birthday present for myself.

Classes are going well. Today I had a class that I've nicknamed "the robots", but they were actually quite lively. Last week's classes while not exactly the best ever were pretty good considering the 2-month break. They all basically just wanted to catch up with each other and talk about what they did over the summer break - which I incorporated into the lesson, they just had to talk about it in English.

( Oh and finally, some pics from Silver Week 2009. )

Summer vacation, that is. The 2nd term starts tomorrow, Thursday October 1st.

After holding out on spending my research budget money, I finally know what I want to buy. Two items:
1.) a Netbook - Official reason: for making presentations in class and/or conferences. Actual reason: Over the break, there were a few instances where I was out & about and wished I had a computer. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't cancel my eMobile yet after all. I might need to get a USB adapter to use instead of my PCMCIA card, but at least I won't have to worry about trying to find a WiFi signal.
2.) an external BluRay burner - Official reason: to archive valuable data files, create high quality videos for educational purposes. Actual reason: to archive valuable data files at home, create high quality videos for entertainment purposes. (^_^)

Unfortunately, these items are official property of this university. That's ok though, I figure I can get enough use out of them while I'm here. When it's time for me to leave, I'll just buy newer versions of these items then.

So yeah, I have classes tomorrow. It totally snuck up on me. At least it's only 2 days until the weekend. I shined my shoes and ironed my clothes for tomorrow and Friday. My alarm is set. I just need to try and remember how this teaching of the Engrish thing works again, lol.

Oh, I saw CC today for the first time since my birthday. We had a nice little chat, I helped her out with some computer stuff, gave her a backrub, she smelled so good... dang, I still have it pretty bad for her. *sigh*

So I'm here in my office cleaning out all the crap from last semester. Damn, that's a lot of crap. I don't want to toss it just yet, because some students may want to see why they got the grade they got. Maybe not though, as I was pretty lenient in my grading.

I saw CC today and told her how I failed my driving test. She wasn't surprised. It's pretty much a given that everyone that doesn't take the government approved (expensive) driving course fails the driving test. She laughed at the reasons I was given though. She said they were just looking for an excuse to fail me. *sigh*

Anyway, I think I'm going to go have some lunch. I would go home, but after lunch I think I'm going to try to work on a transcription for violin and tenor saxophone. I just installed Finale 2009 and downloaded a couple of Bach 2-Part Inventions. I can keep the right hand as is, I just need to transpose the left hand. Yes, this is for CV and I to play someday. While I am no longer interested in her romantically, it would be nice to get together and play sometime. Making these Finale docs is so tedious though. What would be really great if there were a library of downloadable Finale files out there somewhere. (Just googled it. Oh shit, there IS one, sweet. I'm definitely going to play around with that after lunch.)

(Yes, it's been a while since I've had to do one of these.)

You may be thinking, "What the hell would he have to rant about in Shangri-la?"

The English department is wanting to to an overhaul of the curriculum. They say it's broken and needs to be fixed. In my opinion, while there are things that could be improved, some of the changes they're suggesting are not going to improve things. In fact they may make things worse. As the junior instructor (in both time served and age, the second factor carrying a lot of weight in Japan) however, basically what I say don't mean sh*t. Admittedly, I've only been here for 4 months. I still don't know all of the ins and outs of this system. So yeah, they can come up with a plan and I can follow it. Maybe that's just what I need to do. After all, the last time I voiced my opinion at my job about English education wasn't exactly a success. *sigh*

In other news, I saw G.I. Joe last night. That was a fun movie! It went a little heavy on the flashbacks and explosions, but was generally quite entertaining. Oh and The Baroness and Scarlett - wow. (^_^) I'm glad at least someone was able to make a good movie based on toys from my childhood. (the Transformers movies are a mess, sadly. ;_;)

Oh and I've been watching the Women's World Vollyball Grand Prix. Japan did surprisingly well in the previous round. I was really surprised to see that they had beaten Germany and Russia, as those teams are significantly taller. They were able to win with their technique and teamwork. This round however, they lost to both teams. It seems like the previous round was just a warm-up and now they brought their "A" games. I was happy to see that Japan beat Holland decisively last night. That means that even though they have the same record as Germany in this round (1-2), they're ahead due to the points ratio. Tonight's match is against China and tomorrow night's is against Brazil. China is winless, but not a team to be taken lightly. Brazil, well... they're like the Juggernaut of women's volleyball this year. "Don't you know who I AM? I'm the Juggernaut bitch!"

Dinner tonight with CC (the Cute Counselor). I'm pretty excited, nervous even. I haven't felt like this about meeting someone for dinner for a long time. Oh, and I found out why she never speaks Japanese to me. Yesterday at the university thing, I paid her department a visit. In her department are some nurses, older ladies, who I've met before for basic things like having my blood pressure checked. They don't speak any English so we always have our chats in Japanese. So when I saw them, they started up with one of our chats, and CC was like "What? You speak Japanese? All this time, I've never heard you speak Japanese!" It's true, whenever she sees me I'm usually talking with other English teachers or my students, always in English. Back to the nervousness, I find that I'm worried about what I should wear and where we should go, what should we do after dinner, etc.... I'll just play it by ear like I usually do, but I surprised myself that I was thinking so much about it.

Specifically, thinking about how much longer I want to live in Japan.

As you may know, I'm non-tenured faculty at this university. Basically that means I am on a yearly contract, which is renewable 2 more times for a total of 3 years. After that 3 years is up I've heard that you just get a new set of 3 years. Indeed, there are non-tenured instructors here that have done just that a few times already.

However, unless something extraordinary happens I am going to head back home when my 3 years here are up. I'm starting to get the feeling again that I'm just killing time here. While I'm (finally) killing time in a way that will look good on my resume, I still feel like I'm going nowhere fast. As for what "extraordinary" events may cause a change of plans, here are some examples:
1.) Serious relationship - not just a girlfriend, but fiancee or marriage. Even that might not be enough, I'd probably push for us to relocate to the USA.
2.) USA economy still in the gutter - for as long as I've lived/worked in Japan, my mother's been harping on me to live/work closer to home. These days, with the economy as it is, she's more like "You have a steady job, stay in Japan."
3.) Tenured gig at a Japanese university - I doubt I'd be able to grab one where I'm at now, this university isn't that big and it looks as if the current tenured people are here for life. With 3 years here and a couple more publications under my belt there is a slim chance I could find a tenured position somewhere else. Which reminds me, I ought to actually do some research and try to publish something. Hell, I got nothing but time this summer, I might as well.

Bottom Line: I want to teach adult ESL full-time in the USA at a community college or intensive English program for international students.

The party Saturday night was a lot of fun. The house party got too big for the house, so we loaded up the drunk bus and went to a seaside park. We were going to light up some fireworks, but there was a bit of rain. Fortunately we were under a gazebo. Eventually we ran out of drinks so we loaded the bus back up and took it back to the house. Hung out there for a couple more hours then called it a night.

Sunday I woke up and rode my bike to my friend's house. We went on a little road trip. The same drill as last week, sake brewery tour, Mt. Fuji viewing picnic, waterfall viewing. The sake brewery was great except at the end when we got to the gift shop I wanted to buy something but my bag was in the bus. Oh well. Then we stopped by a 7-11 to buy some stuff for the picnic. However, my wallet wasn't in my bag. Uh-oh. Did I leave it at my apartment? Hmmm.... Fortunately I had a handful of change in my bag and I was able to get a bento and drink for the picnic. The Mt. Fuji viewing didn't go so well as it was raining and the mountain was covered in clouds. Then we went to the waterfall, which was way more intense than usual due to all the rain. That was cool. Then after the waterfall we went to the Mt. Fuji 5th climbing station. Some of the group went to go climb Mt. Fuji. Even at the 5th station it was quite chilly! It must be cold at the top. I think I'll climb it next weekend or the weekend after. We went back to the house, had dinner and I rode my bike home. Went inside my apartment, put my bag down and my wallet was right where I left it this morning when I suddenly remembered to grab my phone and iPod. Unfortunately, I just forgot to pick my wallet back up and put it in my bag. Argh!

So now I'm at work. 5 more days until summer vacation! Aside from a few committee meetings I'll be off until OCTOBER! YEAH!! (^O^)

Friday is Wednesday. That is, for whatever reason the university said that on Friday we will be using Wednesday's class schedule. So it's another research day for me. I need to prep the materials for the speaking exam finals. At least I already hammered out how each activity is going to take place.

It's raining pretty hard right now. It's going to be like this all day today. Saturday's forecast calls for rain from mid-afternoon to late evening. This is important because Saturday is also the Abekawa Fireworks Festival. That's where I met Miyuki. The crew I was with last weekend is having another get together. They were like "Yeah, you should come out and forget about her. Maybe you can find a replacement!" As if I were going to the department store to replace a flat tire, lol. I suppose I could I go, talk up some girls, get some contact info, and then go on a few dates. Eventually perhaps I could even find a "replacement" or at least a summer fling. Weird how I don't sound all that enthused about it, kinda 'meh'. People I know are like "Dude, this is exactly what you need!" I guess I'm just not in a partying mood right now. As the day gets closer, I'll probably start getting more excited about it.

I didn't get to play the sax yesterday. I was actually kind of busy. Everything just came together at the end of the day. Oh well. Once I get the speaking test materials done I think I can give it a shot.

I think I'll try to take a quick nap before getting up again to go to work.

Today is Monday, isn't it? Time flies when you're having fun...

After a big breakfast, we hit the road. First we went to a Mt. Fuji shrine. People wanting good luck on their Fuji climb stop by this shrine and give a little offering. I think it was actually a temple though because there were Buddhist nuns and priests all over the joint. Then we stopped by a sake brewery, and that was really cool. They let us see how sake is made and then there were free samples at the end of the tour. I bought a bottle of a very clear and dry sake, one of the best I've had in Japan, maybe the best I've had originating from Shizuoka. (The saleslady was really cute too ^_^)

After the brewery, we went for our little picnic. Unfortunately, it was really cloudy. Fortunately, it was really cool and refreshing. Combined with the breeze and low humidity, it could have easily been a day in mid-autumn. Next we went to see a waterfall, the same one I saw last year. It's a nice waterfall, so I was glad to see it again. Then we decided to call it a day. We got stuck in a pretty bad traffic jam on the way home though. We finally made it back to his place and we made yakisoba for dinner. That was quite delicious. After dinner we had a few drinks and chatted for a bit, then when one of the Japanese dudes was leaving I hitched a ride back to my place with him. Nice enough guy, but I think he sees me as a "rival". He's pretty shy to begin with, but he was even more guarded when talking to me. I asked him "So, what did you do last weekend?"
"Why do you want to know?"
Yeah dude, I want to know exactly which bars you go to and when, so I can then show up and steal all of your thunder. lol.

Work this week is deceptively busy. Giving out the last of the listening/writing tests, which then have to be graded. Then I need to whip up their speaking tests.

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.

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.

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!

My usual Friday-4th-period-bundle-of-energy was a bit subdued today. She was hungover. Moreover, we were doing a lesson on superlatives and one question form was "What is the most delicious ____ that you've ever had?" Everyone proceeded to fill in the blank with sake, shochu, beer, wine, whiskey, tequila, etc. These kids today, I tell ya....

At any rate, the weekend is finally here. I have no plans really. I do need to clean up around the place and call that one dude to see when he wants to see Star Trek. I'll also need to take the old bike out for a spin. (I haven't been riding my bike lately due to weather/bringing tennis gear to work.) So yeah, other than that I think I'll just take it easy and read a couple of ebooks.

Ok, I've had enough of this place for today. Time to go home.