Uh oh... (やばい。。。)

I've gone and done it again.

Four days sans post.

...well. Would you believe me if I said that I had that once-a-month tricky work schedule to deal with this week, and thus have been very busy for the past four days?

Well, you should, because it's true.

Really, you're lucky you're getting anything out of me at all, considering the long list of things I have to do before the week is done.

That said, let's not waste time with niceties, but instead get right down to business.

1. I have decided to go home for the winter vacation.

Because hey, when you don't know when you'll next have the chance, you better darn well go home and visit your family.

That said, it is kind of a pain to go to Arizona from Matusaka, especially in December. Because. You know. Airlines love to take advantage of the fact that everyone gets お正月 (oshougatsu, new years) off.

But hey. We do these things.

It's also a pain that I have to go all the way up to Yokkaichi to buy my reentry permit... which is really just an excuse for the Japanese government to weasel some more money out of the foreigner population. Though I can't really blame them for that, dead broke as they are.

Yea, it's more the driving up to Yokkaichi thing that gets me. Because, come on. Maybe I'll take a train.

... or not because it turns out that the gas it will take to drive there cannot possibly cost more than the train + parking at the station all day.

Not to mention the fact that I would have to wait. And, you know, be at the whim of inaka schedules, which isn't fun, let me tell you. (Why, yes, actually, I do still have dreams about single-car 函館 JR trains, why do you ask?)

2. I am going to Kyoto for the weekend, to spend my Halloween in style with Melon as the universe truly intended.

Oh indeedy.

More on that at a later time.

You know, when it's not ridiculously late at night and I'm not trying to rush out a post for the sake of my dear readers.

3. It has suddenly gotten ridiculously cold.

What, we have the hottest summer on record in over one hundred years, and then the shortest fall in succession?

I feel that, even if we separate our weather records out a little bit and keep it down to, say, one a year, the populace will somehow manage. Really. They will.

Because good lord, I am not ready for coat weather yet. This does not bode well for February. My planned outfit for tomorrow certainly does not fit into my image of October, oh no sir.

4. I tried to teach a student "No way, José" today.

Needless to say, there was a culture gap there which I don't think I quite bridged.

... is it perhaps because there is something inherently Southwestern-American to that phrase? I would believe it, honestly, though I thought it was more widespread.

Oh well, it was worth a go, anyway.

And that's all for now, kiddies--some of us have busy schedules to maintain, and that means getting to bed at a decent hour, don't you know.

This is Edo, signing off and wondering if real life is always quite this hectic.