Son, let me tell you about the nerd...

J80
Bit of an up and down week. Work got a bit stressful (a few more classes than I'm used to) and I started to lose sleep. Plagued with odd thoughts, but those are all but evaporated now. I'm thinking of changing up the formatting here just a bit; doing a big, end-of-the-week post like this one will be, only because so little seems to happen during the work week proper.

Tuesday
Nothing of major importance. My cooking skills continue to improve.

Wednesday
Tried on a pair of slacks I had bought in America. They were too tight for me when I came here. Now they are too loose. Ditto their companion suit jacket. Liberal application of belt has repaired the problem of the pants, but the jacket is almost comically too big for me. Awesome. In the evening I found, with the help of Will, a fraternity brother, one of my high school teachers. His name is Robert Rutledge, and he was my Latin teacher. He was one of the biggest inspirations for my life, and I've always wanted to get back in touch with him after I left high school. He's an assistant civil defense attorney in Rome, G.A. now, and I'm planning on sending him a snailmail letter or two.

Thursday
Very tired. Extra classes yesterday and today. Having to come in early to prepare for everything. Not getting much sleep. Luckily, I finished preparing for the next two days today.

Friday
Somewhat less intense than the last few days, but not by much. Got word from my dad that his mom, my Grandmother, just got back from the hospital. She's okay, but drained from the experience. She wanted to know if I was interested in having excerpts from this blog printed in a local newspaper. Very interested in this prospect. Hope to hear from people about it soon.

Saturday
The rush day. Crush day. Survived, as always. Stayed out super-late with the Gaijin Gang here. Went to G-Bros late at night, went to Big Echo Karaoke until about 3 AM, and watched the sun rise at the local Gusto Burger. Think like a Denny's, but no pancakes. The sun comes up super-early here (Japan does not have daylight saving's time). The sun rose at, I swear to God, 4 AM here. I was utterly exhausted, so I crashed for a few hours.

Sunday
After waking up from a very deep sleep, I put on some laundry (standard weekend proceedings around here) and relaxed. Played a little Deus Ex, the first video game I've touched in nearly 3 weeks. Headed out after noon to do some exploring, wound up at the nearby shrine. I got a lot of great pictures, I'll put some up tomorrow morning. After that, I decided to swing by Toy's Dream and see if I could get directions to a Recycle Shop.

I'd love to write about Toy's Dream here, but trust me when I say I'll get to it in my catchup entries. I promise!

Naoki-san, owner of Toy's Dream, is a terribly nice guy. Super nice. When I first found Toy's Dream, he gave me lots of free stuff. I took E.J. there when he was here, where they gave us even more stuff. This time he gave me some snacks...and a ride. I wanted to find a Recycle shop, and he thought for a few minutes, closed the shop, told me to lock up my bike, and drove me to Wonder Goo. Wonder Goo is what you get when you cut a Media Play and a Barnes and Noble in half and slap them together. It has a huge used media section, which delighted me to no end. In the end, I didn't buy anything, just 'cause there was so much to choose from. He drove me back to Toy's Dream and I rode back home.

Saturday night, the Gang and I had mentioned plans about going to the local arcade for, in part, some Dance Dance Revolution. After a little delay, during which I made some delicious stir fry, the arcade plan was enacted, and I met up with most of the Gang at JOYCOM. JOYCOM is filled with three things: fighting games, mah-jong games, and rhythm games. They have a DDR SuperNOVA (the latest, that I know of, arcade version of the game) which is just awesome. Claire, one of the newer teachers, from Scotland, wanted to try DDR out, so we played a few games.

Oy. I have definitely gotten more in shape since I've been here, but DDR is still the best workout I can think of. By the end of two games I was sweating like a pig, but I was still in the dance. Claire and I played a total of about 5 or 6 games, only got through maybe 4. I picked a few tough ones and we failed once or twice. Still, a great time was had by all! Those who didn't dance played fighting games for a while.

Monday
Today! Not much happened today. Had Brush Club and the Japanese Lesson, a quick stop by the grocery store, and a brief stay at G-Bros to end the weekend. I've gotten a few people interested in playing in a Dungeons & Dragons game, and I spent a good 30 minutes going over the basic rules with K. Now, I'm at home, sipping green tea and winding down the weekend.

In all, it's been an okay week. A little stressful, but I'm doing good now.

Update for the old journal tomorrow morning.