Brilliant!

J100 Tuesday July 31st

I have had a revelation! By making my blog as one of my homepages, and thus a web site that Firefox will bring up whenever I open the program, I am given incentive to make posts! It is that much harder for me to shirk my stenographic duties!

I just used the word 'stenographic'! That makes me happy!

Today was a good day. A beautiful, sunny day that was deliciously cool thanks to a constant, pleasant ocean breeze. I upped my morning exercise routine to new heights, and felt the burn of progress. Oh, how sweet it is. I bought a new belt yesterday, and tried it out today. It works like a charm! My weight loss has had unforeseen consequences, primarily those dealing with my wardrobe no longer being tight in places essential to overcome gravity's constant tug. In layman's terms, my pants are all now spectacularly loose.

My old belt was not doing the trick, so I invested in a Japanese model. There are very, very few fat Japanese men, and thus the belt selection is...not adequate for one such as I. Even though I am shedding weight, my overall size is greater than most Japanese people. The belt I have is tight, but serviceable. Huzzah.

Today was a nice day at work. I had only 3 classes in total, thanks to cancellations, and all of them were in the evening. I spent the day organizing materials for classes, eating lunch, and eking a few minutes of Pokemon out of my bone-dry DS battery. The little soldier is currently plugged into the wall. My school has the annoying tendency to collect and amplify the ambient heat of the day, so despite the pleasant outdoors, some of the school's rooms, mine in particular, were not conducive to a comfortable learning environment. Luckily, however, I was able to use one of the rooms that had no windows, which was a few degrees cooler, and thus survivable.

In all, today was like any other. Peaceful, enjoyable. Work is work, but it is not insufferably boring or monotonous. I have nice co-workers and good students. My lessons are fun and engaging. Honestly, it's more like running a game of Dungeons & Dragons than anything else. It's equal parts improv theater and education. You have to be very flexible and adaptive; if the student isn't getting the point you're trying to make, getting frustrated doesn't solve anything. You have to approach it from another angle. That's the part of my job I like.

Still, my summer holiday is coming up soon. Next week will be a half-week; Thursday the 9th is the first day of my week-long break. I'm contemplating going to Kyoto or Okinawa. Anywhere that isn't this part of Japan, really. Hitachi is wonderful and I love it, but I want to get out and enjoy the other bits of Japan, too. I'm only here for 8 more months, give or take a week or two, and I need to enjoy as much of it as I can. I don't plan on any breakneck tours or anything like that; I'll still be doing things at my own pace. Still, I want to get out of town and see this amazing country from a few different angles.

I think I like this new format. Forcing (inasmuch as I actually am) myself to write every day will be a good creative outlet.

Speaking of which...

*eyes newly-acquired paints and birthday brushes*