that is IT. I am POSTING.

J86 Tuesday July 17th

Everyone in Hitachi is talking about the earthquake. Little damage, and so far none of my coworkers or students have had any injuries or deaths in the family. Thank goodness.

J87 Wednesday July 18th

Same old same old. Busy day. Talked to Dad a little. Says that he will have E.J. over for a while, and that they'll be sending me a package for my birthday. Sounds awesome!

J88 Thursday July 19th

My pokemon collection grows. I've taken to playing it during my office hours, given that I now have some free time in the heat of the day.

J89 Friday July 20th

Josh invited me to hang, but I felt really drained. Today's Genie's (one of the Nova teachers) year anniversary in Japan, but I'm so wiped I didn't want to attend. I decided to drop by G-Bros for five minutes to give my congratulations and leave. Josh was there, with two of his own coworkers. I told him my plan, and he understood completely.

We had a short hang-out session wherein he told me of Beats of Rage. It's an open-source programming project where one can download (and add to) a side-scrolling beat-em-up ala Double Dragon or Final Fight. Decided to investigate later.

J90 Saturday July 21st

Busy busy Saturday! But, no biggie. I'm a pro, now. A cool, collected individual well-tuned to his students. No repeats of last Saturday's stomach distress, thank goodness. Managed to get an interesting article about a mysterious person in Japan.

The short-short version: a person (or persons) has been going around leaving envelopes of 10,000 yen bills the men's bathrooms of municipal and government buildings. Every envelope comes with a hand-written letter, in formal kanji, that bids the finder take only one bill, and use it to absolve past sins or further one's spiritual enlightenment and fulfillment. This has been happening for about a year, give or take a month or two.

Now for the weird parts. One, the handwriting and grammar structure are very unique. They appear to be from the hand of a very old-fashioned, religiously educated man. The grammar is very formal and has structures only used by members of Buddhist clergy. Furthermore, the handwriting is getting worse. Shaky and sloppy. Mr. X, as he is called, is dieing.

Additionally, the envelopes have been found everywhere from Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, to Okinawa, the southernmost island chain. Envelopes have been found thousands of miles apart, but separated in time by mere days. Mr. X is logging a lot of frequent flier miles.

No one knows who he is. Is he real? Is he even a he? Is this money legit, or is it from illegal gambling or dealing? Is this an act of compassion, or a loyalty test? Very mysterious.

Anyway! Saturday night was to be very fun, indeed. Also, tiring. Went to G-Bros, as is my custom. After a big dinner (I was super-hungry) we all went to the beach to set off fireworks again. You can buy really good (and really bad; be careful) fireworks everywhere in Japan. We brought a couple of sacks of fireworks to the beach and proceeded to battle the elements to light them. A heavy mist had sprung up and was blown by strong winds. Nevertheless, we persevered, and were rewarded with a delightful light show of our own making.

After we'd fired everything off, it was getting late. Some of the others wanted to check out a haunted house. I decided to accompany them. I lugged my bike, along with Mike (from Amity, my company's sister school), K, Greg (the teacher I replaced) and M-sensei, my coworker. We crisscrossed Hitachi, finally finding ourselves at the foot of a steep mountain road that lead way up into the hills. Predawn light filled the sky with a misty azure light as we ascended, seeing many beautiful, silent vistas as we climbed.

We passed the ruins of what we assumed (and later confirmed to be) the haunted dormitory. We made it to a massive hillside graveyard on our descent, after climbing to the end of the road, and were greeted with a beautiful predawn view of the city. I took a few pictures, some of which contain Orbs, thought to be paranormal evidence of ghosts.

We climbed down around the edges of the graveyard, stopping to ring a massive brass bell and take pictures of a HUGE spider. We ascended the next mountain spur via a tall staircase, having seen a mysterious, citadel of a building at its top. We found it to be a government building of some sort. We rested at the top of this hill, and then decided to head for our respective homes.

I got home, covered in mud and grass and bug bites, my feet aching. I shucked my muddy clothes and took a shower. I collapsed in bed, drawing the shades tight, and sleeping. It was 7AM Sunday morning.

J91 Sunday July 22nd

I was a zombie all day. Didn't move much. Didn't eat much. Just kind of stared into space. Was super-tired. Got out long enough to see if I could buy the newest Harry Potter book, but was met with failure. I got back and gave Amazon a spin. Mind you, this was the first time I'd ever used Amazon. Realize that, for all my love of technology, I can be a luddite sometimes. I was impressed.

I ordered the book, in English, next-day delivery, cash on delivery. Totally sweet. I spent the rest of the night just vegging.

J92 Monday July 23rd

I wanted to go out, but I couldn't because I had to wait on my book. So, I stayed in again. All day. It wasn't, bad, though; gave me a chance to recharge a bit for the upcoming week. At last, at 8PM, my book arrived. I paid the delivery man and began to devour the book. Worry not, for I abhor spoilers as Evil does the Good Book. I got almost 3/4 of the way done before I slept.