wow, I really am behind on all this...

J163 Tuesday October 2nd

I was up at 11. The perpetual nap in the van the day before had done wonders for my overall energy level, and even my plentiful rounds of Halo 3 Multiplayer didn't drain my reserves.

I printed out the first study guide issued by E.T.S., makers of the G.R.E. exam. They provide a staggering amount of help materials for those who would take their test, materials I plan to use to study my heart out before December. I still need to register for the test...

The study guide is a lithe 20 pages or so, but it's the initial one. I printed it single-sided and took the pages, and a big roll of twine my Dad and brother sent me, in to work. It was a slow Tuesday, the best kind, one where I only had 2 classes, both in the evening.

Most of the day was spent in the break room. I worked some magic with a two-hole punch and a ruler, I made a series of holes in the stack of paper I'd brought with me. One deceptively long piece of twine, an hour, and a ton of geometrical thinking later, I held aloft my freshly-bound study guide. Zelda style. 'Cause that's how I roll.

For my break I decided to buy some paper at Ito Yokado. I'd been on the lookout for a new bag, something more satchel-like than my single-strap backpack. It was nice, and had served me well on Fuji and beyond, but it lacked in my one true vice - pockets. The poor thing only had two pockets, woefully inadequate given my mildly O.C.D. impulse to categorize everything I own. (For a real brain-twister, consider the fact that my apartment is still a mess)

There is a sizable bag shop on the first floor of I.Y., one that I will browse through every month or so. Today, I hit the jackpot. The only one of its kind, it hung from a display tree like a ripe pear. Light green, made of what felt to be agitated canvas, studded with brass rivets and snaps, and above all composed almost entirely of pockets. This was my bag. It was a bit pricey, about $40, but I considered it worth it. Not too big, not too small. Just right. I donned my new purchase at the counter, eliciting a smile from the shop keep, but they were quite all right with it.

I crossed the plaza and went up to the Daiso/Stationary level. The Daiso is a chain of 100 yen shops. Across the escalator-dominated core of the building from The Daiso is a stationary store. This floor is what I imagine the afterlife to be.

I picked up a ream of white printer paper, A4 sized, for my printer. E.T.S. had a bigger, math-focused study guide on their site that I intended to print as soon as I could, but my supply of papyrus was dangerously low at home. On the way back I met a student of mine who was out with a friend of hers. Meeting students in public is always a comedic situation. It's as if they believe I don't exist outside of the class room. That I have some sort of chamber in the school within which I recharge every night. Perhaps I sleep in one of the underused rooms? I could easily live off of the convenience food in the Lawson's next door.

Anyway, this has gone on far too long for a simple Tuesday. Sufficed to say, it was a good day. Little else of consequence happened beyond the acquisition of a Totally Sweet Bag.

J164 Wednesday October 3rd.

GAH.

Long day. 5 classes, the last 4 in the 4-hour block o' doom at the end of the day. Wednesdays kind of suck. Not in a horrible way, but a muuuuuuuuughrlgh way. One fantastically awesome ray of sunshine broke through the day, though, and that was the package that I got in the mail.

My Mom and sister had joined forces to send me a birthday package of extraordinary magnitude. I used my break time to dash to the post office and retrieve it. It appeared to be the victim of a (non-Psi U!) fraternity hazing, but it had survived. It could strut down the street, bearing its crumpled corners with pride, a young FedEx package on its arm, the envy of every DHL letter-sized envelope that saw it.

I crammed it into my bike's basket and made my way back to work. I wanted to wait 'till I got home to open it, dreading the bike ride home with a box the size of my (manly, hairy) chest open to the elements. But, then again, it was a package from home. I settled into my chair in the break room and quietly sliced the packing tape securing the crumpled corner. I pried the box apart as far as the cardboard would allow and took a peek inside.

Shirts! Yay! What could be ties, double yay! Something glittering gold in the artificial twilight...a word? The title of a hardback book? The word...."Red"? My mind went through a curious game of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon. My sister loves books. I bought her a copy of The Lies of Locke Lamora last year as a gift. She loved it, and vowed to buy them all. The next book in the series was titled Red Seas Under Red Skies.

I needed to get that book in my dirty little hands now.

My pocket knife made quick work of the tape the package could afford to lose. A quick struggle with the laws of physics, and the tome was mine to behold. A ship, aflame, beneath firestorm-black clouds. A city, golden (but due to flames of rebellion or the gild of fortune?) shone in the background. The title glittered in faux-gold, stamped in historical strokes. It was, indeed, the book I thought it was to be.

The rest of my break saw me absorbed in the book. It was delicious. It satisfied a thirst I had thought long-forgotten.

As an indication as to how this whole thing works, the last day's material, Wednesdays, was only two lines in my paper journal.

J165 Thursday October 4th

Understand, readers, that I cannot tell you everything that happens in my life while I live it here. I am bound by many contracts, legal and social, to keep certain events and information under wraps. I do not betray any oath I have sworn by telling you I have, and keep, them, but it is something you should consider.

The events of today were...something upon which I shall meditate for quite some time.

J166 Friday October 5th

A busy day. Another 4-hour deathblock of classes. That's two in a week, for those of you playing the home version of our game. Red Seas did a good job of soothing my hurts, though. It is a cool balm, a raging storm, a lagoon of clarity, a karst of inescapable darkness. It is, in a word, awesome.

After work I joined Josh at B.B.A. I was originally only there to drop off the first episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3, but hunger and need of the relaxing properties of alcohol won me over. I dined on salmon pasta and enjoyed a cool Asahi Super Dry. On the B.B.A.'s PS3, the only one I've seen outside of Akihabara in Japan, was a Gundam fighting game. I played a few rounds after consuming my dinner, but I knew I had to move along. Tomorrow was a Saturday, and that's never easy.

J167 Saturday October 6th

A busy day. 3 in a row, then 4. I made a bit of a mix up toward the end of the day; teaching with the wrong materials for one class. Luckily I did some student swapping fu and managed to fix the situation, but it was a bit of a shaky day for me. I tried to rest after work as best I could, but found little succor in the Internet.

I headed out to G-Bros for a drink and company, but little was going on there. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the week-reviews of my compatriots. The teachers for the biggest English school in Japan, Nova, are reporting some odd goings on. Claire and Genie's rent hasn't been paid for the month yet. I have a bad feeling about this. I distributed CDs full of photos, taken by the Crescent staff and given to myself and M-sensei at work, to those who had gone diving a week before.

New in the bar was a rather tall woman. Blonde. She was a new teacher to the area, working with what she said (if I remember correctly, I'm not really sure) was a branch of the government. She wasn't a JET, though, that was for sure. Her name was Brooke, and she was from New Zealand. We welcomed her to the gang, though the energy level for the bar in general was pretty low. The gang left, and I stayed a while to chat with the newcomer. She'd been a teacher in Japan before, but left for home for reasons. She was back again, hardly a week in the Land of the Rising Sun this time 'round.

After a short while I doffed my non-existent cap and powered my way back home. I enjoyed Halo 3, the first time in days, until 3:30 AM. Good times.

J168 Sunday October 7th

This was a terribly lazy day. Chatted online with friends, poked around the Internet. Played more Halo 3. I did some cleaning and straightening and made a nice dinner. D&D was the next day, and I did some prepwork for it. I sketched a dungeon, figuring the second adventure was good enough time as any to introduce the party to the eponymous subterranean architectural design philosophy. Man, I love my vocabulary. Eponymous!

J169 Monday October 8th

Today was to be an epic D&D game, despite a few setbacks. K was unable to make it, denying us our normal play space of GEOS. Over fresh bowls of ramen, the group determined Big Echo, one of the nicer karaoke places in town (and literally next door to the ramen shop we were eating at) would suit our needs nicely.

We had a new player, Daniel, a newcomer from Canada. Amazingly, he had actually played 3rd Edition D&D before! He threw dice with friends in college, and though they never got beyond 3rd level, he knows the basics. Oh, the joys of not having to explain the basic concept of "roleplaying" to a player!

We booked a room for 3 hours at a reasonable price. Karaoke, for those of you who don't know, includes a rainbow of free drinks and somewhat affordable room service. We discovered the power switches to the T.V. and stereo system, and after closing the door we found the room to be quite sound-proof. The occasional thump of bass or vocal twang would sneak through, but we were the only ones on the floor. Our complimentary glasses never emptied of the free-flowing slushies the drink bar sported, and soon after we started gaming a steady stream of consumables were ferried to our room by a cute waitress.

The game itself went very well. I'm finding my DM's legs again, and find a group of, essentially, newbies to be quite fun to game with. Some of them are really settling into their party roles, while others are still taking their time. Still, no inter-party conflicts have arisen, which I find to be nothing short of miraculous.

Masaki brought a large dry-erase battle mat, printed with a massive grid of inch-a-side squares and protected from food and drink by flexible plastic. It is an invaluable gaming tool, and made communicating battle information super easy.

Toward the end of the adventure things got a bit combat-heavy, but no one complained. Nick decided to stay past Last Train, opting to spend the night at the local branch of Toyoko Inn, a national hotel chain of good reputation. We played until 11PM. The cost was a bit pricey, but when you factor in the utter privacy, the climate control, the food, and the free drinks, it was a hell of a deal.

After getting home I painted a little. An idea had been brewing in my head, a clever (to me, at least) application of tape to blank canvas, so as to crease a mask atop which one would paint. Removing the tape produces a preternaturally straight, clean, line of unpainted canvas. I was happy with the results, though I'm sure the idea can be further evolved.

Once again, I put in a few hours of Halo 3. I've noticed some rather awful graphical glitches, coming from my system hardware, rather than the game itself. Power cycling (turning it off and then on) will fix the problem...usually...but this evening it took me 4 tries to do it. Worrisome.