Where's Your Blog At?

Recently a few of you pointed out that it's been a long time since my last entry. Please allow me to explain myself. I gave up blogging for Lent. That's right...Lent. Now, as some of you more-astute readers may discern...Lent is not yet over. To you, I say, "That's right." BUT, allow me to explain myself further. I had no idea when Lent started. I knew it started on a Tuesday or Wednesday (or was it a Friday?) sometime before Easter...so I picked a Tuesday or Wednesday (or was it a Friday?) and said, "No more blogging!" So...if you're criticizing my blogging habits...I can only assume that you're criticizing my religion...and that it something I absolutely will not stand for. Instead...I will sit. I will sit and I will drink cocoa. Because, really...my blogging habits have nothing to do with Lent...or any other religious observation, for that matter. I'm really just a big (not even Catholic) phony with nothing to write about.

So...like I said, not a whole lot of blog-worthy things going on here lately. But, then again, it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to differentiate between blog-worthy happenings and not-so-blog-worthy happeneings. Things that would have seemed ridiculous and/or infuriating 6 months ago...are just commonplace now. So, I MAY have accumulated volumes worth of stories that you--my American readership--would find interesting, but I just don't know any more. My everyday life seems to be so...ordinary. This is what happens when you live somewhere for this long: you become desensitized to all the weird, wonderful stuff around you.

Here's what I, personally, have found interesting over the past...40-some days...not much of it has to do with Japan, but it all has to do with me:

For the past few weeks at school, our schedule has been somewhat...different. The students had their finals for a week...then there was graduation...and, most recently, the junior high school students have been doing admissions testing for high school. So, for 13 days of paid work...I taught a total of 5 classes...2 of which were half-classes and 2 more of which were cut a few minutes short. So, all in all, for 104 hours of pay...i taught a total of about 170 minutes.

And what, you ask, do I do when I don't have classes 101 out of 104 hours of work? What do I do with that other 97.28% of my time? Well, let me tell you. I read 2 novels and a book about international politics...watched 2 episodes of the Simpsons, one episode of Family Guy, and one episode of King of the Hill...researched good values for monitor speakers to add to my little recording studio...caught up on the Scooter Libby scandal...learned about and tested binaural beats (they're a head trip...check 'em out, unless you have epilepsy...then don't)...tried to figure out a sneaky way around inflated magazine prices in Japan...downloaded a demo of a vector drawing program and drew a few illustrations for my children's poems...wrote a new song...and fought off the sandman with gallons of water and countless trips to the restroom.

With a job like this, who needs weekends, right? Trust me...I do. Sitting at a desk all day is not nearly as relaxing as sitting on the couch all day. There's just something different.

In other fairly exciting news...Phil came over last weekend and we recorded 2 new songs; one of mine and one of his. I still need to add bass lines to them, but they're sounding pretty good so far.

After soaking the movable parts of my bike with WD40, Tori and I got to take our first bike ride together in a few months. My bike had been sitting out in the harsh conditions of the Oita Winter...and it was NOT in good shape. The last time I tried to ride it, the chain buckled and it almost threw me over the handlebars. The near-miss involving my crotch and the aluminum frame was enough to keep me on foot for quite a while.

Oh yeah...I also made barbecue sauce...DElicious. And...today we're going to make some salsa to go with the tortilla chips we bought the other day. Yippee! What could possibly be better?

So...that pretty much sums it up. Now, as always, I leave you with a promise that it will not be long before my next blog entry.

Don't hold your breath...we all know I'm a flake when it comes to this stuff.