It's been a while.

Life has been good. I have spent too much money and now eat a small portion of pasta for dinner every night. I went to Nagoya to eat at the Outback Steakhouse with some of my girlfriends. I celebrated Halloween at a post-bubble-economy resort complex dressed as an Islamic terrorist. I've had that annual crisis where I decide I have no idea what to do with myself relationship-wise. I have some interesting new friends. This weekend I am going to serve hot dogs and beer to cute police officers among others at Miho's restaurant's 10th anniversary party. I hope to see some of you there.

I booked a ticket to go home for Christmas. $1,470. I will go from Fukuoka via Nagoya to Detroit and then to Albany, racking up plenty of Northwest mileage. I'll be in the area from December 18 to January 4. Again, I hope to see some of you there.

Everyone is moving and shaking and sometimes I feel like a fly on the wall rather than an actual participant in life. It could very well be due to a general lack of drive, hobbies, and cleanliness at home. Even the routines that kept me happy have fallen wayward as of late due to self-induced poverty.

November blues are real and we shouldn't refuse to acknowledge them. But at the end of the day, I live in a beautiful place. I thought about that on the way to this really tedious meeting in Yoshizuka today, where I had to pitch my idea for how to present "Internationalization in the Classroom" and I was underprepared and not "there" mentally. The car ride there and back made me gasp just like it did my first day in Fukuoka. Steep curvaceous mountains covered in bamboo forests and leaves turning red and a thick layer of mist because it rained today.