Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Buried

Back to the swing...cold nights, cold days, warm bed, and still haven't taught any classes upon returning to Japan. I'll be amazed if I'm not covered in bedsores in the near future. Last week I went to bed at the unheard-of hours of (before midnight o'clock) almost every night. I'm back to my usual zombie-like 2 am-7 am sleep schedule and it feels terrible, which is just how I love it.



It's always rough coming back after visiting home. It's hard not to sit around wondering "why did I leave insulated buildings and the possibility of Pepperidge Farm Cake to come back to an impoverished industrial city with rice paddies?"



But slowly I'm re-adjusting. Haven't succumbed completely to winter blues; I still suspect I've got a slight dopamine imbalance that keeps me grinning when everyone else is down. I realize the mundane things in my utterly meaningless existence are what make life beautiful. Things like singing Vengaboys for the 34564th time at karaoke in Shinnyu, shoving eggplant into my face at the Suizenji Shokudo when I visit Walter in Kumamoto, and posting drivel on a web forum 8 hours a day are all delightful in their own way.

In more exciting news, I may have a lead for a free ticket to Wacken Open Air Metal Festival held in Wacken, Germany, in early August. I have also planned trips to the three largest cities in Japan to frolic in the next couple months.