Someone told me that today has been scientifically determined to be the most depressing day of the year. Let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Bush is saying his moment of accountability has passed. Boy, that's a reassuring statement.

Speaking of which, that Iraqi girl has another pretty powerful commentary up. She also mentions this guy. He's a little strident, but I like him.

On a similar note, this guy makes some pretty good points, in between the fucks.

I wonder what the chances are that we'll end poverty by 2025, as some have suggested is possible? Not good. Not good, I think.

Cynical Me seems to be running the show today. Whee!

Haven't heard a word from Kami since she left. I'm annoyed.

I've been averaging about one meal a day the last week or so. Hmm.

Oh, I've talked to the real English teacher a couple of times. She's coming back April 1st. Her vocabulary is a little limited, but her grammar is fair and her pronunciation is right on (which is rare for Japanese). I'm looking forward to it. According to her, Matchan is not at all confident in her ability in English and teaching and is very nervous and timid about this, her first teaching job. The normal teacher's advice to me was to "lead her," to take control and tell her what to do, I guess.

I'd love to do just that, actually, but experiences so far have led me to believe that attempting such a thing would lead to full out war. This just confuses me more. If she's so unsure of herself, why doesn't she rely on me more? Why doesn't she talk to me, ask me for help? I could help her out a lot, but my aid is never requested and has traditionally been ignored when offered. I just don't get it. I'm thinking more and more that this isn't a cultural issue so much as it's a personal issue of hers. She only has three classes a day, max, and sometimes only one. I have no idea what she's so busy doing all the time.

Eh. Whatever. Whenever Matchan stuff gets me down, I console myself with the fact that there's a good chance I get paid more than she does. That thought always makes me giggle.

The classrooms are absolutely frigid. At the elementary school last week, I ate lunch with the first graders. They noticed I was cold and thought it was funny. I asked one kid why they weren't cold, and he said, "Because the children are children of the wind." So. There you have it.

Laughing or crying?

Things I feel I should do every day:

study Japanese
watch some Japanese television
read something in Japanese
read something in French
read something (as in, a book) in English
read the news
read the blogs I read
do at least 100 pushups and 100 situps
practice guitar
practice clarinet
do some creative writing
study my biochemisty textbook or read a journal article online (I'm willing to go either/or on that one)
listen to music (in a situation where I can actually pay attention to it)
practice kata and other karate exercises I can do on my own
get something done on at least one of the other projects I'm juggling at any given time
chill out for a while and do nothing

If I miss one or more of these things, the day feels wasted and incomplete. So of course, every day feels like that. It's really annoying. I'm never bored, though- at least not at home. Sometimes at school. People sometimes ask if living on an isolated island like this isn't boring, and my knee jerk response is, "Why would it be boring?"

Today feels broken.

Hornswaggled. I'm sorry, that word was just begging to be typed. Now that we've gotten that over with, I guess we're free to go.

Kill it!

oh my beloved ice cream bar,

greyarea

Diaryland