In the Clouds

Check out these All Stars! Animal-shaped clouds are exactly what I see when I stare at the sky. Haven't brought myself to buy the shoes yet . . .

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Bird Style

I bought a new dress! The cut of the garment is unimportant; I fell in love with the print at first sight. Unfortunately, the top is too loose and in need of taking in, so I won't be wearing it for awhile.
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Appetite

I couldn't eat all of the double fudge cake we had for dessert tonight. Something is seriously wrong.

It's Friday, I'm in Love with My Piano

Unfortunately for my co-workers, my return to the office today was marked with mucus-filled coughs and moanings about my hellish week. A visit from a golden retriever named Kaha brightened everyone's dampened spirits until he proceeded to lie on and soil our clean white couch.

In regard to the post title, my fever inspired me to hop back on the piano bench, and I've been there every day since. (Thank you, Internet, for free sheet music.) Banging out Mozart against the keys is oddly therapeutic, and tonight I skipped out on drinks with the girls for solo sonatas. Yes, I'm reaching new levels of patheticness.

On a side note, I've decided to write more. Partly because I realize that this blog has turned into a self-censored piece of fluff that needs to be roughed up a bit. Partly because all of two people read the fluff anyway, so why not?

Campus Beautification

At work, we're all about bringing out the best in KCC. I found chalk at Wal-Mart for a dollar, and we covered the sidewalks outside our office with colorful drawings including a monkey, a dancing bear, a talking dog and a hopscotch grid.

I drew the angry dinosaur above, and Matt added his awesome lettering.

Kelli and me getting down to business.
Large-scale doodles brighten my days!

Chalk illustrations always remind me of the Kobo Abe short story "The Magic Chalk," in which a poor man discovers that after dark, the chalk illustrations he sketches on his wall become reality. He learns to feed himself by drawing apples and loaves of bread, but his artful explorations spiral out of control and in typical Abe fashion, the protagonist is forced to examine his personal existence and isolation. Good stuff.

If you had a magic piece of chalk, what would you draw?
I'd bring a dinosaur to life.

The chalk supply has dwindled, and our illustrations have been washed away by either a rain storm or the maintenance staff, but I'm ready for more!

Everything's Coming Up Roses (and Corn)

This afternoon I discovered that my grandparents' backyard garden has exploded into a jungle of roses, lilies and corn (!) in full bloom.

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Love My Life

I bought myself cheesecake, art and flowers at Pike Place Market, all part of my recipe for the perfect day!
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Space Needle

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Yee Haw!

Tonight I ate Maui Tacos for dinner and joined the law students for line dancing in Waikiki. The crowd at Nashville was made up of regulars who wear cowboy boots and chunky belt buckles and know the moves to every song. I could barely discern the difference between my own two feet, let alone the tunes, but I'll admit that this kind of dancing is a great outing for a group of friends! Sadly, it's official that I'm still no fan of country music.

In other news, I leave for Seattle tomorrow! We'll see if I can post scenes from the road!

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Yesterday I ate jellyfish for the first time. I also picked up a dangerous new addiction: playing Pokemon.

Last week, my editor brought in a Nintendo DS for a photo spread on study distractions. It was still lying around the office on Tuesday morning, and I picked it up out of some combination of boredom and curiosity. Three hours later, I'd accomplished zero work aside from gathering a fighting team of six cuddly creatures and setting out on an epic journey as a Pokemon trainer.

The Platinum Version of Pokemon is far different from the game Scott and I played as kids. Here you can engage in wireless play with friends, cook Piddles (or Poddles?) with the DS stylus, explore a secret underground world . . . the list goes on, and the fun never ends.

I'm too busy loving this game to be embarrassed that I'm playing it.

Back to Blogging

(Design by local illustrator Audra Furuichi. Check out her work at nemu-nemu.com!)

I'll admit it: I miss Japan. I swore that I wouldn't feel this way, that I'd leave the country with eyes only for America and would never look back. It's nearly a year later, and here I am, writing a love letter to Japan.

Dear Nippon,
I want you back. Here's what I love about you:

• the lovely ladies of Akashi
  
• chocolate croissants, warm and flaky
  
• half-size servings at Curry House
  
• COLLECTING HELLO KITTY CHARMS
  
• J-Pop (and K-Pop) concerts
  
• Meat Nights
  
• 道の駅スタンプ集め
  
• Mister Donut
• my apartment
  
• kicking back in my お風呂, an Asahi in hand
• salty, salty ramen
  
• trains
• point cards everywhere
  
• the gym (since I actually worked out when I was in Japan)
• traveling to a new place every weekend
• AEON Shopping Centers
• chicken karaage and my Takitate Bento jiichan
• コンビニ
• the chance that I could meet Totoro
• seasons (except summer)
• ソフトクリーム
  
• the daily chance to practice my 日本語
• ridiculously fabulous fashion
  
• big cities
  
• my students (well, some of them)
• Sapporo Potato veggie chips
• juicy, Kewpie mayonnaise-licious okonomiyaki
• 和菓子
  

And I've missed blogging.

Facebook has unfortunately become the dumping ground for updates on my reads and eats. Through this blog, I'd like to spare my friends the pain of to-the-minute notifications on every step I take, every cupcake I make.

To those who read my Japan blog, thank you! It'll remain on the Internet as a record of an utterly perfect time in my life, but from now on, all my writings will appear here. I'll try to be as faithful in these postings as I was for the past two years. 頑張りま～す！