*Insert crappy metaphor here*

I don’t know if that’s the case for everyone, but I’ve noticed something about my students.

They can all draw. And draw WELL.

It’s incredible! My san-nen-sei had comps due today, and they were putting the finishing touches on their final drafts and completing their accompanying pictures. I was walking down the rows in awe. Now I’m not total crap at drawing, but I certainly am out of practice. Plus, when it comes to drawing cartoons, I suck tons of ass, always have. What these kids draw, it’s freaking amazing! I swear, most, if not all of them, have their own chibis (cutsey cartoon version of themselves) and I swear that looking at these cartoons, I can know who’s who. Amazing.

I am also deeply, deeply jealous. Meh.

On a side note, January is almost over, and my posting for the month has been lacking, nearly non-existent. Not for lack of trying, but because I just thought everything I typed sounded so overly emo, I was ready to tear my eyes out and carve names into my arms with a razorblade while listening to My Chemical Romance. (Just poking fun here, I <3 that band).

Well, I am glad to say that while I still listen to MCR, as well as FOB’s latest album, I am decidedly un-emo now, back on track, being the cheery if slightly bored ALT of Minato JHS. Life is picking up the pace, the last few weeks were slightly fuller than the ones upon my return to Nippon land and coming up are a bunch of cool things that are bound to make life all the more enjoyable. Stix is opening up, mercifully, at the end of the week, Fall Out Boy’s concert is fast approaching, my folks have booked their ticket to here and I think I just thrilled my JTE by telling him we would ALL be coming to Minato’s closing ceremony on March 24th. Add up to that that my eikaiwa is definitely not as bad as I thought it would be, that the weather has suddenly decided to turn nice and that snow is melting (hopefully we won’t get any more… *crosses fingers*), life is lookin’ mighty fine at the mo’.

Cheers peeps, I’mma head home and watch some Dexter.

Oh, winter...

Well, I’ve been postponing writing here since the beginning of the year. I wanted the first post of 2009 to be merry, stating how much I had fun in Taiwan and how stuff is cool and blah and blah. Unfortunately, the New Year’s cheer has left me decidedly Emo. So apologies, my friends, if I sound like a whiny brat for the beginning of the year. My only hope is that my morose mood melts away, along with the damn snow, come springtime.

Taiwan was cool, if not overly planned. It was a nice change of scenery, a nice change of temperature too. Though I look enviously at the pictures of the peeps who went to Thailand – beaches, the sea and palm trees – I did have a nice time running around a Chinese New York with the Inaka King and Gunma Pimp.

And now it’s back to my freezing Inaka, to my boring ass job. Luckily, the partner in crime has returned from Amerika and will save me from the boredom of the first week of January.

Still… winter (pre and post Christmas) has never been my best season. It seems worse this year. Away from home, constantly cold, I keep thinking longingly of my basement, the fireplace, blankets, and my stack of Buffy DVDs. I’m back to making countdowns for stuff. Looking forward to things makes it easier to get through the days. I just wish I knew how much longer I have to hold out till spring.

Countdowns: Kobe conference: 2 days
Stix reopening: 17 days
Visit from the folks: 8-9 weeks
Montreal: 7 months