Been a while since I've written in here. I apologize to all my fans. Truth is I've just been lazy about this thing and life has taken on that kind of routine that I imagine we all fall into at one point or another. So I've been getting up, going to work, coming home and watching baseball or making dinner or drinking beer or just generally screwing around. The newness of Japan is wearing off and I getting used to the sights, smells, and sounds of it all. This is not to say that I am disappointed. Quite the contrary. I am enjoying my life over here. There are things I love about this country that America is lacking in. Of course, the opposite is true too. Maybe I'll write about that someday.

Anyway, Amy and I have found a way to learn the language that is quite free of pain. Course, I still have to study and that ain't painless, but it's better than sitting in a room filled with people who speak the language quite well while I flounder around like a just caught fish on the floor of a boat. Every week a short bulletin called the "Yeti Spaghetti" comes via email to all us Yamanashi JETs. In it are announcements for various things: seminars, international events, someone selling a bike, someone needs volunteers at their school for something or other, you know, stuff like that. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a fellow JET, Fiona from Scotland, put up an ad saying she had a Japanese friend in Kofu who wanted to exhange English lessons for Japanese lessons. Obviously I emailed Fiona back immediately. She got in touch with her friend, Tomoko, who in turn emailed me. Make a long story short, we met one evening and now Amy and I are getting lessons in exchange for giving English lessons. Great setup, if you ask me. We meet her one night a week and talk and laugh and learn. So eventually my Japanese might be good enough to order a meal, reserve tickets, plan my escape, etc. Tomoko's English is actually quite good. She's happy with just getting the English we all use while she teaches us Japanese. I've tried to steer the lessons over to English but she keeps telling me that the English we speak while going over various parts of Japanese is good enough. But we'll see, I just don't want her to feel like she's not learning anything. She really just wants English conversation though. Also, Amy and her get along well. I thought there might be some tension over me, cause you know, I am quite the guy, but it turns out that Tomoko has a boyfriend and Amy is trying to get rid of hers. So, we are all happy, well, not me, but what the hell.

The weather is finally cooling down over here. It's been nothing but hot and humid and me with swamp ass (as my cousin Matt would say) from the time I got here. Only the occational rain storm brought any relief. But now, the nights are cool enough that I've had to get a blanket out of the closet and the days are just damn nice. Feels like fall. Only thing missing is football, but actually I have been getting some (albeit a few days tape-delayed) so it ain't too bad. Sure as hell am gonna miss playoff baseball though. And my Giants are doing so well. Watch them win it all this year and I won't get to see a thing. Oh well. Anyway, the weather is getting really nice. And I can see Fuji just about every day now.

Hopefully you all are getting the photos I am putting up on www.imagestation.com but if not let me know and I'll send you what you need. I forget who I gave this link to and that link to. I'll put a link to the site to the left soon, but I think you need me to formally invite you before can view the pictures. So just send me your email address if I don't already have it and I'll do what's neccessary.

Ok, this was really just a quick note to let you know that I am doing well and the earthquake didn't get me. Thanks to those of you who emailed me your concerns that day. To the rest of you......either you know your Japanese geography quite well or you were hoping I was gone for good. Too bad for you.