What I've been doing the past couple weeks

Not much.

No, really. I've been a bit down, what with people leaving and feeling a bit frustrated with Japanese. It's all kind of piled up and has been a bit hard to beat back. I've noticed it before, some kind of depressive cycle where I, for no really apparent reason feel lonely or unwanted or something. Even though I know it's not true, it's still there and weighs on me.

December's a big month for me, what with my Japanese proficiency test coming up, Ana & Damien leaving, and me heading home for a visit. Guess it's looming a little large in my mind. But thanks to my dedicated friends I'm back on my feet and doing better.

Actually, right now I feel pretty woozy because I was out til 5am with people. Last night we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving, so we had a party at Ana's house. We bought a couple of those little game hens from a stall in Hiratsuka, and had a potluck dinner. It turned out quite well, even though some of the people couldn't get there until later. We played trivia games and chatted until about 1:30am, at which point a few of us left for a short karaoke session. We had 2 Australians(Damien and Ana's roommate Kelli), 2 Hoosiers(Ana & I, obviously), a Brit(Julian), a Canadian(Ana's other roommate Erin), and a Japanese(Miwa). Not bad overall. It started off with just 4 of us and snowballed from there.

Today's a national holiday, though I've no clue why. I oughta figure that out one of these days. Last weekend I wanted to get out and see the leaves change color, but to get to the prime viewing place is about $50 roundtrip plus food and such. I can forgo the expense til I have more time/money. I ended up going to Kamakura on Saturday with my workmate Julian, and we did a bit of light hiking.

Kamakura's known for it's temples and a giant bronze Buddha statue. I got to see a nice sunset (the winter sunsets are amazing from here because the sun drops down right beside Mt. Fuji and it's perfectly backlit. We had dinner at Kua'Aina, a Hawaiian hamburger shop in Kamakura. It's a chain that's cashing in on the popularity of all things Hawaiian (!?), but it has some amazing, though pricey, burgers. I had a 1/3 lb. burger with avocado and other toppings, the thing was about 6 inches tall with the bun.

Sunday was steak night, the final one for Ana & Damien, so I think I've overloaded on the beef. I'll have to cut down on my BGH intake.

So that's me recently. I oughta take advantage of the nice weather and go somewhere. I also should probably work on my Japanese. Eek! Wish me luck.