I brought home a Japanese cold virus, which is quite a feat, since it�s the culture there to wear a mask if you have a cold. Although, I must admit, there isn�t a lot of hand-sanitizer around, either. Masks help you identify the considerate sick people, but not the inconsiderate sick ones.

Adam got sick before me, and then I started feeling bad on the plane, after about 14 or 15 hours of travel. Sometimes it�s better to just not keep track. Anyway, work tomorrow. I still have a bit of jetlag.

I�m not too interested in going to work, but who is? My brother and his girlfriend were off for the holidays the first week I was there, and they took off for the second week. They�ve already gone back to work.

They plan to leave Japan in April. They both applied for teaching jobs in Turkey.

Adam is still in Japan for the week, and I could use the week alone, too. I don�t know if anything beneficial will come out of it. I think I�ve drawn some kind of weird conclusion that a mark of normalcy is to be able to accept the regular proximity of others. Although, considering how most modern relationships don�t last, are distant, miserable or there�s some kind of �understanding� I wouldn�t say that my definition of �normalcy� is common. But, I tend to think of �normal� as meaning �healthy,� not �average.�

So, off I�ll go tomorrow, to continue my life.

I think winter sucks. So does the location of my work office.

Is it all about perspective? It is to a large extent. I just can�t adjust my perspective under most of my current circumstances. There�s too much static in every day life.

I always have a rushed, urgent feeling whenever there�s another presence around. I�m super-sensitive to any movement that is made, and I�m almost never ever alone anymore.

I wish I didn�t get sick, though. That�s obviously going to hinder anything that I decide that I want to do this week. My health has been so poor due to the amount of stress I�ve been under and that hasn�t helped me one bit.

I think things will be good again, though. I have hope. Sometimes I�m even optimistic.

I�d definitely like to change my job to something else. The other option is to just not have a job, that�d be good, too.

I looked at the website for the Tokyo campus of Adam�s university. He could potentially transfer there after he�s done with his coursework, here. The only degree they offer that is taught in English is a MA in ESL. I�m not really interested in teaching ESL. Moving there probably wouldn�t do much to enhance his studies (except improve his Japanese). I�m not sure that moving there would help me much, either. I did discover that it is a lot easier to start a business there and it seems to be a lot easier to be self-employed, than it is here.

I bet there are a lot of opportunities that exist here that I don�t know about, too.

I learned to snowboard in Japan, for real. Before, my version of snowboarding was tumbling down the mountain with occasional bouts of standing. Now I want to snowboard some more, so that will probably change my winter around a little bit.

0 comments so far