I almost forgot to give this a title.

Hello dear readers,

thank you for your patience these past few months as I struggled to blog in an uninspired office environment.

I actually haven't been really reading my blogs after posting them, but I assume they weren't very good.

Hopefully my blogs will be returning now to their former... ummm... glory (which was apparently enough to get you to start reading this page to begin with... ;) )

This is a very special blog.

As it is...

THE FIRST BLOG WRITTEN AND POSTED FROM MY APARTMENT HERE IN JAPAN!

Which means I have no excuse not to think out my blogs just a taaad more. (There's a first time for everything).

This is where it gets a little complicated for me because now I have to figure out just what should go on my Japan Life blog and what should go here. My whole life is Japan life right now, isn't it. But at the same time it's ME who's in Japan. The same me who also blogged for many, many years in the US.

Now I remember my original way of thinking.

I don't mean this is in a bad way because I find it to be completely understandable, but I realize that there are people out there who would find my life to be a lot more interesting now that I am in Japan. Although they might have respected or even liked me back in the US, they wouldn't be particularly interested in reading my blogs that are about random things and thoughts.

Are you following? The Japan Life blog is supposed to be for those people so they don't have to comb their way through everything else.

What that means for those of you who do care to read this blog?

It means you have two blog pages to keep track of.

I knew you wouldn't mind. *smile*

Today I was able to talk to my mother via webcam and then later I had a brief conversation with Sam as well. It was really nice to see faces (when they weren't blurred by technical difficulties) and hear voices (when they weren't choppy.) I really enjoyed that.

I wondered though, whether the technical difficulties were due to my internet speed. It certainly seems fast enough to me. Of course, for almost two months now, I've been using slow city computers, so maybe my standards have fallen -a little-.

That just reminded me of something that I thought was funny...

So when my internet came, a guy from a nearby computer lab came over to help me set it up. So, we got it working (it ended up being ME who found the solution to a big problem we had because the expert couldn't figure out the English computer) and he went to this Japanese site where they analyze your broadband connection and say how quick it is.

But do they say just a number? Noooo....

They give the speed and then compare it was something else.

Like:

Your internet connection is running at (insert number). As quickly as a plane.

Isn't that weird?

My internet was inconsistent for some reason and it kept changing. I got other results such as bunny and car. It seems to be same to me, though.

So the computer lab guy left after criticizing how I haven't cleaned my kitchen sink lately and didn't take my excuse of having been sick. (This really did happen...)

My sink IS clean now.

....annnd I just realized I hadn't mentioned being sick here before.

On Tuesday, I guess it was the 16th, my ear started hurting but I was kind of ignoring it in favor of everyday life. As the week progressed, it started hurting more and more and I went to see a doctor about it on Saturday. He put me on medication. I went to see a Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, found out that it wasn't an ear infection like I thought but instead a viral infection in my nose and throat that affected my ear. I got more medication, but this time more on the herbal side.

During this week, my ear stopped hurting, then felt like it was underwater, then felt itchy and just plain weird, and then finally it stopped bothering me altogether.

Anyway, it's all better now and I feel great. I was actually enjoying my first day with my ear feeling normal again when my internet finally arrived here. It was a really great combination of things and it put me in a really great mood.

Switching back to the topic of blogging, (suddenly)

One problem with blogging in the office is that I very frequently felt like I was losing my train of thought. Plus, I usually feel very lethargic in that office because although I am technically working, there's not a terrible lot I can do but pass the time. Having a job like that sounds nice, but I get so restless.

On the other hand, the rest of the job- going to schools, interacting with the students and everything is really great. I am quite convinced that I may have the best job in the world.

Anyway, I feel good writing this blog. Not saying it's good, but it felt like blogging used to be almost two months ago.

Yay! The internet dark ages are OVER!