I can't believe my last post was in February. So much has gone on. I just finished summer school, and am technically a sophomore now (I think). I am charging full speed ahead to get through college, because I was frankly tired of lying about having a degree. It's been an amazing experience and my life is so packed full, I haven't really had a chance to write. I don't mean to say that everything is perfect, and you should be so lucky to have my life; I am just enjoying where I am at, and grateful I am healthy, sober, and have great friends and family around.

I have installed slackware, but haven't messed with it much yet. Linux reviews always start with how easy or difficult it was to install, which at times was enough for me to blow it off, thinking that from the start it might be an issue. But it was pretty easy, mostly hitting enter, a few snags, but I got it done in a few hours. Not as daunting as I thought.

I am angling for a new job. Right now, I work for a real one. I shan't say more.

That's what I do, but not due to any choice on my part. I love my new laptop, except for the fact it crashes randomly. Because of this I have become recently acquainted with the windows debugger. It make deciphering crashdumps easy, so you can find out what drivers are causing bluescreens. Or you can buy a mac, ha.

Stuff. People are becoming aware that Americans have become craving monkeys. There are people like Annie Leonard, who created the Story of Stuff. But when viewed from an environmental point of view, a more important point is missed. Then there is  Reverend Billy Talen with What Would Jesus Buy. Paul Graham hits the nail on the head, with his essay Stuff.

At the beginning of this woodshedding process, I am really fidgety. I am sad and worried about my Japanese going down the drain, worried that I should just be consulting and trying to get back to Japan without a degree, worried that this degree is a nail in the coffin of my creativity. I'm antsy. A little wigged. Kinda all over the place.

So I am going to drink some tea, listen to gagaku and read.

I had somehow lost about half of my itunes music, stuff I bought, and burned myself. It was on my iPod, so I didn't even realize it for a long time. Anyway, I finally figured out how to copy it back onto my hd, and in the process managed to deleted it all. So I got some of it back, maybe 1/8. And while it is nice having Venom and Ween back on my hard drive, all the music I was listening to on my iPod is kaput. The Buddha sure was right about impermanence. I didn't believe it.

School is good. I am meeting with one of the schools I want to transfer to, to make sure I am taking the right classes. I dropped the statistics course, because I have a feeling it won't transfer, and I got general bad vibes about the class. The rest of the classes are good.

Well, I managed to piss off my roommates. The fish was good. What isn't so nice is the faint odor of fish oil that now permeates the apartment. I have been burning incense, but even after a day, I can still smell it. I guess I'm glad I only cooked one fish.

I started classes today. Life is good when it's in four hour intervals. Four of school, Four work, Four of homework and study, Four times two of sleepytime.

I went to Mitsuwa today. Man, what a trek. From where I live in Chicago, it takes about 2.5 hours to get there. 2 buses, 2 trains. Trips like today really illustrate how utterly pathetic Chicago public transportation has gotten, trains just do not come. All the while, you hear recordings about how underfunded they are and to call the government on their behalf, or they will have to cut bus and train lines. It's hard to empathize, when you have surly workers, late trains, filthy stations. Once you leave the city proper, buses start to follow the schedule, and bus drivers get friendlier.

I think I cured my headaches through breathing properly. Now I am trying to train myself to breath correctly all the time. All the smart Buddhist teachers I've met said that breathing is everything. I had headaches every day this week - due to stress, I thought; but it's been three days free of pain. I feel it coming on, and start counting and breathing deeply.

I hope this is all it is. That would be nice, and I am willing to accept that somehow, for the past ten years, I have been breathing wrong.