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.

If I was still in Japan, we would be finishing the fall term now. Last year, my girlfriend and I spent Christmas eve in a nice hotel, and New Years Eve in a mediocre hotel. No complaints.

Well, I have a job, and I found out I have a place to live next month. So I can get out of my kind aunt and uncles house. Also my parents are giving me money for a new laptop, as this one is loud and slow and overheats constantly. Plus it's big, and old. Yeah, I'm talking about you.

I love Japanese. I was having a mildly crappy day. The weather is cold, wet, and rainy. I was wandering Chicago all day running errands, and killing a lot of time in between them drinking coffee, tea, and other cardboard Starbucks food. I didn't sleep well last night, and I really wanted a nap. I longed for the Shinjuku internet cafe I could crawl into and nap, or even the Tokyo Starbucks, where it's ok to sleep, if you do it discreetly. Oh, the McDonalds next to the ShinOkubo station, it's forbidden, by the way.

Part of the fun of being in IT, is explaining things to people that that are common sense to me, but unacceptable to others, until they go through the pain that I have been through. Maybe it's true of any industry. Making a suggestion, i.e., here's a better way, and being told, thanks but we will stick with the way we do it, just try and make it work.

Well the test is over. Maybe I passed. It was strange taking it in America, but it was nice to hear Japanese being spoken.

Writing and Vocab - I did good; listening was okay; reading, well, as expected. I did about as well as could be expected. If I had to guess, I probably didn't pass, I think about 55%, but maybe I'll get lucky and 5 points will blow my way.

To anyone coming to Chicago to take the JLPT, I hope the weather is better tomorrow than it is now. It's freezing, raining, windy, and icy. That's the Four Dwarfs of the Apocolypse, I think.

I'm not going to get too worked up over this, I don't think I am going to do to well on the reading.

I registered for classes today, and started my new job. I was at school hours before anyone, and got all the classes I asked for. Five classes. The adviser looked at me and said, "That's a pretty heavy load". Buddy, I had 4 hours a day of Japanese, followed by 3 hours of study, and 2-3 tests a week. I've been running in Zaire, I've been living with Sherpas, I've been swimming in Alaska for the past year and a half.

The job seems perfect, relaxed, street clothes, 2 minutes from my apartment. And I'm off tomorrow, so I can study Japanese all day.

From Jgram, The Japanese Database：

ex #3703   問題の中にはゴリラに不公平なものがある。
Some test questions are unfair to gorillas.

I start Monday at a former co-worker's art gallery. I hope it goes well, I had two short lived disasters, it can't happen a third time... It's too good to be true, literally next door to where I am living. How could that happen??