So it has been some time since I have posted. Even now, I should be studying. I have midterms this week; this semester is not too difficult, but it has been plodding along. I am working a lot, as well. As far as JLPT study, it has not fared so well. Last week, I quit carrying my study guides in my backpack, because I just couldn't get to them. By the time Friday comes, I am dead tired, and the last few weeks have been stressful enough for me to realize that I need time on Saturday or Sunday to relax and clear my head.

I know, I know, everyone says, "I've made mistakes, but I have no regrets..." Well, then I say you are either a saint or a sociopath. However, if you are interested in other human's regrets, visit rigureto.jp. You can read bite-sized thought bubbles of real Japanese regret and be uplifted by the responses that appear. The layout is kind of mesmerizing.

More JLPT stuff is coming soon.

The place where I took my first Japanese lessons asked me if I will be taking lessons there when they start, in a few weeks. I am sort of torn about going there, because I am unsure about how they teach. The woman who will be my teacher is adorable and about 75 years old, so I am always polite and respectful. But all I really want is  conversation practice. I am reticent to ask if the class speaks English, or if we will be using Japanese for Busy People (yuk). It's a tiny operation, and if I don't go I will feel bad.

Mail within Tokyo sometimes arrives the same day. Chew on that a minute. Not via Fedex, mind you.

Barack and Biden. So now you know what to do in November. In the meantime, why not learn about Japanese politics with some fine analysis here.

Better yet, if you want something really terrifying, here's a page of Japanese horror mp3's and videos. You can even choose the fear level!

Ok, my challenge as a blogger is to make interesting posts that require little revision. I am becoming aware how little time I have to allocate to blogging. While it is enjoyable, is not particularly beneficial to my Japanese or my other endeavors. This is the main reason I stopped posting after February; I was in class, working, and going to Japanese lessons twice per week. In a week or so, I will be busier than I was this spring, with much more on my plate. So I am trying to revise as I write here.

So far I am doing laughably bad on the quizzes in my book. Many of the words that I know in a general sense are being presented as answers to fill-in-the-blank questions. So I need to know the proper usage of say, 「方面」and ｢方向」enough to choose the right sentence to insert them. The tricky part is if the example sentence has a word or two I don't know, it becomes more of a process of elimination.

I woke up because there was a ladybug in my ear. Now I can't sleep and am checking my ear every 30 seconds. It's because a recent episode of "This American Life" had a story about people who get cockroaches in their ears. They have to go to the hospital, because the roaches can't turn around in the ear canal. Luckily, the ladybug wasn't in my ear canal; or if she was, she was small enough to exit, and I caught her on the way out.

I bet in some countries a ladybug in the ear is a good omen.

I'm not sure how well it's being reported, but there have been a few disqualifications for doping at the Olympics. The always above-board DPRK lost both a bronze and silver medal after testing positive:

BEIJING - Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has tested positive for doping at the ongoing Beijing Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said here on Friday at a press conference.

What struck me as odd were the events he won medals in:

I picked up all my study guides that came in yesterday at Sanseido in Mitsuwa, my little Japan away from Japan. I ditched the usual commute of 2 buses and 2 trains, instead riding my bike 11 miles to the Rosement CTA stop, and hopping the bus on the final leg to Mitsuwa. It was a great bike ride on a beautiful day, albeit slightly dangerous on long stretches on busy Devon Avenue.