To my readers

Hello all. First and foremost, I do appreciate you all taking the time to read my blog and follow my journey.  As I press onward, I keep finding it harder and harder to update regularly.  And the end of each day, I just find my mind shuts off and productivity rapidly reaches zero.  I feel guilty knowing that there are some of you who check only to find that nothing has been updated.  My solution is thus: I will update twice a week, on mondays and fridays.  The update should occur early in the morning, because I plan on forcing myself to write it as soon as I get home from work.  That is the official new plan.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week were all mainly comprised of practice for the sports festival on saturday.  I helped out where I could, showing support for my kids, and encouraging them to give it their all. On wed, I was invited to go to the sports festival for higashi ishikawa, one of the schools where I teach.  I gladly accepted.
On saturday, I arrived at school and surprised most of the students.  They had no idea I would be there.  It was nice to see them light up, and it feels cool to know you're the coolest guy there, or at least the most popular.  I saw parents in huddles whispering about me, which means I've been discussed at home.  And I suppose thats a good thing.
The day was long, and the kids competed well. I was really proud watching them and cheering them on.  During lunch, I was assaulted with all kinds of food.  One kid gave me a piece of candy, and then EVERY OTHER CHILD also tried to give me a snack of some sort.  I tried to hide in the teacher's room, but all of the teachers then tried to get me to eat.  I had pastires, more candy, and onigiri.  It was all delicious.  I ventured back outside and was led to meet many parents.  They were all brief introductions, because all of my students kept dragging me to meet their parents.  It was fun, and I'm happy that my kids like me.  And that they try to speak to me in English.  I haven't taught them a whole lot, but at least I've imparted upon them a joy of communication, which is one of the aims of our company. Score.
Sunday, a couple of us went to the beach.  It was fun.  We battled the ocean some, but mostly just sat around talking about all kinds of things.  We ended up bowling later on that night, and then went out for dinner.  It was a nice day.
Today I spent trying to be productive.  My elementary school was closed, so I had an at home work day.  I did some cleaning, did some laundry, and did some lesson planning.  Not as much as I wanted to, but enough to feel like I'm ready for the next two days.  Which is a relief.  I'm going to bed soon.  I'm really tired today.  I blame my futon.  It's really just not the most comfortable thing to sleep on.  I'm basically sleeping on the floor.  I tried putting some pillows under it, but they are losing their fluff, because I weigh a lot.  Every morning I wake up sore because of the pressure of my body agaisnt the ground, so its hard to feel really rested.  I hope to remedy the situation somehow...but not until after I get paid on thursday.
Dexter OUT