Good Heavens!

The funny thing is, this is the first day in a month where not too much notable has happened, and it's now that I'm sitting down to post and drawing blanks as to all the great things that have been making me too busy to write over the last four weeks. I've been busy! Life has been pretty good though. It's been full of good things. I've been having a much easier time writing about the bad parts that come between all the good things though; it comes out easier than recalling all the fun stuff. I guess that's the way of things; when it's all good, you think you'll write it down tomorrow or the next day, and then it's the day after that, and then it's never. When things are all six kinds of awful you're just burning to get it out of your system and down onto the page as quick as you can, but then they're not really worth sharing anyway. Well, some notable moments of the past month, in a very abbreviated fashion (it's late, apologies), and in no particular order.

• I went out to a Korean place with Judo man and his family, and their friends who we went to the beach with during the summer. I love those two little kids of theirs. And them, too; I really love them too, Judo man and Chie. They have some very basic kihon parenting skills to learn, which is a somewhat alarming and somewhat amusing and somewhat baffling thing to witness unfold as they wrangle with their two-year-old. I mean things like, if you don't put your kids to bed when they're tired--say, you take them out to a restaurant until 10:30 or 11 at night, say, when they're bedtimes are at 8 or 9--then they're going to be very cranky and unreasonable for the last two hours that you're out! Like: duhh! Things like that. It's like watching someone drive with the emergency brake on. Don't you know not to do that? But they're sweet and loving, and I do love them all.
  
• I'm back in amongst the aikido crowd in Matsuyama! And I LOVE them! I just love training there. One of the senior students there told me last week (at a demonstration in Kochi that I went to with Sayo) that the Sensei told her how happy it makes him that I come to class! How amazing is that! He's like the most amazing person I have ever known almost. The feeling I get whenever I train with him, their sensei--our sensei, my sensei--is seriously different than maybe anything I've ever felt from another person before. He smiles this big smile when you're training with him and it's every singly kind of feeling wonderful that you've ever known all rolled into one, like getting out of an onsen bath, winning a sweepstakes prize, falling in love, and tickling children all rolled into one thing. It's like being made of gold.
  
• I have gold in me! A teacher gave me omiyage from Kyoto, from the old imperial palace. Apparently all the teachers from this school went together during the one weekend in the year when it's open to the public and they bought me a special sembei (baked puffy rice crackers) with GOLD ON IT! I HAVE GOLD IN ME!!!!
• I broke it to Mayu-chan that I'm girlfriended, and she did not take it exceptionally well. She did not take it exceptionally poorly, and I suppose I should be flattered, but, well. I wish that it were easier for men and women to be friends here.
• I raced in a bike race! 50km! To an island! It was awesome! I am a demon!
• I am doing jodo! It's like aikido, except that instead of peacefully blending your body with your partner's body when they grab you with their hands, you hit your partner with big sticks when they try to get you with a sword, and everybody YELLS AND YELLS AND YELLS, ALL THE TIME!!!! One woman yells just like Chun-Li!
• Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii need to go to bed.
  

Love you all, more soon,
-josh