“Your Kung Fu is not Strong.” – Mr. Rat from  ‘The Core’

Today is a pretty great day. I am sitting in the teachers’ room, address: Japan, and I don’t have even one class today. All of my 1st year students are on a ski trip. (No, they didn’t ask me to go with them… even though I sit with the first year teachers AND they all know I like to ski…. but I’m not bitter… just lonely, since I am the only person at the group of desks on the 1st year side of the room.) And all of my 2nd and 3rd year students are taking some sort of test today. So… here I am. All day. with no obligations to do anything productive. My job description today is to be a warm body and let the Japanese authorities know I respect my job by showing up. (It was funny… the vice principle felt it necessary to remind me I still had to come to school even though I had no class… NOTE: please read my entry in August or September of 2005 about typhoons and the requirements of teachers showing up to school.)

So I am left here to contemplate life. And yes, there are a few things that I should like to take care of before I go home for the weekend… but nothing I HAVE to get done. That is a nice feeling, and one I don’t often get to experience.

I had a really weird night last night. Lots of disturbing dreams. One in particular about a truck trailer filled with a seal, a HUGE sting ray, a shark and some random fish. They were just left in my back yard… and the water started drying up. And they weren’t dead yet… but they were howling for help. One of the worst sounds I have ever heard. And I tried to give them more water, but forgot to use salt water so they got mad. Ugh.

Ok… I am just going to stop before this entire entry gets worse.

Oh… did anyone notice I made the music stop. Most of you are saying…. FINALLY. 

I know.