wrote this really long thing today about how my trying to do calligraphy was kinda analogous to understanding Japan in totem, but after I read it, it sounded like somebody trying to write fancy so screw it. Here's something though: I saw a guy totally eat it on a bike today. Fell right over. Didn't hit nothin, just, you know, decided to take a closer look at the ground. I had to stop myself from a little schadenfreude. There but for the grace and all... First "chari" accident I've seen, which is a wonder.

Another major event today: I went to the post office and transferred money to my US account. I think. We'll see. It was so difficult and frustrating. Took maybe an hour because of course I forgot something and then had to ride back and get it and then after waiting in line and trying to explain and writing down some kanji in advance so I could indicate what I wanted and trying to explain some more I realized I forgot something else... the address of my home bank branch. So I used some good old fashioned American know-how (lies), and eventually got through the form. I figure they really just need the routing and account numbers and the branch name right? yeah, anyway. Get back to school and someone calls me from the post office and of course they need the whole thing but I can't underst... anyways long story short I finally got it all done.

Which is a great/terrible thing about here. The completion of even the most mundane of tasks gives one a feeling of accomplishment that can validate your day. Nothing else needs to be done today, I've done enough. I went to the post office.

One last thing, did someone change the recipe for mac and cheese recently? Has anyone noticed? This looks less dayglo and tastes much worse than I remember... and I think I brought this from home...