But swiftly come the horses of my work, to carry me to the Faustian terminus of my days of leisure. I've had my fun. Now the pick and shovel.

I'm experiencing not a little dread about this next semester. I had a meeting with Okamoto sensei, with whom I will be teaching the third year english "elective" classes. The reason for the quotes would be apparent if you could have seen her face as she looked over the list of heads we would be responsible for filling full of english four times weekly. One class of 13, one of 34, each twice a week. Same banal, sleep inducing material.

I watched her weigh the names in Egyptian judgement.

The small class sits on the right shoulder of our scales and wears a halo. The larger class, diametrically opposed, throws the scales off the table and sends everything tumbling down.

"Oh no," she said after reading some student's name. She said it a few more times after that too.