Ahh yes Saturday. I needed this day! Its been a couple of tough weeks but I am still alive. I have been wanting to go back to the states for Christmas for various reasons but its not going to work out. I already had my airline ticket to Hokkaido and now its possible to even get a ticket. I am kind of down about it but I will at least try to relax at some onsen in Hokkaido and enjoy some fresh fish. So next week will be good. But my thoughts are elsewhere.

I talked with my family this morning and they all seem to be ready for Christmas. Kids are getting excited in America and companies are now basically closed for the holidays. I can`t believe its almost a year now since I moved here. Where did the time go?? If I can hang in there this next year I may actually survive.

I had a friend send me this link. http://glumbert.com/wii/view.php?name=baddayoffice I totally relate to some of these guys in the office...hehe. Well maybe not to that extent but I think we have all had times where we are ready to throw the computer out the window!! I have and sometimes I wish I could throw my boss out the window with the computer....hehe.

The collage football bowl season is now underway also. I am missing the games... My University won their game last night so thats one good sports story for me this year. I have been saying all along it was a terrible year for my teams... maybe it will end on a good note.

To close to home....

Its been a little while since I last updated here. I haven`t gone anywhere. Its just been a crazy week filled with some complex emotions. I lost a really good friend a couple months ago. He was hunting and got hit by lightning while sleeping in his tent. It was tragic.

I got word last week another dear and precious friend has cancer. This is a very big shocker for me. I grew up with her and she has always been a very big part of my life. A very important part of my life. It appears she has some cancer around a major artery. Its impossible to operate and it looks like all treatment has had not effect. She is very sick just from the treatment. Last week the doctors and specialists told her she had maybe 8 to 15 months to live. It tore a hole in my heart. I am kind of in a situation where I really want to go home now. She is very close to my family so they are with her almost daily. But its tough. There is a saying that when one person has cancer the whole family gets cancer. I think I can understand this now. Its getting very tough on everyone. So its just really a hard time right now for me. I haven`t had the energy to do much. I am going to work and basically just hanging in there from day to day. No motivation. I am not sure what my motivation would be right now. To be honest anyone who knows me knows I have had some serious bad luck in the past with a few things in life. The last few years have been really good. But life is like a roller coaster. It goes up and down and the ride ends too quick. One thing is that I have been really close to my parents especially as of late. So this has been a blessing in my life I am so thankful for. Anyway, don`t want to get too deep here. Just opening up a little. But that is as far as it goes.....

Well the holidays are around the corner. I really want to go back to the US now but won`t. I will stay here and go up to Hokkaido and try to relax and forget some things. Life is tough I guess but life it life. Everyone has a drama. Anyway all in all I am doing good and have really enjoyed the fall weather in Japan. Really beautiful!!

The weekend is already over!!

Well my Monday is over and I can`t believe the weekend and Monday is now over. But it feels good to have Monday over. On Saturday I drove down outside Toyota city with some people and picked mandarin oranges. It was the first time I have ever done anything like that. It took almost an hour to get there. I was there for a few hours and left. We picked and picked all day. The person who owned the little farm was a friend of one of my friends. Therefore a friend of a friend. Actually we had a pretty good time. I ended up bring back with me around 90 lbs of oranges. I have no idea what I am going to do with all these. Last night I took some over to my next door neighbors house. Then I took some to the local church to give to members.

It reminds me of about 7 years ago I was living in Hokkaido. I got pulled over in the middle of the night coming home. I think it was about 1 or 2 am. I am driving up a hill to my apartment and all of a sudden a cop with some bright orange vest and lights jumps out right in front of me. It scared me to death!! So I pull ed over. He asks for my drivers license. I didn`t have any id on me. I could not believe it. He asked me to come in the little station (koban). We sat down and he took all my information. I was very sorry and a little scared. I wondered what he was going to do. I have had a couple really bad experiences with cops in Japan in my younger years. So I wondered. But he told me I needed to bring all my documents to him by the next morning or I was going to be in trouble.

So the next morning I got up early and went and bought some oranges. I took my documents to him and gave him the oranges and said sorry. He just quickly looked at my things and told me to take care. I was so relieved. So maybe my good gesture of the oranges was the right thing to do...hehe. So in my experience... giving oranges away can really help you out!! So I have plenty of oranges to give to cops or whoever. I guess I should eat a few also... actually I have been eating them like crazy since Saturday. I am already almost sick of them. Anyway a great day and lots of fun. I will do it next year for sure. Its just good to get out and do something you have never done before and meet some people. I guess I need to do these kinds of things more often.