well, i got back from my vacation in jooo-jah on saturday night. it was, in a word, amazing. i got to see my family and american friends for the first time in five months, and i had a blast just being a lazy bum. i've missed my car, so it was great to just be able to drive up into north atlanta whenever the hell i felt like it. i might backlog the trip, but let's just say i needed to be home, and my mom needed to see me. funny coincidence: i flew over on the same flight as a fellow miyagi jet. that was the only bright spot of what was a interminable 12 hour flight. but i got there and back safely, which is what matters.
when i arrived back, the news ticker at narita greeted me with the information that there were snowstorm and avalanche warnings all throughout northeastern japan. my exact thought at that time was in the neighborhood of "darn it all to heck". fortunately, i got to my apartment safely, though the snow drifts were more than a foot high. one of the people i know here told me that sanbongi had received 92 cm in december, which was a record. that's about three feet, folks. as of this writing, i has been snowing since pre-dawn, with no signs of ending. makes me glad i brought my dreamcast and a ton of new dvds back with me.
sunday i went to church (it wasn't snowing then), and afterwards ate a delicious lunch of udon that cost only 200 yen. that's been my big meal for the past couple of days...other meals have been exclusively rice. i watched a couple of dvds that night, including the commentary on the _clerks_ dvd. i made it about halfway through _mallrats_ before drifting off. it's good to be back in the quiet of my apartment, but i miss home already.
been listening to: radiohead, dark tranquillity, bob dylan, soul junk, and the rentals.