The start of a Saturday afternoon spent sitting on a couch and doing homework. And of course 78.9 Katsushika FM.

This week has been filled with amazement. Like, not a bad day since Tuesday. For the past three weeks Tuesday has meant lunch with a certain someone, and we all know how I feel about that. For the the first time in quite a while, I felt inner peace on Tuesday. Monday night included dealing with rude and persnickety 911 operators, but Tuesday morning things were revealed to be alright. And everything just felt ok.

I don’t even remember what happened Wednesday, but I know it was good. Which reminds me, why don’t people smile anymore? I don’t see that many people in public smiling. Shit, people don’t even acknowledge you when you walk past and greet them. Well, not a lot of young people at least. Anyways, a few of the guys in my study group have been recommending I listen to Japanese radio via tunein.com because of the excellent quality maintained during live streaming. (take notes keyhole tv) Through them, 78.9 Katsushika FM has been on almost whenever possible this week. Since we’re 14 hours off from Japan, all I really listen to here is the MUSIC LINE program in which certain artist are featured and any number of their greatest hits are played. This week has been Senri Oe and Kubota Toshinobu. aka Japanese 80s funk and love songs…and now I have to go get these guy’s discographies. Especially Kubota.

Thursday a bus at the school caught on fire…and blew up. Probably the most interesting thing to happen to this town all week. I was at lunch with Candice again on Thursday (Twice in a week? Yeah, that’s called a highlight) and at one point a cloud of smoke covered the lake…I’m only exaggerating a little bit when I say the sun was blocked out. Apparently within the hour, there were already videos on youtube. Shout outs to technology.

Friday was…yesterday? I was actually slightly annoyed when our professor let us out only 30 minutes after class. I mean, even though it is my only class for the day, when I wake up early to go to an 8 a.m. class, I expect to being doing stimulating and engaging things, not getting dismissed after approximately 20 minutes of talking and 10 minutes of quiz. But I’m not complaining. If there’s one thing I know I’ve gotten better at this week, its positivity. Positivity will make it harder for “bad” things to happen.