Ah, the fun never stops!

Akita was fun this weekend... three days of seeing old friends and reacquainting myself with an area of the world that I am truly in love with (notwithstanding that I have a love/hate relationship with this country)... there are some people that I know up there that are absolutely amazing, and will be wonderful friends for the rest of my life.

I found out that three of my girlfriends (two who live in Akita and one who lives in Tokyo) opened a bank account when I left Japan four years ago, and they have faithfully been putting in 1,000 yen (about $13) a month (each) since then, to save up for plane tickets to come and visit me in Canada someday.  They're about halfway there now... so I know I'll see them there in about four or five years.

I was also given an instruction video for a new martial art that combines five martial arts, four of which I have studied, and three of which I have black belts in.  I was pleasantly surprised to find my name in the credits as one of the six founding instructors.

NOW, for the COCKROACHES...

Woke up this morning to the sound of construction going on in the house beside me.  I've learned on the Internet since then that roaches are sensitive to vibration (they don't like it), so this particular roach I'm about to talk about probably was escaping the noise next door.

I went downstairs and had breakfast, then came back up to get dressed for work.  And what was there ON MY WALL, IN MY ROOM, but a GIANT roach, about 2-1/2 inches long (I'm not exaggerating, I swear!)... It probably came in through the (soon-to-be non-existent) hole in the wall that was put there to string an airconditioner hose through (but there's no airconditioner there).  Jacob had to kill it with a big stick, and it was awful, legs popping off, body still moving, parts and other squishy stuff stuck on the wall.  I'm glad Jacob & I share the house, because I really don't think I could have done that myself.  Actually, I know I couldn't.

Doubt I'll sleep tonight.