I have not been a very good blogger lately. Considering that the average internet user has the rough attention span of, say a week and a half at most, a lack of postings has really hurt my base. Not that it was ever that large to begin with, but things have slowed down to a trickle since I stopped being as consistent.
Anyway, as I sit here on the last night of my 23rd year, I wonder what the next 365 days will bring. No longer a palindromic age [22], will I even care? What will happen to me? Where will I go? What adventures will I undertake? I don't know yet, but I will be ready for them.
In terms of Japan, it is sakura season. As such, we had an ohana party [flower viewing party] last weekend. It was fun, and we had a ton of students, but it was also really cold. It's hard to enjoy the pretty flowers when you're shivering in your seat, but we persevered and had a lot of fun. Perhaps more interestingly, though, I spent that same morning at a Shinto fertility festival. Don't worry, this wasn't one of those western festivals where everyone gets naked and learn why it's called a fertility festival nine months later. This was a Japanese festival where everyone kept their clothes on and watched the parade of not one, not two, but three gigantic phalluses--one of wood, one of metal, and one giant and pink. To say the place was packed was an understatement. Most of my group managed to make it to the edge after getting our picture taken with big and pink, so we had some small amount of breathing room. One of us, however, got stuck in the crowd, and texted us about fifteen minutes after we lost her to let us know that she had managed to work an arm free enough to message us. It was an interesting experience, and though I have no idea why I went, I'm glad that I did.
Anyway, I am off to bed for the night. Good night everyone, and one of these weeks I'll write a post that I feel is good enough to deserve my personal sign off.
