Before I crawl into bed with my crossword

It's Thursday night again. I've let a whole week go by without a post. I wish I could say I were guilt ridden but honestly it hadn't even crossed my mind. The end of the quarter is drawing near which means I'm insanely busy and haven't time to think about anything . . . except being busy. Oddly enough I think I spend as much time thinking about my busy-ness as actually being busy, if that makes sense - nothing really does lately. My brain has turned to mush and has taken on the characteristics of a sieve, all rather unfortunate.

My busy-ness is caused by the necessity to write papers. I don't really enjoy writing under pressure, ironic since that's basically what grad school is all about and therefore it is really all that I do these days. At the moment I'm writing (or contemplating writing to be exact, since no part of the actual paper is written yet) about the role of religion in Japanese social activism and the role of overseas development aid in Japan's foreign relations with its Asian neighbors. Those are two separate papers for two separate classes in case you're wondering what the two topics have to do with each other - a big ol' nothing is what they have in common. Any suggestions you might have on either topic would of course be welcomed.

But don't let me drone on about such academic topics that are of limited interest. Here are some light and fluffy thoughts that are completely unrelated but are at least amusing if not interesting:

1. My little 'lucky' bamboo is sprouting leaves out of its side! I'm so excited, especially because it lives in my dark cave-like room and I was fully expecting it to die from lack of sunlight.

2. I made chocolate cupcakes last week and they were just heavenly. But what was even better was that I made frosting to go on the cupcakes! It's been ages since I've had homemade frosting and it was so so delicious, I'd forgotten how different it tastes from store-bought frosting (which I hate). I know that it's bad for me (it really is just pure butter and sugar) but like most things that are bad for you, it tastes SO good. I was especially fond of the cream cheese frosting . . . yummy-licious. And a little frosting really goes a long way, I've been savoring it and having a little bit everyday on a piece of toast - don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

3. I now have giant holes in both my sneakers and my jeans (sadly this condition has actually existed for several weeks now, maybe even a month) - it's pathetic I know. I should get replacements for both but I haven't the time or energy to go shopping. I never thought I'd see the day when I didn't have energy for shoe shopping . . .

4. Lately my eyes have been bothering me. I think it's all the reading I've been doing combined with the dry air. It's as though they're rebelling against me and saying, "Let us the hell out of these damn sockets!" Coincidentally I was talking with a friend about glass eyes and we've decided that should one of my eyes successfully escape from its socket I should go for a wooden eye instead of a glass eye. It's so much more retro-chic and has a certain je ne sais quoi about it.

And that is all for now folks, I'll be going into social hibernation again until the end of the quarter at which point all my papers will be finished and I can lavish time on such things as e-mail correspondence, Internet browsing, reading non-academic tomes, and maybe even the viewing of films!