Yesterday I had to work only a half day because I have training tomorrow, so after my easy morning I met up with Michelle and she helped me picked out a guitar in Ochanomizu. I totally* knew what I was looking for, but nonetheless we canvassed the dozen or so guitar shops within one block, asking for English speakers and testing each guitar with MicVat's own tried and true (though not to the Love Below original) marker for success; the GGGGGGGG version of Hey Ya. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Anyway, we ended up back at the shop with the most proficient English speaker on the block. He may or may not have been really shady, but regardless I walked out of there with a guitar (it's a Takamine, I don't know if it's good but it sounds p-r-e-t-t-y and the creator of the GGGGGGGG version of Hey Ya says it's ok), a warranty, and some free stuff including a used stand that somebody had literally just dropped off, a case, a set of strings -- maybe all that stuff is standard?! I don't know. Anyway, now I have a fun new toy.

Aoki-san, my new Japanese teacher, says I have to practice hiragana and katakana by emailing him in the alphabets and reading his corrected replies. This study is easier than I had originally thought it might be because the iBook OS provides a handy feature for toggling (so it says -- it may just be me but I had to look this word up . . . embarrassing) between scripts that allows the user to input roman letters and then choose the desired result from a list of phoenetically apt hiragana katakana and kanji. Exciting. Not that I've managed to reply to him just yet . . . it's still a slow process.

It's Japan's rainy season in full force. This is an official season, not one I've made up like frawgie season or sakura season; it actually exists, and it IS rainy and kind of miserable. But at least it's not too hot, so no complaints.

*in no way