Tropical storms become hurricanes, and we wish we'd never asked "what are you waiting for?"

The storm is still 2 days out, more or less, and the bulk of it won't be hitting Kikai. Wind is howling like crazy though, and the doors on my house are rattling in their frames. The big spider outside is fluttering in the breeze, and suddenly I understand why they make their webs so strong. For some reason, just like my first earthquake, I'm excited. Like little kids when the power goes out. It's never scary, just an adventure. But we'll see, when the storm really hits.

Today was a turning point. My boss's boss, lovely fellow named Harunaga, told me I should be making games for the kids. Prior to this point, I had been operating under the assumption that given how little I actually interact with the kids, seeing any specific group of them maybe twice a month, the games which my predecessors had prepared which fill 2 file cabinets would be sufficient. And they probably would have been. But something about that moment, him smiling and showing me how to work the laminator, clapping me on the back and going back into his office. What the hell am I doing here, if I'm not making a difference? Not trying to make things better. I know how my predecessors' tenures went, and they did fine, and I could certainly give the kids another year of what they've been getting. But why the hell not try and make it something different, and novel? Why not use the piles of materials they left me as a resource to make my own way of teaching, my own games, and see if I can't get a few kids to learn something new.

Struck up random conversations with two people over at the 100 yen shop (like a dollar store, but more useful) while I was buying little gift bags to hand out some of Mom's cards in to the people at the office. Something that was holding me up, it just ain't there any more. It's not all roses and fuzzy teddybears just yet. Hell, I may not even be out of that first big decline you hit after the high of "OMG IT'S JAPAN!!!!" wears off. But we're leveling out. Instead of getting steeper. Things are hard. But they're getting easier. They're getting better.

Cool stuff. I'll snap some shots of the storm if I can.