it's such a thin line between being thrilled at the sheer mass and wonderfulness and beauty of it all and being terrified that you're missing something.

but -

- I am taking culture and language classes with Mari and TK once a week
- I just bought a three-month subscription to Rosetta Stone online Japanese lessons

- After ikebana class today, I went to Sakurano to buy knitting needles. Sakurano is a department store in a five-story blushy pink building right next to the train station. And because of its color and location and relative height, it's a kind of an Ishinomaki landmark. It was one of the first places I remember from Ishinomaki (in part because it's located next to the train station and it's top floor holds Ishinomaki's movie theater.)

In a photo of one of the rice fields I ride by on the way to work, you can see its pink presence in the background:

I can't quite figure out the fourth floor of this building. The first time I went, it was a Saturday afternoon and it was filled with people selling pottery and bags made from old kinomos and the like... similar to a street fair or market. On occasions I've been back since, it's held something different everytime, from makeup counters to what looked like regular sale overflow of clothing from the rest of the store. Today, on the escalator ride up, I was partially thinking that it would be really funny (but unlikely) if there was yet again something different on the fourth floor - like a recurring joke from some British comedy that I know probably exists, but don't know enough to reference, where each time a character rides up the escalator or walks by a certain door, some impossibly ridiculous and unpredictible thing is seen in passing. But then, today, as my spot on the escalator approached 4F (as the fourth floor is marked here), I could see the glare of lights reflected in a dessert case near the escalators. Today, the Sakurano fourth floor was a miniature little food market! Yay! Cinematic-worthy oddness and free exotic food samples! I don't know exactly all of what I ate, but some identifyable (or semi-identifyable) foods included several types of fish cakes, fried crab, udon noodles, and a clear something-or-other with green flakes dipped in a delicious mustard sauce.

There's just so much about life here that I haven't communicated with anyone. I'm sorry.

when you travel, it really doesn't change who you are... if you don't change, no matter where you are, your life still isn't going to be much different.

also, honesty is pivotal.

(i'm so cryptic tonight.)