Taking it on the chin.

These last couple of days have been rather straining on me because I've had the obligation of going to hockey practice. I haven't even fully settled in yet and I'm expected to a thousand things at once. That's not to say that I haven't been having a good time, though, because there always has been something unbelievable happening right before my eyes and, no matter how stressed I am through not understanding certain things, I'm always happy with the opportunity to stand here.

Friday night I moved in a place called Dormitory Shin-Matsudo in Minami-Nagareyama, perhaps what I'd like to call the "Ridgefield Park of Chiba Prefecture." It's quiet most of the time, it has a main street that good numbers of people travel on, also a couple of parks and a nice river to just stare at when the days are slow (I also saw people fishing there today). The CIEE kids and I moved in, and after having done so, we basically went back to Shibuya to get crunked. We went to a nomihoudai, or "all you can drink [bar]," where I had three beers and two good flavors of whisky (in two different glasses, of course). We toured around the greater part of Shibuya, only to separate, relieve ourselves of "the call of nature" --- and very strongly, I might add --- and regroup along with a million other people going home.

I also saw my hockey teammates, who recalled that I was "recovering from flu," and they were generally puzzled as to my presence during being sick. I explained to them a couple of days later that alcohol generally relieves one of the worry of being sick. At least help me prove that it's true, guys.

One of my dorm roommates apparently convo'd it up with a member of a modeling agency on the train home. This roommate apparently is white and tall, both of the preferences Japanese girls have for dating (at least, for a good chunk of them). He got his business card, I think, and we proceeded home only to talk really loud on the Chuo line and sleeping on the Tsukuba Express (we take two trains to the metropolitan area, where our school is).

Saturday I decided to go skating in Chiba, where I would have my hockey practices on Monday and Tuesday mornings. It's a very nice rink, very new-looking, and right by the bay, so there's a good view. I practiced on my skating, though it didn't pay off because one of the drills in hockey practice involved skating backwards, which I still have trouble doing. These were really intensive practices, for sure, but I'm glad to hear that my teammates are understanding that those were my first practices with them.

Oh, Saturday, I went to go karaoke-ing with Devin, Brent, Danika and Chart (the last two are new CIEE kids), and that was very fun for me. I don't normally stay out at night, because I hate the fact that you have to wait for the morning trains; you're pretty much stranded if you stay out at night and don't have a car or don't want to pay the staggering costs of taxi cabs. However, I got to show off some of my vocal skills, which was cool. Also, drink some alcohol. I know, maybe my brain's degenerating, but it's the price you pay to have a good time. Intriguingly, I think I'm still smart.

I told you about Monday and Tuesday morning, except for the fact that both mornings I woke up at 4:00am to make it to practices so I could have some skating time. Yeah. It's tough. But I certainly had fun. Especially with the lunches --- we went to a cheap Italian resturant and played hacky-sack with hockey sticks before the place opened.

I don't know. Life's good. It has its crazy bouts. But I think it's worth living.