First Post of 平成 21 (2009)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. I was very glad for 2009 to come around. 2008 was a bit of an up and down year for me and though it ended on a pretty positive swing, I'm ready for this next year to try to make this a good year the whole time. So hopefully you all have your resolutions in order and are ready to make this a great year too.

We went on our trip to Nagano prefecture for Christmas from the 24-28. It was a great trip and a good chance to get away and relax with just us for a few days. We had snow the day after Christmas so though it wasn't a white Christmas it was close enough. We got to see some beautiful scenery and enjoy the ryokan experience but I think we were all (Caspian was there too) ready to get back to Fuji. It was just so cold the whole time that it started to get uncomfortable. So we enjoyed it but I think we'll probably stick to the big cities for our travel from now on. Kelly took a ton of pictures and has put them up on Flickr so check them out. The snow monkeys were the highlight of the trip. Very cool to get that close to animals in their natural habitat.

This week has been a lazy one to say the least. We got back into town on Sunday afternoon. We spent most of Sunday-Tuesday lazing around and playing on the computers. We started watching the most recent season of Survivor on Sunday night and had finished the whole thing by Tuesday night. So yeah, that's basically what this week has been like. I guess we should be taking advantage of the week off by going to some nearby towns and shopping or seeing local sights, but our laziness often gets the best of us. We like to stay at home so that's what we've done. We both go back to work on Monday and it'll be good to get back on a regular routine.

For New Year's eve we went over to Andrea and Joe's apartment. Andrea is the other ALT who works at my school and Joe is her husband. We had tacos and a lot of snacks, watched some Futurama and played Bomberman on their Wii. One of the more low-key New Year's Eves I've had in a long time but it was a good time. I guess I'm getting to the age where a low-key get together is going to be more common than big parties. Nothing wrong with that. So anyway, we stayed over there until a little after 1 and then came home to Caspian and the new electric blanket we got from Kelly's parents. (Thanks!) It has been very cold lately so it's nice to be able to lay down on your own futon and get under a warm blanket.

So that's what we've been up to for our holidays. We definitely miss everybody and I think this time of year brings that out even more. I was jealous of Kelly getting to go back for a few days since she got to see her family and some friends but especially because she got to eat Taco Bueno, Little Panda, and Chilis among other favorites. But I'll survive. It's making me a stronger person. :) I've also been feeling the pain of missing all of the bowl games that are going on right now. I got up this morning and found a live feed of the Rose Bowl and watched the 2nd quarter. Better than nothing I guess.

Well I'm listening to a CD I bought with one of my iTunes gift cards so I'm having a hard time concentrating while I'm writing this. So if this post seems a little scatterbrained, you can blame it on Dave Matthews. Once again, Happy New Year and don't forget to go check out the pictures on Flickr. あけましておめでとうございます！！！