I won't even bother making excuses, but this summer has been so completely stressful!! I can't believe how busy I've been and how fast the time has been going. It was wonderful having Brook here. We really enjoyed Okinawa (photos here). Literally the same day he left, my friend Tampopo/Brittany came through on her way home from Sydney. We spent the entire weekend together. Then this weekend was three days long due to a holiday (Ocean Day), so I should technically have been able to catch up... but instead I spent the time sightseeing (and melting) in Kyushu (the southern-est of the four main Japanese islands). It was a trip I'd planned back in May when I had no idea how insane this summer was going to get (and before I realized it coincided with the delivery of Harry Potter #6!!). So...... now I am behind in everything clear across the board.

Some of it isn't crisis status, for example the econ homework that I've ignored *should* have been done a month ago, but technically doesn't flunk me out for another year. Other items are much bigger issues, such as my visa renewal that I didn't get around filing until last Friday. I'm now at the mercy of the Immigration Bureau folks out at Shinagawa. Let's hope that for my birthday this year, I get the gift of not having to cancel my trip home in August (oh the agony of waiting!). Anyway, I am having fun. The trip down to Kyushu was great, I still look forward to my twenty or so minutes with the yellow play doh in the morning, and the rainy season is officially over!!

I hope you're all happily sweating out July! More soon, I hope.