I am still trying to be more positive about the work situation. I think a lot of life is just looking at the lighter side of things. Unfortunately, as I review my journal entries, I see that I am hardly the most positive guy. I think I actually seem relatively happy most of the time, but I have a lot of little things that bug me, I guess. Anyway, I have had a good weekend, and I am almost ready to go back to work tomorrow.

I tried to call my host sister in Japan today. Actually it is already Monday in Japan and it is her birthday. I still try to keep in touch with people as well as I can, but I get especially lazy about writing letters and emails in Japanese. A lot of people think I am silly to be toying with Japanese and Spanish when I live in the good ole USofA. I guess the main reason that I still think about all that stuff is because it affected me a lot. It meant a lot to mean to study and live abroad, but I don't seem to get much resonance out of friends around here. They think I am crazy. So, I find myself calling Japan and other places to chat with friends who share the same love of the world beyond. We are always wanting to escape to some land far away.

Well, I don't know where that paragraph came from. What I was meaning to write is that Kana was not home. She was already at school, so I just left a message on the answering machine. "Happy Birthday!" I said. I also called good ole Yai this morn. She is in good spirits, though she is recovering from a cold. She has accepted a job trading futures at some financial house in Shinjuku, Tokyo. That job suits her about as much as auditing suits me. She is headed off on one last vacation before her job starts in April. It doesn't sound like she is going to come visit me.

Nobody came to visit me at all this weekend. It was a nice long weekend, though. No work on Saturday. It was relatively warm, so I went out for a bike ride. I think I honestly feel out of shape now. All of the times I said that before, I was just whining. Now, I really feel it. I went for like a thirty mile ride to try to wake myself up a bit. I darn near froze, but it was invigorating. It is another escape for me, I guess. I can just ride and ride and my mind is free to think about whatever I like.

Work. I am managing the busy season all right. Some days I feel really on top of things and other days I feel like the weight of the whole company is on my shoulders. Granted, I passed the CPA exam, but everyone told me that I would just be making copies and playing around my first year. Well, I was trying to figure out this silly capital lease the other day. Sure I studied it once in school, but I don't really remember that stuff. But I am expected to. That was the day that I wished that I did just have an 8 to 5 job where I just add numbers and get a crappy salary. I felt really dumb.

But I do enjoy my newfound wealth a little bit. I have bought a bunch of toys for my computer lately. A couple language translators and a couple scanners. Now I can waste all kinds of time playing with things on the web. Hope the rest of the world is as happy and lucky as me. Later.