Hey There! I Still Exist!

Writing something here feels like randomly calling a friend you haven't talked to in years.

What should I talk about? Will they even want to listen? Should I even bother?

In either case, there really isn't a legitimate reason for the lack of contact, it just kind of, happens.

So maybe the the first thing to take care of after false apologies and promising it will never happen again is maybe to recap the last crazy month, plus (in chronological order):

*Went whale watching. Apart from watching 80,000 lb. whales leap out of the water (twice!), I met some of the friendliest people I've run across since I've been here. Of course, such an experience deserves its own post, but let me sum up in two sentences. First, the whole whale watching experience is surprisingly unscientific and involves just as much whale chasing as whale watching. Second, more impressive than the sight of a humpback whale jumping out of the water is the sound of a humpback whale jumping out of (or more accurately, hitting) the water. Think: empty dump truck being dropped from an airplane into the water.

*Watched as my lovable delinquents from Industrial High School graduated. Much to my extreme disappointment there was a severe lack of crying or kimono. Even more to my extreme disappointment, the official graduation song was none other than the SMAP version:

Seriously, these guys are more of Japanese cultural fixture than the Emperor. (At the risk of losing the last fragment of respect you have for me, however, I will admit that the song has grown on me.)

*Then of course came March 11th. Appropriately or not, it reminded me heavily of September 11th. The out-of-nowhere factor. The fact that it was broadcast live making everyone feel that much more helpless. And the way that it made everyone else in the country reevaluate priorities. Treating it as just another bullet point is probably extremely inappropriate, but I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said.

*Was reminded all over again why Academic High School makes me want to stab most people who work there in the brainstem.