Been holed up in the apartment for a couple of days, I've got another cold. Fortunately it's nothing too severe, throat's a little scratchy, but probably a good idea to take it easy for awhile.
I try to stay busy but sometimes it gets me in trouble, and social obligations here have a way of piling up on you. For example, my teachers at Ono had a drinking party on Wednesday. Normally this will only happen on weekend nights, but we were throwing the party in honor of a special guest teacher that was only in town for that evening. I had barely even talked to the guy on his previous visits, and hardly said a word to him this time as well, but you've got to be there to be respectful for the older guy. All of the other teachers were being really polite and deferring to him, so it's one of those cases where you've just got to follow their lead and go along.
I'm still trying to go to basketball more often; it's a lot of fun and the people are friendly. But instead of being a local, I'm facing around a 50 minute-1 hour drive to Usuki from Ono. Trying to fit that round trip in with dinner on a weekend evening is a pretty tight fit. Still, I think the exercise and socializing is worth it.
By now everyone's seen that A-Rod got busted for steroids. At this point, we shouldn't be surprised at all by that, but hey A-Rod was supposed to be different- he didn't have a freakishly large head like Bonds or the ripped biceps of a McGwire- but in the end it didn't matter. That takes out a lot of the big names in the game, and the thing is, it's not over yet. Expect a few more to go down in the coming moths and years. (Two ones I've always felt suspicous about- Luis Gonzalez and Bret Boone, both had big years that look mighty suspicous in hindsight. At this point, no one gets the benefit of the doubt).
You know, cats aren't good for much. Last night, trying to work off this cold and about to fall asleep, two of the friendly neighborhood cats start yowling at each other at the top of their lungs. If they would at least fight each other, it would be over with at least, but no, just screeching at each other for what felt like hours on end. Finally, armed with a single flip-flop, I went outside to dispense some quiet, Nolan-Ryan style. They scattered once I got down the stairs, but hey they were quiet for the rest of the night.
Cats really aren't good for anything though. You ever see a cat sniffing for drugs, leading a blind person on a crosswalk, or searching for lost climbers? No, you haven't, because they're absolutely useless. Do you like cats? Well, you're probably a librarian with ugly glasses. So there.