January 8th, 2002. 2:21am.

Guess what? I can't sleep again. I'm sitting down in the common area, typing away, with hopes that the soothing clicks of the keyboard will soon lull me to sleep again. It's not working.

Ok, so while I continue to be forced to use to common computer for my updates, you will have to suffer with this crappy layout and old, irrelevant pictures I took with Fran's webcam. Two more updates and I will be fresh out of pictures. Well, that's not totally true. One of the girls here has kindly offered to let me use her laptop to download pics from my digicam onto disk. I'm just too lazy to go bother her.

I'm considering buying a disposable camera in the meantime, while I await news on my laptop from back home. They're pretty cheap and take pretty good photos from what I hear. The problem is that developing costs are ridiculous in Japan. This is all moot until I get paid, anyway.

So, yesterday was the the first Monday back in the New Year, and it was incredible! I had two free lessons and no-one showed up for my conversation class. Just like old times... I wonder when Nova will get wise to the fact that they have way too many instructors on hand? Oh well, it's to my benefit anyway, I get paid to catch up on my reading.

You know, I have yet to do anything since I have gotten back from Toronto. It's a shame, but lately, I have just been so tired after work that all I want to do is come home, get a few chapters of my book behind me and sleep until I have to drag myself off to work again. It looks like my exciting adventure in Japan has been reduced to speaking in broken English during the day and living vicariously through the life of fictional characters by night. How pathetic.

Once I get a computer again, things will be better. But until then, Aragon, Gimli, Gandalf, Legolas and the Riders of Rohan are about the seige the gates of Isengard.