So it's been a good while--nearly two months--an entire summer--and plenty of stuff has happened. I guess this entry will need to serve as an omnibus for all that...

I did plenty of academic mercenary work this summer, and got paid a pretty penny, though that ate up two weeks of my time that in retrospect could have been spent elsewhere. But it was good times, and it meant my first out-of-dojo experience in Chicago.

I traveled for the first time--Hong Kong, Tokyo, and the seedier parts of Taipei (actually Taoyuan, but who's counting?), and did kendo two of those three places. It was just good to get out of the country and feel like you're just another Asian in the teeming sea. And the shopping was good, not to mention the food--what it should really taste like.

I was kind of dreading the new school year, but now I feel really lucky. I don't want to jinx it but I've met someone with whom it all just clicks--things come naturally, and I have this giddy feeling walking all around town. It's embarassing, really, buying vases and the flowers to go with them, scrubbing behind the toilet, and so on... No matter how it turns out, I'll just appreciate these days at least--this is what hope feels like...