So I haven't ...

... written one of these for awhile and since I'm home sick I thought I'd slap one up between naps. So as I said I'm sick. Nothing I can't handle, but unpleasant just the same. Life continues to revolve around work over here. I think there is like 4 more weeks of this term then a two week "break" meaning all the little kiddies get to take off but us worker bees get to stick around and twiddle our thumbs. However since I haven't used hardly any holidays yet I may take off and do a trip or something.
BUT ... and this brings me to my next bit of news ... I may just hang around Himeji, Osaka, Kobe BECAUSE 1. Eric will be visiting sometime this July and so I'll want to have some holidays left for that also want to have money saved up and 2. I just bought my ticket to go visit home this August and that set me back a bit so I need to start saving again. So on the topic of summer trip my ticket has me flying in on August 3rd and touching down round about 9:49pm. I will be in town til Monday August 20th when I take off again at 8:40am. So you all can't complain now. I've given you over 5 months notice of when I will be around. You are all more than welcome to visit me over here, but for you poorer folks this is your oppertunity to get your daily dose of Vitamin-Steve. As far as plans go it's pretty much first come first serve. I will certainly spend several days with my family, but that doesn't preclude doing things in the evening of the same day. Also the 5th of August is a " No No" for you friend type peoples. I will be making an appearance around the holidays this year too so if you miss me this summer (or even if you didn't!) you have a chance this coming December. Those plans are still in the works, but it will be a shorter stay than this summer.
Yoko and I are doing well. Nothing new to report there. Other than the fact she was very sweet and came over on Wednesday night and cooked me dinner. It was very sweet, she made a soup that she said is good for sickness. Anyway thats all for now :).

And another one bites the dust ...

Just like starting out the day with a Queen quote :). So this will be a short blog as I'm writing it before work. School is going ok, I can't wait for Spring break though. For some reason this school has been a lot more draining than Shikama. I'm tired a lot more at least. It could have something to do with getting up most morning hella early (well maybe not hella early ... but early for my clock) and exercising. The program is still going if not as strong as it was back in December it's still pluggin along (haven't really missed any days ... just some I exercised later in the day than normal). This coming weekend (I know it's still the weekend there for you guys ... grumble presidents grumble ...) I'll be checking out the part time job that my boss offered for Saturdays so that'll be interesting.
Yoko and I saw each other again yesterday. She is doing well :). Still not able to see her as often as I'd like, but I suppose that comes with working during the week. I'm trying to convince her to break curfue sometime and just stay out and or stay over ... but so far no success.
Got tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Osaka in March so that should be fun. It's the last Monday of the term and Wednesday is a holiday ... so going to the concert Monday night then taking Nenkyu (paid vacation) the next day and then Wednesday is a holiday. That should work out well I think ^^. Anyway gotta go shower and head off to work ;/.

Rev. Stephen Christopher Lautaret Harvey

Yep, now I am an Ordained Minister. Basically I did it so that I can marry Sola and Eric. I find it rather amusing that I am Ordained now. This is just a short blog to update about that and the fact that life is going smoothly still over here.
Work is work, I have tomorrow off and then on Tuesday they are monkeying with the schedule so all Thursday's classes are on Tuesday and since I have no classes on Thursdays ... well that means I have no classes Tuesday this week. I still miss Shikama Higashi, but Ohtsu is sorta growing on me. Last Friday there was an all Himeji JHS ALT enkai and so I was able to see Kimurasensei again (my go between teacher at Shikama). So that was nice.
After the enkai all the Aussies and some of us Americans went out for drinks at Hosana's. All the Aussies are very nice and Marie and Trish (sisters) were telling me about their aerobics class they will be starting this week. So probably you'll see a blog about how that went and whether that will be added to the regime of running, weights and yoga or not.

Yoko

So today was Yoko's piano recital. I got there probably half way through it, but seeing as how she was number 22 out of 28 that was fine. She is very tallented (at least to my untrained ear). So even though I'm not a big one for classical music I still enjoyed myself (could have something to do with the fact that I was there watching Yoko :P) I brought flowers as tradition dictates for after the preformance and Yoko seemed to like them. I also bought a very pretty hankerchief as a little present since Yoko and I have been dating for a little over a month.
After she was done with the recital Yoko was a bit of hungry so we headed over to Old Spaghetti Factory. She had never been there before and she seemed to really like it (which is good ... couldn't date someone who didn't like a part of my past like OSF). We talked a ton and I got her laughing over the antics that Eric and I use to (and for the most part still do) get up to. After dinner we were gonna walk along the water, but the wind was up and so it was really cold. Even my coat wasn't enough. Anyway we headed into one of the mall type areas and in our wanderings I came across a SBC stand (I had discovered this and the SBC shop earlier in the day but ...) and that got me talking about the origins of SBC. After that we walked over to the SBC shop and got some coffee. More talking ensued and more "bad" stories about me and Eric. BUT! During our talking I noticed something that made my day even more cool! On the wall of this SBC in Kobe. Japan was a photo of Vashon Hardware! How cool is that good old Vashon is famous :).
Anyway after talking til 8 they kicked us out cause the mall was closing :(. So we hopped on the train back to Himeji and even though I tried to convince her otherwise, Yoko had to go home. So all in all I had a good day, but wish I had been able to spend more time with her. The up shot is I'll see her on Monday (and maybe tomorrow) and also we are going to hang out for a few hours on Wednesday (v-day ^^). Peace.