Every now and then I couldn’t come up with a single coherent topic and I would instead resort to random aphorisms, observations and questions. — Your Humble Blatherer in Editorials and Litigious Leisure

Random bits today as lots of random stuff happened.

–Spent the morning watching a student write a make-up exam. The exam was three writing questions that, if done perfectly, would force him to write over 600 words. In the end, he only wrote 300 words, but by colossal coincidence, that equals the lengths of the two speeches he didn’t write or do last term. This, of course, means the test worked perfectly.

–While my student was working, I was doing my daily 10 Ideas, which has now been relegated to a smaller notebook, and then wrote extra ideas, and then switched notebooks where I wrote out notes for some upcoming posts on this site. They included my Sinclair Seven (now modified and including a plus one); my stationery  confessions; my Top Five pens (of various sorts) and my 2017 pen and stationery related resolutions. (More on all these, of course, in upcoming posts.)

–The afternoon was spent marking paragraphs from different students and deciding appropriate punishments for our oldest. (Long story involving grandparents, concerts, skipping school, bullet trains and Osaka.) The big fight was saved until after supper.

–Some where in there I took some pictures for future blog posts and sorted through a bunch of crap as part of some belated soot brushing. I have camera gear to trade and ink to sell. I also have a bunch of notebooks to dispose of somehow, someway. My long unused karate gear is still mocking me, even though I’ve somehow taught myself not to see it as little more than a ghost in the corners of my eyes.

–I also have work to worry about and more marking to do. I also have a grounded teenager to deal with, especially as I think she’s about to make the mistake of calling my bluff. (More on that in a future book…)

We got home, but our bullet train was a lot slower than I was expecting. Somehow, though, we didn’t have a lot of time.

Because it was part of the bi-annual U-turn rush here in Japan, we ended up with some odd trains and little time to catch them, which meant we didn’t have time to buy snacks and drinks–which meant my girls stopped to buy snacks and drinks–but we made our one connection.

Unfortunately our bullet train was a “slow” one that stopped at every stop, including several at places that don’t seem to actually exist, and then lingered several minutes at each stop so the actual bullet trains could pass.

Then we exited the station at the wrong exit which meant we couldn’t find the treats we were looking for. (Note: one side of Omiya Station is awesome. The other side sucks.)

Then we got home and enjoyed the biannual tradition of She Who Must Be Obeyed being horrified by the state of the apartment. (Note: she does this even when we travel together.) (Note the Second: The bear wasn’t my fault.)

Now, we’re settling back into our normal patterns, for better and for worse, but at least we’re home.

It says a lot about Japan that the most uncivil things I saw today were actually quite minor. One shocked She Who Must Be Obeyed, and the other involved coffee.

Oddly, although I was also involved, I was not the biggest problem.

As is our tradition for each New Year’s holiday, we had a huge dinner with the entire clan of immediate in-laws and then, after the oldest brother ran away as fast as he could, the rest of us went shopping.

This involves droves of people and traffic, but luckily we’ve missed most of the fukubukuro fighting so we were safe.

At lunch though, we chose the busiest restaurant, and as I was bringing my double espresso back from the drink bar, a woman decided to spread her wings and spun into my cup. This I could have forgiven but her attitude was less than apologetic, which is unusual for Japan, so I got grumpy for minute. Oddly, though, I was able to move on fairly quickly, which is unusual for me.

Then, after we all separated—our girls having been dumped off on the youngest in-law and her husband—She Who Must Be Obeyed and I did some shopping. As we were heading back to the car to head home, we witnessed one of the rudest things we’ve seen in Japan (at least that didn’t involve riding on the train).

An elevator full of parents and kids in carts began to empty while a young couple with a stroller and an older couple with a couple small bags waited. It took the parents and kids in carts a long time to exit, prompting the older man to push his way on the elevator. Then, when the last cart was gone, the old man closed the door in front of the young couple with the stroller. The young man tried to push the button, but it was too late. He and his wife both looked surprised, as they had, technically, been at the front of the line.

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I both muttered something along the lines of “What an asshole” and it was our topic of conversation all the way back to the car. In the asshole’s defense, the young father should have pushed the button as soon as people started getting off the elevator. Also, as rude things go, it wasn’t that bad, but by Japan’s standards, it was rude.

The most shocking thing was that I didn’t do anything that could be considered rude. I even apologized for being bumped. And I didn’t swear. Much. At least not loudly.

Spent today doing nothing. Well, I did a few things, but not much else.

Our oldest was off at a concert and I was left behind to do laundry and finish season two of The Man in the High Castle, which is an impressive adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel of the same name, but lacks his sense of “No really, what the hell is real. No really.” It is well acted, but season 2 drags as they only had 15 episodes of material but decided to make 20.

I did manage to break down some boxes and slightly organize some things, but mostly I was relaxing before tomorrow’s trek to the in-laws.

I should probably try to do a little work before then, but I probably won’t. I should also pack.

Today was the recital for our oldest’s orchestra club. Unfortunately, it ended the way I’d hoped it had begun.

The recital involved 19 different combinations of club members playing different songs with different instruments. Our oldest performed as part of a flute quartet and, judging by the crowd reaction, they rocked.

Unfortunately, because our oldest is a first year, she only got to perform once.

Somehow I managed to stay awake and reasonably attentive throughout the remaining eleven performances.

At the end, all of the older girls came to the front and performed a medley of Christmas tunes. They did a good job and the crowd gave them appropriate praise. However, when it was all finished, the speech phase started. There’s always a speech phase.

What annoyed me about this one was it came at the end of the performance rather than at the start. We were late arriving which, in my mind, meant we’d missed the speeches. Instead that speech was five minutes long, as was the second speech (by a different person).

Then, just to troll me, they called up a third guy to give a speech. Luckily, as I was contemplating setting fire to something, the third speaker was unprepared and gave a very short “keep up the good work” speech that was more of a series of comments and lasted less than a minute, including the time it took him to walk tot he front.

After that, I finally got to escape. .