Today was one of those days that you just have to love. First I woke up late. Realized the time and dicided not to go to kendo. It was almost half over. After eating breakfast I went to kendo. Today was a traing day. so all we do is strenus exercize. and it feels noce for once in my life. being with friend and doing it on self motivation is the best thing in the world.(typing with cold finders it the worst thing, I will make a heated keyboard someday)

So I left completely exausted and be and the two managers went to a hair cut place that was close and they chose a style for me. I won't bother doing that again.I told them I was getting a short hair cut right down to Kumakou standards. REALLY REALLY short. they wouldn't hear of it. "your hair is beaiful, you can't do that!" If you havn't guessed yet, they are girls. so I have long(er) hair now. Its ok I suppose.

After that was finished they went home as did I. It started hailling REALLY bad just as I left. That ruined by hair just after gettind it "done". I htought I would go to a ramen shop and eat lunch to get out of the now rian but couln't find one. Theo only street in kumamoto without a ramen shop. so I just went home. remember this was a good day. It just started out kinda rough. at that point my only expence was 1500yen for a haircut. another bad thing is that money flew out of my pockets like watter today. Although I havnet accually spent any money in a long time.

Got home and Decided that the rain had stoped i would got to Shimatoroi to get a book for school and contact lense solution. If I could find a new case fro them too. I was gonna use my new buss skills to get there but just so happens my host mom had to go there just as I walked in the door, Hitched a ride, saved 370yen. found out it is Momo's birthday today and we are goning to dinner. I add a small gift for her to my list of things to look for. Also remembered a couple peole who I should probly get small littl trinkets for. One mentioned chopsticks with a case. I'm a guy so to save time looking endlessly for gifts I add 2 chopsticks with cases to the list.

I get to walking down the main shimatorio road and see KFC and thing a twster would takes good now. Never did find time to eat breakfast today. I was walking for about 3 minute from gettin gout of the car and what do I here? "JOHN!!!!!!!!" here is a second year Kumako friend of mine and her friend walking the strip. John is somthing she just ramdomly started to call me, so I call her sally. I'm fairly sure Its out of the English practice books. We start walking and talking together. She wanted to take a picture in the one of the photo boothes that seembe self breeding all ofthe the place. more and more new ones just seem to pop up everyday. Finally get to the photo machine thing and take a few pictures. do the whole drawing thing and lukly they did all that. I hate having to think up witty things to draw to the pictures. I then realize I'm a little more lucky that I ran into these girls... girls are good at shopping! and Japanese girls know where things are. BINGO!!

You might remeber this picture, Miho(Sally) is the one in the middle [Picture Page 13] Look! I'm really starting to use HTML and care how thinks look now. (Picuters, tables, links, thumbnails) I'm good. ;)

I talk them into helping me find the chopsticks at some little place and they point me to the shelf with the nice case sets and I grab the first 2 I see.(they guy shopping instinct. They then yell at me for not thinking and we stand there talking for about half an hour on every possiblilty and color of them. Girls seem to know this kind of thing so I just do what I'm told and change "my" mind a good 20 times. (There were only 7 kinds) I endo up gettin a tird set for onther frind I forgot about they reminded me of. Finally I get awy from them and pay really quick before I,rather they, change my mind again. (1800yen) chopsticks are expencive for plastic(they last forever in America though)

Got out of there and now where I REALLY get luckey, Momo's gift. she is now 6 years old. Without the professionals I would have walked home empty handed and not bothering with it more than likely. they lead me into Kiddy land. I did wonder what was down there anyways and with 2 girls wihtme I felt a little less dumb being in a little girl's store. They point at some stuffed animle things and I agina grab the first kinda intersting thing and am ready to leave and they just say "no, put it down" quite blankly. I obayed. ended up in there for way to long and left with nothing to the Disney Store at the top of Tsuraya(biggest department store in kumamoto).

Get up there and they look at every little "cute" thing in the store. There were lots of "cute" things. every time I thought that was the end of the adventureI would have my mission fufilled. but no, they would see somthing even better on the otherside of the store with shopping-hawk-eyes. After criscrossing the store a dozen times finally got one thing... "OK were done I'll go pay now... " I say.... They just give me a weird look and start talking about what else I should get.... the second thing dind't take as long. With math I was able to say look this is close to 1000 yen so it should be fine. and they agree thankfully. I pay ask for is a gift and we leave. I grab some contact solution on the way out. I din't see any cases her and my guy shopping instings took over wihtout girls around noone was albe to stop me. I bought some renu soulution two pack thing that was on sale they pointed me at from outside the shop. I seen Opti-free witch I nomally use but It was WAY WAY more expencive.(5000 yen ) the renu was 1700 and that is what my American mom uses so it should be fine.

So, all I have left is a book and a contact case. we start walking to a book store they recommmend and I have to leave in 45 minutes. but The store they led me to I hade already been too andthey didn't have anything. I decided to go to the one I knew about with lots of books in English. They went to take more pictures. By the time I would finish getting my book I would have to hurry to the bus they seid we split up there. I d get my book at that store I went to and It only took 10 minutes to find and get to it this time. It is really hidden away. I only went across a road once that was wrong before realizing that is the wrong side. normally it is 5 times or more before I remember which side it is on. I was gonna get another theretical physics book but I seen "DUDE Where's My Country?" sitting there ant the first page was kinda funny. I bought that. (1700yen) I get back to the bus with 10 minutes to spare.

There is a huge foma 900i diplay up nead the the buss stop so I go and take a look and get a bag of information they gently force into your hand. It had an dawsome dog on the front of it so I took it. Nice bag, nothing interesting inside. the new phones are just so awsome. the cameras they have on them are smaller and tehn same quality as my GOOD camera that I brought from America. I do with they had a nice trade in program I have to admit. "I don't NEED it. I DON'T NEED it. I don't need it." I have to say that to myself the whole time I drool over the new tech gadgets.(one of my reasons of come to Japan. Tech stuff) I still love the N producion best even in the new models. I wish I could find someone that had a foma phone that I could call. I want to use my Video phone so much. But people are reluctant to switch becasue their image is the coverage area is small. I have yet to go out of service as long as I'm not on a mountian.

I think DoCoMo needs to post the maps of coverage all over the place. not the features list. The features are nice but the coverage is what people want.

I get on my bus which comes about 10 minutes late al leaast I think. I may have read the chart wrong. in that case it would have been 2 minutes late(more probale, I don't remember the other time exactly but I do have a picture of the chart to look at later.

I got all the things I came for except the contact lense case. The old ones seam a little dirty, can't really cleean them out well for some reason. On the bus I start reading the bok I got and its bashing bush and the author is a democrat trying to get Bush out of the office. didn't make me to happy, thought it was suppposed to be funny. I suppose I'll get to see another point of veiw on the situation. It you can't atack the polacys attck the politic is what I see in the the few pages I read so far. I personaly like the job Bush is doing. He has to finish what his dad started in the gulf war. Even though he used some crude tactics to get there. War usually make jobs and thats what I think He was hoping for, dind't work thats all, the economy changed since WWII. I am kinda looking forward to laughing at the stabs at bush. Like heis "links to the Bin laden family". that is was great. to make it look more credibal he adds tons of sources to everypage. on average it seems that half the page is writing and half is sources. Aparently that goes away after the first chapter.

I get home and we are almost imediatly off to eat dinner for momo's b-day(did I write tanjobi up ther somewhere, I'm too lazy to look at the moment, if I did tanjobi means birthday). Yakiniku. Were you cook your own meat on gas burners biult into the table. I think they might have got a little bad meat. I had a small sumic each after and didn't eat all that much. and aparently while i was in the batherroom someone dind't make it to a toilet and got sick in the sink. eeeeeewwwwww

They had a whole pile of meat waiting for me when i go tback which I had a hard tiem gettin gother people to eat because they were full. didn't mentin the bathroom and got my host father to eat it. It was horse i think so It was probly ok. I was really full at the time anyways. Come home and say I donw want Icecream tonight and they ask if I'm ok. then my host fater alsa says he don't want any becasue he's full too. and I call him a lier as well. My host mom does eat Ice cream. and after that Incredably good day I am here typing and equally incredably long blog. It's been a while so its ok I think.

JA! mata ne!