Slip sliding away

So it’s been a long time since I last wrote in this blog and much has happened. First, I did Nanowrimo. As always it was a serious challenge and though I am far from happy with what I wrote I really think there is a story there, and a pretty good one so I am determined this time to work on it on a weekly basis. I plan on getting at least one, preferably two, sessions in every single week. With luck I will have a workable draft by the time the next Nanonwrimo comes round. The story, for those who I haven’t already told, is a pretty basic one. A world torn in two by fear and prejudice, a hero arises, fixes just about everything and ya. Finished. But I really like many aspects of the world and its system of magic. Some of the characters I have pretty well fleshed out but others, not so much. Still, I can feel it there, a decent book that I would be interested enough to read myself so I want to keep on chiseling the surface until its form is revealed.

Anyway, enough about me, on to the adventures in Japan. This week had two big highlights…or big things. The first was the snow. The first fall was a delight and since then it has been fun fun and more fun. Just about no one here likes the snow, and watching the cars trying to stop on the roads covered in compacted snow, I can see why, but it’s still glorious. The white that blankets the world is just so beautiful. It’s like been smothered by marshmallows, you know it can still kill you but its just so soft and sweet hahaha. So we have been doing our best to enjoy the snow to the utmost while it is about.This week it has begun to turn into crunchy not so marshmallowy ice and the roads and footpaths are becoming less and less navigable. Somehow even in the depth of winter they tell me that the snow melts, something I don’t really understand but cool. I think it might be because we are near the water because it certainly doesn’t get particularly warm. Well, that was one of the events, and one we are still enjoying. The other was the earthquake.

Now that in itself is not such a big deal. I have experienced about 6 earthquakes in my 32 years: None that I felt in Australia, one in Mexico and five here. So they are far from uncommon. Nevertheless this one was something very new and different for me. The first was thee magnitude. Though the epicenter was pretty far from here it was a 7.3 magnitude quake. It shook things. Nothing really fell and it was short, thankfully, but it was much bigger than anything I had ever felt before. The other was the young girl who was taking class at the time. She is curious young girl, never speaks to me, she has class with my boss, but has inquisitive eyes and is generally cute. I think she might be ten. Well, she was in class and suddenly sat up and said ‘Yureru’ in a strong clear voice. It made my boss jump up quickly and start looking at things hanging from the roof. At the time I wasn’t sure what was going on but she was watching the hanging decorations to see if they were moving. Neither she nor I could feel anything but she insisted on two more occasions before suddenly the bigger one hit. I didn’t feel a thing but she was so sure, and so clearly correct. Somehow she had felt the tiny pre tremors or something. The word she was saying means to shake o to tremble. It was definitely an experience and was the first time I got to feel a little taste of the kind of terror that and earthquake can induce. No one was hurt here and no damage but it was still adequately scary. Every day here, as in life, I discover a new tidbit of information, another little piece in this immense puzzle we have painted and though some of them are not necessarily the safest of insights to acquire, I still value every last one of them. I think I will keep on wondering and wandering for a while yet. We have many little adventures in the works so I look forward to updating you all son on Ice fishing and much more. Take care all.