oohayo!

Today I saw the first cherry blossoms on campus, and got pretty excited! I was ready to blip them, but when it came down to it, I found I prefer this picture for now. Sakura will wait!

So here are Matt and Rosie, fellow students and friends. I love cycling to class in the mornings with everyone, especially when the weather is good. Sometimes, en route, I am struck anew by the craziness and good fortune of my life: I am in Japan!

I like the way that this picture turned out, a point-and-shoot affair without effort or fuss. I often find it hard to take pictures of people, especially those whom I like, without it seeming forced or awkward; hopefully I can improve, in time. Anyway, I feel this captures the mood of the times quite well: a jubilant and confusing Tuesday lesson concerning kanji and grammar. I like how it features the ever-prominent - at times almost pugilistic - advertising of LINDEN HALL, and Homan mountain in the background where I occasionally slog up as of a weekend. I like the sense of space it seems to exude. Most of all, I like the light! Faded blue skies such as this one I love more than anything - perhaps a hankering after my early childhood, the fond and elusive memories of a year in L.A. when the living was easy. Fish jumping, cotton high.