Sharing a note I sent to Robin:
Hi Robin!
I see you did the Kerouac re-tattoo - outstanding!
I've started my nihongo class at the community college (AACC)...visions of hiragana dancing in my head.
It's a little strange being in a class with everyone else so much younger...and then the dialogs in the textbook are all college-y, "What's your major?" (Senmon wa nan desu ka?) and "What year are you?" (Nannensei desu ka?) sort of stuff.
(There's an anime called "Samurai Champloo" that's now playing on Cartoon Network over here. In one ep one of the characters turns out to be illiterate and someone is teaching him to read and write, and he starts yelling about how it's impossible, all the characters look the same. Heh. I laughed my ass off for minutes straight.)
Busy busy...I've gotten word that I'm (probably, not yet official) going to be invited to test for my next karate dan level in April, which means extra training on top of everything else (nihongo class, day job, teaching karate, trying to get the shiatsu going, and my music is picking up, I'm playing a few gigs). On the other hand, it should help to be yondan when the big Seido Karate 30th anniversary rolls around his summer...I'm going to try to make some buddies among the Japanese visitors, could be useful for future visa sponsorship or general support.
Anyway. Hope all's well. Happy Valentine's and all, with the poetic tattoo Beat/ing heart on your sleeve you are your own card.