I'm going to have to be more careful about what I write...
because I got in some trouble from that last post. Not least of which from my girlfriend, who wrote, "I DIDN'T COMPLAIN OF YOUR WATCHING SERIOUS MOVIES. MY TALKING ABOVT YOU TO OTHER PEOPLE IN THAT NIGHT IS JUST LIGHT JOKE FOR GOOD CONVERSATION. I COULD ENJOYED THE MALCOLM X MOVIE VELY MUCH TOO." (It's all in caps because I copied and pasted directly from the cell phone e-mail). I have to confess that I did know she was joking at the time, and so perhaps my saying that she had complained was a mischaracterization. And, as you can imagine, my admission that I have been saying that I have no girlfriend in order to chat up girls has done me no favors.

Also, in the previous post I wrote that "There were a lot of people I really wanted to see this weekend, and also a lot of people that I wanted to see if it worked out, but I wasn't too fussed about it." This was a horrible choice of words on my part, and I've received a few comments on it. It was not meant to refer to friends, but rather people I felt I had social obligations to but no deep friendships. For instance the board of education where I worked the past 3 years. I would have liked to see them if it worked out, but I wasn't really upset about not seeing them this weekend. Although it might sound like I am back-peddling now, I honestly did not mean to trivialize the friendship of anyone I wasn't able to see. Because I was essentially only back for two days (Friday and Monday being mostly travel days) I did attempt to cut some losses around geographic areas, and limit myself to people in the Usa-Gun Area. (Of course if I would have known I would have spent a whole day on Sunday going back and forth on the trains, I might have planned things differently, but that's in hindsight).

I did, in my defense, write a couple posts back that I would be back in Oita, and anyone interested in getting in touch should call me. And I would have made every effort to meet up with anyone who had contacted me on this note. Of course I do realize that not everyone reads every word that I write on this blog, and that half the burden for getting in touch is on me.

I apologize and I hope we can get in touch next time.