• The first official day of vacation was spent picking mikan - the sweet, juicy, and delicious Japanese orange.  I was invited by my calligraphy teacher, Kobayashi-sensei (as were all the participants of the course).  Only myself and my friend, T., accepted.  It was fantastic day-long adventure, out into the wilds of Kanagawa prefecture, up into the mountains to pick mikan with a like-minded group of folks.  Midday we ended our harvest with a traditional tea and then went to a local famous ramen-ya that specialized in shoyu (soy sauce) based ramen.  Very, very delicious.  The weather was perfect, the views of Mount Fuji were better than I've ever seen in my life, I've got more mikan now than I can ever hope to eat, and pictures will be forthcoming over the weekend.

• Eunja and I spent Christmas Eve day together taking in a "history of Ikebana" exhibition at the Edo-Tokyo Museum.  We also ate tempura, road a water taxi on the Sumida River, and exchanged Christmas gifts.  We're planning to meet again next week, when my friend N. is here for the New Year.  Tentatively, we're planning a day-trip to Odaiba.

• Christmas is not Christmas for me without watching Die Hard.  So, as you can imagine, I just got finished watching it.  That movie just never gets old, you know?  I suspect it will in time be remembered is the single greatest Christmas movie ever made.  (Although Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles is an extremely close second, IMHO.)  Christmas is a time to miss loved ones if you happen to be far from them, as I am, but watching classic movies from my childhood helps me to feel close in spite of it all.

• It turns out that I can make pretty good gyoza.  My Japanese mom, Takako, taught me how to make them the last time I visited her in Tochigi, and I decided to attempt to replicate the process for the IUC Christmas party.  Being the worrywort that I am, I felt that I needed to make a test batch ahead of time.  Just in case.  They came out pretty well, I have to say, although I hope everyone else likes them. Naturally, they aren't as good as Takako's.  (My meatloaf isn't as good as Mom's, and my Mac'n'Cheese never comes close to Dad's, either.)  But they're pretty tasty.  And there's something inexpressibly cool about taking homemade gyoza that your J-mom taught you how to make to a party for friends.  I will, of course,  do my utmost not to brag.  ;>

• There's interesting changes in the air here.  Nothing that I can really say much about right now... just a pricking in the thumbs.  I'm looking forward to the New Year.

The philosophical Sagittarius New Moon prods you into thinking about things that don't normally concern you. You are excited about exploring new ideas and exotic places now, and less interested in being practical. But you don't have to travel anywhere to bring these archetypal desires into your life. Studying a foreign language or learning about another culture allows you to go to fantastic places in your mind.

• I greatly suspect that now that the annual Mini Speech Party (mini-happyôkai), a term that is largely facetious, has concluded, most of the students will be significantly depowered for the remainder of the term - which at this point is four business days. It doesn't help, either, that they scheduled it for the same day as most graduate program applications are due. "General freakout" is a generous term for the disposition of some of my peers. Thank god I only have next year's Fellowships to feel squeamish about.

• The day persists in not containing enough hours. It always seems that I can relax or I can grind, but not - somehow - both. And keeping up correspondence is right out. I want to write meaningful and considerate responses to all my loved ones who've been good enough to write me, but that takes time that I never seem to find. Part of this is no doubt related to the fact that if I let myself relax my brain tends to go into a total shutdown mode that requires hours to recover from. I'm hoping to bask in communication over the winter break.

• I can't believe it's already been two years since we lost Grandma Tiny. I still miss her terribly, and I can't help wondering how she would view the current political atmosphere, how we would argue about said political atmosphere, and how she would nevertheless cluck at me over my living in a foreign country for a year because even though I'm a misguided liberal - I'm still her granddaughter, and she still loves me. Heaven's not a place I really believe in, but if there is one, I know that Tiny is keeping a seat warm for me. So I've got that going for me... which is nice.