School's Out

Grades have been submitted. Students have grovelled. My office has been tidied up. I'm officially DONE with all of my work related duties until the beginning of April, and that feels nice. I do have one more meeting with a student some time next week, since I'm helping him finish a paper he's writing, but that will be a several hour affair at most.


I've got a little more than two weeks before Chieko and I head back to the States, and I don't have a whole lot planned for that time. On my list is to clean this dump of an apartment thoroughly, spend a whole lotta time giving the new Gibson Advanced Jumbo some much needed attention, and hit the gym early and often. I also wouldn't mind squeezing in a trip to the airport to watch some jets if time permits. But for now I'm unabashedly enjoying an afternoon cocktail and celebrating the fact that I have absolutely NOTHING to do at the moment.
This afternoon Chieko and I took a ride into downtown Kanazawa to do some errands. While she was in the bank, I wandered around the side streets and snapped some pictures. It was really dark and gloomy, on the verge of raining, and in that light the old, dilapidated apartment buildings and shops took on a funky kind of charm for me, so I concentrated on them.

With any luck, given this time on my hands, I'll have some interesting posts up here in the next few weeks. I'm still debating whether or not to drag the computer back home with me so I can keep blogging from America. We'll see, but Casey's Bean might take a bit of a hiatus. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it though. Until then, blog on.