i went to nagano and stuff

I went to Nagano for the third time to play in the eastern japan ALT soccer tournament. We played four 30 minute games the first day. We only won one, which didnt qualify us to move on but put us in the loser's tournament the next day ("loser's tournament" wasn't the official name, but it's the only one I remember anyone calling it). We won one of two games that day and could have gone on to play a third (which would have determined if we got third or fourth place in the loser's tournament), but we decided to pack up and leave in order to get home at a decent hour, which turned out to be about 2:00 am (we drove).

It was a fun trip, though. We didn't take the playing too seriously. I got to know some new ALTs. We partied Saturday night (well, only a little bit for me. I crashed early. I guess I'm getting old.) Unfortunately, there were many injuries involving hurt knees, toes, faces, and backs. It wasn't pretty, but I think everybody is doing okay..

here is the one and only photo of me doing something of interest on the soccer field (I am 55):



and to update my progress from previous post, I'm still working away at the novel. Re-reading everything for the first time and editing is an intense experience. I go through phases of being extremely happy with the story and wondering what the hell I was thinking in places. It's a fun process though, and to my delight I find it much easier to focus for long periods of time when editing as opposed to writing on a blank page.