update

No updates recently... why's that? No reason. It's starting to feel like things I want to post about are things that I have already posted about in previous years (look here, for example). This gets me to thinking about the future of "Chris in Japan." Will I continue blogging when I leave this island? Time will tell...

Anyway,

Snowboarding season is in full swing. I've already made two weekend trips to Hakkoda, the powder-lover's dream mountain. Unfortunately, this year there has been much less snow than in previous years. Like America, we are experiencing a warmer than usual winter. The ski slopes on Mt. Kamafuse, very close to Mutsu, opened a month later than usual. When I open my apartment door there is only a thin layer of crusty, icy snow, as opposed to the so-deep-you-have-to-wear-giant-boots snow of last year. It's depressing.

Luckily, high up on Hakkoda, there is still more than enough snow for snowboarding. The difference in snow levels from previous years is still noticable, however. For example, on one course you must cross a river. In past years there was always a giant bridge of snow going right over the water that you could easily slide across.　Now there is just water. We must stop, step out of our boards and step across very carefully on a few flat rocks. I accidentally stepped in the water and soaked my foot. Fortunately, that was my last run of the day and I quickly finished and changed my socks.

Other news:

-I've been playing a lot of Nintendo Wii lately. I'm trying to get some good, embarrassing pictures of people playing to upload here.

-My friend Alex is in town, hanging out in Japan before he returns to Australia and then heads to Laos for his new job with the UN.

-My brother, Patrick, and his friend, Mike, made a funny sequel to their funny "Roommates" video. Click here to check it out.

Happy New Year!

Hello, and welcome back... again!

My holiday at home was great fun. It went by far too quick. I met my nephew Kellen, and we really hit it off. I spent Christmas with my family in Charlotte and relaxed in the oddly warm weather. We are a family of gamers, and many times we gathered to play The Settlers of Catan.

I caught up on movies, watching everything I could in the theater and many more via Netflix. I highly recommend the movie Children of Men, which ties with The Departed as my favorite movie of the year. (a note on Children of Men - some friends have said they are not too intrigued by the movie's premise, that in the future women become infertile and humanity doomed, but I advise you to check it out anyway, as the movie is much more than a simple sci-fi premise.)

I saw many of my friends, and went to a rockin' New Years party with some of them at a new bar uptown. I always feel stressed during my visits home to see as many people as possible and usually at the end I feel like I cut some people short. Oh well.

So... what does 2007 hold for me? In the near future I look forward to lots of snowboarding. My job will finish at the end of July, and I already feel a little nervous about leaving this place that has become my home for the last 2 and a half years. I hope to do some traveling and then return home.

I have two resolutions for this new year, and they are quite simple--read more, and write more. By "read more," I mean books and news. By "write more," I mean finish editing my novel (not close to being done yet), write some short stories, and plan and get started on my next novel, hopefully with a better work ethic than I had on the rough draft of Westwater.