5...

5 more days and I'm free from what descends deeper into my own private hell every day. I get yelled at so much at work, I'm starting to wonder if I'm really just a jerk or an idiot. But on the other hand, I've never been yelled at from any boss who is worthwhile before, so I know I have a decent work ethic. I was also thought highly of by teachers who have more experience than everyone I've met here put together. Was I really just put in a place where nobody cares about improving the status quo? I know that I have a severe fault in my personality by not being able to settle for just doing things the way they are. I feel like I always need to make things better, because very little, if anything, is perfect in this world. I think that striving towards that ideal of perfection is the very thing that makes life worth living. Being content with the status quo simply blinds a person to the imperfections and inequities that eventually cause people harm (or in most cases, already do so). I don't understand how some people can just be happy following orders that they know to be inadequate, and have no qualms about them. Maybe I'm destined to be at odds with the majority for the rest of my life, but I feel it's worth it if I can at least cause some change for the better while I'm around.

Ok, on to some lighter subjects.... As you may know, I've been getting more and more into soccer lately, so the last few days have been awesome. Mexico destroyed Iran 3-1, but that was the only good news as far as results go. The States lost to the Czech Republic 3-0, which may knock them out of contention for the elimination rounds. Japan was doing well against Australia with a 1-0 lead...until they let Australia score 3 goals in 8 minutes to take the match. This is of course aweful when you remember that Japan is in the same group as Brazil, so the other 3 teams are playing for second place in that group. It's not that I had any special affinity towards the Japanese team, but the bane of my existence is Australian, so it would have been metaphorically satisfying to watch them get stomped. Oh well. I guess everyone needs to be on the lookout for the Togo team... I think after reading that article, you will understand that I consider Togo the next keychain I need to find in my ever-growing collection:

I have accumulated an extra 3 Mexico keychains past the one for my collection, so I will hopefully have enough to go around as gifts when I get to Mexico!

Speaking of collections, I was rather sad when I finished my Mario game recently. By finished, I mean completely cleared. I uncovered almost every secret level, etc by myself, which was really fun, but rather sad now that I have nothing else to do in the game. As far as the collections go, I have recently been collecting these little stand-up scenes from the original Super Mario Brothers game:




Next week should be pretty fun. I'll be in Osaka with my friend from Kansai Gaidai, Cleveland, staying for a few days and getting all the gifts I need for everyone at home. I think we're also going to swing up to Kyoto to relax one day also, so that should be a nice way to wind down and leave Japan on a positive note!