Jonas was bitten by a rattlesnake!
Millie has a broken arm!
A thief stole 12 of your Grandfather Clocks!
Jonas is well again.
Mike has Salmonella!

...to post this picture:

I haven't updated for a while, because I've been doing the exact same things that I always do aside from wearing a winter coat.

I spotted my first troupe of wild monkeys while waiting for the train at a remote mountainside station.  They crossed the rails and a chain link fence, then proceeded to steal a bunch of empty plastic bottles. It was pretty alarming, because I know that wild apes are uninsured and immune to litigation. Dangah!



Also, I have my first emergency school closing scheduled for tomorrow. All 11 students at that school have the flu.

So, am I home sick? No. I have the internet to provide me with nostalgia.

Dangerous ad that hypnotizes children

PEEEEEEEDUR

Barney the sponge

Moneylender versus Bee

Stop having impure thoughts about your sister

Just Plain Creepy

Edit: "Ha ha ha ha ha"

During today's class, one of my 11-year-old 6th graders asked me to translate 家庭内暴力 (domestic violence) into English for him.

I didn't have to, though; One of his classmates knew the correct answer. In English.

These two children, in any other circumstance, are incapable of producing the words "house" and "fight."

A rainy day in winter is a time for reading. Here's my list for this weekend:

All Quiet On The Western Front
The Art of Deception
The Birds
Dogura Magura
Here's Luck
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Nickel And Dimed
Plato's The Republic
The Terror

It's very quiet here. No occupied rooms neighbor my own, and I've become aware of the soundlessness of it all. I never hear a noisy TV commercial or an argument. At night, though, lots of disturbing noises come from the woods near my apartment. Animals, I guess? Maybe I should take an interest in musical instruments and scare off whatever it is.