- the trick is to keep breathing -

...write. Inkshed. To Hades the fact that you`re on the train and feel ridiculous and a student whose name and face you only half-remember stands across from you with better English comprehension than he`s ever shown in class. Write and perhaps you will finally say something.

Say anything.

Boomboxes are out of date and you sold your car that you could have stood upon - but everything else from the 80s is coming back, so you never know.

You still can`t believe you looked at armwarmers with anything other than arch amusement, or leggings for that matter. But you are living here - what are you waiting for - a written invitation? Don`t hold out. People stopped writing a long time ago.

Japan will teach you to save your words. If you thought you were wordy in Canada, well. You`ll lose them, though, if you`re not careful - stunted bilingualism and what could be whispers of dyslexia already twist your scribblings on the endless sheets of B5 paper between covers of red and rose and fractured Japlish.

You`ve lived outside yourself for too long - not lost touch but lost perspective. It`s not a cardinal sin, more an aftereffect of a liberal arts education, but in a land where people could not care less, be careful. Now`s a good time to jump back in. Maybe not the leap you were expecting or hoping for, but at the very least, it`s a start. And you - judging from your reflection and the fact that this exists at all - could use one of those.