I figured now would be as good a time as any to send an update. A lot has happened, and since I tend to keep my life off of Facebook as much as possible, I thought I should send a brief update.

To start off, I have a new girlfriend. I talked a bit about her while I was in the states, but I didn’t say a lot. She’s an amazing girl! I met her on a night of bar hopping. She’s from a small town just outside of Koriyama, but she lives near Tokyo, so I don’t get to see her a lot, but when I do, everything is just perfect. She’s very friendly, and doesn’t have the traditional quiet Japanese personality. She’s a little crazy, like myself, and we click perfectly. A few weeks ago, we went to Tokyo Disneyland together, and despite my concern for having thousands of screaming children running around me at all times, we had a blast. The child inside came out, and I ended up singing a bunch of Disney songs. I would upload pics, but since her job is in the public eye, we’ve been very careful about being too public with pictures. Weather permitting, I’ll be spending Valentine’s Day with her in Koriyama. I’m pretty excited about that.

While I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, I decided to do so this year. I’ve decided to write a book. I haven’t decided whether to publish or not, but I’m now about 25% through it, and I hope to finish the first draft by the end of the year. I don’t know if it’s any good, but I needed a challenge, and while I’m a very good talker and tend to be a decent story teller, I’ve never really been able to translate the spoken word to paper. If anyone is interested, and without giving too much away, it’s a post-apocalyptic survival story. Once I decide if it’s worth letting others read, I’ll be more open about sending excerpts or asking for help in editing.

More recently, I’ve started getting into lyrics writing. I’ve never been much of a poet, but with all the writing I’ve been doing lately combined with a good conversation with a musician friend of mine, I’ve decided to give it a try. He sent me some background music last week, and I’ve already got half the lyrics written. Again, I’m not sure it’s so good, but it’s keeping me busy.

I’m really enjoying exploring my creative side. Since university, I’ve had real problems tapping into my creativity. I haven’t had much confidence in that area, and because of that, I feel like other aspects of my life have suffered. So, here’s to exploration. If anything comes of it, you will be the first that I let know. Perhaps I’ll even post an excerpt of my story or samples of music on my site. We’ll see as things develop!

Thanks for reading. See you next time!