Because it's Sunday in 2014

So, let's go over this week's highlights: The air was somewhat alright part of the week, but bad later on. The start of the week saw good air, and good spirits for yours truly. I finally had the courage to set foot on a scale and was not nearly so horrified by what I saw as I had feared. Mind you, it's still the largest number I've yet seen on said scale (or any scale for that matter) but after the disaster that has been the last three months, it could have been a lot worse. Monday also saw a lovely session of Pathfinder and the start to what's been a nominally effective diet. I had to cancel Jerry's class because a friend was in crisis. The school had pressured her to change her son's grades prior to applying to study abroad. She'd agreed, then, overwhelmed by guilt, decided to change the scores back to their natural state. She was terrified that she'd doomed her son to China forever, but I assured her that it was no problem and we've since fixed everything. Hooray for that.

I seem to remember spending Tuesday's lunch in Kaffestugan. If memory serves, it was with that same friend. We were working on her son's U.S. application. It seems to be going well enough. Sunny's classes have been a lot more enjoyable since I started forcing her to study, but I was really shocked as I was there. They'd left the door open (evidently for me) but I didn't want to let myself in. So I stood there knocking as she and her mother spoke loudly and angrily. I was only able to pick out the word "teacher". Obviously this was worrisome, but it turns out it was some other teacher. My Tuesday dinner class canceled (as she's done consistently for three months. I wish she'd just cancel for good and not send me weekly messages) which was fine. A second meal at Kaffestugan. Tuesday night was Bobby's class. He wasn't terribly well prepared, but we had a fun moment. He kept mispronouncing the word "stripe" as "strip". I was wearing an exceptionally loose t-shirt that day as it was warm and I don't have a lot of clothes that fit me for warm weather. Finally, when he read strip as strip for the ten thousandth or so time, I just ripped my shirt off. Granted, I was wearing another t-shirt under my shirt. His mother burst out laughing (though the laughter may have been on the second time I demonstrated the difference between these words). I had to repeat this a few times. I was certainly entertained. I think it was just the week before when he couldn't say "Folk".

My memory of Wednesday is pretty shaky. I had an okay university class, and a decent afternoon class. Jerry's Wednesday class went alright, and his parents were understanding about my canceled Monday, which was nice. Ah yes! I was supposed to get pizza with Maria after, but then Happy messaged me saying that she was leaving for vacation and wanted to see me before she left. So I had to cancel with Maria, but then Happy canceled (she'd apparently gotten bus sick) and I couldn't get a hold of Maria again. So, it was basically a 90's TV show.

Thursday I did nothing. Which, on the one hand, was shameful, but, on the other hand, was lovely. Katherine needed to reschedule. I ended up going to Safari hoping to get some writing done and some research for Monday's Pathfinder session, but Sam was there with a few more laowai, and we ended up having a kind of brainstorming session to figure out how to overhaul the place to attract more business. Why am I cursed with finding wonderful places that nobody likes? I think that, in this, I cannot be a hipster: I want everybody to go to the places I find. I want Safari to be incredibly popular and successful. Well, I gave up a Thursday night hopefully assisting in that goal. Beyond that, I spent a lot of Thursday playing Age of Empires. If memory serves, it was Wednesday or Thursday when the air quality changed.

Friday I taught Katherine's Thursday class, then went right to Shane. The class was fun. Then I went to English corner and had a good talk. Then Penny drove me home with her son Woody, which was great. I believe that Friday was when the insomnia started. It's also when the heartburn started.

My Saturday morning class canceled, which was lovely because I couldn't sleep on Friday night. My second Saturday class was quite nice, and I enjoyed teaching them. However, the little bastards still haven't e-mailed me so that I can send them recordings to use for practice. Then, it was off for more consultation to help my friend's son study in America. Then, it was Kevin's class where I helped him with his homework. He seemed more inclined for me to do it for him, but I drew the line. It was a flexible and permeable line (I was tired and didn't feel like putting my foot down very hard), but it WAS a line nevertheless.

This brings us to Sunday.

I'm sitting in Shane, typing my weekly entry. I wish I did more. However, I'm exhausted. I look forward to going back to America when, hopefully, I'll feel a bit better. One of the great difficulties with insomnia is that, when it's bad, it's hard to remember that it's ever not this bad. State recall and all that. At this moment, my entire life stretches before me as an exhausting exercise in trying to stay awake at the expense of body and sanity. Sleep calls out to me like some appealing thing that calls to people. Making the insomnia worse is a giant cyst on my back which makes it very difficult to sleep. Or sit. I've developed a hunch this week, and it's unpleasant.

I'd like to write more here, maybe about my medical anxieties, maybe about my plans for coming home, maybe about the fact that I can't seem to find any interest in being with women anymore, maybe about how much I'm missing Amanda these days. There are a lot of things that I want to talk about, but right now, more than anything, I want to sleep.