Hodge and Podge

I feel bad, I don't have anything exciting to say. I have had a few things kicking around in my old brainparts though for a few days. Because of this, I am making a hodge podge post. The following will make no logical connections to each other, so don't try and find the story line. 

First: I am not sure what I am going to do for my life...long term. I have been giving it thought in between teaching classes. I realize that right now I am very impressionable, partially because I feel like the world is (literally) my oyster. I don't really like oysters, but I understand that if I had a great many oysters, I could turn that into some kind of profit. Here is a list of careers that I have seriously considered in the past week or two, and how I came to consider it:

Dairy Farmer (Paul Rusch festival)

Fine vendor of delicious meats (Paul Rusch festival)

Corn Maze owner/operator (Halloween lesson for kids)

Spy (TV Show Chuck)

Mayor of a City (TV Show Parks and Recreation)

Archaeologist/Adventurer (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark)

Restaurant Owner (Inspired by my fierce desire for first-rate bacon)

Blacksmith (Paul Rusch festival)

Philanthropist (inspired by my everyday desire to have money and give it away)

I am currently taking any suggestions on these areas of study because frankly, I am stumped. I don't know what I want to/should do with my time when I am back in the U.S. 

Second: I have been listening to a lot of music (not that this is a change from any other period in my life) and I have been thinking about how interesting your life is when you choose the soundtrack. I was driving along on the wrong side of the road listening to a song I have been listening to for years. The scenery has changed, but the soundtrack is the same. As I was thinking about this, I looked at my most played songs in my iTunes. I found one song that has been played 3 times as many as the next highest. It is no surprise that this is my go-to song to fix my mood. I have listened to this song hundreds of times in the last 15 months and I never get tired of it. Here is a link. Give yourself a few minutes and take a listen: 

I will let you all know right now that when I die and get to heaven (cross fingers), I expect this to be playing. Awesome.

Third: I know I keep harping on this whole 'bug situation' here in Japan. Luckily, all these suckers are going to die when it snows, and I shall dance on their graves. At the train station I use, they seem to not care about the rampant spider population. If I were to stick my hands above my head and walk, I would (not exaggerating) run my hands into no less than 12 spider webs. The spiders also have no fear of humans, they boldly go about their tasks of building a web and creeping me out. I would gladly carry around a can of spider-cide and show them the fear of the spray, but I feel like that would be frowned upon. 

I took a few pictures for you to grasp how large some of these spiders get when they are without fear and unchecked. 

 NOPE! You have got to be kidding me! I first saw this spider and there wasn't a pane of glass to separate us. This is the largest spider I have seen in this country. It is the second largest spider I have seen in the wild (we have some tarantulas in Cedar sometimes). Those things in the air, those are about the size of potato bugs...This one is monster, and no one cares.

Same type of spider, but about 200 feet from the other one. This spider is in a web hanging from a building 25 feet in the air. Here is a rule: If you can see a spider that is 25 feet in the air, run. Run away.

Happy Halloween (I guess)! The Japanese don't celebrate Halloween, but I bet they wouldn't be that freaked out by a room in a haunted house filled with spiders. Every time I go to church, I have to walk through the Hall of Human Nightmares, but the Japanese remain unfazed. 

Hodge podge complete. Hopefully you enjoyed it! If you didn't enjoy it, I am not really worried, because you already read it (which was my original intent). Joke's on you.