Friday, June 26

To step outside my comfortable habits today I ventured to the basement of
the dorm. Once I had descended I found that the pizza had been pludered
already and as a consolation I was offered a s'mores cone though the offerer
maintained an unconsciously irritated look, a consequence of the shortage of
pizza and of other's inability to cure this. As I reached for a napkin, a
man asked me if I was American (to which I replied the obvious) and what I
had written on my hand. In fact I had writ "たてがき" which is the japanese
vertical script

I would love to say I was fully aware and had heard the last part of his
question as I could have replied "Tategaki". . . 

If I ever cease trying I will have failed myself more than any of these
small blunders ever will