Rhymes with "crustacean."

Maybe not all the way, but mostly.  I think that if Eminem was trying to create a song about how he's still too clumsy and awkward to speak with crabs and lobsters and whatnot, he would rhyme "crustacean" with "frustration."  Maybe not.  I don't suppose Eminem would ever have any problems socializing.  He seems like a fairly social person whose social skills fully developed.  He probably hasn't ever had to create invisible barriers with his sense of humor to distance himself from having to actually connect with people.  Maybe he has.  It's not right for me to judge him.  Not everyone who is rich and successful is able to hold conversations with exoskeletoned creatures from the sea.

I feel like my metaphor is getting silly.

What I'm trying to say is that my sense of humor doesn't work on Japanese at all and I am having trouble lightening the mood enough to where I feel comfortable speaking with them.  In Japanese.  I can speak with them in English, but my vernacular does not match up with what most of them can understand, and I am apparently incapable of making even the smallest changes to my speech.  I'm sure I'll start doing well soon. 

I just need to keep at it and grow some balls.  On Tuesday, I'm meeting my LEP who talks to me occasionally for lunch.  He messaged me earlier today to tell me that he purchased a pair of chopsticks for me and he wanted to meet with me.  I counter-invited him to eat lunch with me and the other exchange students after we finish class.  Satoshi-san is a really cool guy, so I'm hoping that I can start seeing him somewhat regularly and really get some practice in.  I'm not sure what to do about the present though.  I'm pretty sure that in Japanese culture, it is customary to write a thank you note within 2-3 days after receiving a gift but I don't really know how to go about doing this.  Maybe it'll be ok to do it on facebook.

As some of you may have noticed, I did not post a blog post last night.  Since I have been here, it is the first night I have missed.  I didn't get around to being at my desk until very late and I was tired, so I decided that rather than writing some short little blurb about how tired I was, I would just write something more substantial the next day.  In any event, I'm not sure how I feel about skipping writing days, so maybe I'll just not do that again.  I'm just afraid that if I make it ok for me to skip days, I'll stop writing altogether.

I do not have much confidence in my ability to do things that I don't have to do.