Disaster Strikes Thrice!

Do you ever have one of those days - I mean, those really bad days when you just want to don a clown suit and run around the neighbourhood screaming just so everyone knows you are gradually going insane? Well, today could be classified as one of those days, minus the clown suit and the erratic screaming. After finally booking my plane ticket a couple of days ago, I was feeling pretty at ease...that is, until I received an email from Gunma university stating that I cannot arrive on the 8th since all of the preparations will not have been completed by then. And to add to the confusion, each time I suggested a new date (three times in total), it was shot down. To be fair, the lady who sent me the email probably had nothing to do with the confusion. As I said to my mum, it is always the highest rung of a bureaucracy - that is, the principal and his/her ring of cronies - that makes the decisions while dismissing the little people. No doubt even the lady herself wasn't even informed about the change until the last minute. Anyway, no sooner had I received this rather unwelcome announcement were my fingers sweeping across the keyboard sending off emails to my two good friends in Japan, on my digital knees asking for a place to stay. To my relief, my friend in Tokyo, Tatsuro, has offered a place to stay for a few days, and after that, I may go to Kyoto for a week, money and time providing. Really, all I can do is make the best of a bad situation, and sometimes even bad situations can become memorable adventures and sources of endless laughter in years to come. A good example is when Trin and I got lost on top of a massive mountain in Hokkaido - we laugh about it even to this day, but at the time, we were ready to throttle each other! (Actually, I think it was more a case of her wanting to throttle me for my pigheadedness at the indignity of being lost and reluctance to turn back. :P) Plus, who could possibly say that seeing two good friends is a "bad situation"? It will be nice to see a couple of friendly faces before year three of me saturating my blood with day old coffee/tea, living off of broccoli and carrots, and hours spent crouching over a little computer screen in a dark room begins! (Hey, come to think of it...that's pretty much my life during the summer as well! How sad...)