T-minus three days

Before I begin, a bit of filler...

How I spent my summer vacation:
1. Spread 24 cubic yards of mulch
2. Visited Vicki in NYC a bunch
3. Did lots more yardwork and hung out with my parents.

DONE.

Actually relevant stuff:
At 9 am on sunday morning, I board a flight to Chicago, where I will catch a 14-freaking-hour plane ride to Narita Airport in Tokyo. I'll spend about five days in Tokyo in training, a day in Hitachi for orientation (which is, perhaps, different from "training") and then I am sent to the town where I will be working for the next seven months. It is called Higashidorimura. It is located here:

I'm on the northernmost end of Honshu, the largest island of the four that make up the mainland of Japan. It's pretty exciting, evidently a very cool, remote area, about 500 miles north of Tokyo.

Hope everyone is well.

Oh, actually, just wanted to point out that the title up there is from the song "Roadrunner" by the Modern Lovers. It pertains in no way to me traveling to Japan besides the fact that I will listen to it at least four times on the plane due to the song's absolute encompassing sweetness.