The Downside of Living in a Small Town

On Saturday I went for a relaxing bath with Sarah in the onsen in my backyard. And yes, I am extremely lucky to have an onsen in my backyard (okay, parking lot) but Koga isn't exactly a bustling metropolis, so I've always vaguely feared I would run into a teacher or student while bathing naked (NB: For the uninitiated, onsen are communal Japanese hot spring baths. Before getting into them you shower thoroughly and then jump in, sans clothes. Was a little weird at first, but now that I have gotten over my prudish sensibilities I think onsen are one of the best things about Japan). Well, perhaps even worse would be for me to run into two of my little karate buds in the bath, which is exactly what happened. But it was actually quite precious, the little boy started to show off some of his karate moves in the water, much to his mother's chagrin. Unfortunately, I know on Tuesday word will have gotten around the dojo to all my other under-8 karate buds that Misaki-chan and her brother saw me in my gaijin birthday suit.
On another note, I'm working on putting a trip together for grad interviews at Boston University, American University (in D.C.) and Florida State University. I still have a couple schools to hear back from, so hopefully I'll be able to add a couple more to that list.
Also, I finished Steven Millhauser's Edwin Mullhouse: Life and Death of an American Writer a couple weeks ago. Once again reminded me why he is one of my favorite living authors. This novel took awhile to get going, but once it did it burned on, and man was it creepy.
Reading McEwan's Atonement right now and I cannot put it down.