A Tale of Two Rivers, a Full Moon, and In-General "Kawaii"ness

I got back from western Nebraska around mid-afternoon on Sunday. The wedding went well. Nothing especially noteworthy about it, although they did hand out some small units of bubble liquid. I suppose that, instead of showering the newly-wedded couple with rice, we were supposed to shower them with bubbles *shrugs*. Afterwards was the reception. This gave people a chance to mingle with relatives, enjoy the food that was graciously provided, and to partake in the festivities on the dance floor. Although there were only a few slightly-intoxicated relatives out there, it was still rather entertaining (entertainment that I did not expend much energy in joining into... a little, but not much). One of my cousins in particular, the brother of the bride, was especially dance-tastic; he led most of the dancing, pulling random relatives onto the floor and generally enjoying himself. In short, he had 'much funk' as I believe the youth would speak of it nowadays...

The trip helped me to get some time away from my thoughts; the scenery was breathtaking. From the gently-sloping hills of grass and sand, to the great emerald-green forests of pine, to the colors changing in the leaves of the trees along the Platte and the Elkhorn, it bestowed me with the tranquility and contemplation that I had been lacking before I left. The nighttime sky, unobstructed by anything but the light of the near-full moon, was equally awe-inspiring, to say the somewhat least (since "It was cool" would be much shorter...). I think that I'd like to go canoing down the Elkhorn sometime before fall ends, although I doubt that I'll have the opportunity to.

The Intramural (?) Volleyball Games were last night. Kakiyama-sensei brought food; rice, curry, and sushi ^_^. This brought great joy to my heart, as well as to my stomach. I considered making some onigiri, but my rice cooker was angry at me for some reason, so I did not. Since plenty of people showed up this time, I did not have to play, so I contented myself with watching the game from the sideline. Sensei's Japanese students very much enjoy fluffy hair, it seems. They also thought that Alan-kun was very "kawaii", which he found very confusing, since there were a group of Japanese girls flocking about him and stroking his hair and hugging him while giggling and chattering in Japanese. After the game ended, some of the Japanese Club went down to watch the football game, since a few of the players are members of said club. After a while, everyone else left, so I, having at least a half-hour before I was to be picked up, decided to talk a moonlit walk around the school grounds. As some of you may know, last night was the full moon, known as the Hunter's Moon or the Blood Moon. This title fit well, for every so often, the thin clouds in the sky would drift in front of the moon in a way that created a reddish-colored aura/band around its pale, bright orb. I went down to the Japanese Garden and watched the moon for a while, took a stroll down the avenue of pines on the school's northern border, and eventually ending up back on the south-facing hill in front of the building. The Garden looked most beautiful in the light of the full moon.

...I have a lot of work to do before the quarter ends on Thursday *sigh*...

'Yasumi.