Not Just a Blogger Anymore...

iPod morning commute music: Talking Heads, Popular Favorites 1976-1992: Sand in the Vaseline, 1992 (disc 2)

Talking Heads was a band I missed the first time around. Their debut album came out in 1977, the same year I graduated from my first college. I didn't have much money and tended to listen to the music I loved from the '60s: The Beatles, Stones, and Dylan. Then, after two years of working as a landscaper/gardener (NOT a good job in Western Washington's 9-month rainy season!), I went back to school, graduated as a teacher, subbed (NOT a good job anywhere ever!) and finally wound up here in late 1983. But good music has a way of finding me eventually. In the case of Talking Heads, my co-worker Bob turned me on to this 2-disc greatest hits set. I was hooked immediately, and bought it within the week. Really cool music that fits so perfectly with New York's punk club CBGB's scene (The Ramones, Patti Smith, Television, Blondie). This is still the only Talking Heads I own. It may be enough.

This week has been dominated with trying to decide on who to hire as our new part-time teacher. As I've written before, every candidate had so many strong points that it was nearly impossible to decide, but decide we did, and are hoping we really made the right decision. I think we did.

I taught my last class of this Japanese school year today. Tomorrow, final exams begin. It feels like heading home.

Finally, this is my 70th post on Craig in Japan. It seems a nice, round number, a good post to announce that the TOEIC textbook I co-authored, Basic Listening Strategies for the TOEIC Test, was just published by Kenkyusha, a famous textbook publisher here in Japan. It isn't even listed on their web site yet. The book looks great, and it really is a kick to see my name on the cover! So, I'm not just a blogger anymore. I'm also an author.