Drawing Lines in the Sand

Within the category of friendships/relationships there is one thing that really annoys me. It's an impossible fantasy to believe that everyone can always get along with everyone else. Differences, whether large or small, force us into groups of those we get along with and those we do not. The lines between these groups can shift and change over time, but the lines are always there. Problem comes when you have someone like *yours truly* who can cross over just about any of those lines. It sucks to be close to several groups of people that don't get along with eachother at all. Sooner or later you have to pick sides and step on toes. Even if it is just for small and trivial things. The road where appeasing one friend means pissing off another is never a good place to be. It is a road I am well aquainted with.

Just one class....

If at all possible, Never never NEVER schedule just one class on any day (especially if it is in the afternoon). You will never want to go. Most likely you will just skip it every time. It's useless. Even if it's your favourite class you will make any excuse possible to avoid the pointless commute for that one lousy class.

Japanimaniacs

Apologies.
This first post is a vent.
BG: I love my Japanese class in Japan. A couple of the people in it were.....[insert expletives], but other than that, it was great. Most of the people in it were down to earth, genuinely interested in learning the langauge, and fairly normal. The problem is the kind of students that study Japanese in the states.
The class I am enrolled in now is disgusting. Full to the brim with the kind of people that embarrass the U.S. when they take their little prepackaged lunchbox of U.S. adapted manga and anime culture, and their overly dramatized "Japanese" accents and go to Japan in their own little dream world. Can't someone learn Japanese without being completely socially inept or having no sense of actual reality, or both? It's unbelievable.