"Knock knock"

I don't get it.
Why didn't someone tell me communication works all backwards in this country?

Our home phone rang earlier. This doesn't happen every day in a land where everybody conducts all their business by cell phone. Anyway, it was my former employer - okay, the temp agency - wondering if I could spare some days. This was several hours ago, so I'm fuzzy on the details. But the conversation went something like this:

"Who's there?"
"Your former employer."
"Your former employer, who?"
"Your former employer the chemical company. You know, in the gray concrete tower? Well, listen... here's the deal. See, we were hoping to suck out your entire soul, but it appears we overlooked a smidge in the corner. Or maybe you've regenerated some. Whatever. Anyway, we saved your spot with the undersized chair. So are you interested?"
"Uh... not right now, thanks."

Okay, I'm really not that bitter. And actually, considering the alternative, it feels good to be wanted, employable. But I can't help but wonder what was going through their heads when I told them last June, and again in September, that I wasn't satisfied and wanted to resign. Their outward reaction was negligible. Now that I'm gone, however, they express interest. Whatever. And I thought I was passive-aggressive. I'm also avoidant, and escapist. Maybe that's why I'm here...

Wanna see another picture?



Fresh-plowed road in front of Rie's folks' place in Iiyama, with an average year's snowfall on either side. The stone wall to the right makes the total height about two and a half meters. Kona's in here too, for scale. About five minutes after I took this, the roof on the left was being shoveled.