Aren't they cold??

I don't understand it. Every day when I'm walking to the station on the way to work, I see hordes of schoolgirls, all wearing thick coats, mittens, scarves, and MINISKIRTS.

The weird thing is they aren't allowed to wear their skirts that short when they're actually in school (otherwise I'd feel bad for the poor male teachers... talk about jailbait! ^_^;;) ... they roll them up for the walk.

That is why I would like to make this general announcement:

Earth to schoolgirls:

It's December now. Do you really want to ROLL UP YOUR SKIRT?? You're really not very sexy when you're shivering and blue. Please report back to your home planet (apparently Pluto) and change into normal clothing.

...
Why the bitter tone in my voice? Maybe I'm just jealous because I'd like to wear a short skirt, but I'm very sensitive to the cold. ^_~ I'm really not looking forward to January...

Oh! It's my first payday today! Actually I wasn't supposed to get paid until next month, because the Japanese salary system is only one payday per month (instead of every two weeks like I was used to), and like American companies, they don't pay you until the following payperiod. That would mean 2 months without pay! Ouch!!! So I got them to split my first paycheck between this month and next month. Anyways, now I can buy people christmas presents. ^_^

Speaking of Christmas, for a non-christian country, Japan is very very infatuated with the christmas season. There are slogans everywhere: "Its only once a year!"
... but if you think about it, it's christmas season here starting November 1st and continuing until the end of december. So.. that's 2 months out of the year, and since there are only 12 months, that's 1/6 of the whole year that it's "christmas time". Hm, not that special if you think about it!

Um, sorry, didn't mean to take the romance out of the holiday season like that... ^_^;; I still love the holidays and I'm very sad I can't go home for christmas. waaaah!! I miss you guys!!