"I'm a correspondent - please don't fire me!"

Apparently Japanese people taste better than others.

A little sad but more sweet video about a kitty that had its back legs amputated but is not letting that that stop it from enjoying the bookstore where it lives and plays.

 

I was proud of myself at work for a few moments lately. Several times a sensei has been unable to come to class on time for various reasons, an event that eight months ago would have left me frozen witless and checking the hall until I saw them coming. Now I just skip the introductions and get the kids started with a warm-up activity. They can pretend they're unsupervised, and I can pretend like I'm actually useful. Today was the last class with Special Needs before they go on break, so we had a Christmas lesson. Appropriately pictured bingo cards and a find-the-difference with an elf making toys. I think they had fun. I don't think they learned much. And for playing in the background I had put together a special holiday mix cd. This came in handy later. There are a few songs featured in the textbook - all poorly chosen - and Silent Night is among them. The lyrics are too religious, too archaic (who says "round yon" anymore?), and the kids couldn't care less. S-sensei wanted to play a cover for them - considering his class's complete loathing for everything he puts before them, I could have told him this was a bad idea. And they were especially disgusted by the cover by some female artists vocal gymnastics. Plus the book included a second verse which aren't in most renditions or in English. The version on my mix is simple, pretty, and contains the requested verse. I'm pleased that I could provide it since the man has a hard job and anything I can do to make it easier is a joy. It's a day where I have to milk the little bit of pride that I can.

 

I don't know if I've mentioned Jero, the young African-American who's taken the old-fashioned world of enka music my storm. He's got an animated PV to a new jazzy number: