A half-dozen or so realizations

1. I have no significant interest in any native speaker of English that I have met in Japan besides Gerald. I have found something interesting about everyone else I have bothered to inquire about.
2. The computer literacy skills of an average Japanese person, age 19, is far, far below that of the USA. Tons of folks have laptops "passocommu" or desktop computers, but out of my class of about 20 I have, every last student has a laptop to bring to class, yet none of them can surpass 10 wpm, and all of them look at their fingers with every button press. No kidding. Yet I've see them type what would be about 40 wpm with tiny little cell phone buttons when they send email by phone. I was also shocked to see that they know almost nothing about their nice computers that I use a few hotkeys, for instance, brings "amazing!" And that I can type while standing sideways next to a computer at about 5 wpm with on finger pulls similar remarks out of many of them. It feels really odd to me, to be around people with about the same level of technology as us, give or take 1-4 years depending on the device in question, yet they don't have skills that would be required of most jr. highers or elementary students in the states.
3. I found out that the man who had called me cute and winked at me (and who has now patted my rear in passing) has a girlfriend who is at this very university.
4. I realized that Dr. Aliponga could randomly decide to tell me to help him with the class he had me prepare a week to teach, then give me a syllabus a few minutes before the bell rings and send me to another classroom. I also realized that I can handle even the rowdy and unmotivated students with little stress to my person (rumors about Japanese all being good students are of course entirely false. They will rise or fall based on will more than anything. They do not expect to have to be awake in class, almost anywhere, ever. As an interesting side note, Insomnia is rare in Japan, and foreigners often remark that Japanese people can fall asleep anywhere they want to, at any time, and almost right away. It seems that way to me too, after rooming with a Japanese man for a year and having seen it all around me for months.)
5. There are major conflicts of interest going on right now in our university, and the players are big, and laced throughout the system. Some people I like are on opposite sides, and I find out more and more just how deep this whole struggle goes. I don't want to be too selfish here, but if this makes me have to go elsewhere for finishing my practicum at some point, I will not be a happy camper.
6. I don't want to be out and about at 9pm. All the squeeky metal doors come whining down, sounding like some kind of dying animal made of steel being tortured. It is really unsettling. This also made me realize that almost every business has security doors, but those that don't experience about a 0%/decade crime rate like the rest. Same with homes. Many are locked. Many bikes are too. But you could walk up and steal one at any place you go if you wanted to. People leave things worth hundreds or thousands of dollars just lying around in their yards all the time like snowboards, motorcycles, road bikes, etc. I left my USB drive that I got for assisting the local specialist in Linguistics and Phonology (my favourites!) in the busy computer lab all day long, and it hadn't even moved an inch, in plain sight. I just can't pinpoint why these folks are so fearful of predations that are essentially non-existant.