Busy Classes Equal Busy Trains

This weekend seems to be turning into a lazier weekend than any I have had in Japan so far. I think maybe tomorrow I will be going to a Halloween party, but for today I think I am just going to be catching up on homework for the following week. I figured out how to load pdf files onto my nook now, so I can read a lot of the assignments I have for class on the train- this is actually much more exciting than it sounds. My train rides to and from school are about thirty minutes. And, because I have a gene that makes me panic at even the thought of being late, I always board the train by myself to school. But then, I have to figure out how to entertain myself for thirty long minutes. Now, that might not seem like a lot of time, but trust me when I say it is when you aren't doing anything. There really is only so much you can do when you are packed in  on a train.

I've tried playing solitaire on my iPod, but I'm not like my mom- it doesn't entertain me for hours on end. So, I can maybe go through one game before I get bored and start staring at the passengers again. Which, from what I've observed, is just  rude form. But, I have never loved my nook as much as I do now. It's portable, and it gives me something to stare at while on the train. Perfect. However, thirty minutes a pretty long stretch of time. Surely I should be able to do something productive for school. I've tried doing flashcards (until I ran out of flash cards) and reading my text books. But, the other passengers look at me really strangely when I whip out one of my texts. The books are big and cumbersome. When the trains are as tightly packed as they are in the mornings around here, it's just not good manners to start hauling out texts.

But, a lot of my classes also assign pdf file readings. And, usually I read them on my computer. This becomes a problem because the computer can be a very distracting device. Even if I don't have the internet hooked up, I still seem to find things to fool around with. The newest "toy" on my computer? Microsoft Outlook. It seems to have more and more features each time I open it! Also, OneNote. I'm not sure if anyone else has OneNote, but I love it. Two of my classes rely on Powerpoints to lecture. The professor has asked up to print out the slides in advance and to take notes on them in class. But, OneNote allows me to "print" the slides to my electronic notebook  and then write on them there. Win! I can actually go back to my notes and READ them.

But, back to the discovery of how to put pdfs on my nook.

I can now be productive on my train rides. I can slice through a good chunk of reading in thirty minutes, which will then leave me with more time to do more hands-on work at the apartment. I'm so proud of myself. See, usually I will skim or skip readings completely for classes. Especially if I have assignments that I have to turn in for credit. So far this semester, I have kept up on my reading. And now that I've figured out I can download my online reading assignments to my nook I will have every reason to keep up with the reading!