http://www.negativespace.net/lost/ What has two thumbs and doesn't give a crap? en Copyright 2008 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:58:21 +0900 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss I somehow have found tranquility from boredom. Those long hours spent sitting around waiting to go home... At least now I have my occupational (let's face it, if I try to explain anything about my work; people's heads will explode) and Japanese studies to keep me occupied whilst waiting for the sun to rise over Holland.... As the year began, I bed farewell to my Junior High School and Elementary schools. My work proved to be MUCH simpler after my school line-up changed (and switched to Elementary education only). I'll never forget the farewell ceremonies for both schools. At the junior high school, so many people were leaving and everyone was giving their usual 15-20 minute speech (at least this time, it meant something as opposed to 40 drunken teachers rambling on after a sports day). I thought, "You know what? I have to sit through your boring crap not understanding anything, so now you gotta through my crap....in English!" Ok, not much of a revenge. But, considering how much I was ignored at this school, it was time for people to shut up and listen. Ever still, no one cared. It was a pity, because I'd finally come to terms with the idea of the Japanese hard-working ethics and lifestyle. The elementary school's farewell ceremony was completely different - everyone was so kind and encouraging during my attempt at a Japanese speech. I could barely move as every kid was diving to high five me as I left through the hall. I got flowers from both schools, but these flowers actually meant something to me. Bonus: I left at between 2:30 and 3:30 - a big improvement over sitting around until 5:00. The furthest school of the 3 schools was less than 30 minutes away. I must point that the first month or two were EASY AS PIE. No lessons had been scheduled as of yet, so I was simply scheduled to join in their other lessons and interact with the Since name-dropping is a no-no, let's just number them: 1. This school was MASSIVE. It gave me a sense of calm in all of the chaos that goes hand-in-hand with the lack of space in this country. One thing I learned from this school is that you are usually the last to learn of the plans that others have in store for you. Things kicked off pretty well. I knew where I stood - the teachers either took charge of the lesson and worked with me or literally let me do everything. Seriously, one of the teachers did absolutely nothing - she literally sat in the back of the classroom and let me teach them. I still wonder to myself: was it nerves? was it apathy? should I care? Then, BAM! It all changed....12 "assistants" - Count them! Every lesson, I was escorted into class by 2 randomly scheduled Japanese mothers/grandmothers who joined myself and the class teacher in educating 30-40 kids in bad English. If you just said overkill, my clairvoyance already picked up on it. It was crap to begin with, since I stopped running any lessons at all and was simply one of three human tape-recorders. I had to assert myself and gain some control back. After all, who wouldn't be frustrated when they aren't even being included in the meetings prior to said lessons? Everything smoothed out after a while and everyone seemed to find their place. It was funny watching the teachers running around like headless chickens trying to plan and organize demonstration lessons....all this fuss over "learning another language made fun". One of the teachers was fantastic though. He always asked for my input on lessons and it was great collaborating on activities together. I knew he really used my ideas, because he would spend a couple of hours constructing my elaborate ideas into really great games. 2. This school I spent a total of 2 weeks at. I would have spent more time had I not left halfway through the year (this is due to them not starting English until the second semester). The one great thing that I did do there was plant rice! They have a rice field next to the school that they use to supplement school lunches. We spent the first day bunching the seedlings together in the pouring rain. The second day was actually spent planting. They asked me to bring long socks to use specifically for the planting - I couldn't be bothered wasting such a purchase on a one-off occasion. It was quite interesting - At the beginning, the field is full of muddy water and everyone lines up in two parallel lines behind pieces of string to ensure an even planting process. You are pretty standing in mud halfway or up to your knees (depending on one's height). I loved it how the teachers explained that if you are going to fall, then fall. Don't grab anyone else otherwise you might cause a chain-reaction! My supervising teacher was hilarious - she knew more Spanish than English, so would launch into explanatory conversations involving a three-language mash-up. It was also fun going to an expensive dinner for the welcome party followed by karaoke. These teachers definitely know how to have fun! I think that was my best Japanese speech to date. 3. I had some actual friends at this school - as opposed to colleagues. (I guess there's a first time for everything!) Pros - Everyone let me run the lesson. - Once they realized my job isn't to make the lesson plan (it was theirs and it came from a book anyway), my input became more meaningful and it was easier to base the games upon something. Cons - These teachers love to whinge. - They were under the delusion that I was being paid more than them and working less hours. Facts - Japanese teachers probably don't get paid much. - Japanese teachers do A LOT of overtime without pay. - I don't care, it's not my problem and I can't fix it. Well, I covered mostly negatives here, I'm sure there'll be more postitive in the next part... http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/10/time_machine_goodbye_teaching.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/10/time_machine_goodbye_teaching.html Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:58:21 +0900 Very Small Business, great little Australian comedy!) You gotta love the perks that go with being in a REAL job. Company laptop, cell phone, camera and a variety of accessories that are apparently still coming my way providing I can get off my ass to purchase them and then provide my assistant with the bill. Again, YES! I have an assistant! Admittedly, she's not my personal assistant, but that's the closest I'm gonna get for a while... It takes a while to get used to someone offering you drinks and doing the majority of menial tasks for you. Although it's still quite refreshing to have one with a sense of humour - I've been trying to count - I reckon I need to say at least 3 English words (when speaking in the Japanese-English mixture I've become accustomed to whilst my Japanese lessons sit on hiatus) before she looks for a reason to say "You are stupid" with a cheeky grin. To which I reply in Japanese "Get lost" and then am told that phrase is not in her vocabulary - It's a love-hate relationship as you can tell... Working in the middle of Tokyo - the only foreigners I ever see here are wearing business suits and discussing the "next big venture". Anyway, so I venture back to the topic at hand. Last week was quite the experience, to say the least. Trip to Holland. (just got back on Sunday evening) I'd have to say that this is not the recollection I expected to write, but I guess the word intensive really does live up to it's word sometimes. When your training schedule includes "having dinner with at (how's my new-found love for italics working out for me?) almost everyday, you wonder "when do I get time to smell the roses...ahem...tulips?" Holland is flat. REAL flat. With lots of things that spin round in the wind (which apparently is more wind generators than windmills these days). It's below sea level, so I'm told they have to pump water back into the sea, which is why they had windmills before. I guess Dutch is similar to German? It sounds like it to me. In the minuscule week that I spent there, I managed to pick up some language from trying to read signs etc. (And was welcomed back to the world of :- I've got no fucking idea what these people are saying...) It's MUCH easier than trying to study an Asian language. I tell you what. Everyone speaks English - people will try to tell you that about Japan, but they're just lying to themselves. It all depends on whether you have to someone to lean on, I guess. Rob's GF Hannah: "I just let Rob talk to them and he does everything." - This does fit in rather well with the manly persona that Rob always tries to convey. But, I'm going off track again... So, an intensive week of training with a Dutchman, an American and a Spaniard. What a rugged bunch of nerds. It was rather fascinating studying in a group of professionals discussing extremely technical lingo. I never thought I would use the words "circumferential" or "retardation" in the same conversation. So that settles it - no talking about the specifics of my job - No one would understand. I crossed two animals of my list of "Things to eat" - Pigeon and Deer. The deer was as expected, the pigeon was surprisingly delicious. OMFG I always heard about how breasts aren't a dirty word in these countries. Fuck, they weren't kidding. I remember sitting there with my American colleague watching television in the wee twilight hours and I swear we must have flicked through about 5 channels of women fondling themselves and enticing us to "call them now" in their ermm...exotic language (It's hard to call the language elegant when they pronounce their G's as a phlegm-y-H sound) So, I had about two half days to spend in Amsterdam. I never actually realised how sleazy this place is - LOL. I think they really bring new meaning to the term "red light district" - I can't remember seeing so many filthy words in one place at one time. So, they have cafes and they have coffee shops. Coffee shops are where coffee is bought as an after-thought - to quote one of the fine gentlemen that I talked to in such an esteemed establishment :- "She can help you with the coffee and I can help you with the weed". Their loaner bongs are sealed shut - Hell, even the cone-piece is stuck to the chamber. Needless to say - Anything goes in this country. Amsterdam wasn't exactly the fun-filled cavalcade I expected it to be. There was a lot of old buildings and museums. The highlight for me was definitely Madame Tussauds - an incredibly realistic wax museum. I can recall seeing a guy taking a photo and waiting patiently for him to finish. After about ten seconds, I decided to duck under his camera and let him go about his business. Until I turned around and realised it was another wax figure! The Pirates of the Caribbean section was great! Scared the living shit out of me - the cherry on the cake was the random pirates half-taunting, half-flirting with attractive women...hey, I guess you gotta amuse yourself somehow in such a job. I went on my first Duty-free shopping spree as well. I bought lots of food for people basically - cheese and orange-peel chocolate. Although Hiromi was rather impressed with the 18 ct. white gold and pearl bracelet I bought her. I still feel like I'm throwing money at her, but when I saw the look on her face when she got it and the subsequent showing off to everyone in sight gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. In previous months, such a hit to my wallet would leave me eye-boggled and feeling financially-raped. But, let's just say everything is gonna be alright from now on! ;-) Well, that's all I could muster this morning. I'll be sure to bring this blog up to speed with more stories. No regrets about not keeping up the posting since the first 6 months were incredibly slow - so the interesting stories were far and few between...but I guess that makes them much more memorable, right? I'm off to see a neurologist about some "ice-pick headaches" tomorrow. Hope it's not anything serious - but there's always that lingering fear when you go to see a specialist.]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/09/random_blog_therapy_sashiburi.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/09/random_blog_therapy_sashiburi.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:55:34 +0900 Adelaide by The Rockfords I close my eyes And drift away To a far, far better place I fall asleep And leave you here In the twisted sheets of love Oh it's been a scene Since you and I Have stopped talking So all I do is dream Of a city in the South A place I'll go to Adelaide I'll take you with me When I go down to Christmas in the summertime Adelaide Adelaide I'll take you with me When I go Day after day You say a dollar saved Is a dollar earned And I Count the clocks In our house and add up all our silence Oh you've got a lock And I can't find The key to your heart Let's take a plane And leave this on the ground And fly down to (chorus) How long has it been, baby? How long has it been? I close my eyes And drift away (chorus, repeated and fade) THE ROCKFORDS- ADELAIDE
Another mass-load of updates coming soon....]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/03/adelaide.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/03/adelaide.html Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:22:24 +0900 December 29th As we were getting ready to leave her apartment, we noticed on the TV news that the Shinkansen had massive lines of people waiting to get on it and discovered that we could be waiting up to hours to board one of the famed bullet trains. Though, in usual Hiromi and James fashion; we turned up the later than most people. Subsequently, we weren't able to get a Shinkansen all the way to Akita. We needed to connect to an express train about halfway. Thankfully, this meant we only had a 5 minute wait for the train. I really enjoyed the train trip. It was really comfortable. (Hiromi scared me at first claiming we would most likely have to stand, but luckily, she was wrong.) From the inside, the Shinkansen doesn't appear to be quite as fast as it actually is - current Shinkansens go up to 300 km/h. After a bit of research (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen), I was intrigued to discover that the new Maglevs (Magnetic Levitation trains) will go up to 581 km/h! We bought bento meals, snacks and beer. As has been the case on most of our trips, she played her DS and I read my book. It was so fascinating watching the scenery change from a cold metropolis to a frozen countryside. Between trains, we stopped off at a little restaurant in the station where they played appauling American country music. When we arrived finally in Akita, Hiromi's friend Kumi picked us up and took us to Kumi's parents' house in Yurihonjo (Hiromi's hometown). We spent the night drinking and eating with Hiromi's friends. I remember someone telling me that I would be freezing my ass off trying to get to sleep and I found that very hard to believe considering we have these modern inventions called blankets and heaters! As expected, it was fine and I was rather warm and toasty. You do, however, notice the temperature level between rooms. You go from being quite comfortable in the lounge or bedroom to shivering and breathing frost in the hallway. December 30th That morning we met Kumi's brother. Hiromi explained that I love searching for old video games and he offered to take us on a tour of all the video game stores in Akita (capital city, Honjo and Yurihonjo over two days. So first, he took us to drop our suitcases off at Hiromi's parents house. Then we went to a local video game store. It was there we started our quest. Afterward, we ate ramen at a local ramen joint. He then took us on a tour visiting many different outlets of the second-hand store chain called Manga Souko (http://www.mangasouko.com/index.html) - which basically means Comic Warehouse. These places are amazing - there is nothing like them in Tokyo. They basically contain tens-of-thousands of video games, DVDs, mangas and all of the other usual otaku stuff like models and stuff. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes....walls and walls (and walls) of thousands of games. All of the games I had ever been searching for were there (and most with multiple copies!) Often, at times over the next two days, I would deem a game or piece of hardware too expensive and then find a cheaper copy in another store. I was basically looking for Super Famicom games with special chips or hardware and Famicom copies of my favourite games. I spent ALOT of money buying all of these gems. I must point out that I finally found a copy of Hebereke for the Famicom and it cost me 6000 yen! Hiromi finally found a copy of Breath of Fire IV for the PS1. I also found the first two Ninja Ryuukenden (Ninja Gaiden) games. -- I honestly can't remember clearly where I bought each of all the games, but I do intend to list all of the games and hardware that I bought in a future post. -- That night, we went to a vintage western-style restaurant and then proceeded home. It was my first night in Hiromi's parents house and it was really quite intriguing. Having previously only visited modern apartments in Tokyo, this was the first time I had really been inside a proper traditional Japanese house (Japanese houses are passed down through generations and this one had been passed down through at least a couple). Although Kumi's parents house was traditional, it didn't quite seem as "Japanese" as Hiromi's parents. I don't think I've really talked about this kind of thing on here before but, before I came to Japan; I got this image in my head from TV shows such as animes, dramas and movies of what certain aspects of Japanese life is like. When I started with NOVA, I only experienced some of this: People - They're generally extremely polite, but can be VERY two-faced. Particuarly the businessmen. (Oh, sorry. Salarymen - the word for a boring office job that earns a lot of money) Domestic Trains - They're overcrowded and they suck ass. Though the stereotype of perverts has been strongly outlawed. Apartments - They're usually small and way too intimate unless you live with other people. (However I learnt recently with my new apartment that you just gotta find the right one) Restaurants - Generally, if you go to an Izakaya, rooms are mostly sunken, the people who serve you wear yukatas, the food is in small portions and everything's made of wood. Cities - They're huge and extremely busy. Visit somewhere like Shibuya and you'll know exactly what I mean. But, like I always stress, Eikaiwas are "English Bubbles" and you are always hindered from experiencing a true Japanese life. After I started working in the public education system, I found the real Japan: Schools - They'll never change. Seriously, everything you've seen in animes and dramas - that's how it is. They all look and sound the same. Everything. There is too much to go into here. Work - Meeting after meeting after meeting. These people love talking and they talk for a REALLY LONG TIME!!! Also, there are so many formal customs that accompany working in a Japanese company. Houses (not Apartments) - So, this is what I come back to after my little tangent. Again, like schools, it's everything you see on TV. Tatami mats and sliding doors everywhere. People usually sleep on the floor (I guess beds are personal preference?!). A room is set-aside specifically for the little shrine they use to pray to their ancestors. December 31st Our quest for the Holy Grail continues. Kumi's brother took us to the biggest Manga Souko of them all - the one in Akita City. My eyes almost popped out of my head this place was so big! That day, I spotted systems I never believed I would see in the flesh! Stuff like the NeoGeo CDZ (not to be confused with the NeoGeo-CD), TurboDuo, PC-FX, Sega Mark-III and an assortment of strange 1st generation systems likening to that of the Intellivision and ColecoVision. I don't think I really bought alot at this place since we'd already raided the other stores. I did however, buy a Dreamcast that day (which is still to be used). We also visited a Hard Off. I know what you're saying "So what, there's plenty of Hard Offs everywhere", but this one was MASSIVE! And we found some bargain hardware there. I finally caved in to buying Super Mario Collection (Super Mario All-Stars) when I saw the price (I think it was only like 800 yen as compared to 3500 yen). We picked up this weird little PS1 memory card that had switch on it, so it acted like two memory cards (100 yen!). The best part of all, was I picked up a Sony A/V switch box with four inputs and three outputs (500 yen!). Being New Years Eve, we later visited a couple of bars. I think this was the first New Years that I passed out before everyone else. I think it was a combination of being trained to wake up early and drinking excessive amounts. I am proud to say that I at least made it past the countdown. January 1st This day brought another surprise due to previous expectations as we got on an old-style Japanese train. It was so reminiscent of the trains you see in animes like A Spirited Away. This took us to Honjo where we met Hiromi's friend Masumi, her husband Nagato and their kids Nana and Yu. We went bowling and had a lot of fun. Masumi and her husband are really good! I remember being in the car, talking to Nana and Yu and they were shaking up bottles and telling me they had beer. For a little while, I believed them and was a little shocked. But, of course, it turns out that I'm easily fooled and Oolong Tea looks like beer when shaken up. Since I had finished the first Harry Potter book, I wanted to pick up a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. So, after bowling, we found a bookstore that stocks English books. That night, we joined a group of Hiromi's friends including Kumi and her brother at an Izakaya and had dinner. January 2nd and 3rd The next two days were quite lazy days and I'm unable to distinguish them from eachother. I do remember Hiromi pulling out all of her old video game consoles which included a Famicom, Famicom Disk System, Super Famicom, PC Engine and old relic called a CassetteVision. I decided that we would take the Famicom with us and proceeded to take it apart and clean it so we could play the games without any problems. In order to do so properly, I needed some window cleaner (I remembered this method from when I cleaned out my NES in Australia) and we picked some up when we went to the local supermarket to pick up food for the dinner that Hiromi's mum was gonna make. Speaking of which, every breakast, (sometimes lunch) and dinner were all delicious traditional Japanese meals. I remember going through many of the games not knowing what most of them were. I was quite surprised when I discovered that the Famicom Disk System's power adapter wasn't a pack-in and that using 6 D batteries was standard! On one of these nights, we joined Kumi's brother at a local bar down the street. January 4th This day was quite a treat. Hiromi's mum and dad took us to an onsen and a museum. The onsen was like no other I'd been to. It was right next to a frozen lake, so the outside section was really comfortable - a nice hot onsen out in the freezing cold. Everyone was staring at me though - Hiromi told me this was because we were in the middle of a tiny village and foreigners are EXTREMELY RARE in areas such as that. The museum was fairly interesting aswell. I saw many antiques from long-gone days. That night, Hiromi dragged me around to all of the different bars reminiscent of her younger days before she moved to Tokyo. It was pretty interesting. January 5th The next morning, Hiromi's dad offered for us to watch movies on his Laserdisc player. I was over the moon! We moved all of the old TV equipment into the guest bedroom and I set everything up. The whole TV setup was so expensive and I was really intrigued to see a BS (Broadcast Satellite) Signal Booster. I still need to learn about the BS - all I know is that it provides at least two extra channels to the regular UHF/VHF set. After everything was all setup, we chose from his massive collection. I decided to watch Indiana Jones and The Raider of the Lost Ark. After which, Hiromi's dad took us to the station and we went to Honjo and met up with Masumi's family again. We had dinner and drinks at their house and I played Mario Party 8 on the Wii with Yu. After Yu went to sleep, we spent the night talking. We also signed Masumi up to Facebook. Having missed out on the Internet for about a week, I downloaded the latest No-Name Show from PWInsiderElite.com and fell asleep listening to it. It felt very strange listening to it Akita for some reason. January 6th This was our final day in the Akita prefecture and guess how we spent it? LOL We went back to one of the Manga Soukos! I considered buying some Famicom Disk System games, but considering the stories I've heard about a) The drive belt wearing out and not being replacable anymore and b) The disks being notorious for magnetically wiping themselves over time, I decided against it. (I can always use an emulator) That night, we caught a bus from Akita to Sendai and then the Shinkansen from Sendai to Tokyo. I think we must have gotten home at about 1AM after catching another train and a taxi. That covers my winter holiday. More of the catch-up to come later in the week, I've written a ton today...]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/winter_wonderland_part_3_the_c.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/winter_wonderland_part_3_the_c.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:52:36 +0900 Ah, there we go. After having lunch, I've gained a second wind if you will. So, onto the next update in the latest catch-up series. Outside the Tokyo DisneyLand adventure and the trip to Akita (of which I shall speak of shortly in the next post), there's really only a scattering of things to speak of in terms of my holiday period. We attended Narita's birthday at Dan. Adrian, Tracey, Craig, Harumi, Hiromi and I gathered at a curry joint in Atsugi that Craig and I used to go to for a second seeing off of Adrian (at least, this is what I remember it being for....) I can recall getting lost trying to find a shortcut to the post-office, discovering short-cuts in Tokyo are almost impossible and getting lost for what seemed like ages. Of course, there was the usual bar outings to Cookie Bar and Dan and Izakaya dinners. Other than that, I think I spent a lot of time catching up with TV shows on my PC and playing games on my PS2 and the Wii. I have played Final Fantasy X QUITE A LOT as well as Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. Hiromi also bought a copy of Super Mario Galaxy, which is all it's cracked up to be as the Mario Team continues to amaze me with their innovations to keep fans interested in the franchise. http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/winter_wonderland_part_2_misce.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/winter_wonderland_part_2_misce.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:51:41 +0900 Warner Bros. MovieWorld when I was in junior high school, LunaPark when I went to Melbourne to see Audioslave, and of course, there's the Royal Adelaide Show and Magic Mountain, but all of them pale in comparison to DisneyLand!! I did a bit of research in the anticipation of visiting the Magic Kingdom and I thought I'd share a couple of fun facts: - TDL, although designed by Disney's Imagineering; is actually licensed and owned by a bunch of folks called The Orient Land Company. - FrontierLand is known as WesternLand in TDL, since apparently Japanese people would not only misunderstand the word "frontier", but the concept also. - Tokyo DisneySea (seperate from TDL) is the most expensive theme park ever built, having costed over US$4 billion to make! I think we must have caught about four trains to get there (since the park is in Chiba - hang on! Shouldn't it be Chiba DisneyLand? I guess it has less of a ring to it...) As soon as we got off at the station, I knew we had arrived as soon as I heard the station's custom tune - 'Zipadidooda'. On walking to the entrance, I realised that almost every inch of this park was rigged with a speaker so they could drown you out with their hypnotically cheerful music of choice. The entrance itself should really have better security. Hiromi commented on the fact that they didn't really check anything. I could have been carrying a bomb in my jacket and noone would have noticed until a blew a bunch of kids to smithereens! Sounds farfetched for Japan, I know, but I can see this country getting a big shock one day.... We walked through the World Bazaar (known as Main Street USA in the US DL) and bought lunch. We were both reluctant at giving in to their high, high prices but relented when we realised we really had no choice. I was amazed (but not surprised) at the overkill in service when as soon as we lined up for food we gave our order at the end of the line and were immediately given our food once we reached the counter. When we sat down, I spotted a variation of an American flag. I chuckled because I imagined it was a nod to the park's predecessor without actually claiming an embassy-like status through an authentic US flag. The entire day, I was searching around for a big Disney character to get a snap with, but the only one I saw was Max, Goofy's son from the cartoon 'Goof Troop'. I later realised this was because almost all of the characters had been relegated to the semi-regular Christmas parades. Speaking of which, after we began walking around, we spotted a woman and her children sitting at the side of the road. Hiromi guessed they were waiting for the parade and asked them when it was starting. To our shock, the mother informed us that she and her kids would be waiting there for more 3 hours in order to have front seats for the parade!! Some people have got their front row tickets to Star Wars or Led Zepellin, some have their first day copy of Harry Potter or Dragon Quest and I guess these people have their close-up Disney Main Street Electrical Parade parade. We started in AdventureLand and our first attraction was the Swiss Family Treehouse. I chuckled when I peered over the 'Jungle Lookout' to see various buildings outside the park's perimeter. Afterwards, we joined our first long queue of the day waiting to ride the Jungle Cruise. I was really glad after this that we brought our DS's and I brought a book. So, I actually spent half the day reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (which is why I thought it deserved to be featured in a couple of our photos). The Jungle Cruise was really fun. The host of the ride was really over-the-top happy and fun. I wonderered for a second, how he could keep up such a demeanor all day, then realised the jobs I've had in this country and had my answer; with great difficulty... It was after this that I suddenly had great sympathy for the female gender as I walked happily into the men's toilet and afterwards watched as the queue for the women's toilet slowly ambled along. Next stop was Westernland. We lined up for Big Thunder Mountain, which like all rolleroasters before it, scared the bejesus out of me. Despite this, I always enjoy the adrenaline rush I get from them. It was at this time, that we became really hungry. We headed over to TomorrowLand, where we 'dined' at Pan-Galactic Pizza. I was highly amused by this diner with it's theme of delivering pizzas all over the galaxy. Though, as usual, it was a fair rip-off with over-priced 'slices'. Our next destination was probably my second favourite, Star Tours - a mini-tour/movie through the Star Wars universe (Ashley would've been so jealous!). Hiromi wanted to ride Space Mountain, but decided not to because it was over a 2-hour wait. At this point, she said "next time", a remark I was delighted to hear since I would really like to visit the park during a non-busy period. Toon Town was less crowded than I expected it to be. It was fun to see all the cartoon houses. We rode on Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, which produced dizzying results. I wasn't keen to wait in line to meet Mickey Mouse, so it was off to the Main Street Electrical Parade. This was definitely a sight to see with the thousands of lights attached to each float. They must have had a float for every Disney franchise, it was amazing. Hiromi commented that; whilst we were watching the parade, the neighbouring rides had extremely short waiting times that slowly got longer and longer towards the end of the parade (I attribute this to us being at the end of Main Street). Since we were already there, we had a look around FantasyLand. I was hoping for an Alice in Wonderland themed ride complete with croquet game and all, but discovered only Alice's Tea Party - a spinning tea cup ride. We did, however, get our picture taken outside the Queen of Hearts restaurant. I then spotted the "It's a small world" boat ride and immediately jumped in line - I spent the whole ride singing "Duff Beer for me, Duff Beer for you!". Following this, we rode Snow White's Scary Adventure which was great. The trees were really cool. Hiromi had her eyes closed for the majority of the ghost train-like ride. Our final ride of choice was the Pirates of the Carribean boat ride, which was by far my favourite. It looked really realistic! And, thanks to us riding it late at night, the line was really fast! Our final destination was the World Bazaar where we got photos taken in front of Cinderella's castle (this one unsuccessful due to poor lighting) and the giant Christmas Tree. This ended our day at TDL and I hope to visit there again.]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/winter_wonderland_part_1_tokyo.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/winter_wonderland_part_1_tokyo.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:48:48 +0900 Awesome! It's snowing in Kawasaki and Yokohama today! Last year when I was living in Atsugi and working Kawasaki, it snowed once and it was a piss poor amount. Although we went to Akita and experienced snow for two weeks, it still feels me with joy whenever it snows now. I hope it stays like this for a while.... "Akita?!" I can see you asking. Yes, I'm a month behind on my blog again but as usual, I'll catch up. http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/omfg_its_snowing.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2008/01/omfg_its_snowing.html Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:02:54 +0900 Ahem.... Tokyo DisneyLand, that is.... I'm quite excited! Hiromi bought us day passes to Tokyo DisneyLand for Christmas Eve! The closest thing I've been to a theme park was Warner Bros. Movie World and that was ten years ago.... I forgot to mention the sixth book that I bought last Friday:- - Eragon by Christopher Paolini (I thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't much like the movie (in fact, I fell asleep), but Adrian assures me that the book is better than the movie (as is usually the case), but I still have my doubts.... I read a certain short-story entitled "Deconstructing Dinner" by a one Joy Waller. I'll refrain from commentary until I receive answers to my inquiries to the critically-acclaimed author. http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/12/so_james_youve_finished_all_yo.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/12/so_james_youve_finished_all_yo.html Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:54:45 +0900 I've just finished reading Inconceivable by Ben Elton. I must say that I started off a little bored with the book since there were very little topics being discussed apart from the attempted conception in the first hundred pages or so. However, I now realise that is because the entire book was written from the viewpoint of the two main character's diary entries which were started due to their pent-up stress from trying for so long. So, of course it was a natural progression for them to open themselves up much more to their "books" which are never reffered to as journals in any sense really. Elton seemed to have gone down a never previously visited path with this book as it seems to shine through in his explanation of one of the two main character's film writing attempts somehow reflecting his frustrations to make a believable female protagonist and also perhaps to decide whether to embrace or reject people's advice. The other factor visited/reflected was the balancing of elements in a tragic comedy. This all seems to ring quite true for Elton in my opinion since any of his material on TV (such side-splitting masterpieces as Black Adder and The Young Ones, of which I am extremely thankful for!) has always been comedically based and possibly never necessarily required any strong gender elements. (I hope this makes sense!) Lastly, I thought the ending was genius in that it was neither tragic, triumphant or even fully resolved. Somewhere that (and I think this was the point Elton had been trying to make) any Hollywood-targeted films rarely (or even ever - I think I'm saving face by saying this rarely! LOL) seem to tread. I think this is the first time that I've had so much to say about a book, at least in quite a while. Does that mean it affected me in a dramatic way? Having said that, I thought I'd write a short commentary about Fat by Rob Grant. I thought it was a rather enlightening experience into the varying worlds of eating disorders. Having experienced both ends of the scale at different times (one more than the other - I won't dwell on this), I could empathise with the characters a lot. The factors that I enjoyed the most was the fact that Grant disguised many aspects of the character's lives until much later on in the book and also the way the three character's tales intertwined in a non-typical way in that they never actually interacted. I was quite pleased at the advent of a book sale near Hiromi's work on Friday. Searching for new books has always been a joyful hobby of mine as a companion to the subsequent choice of which book to read first! I purchased the following books:- - 2001: A Space Oddyssey by Isaac Asimov (recommended to me by my first guitar teacher like 13 years ago!) - A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (something I've been meaning to read for quite some time now, but have been afraid to do so after hearing the very common commentary "I read it...Didn't understand a word of it, but I read it!" My recently regained fascination with astronomy I feel has pushed me to take on the challenge) - The Bible Code by Michael Crosnin (this one screamed out at me, as I'm quite the confused atheist!) - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone - I obviously bought the US edition) by J.K. Rowling (having enjoyed the movies, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about with the books. Also, this might pair nicely with my Elementary School career since I already seem to be revisiting my childhood.) - The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein (I was assured by the kind gentlemen purchasing books beside me that "If you're Science Fiction, that one's a classic. A time-travel novel." How could I turn down such a reccomendation?!) Saturday was nothing special. It's purpose being rather synonymous with most week-nights recently in that I've been either playing Final Fantasy X and Burnout Revenge (Although last night, I did pull out the GameCube to play some Zelda; but I admit that it's not a far departure from the norm!) or watching TV - which, since it's the end-of-year 'non-ratings' season in the US and Australia, has only consisted of Naruto and Chaser's War On Everything (I only just discovered the hilarity of this show). Sunday was quite the adventure. It began with Hiromi and I visiting the local hairdresser. Hiromi got a trim and her colouring redone. I don't want to give away anything about my slightly drastic haircut here, as I want to keep it a surprise for those in Japan that are reading.... Afterwards, we traveled to Akihabara, which has to be my most enjoyable trip there yet. Our primary purpose was to buy a couple of DS flash carts for friends. I also wished to get my hands on an Upscan Converter that supported both PAL and NTSC or failing that; a PAL to NTSC converter or an extremely unlikely TV capture card that supported PAL and NTSC. Perhaps because of the advent of TVs that support both formats, such items are difficult to come by outside of the realm of the Internet. The only things I managed to find were a PAL to NTSC converter that was worth $400 and a TV capture card that was only available in PCI Express form (I really won't need a 64-bit generation computer for a long time!) For a long time, I've been a collector of special-chip games for the Super Nintendo (Super Famicom). So, we were searching for games for a little while. I bought Starfox (Super FX), Street Fighter Zero 2 (SDD-1) and a Super Game Boy 2 (features the GameBoy Link port). I was tempted to buy RPG Maker 2 (features a TurboFile cart slot for saving games) and F1-ROC II (SETA). I kind of regret not buying these, but wasn't really interested at the time. I might go back and get them if they're still there... It seems my seemingly impossible quest to find a copy of Hebereke on the Famicom (I own the English version, Ufouria for the NES) might still be in vain. That night we hung out with the gang from DAN at an Izakaya for what I think was a Bounenkai... There's only 3 days to go of work before the winter holiday, so I'm getting a little excited. Hopefully, everything will go to plan and Hiromi and I will visit Akita over the New Year. I've been meaning to write this part for quite some time, as some people (although this is a very small percentage) seem to miss the point of my blog. Part of the reason I've chosen to write this now is because I know that these people have left the country and there isn't any chance of them reading this; so therefore this thought really does act at it is intended, a recording of my thoughts and not an invitation for discussion. The primary reasons for this blog is for me to keep a journal of my experience in Japan and to have something to look back on in the future. However, if others get something out of it, that's great. If it ever appears as though I'm somehow boasting, it's because I'd rather not dwell on bad memories. Why dig up old wounds? I'd prefer to bury them and move on. http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/12/vis_aint_a_fahkin_comeback_to.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/12/vis_aint_a_fahkin_comeback_to.html Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:55:52 +0900 Friday, 30th November Went to the monthly teacher's meeting. Had some beer afterward Had my Elementary School welcome party. Had quite a bit of fun at an Izakaya in Shin-Yokohama with all of my teachers. Drank a fair bit, ate a lot. Getting more experience in speaking Japanese whilst drunk! LOL Visited Moco for a bit afterward, talked with Kim　and Kame. Saturday, 1st December Hiromi and I caught up with Adrian, Tracey, Craig and Harumi. Ate curry in Zama. Adrian and I watched The Librarians. During the week Cleaned up the apartment more. Became more acquainted with my downloading nerdiness. In order to allow myself to rest and catch up on over a year's worth of missed sleep, I've become quite the indoors man as of late! Catching up on TV shows, podcasts and the like... Notable　TV shows: Scrubs, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Heroes, Pizza, The Librarians. I've also found myself seeding quite a bit on private trackers as well as delving back into the world of eMule. Finding Japanese stuff that is available in an English version is extremely difficult to find! On Wednesday, I found myself wandering around Machida looking for an Up-Scan Converter (to convert a standard composite RCA signal (DVD, TV, VCR, Video Games Console) into RGB (not Composite/Digital TV, but a 15-pin Analogue monitor connection) signal. I was rather pleased that I was able to communicate my specific product specification needs in minute detail to the staff in various stores. Alas, the quest was more-or-less fruitless; because (as I predicted), I need to go to Akihabara. On Thursday, Craig came round and we caught up on times gone past and watched a few episodes of Lost. The Following Weekend (7th-9th) I basically spent most of the time playing my PS2. I really only played Burnout Revenge the majority of the time. Although, I did play the special hacked version of Final Fantasy X International that has the Japanese speech re-instated. This is a kind of new genre of hacks that have arisen with PS1 and PS2 games called "undub"s. I'm hoping someone will hack the International copies of Final Fantasy VII and X-2, as other SquareEnix games such as Star Ocean 2 + 3 have also been "undubbed". Andrew also came round for a short visit on the 9th. We chatted and reminisced about Australian TV (particularly soaps) and bitched about the state of the Internet back in Oz. Monday, 10th December Last night was our last night to Adrian. So, Hiromi, Adrian, Tracey and I had Thai Curry at T & A's (couldn't resist that acronyminal (it's a word damnit!) pun) place. Spent the night talking about various topics on Japan and Australia. Said our final goodbyes, but not forever thanks to the magic of Skype, Facebook and the like. I know I say this a lot, but I'm continually amazed by Facebook and it's ability to hook you up with people from your long, distant past. Something that MySpace will never achieve due to it's non-disclosure of people's names to the public unless permitted - which almost never happens because people want their net-names. But aside from that, MySpace blows...who's going to actually be "friends" with their favourite bands because of the Internet?! Unless their someone like TISM, but that's a completely different story from my life.... (Rant rant rant...I know! :-P) I don't care if "Tom" (this is just a facade people, he sits around doing nothing now) has changed to a new default profile, most people's MySpace pages look like angry fruit salad!]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/12/entertainment_in_small_spurts.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/12/entertainment_in_small_spurts.html Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:00:27 +0900 EDIT: I must also point out that Michael (the owner/webmaster of NegativeSpace) has been a great help whilst I've been customizing my blog!]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/site_tracking_fun.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/site_tracking_fun.html Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:13:27 +0900 H19/11/17-18 A bunch of us teachers went to the Chiba prefecture to stay at the Mikazuki Spa Hotel. In order to get there, we travelled along the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, which I see as one of the great human creations. I couldn't help but feel a tad claustrophobic! There isn't much to say about the trip, as it was quite fleeting. We only stayed overnight. We drank, had dinner and went in the spa twice. The spa itself is much like an onsen (hot spring), however since the water doesn't emanate from underground, it can not be referred to as such. I guess the highlights of the weekend included the incredible view that I witnessed of Tokyo Bay and it's neighbouring mountain when I woke up in the morning and the huge golden bath that was impressive, but not comfortable! I believe this to be the first time I have ever visited the countryside in Japan. Magnus and I remarked that it very much resembled Australian countryside. But, I guess it's not really much different no matter where you go... H19/11/23-24-25 This was a long weekend and I spent the majority of it not doing a great deal, as on most weekends; I try to recover from all the fun I've had during the week. I became re-acquainted with my Internet addiction and watching Scrubs as Hiromi was away in Akita for her friend's wedding. I also cleaned and tidied the majority of my apartment, something that probably needs to be maintained more often! Adrian came round on the Sunday night and we enjoyed a good round of The Librarians. I also had a surprise visit from Joy, Sarah and Steph for about 5-10 minutes sometime on the weekend. H19/11/26 Hiromi arrived back on Monday night and we went to the Cookie Bar Bounenkai. A lot of drinking, eating and general merriment was had. Not much to describe, as I spent the majority of the night trying to speak to people in Japanese. The Rest I started and finished reading Fat by Rob Grant last week. I hope to read more of his titles as I've always enjoyed his brand of humor (especially his work on Red Dwarf). I have to confess that I've put down a couple of books in search of greener and somewhat easier pastures recently. IT by Stephen King appears to be a good read, but I find myself drifting when reading the boring bully stories from their childhood. I also started reading Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, but I can't be bothered deciphering the Scottish accent that the book is stylized in it's entirety in - at least for the moment. So, I've begun reading Inconceivable by Ben Elton, which takes an interesting approach with diary entries by the two main characters. A while ago, Hiromi's DS flash card crashed and in the confusion, I accidentally lost a couple of my save games. Pokemon Diamond, I wasn't fussed about. But, I was rather disappointed that I lost my Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past save game. I have an older backup, but I'm not sure if I can be bothered recovering the ground I already made. I completed Gyakuten Saiban 3 / Phoenix Wright - Trials & Tribulations, which as usual, was sooooo entertaining and quite frankly, riveting! So, I've started playing The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass. As I might have mentioned in an earlier post, I brought my GameCube and my PlayStation 2 over from Australia with me. Powering the GameCube was no problem, as the power supply is external and I just therefore needed to get a Japanese power supply. However, the PS2 is a little bit more complicated as the power supply is inside the machine itself. So, in order to use it in Japan, I needed a 110V ~ 230V Step-up Converter. Hiromi found one for me, but it was for a European type plug, so we had to get an adaptor to convert an Australian plug into a European type. So needless to say, my PS2 setup looks quite amusing! That said, I've been enjoying Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and Burnout: Revenge. I am REALLY looking forward to playing Final Fantasy X International Edition!]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/h191129.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/h191129.html Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:42:35 +0900 Today's minuscule update is dedicated to the /me command in IRC, which is far superior to the Status on Facebook. James is quite exhausted (which is not a new thing). James is determined to make his apartment as clean and tidy as possible (the proceedings have already begun). James is going to catch up with his blog completely to the current time (which again, is not a new thing, but remains a relevant goal). http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/the_final_wrapup_is_soon_to_co.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/the_final_wrapup_is_soon_to_co.html Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:01:08 +0900 One must excuse the poor ordering of the last week's recollections. I was inspired and decided (and this was quite unexpected!) that the events transpired over the past couple of days were far more memorable than the weekend and prior. So, at the most opportune time, I've been handed a Get of out of Jail Free card. Wait, perhaps that's way too harsh... I'll settle on a Community Chest card. (Hmm...perhaps after the last few games of Scrabble, I find myself all nostalgic and yearning for a game of Monopoly.) Life, as it were, has begun to grow stale at the Junior High School as I realise that I need some variety in my occupational happenings. I'm guessing this is part of the reason why the company attempts to alternate our visits between at least two schools. Now, I think maybe Joy might starting biting her lip whilst reading this in the thought that I might start crapping on my job. Rest assured my dear, that I daren't risk such a feat (I understand under her own experienced pretenses that she refrains to speak of anything directly under any circumstances). However, I shall continue to use the method of not mentioning any names. Despite this commentary, this is in all it's humbleness; a pleasant comparison. I received a phone-call about a week ago informing that, if I were so inclined, I could accept an offer to split my time between my current Junior High School and an Elementary School. Not knowing what to expect entirely, I decided to take the plunge and give it a shot. Now, when I received my initial training for the job (having no intentions of teaching at an ES and only being trained for the purpose of an JHS position), I was told that working at an ES was like being a rock star. I have formally decided that whilst "performing" for the children, that premise not only rings true, but is supported by the notion that the noise emulates that of a rock concert itself much of the time. In addition to that, the strain felt on one's body (my back is begging me to lie down as we speak) at times, can be said to emulate that of a mosh pit! So, without straying from the topic at hand, I shall begin my comparison (which I would like to state, for those of you who haven't stepped foot in the country; might be inexplicably difficult to explain). The teachers at the JHS are extremely busy and work long hours likening to that of any Japanese business man. They generally have no time during normal school hours to communicate for lengthy periods as they worked to the bone to make sure that their kids receive the best education possible in order to reach great heights of achievement in their high school entrance exam (and in turn; their university entrance exam and the job interview for what will most likely be their first and last occupation as an adult (although, the times are changing and people in this country are gaining the confidence to chop and change as the words "career" and "resume" take on a more Western meaning. But, I digress, the point I'm trying to make here is that you generally only get one chance at most things in this country and the teachers have a responsibility to the well-being of their students). The teachers that you don't deal with are usually full of what I like "English surprises" in that they will quite surely (but very rarely) burst into a short, but somewhat skilled bout of conversation. However, as previously mentioned, nobody really has time for idle banter. Nonetheless, this is not an attempt to show them in a negative light, as everyone is generally quite friendly and professional. The teachers at the ES are quite the opposite. As is the case in any country, they have their class all the time and teach all of the subjects. This whole teaching English thing is quite new to them (as it has only just begun to be taught to students of this age) and are all extremely excited to not only partner up with a foreigner, but to also learn and/or practice their own English. When being trained for/informed about the job, I was told the kids are all so cute. But, I have to admit that the teachers are equally cute in a unique way! They start and finish at the same times as me, which to me implies they have less work and therefore less pressure on their shoulders. When teaching at a JHS, you are the assistant and present everything in conjunction with the English teacher. You are there to re-enforce all knowledge from the point of view of a fluent speaker and to provide activities to make the drills more fun. At an ES, YOU are basically the teacher and control most of the proceedings. (Although, I think my teachers are yet to realise that they needn't put in the amount of preparation that they do...) That is to say, there isn't much English taught as it isn't necessary at this level. So, as the title of this entry suggests; there is a lot of singing and dancing to make sure the children's over-flowing energy is spent throughout the proceedings. That combined with my over-acting to keep them smiling and laughing, has convinced me that perhaps this is something I could be more suited to. Although the kids at both kinds of schools are friendly and quite keen to play around, I find myself acting completely crazy and running around like a madman here at the ES, rather than trying to fit in and be the cool guy at the JHS. Additionally, I feel that the atmosphere is way more relaxed and I can let things hang out a bit after observing some of the teachers. At the JHS, you have the choice of the teacher's bento or the kid's canteen lunch. There is a great contrast here as the teacher's bento is very healthy and the canteen provides fairly unhealthy food (for example, fried ham and cheese sandwiches!). But, I guess if the parents want their kids to eat healthy food, they'll send them to school with a home-made bento. Everyone eats in the teacher's room. At the ES, the teachers eat with their students and everyone plays a role in the serving and cleaning. All the meals are not only healthy, but are cooked at the school, so they are extremely cheap. And lucky me, since I'm designated to every single class, I alternate between the classes; eating lunch with a different group of students every day. (I can't remember the last time I drank milk for lunch!) When the season was right,I did go swimming with the kids at the JHS (as posted previously, I was privileged enough to be given my own lane). Here at the ES, I've been playing soccer and tag (!). In addition to that, I've been offered to participate in a relay marathon. Hmmm....that's all I could conjure during this session. More thoughts as they come to mind. Also, the next post concerns events prior to this week. http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/elementary_my_dear_boy_aka_all.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/elementary_my_dear_boy_aka_all.html Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:09:12 +0900 Tuesday, 30th October *Sigh* I believe this to be the final night that I ever saw my most recent bike. Later on in the week, I vowed to not only cut down on drinking, but also to never drink and ride again! Fear not, I wasn't involved any kind of accident (my days of skinned knees etc. ended during my junior high school days), however I was a little disappointed (I can see Rob feigning playing a violin now). Already half inebriated, I pedaled to the local vocal-room vendor to join Joy for an hour (which turned into two) of the usual merriment and camaraderie. After leaving said vendor, I completely forgot about my poor bicycle and proceeded home. (More on this later) I decided to pay Andrew a visit later and we chatted for a while. Wednesday, 31st October Chorus Festival Day - No work, but was required to view the children singing their little hearts all day. Afterwards, a drinking party with all the staff. Sigh....I wouldn't mind all the speeches if I could friggin' understand! (But like many of us, I gulped down more alcohol and accepted that *I* am the stranger in the foreign country who lazily procrastinates his Japanese study) Met Adrian at the station afterwards and carried home what I believed to be my bike (I can't believe I'm typing about this!), as I had neglected to bring the bike key with me that morning. The usual with Adrian, Australian TV enjoyed. Thursday, 1st November On this night, Hiromi and I joined Yuko, Ryoko, Vikki, Prit and another one of their friends at the Irish Pub, Dubliners in Shinjuku for a few drinks. Vikki, was hilarious as usual! Not much to tell about this night apart from the fact I became sick of Shinsei Bank and their crappiness when I couldn't find a Shinsei Bank or a 711 (despite my anger, I have yet to change banks - but I need to because the Post Office sucks!). Prit helped me find a 711 in the end. Friday, 2nd November Met Joy at the Sakuragicho station after listening to the stupidity-filled antics (this is their description, not mine!) of Dave and Buck in their weekly PWInsider Elite No-Name Show. (I was in awe of how long they crapped on about Tom Hanks!) We headed off to the company Halloween Party. After a bit of searching, we were hailed by the resident Nova Usagi Zombie (Andy) and began the evening. We sat around with the rest of the early birds who were all keen to begin the nomihoudai experience (and coincidentally were all people we met at Kim's birthday BBQ) but, to our non-avail, all that was available to begin with was wine. I made the assumption that they were trying to save money (more on the assumption in a sec) Eventually, many people arrived and the festivities began. Joy suggested the notion of a round of 'I Never' which lasted the majority of the night. During said session, I ordered a glass of whiskey. Now, the glass was delivered and announced as whiskey. I sipped down about a third before I realized I wasn't drunk enough to not cringe slightly at the non-mixed spirits and gave it Joy to sample; who then agreed that it was indeed APPLE JUICE!!! My suspicious assumption of the savings attempted by our caterers became all the more supported with additional evidence (a bit of my Phoenix Wright/Gyakuten Saiban playing has shined through in it's influence here!) Joy and I caught the train home and after being told to be quiet angrily by some elderly businessman, became almost immediately infatuated with this gay Indian dude, who, entertained our drunken selves for the most part of the ride. We (at least, I think we...) met up with Adrian at Moco (Antique and Junk) to drink with Kim and the rest. I can recall being so drunk that I couldn't play the guitar properly. Towards the end of the night, I returned home to fetch my bike and in a drunken fit of rage; returned to Moco ranting and raving about how somebody had snapped the lock off of my bike! Saturday, 3rd November Of course, as I had discovered the next morning; I had taken the wrong bike home! I think this was the point where I had vowed to stop drinking so much... Had to go to school that day for reasons that don't require explanation (got Monday off). Met Adrian and Hiromi later that day and had dinner. I think we Sunday, 4th November Was supposed to join Adrian and Tracey at the Motor Show that day, but ended up sleeping in for waaay too long and subsequently missed the opportunity.... The Rest To summarise the next week or so, I had missed so much sleep, that I needed to catch up and have been staying at home for the most part. Although, there has been the occasional short outing for a couple of drinks or a dinner, there hasn't really been anything to talk about apart from the fact that I finally landed my first couple of private students (!!). Needless to say, I feel well rested!]]> http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/mass_blog_update_part_33_tales.html http://blogcast.simplaris.com/ping/fc544572428fcfd72cbed2b636d48767/2007/11/mass_blog_update_part_33_tales.html Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:03:20 +0900