DOH! Plus Random College Photo

So I had a little free time and I was messing around with the "customize" option on my blog. It said it would allow me to revert to my old design if I didn't like the new one. It lied. Grrr. So for now my blog is ugly & missing important toys, like a translator, wikipedia, etc. I am too lazy to fix it at the moment because it will take me a couple hours. So for the time being, enjoy the change.

And since I have blogged so little in the past year, I feel like now that I am actually writing something, well, I should write something. So again I look to my photos for inspiration.



Yep, I like this picture. It's unrelated to anything in this post, it's old, and in the picture I am not. Here's to old (young) friends. By the way a few years after this picture was taken (2000?) I bought a new pipe in Rome (January 2005) and I still have the tobacco I bought with it. What d'ya reckon? Probably ought to throw that away, eh?

Now listening to Beck: Odelay

Before September Comes

Hey,

So I turned 32 last week. And I got a new computer and a few nice surprises, including a lovely french dinner. It happened during my vacation which is now almost over. Sigh. Didn't travel this time, but it's been relaxing and I have spent some good time with friends. Miss my pals back home, though, who all seem to be intent on making babies and getting married. One other exciting development for me is finally getting WiFi, which among other things means that, at least in theory, I can now get beaten at MarioKart WII by some of my aforementioned friends. Just like the old days. Yay!

This looks to be another blog post lacking inspiration.... Maybe some photos will help compensate.



So yeah, that was an awesome dinner.

And here are some pics from a subsequent night out where some friends surprised me:






And I would just like to point out that in this next shot, I was aiming the camera and nothing else. I prefer to do some things indoors. By the way the Japanese says "Be careful of the electric cable" and "Don't do that". Really it does.

IKEA is Here!

And labyrinthine, I must say. I had to ask for directions to find my way back to the french press coffee makers. The staff lady drew me a map. It took 50 minutes from the time I decided I wanted it until it was mine. Oh my head. But I would do it again!

Three Months of Silence?

I am writing this despite not really having time to write it nor much that I feel a pressing need to talk about. My motivation is the simple fact that I just realized I haven't written anything since the end of January.

Some stuff that has happened in the last three months:

1. Visited the U.S. and spent time with family in Oregon. Thanks in large part to my cousin who let me use his car for a week, the trip was pretty good. I had missed driving. So much so that my beloved cousin was sent a speeding ticket in the mail with a picture of the car and my chin. Since it is not his chin, he will not have to pay. I am pretty sure. And neither will I. Phew.

Besides visiting family and friends, I shopped. Mostly for shoes. Thanks again to the same cousin, I was able to bring all of said shoes back to Japan, in his huge Nike dufflebag. I was stopped at the airport because the customs officer found it hard to believe that the bag really was full of shoes. So I showed him. It's not that I have a shoe fetish or anything, it's just that it is next to impossible to find shoes my size in Japan, plus they are a lot cheaper in the U.S. I also bought clothes and video games, but an American Nintendo WII eluded me, as did Cadbury chocolate eggs of all varieties. I probably spent too much time looking for the former and not enough looking for the latter. Oh well.

2. I finally got Saturdays off. I now work Monday through Friday, morning till night. But I have weekends to myself! It's like a dream!

3. I started teaching part-time at additional school. More work, fewer workdays.

And there is more, I am sure, but it is not popping into my mind at the moment. Anyway, I will try to put some pictures up in the next few weeks and resume blogging at least monthly. Apologies for the prolonged absence.

February Approacheth

Happy new year and stuff. I am cold. Brr. January 25th, and 25 days until my half-birthday. Unfortunately(?) 25 has nothing else to do with my age. I can't believe I am in my thirties. And I have spent most of my adult life in Asia. Wacky.

Anyway I thought I had better write something before January escapes. But I don't feel like writing anything. Duty-driven, I am. Enough to try and post once a month, at least.

Spent a week in Taiwan for Christmas, relaxed, ate good food, slept in big bed, enjoyed warm weather. Made it back to Japan for New Year's Eve, but really couldn't be bothered to do anything about it. Had a similarly disinterested friend, so rang in the new year with cocktails and video games at my place.

Speaking of my place, it has yet to recover from the pre- and post-Taiwan explosions. It was so clean, but then I spent two hours ransacking the place, vainly searching for an old cell phone. Then when I came back I just dumped everything on the floor. Much of it remains there to this day.

But I have an excuse besides being busy and living in a small apartment. Here goes: It is especially difficult to get motivated to clean when you know you are most likely moving in a month. Yep, still no confirmation, but the plan is to move into a bigger place, a little farther from work, but much more convenient otherwise. This apartment has been good to me, but I feel it is time for a change....

In other news, it looks like I will become much busier with work from April, as I am slated to teach English classes at a music conservatory in addition to my already full schedule. I am looking forward to it. My hours will increase dramatically, I think, but instead of working 6 days a week, I will be back to 5. So I reckon it is a good trade-off. Especially since I will be making a bit more money. Yay.

And the romance department is a secret soap opera. But at least the TV is working, even if I don't always like what's on.

OK, hope you enjoyed that fairly mundane update. There is of course much more to tell, but there is a time and a place for everything, and as the quote at the top of this blog suggests, this is certainly not the place for everything. To those who have been through hell recently and talked to me about it, you are in my thoughts and prayers. May the rest of this year bring only very very good things....