I wish . . .

So Happy!　So Delicious!　Ah, Combinis!
Originally uploaded by 絵理.

I was soooo happy . . . How is it that onigiri seem more satisfied with existence than me??
Randomly looking through things whilst intending to do some study I found this photo. It reminded me of some of the great things that HAVE happened in the past 6 months.

I suddenly took off for Tokyo and an unexpectedly good time. I have been thinking about how I wanted to travel this summer in Japan before I head home again in September. But I realise that this time is almost upon me and I have no plans . . . and I've travelled a little by myself I just get lonely so I don't relish the thought of hitting the road by myself but everyone else is either heading home or is unlikely to have the time or money for dashing off around the country with me . . . hmmm . . one person springs to mind but that would involve its own different set of complications.

Anyway, Japan . . the land of 'convenience'. It just grosses me out some days. Kids rarely think ahead because they know no matter where they go they will be able to get whatever they want at a combini or vending machine on any corner or mountain top.
Every tiny thing is meticulously wrap in plastic which is immediately discarded but which was obviously of vital importance to own's existence and enjoyment of whatever product you happen to have purchased. Just as Karl once said, ' and why do I need my sembei wrapped up in 3 layers on plastic?'

As a kid I used books as a way of escaping to an obsessive degree.
I am taking advantage of my current state of mind to tick of few more of those 'ought to have read in your lifetime' books off my list.
And I have come to the conclusion that, naturally, I must side with Tolkien over his friend Jack.

Tomorrow . . will I come to school ? I keep meaning to start using the pool like I did last year but I can't seem to work up the motivation to travel an hour to do so.

Saturday I will be going along to a dumpling making session with a lecturer of Chinese from Uni. He is Singaporean and teaches English as well to kids and has asked me to come along. I think Alex is onto a very good thing in believing that we, as foreigners, should try to meet as many Japanese kids as possible in an effort to staunch some of the latent and not so latent racism in this country.
Sure, we still have lots of racism and racial problems in Australia as a nation of immigrants whose indigenous people have been steadily eradicated but Japan is an amazingly insular country.
Think Lane is planning fireworks fun for Saturday evening.

Sunday, Kana and I have a date to go hang out (because she's so lovely and is always making plans we me to cheer me up and keep me going! Such a lovely lady ~ I do hope she manages to get into the exchange programme this year because if she does there is a chance she might come to Adelaide!) eat okonomiyaki at her workplace, though she quit last week, and do a spot of shopping for summer essentials. We are also thinking of doing riding trip to Kyoto or maybe just to Okoyama . . . But I wonder how I can get my hands on a decent bike??? I have been so impressed to read of Dan bicycle feats away across the ocean in Europialand (see dan's blog thekevinbaconexperiment for details!). . . I'm sure I could never manage something so amazing but with the help of the fantabulous Geets I shall make bicycular hay while the sun shines (and the rain rains) when I get back to A-town.

Righto, maybe I'll scrap the study at school plan for heading out to buy a gift for PhD Sareb whose birthday is up and coming, and then studying once I get home to my own computer. I should also work on plans for the picnic next Saturday . . . I wonder where I can purchase water balloons in this country - they seems to have some weird ideas on how one should appropriately use said items but I'll show them!

Wow! I'm so rugged up in this photo! Just like anyone in Adelaide should rightly be from what I hear, but here it's heating up ladies and gentlemen! The sky has turned from glarey shine to afternoon sunnyness . . . time for a walk methinks.

China VS Japan . . another inappropriate distribution . . .

Penalties suck hey . . .

As part of trying to get my mind and life sorted out I have been looking into possibilities for next year . . . and it's thus that I come across the bewildering fact that the majority of Japanese studies related subjects offered at Adelaide occur in second semester . . If I wanted to take courses regarding China everything would fit in perfectly but as it is there is no way that I'm bothering to alter my scheduled flight and race home for subjects I'm sure I even want to take. In some ways this time in Japan has felt like a break but on the other I feel like I've hardly had any time off since I started high school. This can't be true, given the more than a year that I had off between finally finishing music and then coming to Japan, but that was a very different time with its problems and busyness . . while I wasn't studying anymore I was still working hard at a number of jobs to save money whilst trying to get better after being so sick.
Somehow I feel like a holiday again (I feel like Bilbo! . . . . all stretched . . like butter scraped over too much bread . . ). . but what would make me feel any better really ? Mountains, Gandalf! ???

So what to do ?
I am awful at decisions . . . and the possibilities seem too limitless and I just don't know where to turn . . .

Do I just close the curtain on an already seemingly over extended period of tertiary study . . . Or do I pull out all of the stops on a final semester bolt to the finish line that might just give me a better foundation for the future.

Geez, being a kid kind of wasn't so hot but at the same time at least I didn't get so sad and upset about stuff and then have to keep on going with all of these things that seem like such important decisions. Why does it all have to go and get so complicated (oh dear, is Avril whats-her-face invading my speech patterns ?!) . . why is there so much pressure now ?

Speaking of speech patterns, at one point I seriously thought that I ought to become a Speech Path . . . oh bugger . . what I am doing ??

Not only is this all stressful in itself but I find these posts are spiralling out of being vaguely interesting with a theme based on living in Japan and become awfully angsty. I don't think I'm a big person for airing my major issues in public (small ones, I'm generally all out there with) and I don't always respond well to others doing so . . . now it's like regardless of what I might set out to do my psychoses are taking over and displaying themselves for all to see. I can't barge my way through all of this stuff like I used.

Bugger.

The wonder of . . . visitors

Okonomiyaki with the visting American professors before baseball
Originally uploaded by 絵理.

The weekend was really full on but it really impressed upon enjoyment that one can get from meeting and talking to new people. From showing people a good time in a place with which they are unfamiliar but you know well.
Since living in Japan may people have asked me about Australia. I find, of course, that there are so many things that I don't know . . . and realise that there are so many places that I'd love to go exploring in Australia. I think there are few people who don't remain fairly strong bonds of affection to the country in which they grew up no matter where they might travel to or end up living. In fact, I think you come to realise just how strong the ties are when you are not in said country (despite how much you may despise and dispair of national poltitcs, etc).
I would love to be able to show some of the really amazing things that comprise my homeland to the rest of the world . . .
WIth regard to my adopted country and the wonderfulness of Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki . . . when are you'll coming on over ??
紹介してあげるよ！！ Doesn't it look like fun?!!! And yummy to boot?!

Time for class with Chris - a Poland national who spends summer at his house in Perth and is enamoured of Japanese culture to a point that I sometimes find a little ridiculous . . .
What will it be this week ? More ritual sucide perhaps ??

It threatened rain all yesterday but didn't and now today is shiny white with little hint of moisture other than the high high high humidity.
Right two minutes down the stairs . . off I go

知らせしてくれないの？

Last night I had a headache, struggled through 6th period, got home at 9pm and fell asleep - I have just realised that as a result I missed the Italy vs Australia . . . I hold out little hope that we won but I need details - so dedicated peoples, give me info!

I think that I am suffering from iron deficiency again . . . I know that I'm getting enough sleep to survive on enough if it's not a lot, but I feel exhausted. I keep getting shaky in response to the slightest exhurtion. Now, I hear people claim this is a simple lack of fitness however riding on my bike for an hour or more is okay - it's just the walking up the hill to school and climbing stairs that have my head spinning. When I saw my doctor in Adelaide earlier in the year she said my iron levels were lowish - Though I'd like to quibble with her definition of low - apparently the average is somewhere between (I forget the upper figure, Phili? Cathy?) let's take a stab in the dark . . . 70 and 10 . . . I was 12 . . . lowish??!! How hard to I have to work to be classified as anaemic, huh ??? 厳しー！！ Anyway, as my other mediciation is also running out I figure I should get myself along to the doctor sometime for a check-up if I can work up the courage and vocabulary! Other than that I'll just to work up my daily intake of leafy greens - and we all remember that ad about lean pork or whatever it was . . that was one f**k off big plate of spinach.
Any other vegos out there with suggestions on this issue?
Iron supplements are the common recommendation, but as I believe I've told peeps before . . . . that's one sure-fire way to clog yourself up!

What a weekend . . .

Me in teacher mode
Originally uploaded by 絵理.

I took a fairly wobbly but very cute video of the kindy kids singing for me when I was there on Friday but am waiting for instruction from Josh as to how I might go about posting such an item on here so I'm making do with a smile-inducing photo of me in singer/teacher mode as I taught the kids Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Complete with actions, can't you tell . . and my ad-hoc, on the spot translation of the lyrics.

Saturday night was certainly eventful and it didn't end, like you might have expected, when I went to sleep . . . (And it takes so long to get to sleep these days . . . Even when sleeping with Takoyaki (must post of photo sometime soon) it doesn't stop my mind from thinking over and over about things that thinking it just not going to help.)

About an hour and a half after I posted last night/early this morning I was awoken . . . when I got home last night my host dad was drunk (the drunkest I have seen him, and we have been drunk before) and peoplewere saying 'isn't he interesting?' And I laughingly replied that he was indeed . . . perhaps I haven't published here the porn experience, but if not now is probably not the time for that anyway.
One of the funnier of his comments that stays with me was in reference to Ariel of Little Mermaid fame. This being Japan such things are perenially all the rage, and we somehow had a conversation which ended with me in hysterics because he talked about how the kids would have been fish or something which was rendered ridicuslously funny in Japanese - or maybe it was also one of those you had to be there things.
Adding to the list last night was an episode which saw him burst into my room at 3:30am, as I slept scantily clad as it was so hot, and precede to vomit all over my mobile phone recharging in the corner . . this said corner is where the toilet should have been if he'd managed to locate the bathroom two doors down. I managed to find some pants and get myself decent and then get of the room past him without his apparently being aware of it and then found Kumi-chan. I felt bad about waking her but figured the bile and acid might mess up the walls and I wasn't likely to go off to sleep with him in the room and retching and stinking it up. I had difficulty getting her to understand what was happening because I was laughing so much. I was suffering from lack of sleep, continued slightly ill health due to stress and worry about stuff (I spent all today feeling gross) and the result of too much coffee overloaded with sugar. We wiped up as Hide found the toilet proper and continued to bring up bile. My phone seems okay but Makkurokurosuke is much the worse for vomit. I then didn't sleep again but worked on updating my diary that I'm writing in Japanese and doing homework til about 6am when I decided I should try to rest again. (The rest of the day was just more homework homework homework . . )
Japan has such a different way of viewing drunkness, especially amongst men. I was just surprised at how juvenile it all looked. I can't believe that a 40 year old two kids would still get himself into such a state. It's what I expect of myself and mine . . . I still find it amusing that everyone assumes that I'm 19 or 20 . . . That's the thing about being at Uni here I suppose - the people I know are, in the main, that age - and I do enjoy the freedom of being able to indulge in the pleasures of such an age! It's like being able to be young (because I'm so old!!) all over again but with a bit more sense and also a greater appreciation of how good it can be to just have yourself to consider and not much else, and a scholarship to fund the lifestyle.
But I find myself incredulous at people's immaturity sometimes . . this is generally with regard to doing things for themselves or taking responsibility for things . . . and studying . . I'll save gripes about the Japanese Uni student work ethic for another day.
I find myself amazed that it will soon be my birthday - all that has happened in the past year, the past two years - how different this year will be again and I am having those random little freak outs like friends before me when they too reached a quarter century.
I've come a fair way, still lots to do and lots of time - I know this, but at the same time it's hard to stop that little quesitoning voice that ponders on how little concrete achievements one has made. I've never been a person with a plan. I don't make lists - I try to do everything I possible can and that usually means I'm too busy for list writing . . . I have been thinking I should start to make the time for such things. But one plus of this way of living to date is that I don't really have things that I thought I must do by this point but haven't.
But I feel a little like a blank slate. A sad and lost not-so-much blank as scribbley and indecipherable blackboard (Hurry Up!)

Phili's sister is having a baby.
The vast majority of my school friends have now long been out in the workforce whipping up usefulness in the world at large.
Sarah and Raimon have bought a house.
Sarah and Aidan are getting married . . they have exciting plans on the horizon. (And going to such amazing places as Kalangadoo for shows!! ありえない！)
Pooj and Sophie are living it up on scholarships and being amazing and brainy . . as is Miss PhD SareB. All three are also working their arses off -　頑張れ！！
Beenz is going great guns now she's in a new course.
Aliese and Denni have jobs, a new house and continue to follow the music dream . . .

So many people I know have the next stages laid out. They are on the way . . . they can see how it's going to work out, well, not necessarily as clearly and perfectly as I may make it sound - I'm sure we all know how unexpected every day, month and year can be, but they all seem to have a plan . . . goals that sort of thing.
I'm not even sure whether I'll make it to school on time tomorrow.
It poured with rain alllllll day today and rain always makes me late and I arrive saturated no matter what precautions I might take. Who invented 梅雨（つゆ）？ I always thought that four seasons was plenty . . who needs an extra one set aside simply for being wet!!

Bugger, meant to get an early night . . . sure!! The best laid plans of mice and me . . well, at least I know I'm not likely to be churned up by a plow.
11:30pm . . . Time to call this weekend a day.


Still soccer fever here despite being out of the World Cup now.

When you're down and troubled . . .

. . . put up a visitors map on your blog and whether or not it's accurate it will make you feel vaguely popular! At least, when it finally starts counting!

Things I have done of late . . .
On Thursday: I was up til the early hours working on my presentation for Thursday. Kumi-chan then checked it for me but it's was pretty good which was reassuring. Annoying, we then ran out of time in the class so despite being extra prepared and having an interesting activity to do so that peoople are involved, I wasn't able to do it justice and just had to give out the answers which was so frustrating. イライラする！　不満！！！！！

On Friday:
I went to a kindy and taught 5 year olds Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and then was flavour of the month out in the playground.
Met visting Fulbright professors at Shudo and showed them around the Uni before heading into town for Okonomiyaki. Lane and I had an interesting chat with out female taxi driver as waited outside the hotel. The young bloke serving us at the Okonomiyaki Mura was a laugh a minuute communicating with limited English (YEesssssss! NOoooooo! Are you listening to meeee?) to the women professors.
Then a group of us headed of to the baseball - Carp won!
We then went out drinking with Otsu-san and then I trundled home on my bike happily inebriated and mumbling along to my Japanese MD.
I then messed around this morning and dashed into town for the baseball again, this time with Yoko. Carp looked like winning the whole time then Yokohama suddenly got about 5 people round in one innings or whatever and we lost!!! What the ?!! びっくり！
I also got a little pink one shoulder without realising - darn! Sooo sticky too!
Yoko and I took purikura and then I rushed off on my bike over to the station for the reception with the Fulbrights. Had some interesting talks . . . one about indigenous student in New Mexico . . a similar situation to that of Aboriginals in Oz.
THEN karaoke . . . I got lost at this point but eventually found my way there and had may great singing victories and now my teacher wants to try and get me a job singing here. It was a very nostalgic night as the majority of people in the room were over 40 and thus living it up with 60s songs - Yes, I knew every word along with the rest and Lane and I did a perfect duet rendition of Aqua's Barbie Girl, to raptuous applause . . Yes, it's great to know that 6 years of operatic training has prepared me so well for life in Japan.
Then I rode home in the sticky heat, following my instincts along unknown streets and a river that was very pretty in the dark. The family were having a party with four other families from the apartment building (but they call apartments 'mansions' here) Everyone has just gone home - it was quite enjoyable - and Hide was drunk as a skunk . . . the kids were running about crazily - so lively for such a late hour.

2am . . . Maybe I'll be exhausted enough just to fall into a calm sleep for once.
Had two showers already tonight but wishing for another.
LOTR - The Fellowship of the Ring was on TV here tonight (Japanese, of course!) . . I got home in time to see Aragorn hack off the awful ring-leader Urukhai's head in that hilariously cliqued moment as Boromir breathes his last and Sam and Frodo head off alone.

Sadly, in variance with the movie, it occurs to me that my Frodo and Sam will never again see their Merry and Pippin . . That's right Ned, such is life (and if this won't get the fire started nothing will!)

Miserable
Miserable
Miserable

Occurrences in my life today other than being miserable:

Met up with Marie for a drink

Stupid anecdote from school:
If it's not an overdose of Japanese penis it's graphic representations of ritual suicide . . .
Today in class the teacher talked about Japanese heroes and how the Japanese like to hero worship tragic figures . . he talked about 3 in particular - all of whom committed seppuku 切腹(harikiri - where you cut open your own stomach to commit suicide, etc) and then showed us a little known movie by the famous writer who was the third of the 'heroes' he discussed - it was a work pretty much foreshadowing his own death four years later . . and it largely consisted of the main bloke (played by this writer) having sex with his wife after deciding to kill themselves rather than the bloke have to kill his rebel friends.
Rather painful to watch.
Stupid way and stupid reason to die

Random stresses . . . and fun times

Life is one crazy experience . . . It doesn't run smooth and though I mainly think that this makes things more significant and is benefit, other times I just wish that reality would bugger off somewhere else. Who needs it ? Like when your favourite TV programme turns out to be one of those that has a 'realistic' ending . . . read, inexplicable, complicated and boy/girl doesn't get the one they want. うんざり！！ I have days when I just want fantasy and to pretend that I don't have problems, faults and pains that just won't go away no matter what I do or how much I try to ignore them.

Having been thinking a lot of about the future lately . . . It seems so uncertain and I wish I could see a clear path; had some idea of what I should do for the best.
Don't really want to come home yet - don't feel ready - I want to be around for Xmas but other than that it just seems like a bad idea - I'd like to have time to be with family etc but the Adelaide scene just doesn't seem like a healthy place for me to be right now - if it ever will anytime soon - maybe this avoiding the ultimate reality that I must eventually move on to . . . But anything else doesn't quite seem me - I can't do it any faster than this - it all still hurts and I still find myself reduced tears at stupid times - like now in the assisted learning facility having read of saddening stuff in someone else's life. Maybe I'm hopeless but I don't think so . . . I'm just me and this is the way I have to do it. Wish I could snap my fingers and be all better - but I've always been a bit slow on the uptake - I know that there are so many things about me and my life that have and still do need work . . . well, I'm trying and will probably always be. The slow way works for me - it means that I work it all out thoroughly my own way but to such an extent that I'm not likely to need to go back ever again . .

I want to stay here in Japan - it still doesn't feel like the end - so I am thinking that I will be back in September and try to take the jap proficiency test and then maybe apply for JET and then come back to Japan for a bit longer 。。。 not sure about the idea of honours . . . Maybe I should do that but then again maybe I should wait a bit longer - get some money together and think about what I want to do. Maybe I could apply for a grant/scholarship thing that I hear you can get from govs to do post grad studies in Japan . . .

Tonight . . . . . . Alex has been trying hard to encourage me to go out to a bar in town tonight with the gaijin that I like - and I really wanted to go - to experience the gaijinness of barracking for Oz against Japan in the soccer . . . I do want to go but then again I have soo much work to do and have class until 8pm . . . well, will see how I feel - am tired but might perk up.

We had a 5 scale earthquake this morning at 5am this morning - woke me up but I didn't bother doing much after that - decided it didn't warrant much thought after I had reassured myself I was unlikely to die under a torrent of bricks and mortar . . . Have you heard about it in through the amazingness of the intermanet? Some stuff fell of my shelves but it wasn't as full-on as I'd thought a 5 scale tremour would be!

Yesterday I had a lovely day out when I should have been studying but I spent all Saturday until 2am doing that!! I rode to the seaside - an hour from my house - to Marina Hop which is Hiroshima's response to Adelaide's Harbour Town, or it's the otherway around . . . Only Marina Hop has a 'river' flowing through it! They ask you not to enter it . . . haa haa - a river! Even in it Japanese it says river and Kana agreed it was a strange definition for a 5 cm deep mosaiced trailing water feature filled with various statues etc . . . But it has the same long structure and is all paved with overhead sails and is hot! Is actually near the water however, but is similarly located next to the aeroport - on this one is the old aeroport (now called the west Hiroshima aeroport) rather than the one which I always have to travel an hour or so to get to!

A funny that happened on the way was a chubby little 8-10 Japanese boy's suddenly exclaiming and pointing at me in amazment as I rode past him . . . I must have popped his gaijin cherry I want to shout back 'Ohhhh Nihonjin!' (Japanese person!)

Kana and I bought lots of amazing bargains - including something that I'd had my eye on ages ago but crossed off as too expensive - 8000 yen but I got two of them and a shirt, originally priced at 6000 yen all for 5000!!!! SOoooooo happy - and bought a number of little items - tops and things for 500 yen each so am now reasonably equipped for summer!! AM wearing my superman undies today so feeling a bit spesh!! (Read Superman undies as all new clothes - Calvin and Hobbes! . . don't think people have really noticed but Kana was wearing some of her new stuff so we complemented each other!

Afterwards Keinan and I went to the movies and saw a Japanese movie - odd and rather unintelligble to us but funny non the less . . a nice experience - look to be some other interesting things on too so I might try and go aagin soon . . . The new Miyazaki anime based on The Wizard of Earthsea books come out in July too . . . We also did some windowshopping and then skipped dinner after the movie in favour of getting home earlier - I then rode home getting there about 11pm - meant to study but went to bed just after 12am so Kumichan (host mum) started to do some ironing having got Riyo (the one year old) to sleep.
Lately I have been playing with Riyo and see likes the 'game' where I pick her up as though she sitting on a swing and run up and down the passage with her - this started when she was being slightly naughty and climbing up on the table and so I grabbed her everytime she started to climb the chair - she soon learned that I'd play with her if she hugged the chair as if to climb . . . after this, one night when I was eating dinner and she wanted to play she got me by the finger and led me up the passage only to let go and walk away so that she could pretend to climb my now empty chair so that I'd play with her . . . Very cute - she is much more comfortable around me now - it's fun. I also have fun speaking in English to her . . . Randomly coming out with phrases that pretty much translate what everyone else is saying but they don't understand and find it entertaining.

Closing time!

6/6/6

笠岡の祭、三人で浴衣を着て散歩した
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

二００六年六月六日

Was I the only one vaguely excited by the date yesterday ?
I remember being in primary school and the teacher pointing out that the year was palondromic . . . and I'm don't mean 2002.

No response to my victoriously sent email yesterday . . .

日本っぽくない？ (Rather Japanesey photo hey . . lanterns, yukata, old black and white stone wall, long grasses that spring up so suddenly in the moist warm early summer)
It was a lovely night wandering around Kasaoka before the race the next day. There was lots of locals out enjoying the festival atmosphere . . . eating mochi, catching goldfish from little pools with a net (which I hate . . . so many of them must die that it seems such an awful thing to do) . . . members of our group were amusingly tipsy or rollicking drunk and the lovely thing about the heat in Japan is that nights don't really ever get cold like they can in Australia . . . So we were trundling around the riverside with a clear sky and moon looming large with a perfectly comfortable breeze.
I also developed the most amazingly bubbly and huge blister between my big and adjacent toe . . . a wonder to behold!

Today I have boring class and lunch with a friend . . have lots of work to be doing so might go in early . . . . Maki will be leaving for America next week as well and I have yet to see her . . . I'd better do so before she leaves otherwise who knows how many years it'll be before I see the closest person I've had to family in Japan again.
Right! Time to get on with the morning!

Oh ho . . .

Tried to do it again! Didn't you ?!! Evil Computer God!
But I got the better of you and this time, I copied and pasted and tried to save a sent copy!! So when you pulled your nasty tricks yet again I was ready! Just like a boy scout. Thank goodness for the Angel ctrl+c.

Now that I've wasted hours on that I might start the trek home so I can have some lunch (it'll be teatime by then) and then try to reduce the masses of homework piling.

Only two more days of the playschool week to get through and then the weekend . . .
Have a date with Kana to go shopping for new summer clothes on Sunday. I find I have become accustomed to the more outlandish of fashions here enough to feel that I can go shopping and find something that I might conceivably wear in Australia without feeling like a freak . . . where this be the truth or not is debatable. What more need I say than that my most commonly used expression of farewell is バイバイ (baibai ~ bye bye, but in that amazingly irritating way that only young Japanese girls can do)
It's heating up, but we are about to head into the rainy season . . . And they have just introduced a law so that you can be fined if you ride whilst carrying an umbrella ( or a mobile phone for that matter). Personally, the fear of death was always a far greater deterant for me than a fine. Just you try riding with an umbrella some day! No mean feat.

Thanks to Pooj, Geets, Shelley, Sally and Andrew who all sent me emails and really made my day! Love you lots!

6pm . . . I'm gone! No more Library nerdiness for me today!

パソコン神様

もう　うっんざり！

If there is a computer god then he/she evidentally hates me and my lot is cursed . . .
I hate you too, Computer God!
You want to force me to try to read that goddamn 30 year old book with a multitude of unknown, complicated old kanji in a week just so I can fail miserably as I am bound to do and then laugh at me for my efforts and spending about ￥800 on a book I can't read!

A plague on all your databases! (For you clearly have more than two)
Just try and delete my hard wrought Japanese email efforts once more!!!

笠岡の祭、船に乗った時

笠岡の祭、船に乗った時
Originally uploaded by Yukata Me.

Can you spot the naked arse ?

Or more to the point . . . all of them. Quite funny, especially for the foreign boys who took part. Wearing the fundoshi looked quite the experience, particularly when you take into account that you are dressed into them by other blokes because you can't do it yourself!!
We girls had it comparatively easy in tshirt and shorts. But the whole rowing of the flipping boat was darn difficult! We lost but only by a tiny margin, however it was probably only because we had some seasoned old blokes helping us out! By the end my back was giving out, weak as it is, and my left calf was starting to get pretty stressed out.
One of the funniest things of the whole experience was throwing out free lollies and the like to locals, comprising mainly of grannies and the like with plastic bags swooping and corwing like seagulls for the mochi, sweets and packets of chips we were throwing from the boats up in to the laneway where they stood eagerly waiting.

Well, the festival was great and all but the cold that has plagued me for this past week has put a bit of a dampener on things. We are just back from spending the night in Miyoshi with Kumi-chan's parent's inabsentia. Did lots of sleeping, eating of food, bathing in the bath, chatting til late at night with Kumi, pondering over the things I am thinking I'd like to do in my life now, feeling sad and reading my manga in preparation for class.
Despite my cold I had to do a presentation this week and so I skipped class again on Wednesday (Didn't get to any classes other than my exam on Monday because I felt awful and needed to try and study to make up for have to sleep so much with my cold - Think I actually did okay in the exam despite my head being all fogged up) because my cold had developed into a bad cough and I was really tired. I was up til about 3am preparing for the talk and was actually really enthuased about what I was doing and happily stayed up working away. I made up a special paper depicting the relationships between all of the characters in the manga, making it so that with the descriptions and pictures provided the other stuents should have been able to insert the character's names if they were paying enough attention to that day's or the previous presentation or brought the last week's paper. So, the response was pretty lame and my overall presentation could have been a little more polished but compared to the usual efforts, and given trhat no-one really responds generally, I was happy. The class doesn't really work all the well unless you push yourself and get what you need out of it so I was happy with my work! And today I wizzed through book 5 not needing my dictionary all that much. It was a very lazy day - reading on my futon but this cough still won't budge!

Also in this the events of this week were one friend getting angry at me about keys and another friend surprising me with news of her work . . . not that anyone related is likely to read this but I'm still under oath of secrecy! Very exciting and a little distressing.
Tried to rest again on Friday but then ended up going out on Friday - having an insanely embarassing incident that only Alex and Tori are ever likely to hear about - then hanging out with Keinan and others, first at Keinan's part-time job Korean restuarant then checking out the first night of the Tokasan festivities in town. Bumped into not a few friends out and about in yukata　- see flickr for photos of Alex, Tori and myself living it up in Kasaoka in yukata the night before the race. Then we all went back the apartment buildling where I used to live and where a lot of the others still do, pulled Tori away from Skype and messed about with fireworks while drinking down by the river.

Family seem happy to now have 5 cars in the household, despite there only being 4 of them in the country.

Heard some sad news from Mum to say that a friend of Beenz's brother died in a car accident on Unley Road - How awful!
Ya'll take care on the cars now, ya hear!

Right should either go do some study or just get an earlish night so I might be able to get to school in time for first period! 頑張りまーす！