Hello hello

Sweets in Kyoto

2012-01-30T18:05:00.001+09:00

It looks cold, right?

I got up at 5am inm the morning, which for me is EXTREMELY EARLY. It was tough, but not too bad! I was picked up outside my apartment and spent the next few hours in the car teaching one of my students how to play 'slaps' - a game which entertained me and my siblings for hours when we were younger, and now will probably entertain him and his friends for hours.

We stopped and had breakfast at a motor stop, just some tea and toast, and it was starting to snow. It was, I must say beautiful weather. Although I'm starting to wonder these days whether it's possible for me to get a day when I just say 'this weather is shitty' because it seems like all the weather we get is amazing, be it hot, cold, wet, windy, overcast, sunny...
Anyway, we met the other members of our group for that day、and visited the restroom (no hot water or hand dryers, and the cold water was beautifully sharp on my hands). (where the fuck does my optimism come from??)

Anyway, we arrived in Kyoto and wondered around a temple for a bit. Someone came out of nowhere and gave us some hot plum tea with bits of gold floating around in it. Nice! We went inside the pagoda and marvelled at the fact that the whole thing is on a lean, won't fall down in an earthquake, and uses no nails. (except, I guess, the ones holding the doors).

At a small sweet shop downtown, we made some sweets. It was really entertaining! Do you like my bird? and flowers? and grass with snow on it?
We were all really nervous about trying to get it right, it was hilarious to watch Z attacking his sweet dough, and the kids just going ahh, what the heck, I'll eat this bit here. And this bit. And oh look! I think I need some more dough...

What do you think of my bird? Ahh, It's not bad, but I think I could do with some more practice :) mainly because I like eating the sweet bean inside. That and some bitter green tea are just the perfect combination.

Udon for lunch, a walk around Kyoto, and a drive home playing word games in the car, and a visit to the bookstore, I got back home pretty tired but extremely satisfied. My plan for the next day was to do nothing more than sit at home, read, go to the gym. I've so far achieved sit at home. I went out to do some grocery shopping and go to the bank.
I laughed as the lady in 7/11 told me I looked rather 'wild' today rather than my usual 'cute' style (my hair is up instead of down, and I put in some earrings). I love the 7/11 girls, they're always lovely. I ate a 'camembert cheese' flavoured icecream. Meh, it's not that great. I prefer the other cheese flavoured icecream, it's got more personality. I looked in my mail box and found an unexpected envelope and was rather delighted to find two adult passes to Disney Sea, completely unexpected, from my bank, of all places. So sometime this year, guess where I'm going :)

I'm off to complete the rest of my days plans, even though it is probably almost over. gym and book reading, here I come!

Jan 28th

2012-01-28T01:24:00.001+09:00

I've been going to the gym all week and I feel so good!! It's so nice to be back. I'm trying to figure out how much weight to put on all the machines this week - I didn't want to overdo it because it has been almost a year since I did anything. But I'm stronger that I thought I'd be, and I feel like I can step it up a little next week :) Yay! I can only really exercise there for about 40mins (max) on most days as I can't get there until late, so most of the patrons leave half way through my workout, to have a long leisurely shower and bath, no doubt. I have to sort of rinse quick and dash at the end, and I'm usually the last person out of the change rooms. I'm looking forwards to Mondays, when I can have a nice long workout, go soak in the bath or sit in the sauna for a while, and then go relax on a massage chair for a while after that (yay!! massage chairs!). I can't go on Sat or Sun because I have a membership that lets me go only on weekdays after 6pm. That's pretty convenient for me actually. There is a pool there too, although I think I'm supposed to wear a swimming cap, and first I have to get over my fear of looking ridunkulous in a swimming cap. I mean, I don't look particularly glamorous at the gym anyway, but I also look only semi-serious, and having a swimming cap makes me think that I'll look like I'm supposed to actually be able to swim in a somewhat smooth and efficient manner. I don't know why this thought should hold me back at all, especially seeing as there is probably actually no one using the pool at all at that time of night (I was told that it's usually pretty empty anyway).

One more day of work until my weekend, which I plan to start by having a very relaxing leisurely soak in my own bathtub at home, with bubbles, music, and a glass of vino.

Foodie Weekend

2012-01-23T23:50:00.002+09:00

This weekend I had a nabe party with some lovely friends, and you should all know by now that eating, drinking, and just hanging out with great people is one of my favourite things to do. So, you know, I was pretty happy, and I thought my weekend was pretty fab, and that it couldn't really get any better. Until I got up this morning, and went for brunch with T at this place:

The pizza was FANTASTIC. Just so you know. After a lovely relaxing Monday brunch, we browsed some shops and had fun taking photo's of the pigeons and other things. We went and got some fortune papers and prayed for a smooth path to getting skinny (yes, we are fully aware that the pizza doesn't really help towards that goal) and success in everything else too.

We stopped at this lovely cafe, had some sweets, a nice chat, and then finally felt the effects of last nights party and large lunch creep up on us, and thought it best to part ways and go home for a lovely afternoon nap.

But my day doesn't end there! Finally finally finally! I went to the gym :) actually today I didn't do anything much, just some kind of relaxing stretch class, because most of the time I had to do an induction thing and learn about the rules of the gym and all that jazz. I also got weighed and had electrical currents buzz through me so that the computer could print of a very neat printout of my body's distribution of everything (haha, like where the pizza and sundae went...). I'm going to get zapped again in a month or so, so that's some unfortunate incentive not to frequent too many cafes. Hmm...I wonder how that will go, seeing as in the next month I'm going to Kyoto specifically to make sweets, it's gonna be valentines day, and then I'm going to have a long weekend in Tokyo, and then my boyfriend is coming, and honestly, I wish me good luck.

Art

2012-01-23T23:06:00.002+09:00

I'm a fan both of Ken Tanaka, and of finding art in everything.

junkie

2012-01-19T01:18:00.000+09:00

I'm so incredibly excited - I found a gym that isn't outrageously expensive, and I will actually be able to (hopefully) go to it more than once a week!!!! Oh I'm so excited :) I was actually dancing about it at work. This is how I know I'm a gym addict, which makes me laugh because I haven't done any exercise in a few months (bar the bike ride with my parents over christmas). My current habits are hardly 'gym junkie' - they're more 'chocolate and curl up under the doona' junkie - but I am so excited to be able to go back to it! I've just got to wait a week so that I can join up when there is a special that will save me two months worth of membership (thanks guy that showed us around that whispered to us that we shouldn't sign up straight away!). I'm actually itching to get out there.

Hmmm...so not much else is happening at the moment in my life right now. Just various lunches and dinners planned, a day trip to make Japanese sweets in Kyoto (I promise pictures! I asked my brother to send me pics from Australia, but so far no response...), a few farewell parties (I've been here almost a year now, and other people I arrived with are going home), and just generally filling in the 39 days until I can see my boyfriend again! (like, I'm not counting or anything).

Oh! And I'm thoroughly enjoying using all the bath products I was given over christmas. I actually smell like Honey right now. It's making me a little hungry. Another friend came back from Korea and gave me a facemask today that is made with 'snail mucin'. mmm, doesn't that sound lovely?

Freaky Friday

2012-01-15T00:30:00.001+09:00

Yesterday was Friday the 13th. I woke up not thinking especially about that fact. Until I dropped my IPhone into a bowl of water in my sink. NOT a good start to the day, a day which is in a normal week usually a little more challenging than the rest. For me, I don't even have a weekend to look forward to on Friday, because I work all day on Saturday. I walked to work with a feeling of dread.

As it turned out, my phone was fine. Completely fine. And everything at work went eerily smoothly. So smoothly that at lunch time I was sitting there in shock that it had all gone 100% like it should. A Friday going 100% smoothly, my dears, is much more freaky than anything else Friday the 13th could have thrown at me.

australia holiday part 2

2012-01-14T00:40:00.000+09:00

Christmas day in my family is largely about food. The day starts with a cup of tea and some present opening around the christmas tree. Then my S1, who sometime in the past was designated as chief salad maker in the family, makes everyone a gorgeous fruit salad and we all sit down and eat that. My Dad and brother, who don't seem to have stomachs but rather bottomless pits, usually have toast too. After brekkie (I hadn't heard that word in several years), Mum starts preparations for lunch and we help out when we can. My dad, who can almost literally tell the time by his levels of hungriness, halts proceedings at 11 and hands out tea and christmas cake or some other kind of christmas fare. With most of lunch organised, we all lie around in the sun reading or being generally lazy. Lunch this year was roast turkey, with a plum pudding desert. YUM. Then we might go for a walk, and chill out, and then drink some afternoon tea, and then in the evening snack on olives and sundried tomatoes and cheeses and smoked salmon and other yum stuff.

So, I had a pretty awesome Christmas.
After Christmas, I went to the beach again, read several books (it's been a while since I've done that too!! most holidays I've taken in the past few years, I've spent my time walking around various cities stuffing as many sights into my eyes as they could handle), and discovered that I'm pretty shit at scrabble. My sister is a genious player. That, or she plays waaaay too much when she should be studying.

Before New Years Eve I went to Melbourne. Yay!! I met several friends, all of whom I wish I could somehow deflate, pack into my suitcase, and re-flate whenever I get to my next destination. I had a such a great time with all of them, and I miss them so much, and I hated having to leave : (

I went back home, went to the beach again, and somehow manage to seriously burn my ankles. Just my ankles and a little bit of the top of my feet. Gah!!! How did it happen? I'm usually so carefull! And how did noone notice I was turning red? Anyway, my last day at home I actually had to sort of hobble around. It was that bad. My skin is still recovering now :S oh man, it might literally kill me someday.

And I HATE leaving people at airports. I like arriving, I like going on holiday, I like going to meet people. But I really hate walking through the security away from people I love.

And now I'm back at work! my holiday was over way too fast, but then they always are.

New Years Resolutions 2012

2012-01-04T17:30:00.002+09:00

It's that time of year when I am usually inspired to set some goals. My list is a little larger this year than last year, and unsurprisingly my language skills are high on my list.

Study Japanese
Speak more Japanese
Read more Japanese
Use more Japanese
Move up to the next JLPT level
generally just get awesome at Japanese
Start using the local swimming pool on my weekend
Start following the news
Learn to play a song on my guitar that will be suitable for a duet with Mr A on his ukelele. And of course, just get cool at playing other songs in general.
Severely cut back on chocolate, icecream, and alcohol, at least for the first 2-3 months of 2012
start exercising again properly
send at least one snail mail letter to all the friends I have postal addresses for
figure out what I'm doing/where I'll be in 2013 (ahh, heck)
buy a new computing device (this one really is on its last legs...)

australia holiday part 1

2012-01-04T17:05:00.000+09:00

I went back to Australia for my holiday this year. Home to my parents new house, which, is, by the way, awesome. Apart from the fact that it's surrounded by countryside, which, while having lovely views, means that I suffer a rather explosive batch of sneezing at least twice a day. My sinuses complained the whole time. I couldn't breathe through my nose, and in order to combat the excess amount of pollen or what have you, I ended up spending half my time at home wearing a pink Versace mask thing that my mum picked up in Vietnam sometime. I looked somewhat like a girly darthvader, but it helped with the hay fever. It didn't help with the looks that one of my sisters tends to cast in my direction, a look that I can't quite figure out. Is it amusement? disdain? horror that she is related to me?

Christmas was great, I ate heaps, was visited by the other immigrant family in the area that also has no extended family in the area that we always see on christmas day, only their kids grew and I had no idea which one was which.

A day or two after arriving home, we went for a family bike ride. Well, half the family, Sister 1 drove the car to pick us up at the other end, and Sister 2 was working. I was kind of imagining a nice leisurely bike ride (which it was), but nothing too complicated, right? WELL. Mum and Dad and my brother have kind of gotten serious about biking, and start pulling out fancy doovy bikes with millions of gears that you practically need a licence to operate, start handing me bike gloves and some kind of Lycra shorts with padding in the crotch, a fluroescent yellow bike shirt -
"with wicking, you can wear a singlet underneath if its got wicking, it'll take the sweat away from your body" mum says when I say something about my singlet. "but you can't wear underwear under the Lycra". ..... WHAT?? "well, the whole idea is that you wont get chafing that way" .....WHAT??? "yeah. don't you ride your bike?" MUM. My bike has one permanent gear setting, a really comfortable seat, I probably don't exceed a light jogging pace on it, I ride on the pavement, I don't wear a helmet, I've ridden on it dressed up in heels and a skirt. What more do you need???? I don't ride for speed or for exercise or any particular enjoyment, its just a way of getting from A to B. I'm not sure my mum had fully grasped that fact. Anyway, why do I need gloves? Is it going to be cold? no, its to properly grip the crazy sticky handle bars. Why normal handle bars are not sufficient, I don't know. Anyway, I comforted myself with the fact that we were going to be riding on the rail trail, which is through the countryside, and that the only other people on it would be out walking or horse riding and we wouldn't see much of them. So I complied with the fussing and donned the awkward shorts and other fluorescent gear. Smother myself in sunscreen, and head off.

We passed two really sweet echidnas, loads of butterflies, an awfully disgustingly smelly dead wombat with its guts spilled out (what a pleasant image that is), a handful of people on (normal) bicycles, 5 people on horses (eeeek, my heart beat increases in speed just thinking about them. They're all jittery and I'm jittery and I swear to god some people hide their horses just off the track just so I can ride past and have the bejeezuz scared out of me), and two old guys riding bicycles with lawnmower motors attached. The two old guys smiled in such a wickedly gleeful manner that I had the distinct impression that they had escaped from a home or something for the day and were doing some 'naughty' like two 5 year olds, not 65 year olds.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. It was a lovely ride. Then we got to the end, and my dear parents decide we're going to go sit in a cafe. In fluorescent lycra.

Sigh. The cafe was lovely too. And, like, its not the end of the world if I have to wear fluorescent lycra. I know that at least one person reading this is a serious biker and would probably happily sit down and discuss the finer points of bike seats and padded shorts and shoe attachments, etc, with my parents. I will admit that it was quite comfortable and easy to ride. I just found it kind of ironic (I don't know if I'm using this correctly or in the Alanis Morrissette way) that I came back from Japan kind of looking forward to being able to go out in Public and being able to just blend in, and not have people looking at me sideways. This would work, IF I WASN'T GOING OUT WITH A FAMILY WEARING FLUORESCENT LYCRA WITH BUM PADDING.

lol. I love my family, I really do. They're all good, by the way, although S1 is lovesick because her girlfriend is in America somewhere for the holidays, S2 is a scarily good scrabble player now, and Brother is all grown up and tall and macho.

The ramblings continue, but this my friends, is your first installment for the year of 2011.

Suitcases

2011-12-22T02:01:00.000+09:00

Packing!! Why does it have to be so difficult!! I'm pretty sure I should be quite a pro by now. But try as I might, I can't pare down to the basics, nor can I help but leave what feels like everything to the last minute.

huggable hot chocolate

2011-12-11T23:36:00.001+09:00

Huggable chocolate. What more could a girl want?

I missed the moon eclipse. I never manage to see interesting astronomical events! It's always too cloudy, or I forget, or I don't find out about it until after the event. This time, it was a bit cloudy at the start, and then I was feeling incredibly and unusually tired, so I fell asleep. I'm pretty sure the cloud cleared up not long after I fell asleep :'( ahh, I only have to wait another couple of decades...At least tonight the sky is clear and I still get to gaze at a beautiful moon.

Meanwhile, it's getting much much colder here. I'm on a mission tomorrow to buy a hot water bottle. Preferably a huggable one for maximum tv watching/studying comfort. I also made some AMAZING hot chocolate. And I put it in a hug mug from Max Brennars. And I savoured every delicious sip as it spread gorgeously and luxuriously over my tongue. The secret to amazing hot chocolate, I have discovered, is to melt chocolate into milk, and then stir in some whipped cream for amazing airy smooth velvety fantabulousness.

it's literally an uphill battle

2011-12-04T21:50:00.001+09:00

I got up early today to head into the location of my Japanese test. I haven't been there before, but hey, it's not hard to find. I had a pretty decent map given to me by the testing center. And I figured there would also be bunches of other foreigners also heading to the same place, so I could just follow them. Lo and behold, I got on the train with a whole load of other people speaking any language but Japanese. A good sign, I was heading the right direction. It still being early by my usual standards of rising, my brain proceeded to switch off and I automatically stepped out of the train and trudged up the hill with everyone - admiring the clear blue sky with its perfect fluffy clouds as I went. Just typical that the only time in a while there is perfect weather on my weekend is when I have to be indoors all day for a test!
Anyway, I got there. And I called a friend who I knew was going to the same place.
'Hi! I'm under the clock. Where are you?'
'I'm under the clock!'
'Uh...the one in the courtyard?'
'yeah...'
'uh, no you're not...'
'ohh.......'
I had got off too early, and followed a crowd of foreigners taking another level of the test. A completely different university. I headed off back to the train station and wondered if I would make it....
I really thought I wouldn't. I've started to catch a bit of a cold, I'm a bit wheezy, and I had to run a 25 minute walk up a hill in 7 minutes, in heeled boots. I felt slightly better to see a handful of other people dash off the train and run towards the exit. I cursed as my card told me that I didn't have enough money to get through the ticket gates, and tapped my fingers anxiously as the person in front of me in the line for topping up the card fumbled with their coins. I had no idea if it was even worth rushing. Maybe I'd run all the way and not even make it in time.
I felt a bit more better as I overtook two of the other late comers, and then a third, then a fourth. I'm not as unfit as I'd feared, but that's not really saying much. I cursed the fact that I'd put aside exercise the last month in place of study. I cursed the fact that I've been eating more sweets at work lately and they are now sitting comfortably around my middle somewhere. I cursed the fact that when I said 'oh fuck this' and started to walk, a traffic controller came out of nowhere, looked at his watch, and urged me to keep running, because otherwise I wasn't going to make it. In fact, there was traffic controllers at every corner waving their red traffic wands at me, glancing at their watches and judging that, yes, I would be able to make it if I kept running, every time I wanted to give up. By that stage, I wanted to curl up and die, not sit a test for the next few hours as my chest started to feel an urgent desire to cough, my face was red and sweaty, and my hearing was starting to wobble (is that normal?!?) but somehow I stumbled up the stairs (stairs!! curse the stairs! I'd just run up a flipping hill!) and into the room with 30 seconds to spare, much to the amusement of half the people in the room, I'm sure. It took me half an hour to catch my breath, so I have no idea how that part of the test was. I can put all thought of it out of my mind now until mid Feb when the results come out. I have no idea why it takes that long. It's a multiple choice, computer corrected test. Why does it take 3 months?

Anyway. I've been wanting to update my music collection recently, so I begged a friend to introduce me to someone I wouldn't know. She was a bit worried, but this band is p.e.r.f.e.c.t. for what I want to listen to right now and I can't stop listening to them.

http://sakanaction.blogspot.com/

28 November

2011-11-28T21:33:00.001+09:00

It is not a good time to discover a website that lets me watch for free an extra two seasons of Skins that I have missed. I want to study for my exam next week!! Not addictively watch a tv show about fucked up british teens....but damn its good.

Another good thing in life? The smell of Jasmine and White Frangipani. Thanks to my oilburner my flat is smelling very girly and sweet and lovely. What else is lovely? I'm currently drinking Orange, Lemon, and Jasmine tea. Hear a sigh of utter contentment, followed by a sigh of resignation as I turn off my computer and open my study books...

long distance

2011-11-25T03:53:00.001+09:00

Why do people feel the need to quiz me on my relationship with my boyfriend?? I know our circumstances are kind of unusual, so it's natural that people might want to ask a few questions. But you don't usually meet someone and then ask them if they trust that their boyfriend isn't cheating on them. Do you?
Just because he's another continent away, doesn't mean that your boyfriend in the next town doesn't have enough time/space to cheat just as easily. I've met plenty of guys who are married, have children, live with their wife and mother and still have time to have girls on the side. Do you meet married women and ask them "how do you trust him?" when their husband goes to work each day?
And why do people assume that he's clearly cheating when I could just as easily be cheating on him? According to stereotyping legend, I'm more likely to find it easier to get laid being where I am than him being where he is! Why shouldn't people be concerned that I might take full advantage of that?
And then why do you need to tell me stories about how you tried a long distance relationship once, and it failed miserably. What am I supposed to make of that? What do you mean by the question "How does it work?" How does any relationship work?? I can't hand out little booklets with the main points highlighted in pretty fluro highlighter. It just does. Maybe I define my relationships differently to other people. I don't know. But get more than a little peeved when people start trying to ignite some sort of paranoia when they don't know me all that well yet, and when they definitely don't know my boyfriend.

weekend in osaka

2011-11-21T23:19:00.001+09:00

Excuse me while I just go ahead and fall in love with autumn all over again. I went to visit Osaka on the weekend - I spent a lovely afternoon in some sweet little shops in Shinsaibashi with a very good friend - I wish I had Y35600 spare to drop on the cast iron teapot I saw. It was beautiful. It must make beautiful tea too. One day, one day. I stayed at my my boyfriends parents house overnight and sat on their heated carpet (I should totally get one of those) and ate sukiyaki and wondered what on earth I should say to his 93 year old hard of hearing grandma that speaks old lady Kyoto dialect anyway and also has a few memory problems and so asks the same question about 3 times over with 10 minute intervals. I wish I could speak Japanese well enough to actually ask her questions and understand the reply. I bet she has some interesting stories.

Anyhoo, me and K's dad went autumn viewing. It's been a bit warm this season so apparently it's not as spectacular as it could be, but to me who grew up in a land too warm to have colour changing trees, it looks pretty damn awesome. It was a little chilly today, and I realised I'm probably going to have to pull out my gloves, but the sun shone for the most part, there were rainbows at the bottom of the waterfall (so magical!), I went and prayed for exam success at Katsuoji, had a steaming bowl of ramen for lunch, and went home with some freshly harvested rice which I can't tell you how excited I am to eat, a box of chocolates, and more lovely memories to add to my growing collection.

I'm no photographer, but to share my excitement about autumn there are some pictures after the jump:
Edit: apparantly I'm not skilled enough to insert jump breaks - if anyone can tell me how to do it I'd be very much obliged :)

Clicking on the pics will make them bigger!

silent disco

2011-11-10T23:37:00.001+09:00

Clearly I need to run further if I have enough energy afterwards to have a silent (headphones on) rave party alone in my apartment for another hour at 11pm on a thursday. I'm a bit unfit at the moment after a summer of no exercise and plenty of eating (especially the last week), but perhaps I'm fitter than I thought I'd be! yay!

Anyway, to keep a bit motivated to challenge myself with running, I installed something called "Runkeeper" on my iphone - it tracks my runs and tell me how fast or how far I went. I think it will update to my twitter account under @sunshine880/runkeeper, so if you guys want to help whip me into shape if I don't go running for too long or if I'm too slow, or if you want to challenge me yourself, feel free to follow :) but then again, I'm not really sure about how twitter works, so it might not work - in which case I shall probably not pay any attention.

stuDYING.

2011-11-07T11:49:00.002+09:00

Studying. Others before me have pointed out that you can't write studying without 'dying'. Sometimes, I feel that way!! I go through waves with studying, sometimes I feel fairly confident, sometimes I feel like I'm getting somewhere, and other times sometimes I feel like I've gone backwards or that somehow the big mountain of things I have to study gets 3 times bigger with each step forward I take. Sigh.

Oh well, I'm motivated. And I went to the book store yesterday, and I want to buy EVERY single book in the friggin store. I love book stores. I could spend hours in there. I bought another book for studying. And chocolate coated coffee beans, because they are delicious. And I am so friggin determined right now to conquer this language if it's the last thing I ever do. I'm not leaving until I've got it down.

I've spent a rather gustationallly good week - although I've spent so much money and drank far too much alcohol and I really have to eat salad for the next year. It's totally not going to happen.

On Tuesday night I had chinese at one of my favourite restuarant/izakayaish places in this town. The owner and his family are really lovely. On Wednesday I had a splendid lunch and parfait and girl talk followed by chilling on a sofa with surround sound watching FT Island and SHINee (my friend is a seriously seriously big fan) and deciding that even if it's embarrassing to admit, I quite like watching pop groups of guys who wear way too much glittery nail polish (that's so much more girly than I'll ever be) dance around on stage. I like watching anyone dance well. And one of them did have an especially cute smile. I don't remember who...

On Friday I went out again to another izakaya for more eating and drinking and discussing of life and love (this time with two guys, so it was from a more masculine perspective - it's a totally different kettle of fish)

And I seriously spent ALL DAY yesterday eating and drinking (oh my poor poor liver). More girl talk, but a little more grown up this time as it was a celebration for a friend that's getting married. Nice wine, caviar, fois gras, fresh seafood, steak, cheese fondue....and then on to another friends surprise birthday which happened to be attended by a whole bunch of americans that were overjoyed to be eating at Outback - an American steakhouse with a sort of weird 'Australian' decor - with its ginormous servings of nachos and deep fried onion flower things and deep fried calamari rings and bbq ribs and other stuff that were totally yum. I've never eaten bbq ribs before in my life. Or the onion flower thing. I could take or leave the onion thing, but the ribs were great.

I think I seriously need to rest for a week. However, my exhousemate from Australia is coming to visit on Wednesday, and already have plans to go out on friday night, and honestly one of my greatest pleasures in life is to dine with good company...

pink madness

2011-10-28T01:02:00.001+09:00

I don't hate skype anymore. It's really pretty awesome :) and no, my grandparents haven't died or anything, they are just being lively and active and enjoying the autumn gardening weather or something.

Recently I've been seeing a lot of people turning their facebook profiles pink to somehow raise money for breast cancer. I've heard everything in the supermarket has turned pink too (in Australia, don't know about the rest of the world). While I think it's nice that people are trying to raise awareness/raise money to fund cancer research/whatever, I wonder if the pink money goes towards research for other cancers as well? Breast cancer isn't the only cancer around. Movember doesn't get anywhere near as much press (I think that's for testicular cancer) and the other cancers you could get - what makes them any less deserving of attention? They can be just as devastating to a person and their family and friends : (

I've been practicing my guitar and my fingers are getting a little stronger - it feels a little weird to have callouses on the ends of my fingertips. I've been trying to moisturise my hands with almond oil cream to keep them looking gorgeous (my grandma somehow has instilled in my a fear that my hands will start to look old and I'll regret not moisturising them) but without the cream going anywhere near my finger tips - it's harder than it sounds. I really want to have well conditioned guitar playing hands!

Talking of the guitar - I was starting to think I was slowly getting into the swing of things and then an F major chord was thrown at me. I only tried it out today, but like, double you tee eff, how on earth am I meant to make that finger pattern sound good?? it sounds good on my CD, but when I tried it, it sounds like a strangled doorbell or something! I need to exercise my fingers....OH SHOOT, talking of exercise, I didn't do any today - time for some 1am bad dancing to raise my heart rate a little :D

I'm trying to be a bit healthy after several months of summer total unhealthiness - I've managed to make myself lunch for the past two weeks without fail, which I consider a major major success. Whoot!

october 24th

2011-10-24T00:07:00.000+09:00

Am I being selfish if I get pissed off that my parents didn't attempt to contact me today when they promised they would, even if I was actually unable to take their video skype call?? I did send them a message to tell them that possibly I wouldn't be at home, however there are MULTIPLE ways of contacting me easily, for free, almost instantaneously, and they haven't replied to my message asking them to do that before they tried to call AT ALL. Which means that if I had gone out of my way to stay at home and do nothing all day so they could video skype - because I also have skype and viber on my phone which means its MORE than possible to just call for a chat anytime - it would have been a wasted effort, as far as I can see. Now that daylight savings has kicked in in Australia, there is an extra hours time difference and with my schedule it just means that it's really awkward for me to have an actual life if I'm sitting around waiting for non existent skype dates!! Grrr. I think I've ranted about this before :( A bit of mutual consideration would be nice. Like parents, your daughter isn't trying to be difficult here. She actually would like to speak to you. She tries to cooperate with this whole friggin thing as much as possible. But if you're not prepared to be a little flexible with your times then why the fuck should she be?? You can't expect her to do things you won't do yourselves.

I'm also slightly worried because I haven't heard from my grandparents in a while, and I usually hear from them, at least if I send them and email I get a reply. And seeing as my family forgets to tell me shit that I might actually be interested in all the time and precede to tell me about the lives of other people that I have no memory of or have never ever met, I start wondering if they would actually remember to tell me if one of my grandparents died, because they might just assume someone else told me?? I think thats really a ridiculous thought, but you know, I do start to wonder sometimes.

Aside from being pretty pissed off right now, I had a pretty good week. Found a new bar nearby with some cool people in it, managed to prepare my own lunch for a week, had an all night karaoke session, and bought a halloween costume (a witch costume - I was going to buy a really cool ghost in a hat costume, but it was a bit hot and uncomfortable and I have to wear (and sometimes sing and dance in) the costume for a whole week so unfortunately I decided against it) (yes, you will probably see pictures on facebook).

wildflowers

2011-10-19T00:28:00.003+09:00

Walk into a field of wildflowers. They don't fuss with their appearance. But have you ever seen colour and design quite like it?

- Even dying flowers like the spider lilies above, which my town is apparently quite famous for, look pretty good. I was a bit ~~busy~~ lazy and didn't manage to get out to see them until a week too late. Most of them were browning off and dying, although a couple of them were still the vibrant red colour that I would have seen had I been out there a week before.

This is the colour the flowers would have been a week before...imagine that red multiplied by thousands and paste it onto the picture above!

Oh well. Good thing I'll be here this time next year too, I'll go out and see some lovely coloured ones then!

It's October 13th, and I can't think of a Title.

2011-10-13T00:39:00.000+09:00

This is my guitar! Isn't it awesome? Well, I happen to think so. I took my first proper lesson on Sunday and it went okay - I have gone from missing the strings entirely when I tried to strum, to actually being able to change a chord or two without a large gaping pause in the middle while I try to find my fingers.

My teacher asked me to think of some songs I'd like to eventually be able to play on my marvelous new toy (I think I'll call it Alice) - of course my mind went blank and I promised I'd bring some ideas next week. I've created a bit of a playlist on itunes, HOWEVER I'm pretty sure there are some brilliant songs out there that I simply don't know. SO if there are any guitar players reading this - and I know there is at least one!! - or if you know of any awesome songs to play on guitar, please comment below. I like to aim high, so difficult/complicated songs are also invited to this list. As an amazing awesome incentive, if your song suggestion becomes a song I eventually play, I will upload it here after I've perfected it and dedicate it to you :) It might take a while, but when I become rich and famous, you'll pretty much become rich and famous too.

And it's Autumn! Which of course, for me, means FOOOD!!! It's harvest time and an abundance of Orange has hit my traditional food gathering place - the supermarket. This marvelous fruit on the left is a persimmon, and I happen to L.O.V.E them, so I'm a pretty happy chappy right now. I have to be a little careful because Japanese sweet companies have this sneaky marketing technique in which they only release certain flavours at certain times of the year. Which means I constantly think "OMG new chocolate! I have to try it!! And I have to try it NOW because it might not be here in a month or two!! So I end up eating tonnes of sweets. Which, for the sake of my teeth and waistline, I should probably avoid doing. I should definitely stick to Persimmons (which, if I don't let bright attractive packaging fool me - and it very easily does, I actually do prefer over chocolates).

I had my first experience in a Japanese doctors today as I went to get some medication for a cold. It wasn't too bad, apart from having to wake up earlier than usual. I had my chest xrayed for the first time ever. In fact, I've never had anything xrayed before. I had my temperature taken for the first time since I was in Primary School I think. I've managed to avoid doctor's offices for most of my life and can actually probably count the number of times I've had to see the doctor on my hands. I have a feeling this statistic will drastically change living here, in the Land of See a Doctor for Everything. I wouldn't usually see a doctor for a cold - in fact in London at least you are actively encouraged to STAY AWAY from the doctors office if you get a cold. It makes sense to me. Why would you want some contagious person sitting next to you for an hour (or two, today) in the doctors office if you've got some other illness to contend with? And your body with all its amazingness usually does a pretty good job of fighting off colds without too much trouble. Anyway, this cold hasn't cleared up very quickly so I finally relented. I spent a long time in the waiting room watching a TV show about some amazing spider-crab gathering in Port Phillip Bay (near Melbourne, Australia) in which thousands of crabs gather and shed their exoskeleton together. Was quite interesting, and I was thinking that its so cool that such a grand event happens every year, and I was living so close to it all and yet I had absolutely no idea.

PS: disclaimer: having absolutely no medical background I do not wish to influence anyones decision to see or not see a doctor - I recommend that you do what your doctor or your mother has recommend you do, and I respectfully ask that if you should have something contagious and you see me in the doctors office, you sit as far away from me as possible, even though I'm sure you're a very nice person. If you really want to say 'hi', feel free to send me airmail in the form of paper planes (wash your hands first!) because that would be fun! But please be careful of other patients, because paper planes aren't particularly known for their accuracy in reaching their intended destination...

where everybody knows your name

2011-10-07T23:38:00.001+09:00

During my lunch break today, I was offered (seriously) a job in a strip club. I didn't know whether to be flattered or not - multiple reasons for both feelings. Actually, I was most flattered by the fact that a random stranger approached me and started speaking Japanese to me, at normal speaking speed. (yay!! dancing in my head! It's beginning to happen more frequently - am I moving differently or something??) And, it might sound a little strange to some people, but he wasn't at all sleazy. It was a serious business proposition. I wasn't too flattered by the fact that some people would pay me to take my clothes off. I mean, it is flattering in a way, but then seriously, when I drink alcohol, I'm happy to see any reasonably good looking people naked. ;P

Anyway, it's probably good money and all, but I might have visa difficulties and I quite like my current job, thanks.

I was slightly alarmed by the fact that a high school girl (who I don't know) came out of the lift today at the train station and asked me "Amy?". I was startled out of my lunch time daze (I was daydreaming that I quit my current job and became a famous stripper that made tonnes of money and slept with all sorts of powerful men and women and eventually when I was too old to continue I wrote my memoirs and caused a scandal and that my grandchildren disowned me but I didn't really care all that much because they were such prudes and I went out and died my hair pink like Katy Perry's....and so on and so forth...) and nodded a 'yeah?' and then she said "Hello!!" and I squeaked a "Hello!" because my voice wasn't prepared to speak, and she went to catch her train and I continued on wondering what had just happened and reminding myself that I should never ever ever step outside without making sure I've got my shirt on the right way because if I do, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the whole town will talk about it.

It's not quite Cheers, but this song is looping through my head....

my mind's in London Still...

2011-10-05T00:11:00.001+09:00

I'm not really sure where I will end up in the future. There are a few places where it's certainly possible I could live. But I got a bit of a shock the other day when I said to someone 'If I go back home blah blah blah....' and then realised that as I was saying that, it wasn't Melbourne that popped up into the back of my head as it usually does if I'm talking about 'home'. It was London! Despite it's cold, grey weather, it's surly customer service, the tube strikes and sometimes depressingly pessimistic citizens, I miss London right now with a bit of an ache. There's a lot of things and people I love in London :'(

Here's a song that makes me homesick for being homesick for Australia in London. I hope that sentence isn't too difficult to untangle!

I have...

2011-09-28T23:46:00.001+09:00

I have a guitar! It's lovely :) Now I just have to start lessons so I can actually do something with it rather than gaze at it sitting in the corner next to the TV and wondering how the hell I'm going to get nice sounds coming from that thing. Because so far, each time I've picked it up, nice melodic sound hasn't happened!

I also have cold. It's AWFUL. And crazily, so do almost all my colleagues. We all got struck severely at once. We obviously spend too much time together. The worst thing is, we all felt like lying in a dark room today and dying, but there is no one else to take over if we did, and all of us were equally as bad as the other and definitely not up to somehow picking up the slack if one of us carked out.

I have just over 2 months to study for my Japanese Test. If I didn't have a cold I would be studying right now, but colds do tend to do strange things to my brain and it's usually better if I don't try to over strain it.

I had a great weekend walking around a artsy town famous for pottery. We popped our head into lots of little pottery shops and I learned (learnt? I'm so screwed up with my English lately! which one is British English? I usually prefer that when I'm spelling. Comment below and receive awesome "You're so Great!" vibes from Amy) why the teapot handle had a hole in it. It wasn't as complicated as I was imagining, it was more of a "oh, well, that's just how it turns out when you put it on the turnytable thing" than a "well, it was carefully designed this way because it has style and elegance. It also cleverly distributes the heat gives the brewing tea an extra quality that ladidadia...."

I have no more energy to report on anything tonight. Dream Sweet, World!

where is the love ya'll?

2011-09-19T13:52:00.000+09:00

I went out last night for a friends birthday and had a really great time - food, club, and karaoke, these things are generally going to get good results! (The love was found here!). But two things happened that just really shitted me off.

First, I was asked: "How long have you been here?". Now, that isn't necessarily a bad question. But I do have a big problem with this question here in Japan because there is a percentage of the foreign population that will take pride in their having survived in Japan for a longer period of time than someone else, and who have a habit of rather condescendingly being like 'Oh, you're a newbie! How sweet. You must be experiencing some culture shock! Don't worry, I'll show you how things work'. Maybe not always in those words, but generally to that effect.

Ok, so the sentiment is sweet. Thanks being so kind to offer to help. BUT you don't know a goddamn thing about me and what I may or may not know. Several times, the condescending foreigner has less of an idea than I do about whats going on, and has had language skills that are more limited than mine, despite having been here for possibly several years longer. I could help them out a bit. I hope to Harold* I never come across as condescending to other foreigners (or anyone else). I mean, I'm aware that even though I might know a fair bit more than the average joe, I still need to ask for help and there are probably things that I'm unaware I should be aware of. There's just no need to turn it into some lameassed competition.

The person that asked me that last night had a particularly snobbish air about it, so I got shitted off for a good deal longer than I should waste my time being shitted off over it! Also, he was displaying characteristics of being a dickhead type of foreigner of the kind that probably help add fuel to the fire that leads towards the next thing that shitted me off.

I don't think I really need to explain what is shitty about being denied entry from somewhere because you are foreign. It's just shitty.

let your soul gravitate
to the love ya'll...

*('our father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name'...thank you Lano and Woodley)

toes

2011-09-18T11:11:00.001+09:00

Last night I dreamt that I had grown extra toes on my right foot.

First, I found on extra toe hidden sort of underneath my smallest toe (on a normal foot). Then I looked a bit harder, and saw another one next to that. Then I suddenly realised that while I was looking at those two smaller toes and wondering why I hadn't noticed them my whole life, I actually had 3 extra bigger toes sitting clearly and obviously next to the other 5 toes that I had originally thought were the only toes I had.

Whats with that?

redbeanredface

2011-09-16T00:58:00.001+09:00

I am a little embarrassed by the fact that, as of today, my anpan consumption has been commented on 4 times on separate occasions in 4 separate bakeries/shops. I know I eat it regularly, but I didn't think I ate it that much! Most people are surprised that as a Caucasian foreigner I eat it. As I've been eating it for ages I just assume that its normal, but when I think about it my family members don't really appreciate it, even though - bless them - they did try when I bought them home a whole load of red bean related products one time. At the same time as being embarrassed (I guess I have been eating a bit too much lately and it is pretty sugary packed stuff), I feel a little warm and fuzzy inside by the fact that my anpan(man if I can get it, because he's cute) consumption is causing people to just speak to me without worrying too much about me possibly not understanding anything because I might not understand Japanese. As if my 'ability' to eat anpan correlates with my ability to speak too.
Food is amazing, here it is breaking down cultural barriers. It's interesting that communities define themselves so much through certain types of food. I'm such a food geek. If I was going to go back to Uni just for the heck of it and not for a particular vocation related course, then I would study the anthropology of Food. I love food. I somehow manage to relate everything back to food. My meaning of life is essentially "FOOD". Food is a bit of a weird word when you write it out too many times, and by doing so I'm starting to experience a bit of psychological detachment of the word from the meaning here, but anyway, if you're ever stuck for something to get me for a birthday present, get me something related to food and I'll be more than delighted :)

Radio - ラジオ

2011-09-09T01:06:00.001+09:00

I forgot about radio.
ラジオのことをすっきり忘れました。

You know, that thing where you press the button and sound comes out? The one that has a life of it's own and speaks and plays songs you hate as well as songs you love? The one that puts annoying advertising jingles in your head? The one that introduces you occasionally to something new? I'd forgotten about it.
知っているでしょう？あのボタンを押して音を出すもの？好きな曲も嫌いな曲も鳴る、あのもの。うるさいコマソンを鳴ったり時々新しい曲を紹介させたり。。。あれをすっきり忘れました。

I was just wasting time on 'Webify Me' - firefox's attempt to make a collage of my life on the web. And I came across this question:
ごろごろしていて 'Webify Me'　の質問を答えていました。そしてこの質問を出ました：

Blackout! You can't watch TV, so you light some candles and:

A) Dig up some batteries and listen to the radio.
B) Invite the neighbors, light a fire and sing camping songs all night.
C) Find a friend and play games that don't require electricity. Like chess.
D) Drive to the next town — oh sweet Wi-Fi, I've found you!

停電！テレビを見えないので、ろうそくに火をつけて：

A) 電池を見つけてラジオを聴く。
B)　隣さんを誘って、たき火の側にフォークソングを歌う。
C)　友達を呼んで電気を要らないゲームをする。たとえばチェス。
D)　隣町へ運転する―いとしいWi-Fi,見つけた！

And reading A) - thats when it struck me. It wouldn't even occur to me to do that. Because I'd forgotten I could.
A)を読んだ後、気をつけました。停電ならラジオを聴くのはぜんぜん思い立ちないはずです。なぜなら、ラジオを聴くことができるのはぜんぜんワスレました。

I was a little shocked. Radio used to be an essential part of my day. I listened to it in the car, while I was cooking, while I was cleaning, while I was relaxing... I used to think that it was pretty much impossible to function if I didn't listen to the Top 40 countdown each week.
ちょっとドッキリしました。昔はラジオが毎日不可欠だった。車にいったり、料理をしたり、掃除をしたり、リラックスしたりしながらいつも聞いた。ラジオがないなら生けないと思いました。

But I forgot about the radio.
そんなに大切だったのに、忘れました。

If you are interested in seeing what Firefox thinks a collage of my Web-life looks like, click here.
Firefoxによると私のインタネットライフの貼り絵を見たいなら、ここでクリック。

Guitar - ギター

2011-09-07T03:00:00.000+09:00

On Sunday I'm taking a trial lesson for the acoustic guitar.

日曜日にアコースティックギターの無料体験レッソンを受けます。

I'm a little nervous, but I'm looking forward to it :) I wish there was something active I could do around here though!! I have a vague plan to start guitar lessons on Sunday and follow it by a bike ride to the pool. It would be nice to be able to take some kind of dance class though.

ちょっとドキドキしているけど、楽しみにしてます！この辺でもっと活動的なすることができたらいいのに。日曜日にギターレッソンを受けて、自転車を乗ってプールへ行くのような曖昧なプランがあります。ダンスクラスを受けることができたらいいけどね。

Right now, I've just finished making soup. It smells good, but I can't eat it yet because its 3am and I should actually probably go to sleep. Dang!

今、スープを作ったばかり。いい匂いですけど、まだ食べられません。なぜなら朝3時で寝たほうがいいと思う。。。

2011-09-03T11:42:00.000+09:00

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. - Benjamin Franklin

admitting defeat

2011-09-02T11:41:00.003+09:00

I'm finally getting sick of this hot weather. I went to the beach last weekend, and it was fantastic, marvelous weather, the water was gorgeously warm, and I wanted to stay there all week. But I had told myself it was the last weekend I will probably get to go to the beach this summer - apparently jelly fish will start appearing now, and I also have other things to do!
But now that I have no plans to lie around on a beach, I really want autumn to come. I want to do some more hiking! in cooler weather! I want to wear jeans! and not feel like I've worked up a sweat just because I stood up from sitting down!!

F*** you, Shakespeare

2011-08-16T03:02:00.000+09:00

Because parting isn't a sweet sorrow, it's a mean, strangling, choking hold on the throat from something that tightens its grip the more you try to resist.
I'm only slightly comforted by the fact that I know eventually it will tire, and it will grip less frequently, less tightly.
Why does it have to wait to ambush me in the darkness and the quiet that is supposed to be my rest before the onslaught of work tomorrow?

暖かさ　Warmth

2011-08-01T18:04:00.010+09:00

How could one not love the life one lives if one can sit on a summers eve with friends and enjoy the pleasures of slight inebriation and the general merryness of companionship?
友達と一緒に夏の夜に座って、少し酔っているの喜びを楽しんで、交際といるの一般的な幸福を享受できれば、どのように生きている生命を愛していないんですか？

When you can play like a kid in a park made for the purpose of having fun, drive along the coastline and watch the sun sparkle off the sea, and feast on fresh and delicious food, how could anyone stop the feeling of warmth that comes from being so incredibly greatful for the life I've been granted, for the people I've met, and for the opportunities I've been lucky enough to take?
楽しみを持つために作った公園で子供みたいに遊べること、海岸線にドライブして太陽の光を海から輝くのをみること、新鮮で美味しい食べ物をたべることができれば、いろんな人々を出会ったり機会を取れたり幸運を付与してきた生活のための、信じられないほど感謝している気持ちから暖かさの感覚をどのようにだれだが停止することができますか？

I can feel all this even before I come home and open my computer to find small thoughts from people all over the world. It's so frustrating that words can't properly convey how truely I appreciate each and everyone of them. It doesn't matter how many times I say it or how many times I don't say it, how many or how few words I use, it's either going to sound to me not enough or way too cheesy and over the top (like this post). I can't even do enough for a person to show my appreciation. I truely wish I could do as my ipod does and sync my brain to another persons and just copy/paste this feeling!

(I might try to translate the above paragraph later if I'm feeling enthusiastic, but it is slightly exhausting and I'm not even sure I ever make any sense in English, let alone Japanese...)

bit of a rant.

2011-07-24T03:51:00.002+09:00

Yesterday I got into the lift and muttered thank you to an old lady for holding the door open. This small tiny utterance caused her to rain praise on my fantastic amazing superb brilliant Japanese skills and I sighed inwardly as I opened my praise deflection umbrella and politely denied her praise, while wishing that my Japanese were actually properly decent so that I could explain in a nice way to her (she did seem like a sweet old lady) that she was, among other things, being damn patronising by saying that. Its just one more small thing that is so damn frustrating about being a golden haired blue eyed "genetically blessed" freak of nature. I would argue that I'm not exactly genetically blessed, because my skin burns faster than my toast, because my eyes are light I can't see a damn thing when the light is too bright, I freckle in a not cute way, and who the hell wants that when its summer!?! Historically and culturally blessed in many situations, maybe, but not really genetically.

Anyway, I guess I'm lucky to be experiencing a kind of positive discrimination. It could be worse. It could be a lot worse. I'm only really experiencing well-intentioned discrimination. Like, gee, thanks guy at the convenience store for not even trying to speak to me to see if I would prefer a fork over chopsticks or not. I would have actually prefered the chopsticks. I'm actually more adept at eating salad with them than with a fork. It's easier, you don't push the salad around and bruise it, and I'm just kind of lazy and you can use chopsticks with one hand but with a fork I need to use two hands and more concentration balancing lettuce leaves as I guide them too my mouth. I know that the other foreign guy in town usually asks for a fork. But, hey, thanks for assuming that I won't speak any Japanese and saving me the embarrassment of me not understanding what you're asking by just not giving me an option and throwing a fork in there.
I get just as/sometimes more frustrated with some other westerners here. I have heard a person complaining about the fact that people try to speak to them in Japanese or that they have to ask for a fork. "Like duh, it's pretty obvious I'm foreign, right?". Um yeah. Population statistics here indicate that you probably are. But it's NOT so obvious whether or not you've lived in Japan for 2 months or 10 years or you're american or german (no one has tried to speak to me in german) and all other assumptions which can be made about a person - well, excuse me while I bang my head against a brick wall.
Anyway, most the time it's a mild amusement or very minor frustration, but it suddenly struck me today how much I've been getting used to this when today the guy that checked out my items at the supermarket treated me like a normal person, in the same way that he'd treated the lady who was in the line before me. He didn't get suddenly flustered and mute when I asked him to repeat the total price (because I was distracted and dream-staring at some cookies - busted! I do that too often...), he just repeated the price like a normal person and commented that I must be busy at work today and asked what I was doing here in this town in a 'this is a small town and I notice regulars and I've noticed that you are a new(ish) regular so I'm curious' kind of way. It's a really minor thing, but I was so happy that he just conversed normally. And then I got slightly worried that this minor interaction caused me to react in such a 'wow that makes me happy' kind of way.

50 Random Questions - Chapter 2. - 50ランダム質問　－　第２章

2011-07-20T00:51:00.000+09:00

8. When was the last time you drove out of town?
町から運転したことはいつでしたか？
My friend drove me to the next town a few weeks ago. We partied!
友達は数週間前に次の町に私を運転しました。パーティーをしました！

9. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?
5日以内に映画を見に行きましたか。
I haven't been even once in two years!
2年間で映画館に一回行った事がありません！

10. Are you hot?
暑いですか。
Yes. I'm not even moving and I'm sweating. It's gross, but not gross enough to stop me loving summer.
暑いですよ。動いていないけど発汗しています。嫌だけど、夏はまだすきです。

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
最後の飲み物はなんでしたか。
Chillled water. I'm a big fan :)
冷水でした。大ファンです！

12. What are you wearing right now?
今何を着ているんですか？
An army green dress from UniQlo. It's so so comfortable.
ユニクロで買った緑のドレス。本当に心地よいなドレス。

13. Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?
自分で車を洗うか洗車場でやらせますか。
So far my chariot has not required washing.
今までチャリは洗うことを必要ではありませんでした。

14. Last food that you ate?
最後の食べた食べ物はなんですか？
I ate some cherries! They were delicious~
さくらんぼを食べました。美味しかったよ～

15. Where were you last week at this time?
先週の同じ時間何をしていましたか。
I would like to tell you that I was doing something ultra exciting and awesome, but I was totally just sitting here doing not much!!
超素晴らしい何かをやっていたと書きたいですけど、ここで座って何もしなかった！

50 Random Questions - Chapter 1. - 50 ランダム質問 - 第1章

2011-07-13T03:57:00.001+09:00

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?
3時間前、どこにいましたか？
3 hours ago I was in Mos Burger drinking a milkshake whilst trying to remember the words for 'telegraph pole' and 'pillar' in Japanese.
3時間前、Mos Burgerでミルクシェークを飲みながら、「電柱」とか「柱」を日本語で記憶しようとしていました。

2. Who is your favourite person?
好きな人は誰ですか？
I have a lot of favourite people, so I can't choose just one.
好きな人たちはたくさんいますから、一人だけを選べられません。

3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?
クレヨンを食べたことはありますか？
No, I have not.
食べたことはありません。

4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?
10フィート以内ピンク色のものはありますか？
The pattern on my box of tissues is pink.
ティッシュの箱のパターンはピンクです。

5. When is the last time you went to the mall?
モールに行って最後の時はいつでしたか？
3 weeks ago, I bought a bicycle :)
3週間前、自転車を買いました。

6. Are you wearing socks right now?
今靴下を履いていますか？
No, if I wore socks I'd probably overheat and die.
いいえ、靴下を履いたらオーバヒートすると死ぬでしょう。

7. Do you have a car worth over $2,000?
$2000の値段がある車を持っていますか。
No. Did I tell you about my fabtacular bicycle?
持っていません。すばらしい自転車について話は聞くのはありませんでした？

Utsumi 　内海

2011-07-11T00:24:00.000+09:00

At Utsumi - 内海

I had a great day at the beach! I can't think of anything else to say about it, except that I LOVE SUMMER!!
今日、梅でとても楽しかった！「夏は大好き！」以外の言いたいことはない。

Announcement　－　発表

2011-07-04T16:43:00.001+09:00

日本語をもっと使いたいからこのブログはバイリンガルになります。日本語は上手じゃないだから、間違いはたくさん作るはず。日本語を知ってる人は間違いを見る場合、私に教えていただければ本当に感謝します。
I want to use Japanese more, so this blog is going to become bilingual. I'm pretty shit at Japanese, so I expect I'll make heaps of mistakes in it. If you are someone that knows Japanese and you see a mistake, I'd be really greatful if you let me know.

ミスをたくさん作り、意味はほとんど解読不能場合でも、今の一番重要なことは私がなんらかの日本語を出すこと。
But even if I make gazillions of mistakes and my sentences are almost undecipherable, right now the most important thing for me is that I actually produce some kind of Japanese.

だって、言語スポンジにしようと水みたいに日本語を吸収するのは大いに結構だけど、水を絞り出さなくて泡も作らなくていいスポンジじゃないでしょう。
Because its all very well to try and be a language sponge, and soak up language like its water, but you haven't got a very good sponge if you can't squeeze the water out and makes lots of froth and bubbles.

fate?

2011-07-01T00:34:00.000+09:00

So anyway. I met someone once because we lived in the same residence in Uni, in Australia. Some of you will know him, he studies dentistry :)
We have shared tea and cookies and meals and other various fun times.

A few years later, I moved to London, on the other side of the world. In deciding to try to attempt to keep my Japanese skills somewhat decent, I headed off one day to a conversation exchange at a pub in Soho. Not really knowing where I was going, and not knowing anyone, I neared the area and heard some Japanese being spoken. Taking a chance, I turned around and asked if they were going the same place I was going. It turned out they were, it was their first time there too. It turned out to be the best chance I'd taken, as these people were actually normal. I mean, there were a few normal people, and I'm not exactly claiming to be entirely 'normal' myself. Whatever 'normal' is. BUT I stopped going to the conversation exchanges after I encountered too many people who - well, if you've ever been to a conversation exchange, you might know what I'm talking about. It's very easy to group people I guess in exactly the same way I would get annoyed if they grouped me.
So I will get on with my story and just say that most the people there I wasn't interested in hanging out with. But the randoms I first introduced myself too were actually cool people, and in my view 'normal'. So we hung out a fair bit in London.
Then, after 2 years or so I decided to head to Japan. Randomly, I was assigned to a small town not far from the home town of a couple of these people that I had met randomly. So through the grandness of modern technology, I was introduced to a good friend of theirs, and I went and introduced myself to them and a few other people and had some jolly times, and a couple more jolly times, and met some more people, and then as one does in these modern times, I 'friended' a few more people on facebook. AND LO AND BEHOLD was I not drinking and making merry with someone who has also drank and made merry with the very person I first mentioned in my very first paragraph?? All those many miles and years ago??

Sometimes, I really think the idea of 'fate' has something to it.

Thursdays

2011-06-24T01:49:00.000+09:00

Thursdays totally drain me!! I think I need to remember to take coffee to work next thursday.

In other news, the weather is beautifully hot and I'm loving it. Apparently other people are hating it.

I might be getting a cold, I sincerely hope not!

I started exercising again and have enlisted the help of my upstairs neighbour to kick me out of my lazy habits. (I almost made him promise to actually kick me if I looked like slacking off!) Rain, hail, extreme humidity, or slight hangover, I am going to get out and do some kind of exercise. In return I will encourage less 7/11 reliance. 7/11 may lose some substantial profits, but alas, as nice as they are in there, it has to be done.

I miss my sisters! I'm most likely going home in January for a bit, so they'd better not plan any holidays for that time!

Capsicums

2011-06-20T00:35:00.001+09:00

I spent the day eating awesome food, drinking wine, relaxing with friends, and drawing a capsicum. What an awesome way to spend the day.
One of those friends is an art teacher, and we were at her place, hence the capsicum. Which happens to be the best capsicum I've ever drawn. It also happens to be the only one I've ever drawn, but it actually looks like a capsicum, which is something I'd never thought before would be acheivable. All because of two things I was taught today - I didn't start from the outline. And I started with a completely different colour. WOW what a difference it makes. It makes me want to go out and buy a sketch pad and some crayons. But first I have to buy a bike. And some socks. And figure out what bra size I am in this country. And I have to tighten my purse strings and start saving for August (AMERICA HERE I COME!!!)

Edit: A photo of my capsicum :)

2011-06-16T11:55:00.000+09:00

I can't stop dreaming, and it's not good. I feel unrested and frustrated and whatever the dream makes me feel. I'm dreaming dreams which make me feel jealous and angry and sad and upset. Whats up, imagination? Why can't you dream of sweet things like puppys and birthdays and candy floss? Why are you freaking out?

Maybe it's the lack of exercise. Must start doing something.

Wow...how would you react?

2011-06-12T01:00:00.001+09:00

A friend linked this on facebook. WOAH. I am amazed she even managed to keep it together, I would have died of shock. If not the first one, definitely the second. If not death, at least a panic attack. And seriously, now noone can propose to me without me being a little dissappointed that I didn't get dancing crowds and coordinated waterfalls with music and craziness.

And P.S. I am such a sop, I can't watch weddings or romantic scenes in movies anymore without being in extreme danger of being moved to tears. WTF dude. When did I turn into such a stereotypical girl?

flying

2011-05-16T22:05:00.000+09:00

I dreamt last night that I was on an aeroplane. A lot of people I knew, important-or-significant-to-me people, were on the plane with me. And we flew around in circles for ages and ages as people argued with me about where I should land. Some grumbled that if I landed there, it would take them longer to get home. If I landed there, they wouldn't be able to buy their favourite cheese/brunetti's cake/coffee/noodles/whatever. If I landed there, they didn't suit the weather. If I landed there, they didn't suit the language.

Before I woke, I realised it didn't really matter where I landed, because all the important-or-significant-to-me people were on the plane with me. Although they wished for me to land in a certain place over another, they were all fully prepared to land with me.

But I still didn't know where to land, so I kept flying.

2011-05-15T23:51:00.000+09:00

I'm not even really sure what it is I want to say, so how can I even begin to say it?

Smile!

2011-05-12T11:59:00.000+09:00