Je Suis Delicieux - T-shirt on some girl

So as always I guess I should start off apologising about my absenteeism. To be fair I have an excuse this time, I was off the grid for the past month and a bit. It feels good to be back! Obviously a lot has happened and I'm not even sure where I left off... I moved into my new apartment. It's great and I'm really enjoying it so far... it's a lot bigger than my last place, it has a much better location and view (no cemetery, woo) but sadly it's very empty as I have barely any furniture! Oh well. The transition between jobs went off without a hitch. I feel like I'm settling in well at the new company and my new coworkers are pretty cool so that's nice. In terms of my personal life... nothing interesting whatsoever is happening. I've been listening to good music as always and started sketching a lot more in my free time. For some reason it seems like I have a lot more free time with my new job which is nice. I'm looking to make a couple t-shirts but maybe I've mentioned that before. They feature random drawings I've done including one of Godzilla rampaging Tokyo and one of outer space (naturally). Yet another birthday is coming up. I feel like I should just cancel it and stay 25. I don't have any plans and it doesn't seem like much of anything will happen. Oooooooooh well. On a bizarre note - I keep seeing people throw up lately. It's entertaining and I'm grateful it's not me who is throwing up but I can't help but wonder why all of a sudden everyone wants to puke in front of me. I guess I'm a good audience? June and July are puke season?

Holy Shit. Not dead, just lazy.

Wow it has been a seriously irresponsibly long time since I last blogged. No, I'm not dead... just lazy. Suffice to say a lot has happened since I last updated so bear with me while I try to include every thing in this update. I guess the last time I blogged I had just declined another contract with my company. Now there are only two weeks left on my current contract so I'm saying my goodbyes to all the students I have known and loved for the past two years and getting ready to start my new job. I spent a good month applying for as many jobs as possible and I went to three interviews and luckily for me I found a job that I think will be a good fit for me. So far the company sounds really reasonable and respectful which is more than I can say for the one I work for now. The job will be similar to the one I have now but it will be focused on teaching children and it is in Yokohama. So last Monday I went to observe an experienced teacher at one of the schools and I will go again tomorrow. Even now that I'm leaving the school I've worked at for two years I'm having a hard time believing I've been living in Japan for two years already. I say it all the time but it needs repeating, it's like a dream. So since I'm leaving the company I came here with, I have to move apartments. It has been a trip looking for a new place to live. I never knew that racism was still socially acceptable. I guess it Japan it is ok to refuse someone's rental application based on the fact that they are not Japanese. I make decent money and I've never paid my rent late in the seven years I've lived on my own but that isn't counted for anything. In the past few weeks I have applied for four apartments, two of which I have been rejected based solely on the fact that I'm not Japanese. I'm really lucky I have a Japanese friend who has vouched for me with one of the applications, that one was successful so I am going to sign the contracts today. I'm trying not to get excited until I have the keys and am living in the apartment though. Throughout this whole apartment hunt I've been packing... it's amazing how much crap one accumulates over the course of two years. When I first came to Japan I had three suitcases, now I have seven boxes and three suitcases. Yikes. My Mum says I'm a pack rat... I'd like to disagree but I guess the evidence speaks for itself. I guess back in December the last of my good friends from training had just left Japan but he has had a change of heart and has decided to come back. I'm really looking forward to our reunion, it's a rare thing when you meet friends you really connect with and can be yourself with. So since I last blogged I've DJ'd two more times, both were relative successes I suppose. I'm not sure when the next time I'll DJ is. Not sure what else to write... So I guess that's it for now. Good to be back.

Happy Holidays!

Well I know it's been a really long time since I updated this. I'm lazy and a lot has been going on!

I did indeed go and take pictures of my bandmate's other band. It was pretty fun. I got to sit around and listen to them practice and take some pics. Unfortunately the lighting was less than ideal.

The DJ event was a big success! Although I had no idea what I was doing up there... the small crowd seemed to like what I played so that was nice (I was the first person on so most of the crowd hadn't arrived yet). As the night went on a lot of people came and danced so that was great. I was the official photographer so there are some photos of the event. They have not been posted anywhere YET but they will be at some point. I got to meet a lot of cool people that night so I'm pleased. We're going to do it again as the venue was really pleased with the turn out but this time we get to do it on a weekend. Yay.

I am in my hometown of Vancouver now visiting my family. It's 4:30 in the morning and my jet lag got me up really early. I'm kind of at a loss for what I should do now until everyone wakes up at like 7 or 8. I dont even know how to turn on the TV!!? I've already fed the cat way too much smoked salmon and made myself breakfast.

Oh. I also declined another contract with my company so in June I'm officially jobless. It's kind of nice to have a bunch of possibilities of what to do next. :)

I think that should bring everything up to speed!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ghetto Happy Dining - Restaurant in Shibuya

Not a whole lot has been happening lately. But there are some things happening in the not so near future.
-My bandmate's other band has asked me to take pictures of them... Maybe I'll have a gig as the band's official photographer haha.
- I'm going to a taiko drumming concert - not sure what to expect there haha
- I'm DJ'ing for an event my bandmate is throwing. I have no idea how that will go as I have absolutely no experience in that field. I like music but I'm not sure that will translate to me being a decent DJ.
- I'm going back to Canada for Christmas/New Year's!! I dont think I can even begin to explain on here how excited I am to go home for a visit. So I wont.
- My band is having another gig sometime in early 2012, we have no new material and no time to practice so it should be another gong show haha. Good thing we aren't in it for the money/fame/glory!
So lately it seems like I have a lot of free time on my hands as all my friends seem to have found lives of their own. Because of this I've started using my DSLR camera, that I bought in Canada before I came to Japan, a lot more recently. So here are some pictures I took a week ago in the Iidabashi, Ochanomizu, Ebisu and Shibuya areas of Tokyo.

Ooze Charm - An Italian Restaurant in Nishi-Shinjuku

So I had a great blog entry all typed up and then lost it. So... here's round two.

I tried that 'pungency' tea that was the title for my last entry and I have to say, it was quite good. Not pungent though. A little disappointing but I'm willing to look past that.

It was pointed out to me that in all my entries not only do I apologise for my tardiness but I'm also always sick or getting over a cold haha. I am very happy to report that I am not sick at the moment and nor do I feel the need to apologise as I updated this blog recently. Go me.

So recently I've been wandering all over Tokyo during my days off as I have nothing better to do haha. Last weekend I went on an epic journey that took about four hours to acomplish. I went from Ginza to Tsukiji (the massive fish market) to Daimon (where I stayed the first time I came to Japan TEN years ago) to Zoji shrine, then I walked up to Tokyo Tower and around down to Akabanebashi to Azabu-Juban and wandered around the shopping area there (it really reminds me of Kitsilano in Vancouver haha) and then up to Roppongi where I caught a train to Ikebukuro because there was no way I'd be able to walk there haha. After that I walked around Sunshine City and then went home. Phew. So, since it's my weekend again I decided to go on another trek in the city and, at the request of a special someone, I brought my camera to take a few pictures. These pictures were all taken around the Nishi-Shinjuku and Kabukicho areas of Tokyo.

Pungency - name of a tea beverage found in most convenience stores

So instead of saying something like "wow, it's been ages since I last updated this blog" as I seem to do in every entry... I'm going to dive right in!

I have been up to a lot of hijinks lately and it has been fun. What have I been doing? Glad you asked...

1) I attended the Great Japan Beer Festival - it is a beer tasting festival held every year in various locations around Japan. The main goal of the festival is to taste a variety of craft brews... Granted I take it as a challenge to taste all the different craft brews in attendance. This year was my second year to attend the festival and it was great! There were different beers there this year than last year so I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to drink with the Italian brewers I met last year - oh well.

2) I went back to Shimizu-shi in Shizuoka. This place is near to my heart. Let me explain: during my first trip to Japan many moons ago, the school I came to Japan with had a sister school in Shimizu-shi and so when we came to Japan we came to Shimizu to do a mini exchange with the sister school (and then the students we stayed with stayed with us when they came to Vancouver). So! Late last month I went back to Shimizu and met the family I stayed with TEN years ago. We had sushi, chatted all day (only in Japanese - eek!) and looked at pictures from the trip. It was quite the trip down memory lane.

3) I attended Octoberfest in Yokohama. Again, this is a festival I went to last year and wanted to keep the tradition going. This day turned out to be one for the ages so I feel like I should write it down before I forget it all together haha. It all started off with a phone call from my co-worker asking me to go to Octoberfest with her and her husband... I of course agree and run out the door to meet them. The day started off slow with some polite beers with a bunch of couples and me... the single foreign one hahaha. Eventually I got a phone call from a friend who had gone to Octoberfest with me the year before to say he would be arriving shortly. I met up with him and our mutual friends and started playing drinking games (Eek!). We began to compare the current fest with the previous year's fest and remembered our favourite story from last year - our friend getting up on stage to sing polka to the massive crowd and then getting removed by security. We decided to do this again this year. Unfortunately when we got on the stage (just one other friend and I) the microphones were unplugged so we ended up having to yell quite loudly and only one group of people sang back to us. We were quickly removed from the stage.
Eventually once Octoberfest died down we hopped on a train for Shibuya. Oddly enough my friend and I got separated from the main group so he and I were listening to music (still very much in the singing mood) and singing to the rest of the train. Now if you have ever been on a Tokyo train you know that what I'm about to tell you is quite amazing. Some how... I managed to get about half our train car to both sway/dance AND sing "You can call me Al" by Paul Simon with me and my friend. This lasted for a little while until a major stop when my audience left and I lost interest.
And last but not least for my amazing Octoberfest day - I met these three stray Australians sitting by the side of the road... at this point my friend and I had purposely ditched the big group of friends we were with and my friend was off somewhere for the time being. So I sat with the Australians and started chatting with them and they offered me some champagne and then showed me these great costumes they bought... naturally in my state of mind I ask to wear one and they being cool guys agree. For a little while I was walking around the streets of Shibuya in a "Sento-kun" costume by myself until two of the Aussies decided to bust out their costumes and join me in a rilakuma and pikachu costume respectively. We were dancing in the streets and drinking champagne while the third Aussie and my friend watched (and of course various passersby).

I think my Octoberfest will go down in history as the coolest.

At the moment I'm a bit sick so I'm trying to take it easy so I can go out and do that all over again hahaha. I have to say, looking back on my adventures - sometimes I meet the coolest people and do some really silly things. I love the stories.

Yikes! It's been ages since I last updated. What can I say... I'm really lazy. But I guess now I have a lot to say.

1) My birthday night was pretty great. I got to see my closest friends, have a lot of laughs and even more drinks and even a little cat nap in a restaurant. All in all, it was pretty good! Over the course of the three days I celebrated my birthday I had the lights dimmed, cake brought to me and the entire bar singing happy birthday to me FOUR times. Unbelievable and very embarassing haha.

2) Hong Kong. I went for five days in early August and I really enjoyed it. I have to say one of the most memorable moments for me was before I even set foot in Hong Kong. When we were flying into the city it was around 11 p.m. so it was dark and all you could see was the many islands that make up Hong Kong lit up by traffic lights and buildings. The view was stunning.
The hotel we stayed at was really nice and had a great view of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong island. The only thing is, it was on Kowloon. The travel agent told us that Kowloon was the better island with more things to do but I would have to disagree, I spent most of the time on Hong Kong island except to watch the symphony of lights.
While I was in HK I took a day trip to Macau. That was an experience in and of itself! While it was really great to see the Portuguese architecture and the massive casinos, I found it stressful because of the lack of English haha. I ended up getting lost on a bus for a while and missed my ferry back to HK... it didn't really matter because the ferries run every half an hour.
I spent most of my time there doing what I love best -- eating and shopping. Unfortunately I'm too big to fit most of the clothes there! (Wtf?) I guess when the British left they took their big bones with them? The food was good, my travel companion doesn't like Chinese food so we didn't really get to try too much authentic Chinese food haha but I convinced her once to eat some and I thought it was fantastic. We found a lot of western style restaurants and surprisingly enough a lot of Japanese restaurants with strange Japanese dishes like omuraisu.
That brings up one thing I noticed that I was surprised about - how much Japanese pop culture etc you can find in HK... I always thought the Chinese and Japanese despised each other? Guess not so much.

3) Good byes. One of my closest training buddies has finished his contract and decided to leave Japan so we had a good-bye party for him last Sunday. It was really fun but also really sad. We ended up going to a few bars and mid-way singing karaoke (as we always do), during one of the songs me, Nathan (the one who left) and my other training buddy Javier all got kind of choked up. I guess it hit us that it was the last time we'll probably ever do that together. After Karaoke we went to my favourite bar, the Loft in Kabukicho, and managed to convince the manager/owner to let us play one of the really nice Fender guitars and sing on stage (haha) so Nathan played guitar and we sang together for the bar. Finally, we ended the night true to form with an early morning snack, and since there are no pizza by the slice shops out here we had a little gyu-don instead (beef bowl). Rather than have a long heartfelt good-bye we just kind of said "See ya later." and walked our separate ways. I'm beginning to feel like an orphan or some kid getting left behind at the mall haha. Everyone is leaving! Javier will be leaving in December. Which brings up my last point of this entry...

4) Visit home. I've booked my flight and I couldn't be more excited that I'm going home to visit for eight days at the end of December/early January during Oshogatsu. Unlike my whirlwind visit last March, this one will be planned and I will savour every minute of the time I get to spend with my loved ones.