Cortina - Music Is Moving - Gammer's Hardcore Remix

It was so cold, I didn't really want to get up and look, however i could see a number of shapes moving around in the front room through the glass. After about 30 minutes, all was quiet again, so I snuck my head outside...

WOW! I should have taken a photo, but basically, the front room was full of many household items, a massive TV, DVD, microwave, chairs, tables, computers, blenders .... and the list goes on...

It seems Seiko and Shiho had raided their fathers house!

Also included was a new Halogen heater (so I can give you that money back now dad) which is great, as we have been having big problems with the aircon (it keeps tripping the power) - there is a slight problem in that it's permanently pointing out the floor, though I'm sure i can work out how to move it up without breaking it at some point...

Japanese school hasn't got off to such a great start, after missing Wednesday, I had looked over the work to do in this morning. However yesterday at work, Usukei (or however you spell it) - had another go at Yumi which sent her off in a flood of tears... so after work, instead of going home, we went out to a restaurant and had some drinks to cheer her up.

Upshot is of course, I missed Japanese. BUT, I told her this would happen, so she is willing to make up for it by going over the stuff I have missed (and doing it properly this time ) - not all bad.

I'm also liking Mum's idea of meeting up with Nagisa often whilst I am back, it will work well, she has loads of free time, so we can meet - and then later I can go home / Gowry's / out with Haroon etc.... I actually hope to get more studying done in England than I have done so far out here hahaha....

So the room swap, it would be tonite, however a big issue has come up at work. I have to work Saturday as a swap, BUT, the kids teacher won't be in This means I have to teach all her classes, no mean feat as I haven't had any decent practise yet - so they are letting me take the books home tonite, so basically i will be studything these - no time to do anything else.

I guess I will move on Sunday - but the good thing is, now Seiko's computer is here, we have to get a router (so we can share the connection) which means I can carry the laptop around the house (so will be able to sit in the front room with them ) - I really like both of them, so want to make a big effort to spend more time together.

I had a meeting at work the other day too - which wasn't so good - I was basically told that me being late the other day was like committing "work suicide" during your probation period.... with this in mind, I made a huge effort for my evaluation yesterday and made a list of all my issues - which Tony then looked over and agreed on - I'm fed up of being told things too late to do anything about them, so this way I have come back....

My main issue has been avoiding the lessons altogether and just chatting - well, the students wanted to, so I figured it would be ok. Aparently not though, and this is the biggest issue.... easy enough to solve, just, NEED TO BE TOLD ABOUT IT .... grrrr...

Sorry, I've gone off on a right tangent there - and now I can't remember what the hell I have written ... lol ... thats what only having 8 hours sleep does to you

Well today is friday and tomorrow ISN'T my weekend - haha - i think that's all that needs to be said Saturday night will be my night out, so expect some more photos then ..... Atom is calling me....

Ta'ra!

  Milo - Mix 7 (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D & HappyHardcore.com - Hardcore - DJ mixes, hard dance and NuNRG!)

Well that was quite a story last time hey? Actually looking back, it's quite funny - just a shame it stuffed up my weekend as now being back and working this 7 day week is just horrible.

I could go on and write loads more, but, I don't want to - perhaps all that is just a memory best forgotten.

Sunday, as I had already mentioned, I had to work to cover shift swapping for my holiday. I had never worked a weekend before, but was told they were always really busy. To make matters worse, you can't go in any earlier to prepare as the staff don't get in until 9:30 (work begins at 10)

Even worse, the night before had been so cold (and we are talking proper freezing) - I had been unable to get much sleep at all and walking to work, I was just in a daze. To try and counter this (and because for once I was up early enough) i headed straight for the local McDonalds to pick up and Sausage and Egg McMuffin - so mum, you can be happy I have had breakfast for once!!!

The weekends are the busiest days at Nova (hence the reason I have never wanted to work them) - and it seemed today was no exception. My first class was a full 4 person, but luckily for me, a lower level - which I really enjoy teaching, so it wasn't too tough

The rest of the lessons went ok, but by lunch I was really grateful for the break. Not really much of a break though as of couse I had to plan all the next lessons, so sat with a yaki soba balanced on my knee, trying to write up all the next reports!

My final class of the day was voice - which was nice as by then i was getting quite tired - and as usual, the topic turned to how much I think Japanese food sucks over western food However, this time it was a bit more productive as the students seemed to know quite a few BBQ buffet places, so by the end of the lesson I had quite a comprehensive map of places I should try.

Even better, one of them is only a few minutes from work - and offers drinks for 1000yen (£5) for drink as much as you can for 2 hours!! They offer the same with their menu too, but this is a little more expensive at 3000yen for a 2 hour eatathon. I think I should definately try it though, make the most of the time here Haha....

I was so glad when I finally reached the end of the day and was able to stagger home, though only an hour or so after arriving home, I had a call from Shimpei who needed some help with some translation. Usually I would have said I am too tired, but i felt obliged to help as he has been so good to me.

I was just about to leave when Yumi showed up though! Apparently Seiko was coming back and she had asked to see her so she could give her a present from her weekend away. I still wasn't sure if I was ready to see Seiko yet, but couldn't leave Yumi on her own in the place, so called Shimpei.

It turned out however that Seiko was at Shimpei's already, so we could all go around there.... he also said he had talked to Seiko and she wanted to meet up....

So it was on....

The upshot of everything is, we are swapping rooms.... which you would think is a great situation - but, I just can't stop feeling guilty about it I feel like perhaps she feels bullied into it (as in, "Ben will go back to the UK unless you move") - they keep telling me not to feel bad, but it's not helping....

I also feel bad about her having to pay so much more rent than me (£150) - but I really cannot offer any more - so, I figured maybe I could do extra things around the house to help out - such as do the floor cleaning, or the laundry (though according to Gowry, it's not the done thing to wash a girls laundry unless she is your g/f? I don't know, i'm not sure I see the problem) - so this will make me feel a bit better, as I will be putting more input in?

So yes, the room move will be next friday - I will miss the sunshine and daylight but i guess it will solve all the other problems. Infact, maybe this will encourage me to spend less time on the computer!! The other issue might be that next to my room now will be another bedroom, so saturday night late music might cause issues, but i suppose that can be dealt with when the issue arrises - in the meantime, i'll just have to keep it low on weekdays.

I also told Seiko that i was sad i never see much of her, i came to live with her in Tokyo, but only see her a few times a week at most. We are now going to make the effort to see more of each other and have bought a calendar for the kitchen so we can see who is free when - thus being able to plan to meet up and stuff around those times. Admittedly me working until 9pm each evening doesn't help, but I am right next to the station, so on Mon + Wed nights we can definately start to do more things (I have school on Wednesday at 9am you see, so the other nights are no use).

Talking of Japanese school, it starts tomorrow which will be good, though i reckon i will get a right bashing for now having learnt as much as i should have - though now I have finally got all my computer work out the way, i have a lot more time for it - there is a bit of a mutiny going on the forums, but hopefully we can sort all of this out without too many casualties.

Sorry if this is a bit rushed, but I've got work in 10 minutes, but didn't want to leave anything any longer less I forget, so in summary:

1) I'm moving room
2) Seiko and I are going to spend more time together
3) I hate working weekends
4) Cheddar Cheese + KitKat is most delicious

  Nothing, finally....

This didn't go quite to plan though as some other matters came up, but in reality, this is irrelevant as I was still happy

Seiko finished work at 10 or so and was then coming home, before we were both going to go out. At 11 o'clock (or maybe 10:30, not sure) she came home absolutely trashed - this of course was bad enough in itself, except she had brought someone else home - a big Japanese army guy, who she claimed not to know?!?!?

They were both quite drunk and he was trying to say something, but I didn't have a clue and wished really he would just f*ck off as I knew by now I wouldn't be going out, so just wanted some peace and quiet to get on with things. He then proceeded to keep taking me by the hand and dancing with me, in that stupid drunk way everyone does... I just was hoping Seiko would go to her room or something.

Seiko however had other ideas and opened up 2 (yes 2) bottles of wine, which the then poured out (and all over the kitchen) - oh and I'll point out, it was red wine....

They asked me over to drink with them, so figured one would be ok. However as I was standing in the corner trying to get the cork off the corkscrew, the guy kept grabbing me, and then groping my arse....? Assuming he was just drunk and trying not to fall over (how naive am i) - i ignored it, however he then asked Seiko did I have a girlfriend, and when I said yes, he got down on his knee and proclaimed he was really jealous - ok, so now those warning bells were ringing....

Not really too much time to think about it though as by now Seiko had swung her arms around and thrown red wine all over the wall and floor! I started to mop it, at which point matey thought best to help my hands along

I now decided it would just be best to try and ignore them, so went across the room to the computer and pretended to be on the phone. This kinda worked, but I could see in the background Seiko had opened another bottle of wine?!?!

There's no point me going into detail here, but for the next hour or so, cue just noise and them just coming in my room and rolling on the bed and stuff... including the guy starting to try on all my clothes, then takign my new jumper and dragging himself along the floor all around the apartment in it? No wait, Seiko gave him the jumper, yes thats right - she took it and gave it to him, then he started to roll around the floor in it.

Damnit, I'm so angry - I bet this writing is terrible - but at least it's written with passion

So finally Seiko passes out, so I assumed the guy would leave, but no, he just sits in the frontroom and starts going through my Japanese folder. I dont know what to do now, i just want him gone, but it's obvious he's not going to.

So I keep typing, when wham! He has opened up Seikos packet of salmon (like the whole thing) and thrown it onto my bed!?! Like WHAT THE F*CK?!?

I ring Shimpei to ask him what to do, but I guess in reality there was nothing he could do - he did offer to speak to the guy, but i wasn't so sure this would be a good idea.....

You know, there was like loads more, but I'm so angry I can't fully remember - the upshot was, as soon as he finally left the room, I turned off all the lights - he came back in, sat around talking to himself for sometime and now has finally left.

However - I now have another god damn dilema - if Seiko doesn't know who he is, surely he shouldn't be sleeping with her?!? I don't know, I jsut don't know - she also is supposed to be up early tomorrow to go on some boat cruise somewhere, so what will happen to him?!!??

This is insane.

Just when things were starting to get better - but now I just think, "I came to Tokyo for Seiko and so far she has f*cked up my house, f*cked up my new year (which was a big BIG deal to me, though i didn't show it, whats the point) and now there's these other issues with her just getting trashed - I could have taken JET, been earning £19k a year and have access to loads of Japanese people.... but I turned it down to be with her, and its just not getting me anywhere....

Helen, I apologise for ever having any problems with you - now I have found Seiko, you are just like a little angel

I will read over this again in the morning, see if I have missed anything, but now I just want to go to bed - try and forget it ever happened. And then begin my 7 day week..... fantastic - thanks a lot.

  DJ Lord - Return of the Vibe IV (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D & HappyHardcore.com - Hardcore - DJ mixes, hard dan...

well....

I've now broken even woot! Only a day and already in profit..

  DJ Lord - Bounce Bounce! (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D & HappyHardcore.com - Hardcore - DJ mixes, hard dance and...

That's two stupid things in as many days.... I know you are impatient dad, so I will jump straight to it.

So yesterday was the first day back at work, but my Japanese school doesn't start until next Wednesday, so I stayed up until about 4am talking to Gowry. Actually, thinking about it, that's quite irrelevant as I still woke up on time, erm, anyway, I'm starting to stray from the point ....

So I wake up at 12 and get on with some work (suddenly I see to have become the busiest I have ever been...), happily typing along until about 2pm when the phone rings:

Me: Hello
Them: Hello Ben, this is Haruna (from work) - I didn't wake you up?
Me: No, I had just got up
Haruna: Well happy new year!
Me: Erm, yes, Happy new year!
Haruna: So where are you now?
Me: At home

* Pause *

Haruna: But you start at 2:15 today.....

DOH DOH DOH! I had checked over and over my papers the night before to see if there was a scheduled time change, but couldn't find one - so was a little confused. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had to dash as fast as I could (including having my shower and getting dressed) to make it to work for the second lesson (3:10).

When I got it, all was explained, Nova had different new year opening times (which were displayed on the board in early December) - but due to it not being a shift swap as such, no paperwork was given out....

Nuts.... the worst thing is, you don't just lose the money for the lesson missed, but also another 2!!! So I had to work 4 lessons, but only got paid for 2

Sucks.

Anyway, so dad that was the stupid thing I did that I told you in the email.

The plus side of starting early of course means you finish early (woot!) - 6:30 to be precise (though I had to stay until 7 to wait for Yumi), I passed the time by sleeping on the desk

Over here, McDonalds seem to release a new burger every week, and this one was no exception. I'm not sure what it's called, but it has big mushrooms in it.... ah, so nice, the sauce is rather pleasant too

Tonite was also special in the fact everyone was home, and Yumi was coming around so Seiko and Shiho cooked some very nice chicken and a big salad. For people that like green vegetables, you should come here... You won't believe the "greeness" of them, they look soooo fresh. For example, the brocolli is not dull like English brocolli, but all nice (and almost fake) looking...

I'll get a photo next time I have the chance.

The rest of the night I spend working on my new business venture. A fantastic offer came up the other day on a new server (and we are talking TOO good to miss) which I just had to snap up. Thus all night was spent getting it ready for use by the general public.

I hear a load of you shouting "but he hasn't got any money" - well yes, but this is 1) on credit card and 2) will be making profit within the next 2 weeks!!!! Basically, it involves splitting this new server up into 8 parts and putting them out for silly money, just to sell them. Whilst this might not seem like the best way to make money, after 2 sales the server is already in profit!!! Sell all 8 blocks and this server pays for itself AND the main server!!! I thank you

Also makes the company look good, we're up to 3 now - I wonder how long until the next one comes along. There's another idea I've got brewing, which will require some pretty heavy promotion in the UK when I get back, but then, I will have enough free time

Speaking of which, I only have a bit left until work and I need to finish securing a few things..... tonite I think will be uneventful, but due to me working Sunday, Friday night is going to be my weekly night out!!!

Now, off to get some new razor blades

  Cheda - Mix 4 (Hardcore Styles) (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D & HappyHardcore.com - Hardcore - DJ mixes, hard dan...

They were on sale at Uniqlo down to £5, so it seemed stupid to carry on freezing for the sake of £5 I had intended to buy some shirts (which was of course the whole reason I was there in the first place) - but at £15 a pop, I don't think so! - I'll just have to keep washing the one I have every night until I can pick some up in England.

Another cool thing I spotted along the way (after quickly ducking into 7/11) was this...

Yes! That's right, a can of ready made corn cream soup Admittedly, this one wasn't so good (nor very warm) - but then it was the cheap one, so I only have myself to blame.

A small issue with noise this morning, which in turn led me to oversleep - but i think i can bring it up in a jokey way when people get home, and i need to make the point about Sun, Tue and Thu nights (as in no noise after midnight - my bed time).

Another thing I was thinking about, was this whole studying thing. I guess you could say learning Japanese is my hobby (after all no one is forcing me to do it) - in which case, why does it feel like a chore to do it? Something isn't quite right...

I've come to the conclusion I'm never going to get great at it whilst in Tokyo, there just isn't enough chance to put it into practise, though being at the school will build up the grammer foundation - so when I move down with Nagisa, I should be able to accelerate my learning a lot more...

In which case, I need to make sure I have all the fundamentals done before that time - blimey, that's asking a lot -- hahaha (not!)

I'm drawing up a new study plan now as well, I'm going to make sure I dedicate 2 hours a day to learning, even if there is nothing else to do (ie I have covered everything, I'm going to do something).

This new year IS going to mean something

Of course, in true me style, this doesn't start until tomorrow but then I had already planned to get some other stuff finished before then (which is still outstanding).

I'm also thinking I will buy a light for this room, with the days getting dark so early, sitting in dim light is kinda had on my eyes, and making me fall asleep! I am still loving this big window though, it would better if my field of vision wasn't narrowed so much by the tower block, but it's better than staring at a brick wall (aka Seiko's room).

Work starts again tomorrow, oh joy - and thus begins the start of my shift swap time. A 7 day week , though not starting until Sunday. Friday I also begin (and end) early, so at least we can go out on the Friday night.

  U2 - 07 Where The Streets Have No Name

To make it however involved getting up hanously early (8:30!!! ) which I almost made, well, 8:40 to be precise - but for me that was still a great achievement.

It was then a quick hop in the shower (where I almost fell asleep) before braving back into the cold with to meet Shimpei outside his house for 9:30 (originally 9, but no one could get organised in time).

The nearest station was (put in later), which meant we couldn't catch the train from Wakabayashi, but had to make the walk to Umegaoka - which in the early morning cold really wasn't the nicest journey - then to top it all off, McDonalds was closed, so I couldn't even get a Sausage and Egg McMuffin (so had to make do with a burrito from the 7/11 instead)...

Hmm, I've just realised, it was lucky the September 11 attacks weren't in July .....

Anyway, we had to switch trains part way through the journey, though apparently Seiko wasn't going to join us, as just went off on the original train .... erm, quite.... leaving just Shimpei, Shiho and me to go meet the royalty.

The imperial park is a really beautiful place (I wrote about it last year, so I'm not going to go over old ground ), but we didn't have time to take it all in, as the queues were starting to form, so first stop the security checks...

Once through that, we followed the snake like path up to the actual palace itself, though not before passing this sign.... I'll leave it up to you to determine why it was of interest .....

The journey up was actually quite nice as we got to see a lot of traditional Japanese structures, it was also quite special as normally you can't go up here - so just for the new year...

Before finally finding our spot in view of the balcony...

And then at 11 o clock sharp, what we had all been waiting for...

And now the shocking bit. Never having been to anything like this before (nor in England I don't think) - I wasn't sure what would happen, but it was crazy - as soon as they appeared a massive cheer went up, followed by mass flag waving and the cries of "Banzai! Banzai!" - it was like being at a boxing match , awesome!

Not wanting to feel left out, I duely joined in. Though, part of me felt a bit strange, wondering if I was being disrespecful to Grandad in anyway...? Strange how the world works, and how things years past can still have effects to this day..

Alas, all too soon it was over (I had great fun) and as no one would queue up to see them again, we decided to go find some food instead. My suggestion of Pasta was immediately dismissed (swines!) - so instead we headed to Harajuku to a "famous" Ramen shop.

Ok, so it was quite nice, but really, £5 for a large pot noodle..... hmmm.....

Being in Harajuku of course meant we got the opportunity to go back to Kiddyland, the greatest shop in the world There was quite a lot inside tempting me, but i stayed strong and kept my credit card firmly in my wallet We however, manage to get the following cool photo inside

Finally (and with me almost asleep by now) we caught the train back, where I tried my best not to fall asleep on my bed. Unfortunately it was only 3pm, but i was just too tired to do anything, so just mucked around on here for a few (read MANY) hours.

Tomorrow the plan is to finish off a little bit of coding on my site to get a new business venture going, then spend the rest of it working on my Japanese book, with the aim of having everything converted over the next few days or so (my old book is written completely in romanji, i need to convert it to kana - no mean feet as I'm sure i spelt a lot of the ramanji wrong, so will need to keep looking it up in the dictionary.)

And finally, rather than leave off with a block of text, here, have a photo of downtown Tokyo

  DJ Lord - Happy Again 2K5 (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D & HappyHardcore.com - Hardcore - DJ mixes, hard dance and...

So today is the first day of 2006 and it's time to have a look at everything and see where we need to go from here...

Firstly, I should say a massive thank you to Mum + Dad for continuing to look after me, even after I have flown far, far away. I'm sure customs are wondering quite why so many toiletries are sent over, but the truth is, THE ONEs HERE SUCK!

English hair-gel definately rocks over anything you can get here, despite the fact everyone here seems obsessed with their looks. And shaving gel, don't get me started.

It seems funny, that now I am used to the place, there is less of a lonely feeling when I've nothing to do, it's more of a "oh well, there is nothing to do", rather than "I wish I was at home".

If nothing else, my time her has certainly made me a lot more independant, though I'm not so sure I like this. It's now at the point where I actually prefer to be on my own, becoming a bit like a hermit as it were - just me and my computer.

So on second thoughts, maybe this is a bad thing!!!

Of course this will proably all crumble when I get back and realise what I am missing out on, but - I must stay strong!!!

As far as new years resolutions go, the main one is to study a lot more, and try to be more confident in speaking out. I have made an oath that I will not come back to England until I can speak enough Japanese to make spending £2k on lessons worth it. Of course, this amount is subjective, but basically - I want to know enough so I can come back and converse with Japanese people at an intermediate level. The rest I can pick up as I go along.

The other side of my mind says things like - "I want to come back to see Gowry" - so maybe this could be my inspiration to study harder!

I'm also thinking it's pretty cool, that Japan is likely to become my "holiday place" . You know how everyone has somewhere they always go, well, Japan can be mine Yearly visits, something to look forward to - so I won't be leaving my friends forever, just for extended periods. Plane tickets can drop as low as £240 - so it won't even be a massive strain on the old bank balance.

So there you go, enough of the deep stuff - on with today.

I might have explained before, but if not, i will now. New years is very important to the Japanese, as it's a time to reflect on the year past and make plans for the new year.

It is therefore usual to go to a Shrine or Temple on the first (or at least round it) and to pray to the gods. So, this is what we did today (a little later than planned ) - first stop was a local Shrinto Temple.

Where we got in line, then went up to the main "praying place" to say our dues... it went something like this.

Bow Twice
Throw money in the well
Ring the bell
Clap twice
Pray for something
Bow again

I'm a bit sceiptical that the gods actually get the money, but it was only 5p, so not too much of a loss lol...

After this, it was time to go to the main temple in Tokyo, Meijing Temple (I think that's its name) - which was slightly more impressive. You also couldn't get to the front and pray individually like in the first place, so you just had to get as near as you could and would be able to throw the coin over everyone's heads!!!

The coin throwing place, though hard to see is the area in the background where the people all stop, but some people were throwing the money from so far away!!

It was actually a really nice experience and I'm glad we did it. It made a change to the normal stuff that has been going on and quite a sight

Shimpei was then telling me about the Shinto religion, and it actually sounded quite good. I will have to check all this out, but basically, there are no rules, no books to follow and nothing to teach. The religion is basically the belief that there is a god in everything and that we should just try and get on with each other. Also, unlike Christianity and such like, heaven and hell don't exist, so the belief is - if you are bad, at the end there is nothing anyway....

The thought of there maybe being a god in something, but not having any of the religious mumbo jumbo that goes with it was quite appealing. At the temple, it was nice to think someone was up there listening to what I have to say.... usually it's just the voices in my head

Tonight is early to bed, both for the reasons that I am quite sleepy after all the walking around, but also, we are going to see the emporer say "Hi" to everyone from the balcony of his palace tomorrow at 11am. So we have to leave our house at 9am - bed in 20 mins or so after a call to Gowry and I "should" be ok for it

After, I think they were talking about Karaoke, which again, should be quite good fun.....

  DJ Bluecore - Candyshop v.8 - High energy (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D & HappyHardcore.com - Hardcore - DJ mixes...

1) Go to a far away country full of happy people.
2) Go to the busiest part of that country.
3) Add a few thousand Japanese people.
4) Take a huge nightclub and fill it with these people
5) Play all your favourite tunes

Mix it all together, get there 50 minutes before midnight, wait patiently in the queue until you get to the front....

..... and then find out your friend has forgotten her ID so you can't get it

So I'm at home - and my new year was spent standing dejectedly in the street whilst everyone else was drunk and happy .....

On the optimistic side, I hope this is a "things can only get better" moment, rather than a "the rest of the year will be the same" ..... ho hum .... seems like I get quite a lot of bad luck here - my good old flukeyness skills are not working so well...

Anyway, enough of tonite - that's just too depressing.....

So! Last night, a friday, so usually spent at home - however this time as I didn't have work, it meant I wasn't tired come the evening, so wanted to go out.

I was to meet Seiko at 12 in Roppongi (oh joy), so duly arrived the obligatory 20 minutes late We weren't going to the strip this time though, but to a club quite some walk away (where Seiko already was) - so off I set, stopping at the local AM/PM on the way to buy a little "pocket sized" bottle of Jacobs Creek (£3)

Joining us tonite was Ayako, Seiko's friend (the one who had been trying to sell her a fat reducing machine for the last god nows how long) - we met outside the club - MUSE (the same one we went with Arnaud) - which wasn't ideal, but the wine had seemed to hit quite quickly, so I wasn't *that* bothered.

2000 for me to get in (only guys pay - ahah, so this is why Seiko chose Muse! ) - though this does include 2 drinks, so it kinda evens itself out.

Inside it was a lot less busy than last time and really nicely decorated, so I was actually pretty happy we went here.....

Being the sensible chap I am, I decided it wouldn't be such a good idea to get a drink straight away due to the recent bottle of wine, though for some reason this logic didn't seem to stick for very long, as soon I had ordered a Smirnoff ice....

We then found some chairs and sat around talking for quite some time, during which I seem to remember a glass of white wine and a tequila being added to my drinks list....

From this point onwards, I am not sure what happened, though the photos seem to indicate we were all in a pretty similiar state, I do remember meeting a German guy called Alex though....

Say hello!!!

Another thing that is quite interesting is the following photo. It was supposed to be of Seiko, but if you look in the background .... .... i assure you the whole place wasn't like that !!!

Of course, the night wouldn't be complete without one special thing..... of course by about 5am, Seiko had fallen asleep again and we couldn't wake her, so were ejected from the club....

Bring on some more memory loss, and then roll on this morning....

..... mmmmm .... all nice and warm .... i barely manage to open my eyes, i feel awful - so i stretch out....

Something's not right, for one my bed seems to have grown in size and two I've just banged my arm on someone else..?!? Confused, I focus and realise I am in bed with Ayako in a strange room - slight panic sets in - have I gone back to her house?!?

A quick check and I am wearing all my clothes still, phew, but the mystery is still not solved - however the power of sleep is all too much for me, and back i go....

A few hours later, I'm woken up by my dear friends And the situation is explained to me, at the club we met one of Seikos friends:

Who after we left the club, invited us back to his - which we accepted, so Taxi'd it back to his apartment in Roppongi, before falling asleep in the spare room.

Bizarre, I can't remember any of it lol.... Helen, you must be so proud of me

So lucky Friday happened I suppose, otherwise this weekend would have been a complete disaster. Nevermind, we can try again next week - it would have just been really nice to be in a packed club for the countdown... (Stop dwelling, STOP DWELLING )

Apologies for the disjointedness of this post and the incredibly bad English, but I feel dreadful, but just wanted to get it all down before my memory goes again... lol

  Sonic X-Plosion Vol. 5 - CD2 mixed by DJ Irish (D I G I T A L L Y - I M P O R T E D - Hard Dance - are you ready for thi...

w00t! So we now have some decorations up - I was also tempted to take the time to turn my table box into a christmas tree - but seeing the cost of paint, it was then time to change my mind... lol...

So here you go, Christmas in Japan

That was the front room - my camera doesn't seem to do a very wide angle, so couldn't get it all in, but my bedroom didn't escape the chrimbo treatment either ...

With even Usagi getting into the sprit with his own little red tree

So THANK YOU MUM AND DAD - I might even leave it up for the whole year - it looks kinda cool in here... hurrah!

So what else, well basically been doing loads of work over the last day or so, getting the new server secured and some crazyness with DNS and anonymous name servers sorted. Then the rest of the time programming Gowry's school reunion site, which is FINALLY done... but I won't post the URL until she has added her bits and things...

Yesterday Shimpei was around to do our talk about room changes - but it was a kinda pointless thing as no one really wanted to do it - so it went like this:

Shimpei (to Seiko) - Would you change room.
Seiko (to Shimpei) - Not if I still have to pay £500 a month

And that was it, we didn't talk about the frontroom or anything. But to be honest, at the moment I'm happy as I like looking out the window when I work (which I couldn't do in her room) and as the schools are on holiday there is no noise in the morning...

As for the privacy thing, well, maybe now things will change - the TV is now in Seikos room and I always have my music on, so maybe it's just pretty obvious. I don't want to rock the boat at the moment, as we are all getting on quite well - so I think for now, let's just let it go...

Of course, if it all goes pear shaped a bit later down the line, we can have our talk then - at least we know there is an issue now - so maybe people will see the light

Well excuse me ladies and gents, but now I feel like some food (I was working so hard yesterday I missed all my meals ) so I shall bid ye farewell....

Huzzah!