Oh, the tables, how they do turn.

This entry is just to let you know that I've updated my LJ with all the entries I've been writing at home. They're much more informative, and far less annoying than these blog posts, because I write them at home when my brain is working, not at work when I'm bored and I want attention.

Now, none of you have any excuses for not reading and commenting. NONE! Apart from those of you I haven't included in my friend's list. The LJ webpage here comes up in Japanese, so if I haven't included you, I either dont know or like you, or I just couldn't figure out what to do. Don't feel bad, and just leave a comment here asking to be included.

I do think I got everyone who would care though.

I really feel like a muffin.

I have to say, it's a really good thing the combini isn't on my way home from work. Good for health and money anyway, bad for my Wanting a Muffin.

No, I'm not gonna post them all like I do with PBF, but this is as good a reason as any to start reading Toothpaste for Dinner:

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/083005/basic-electronics-symbols.gif

Well, apparently it doesnt take much for me to get bored. The school assembly where I have to make a speech is tomorrow, as well as school starting in general. My first classes are on Monday and I havent finished my preparation at ALL, and yet I'm sitting here thinking, `What other webpage can I look at?`.

I had my first ever class yesterday, my adult conversation class at the yakuba (town hall). A couple of hours before class, Gene, another American and fellow teacher (he teaches a seperate class) came over to see me and make sure I knew the class was on tonight. I got to meet his little son who was all shy but gave a huge, `BYEEEE!` as they left. Apparently, he's been living in the town for 10 years now and just can't imagine leaving. Sawaki-san picked me up and drove me there and when I walked in, there were already a few people there.

I had been preparing game ideas and a few things for my introduction all day. I didn't know what resources they had there, or what level of english my students would have. The class is about 10 people, mostly middle aged women and a couple of guys (Sawaki-san included) and my first shock came when I saw how casual everyone was. Instead of heading to the front of the class, I was invited to sit at the big table with everyone. Women were organising drinks and snacks all over the table and little conversations were going on all over the place. I had worked myself up to `take charge` mode so this was rather unexpected. It was just so incredibly casual. They asked my name, I spelt it on the board and stood up and awkwardly held up a big map of Australia to try and show where Brisbane was. Someone asked where Cairns was and for the life of me, I couldn't find it. Felt a little stupid there. Anyway, from then on it was just sitting around and chatting really. I showed a couple of B&W printouts of my parents and Neal (they were really surprised to hear I had a fiance) and my cat and Brisbane... etc. Then I asked them to introduce themselves to me and one by one they told me about themselves.

Their english ability, by the way, is EXCELLENT. Far better than I had been expecting. I could have a normal conversation, occasionally explaining unfamiliar words. They've ALL been abroad, some only once, some have been to 17 countries! So much for me introducing the big old world outside of Japan. One woman is Brazilian, a sweet old woman who actually looks more East European. She's been living in the town for about 10 years with a Japanese husband. I was told I'd be invited over to peoples' houses for dinner, and thankfully a girl from the post office (probably the youngest person in the class) attends the class and said I could ask her anything I want. Next week, I'm assaulting her with my hundreds of questions! she said she saw me a couple of weeks ago in there, when I was buying my 70 yen postcard stamps. How embarrasing, I bet I made a dick of myself there. I've been well aware my whole time here that while I know nobody, there may have been many people who knew me and that they'd eventually be meeting me. I try to keep a certain dignity with me all the time in case of this, but I knew at some point someone I'd eventually come to know well would see me being a stupid dickhead gaijin during my first couple of weeks.

So yes, a few of them have even been to Australia. There's one old couple who have both been, and that guy... he's great and fantasti and all, but boy can he talk! :) He asked me if I had any questions after he ranted about his trip to Australia for ages and I had to say, `Er, not yet` to try and keep the class moving. It feels weird even calling it a class. It was just a group of people chatting, and often to each other rather than listening to me attentively too. I say that like it's a bad thing, but really it was fantastic. I had a great time and I really do feel an instant liking and friendship with everyone there. They're interested in me, but they've done the ALT thing before so I'm nothing new.

Afterwards, Sawaki-san drove me to a cafe with another woman from the class and we had icecream (incidentally, I had green tea icecream with red beans and fruit - yum). It was late at night and I had actually resolved to go on a sugar diet that day, but... when you're making friends and you get taken out for the first time ever and they tell you to have icecream, it's just too weird to say `no`.

I gave Levi and Elaina a call yesterday too, it was great to finally talk to them again. They called back later and said they'd come visit me in a couple of weekends' time - yay! My first visitors!

I hounded my supervisor again yesterday about the broken stuff in my apartment so she talked to Aiba-san who came over and fixed the light again (it hasn't broken since, yet...) and took a look at the screen door that's off the hinge and sortof figured it out for me. It seems there's nothing I can do to make them install hot water in my kitchen sink, I'll just have to continue to wash in cold. It's a relatively small price to pay when I hear what problems some other ALTs have. One guy I read about today has an -absolute- infestation of termites that have eaten out his floor, and is being told, 'Just spray it' or 'Put up with it'. He's refused to pay rent until they fix it properly - go him!! I really, really hope he wins that battle. One thing you have to do over here is be firm with the things you really need.

It's really annoying that I haven't been able to tape the last couple of Kochikame episodes, they were really great ones. I was really close to making it yesterday but Gene visited and I didn't make it back inside for the beginning of the episode. I also discovered that Blackjack is still on TV here, yay! I think it was about 7pm a couple of days ago.

I'm thinking of trying to organise a pen pal thing between my first graders and an Australian school. Seems like a cool idea... let's see how it flies with my fellow teachers.

Check this shit out!

http://www.lasa-r.co.jp/stage/kochikame/kochikame_cast.html

I havent got time to tag it all, but... wow, the Japanese ROCK!

As a result of my trip to Shizuoka-shi on the weekend, I am now the proud owner of:

A new Vodaphone mobile phone. A 902T 3G phone if I remember correctly. Snazzy!
A metallic light blue coloured GBA SP (Its pretty!)
GBA game, `Sennen Kazoku` or `Thousand Year Family`
GC game, Zelda - Kaze no Takuto / WindWaker
GC game, Baten Kaitos
Giftpia official guide book - truly a thing of beauty
Surprise book #1
Surprise book #2
Kochikame manga
O-zone album + DVD (they came together)
Queen live from Tokyo DVD

I think that`s it... yep, probably.

I ended up getting WindWaker because it was super cheap - only 2,000 yen! I may already have the game in English but its worth it to have it in Japanese for just over $20. I got Baten Kaitos cause it looked rather pretty, it was only 3,000 yen and it`s apparently such a badass game it comes with TWO disks! The game is HARD-CORE, man! ROCK AND ROLL! I played it for 5 minutes or so last night (I just had too much to do) and it certainly looks worthwhile so far. Graphics are stunning to say the least, they almost took my breath away (you know, for a GC game) and then my breath was almost taken away again to hear the hideous english dubbing in the intro sequence. Strangely enough, the game itself is all in Japanese, no subtitles, and the intro is all in English, no subtitles.

Sannen Kazoku is an odd game. I bought it based on the look of the cartridge, and I think Id seen an ad for it on tv. Its cute, but was just really overwhelming at first. Basically you with the help of cupid have to rear a family. You get their individual profiles and you see them run around their house and whatnot as time speeds past. You can effect them by shooting arrows at them which do various things, like inspire them or calm them down, and they all have little events like getting married, being rejected, having a good day at work, wanting a car...

Everytime I turn the game on, because it effectively `runs` while Im not playing, I have to have the cupid thing run through allllll the events that happened while I was away and update me on whether any of them have gotten married, had babies, and started a new generation. When I played last night, I was onto the second generation. Its still bloody confusing and hard to follow, but Im getting the hang of it. The time thing is annoying because I dont have time to play it multiple times a day, if once a day, so I dont know if Im gonna be able to `win` or not.

I listened to my O-zone album last night too, which comes with like 10 different tracks, most of which are different versions of the DDT song (I call it, `the cat song`). The DVD comes with the official cat filmclip (different to the one I posted here... better and longer) and the actual O-zone filmclip, which is one of the gayest filmclips Ive seen in a long time. If those guys aren`t gay, then NOONE is gay.

The Queen DVD... I bought it at the same place I got the O-zone album, a GREAT music store. The first floor is basically for Jpop, a concept I found rather amusing. Not just that they have so much of it and yet broadly label it all as Jpop, but also the very fact that the Japanese themselves refer to it as Jpop. The second floor is blah blah, but the THIRD floor rocked my world, baby. It was rock. I walked in and the first thing I saw was a whole bunch of Queen albums. I literally turned around and immediately saw a whole shitload of Kiss albums. I looked up and saw The Cures Greatest Hits.

They had a FANTASTIC selection, mostly of stuff I love. I didnt plan on it, but I had to walk out with something. They had lots of ACDC, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, a huge amount of Queen and Kiss (seriously, I think they`re nuts about Kiss in this country!) and although I didnt find any David Bowie DVDs, which really threw me, they had just about all his albums. The prices were amazing too, probably less than what Id pay at home a lot of the time. So I decided to get Queen, and from there went with the Tokyo concert because I was interested to see the crowds reacted. I watched a bit of it last night and although it was amazing as always, they definitely werent putting on much of a show. It was what I expected, I think they use these foreign tours as a bit of an experiment with styles, as well as a bit of a rest. The crowd were having a great time, so much so that I started feeling a little sorry that they were getting a... well, it was still a great performance, but not HOLY FUCK AMAZING great. They really do have quite a following in Japan. Theres a band here, I temporarilly forget the name, that Im really interested in right now. Theyre VERY much influenced by Queen and, I assume, the Darkness. These guys freaking rock. Theres three members, all male, and they have the boy band personality type thing going that every single band here has. One is the Rock Queen and he wears the real lavish clothing and has the long, flowing hair, very femme. One is Mr Cool and he wears a suit and sunglasses always. One is the... I dont know, cool in-between guy, I guess.

Stupid work, better get back to it. Got my first adult class tomorrow night which is scary, and school starts in a couple of days.

Oh yeah (going for most posts in one day), heres a flash file of the cat filmclip I was talking about.

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/bunniler/7048697.html?p=4&pm=l

I havent figured out how to get the flash file on its own yet, but I have half an hour to figure it out before I head home.

EDIT: Found it! http://61.197.151.26/20050826847519/omote/img200410/2004100902.swf

I know, its probably my millionth post her in recent times. I have nothing else to do right now so give me a break while I deal with my boredom :)

Perry Bible is my saviour right now. Just wanted to say that.








These next two are especially for Paul









For some reason, I wasnt gonna include this one until I had to go back and read it again, it seemed so funny. I think my funny bone just had a 3 second lag there.


This one didnt seem so funny until I actually looked at all the little guys` faces.


I just adore this one. No more than the others really, I just felt like making a comment.


Its amazing how strips that didnt appeal to me the first time I saw the PBF now seem hilarious.



I wasnt going to include this one, I dont actually find it as funny as the others, and yet its the only one that made me laugh out loud. Weird. So here it is.








This one is just adorable.


Second one to make me laugh out loud... I do consider this one hilarious though.


This blog is nearing the end of its life. I feel Im entitled to fill it with whatever fantastic junk I want.

Takayoshi Sato - I think I love him. Suddenly I want to play the Silent Hill games. Its so nice to know there are still people within the game industry that have a good attitude about gaming.

I had a couple of students come in before. Theyre studying for hard entrance exams (one in Yamanashi, one going for a Tokyo uni... Im not sure if its THE TokyoDai or not, but its still impressive). I said they could come speak to me whenever they wanted for practise. I hope they do... speaking to the students is the most fun I have here. Im never sure whether Im doing the right thing around the other teachers but Im still a kid myself and I still have a vivid memory of what its like to be in high school, so I feel like I can really talk to the students and occasionally get some respect from them. Plus, the adults here tend to be rather dull in a lot of respects. Its like adults here dont have passion for anything. They go to drinking parties, and have clubs they run at school... I mean, Im sure a lot of them have hobbies and passions, but overall even if theyre really young, it feels like theres a big generation gap between us. The kids though, at least they`ll understand when I talk about games or anime or something. Even if they have crap taste, at least its something.

I think I have a desire to be around other creative people right now. People who work on personal projects, no matter what it is. People who get ideas for things and get excited about them.

Ive been writing down dialogue for my game all day. People see me writing, they think Im working. Theyre happy, Im happy. Next week though, the REAL work starts. I have to seriously finish up preparation for classes. The biggest problem is that theres little more I can do without meeting with all the english teachers to discuss exatly what they expect from me, and we dont have a meeting until the 30th, which gives me very little time before classes start to do anything I need to do.

Okay, see this?

http://tokyopia.com/tk/archives/000224.php

I want the one on the far right with all the cool retro colours. Im announcing it because if anyone sees one for sale in an online shop, or even ebay, please let me know! I dont think I have much chance of seeing one in a shop over here without scouring the country, which isnt financially feasable.

Have I mentioned that the butterflies here are like birds? Theyre like freaking BIRDS!

One just flew into the room (bugs use this room as a pit stop). It was by no means an unusual butterfly here, and it was the size of my hand. Their wings have a thick and furry look to them, and theyre typically black and velvetty. I question whether anywhere else in the world could produce better looking butterflies than this (leaving out the jungle of course, I assume the jungle has the most awesomely bizarra animals in the universe). I keep wanting to take a photo of them but its too much work to get a photo of a butterfly. Just use your imaginations. Right now, get them out and turn them on, and think of these fantastic butterfly birds.

The typhoon last night was okaaaay... but not great. I kept waiting for it to really get started. There was plenty of rain and wind, and I certainly wouldnt have wanted to be outside in it, but overall, it was just like a rather bad storm, minus lightening. I heard some places had lightening, but not my place. I didnt even lose power at any point! A couple of TV channels went fuzzy occasionally, and Kochikame wasnt on because just about every bloody channel had a typhoon report going (you know, that boring kind of show where they have LIVE!!! pictures of the typhoon and a map of its position, but keep running out of things to say about it). Funnily enough, at about 8pm when the typhoon was in full swing, they were broadcasting as usual.

Still, I barely knew about it. The sound of my fan and TV were enough to block out just about all the sound. It pretty much stopped by 11pm. A bit of a disappointment, really, considering I was at the centre of it for awhile. I woke up to find a couple of things on my back porch knocked down, a few coat hangers on the lawn, and a big piece of a neighbours tin roof lying half over my vege patch. It was a totally loose piece of roof though, Id been watching it flap in the wind earlier. Great, now I suppose -I- have to deal with it somehow. Its all torn up... does he want it back? I hope he notices and just gets it himself sometime today. If not, I think Ill go home and prop it against my back fence, then hope it goes away eventually.

The worst thing that happened last night was that an upstairs window was open when I got home and the surrounding tatami and paper screens were soaked. I threw towels on them thinking they would do very little but when I checked this morning, totally dry! Hopefully the tatami don`t get mouldy as a result of this, but there`s a good chance they will. Tatami are super-sensitive.

Friday, hurrah! I have to go to the bank today and get another 40,000 out. Apparently, my rent ISNT being taken out automatically, and for some reason, CANT be, so I have to give it to the school office today. Also, Im paying 4000 yen for like, the enkai/money to give to people who get married or have people die on them fund. I dont mind, we get back whats left over at the end of the school year (so, March). Yesterday, Masaaki-sensei asked me if I was a... party monster? Something odd like that. I must have looked stunned because he followed up with enough explanation for me to realise he was asking if I like drinking parties. I said I did, whatever, because apparently the english teachers are having one next month. Hooray! Ive been dying for an opportunity to go OUT with these people and see them drunk.

This morning, I woke up with a really sore, aching, dead arm. Probably the way Im sleeping. I managed to get some life back into it, but even now, my pinky is still only half alive. Its still tingly and numb. Have I fucked my arm up for good?

I really want to buy a kanji dictionary this weekend so I might go to the city again, I dont know. I dont really want to go spending lots of money again, but I also feel like seeing people. Next Tuesday, I teach my first class. Its my adult class... I have no idea what to expect. It should be good though. I have no idea what Im gonna do. I guess thats yet another job for... THE WEEKEND!

The sky is doing some scary shit now. There was just some loud warning broadcast over the whole town, I didnt hear what it said apart from `watch out`. I dont know, a couple of other teachers are still hanging out in the staff room so I dont wanna go if they dont. Still, they probably have cars, I have to get home on foot. In good pants! Luckily I did bring an umbrella, and its not actually storming yet, so maybe I can make it until 4pm.

Its kind of scary but kind of fun too. Tonight though, it`ll probably just be scary.

Okay, Masaaki-sensei (one of the English teachers) just came in and told me he and a lot of other teachers are leaving (its lunchtime) to avoid the typhoon. Er... should I leave? He looked out the window and said Im probably good for another couple of hours but I should go and talk to the vice principal. Im gonna pack up and do that now... it still looks fine outside to me but these guys know what theyre talking about.

I dont WANT to leave but I dont wanna get stuck in a typhoon either. Well, when I say I dont want to leave, I mean that I dont want to waste my holiday time.

What a trooper I am. One of the few people at work today. Of course, I`m only here because I dont want to use up any holidays.

Actually, Im happy with the typhoon so far. Its only just starting to touch the mainland so there arent any real effects yet, except that theweather has cooled down significantly, theres a breeze, and the cicadas arent quite going as insane as they usually do. The wind occasionally picks up and theres this huge howling that comes from outside both the school and my apartment. Im not sure what the wind is travelling through, but its a pretty loud sound. I had to bung my screen door up with tissues last night. The stupid thing rattles with the slightest breeze (even when the place is all shut up, a tiny bit of wind comes through the front door I guess) and it got too annoying. I had to stick about 6 or 7 tissues in the door in various places, which meant I blocked off my access to the toilet, but I er... dealt with it. I kept the torch with me all night in case the power went out, but it didn`t, which was great.

Tonight it when it`s supposed to reach us. The typhoon was originally gonna head north over Japan in general but air pressure has sent it to the right so its now headed directly for... Shizuoka. Its gonna pass right over the top of us and head up the Eastern coast, most likely. At least it means my first typhoon should be a decent one. Im slightly worried stuff in my house wont cope. The houses here just have a very flimsy feel to them so I dont feel as protected from the elements as I would at home. Whats worse is that my TV reception started getting crappy last night. If I miss Kochikame because of this, Ill take the damn typhoon down. IT was a rather Harvest Moon moment actually. Stuck in my house as an ominous wind blows, TV is all snowy...

I cant stop comparing life here to games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. Really though, all these little things you would never have thought of in the game make so much sense here. Giftpia too.

I actually dont have long before classes start. I should really get my shit together. I guess I can work on my presentation at home on the weekend though. I probably wont be going out, so Ill have time.

Oh yeah, I gave your presents to poor children. Sorry. Even though you all sent me lovely emails, it was just too late. I guess I`ll go back today and beat them up to get the stuff back. Those poor children.

Probably wont send them til next week though. I need to fogire out HOW Im gonna do it. Post offices here, at least the one in my town, arent the convenient little shops they are in Australia. The one here is just a counter, really. Im not sure where I can buy a box to send stuff in.

I`ll figure it out.

15 minutes left before I get to go home. Id look forward to coming in tomorow, through the howling rain and wind, possibly getting sick and feverish from being drenched to the bone, if I thought there would be any emails or correspondance for me. But alas, there will surely be none.

Im gonna give your presents to beggars and poor children if you guys dont start bloody talking to me ;.; Shawn is excused because she`s already made exceptional effort.

Bored, bored, bored, bored, booooooooooooooooooooored.

I wish someone would come and give me some work to do. Or pay attention to me. Or speak in my general direction.

I know youre all having problems too, I know your lives dont stop for me, or revolve around me, but cant they take a slight detour?

Ive already broken into my savings. I had to get an extra 20,000 out of the bank yesterday to buy household necessities and most of that is gone (I got some fucking awesome presents too) so I cant go spending money on phonecards. Im hoping the net isnt far off so I wont have to keep relying on this school access.

Well, Im going home now, where I can amuse myself. Yesterday I cleaned out the bottom cupboards and arranged the crap in them neatly, halving the space used. I swear, people just THREW stuff in there before. A little organisation and suddenly I have heaps of room.

Oh yeah, and this: http://www.google.com/talk/ ... might be worth a look.

This typhoon is starting to sound interesting. Apparently, every teacher Ive talked to isnt coming tomorrow because of it. Does that mean I should stay home? Not if I have to take nenkyuu, thats for sure. Im not wasting my nenkyuu because of a bit of wind and rain. Ill ask my supervisor but Im fairly sure thats what the deal will be. I guess Im spending my first typhoon at school. Perhaps I should bring lunch tomorrow...

Apparently I have a typhoon to look forward to in the next couple of days. I think it`s supposed to hit tomorrow. Hooray.

It certainly has cooled things down somewhat. I`m actually occasionally turning my fan off in the morning or during the night (still waking up at least several times...). Still, people are saying `atsui desu neeee`. Its not! My god, get over it people. Its still rather humid, yes. Still nice to have the aircon, but compared to the recent weather its positively COOL now. Theres a breeze. The wind is a little annoying because it makes the screen door in the kitchen rattle, but Im enjoying the temperature. Ive noticed its way cooler outside than inside my little `cave` at home so Im gonna open my place up tonight and hopefully flush out the yucky air. I just hope the bugs know to stay out.

Well, I can get my UBB drive into this laptop now but sine I dont have an FTP program on here, its not like I can do much with them. There are hundreds so I dont wanna mail them all... I might try and email a couple to Neal and just see how that goes.

So so bored.

I think I found the USB ports on this laptop (hidden at the back) so Ill bring my USB drive in tomorrow and see.

Yamauchi-sensei just came in and introduced herself. Now, Ive met all the english teachers here. She said she`s been sick for like a month, and when I asked if she was gonna be my supervisor from now on, she mentioned that she would be if she was well enough to come to school for a long period of time (Im putting that into understandable english). Wow, I wonder whats wrong with her. I didnt want to ask, that might be taboo.

I got a look at the textbooks my kids use today. One of them has a chapter based around Home Alone. One of them tells a story about... well, Im gonna write it here. Its not too long.

*ahem*

As a young man, John was popular with the girls, and successful in business. His future seemed to be rosy. But there was a problem. He was a man everybody loved, but he didnt like anybody. He also found his life boring. No matter what he did, he didnt enjoy it.

Although a lot of people were around him, he was lonely. He often had big parties to forget his loneliness.

One night he decided to kill himself. Just then, a wizard appeared in front of him. He said, `Why are you going to kill yourself?` `Because Im tired of my life,` John answered. `Theres nobody I like. It seems that I cannot love people`. The wizard said, `Well, let me change you into a man who loves everybody but is not loved by anybody.` John agreed.

Now he sincerely loved everybody, but nobody loved him. In time his business failed. He gradually became poor. He soon found himself living in a place where beggars lived. He was dying in that place. But he was happy because he loved people.

It is a fact that for most people loving and being loved are both important. Which kind of life do you want?

*ahem*

Bloody morbid story, eh? I nearly cracked up laughing when I read that. Id feel stupid reading that to my kids.

The ending song for Kochikame has changed. Its still good, but I was really getting to like the old one. Oh well.

Today for lunch, because Im always trying to get something I havent eaten before, I got this sweet bun. I couldnt read what was in it, but what the hey, trying new things and all that. Turns out I just happened to pick the most delicious food on the face of the planet. Its like a sweet bun with brown sugar on top and red bean paste and cream in the middle. I dont know why, but red bean paste just got up one day and decided against all odds and having such a gross sounding name, it was gonna be the most delicious food in the world. Then cream said, `I want some of that action!` and together they made sweet gooey love on some bread.

I wish I could send you all some, but you know, expiry date and cream and all that. Mostly though, I just wanna rub it in your faces that I get to eat it and you dont.

I almost accidentally wrote faces as faeces which would have also made sense, possibly even moreso!

Ive had to come to the conclusion that Im probably not gonna be able to save any money this month. Im a bit sad about it, but its my first month and I just have a lot of expenses that wont be coming up later. Ive already been told I have to get off my butt and buy some shoes for school already (I kept meaning to!) since Im still wearing the guest slippers. Now Ive been told to buy a pair just for the gym too. My god, the shoe thing in this country borders insanity. Okay, take your shoes off before coming inside, fair enough. Why do -I- have to wear school-only slippers though when none of the kids do? They just walk around with the same shoes inside and out. I mean, pick one, Japan! Is there a real reason for it or not? If so, surely you would enforce it properly. If not, get over it.

I dont mind buying new shoes, but the rules concerning them... silly.

My favourite thing for lunch is tuna and corn salad. Basically, a normal salad that includes some corn and some tuna. It also comes with half a boiled egg. Faaantastic.

Tomorrow I have to take my non-burnable rubbish out for the first time ever. Scary!

Update: Because I ended up being able to remember what colour cubes we already had, I did indeed buy orange, which looks fantastic in my apartment. Of course, it could just be my elation at finally having a GameCube again. I ended up getting Doubutsu no Mori (yes, Animal Crossing) e+ which is loads of fun. It comes with an e reader (no GBA yet but itll come in handy eventually), a bunch of cards and there are all sorts of updates in the game. So far, things Ive noticed; the theme song is funkier, there are way more things you can do with your townspeople, you start with 7 townspeople instead of five, there are lots of extra items and songs and games, the museum is slightly different, my towns layout is just... weird. I hear there are extra characters, furniture sets, games... oh, and you can get to your island without a GBA. You just need Tom Nook (Tanukichi) to ask if you want one. Kappa (cant remember his Japanese name right now so thats what Im calling him) is always at the dock. The mayor has a top hat... is this like the PAL version? I cant remember.

I also bought Homeland, which I played for just a tiny bit last night but its really gorgeous. The music is fantastic, it really has the same feel as WindWaker, and the story as far as I can grasp it from my little time playing seems very cute. I didnt get Chibi Robo but I will at some stage. Im pretty sure Ill end up buying at least another Harvest Moon game too. There are SO many here!

I wrote a big entry on my laptop at home and even though I now am the proud owner of a 512 USB drive, I cant upload it here because this laptop appears to have no place for me to stick my drive in. Its asexual.

I walked in today with loads of books and worksheets Id gotten at my two orientations and my vice principal was checking them out and saying how good my preparation was (he probably thought Id made them myself). Hooray! Now I look like Ive actually been working.

I also got a battery charger (NimH or whatever, thanks Neal!) and a cloth for my laptop screen, a rewritable CD and about 10... non-rewritables. It was hard to walk out of that beautiful computer/electronics store with only those things but I forced myself away.

Shawn: No subway stamps here, Im afraid. The subway and KFC both turned out to be non-existant in Hamamatsu so the only of their kind I know are in Shizuoka city, and I wouldnt be eating at the Subway there often enough to warrant stamps anyway, but thanks for the offer!!

Patrick: Email is the same as ever.