Today I went on an adventure to the Iga-Ueno Ninja “festival” in one of Osaka’s neighbouring prefectures, Mie. At Iga, I was to meet an old friend of mine.
It’s a fair way away, I was expecting a 2 hour train ride with about 5 transfers according to Hyperdia.com. I got up at about 8am, had a shower, packed my bag with some entertainment (my newly acquired PS Vita and my MacBook Pro) and set off.
I kinda had a false start – I missed one of my transfer stops. This naturally meant having to get off the next stop and getting the next stop back. 15 minutes wasted!
3 months. That’s about the time where the culture-shock roller coaster ride takes a nose dive before climbing back up again.
But then again, I don’t really think I’m shocked by the culture here. So maybe I’m not on the culture-shock roller coaster, but instead on some other one.
Or maybe, just maybe, I’m not actually in a theme park, a carnival or The Ekka and thus not actually on a roller coaster.
This past weekend was one of the greatest I’ve had in Japan – ever! These were the weekend objectives come 6:30pm last Friday:
1) Friday: go to an International Bar called Bridges
2) Saturday: Survive Friday night, and be in a good enough form to partake in Hanami from 10am
3) Sunday: Get some work done on my current project
Friday:
Work was out, I packed away my MacBook Pro, threw my bag over my shoulder and my workmates and I made our way to Bridges.
Bridges was nice! It was cozy, they sold Pizza, and the beer was on special (only 300 yen!). I met a few new people. It was great! Nothing particularly noteworthy happened whilst there, but it was a great evening.
I took the last train back home. Once I got to my home station, I proceeded with my daily ritual:
1) walk to my house
2) open the door
3) walk inside
4) lock the door
5) take off my shoes
6) head upstairs
7) whip out my laptop to check emails and Facebo-
Honestly I feel as though I couldn’t have picked a more apt title for this blog post. It is so apt, in fact, I feel as though all I need to do now is explain what it means.
Which, I suppose, is no different to any other post.
One thing I’ve taken for granted in Australia is the weather. I remember thinking the same thing whilst I studied abroad at Kansai Gaidai 2 years ago, but I guess I seemed to have forgotten it upon returning to Australia. Well now that I’m back here in Japan, I can strongly agree with my past self. It rains, all the goddamn time here. It rained a bit yesterday. It rained today. I think it might not rain tomorrow, but it’ll probably rain the day after.
I remember when I first started studying Japanese I was taught the phrase:
100% of the reason I am writing this post is to justify the beginning of sharing various links and Youtube videos that I enjoy on my Gravity Release Me Facebook Page. So for those who like/follow the GRM FB page, keep your eye’s peeled for the occasional link/video. For those who don’t like/follow me, you should follow me to see if I actually keep to my word. (smooth Jace, smooth.)
The other 100% of the reason I’m writing this post is because I fuckin’ love Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and lastly, but by absolutely no means least, Mr. Karl Pilkington. They are hilarious! Allow me to tell you about how I found out about these 3 gentlemen (in chronological order):
Ricky Gervais
I know of Ricky Gervais because I was born and raised on Earth.
Stephen Merchant
I saw a tall, funny, strange-looking guy on Extras once. Then I played Portal 2 and fell in love with Wheatley. Then I looked up the actor who voiced him and finally put a name to that strange-looking face. The face-person was Stephen Merchant.
Karl Pilkington
An Irish friend of mine told me about a TV show called An Idiot Abroad, featuring an elaborate prank organised by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The victim of this prank was none other than Karl Pilkington. Read the rest of this entry »
So every morning I wake up at 7:15am. Then I snooze till 7:40am. Then I lazily get up and have a shower. Then I eat breakfast whilst watching Youtube videos as it’s time efficient. Occasionally I watch youtube videos before I have breakfast, which is not time efficient, then I end up not eating breakfast.
Then I catch the 8:34am train to Hirakata-shi station. Where I make my way to platform 4 and jump onto the front carriage of the semi-express train to Yodoyabashi. At around 9:10am, I arrive at Yodoyabashi and exit the front carriage. I try to get onto the front carriage at Hirakata-shi because it is right by a staircase leading up to the western exit at Yodoyabashi. It is here, that the magic happens.
Everyday, without fail, I spot a Gaijin (foreigner) walking up this staircase towards the western exit. Everyday it is always someone new. But every single time I spot them I think to myself: Read the rest of this entry »
Lately I’ve been deprived of my PS3 due to the lack of TV. But I’ve been getting by. Been keeping myself busy. Been playing some of my old, stagnant PC/Mac games. I’d much prefer my PS3, but in this case something is better than nothing and I’ve got good friends to play with.
However, a particular franchise has my geek-rocket flying higher than a grandfather on the blue pills sporting a 9 hour horn. Which you ask? Assassins Creed of course! Over the past week (or two?) details about the new Assassins Creed 3 (set to be released at the end of October, 2012) have been splooging out all over the internet, and boy does it look sexy.
I believe that Assassins Creed: Revelations was wonderful, however it juuuust placed it’s pinky toe over the “we-need-something-new” line – which considering we were 4 instalments into the franchise is pretty damn good. However, Assassins Creed 3 needs to change things up much more than it has before. The same “wait for a counter attack” (whilst in battle) and “running around on roofs” (whilst not in battle) formulae just won’t work again after 4 instalments.
Since I got my job I’ve been offered 2 other jobs. Why?
“When it rains, it pours”
Aptly put. But why? During the initial/hardest times I’ve had in Japan this time around not a soul wanted me. But now they do. My outlook is that those times were my trial and my current job is my reward.
That was until I got THE EMAIL.
Hmm... not that scary looking.
THE EMAIL will remain a mystery to the public for now for 2 reasons:
It being public could affect my current situation
Think of all the fun I can have with THE EMAIL until I release information about it!
THE EMAIL changes everything. It turns my current job (aka my reward) into… well… it’s still a reward but… it’s like a pair of second hand shoes that aren’t really all that old yet. Like they’re still pretty good, but they have scuffed heels.
THE EMAIL is huge. Not in length, or physical size – and definitely no innuendo suggested. But it’s big. It’s big enough to force me to write a blog post about it at 12:37AM when I should be resting for work tomorrow. It’s heavy too. Like, you’d better stretch, bend your knees, and use your best form when lifting. Read the rest of this entry »
Ok so you’re probably wondering how my first week of work was. Right? Well it was good! It went well! I’m super excited for this next week. However this post isn’t going to be about my new job.
As the title suggests, this post is just going to be a meaningless bit of waffle.
So, last Sunday, I received a text from a friend asking if I wanted to attend a fashion show she was going to be in at a museum in Kyoto that afternoon. However, that afternoon I was actually filling in for a friend at his job – it was just the one shift at an English Conversation Cafe. So as great as the fashion show would have been, I had to decline. I asked her when she was free next, she said Thursday.
That afternoon, as mentioned before, I went to work at the English Conversation Cafe. It was great! I just talked to a couple of old-ish Japanese women. They were most interesting – although talking to anyone for 4 hours straight does get tiring. But I enjoyed it. After the customers left and we closed up the cafe the boss said she was very happy with my work and wanted to offer me more work. Unfortunately, my friend would normally work on Sundays – he was just away on that particular Sunday. But she said they have another day with an availability. Which day? Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »
