Take me out to the ball game

After our last attempt to catch a Tigers game was washed into a storm drain somewhere, we were intensely paranoid of a repeat performance; we spent the better part of the last week playing "what's the time Mr Wolf" with weather websites. Fortunately Friday was a notably sunny break in a string of dreary wet season weather, so we had ourselves a game. Not just any game, mind you - a long-standing grudge match between the Tigers and the Giants to determine who was placed where on the ladder. We showed up to Koshien Stadium at about 5 closely followed by the contents of the greater Osaka-Kobe area, who had all dressed in their best stripey pajamas for the occasion.

It got worse

Beer garden season is officially upon us, which means you can sit atop a building, stare at the uninspiring skyline and eat chicken that's been reheated in a fryer no less than 4 times. At least the beer's good though - it's in an automatic pouring machine that has two separate nozzles for beer and head so I can't stay mad at them for too long. Fortunately the rainy season took a breath on Friday and spared turning our spot into a rooftop pool, so we ended up having a nice night under the stars. The rest of the weekend wasn't quite so successful, to say the least.

The calm before the storm

As you may have guessed, it's been a relatively sensible few weeks; Lisa hasn't written to her grandma in about a month because there's only so much space on a page that Mister Donut can take up. The social winds dropped away to nothing this weekend, heralding a 2 month-long gale that's about to blow us all the way to August. It seems that weird things start happening in these kinds of conditions.

First there was nothing

There really is very little separating relative calm from infernos of spending in this country and I've felt the kindling building up for a while now. Having two instant gratification-type personalities in a place full of temptations and endless monopoly money is what people in the metaphor business would call "bushfire conditions". As always, the spark ignited just as we had declared we were going to be sensible; I think I'm finally starting to understand why we love it here.