Chop socky

Based on the assumption that our final few days here are going to be fairly subdued, this weekend was the last shot out of the cannon - two farewells followed by a big day trip out to the country to continue our love affair with dressing up as historical figures and playing silly buggers. With one week to go and counting, it's good to have things organised - we can officially tick off "send boxes", "tidy up" and "walk around a supermarket in a samurai costume".

And straight on till morning

We had the first of our farewells late last week, kicking off yet another long weekend and marking the official beginning of the end. Not a moment too soon, either - we've got two weeks left and still have an almost absurd number of things to think about. With most of the major stuff organised though, we're now down to the "using up stuff in the fridge" level of detail which is slightly more terrifying than it should be.

Over the worst of it

The conference has now wrapped up, taking with it the last of my workload for the year (touch wood). This seems to have ushered in a weird twilight at work, where half of the office just seem to not show up and those who do consider me part of the furniture. I'm half expecting to discover I was actually crushed under a pile of participant booklets on Wednesday and have since been haunting the office in an exceptionally uninteresting way. I've requested the last of my leave now so we'll see whether they approve it or just shiver and close the windows.

Up to their old tricks

Everything seems to be gradually normalising now; the gloom seems to be passing with the first few rays of Spring sunshine. Enkai season has officially hit and while I don't have quite so many workplaces to go to parties for this year, there's still a remarkable amount of drinking to be done. Friday was our end of year party, last night we had an extra one for our section of the office and this Friday is the farewell. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a "new year" and "welcome" party came hot on their heels - anything worth doing is worth doing until you throw up, I suppose.

Swings and roundabouts

This week was one of old comforts and old friends and while it didn't result in photos of us with men in giraffe costumes, it was a good chance to recharge the ol' batteries. This was involuntary to some extent; Lisa was struck down with a lurgy on Saturday which kept us home for most of the weekend. You would think it would be difficult to spend much money almost without leaving the house, but somehow I still managed to go from having $1000 in my wallet on Friday to less than half that today. If you work out how, please let me know.

Out with a whimper, in with a bang

Well, here we are - my last blog post for the year and not a moment too soon. The time for goodbyes is upon us and with each farewell party that comes by, I can feel my engine lugging more and more. I have no real reason to be exhausted because all in all it's a very gentle end to the year; having said that, I think you always end up with exactly the right amount of physical and mental energy to crawl over the finish line and not a drop more. That must be it - the endless parties, schizophrenic sleeping patterns and late night coffee binges have nothing to do with it, I'm sure.

...BRILLIANT!

It's been quite an odd week, at least compared to the others of our extremely average existence - a variety of things seem to have stirred up the nest a bit. I don't know how I feel about this - on one level the ants in my pants seem to be enjoying the routine change but on another I just really want to be wasting time on my own terms. I should probably stop thinking every idea is a really good one.

...anybody got a Gryffindor tie I can borrow?

And then I ate a whole sheep

Having just finished a long weekend and my last official day of work, I find myself reflecting. It's a time of old ends and new beginnings; as the sun sets on my working life and rises over the holidays, I find myself turning my measured gaze to what the future holds. Should I put some pants on? Should I have another almond chocolate thing?

No. Yes.

Berocca, drugs and rock 'n' roll

I have very little of interest to say to you this week, particularly compared to last week's bonanza; in the interests of keeping the rhythm going I'm just going to chuck something up. Possibly literally, if this doom flu I have gets as bad as I imagine. Through the twin miracles of infection and sleep deprivation, I currently have the sensation of controlling myself remotely. At the press of a button, my unfeeling arms click into position; I peer at this unfamiliar world through a camera. Sternly.

I think I should probably be in what you humans call "bed".

The true Japanese experience

The work party on Friday night was actually a bit better than I expected, if only for the sake of change. Rather than things disintegrating into karaoke and whiskey (not that there's anything wrong with that), we ended up at a classy bar drinking out of absurdly big wine glasses and being served cheese and chocolate by the Japanese equivalent of Eric Clapton in a waistcoat. This was the first chapter in a recent trend of doing very non-Japanese things. Somewhat ironically, after spending a lot of my downtime last weekend playing a game where you aim to exterminate mankind with a new virus, I've found myself struck down by another doom flu. It's really not doing much for my sense of adventure wanting to leave KFC.

Enkai (work party)

Dear Mike,
Next time you're rip roaring drunk on a Monday night and your boss says "shall we have a second party?", politely decline. You will save yourself a lot of Panadol and liver.
Regards,
Sensible.


Dear Sensible,
No.
Regards,
Mike.