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.

From one extreme to the other

Sure as night follows day we always seem to see-saw our way between opposites as the weeks go by - slackness to busyness, healthy eating to double cheeseburgers and spending to... ludicrous spending. Shortly after returning from Fuji, we went to a Kabuki performance in Kobe which was the last aftershock in our short series of intensely Japanese tremors. A huge correction is now underway that started with a grand Italian dinner for Lisa's birthday and may end up in a K-Mart somewhere in the Western Pacific Ocean.

Don't quit your day job

The chequered flag fell on Friday and I roared over the line in about 7th place, ready to shrug in disinterest and start the best bit of work - not going there. This time it's going to be done in style - we've picked up our Fuji climbing tickets, our rental boots and wet weather gear are on their way and in about 1 week, we'll be wondering what the hell we were thinking. Until then though it's as much of nothing as possible; the only hiking we're going to be doing is between beer joints and roller coasters.

Scene missing

It's now officially the last week of work before more holidays, which I suppose makes this "week 10". There's no outward sign of this other than me loudly slurping on a carton of iced coffee, which in your average week 10 would be the only thing stopping me from smashing like a dropped Ming vase. But no, apart from last week lasting about 3 months, things have been almost (but not entirely) unremarkable.

Grindstone cowboy

I was expecting some kind of explosion when I got back to work, or at least opening the office door to find myself washed away by a comical tide of paper. Things were suspiciously quiet though - Monday passed without so much as a rumble and then I went on a brief business trip to Tokyo and came back similarly unaccosted. I can hear the beast lurking in the shadows though, paper skin all a-crinkle. He watches me through hole-punched eyes and gnashes his paperclip teeth, waiting for the moment I drop my guard and say wow, not long till holidays.

Putting the "grace" back in "disgraceful"

It was one of those weeks that seemed like 3, possibly due to a huge "business trip" I had to do on Friday; it was a school visit out to the guts of the prefecture and took 2 hours on the train each way. Being a sensible 28 year old now I shouldn't even dream of drunken silliness but when I crash landed on the couch that evening, the clock struck beer o'clock and the hands didn't move again until Sunday.

Yankee doodle

It's been a patriotic few days, with the celebrations of Canada Day (which exists, it turns out) on July 1st leading into American Independence Day and (far more importantly) my birthday on the 4th. The "Summer Timetable" has kicked off at work meaning that my day starts and finishes half an hour earlier now, so we had a nice early start to the weekend's festivities. A nice late end, too - I took a day off yesterday for birthday eats and shopping, but I spelled it wrong and accidentally wrote "personal business" instead.

A new twist on the old favourites

By this stage of the game I would have thought things would be winding down, but this weekend proves that there was a charge or two left in the ol' roman candle. With a shiver of delight, I got behind the wheel of a rental car and was reminded how delicious driving is. No last trains, no "next bus not for 20 minutes", no walking up the hill in the rain - glory on four wheels. Mount Rokko, Arima Onsen and Awaji Island all awaited, the old stomping grounds that we thought we'd seen all of. It was going to be a tinkly, steamy, swirly and shaky weekend - in that order.

Romance ensues

"You're definitely management material," Lisa said, her tone suggesting this wasn't a good thing at all. By this stage I'm sure she was sick to death of hearing about the mid-year seminar by this stage, but politely listened until the end anyway. The short version is that everything went extremely well and that I'm well cut out for shameless self-promotion and withering flattery of my "underlings". Nevertheless, I was quite happy to spend the weekend doing things as far from work as possible, specifically on a river and with several cheeky monkeys. My brain still feels like an overworked muscle (to say the least); it's obviously not used to hard work.

Too much is never enough

I feel like a neverending font at the moment - those that thirst for plausible-sounding nonsense need only twist my handle and loose a cascading torrent of it, enough to fill any container they have. Five such vessels have overflowed in the past couple of weeks, four of which were the workshops for the mid-year seminar coming up this week; the fifth, my plenary session, took gallons. They're all officially done and ready to be uncorked.

Those in the front rows may get wet.

Cha-ching

The showpiece of last week had to be Culture Day, a glorious midweek public holiday that I'm not entirely sure of the purpose of; it's probably another one of Japan's many examples of "let's think of a provocative name for a day off". Being the refined creatures we are, we decided to focus our attention on Osaka shopping culture and had what I think was my 3rd successful trip out there in a row. At this rate I might actually start liking the place.

No rest for the wicked

Due to some no doubt ominous aligning of the planets this morning, I had to wake up about 5 hours earlier than I’m used to and saw the sun rise as I walked down to the station. This was not the kind of thing you’d see on a Nike/Sports by Brooks/Boost Juice ad – there was no triumphant fist pumping or spinning around with arms skyward in a gesture of how much of a free spirit I was. It was bleary eyes, bed head and generally lots of things that said I don’t want to get up at 5am again. That said, I am now on a bus – blogging on one should be an interesting experience. I apologise in advance for any surreal images that my omelette-ised brain may conjure.

...BLOG BUS!

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".

On quiet days and unrelated photos

Some strange photos are appearing in my photostream and this won't be the last time - I need to take photos of mundane things for my other blog (http://hyogoexchange.blogspot.com/ - wear your safety goggles, it's educational) so bear with me. Unless you like pictures of vending machines and sports fields, in which case enjoy.

I also don't have much to talk about, I'm just posting because I imagine legions of people visiting every day and frowning that I haven't updated the page. So, for all my loyal fans: an exclusive portrait of me, done on commission by one of my students.

Ashes to ashes, brain to mush

Just finished about 2 hours straight of translating a very complicated brochure on the Japanese education system. Developing an irrational fear of relative clauses and sentences with no subjects.

Thankfully, I have another enkai coming up shortly - nothing fortifies the brain and cures a headache like alcohol (then returns it later with interest)!

Sorry I haven't been posting very much - I figured there would be only so much I could pad out "sat at home and watched 24 because it was too cold". Should be plenty to talk about after NAKED MAN WEEKEND though. I've volunteered to do a write up about it for the JET newspaper too - I hope they like references to shrinkage and skidmarks.