23.11.2012 - kansai rinkai park.

Skyped with mum briefly but then her internet went out, so that was the end of that.

Went to Kasai Rinkai park to go to the aquarium and ferris wheel.
Had to do the fancy transferring of train line at Tokyo station which I'd never done, but I got there with minimal fuss.

The aquarium itself was really nice I though, bit crowded in places, but nice.
And the ferris wheel would have been much, much better had it not been overcast.
Maybe the whole day would have been better had it not been overcast?

nightmare

spot the fish

I dare you to find me a cooler animal than a mudskipper.

I'm not sure, not that I didn't have fun, but it wasn't as joyous as it could have been.

After (my camera battery died, which is why this isn't documented via photo or video) I went for lunch in Harajuku where I'm thinking they gave me something with dairy in it even though I must have said I was allergic (in English & Japanese) at least 5 times.
I don't feel so sick, but I have a horrid headache which is another symptom.
I might just have a headache, also a possibility.


Took some self portraits I'm happy with on camera, we'll see how the editing goes!

Made myself some potato & pumpkin and edited the video of my day, now I'm going to relax for a bit before going to bed nice and early so I feel good when I have to wake up at 6.30, to have time for breakfast, before work tomorrow!

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I'll post the video tomorrow maybe, I'm having trouble getting it to upload right now and I need to not be on the computer for a few minutes.

04.10.2012 - aikdo + vegan food

Wednesday

last night I went to the dojo after work and the Sensei, who's name I don't know because he was a last minute replacement so it's not on the website/schedule, accidentally did nikkyo (this is just a technique, for non aikido people) on my so hard he gave me a bloody nose. I think he hit my face with my own arm? Bit unsure on that honestly.

Cleaned myself up and finished class. This story is really only funny because this morning I went to go to 2 classes, in about 5 minutes before the end of the first one the lady I was practicing with accidentally hit me in the face (her hand was sweaty, I kind of get go (by mistake!)) and boom, another bloody nose.
Skipped the second class, decided not to risk it.

Came home, skyped with my family for a while. They're great, man.
Gave me some much needed advice, I'm glad I can count on them.

Then I read my book (that mum send me in her care package!), ate veggie snacks and drank tea for like 4 hours.
It was wonderful, I haven't just given myself down time like that in a while. I keep watching TV and I dunno, fussing with stuff.
But it was really relaxing, I listened to Sheryl Crow and enjoyed some historical fiction about the pre War of The Roses leading into the aforementioned war, aka England in starting in about 1430.
Seriously my idea of a spiffing morning.

Got news that my cousin Mishka is playing a show here this Friday, very excited to go see him!
Luckily he's playing super early, because I have to leave for work at 7.30 on Saturday, haha.
But seeing him is going to be worth it, for sure!

Now I'm off to work for a few hours.

I took a few self portraits last night, using the technique I'm currently obsessed with. Which is pretty much making digital photos look like film? I mean, they're shit really, but I'm feeling that right now.
I'm all about the grain right now. For low light stuff, still only shoot at ISO100 during the day.

Also snapped these of my poor, poor legs. My right leg is pretty much one big bruise from mid shin to above my knee. Boo.
In these it kind of looks like a few smaller bruises, which is is, but those are just the purple ones.
It's all a tad swollen and yellowish in real life, crazy painful.

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Thursday

woke up, did about 15 minutes of yoga. Now I'm waiting for me roommate to get out of the shower so I can brush my teeth and go to aikido for a few hours.

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Good time at the dojo! First class was a beginners class taught by Kanazawa Sensei, we did footwork practice for about half the class (I love footwork practice, seriously!) and then some ikkyo, nikkyo, iriminage, and kotegaeshi.

Second class was a regular class taught by Osawa Sensei. Very good, very good. As always.
Practiced with a nice lady who I think said was from the Netherlands, but I'm not entirely sure.
Natalia, her name was.
As always Osawa Sensei managed to have us do a million techniques in an hour.
ikkyo, nikkyo, sankyo, iriminage, suwara waza nikkyo & sankyo, ryototori tenchinage, kotegaeshi, different variation of nikkyo, and then ending with kokyu dosa.

phew.

Came back, showered, put in laundry, ate food.
Now I'm going to read my book a bit more before I need to put my laundry out and eventually go to work.

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Went to work from 2.30 - 5.40, then rushed home and had to make a super fast turnaround to meet Maria for 7.
Went to a funny vegan place, the food was delicious but it was a little disconcerting to be the only people in the place for the entire 2 and a bit hours we were there.

We both had the dahl curry, which was so good! then I had chocolate cake & Maria had banana cake, since who can resist vegan desserts?
both were wonderfully delicious.

my chocolate cake & coconut cream

maria's banana cake with cinnamon coconut cream.

It started pouring halfway through dinner, and luckily lightened up long enough for me to buy an umbrella! Jesus though, when it rains it pours here.

rain at Shibuya Station.

Now I get to try to decide if it's better to leave my laundry out overnight in the hopes it's sunny in the morning (calling for sun/showered for tomorrow) or bring it in and hang it about my room in hopes it dries better here.
Boo laundry.

Now I'm going to stay up for a bit hoping mum will come on Skype, I'm having a "I really miss my mummy" moment. She's just so great, you know?

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have a good day and a pleasant tomorrow, all!

01.09.2012 - I started my job!

Had my first day of work yesterday, it was really overwhelming honestly.
A lot of kids, a lot of names (!), and a lot of information.
Paul also does heaps of things differently from me, so I'm playing catch up a bit.

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I also worked this morning! 3 hours of kids classes, then an hours of weapons with adults.
I feel like I definitely did better, more comfortable you know?
It's still a lot to handle but I'm getting it, slowly.

Really enjoyed the weapons class though! Cesar taught it, we'll be doing jo for the whole semester.
I've done a bit, but again, he does loads of stuff differently.
I feel like I'm having to unlearn so much.


This afternoon I'd been planning on going to Shinjuku Gyoen, which is a massive park for a nice quiet lunch and a walk but then it was raining on and off all morning so that made it less appealing.
Anyway, instead Paul & I went and found a bike for me. So exciting! Now getting to Hombu in the mornings will take 10 minutes instead of like, 35. Yay!

Since it was you know, raining, I came back here for a bit then went for a shorti-ish walk just for some fresh air.

Now I'm back here, going to make myself some dinner soon (thinking about pasta, I'm craving something that doesn't involve rice, pickled vegetables, or soy sauce.)  and then I have a skype date with my parents. Hopefully we have a decent connection, talked to them yesterday morning and it was a perfect connection except the call dropped like every 90 seconds. Stupid.

I know that's not exactly a thrilling day, but hey, you can't win them all.
And work takes up a lot of my time/psychic space. But there's not much to write.

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And it's Liam's birthday here today! Well it's also his birthday where he too, now.
I miss him.

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have a good day guys!