Saturday July 26, 1997: 11pm
Cool - the typhoon is here! OK, so it's not as fabulous as I'd hoped, but the wind is pretty spectacular. Every few minutes there's a really good spell of reain and that's neat. BUt it's dark out so I cna't enjoy it to the full. Plus, Tokyo's only getting the outskirts of the typhoon - I think that the centre is more to the west.
Today was a big Japanese day. I feel a bit more on top of things now.
Sunday July 27, 1997: 8pm
Well I just phoned Suehiro-san - the lady who I see on my run everyday. OH my... i mean, it's already difficult enough to understand Japanese when the person is right in front of me - I don't need a phone line to make it more challenging! Ack! Anyways, I caught a bit of what she said... something about phoning her on a Friday night so taht we can plan for the Saturday or Sunday. I don't know if she meant that I should phone her THIS Friday, or on Fridays in general. Hmm...
Oh, today I did some sketching and guitar playing... relaxing. The weather's kind of strange - there are these looming black clouds hangin' around, but it's not raining. I'm sure that as soon as I go out to do something it'll pour.
Monday July 28, 1997: 9:30pm
Ugh. My teacher tonight actually gave me homework for tomorrow, I'm so bitter. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for having lessons 2 days in a row. Oooo - today I set up the new scanner at my computer - this thing is huge! It's so cool. I can't wait to get my stuff working so I can see it all in action!!
Ha, today Hirabayashi-san asks me - out of the blue - "Do you have any problems in your life?", so I'm like "Uh - not that I can think of.." and he explains to me that he's got to periodically check. How funny!
Oh, and today was the internal "safety patrol" which just means a workplace cleanliness check. We had to clean up the place on Friday so that it would look good. Then these guys walked around with yellow pinneys around there arms and made notes on their checkboards. Strrrange.
Tuesday July 29, 1997: 9:15pm
Well today I set my travel plans in motion - kinda. Well, I was planning on going to Okinawa (the Japanese tropical paradise) but it way end up being too expensive to go during Obon. If so, then I'll probably wander down to Kyoto and Osaka to hang around there. Hirabayashi-san was being very helpful with suggestions and stuff which is great because he'd know better than me about this stuff!
Hmm.. I wonder where Jason could be - I thought he was coming back tonight, but I could be mistaken because his flight was getting in at 4, and he's not here yet! Anyways, I'm not waiting up.
Oh, something funny happened today. A bunch of guys at work were bunched around Nakamura-san, examining what she was holding. I couldn't see what it was, but it sure sounded like a package of candy to me. Anyways, she starts to hand out whatever it is to everyone in the office, and I can hear people going "Nandarou?!?" ("What on earth...") in general, it was creating a bit of a fuss. So, when it got to Hirabayashi-san, naturally there was a little debate on what it was - so I turned around to see what they were all talking about - and it was... red licorice! Of all things! They had no *clue* what it was... they thought it was a candle or something! Anyways, I say "Oh, you guys want to know what that is?".. ha ha! It's not easy to explain the concept of red licorice, you know - especially because the red kind isn't even the flavour of licorice. Uh huh, some more warped North American logic. Anyways, I thought it was funny.
Wednesday July 30, 1997: 8:15am
Well Jason truly is a nitwit. I get a phone call at midnight, and sure enough, it's Jason. I'm like "Uh.. where ARE you?" - expecting an answer like "the airport", or "Ueda", or "the Hino station"... So it completely surprises me when he says "Oh, Toronto."!!! As it turns out, he lost his passport.. twit. He'll abe back here on Thursday though -- just a 2 day delay. Boy, I'm not gonna let him forget this one -- ever! It'll be even better than the ATM joke...
8:30pm
Today was - hmm - not so great I guess. Right now I'm supposed to be at my calligraphy class, but I ended up not going because it's pouring out, and by the time I got to the station I was completely soaked.. I figured that I'd make a mess and also it'd be really uncomfortable to actually do the calligraphy - so I went home to maybe change and then head out again.. but it was too late. So instead, I watched TV. All I can say is, great gameshows!!
At work though - woah! There's SO MUCH to do! As soon as I get one UI done, about 5 new ones have come up. I feel like I'm running in sand or something. Oh well, at least I'm getting work done - even if it isn't as fast as work is coming in!
Oh yeah, so it's been raining basically since Saturday - that's kind of a bummer. It's not stormy rain, just your regular drizzle. So it's also been cool out, although I now consider 27C "cool". Hmmm.. have I been warped? Maybe...
Thursday July 31, 1997: 8:15am
Today I had a strange run - I'm initially inclined to say it was horrible, but it was also fabulous! First of all, it was raining and quite cool out. I actually like it this way, so that was good. But then as soon as I started I felt really sick, I mean, really really sick. The feeling would come and go.. 20 minutes into my run (when I'm about as far away from home as I get) I hit the bottom. Oh, I felt so bad! Of course, I'm about a 40 mins walk from home, so instead I went to the Epson building, to hang out there (where it's dry) until I felt well enough to walk home. After maybe 10 mins or so, I started out for home, and I felt good enough to run... and once I got near home I thought I could keep on going. So I explored all the back streets in my extended neighbourhood, and wow! It's so cool! I found a few temples, a few more rice paddies, and I also found quite a large conservation park about 4 blocks from my apartment! Neat-o. I only felt sick again once so that's OK. I'm just so glad that I found even MORE cool things near my place!!
Friday Aug 1, 1997: 2pm
Wow, did Jason ever bring back tons of food! Absolutely incredible... mmm.. candy.. Oh, and he even left me with some Reese's Peices (RPs) which was great. I brought some into work for people to try and they loved em! Neat.
midnight
Weird. When I got home tonight I felt really sick again, so at 7 I decided to take a nap, and the next thing I knew, the phone was ringing and it was 11:40pm!! Woah - I guess I've been a bit sleep-deprived... or sick. My naps don't usually take longer than an hour! Anyways, I felt much better. It was my parents calling which was nice. But not exactly my most exciting Friday night!
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