Update...

Right... am hectically p-d off right now!! I wrote a nice, long update earlier on but the EFFING thing simply disappeared into thin air! That put me in an unbelievably bad mood... but I shall endeavour to recapture the wit, humour and sparkliness of the earlier post! And if I don't then too bloody bad, at least I tried!

Anyway, so my good friend Johanna, has recently pointed out that my blog is in serious need of an update. I thank her for her interest and am here to tell her that I was not really neglecting the blog because of my excessive facebooking... I am too aware of family and friends who are not on Facebook back home, so the blog'll always be here for them (and you of course, Hanna-chan x). No, instead I had nothing of import to report (hah - rhymes!)... and also because I've been in such a crappy frame of mind for so long, I felt it best to stay away from my blog! Two negative posts in the space of a month are, in fact, two too many. So I was waiting until I felt chirpier before coming back on here!

Also... my camera has given up the ghost! So I have no cool pics to post (boo hoo)... the poor camera somehow leapt from my hands in a desperate bid for freedom at my birthday party and went flying acoss the dance floor! This was not the camera's first violent clash with the ground (it was actually its third) - so when it landed, it let out a soft sigh and, quite understandably, simply died. I mourn its loss but eagerly anticipate the purchase of its replacement... a newer, sleeker, sexier model! Yay...

But the new camera will have to wait because I have a month full of weekend engagements up ahead. Footie in Nagano with the girls (yes I'll be playing! Try to contain your amusement at the thought! I know I'm the least athletic person on the face of the earth), Tokyo with Joycie and others, canyoning with Paul and others (I hope to have a camera for the canyoning weekend! But if the new camera is anything like its predecessor, I totally anticipate it jumping from my hands, bouncing off of rocks and straight into the rapids)!

In other news, Rosalind has decided to give me a belated birthday gift. A nude watercolour portrait of... uh... me! So how does she know what I look like nude? I hear you wondering. Well, she hasn't been checking out my nekkid body at onsens or anything like that! That would just be creepy. Instead she's been inviting herself around to my aparto and very politely asking me to strip. As a good host, I find myself quite unable to refuse... so this has led to some rather bizarre afternoons with me sitting around with no (hardly any) clothes on, while Ros sketches away furiously and we chat about prosaic things like the weather, what to have for dinner and movies. I promise not to upload any pics of the completed nude onto this blog. I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone clawing their own eyes out in horror, or anything like that!

So what else is new? Well... uh... nothing much actually! Life has been a tad boring for me lately! What did I do for Golden Week?! Well, I stayed home! But my FRIENDS all travelled and I got some KEWL omiyage!! Why travel when you can get omiyage from the people who go away on vacations!?? Getting omiyage is JUST LIKE being there yourself really! Only BETTER! Yes, I do love living vicariously through others! It kicks BUTT!

Let's see...
News snippets:
1. Kris, Ros and I went to Pam's housewarming last week! 'Twas nice... great food! It was a potluck so there was a HUGE variety of... pasta. I got a bit drunk, we (well Ros, Deccy, Joel n I)went to karaoke, that was nice! But the Saturday was the best! The girls and I did some half-hearted sight-seeing in Murakami (it was COLD! Which explains the half-hearted bit), took some print club and then headed back to Pamela's to crawl under blankies and watch a movie (well the rest of them did! I slept through it! And, allegedly, snored a bit). Lovely day...

2. Been hanging out with the ladies a fair bit! Am going to miss them all like crazy when they leave!

3. Went to watch Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 at the cinema... Spidey 3 was my personal favourite! Less twisty, more interesting, less grim, more exciting... then again I've always been a Spidey fan (since I was but a wee one), so that movie would always have come out tops with me! Unless it completely sucked balls (like X-Men 3) - then no amount of money or ice-cream would have induced me to praise it at all!

4. Been going to the gym regularly-ish, with Kristen and Ros. It's been torture, because Kristen has devised all these diabolical Natasha-killing exercises which are obviously meant to demoralise me! So while I flop around trying to lift my entire body weight onto my elbows and toes, she and Ros stand around and mock me (picture them ominously looming above me, hands on their hips, casting shadows over my prostrate, weakened little self . Not a pretty picture is it? This is my life...sighhhh)! It's been fun all around (for them)!

Hah... Rosalind has been told off by TPTB at the gym on 3 separate occasions! The first time they reprimanded her for talking on her (well technically it was mine) cellphone... then a few weeks later, it was for resting on one of the benches in the weights area and just recently they nailed her for talking (TALKING!!! FGS)... now they've put up these "manner check" signs (in English) in the area we usually train in and the girls are convinced the signs are aimed at us (what with it being in English and all)... personally, I'm convinced it's just aimed at Rosalind, whose pic is probably up in the gym staffroom, with the word "troublemaker" emblazoned over it in red katakana! Anyway... for more on this topic, have a look at the very entertaining posts by Kristen and/or Ros. Funny stuff.

5. I don't think there's a number five...

I'll update this post when I think of something new to add to it! Now, I'll try to publish it without it disappearing on me again!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

Jack Bauer in South Africa

Oh dear...

Exams suck for ALTs as well as students!!

Wow. Today is painfully boring. I hate exam time.

On a positive note (I've decided that from now on I will counteract all negative thoughts with positive ones - that way the negativity won't poison my emotional well-being. Profound, huh?!), uh... hmm, this is kind of difficult! Positive thought, positive thought, okay... weather (rainy and grey. Ick), friends (quiet as church mice today), appearance (meh). Okay wait, I think I have it... a positive thought... just FOUR MORE HOURS before I get to go home.

Gee, that sounded a lot better in my head than it looks written down! Siiiiiighhhhhhhh...

Rollercoaster

Lately I've been in an emotional Nowhere Land. I've been kind of depressed and really negative about stuff (not my usual thing) and crying for nothing at the drop of a hat and I don't know why! So I decided to make a list of the good stuff and bad stuff going on in my life right now in order to evaluate my recent weirdness.

Some of the bad stuff:
1) The weather has been sucky it can't decide between warm or cold and it's annoying as hell.
2) I have to move schools AGAIN soon which means that:
a) I can't feel comfortable or settled in my current schools.
b) I have to say a whole bunch of farewells soon.
c) I have to get to know new teachers and students and prove myself worthy of their respect once more.
d) It feels like my first year ALL over again.
3) I will have to say goodbye to some really good friends in the very near future.
4) I've been feeling exhausted and unwell a lot lately.
5) I'm homesick, I miss my mum, bro, dog, friends, etc.
6) I can't sleep and am anxious for no reason.
7) Squat toilets (j/k).

Some of the good stuff:
1) Even though the weather is crap, it's still SPRING and the sound of the frogs croaking happily in the rice fields makes me smile. The cute bats and the pretty flowers make me smile too.
2) I still have TWO of the Baskin Robbins gift vouchers that Kristen gave me for my birthday (yummy!!!).
3) Even though they're leaving in less than 2 months, I have some pretty fantastic friends over here (y'all know who you are - mwah!).
4) Students always make me laugh, so I'm guaranteed at least one genuine laugh a day Monday through to Friday.
5) I've been going to the gym regularly-ish - so I feel like I'm doing something positive re: fitness and health.
6) I DON'T HAVE TO MOVE APARTMENTS AGAIN!
7) The Jusco has Cadbury chocolates!! YAYYYY!
8) Even though good friends are leaving, new people are coming.
9) Joycie's coming back!

Siiiighhhhhhh... so the good stuff outnumber the bad. I still feel like frikking crying, though!!! Grrrrr...

PS. Sorry bout the bitch fest!

Thanks

To Mommy, Auntie V, Dianne, Wandile and Chevon for the phonecalls from home (I know how much it costs, so I REALLY appreciate it)! Thanks everyone for the cards, presents, emails and wishes. Thanks especially to my ladies, Johanna and Rosalind for the lovely surprise meal they cooked for me on my actual birthday! You ladies made the best lasagne and dessert (hehehe) I've had in ages! Jeez, this reads like an Oscar acceptance speech! So... and finally I'd like to thank the Big Guy upstairs... oh wait... there's no third floor in my building! Nevermind...

No seriously, thanks to all... I felt honto loved!

Mwah!!

Edit: And thank you to Roberto for calling the wrong number and leaving a message (undoubtedly filled to the brim with all kinds of kinky language) on the wrong answering machine! It's the thought that counts (and the thought of some poor Japanese person hearing to a message laden with words like sl*t, bitch, wh@re, and whatever other imaginative moniker you used to refer to me, is highly entertaining). Also thanks for pointing out my horrendous oversight in NOT mentioning you in the aforementioned "thank you's".

Birthday

So then... my 28th birthday has come and gone for this year. On the 21st we had a party to celebrate Patrick, Troy, Tomo and my birthdays. Here are some pics (please note there would have been TONS of pics of Rosalind too, if I hadn't broken my camera halfway through the night - sobsob):