Burn Baby Burn

You Are 69% Burned Out

You are very burned out. You need a huge break from your responsibilities, starting as soon as possible. And you need this time to reevaluate what you really want out of your life. Because you're working hard and going no where... and that would burn anyone out!

Are You Burned Out?

'sick & tired' - the cardigans

having one of 'those' weeks this week.
wake up in the morning, wishing i were somewhere else.
go to work, and wish even more i were somewhere else.
then go home, am glad i am home, but know tomorrow i'll be wishing i were somewhere else.

just really bloody tired this week. and when i am tired, i find it hard to keep a rational perspective on everything & everyone around me.

at least it's friday tomorrow, that's all i can say.

・・Adventures in Sinland (Part 2)・・

‘camera’ - editors

Once I’d recovered from my Tanabata frivolities (not quite as painful as I’d anticipated – although I did have a bruised tailbone, from my Japanese toilet experience), it was time to head off to Kansai/Kinki. Have to admit that I find great amusement in the fact that a whole region in Japan is called ‘Kinki’. There’s a Kinki University, a Kinki rugby team and even a Kinki bank. Can’t help giggling every time I see the signs…yeah I am an adult…

(for those curious ones among you, Kinki is 近畿. It means something along the lines of ‘near the emperor’s place’…)

Anyway, I was working down in Osaka at the end of the week and Sandi & me decided to make a trip of it. She left the sanctuary of Yokohama earlier in the week & you can here about her adventures here.

Actually, you can read about all of the adventures on Sandi’s blog. It’s seems kind of redundant to write everything twice – and Sandi has written so nicely about it all. And despite what people say, ‘Fame! I want to live forever’ is an excellent karaoke song…

Needless to say we had a great time.

But if you EVER go to Nara, beware of the marauding deer gangs. I’m totally sure that if no one were looking, one of them would have taken a chunk out of my arm. Or leg. Or some other fleshy part of my body. Those deer were HUNGRY. I’m sure there must be stories of people staggering home drunk, never to be seen again. And do you know why? The man-eating deer of Nara!! They scared the crap out of me… (Look at the pictures...Sandi looks nervous, doesn't she? Sure the deer were licking their lips behind her...)

Also, if you do ever go to Nara, please stay at Yougendo. It’s a wonderful minshuku, conveniently located in Oji (王寺) in between Nara and Osaka. The owners Chris & Shu were wonderful, breakfast was delicious & the silence was bliss. Have a look at their website (designed by Shu). Will definitely be going there again.

One thing that was really weird was being like a fish out of water. I hadn’t realized how comfortable or used to being in Kawasaki/Tokyo/Yokohama I was. Of course this is home, but I have a tendency to think that ‘Japan’ is home. Well, traveling around the Osaka/Nara area, I realized that ‘Japan’ is not home, but Kanto is home. Everything in Osaka is kind of the same but different. People stand on the wrong side of the escalators; all the TV channels have different numbers; people speak differently and lots of other little things. The biggest thing though, was having absolutely NO idea where I was or what train lines I needed. I was in a JR station in the middle of Osaka somewhere looking at the train map. I knew where I wanted to go, but I couldn’t find it on the map. If I were in Tokyo, looking at a JR map, I know left side=Kanagawa; right side=Chiba; middle=Tokyo; top=Saitama. In Osaka, I knew where I wanted to go, but I had absolutely NO idea where to look on the map. I ended up giving up and asking a random salary man, and he pointed it out to me & showed me how to use the ticket machine…must have assumed I was a helpless foreigner. Oh wait…I was!!

It was just a really bizarre feeling for me. Guess if I were to spend more time there, it would be different, but I have to admit that I did feel a little twinge of relief to be back in Kanagawa again…

stag looks at dinner potentials

Buddha looking Buddha-like

We also stopped of for a quick visit to Nagoya on the way back. Went over and had a look at the castle, which was pretty impressive. Especially as it is a very very VERY old castle AND it's made of concrete. (No, it's not very old. Well, it is. But as it's been burnt down, hit by earthquakes and several other natural disasters, it's had to be rebuilt a few times...same design though)

・・Adventures in Sinland (Part 1) ・・

‘reena’ – sonic youth

Has been a busy couple of weeks, hence the lack of blogging.

First of all was Martine’s (& Fuku’s) Tanabata & Itterashai BBQ party, over in Kichijioji (never sure how to spell it – is it Kichijoji? or Kichijioji? Or even Kichijyoji? In Japanese, it’s 吉祥寺（きちじょうじ）so should it actually be Kichijyouji?)

ANYWAY, that’s all by the by…

Had a lovely time at Martine’s (thanks to the lovely hostesses) and met lots of cool people. Went to the BBQ with Lala & Aya and Aya was definitely the star of the afternoon. She smiled, she giggled and she was an all-round wonderful little girl. I thoroughly enjoyed my Lala & Aya time.

After the BBQ, most of us headed trekked over to the wonderful Inokashira Park. I have to confess that I was pretty merry by then and didn’t have full control of my faculties. I have a string of random memories that seem to have no connection…and here’s a smattering of those memories:

Swinging on monkey bars;

Watching fireworks;

Inviting a random couple in tent to watch the fireworks with us;

Drinking beer;

Talking about Indian immigration to the U.S. and U.K.;

Hanging out with drunk high school kids;

Drinking beer;

Falling over in a toilet cubicle because I couldn’t balance myself in a Japanese style toilet;

Walking through Inokashira park holding hands with high school girls (wait…these girls were 14 or 15…doesn’t that make them JUNIOR high school?! OMG! they’re like half the age of me…)

Anyway, any sane person would have realized that this was a good time to call it quits & go home? Me? No…Sandi persuaded me that I really needed to go to Harajuku to my ex-student’s boyfriend’s ‘Seattle Night’ (admittedly, it didn’t take much persuasion on her part…something along the lines of “Let’s go to Harajuku!”… “Oh, OK”)

So, off Dave, Sandi and me toddled. We finally made it to Sunshine Studio Café. I know we took a train – and I guess it must have been the Inokashira & Yamanote lines…but I don’t remember very much…

Did make it there, but from there on is more random memories…another smattering of random memories. Know I had fun…but more than that, you’d have to ask Sandi & Dave.

Have vague recollections of writing Tanabata wishes and dancing with Sandi, but not much more…

Then 4am.

And suddenly the ‘homing pigeon’ thing kicked. I wanted to go home & nothing would persuade me otherwise. So Sandi & Dave poured me into a taxi & I somehow managed to get home &woke up at home (on the sofa).

Which led me to realize how my 30s differ from my 20s. When I was in my 20s, I’d wake up in places where I shouldn’t really have been, and in my 30s I wake up at home, when I should be somewhere else.

All in all, it was a fun Tanabata night….the bits I remember, anyway…

IF you want a more detailed account of the evening, have a look at Sandi or Dave’s blog…

..x-boys..

You Are A Friendly Ex

You and your ex are just friends - great friends really. (At least that's what you keep telling yourself!) While civility is a good thing, make sure you're not secretly wanting more...

What Type of Ex Are You?

'ex-girlfriend' - no doubt

have a had a freaky few days. well, a 'few days' would be friday & today.
don't really know what it means in the great balance of things, or even if there is some deep meaning to it all....but there's some damn weird timing in this world.

so, yeah, better write what's been happening.

well, it all started last week. martine invited me to join facebook, so i did.
then on thursday started looking around various listings in facebook (high school, university and stuff) and found a few friends....lovely to touch base with them - people i hadn't heard from in YEARS...
anyway - one of the people i found was an ex from those days. the boy who's responsible for making me have a thing for irish boys (and who will hereby be known as i-boy)

haven't seen i-boy for about 10 years now - not since i finished uni and came back here.
been a damn long time, but there still seems to be sparks flying all over the place. pretty scary, but then again, not really, because he's half way around the world. but yeah, internet flirtation is damn fun....

that's not all that weird though.

what was the weird thing, was that not only was i-boy in contact with me friday - also THREE other exes! all sporadic emailers. all in different places. all emailing for different things.

very very bizarre.

it's all too weird to explain clearly - can't quite get my head around it all. one day - 4 exes?
what are the chances of that?

then today, ex-j-boy also contacted me through facebook. somehow he had found me there...
(obviously searching for my name...hasn't he got ANYTHING to do in his spare time except mope over me...sad bastard....)

girls chuckles evilly to herself and walks away rubbing her hands together thinking of many things...some not altogether too clean....