human flies

kia ora! last night after work i went climbing with a couple of friends - i never realised how fun trying to scale a wall with knobbly bits could be! the climbing gym was tiny, and it was pretty crowded when we first arrived, but everyone was so cool. some of those guys can scuttle along the wall in all directions confirming either the human link to apes, or maybe flies or crabs? there were 2 walls: one where you need to wear a harness and get to abseil down, and a free climbing one with big puffy mats below (falling is so fun!). my very first try was on the harness one - and i made it to the top, first go!! i wanted to keep going actually, but my head was touching the roof. i am a human fly! actually, maybe an orangutan is a more fitting description - with my rump sticking out a mile and scrambling wildly for footholds i certainly lacked the grace of the more seasoned climbers! i have a video to prove it, but am having trouble uploading it to the gallery - you may have to settle for some pics instead. kaz has been a few times now and she has the twisting action down pat, she looks great up there on the wall! you'll get that yellow knob next time hun!! :) and yasu, well he's been climbing for 5 years - i think he's really a monkey. tanoshikatta!!! :D

some pics: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album11

barbequed rain

we gathered at the beach yesterday afternoon to celebrate tyke's birthday with a good ol' fashioned bbq! unfortunately we arrived to a bit of a sandstorm so we all huddled behind a building to figure out what to do. we decided against setting up in the underpass, although the ghetto styles would've been interesting, so we set up under the shelter of the pine trees near the road instead. they provided pretty good shelter once it started to rain too. but we persisted and managed to pretend it was a sunny day at the beach for about 3 hours! the shochu helped :) a mixture of cultures were on the menu with kebabs, sausages with bread and tomato sauce, shochu, yakiniku... and it turned out to be a rollicking good time! someone was even clever enough to bring their ipod and some little speakers. i was the typical kiwi running around barefoot while everyone else persisted with their shoes (c'mon we were at the beach!), however my feet were the only ones that ended up black. anyway, that was my first bbq in japan, and despite the rain, sandstorm and main road a few metres away it was chou fun!!

pics: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album10

schneiders and noggins

howdy doody!!

have just come home from another farewll party. geez, i',ve seen lots of characters come and og. i've outlasted many! it was good times at mattaris with stumbling and hoppnig and laughing. i'm staryting to realise that soon it;ll be my farewel. i'm beginning to panic a tad. staring to feel like there's not enough time left! i'll miss some of these guys like a dog misses smelling another dog's butt. and am eating hiroshima styles okonomiyaki right now, with the soba, and lashings of katsuobshi. mmmmmmmmm. I WILL MISS THIS. but just makes me even more certain that my okonomiyummy cafe is gonna rip the knickers off new jirando!!!! iha ve to keep telling myself that i'm ready to go. after all i came here for 3 main reasons: to pay off my student loan; to test arelationship,; and to live life as never before. i have achieved evrything i came here for and more :). i'm chomping at the bit to start the next chapter!! wheee!! neighhh! crikey i'm tiered. the tadpoles aren;'t growing - i beginnig to think they won't morphosise into froggies before i leave.. noooooo!!!! lost is incredible right now, for once it's lost me and i can no longer predict its secrets. that's good story writing for ya. goodnight my sweet little mongooses xx

...walk like crabs, talk like people...

hee hee hee, check this out...

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/crabs

and then...

http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album03/DSC03653

hoooo haaaaa ha ha!! heeee ha hoo ha heeee haa haah ha!!!

poor little crabbies ...

i just did an overtime day today. pop!

what the dang hang did i eat??

woe is me. woke up at about 5am feeling very unsettled indeed. next thing i knew i was powerchucking in the loo. its amazing i made it to the loo in time! was throwing up until just after lunchtime, needless to say i had to call in sick at work. for once that really irks me as i'm trying to save as much as possible before i leave. even signed up for a couple of days overtime this month! grrrr. i'm guessing it's food poisoning? yesterday i ate some strange pork concoction left for us by obaasan (which tasted good), and some scrambled eggs (i checked their use-by date), and a salmon onigiri. the salmon coulda been bad i suppose :(. at least the rain looked after me - it's been playing spring melodies on the roof all day. the thought of food repulses me. i am never eating again!!

my student loan is gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) my loan is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

HURRAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

large fatty men in giant g's

i went to sumo!!! this was definately on my list of things to do in japan... and the may tournament is in town (well, in tokyo anyways) so i dragged nolan and tamao along for the ride. it was the first live sumo experience for all of us so you can imagine our excitement. i was told we could take in our own drinks but when we arrived at the stadium it wasn't so. darn it, i had bought 3 chu-hai's at the conbini. we decided to hang around outside the stadium for a bit (to drink the chu-hai's) which was actually quite fun as lots of people were waiting on the street to cheer at the sumo wrestlers as they walked by. tamao-chan and i got our photos taken with a couple of sumo's!!! how exciting! some were a bit grumpy though and totally ignored our shouts of "ganbatte!" i suppose they were trying to psych themselves up for the big fight. the fights aren't very big though - each one only lasts a few seconds. my kind of sport! actually, i wish i'd been placing bets as i seemed to have a knack for picking the winner! the stadium is a specially built sumo stadium and it looks so crazy inside with the tiny ring in the centre and a little roof hovering above it in mid air. i loved all the leg-cocking, soooo funny. kotooshi is the top-dog wrestler at the moment (he's bulgarian - none of the top 3 are japanese) and i didn't expect to see him so early in the tournament but he was there!! and he got wastified too!!! of course it was all over in a blink of an eye. we arrived at about 2 o'clock and it finished at about 6 - i have no idea where the time went. (wierd for me to enjoy sport so much - must be the nearly naked fat men)!

oh, and we have tadpoles! nolan discovered them yesterday in the little pond in our backyard. there are maybe over 100 of the little fellas - far too many to name. but i'll check on them every day to make sure they're doing ok out there and that no nasty strays are eating them. soon our backyard will be hopping with froggies!! i love frogs.

*yawn* - it's late.
check out the sumo photos!!! what a day :) xx

http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album09

BIG NEWS

waaaaaaaahhhhhh!! why do i get the blog that won't let me stick photos on...??? poos, i always get the broken one >:(

sorry, nothing to write, was just checking everyone else's blogs and all their snazzy pics. the bloggers.

well, na -nighs, sweet dreams xxx

martian poo

after a terrifying thunderstorm this morning i put on my jacket, plugged myself into my ipod and practically danced into town. for today was the day i was going to KILL MY STUDENT LOAN!!!!!!!! i felt rich and free and therefore very smiley. then i got to the bank. the remittances option on the atm is only in japanese. my kanji skills aren't so hot, so i went to the bank people and asked for help, they sent me back to the atm and then very quickly disappeared. so i tried again. i thought i'd try my luck pushing random buttons, but then thought "hold up dick, this is a dumb idea". so i went back to the bank people and asked someone else for help. again i was refused. by then i was feeling a little more than frustrated. nothing like the inability to do a normal errand to make you feel like an alien. i let japan defeat me and went to starbucks instead, at least i know i can order a coffee in this crazy place! :)

big fat beautiful lizards

konnichiwa!

a few uneventful days have passed (lately i've been thankful for the uneventful!!) and today was just another, although not quite over yet. i intended on a healthy up-and-atom day today but slept in and then got trapped in my bedroom. obaasan was pottering around in the downstairs kitchen and then got a visitor so i had to hide in my room as i was all bed-tumbled and didn't want to get dressed JUST to go to the bathroom (on the other side of the kitchen). luckily kim came online and we had a lovely chat to pass away the time :) i miss her.

it was a beautiful day today so i did a couple of loads of laundry once i escaped from my room and absolutely loved hanging it out in the backyard sun. it's the simple things. i wandered to the supermarket for some bread and eggs and on the way back, along a narrow quiet street, i saw a beautiful golden lizard winding along a wall like a little snake. and then it disappeared into a hole. i feel so priveledged to see nature's little creatures that aren't so often seen.

my lloyds account came through today, so tomorrow i think i'll go into town and pay off my student loan :). and the plan for tonight is to just continue rattling around here, watching some telly, catching up with mom on msn, and hopefully chatting with pa and kiff on skype.

such a lovely sun-sparkly day it was today!

love d xx