This rocks. Go London!

Had dinner with my host mom after a 5 month hiatus. Homecooked tempura, yuuuumy. Then, as per our usual post-troughing sessions, she wrapped up all the leftovers for me to take home & loaded me up with extras (a juice box, a yogurt pack, & a small bag of nashi - Japanese pears) - yesss! I love extras.

Japan's midlife nightmare - very interesting article, have a look.

Global Warming: Red Alert!

Anyone who says global warming doesn't exist: eat it. I can't believe so many people in government continue to deny its existence. I suppose they feel they have to, being in positions of power & wanting to keep their constituents happy, but it's irritating nonetheless. There is, after all, scientific evidence proving it.

Man, I'm tired of seeing Japanese guys in the public gym lift weights improperly. It hurts my back watching them strain & jerk in their sad attempts at weightlifting. Maybe I should show them a thing or two (*laugh*). Um, yeah.

On a side note: met a random Japanese guy who spoke decent English on my way out of the gym. He claimed that Japanese food (mostly with all its rice) made him fat and that's why he goes to the gym a lot now. He also confided that he lost weight when he went to Oz because he ate more fruit. AMEN! Someone who can agree with me when I say that Japanese food isn't all that healthy! I definitely put on weight in my 1st year from eating the public school lunch on a daily basis - man those lunches are packed with useless calories! Heaps of white rice, white bread, noodles, carbs to the max & no fruit & only some veg. Totally unhealthy. But at 280 yen per meal it's kind to my budget & saves me hassle from the kids if I were to bring my own lunch. I've learned to manage it better now but what is the government doing to its kids? Granted, the school lunches in Japan are way healthier than their counterparts in the States but not by too much. Newsflash to the world: Japanese food doesn't necessarily equal weight loss.

Quadruple points for me going to the gym today btw. Score!

I think you were right, J-hon, half-price sushi sorted me out! That and the 10 hours of sleep I got Thurs night...

I got this close to chickens in Vietnam...

And am Avian Flu-free! And did I mention I'm Malaria-free as well? Damn, I'm good.

"Yay, sleep! That's where I'm a Viking!"

Although I've been back 2 days, sleep has still eluded me despite my desperate need for it. Tonight's plan is to hit the sack as early as possible (I'm thinkin' 8pm - don't worry Lauren Moran, you're still the Queen of Early Bedtime!) so that tomorrow I shall (hopefully) awake refreshed and actually ready to get out of bed... it remains to be seen if all goes according to plan...

In the meantime I can watch one of the 13 ripoff DVDs Kristin & I bought in Vietnam for $1 each. Iwaki doesn't get many new movies in theater and it takes a longass time to get to video here (usually a year). Buying ripoffs can be chancy as they might very well be the crappiest of the crap in terms of quality... but if it's even halfway decent, it's soooo worth it.

Coming soonish: Fuji story & pics (actually nearly finished my post on this pre-Vietnam & Cambodia trip but my comp froze and I lost it all).

Coming not-so-soonish: Vietnam & Cambodia story & pics.

Don't hold your breath. I've got 500+ pics to wade through and organize, an online TEFL course to finish in the next month & school starting next Monday. Whee!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

After 3 crazy weeks in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Taiwan, I've finally arrived safely and without incident (will anyone ever forget Thailand?) back in little ol' Iwaki. Now it's time unpack, do no less than 7 loads of laundry, and get my life sorted out. School starts next Monday, groan...

Vietnam

Although the title of my post suggests otherwise, my time in Vietnam has come to an end (*sniff*). I was all about hardcore posting throughout my trip until I came to find that every internet cafe in Vietnam I've encountered thus far has been slow as molasses. Ah well. I have much to tell but here are the highlights:

-seeing craploads of gigantor jellyfish 1/3 the size of my body in Halong Bay and still jumping in the water
-getting a fantastic hour-long massage in Saigon for $2 from a blind woman (there's an Institute of Massage here with only blind folk doing the massages!)
-the 10 hour overnight bus ride from hell - think bouncing out of your seat the entire way...let's just say there wasn't much sleep happening then!
-riding on the back of a motorbike taxi in one of the many sudden torrential downpours
-drinking at a bar while Jumanji played on TV (WTF?)
-seeing the same travelers everywhere we go (seems everybody does the same 2 trails!)
-making friends with Japanese in Vietnam
-wicked tasty Vietnamese food
-the equally tasty and almost daily bouts of diarrhea
-seeing a moray eel and sea horse while SCUBA diving in Nha Trang

It's on to Cambodia tomorrow with a little over a week left!

Peace out.

Procrastination rules!!

Kristin & I's very recent IM conversation:

Me: btw, i'm on step 2 right now
Kristin: I haven't even started step 1 yet...I'm hopeless
Me: actually i'm kinda doing step 1 and 2 combined, trying on as i go through my closet
Kristin: oohhh..deviating from the plan?!?
Me: i know! what am i DOING?
Kristin: frankly, I don't know if that's acceptable
Kristin: actually we could totally use that
Kristin: and then come out with a " New and Improved Last Minute Packing Guide" and just combine steps 1 & 2 and keep all the rest the same
Kristin: I think I'm going through procrastination euphoria right now

Last Minute Packing: the story of my life.

I don't know what it is about packing that I just can't physically make myself do it until the last minute. I think it's the whole I-need-a-deadline-looming syndrome. That happened to me a lot in college...

So, in the grand tradition of Last Minute Packing (LMP), I leave tomorrow for my 3 week trip to Vietnam & Cambodia and I have yet to pack. I think it's about that time I started thinking about packing!

Kristin & I have developed our special 7-step pre-trip LMP ritual. Observe:

Step 1: Go through every single article of clothing I have and throw into a pile anything that's even remotely suitable.
Step 2: Try on everything in the pile formed by step 1.
Step 3: Be disappointed with your supreme lack of wardrobe.
Step 4: Resign to the fact that it isn't possible to attain new wardrobe in the next 24 hours.
Step 5: Settle for clothes you find "semi-acceptable" and try not to think about step 3.
Step 6: Shrink your clothes pile by throwing out your least favorites.
Step 7: Repeat step 6 indefinitely until you have a pile that will realistically fit in your suitcase.