2/23/2006
naff off
posted by nascent at 2/23/2006 01:28:00 pm
2 comments
2/17/2006
Japan trip: Shinkansen, Snowboarding, Fucked Gaijin...
29th Dec 2005
Today I took the Shinkansen to Kanazawa. Actually the shinkansen only goes to Nagano, I had to stop and get on a mere express from there.
I said goodbye to Yayoi at Tokyo station and we were off. Shinkansen is fast moite. Actually I don't know exactly how fast it was going but it looked to be at least 200 clicks. And it was humming along without so much as a squeak. After taking a tunnel through some mountain range the whole scenery changed to snow. And lot's of it, I'd never seen so much snow, coming from Australia. 
I heard later that this was a record snowfall. I saw people trying to get what looked to be about a metre of snow off of their roofs. Crazy. I wonder if later on any roofs collapsed from the weight?
Nagano is in the country so there's not so many signs in Engrish, which made it a mad dash to the express train, trying to find my platform then my carriage.
I was in a smoking carriage, and as soon as we got going literally everyone I could see around me lit up. It was too much for me, and I'm a smoker myself. Those things need more ventilation. Maybe it was just because I was still sick with the flu. Anyway, eventually I arrived at Kanazawa station and met with Kana.
30th Dec 2005
As promised, Kana, Hichan, Shichan and I are going snowboarding. Chu gu mountain. Kanchan and I drove over to take Shichan's car (much nicer 4wd hatchback kinda thing). We were there for about 10 minutes when I started to realise that Shichan was in Sydney last year. I wondered how she knew about where I lived! Anyway, after picking up Hi-chan we were off. The mountainous area around Kanazawa is really nice, especially I thought with the snow everywhere. It looked like in those anime; you could easily imagine samurai riding out of the forest when you look at it. Oh and I saw one of those red-faced, red arsed monkeys on the way there. He was just sitting in a tree a few metres in from the road, looking out over a valley. The girls reckoned it was good luck and very rare to see one.
Snowboarding is way, way cool. It's kinda embarrassing when you can't stand up properly for the first hour but once you start to get the hang of it it's fucking brilliant, zooming down the mountain. If I were any more confident the speed would've felt incredible. As it was is was a serious rush. I came a gutsa once or twice but nothing serious. Definitely see how people do major damage though.
After a hard day's snowboarding apparently there's nothing better than going to one of the hot springs that abound in Japan. Conveniently there's one just next to Chu-gu. It's separated into male and female sections, you go in naked, shower and jump in the pool for about half an hour (it's FUCKING hot). I was a bit nervous at first; I usually don't get naked with other guys, and I was worried a bit about the sign that said "no tattoos".. I've got body peircings too so I was kinda expecting to be kicked out. I wasn't though I got some strange looks and comments from the J-dudes who were already there. And without really perving too much, I found out it's true - J-dudes really do have little dicks. :-) Needless to say I came out feeling refreshed, stinking hot and a feeling bit cocky.
Later on, once the four of us got back to Kanazawa, it was decided (I caught this much of the conversation) that they would take me to eat "chanko" which means "small fighter".
Basically what it is is this: They bring out big cauldron of some sort of high protein (apparently) soup, and a massive tray with all sorts of vegies and meat on it. What you do is make your own soup, wait for a bit for it to cook and then eat it. This is what sumos in training eat to bulk up. to cho oishii katta! (and it was fucking delicious).
By the time we finished, I'd had a few sake's and the girls had had a few of whatever the hell it was they were drinking and I said I really wanna see how you guys do it over here. So we went home, changed and met up in the city for some drinkin. Only I was a bit shocked at the first place (called, of all things, the "jigger bar") we went into. The deal was more like a restaurant than a bar, but it *looked* like a bar. Huge bar along one wall, tables and chairs everywhere only we were met at the door and shown to a table. Then a dude came up and went into a long process of ordering drinks. I started to get a bit crotchety at this, I just wanted a drink, for fucks'. And then I found out they didn't even have frangelico. Jesus. 2 tequila shots each and a very fucking strongly mixed scotch and coke later I'd had enough of this shit and we headed off to a "gaijin bar" (foreigner bar).
Along the way I naturally caused a bit of chaos in my own way, just as I do at home. Totally non-offensive mind you, no arrogance or piss taking just being friendly to strangers. I felt quite popular, or maybe I was making a scene. I dunno it was fun anyway. Talking to the girls on the way I asked them how they meet new people if all their bar's are like the one we were just in. They said it's extremely difficult, and that's why they do things like kompa.
When we arrived at the gaijin bar (called "apure") the place was empty. Never mind they have a pool table, and I'm sure they have tequila. There were a couple of Americans looking just oh too-cool-for-school at the bar who sneered at me when I went up to order, but fuck 'em. I've sort of come to expect that anyway, when they're in groups. Individually the yank's I've met are nice people, but the arrogance just runs thick and fast when they're in groups. Anyway, we were playing pool, dancing. Some totally random J-dude and his wife start chatting to us. Crazy fucker, keeps trying to tell me I've got a big dick. Not arguing with that, I go say g'day to his wife who tells me Nori (that's the dudes name) has got a big dick. Ok. Yeah that's cool I've had way more interesting conversations with strangers on Oxford st. This Canadian guy (Name blain, but to Kana he's "Brain chan") meet's Kana at the bar and comes over and asks how it's possible that I have all these hot girls around me. Uh.. I dunno. But he's alright and I hope Kana can pick him up cos she seems to like him. I do my match making thing.
5 tequila shots each later the place was looking pretty packed. Well from what I could see... "Jesus, I'm having trouble seeing! What the fuck, I've only had that tequila and 4-5 scotches.. over the last 4 hours.." You see the way they mix drinks is totally without regulations in Japan. So for me, who's used to having a measured shot per single drink; having them free-pour half a glass of scotch and the rest coke threw me. I knew I couldn't be drunk, cos I've only had about 5, but I'm drunk.. how!
Later on, in the gutter outside apure, I heard a big group of Japanese go past as I retched yet again into the grill. Laughing at me. I had to laugh at myself. At least I'm not going to wake up in the gutter. Hichan (Oh my god did I pash with Hi-chan before?!) comes out and puts her jacket over me and goes back in to round everyone up. Somehow, I don't know how, I wake up in Hi-chans bed with Kana the next morning, a fucked gaijin.
Today I took the Shinkansen to Kanazawa. Actually the shinkansen only goes to Nagano, I had to stop and get on a mere express from there.
I said goodbye to Yayoi at Tokyo station and we were off. Shinkansen is fast moite. Actually I don't know exactly how fast it was going but it looked to be at least 200 clicks. And it was humming along without so much as a squeak. After taking a tunnel through some mountain range the whole scenery changed to snow. And lot's of it, I'd never seen so much snow, coming from Australia. I heard later that this was a record snowfall. I saw people trying to get what looked to be about a metre of snow off of their roofs. Crazy. I wonder if later on any roofs collapsed from the weight? Nagano is in the country so there's not so many signs in Engrish, which made it a mad dash to the express train, trying to find my platform then my carriage.
I was in a smoking carriage, and as soon as we got going literally everyone I could see around me lit up. It was too much for me, and I'm a smoker myself. Those things need more ventilation. Maybe it was just because I was still sick with the flu. Anyway, eventually I arrived at Kanazawa station and met with Kana.30th Dec 2005
As promised, Kana, Hichan, Shichan and I are going snowboarding. Chu gu mountain. Kanchan and I drove over to take Shichan's car (much nicer 4wd hatchback kinda thing). We were there for about 10 minutes when I started to realise that Shichan was in Sydney last year. I wondered how she knew about where I lived! Anyway, after picking up Hi-chan we were off. The mountainous area around Kanazawa is really nice, especially I thought with the snow everywhere. It looked like in those anime; you could easily imagine samurai riding out of the forest when you look at it. Oh and I saw one of those red-faced, red arsed monkeys on the way there. He was just sitting in a tree a few metres in from the road, looking out over a valley. The girls reckoned it was good luck and very rare to see one.
Snowboarding is way, way cool. It's kinda embarrassing when you can't stand up properly for the first hour but once you start to get the hang of it it's fucking brilliant, zooming down the mountain. If I were any more confident the speed would've felt incredible. As it was is was a serious rush. I came a gutsa once or twice but nothing serious. Definitely see how people do major damage though.
After a hard day's snowboarding apparently there's nothing better than going to one of the hot springs that abound in Japan. Conveniently there's one just next to Chu-gu. It's separated into male and female sections, you go in naked, shower and jump in the pool for about half an hour (it's FUCKING hot). I was a bit nervous at first; I usually don't get naked with other guys, and I was worried a bit about the sign that said "no tattoos".. I've got body peircings too so I was kinda expecting to be kicked out. I wasn't though I got some strange looks and comments from the J-dudes who were already there. And without really perving too much, I found out it's true - J-dudes really do have little dicks. :-) Needless to say I came out feeling refreshed, stinking hot and a feeling bit cocky.
Later on, once the four of us got back to Kanazawa, it was decided (I caught this much of the conversation) that they would take me to eat "chanko" which means "small fighter". Basically what it is is this: They bring out big cauldron of some sort of high protein (apparently) soup, and a massive tray with all sorts of vegies and meat on it. What you do is make your own soup, wait for a bit for it to cook and then eat it. This is what sumos in training eat to bulk up. to cho oishii katta! (and it was fucking delicious).By the time we finished, I'd had a few sake's and the girls had had a few of whatever the hell it was they were drinking and I said I really wanna see how you guys do it over here. So we went home, changed and met up in the city for some drinkin. Only I was a bit shocked at the first place (called, of all things, the "jigger bar") we went into. The deal was more like a restaurant than a bar, but it *looked* like a bar. Huge bar along one wall, tables and chairs everywhere only we were met at the door and shown to a table. Then a dude came up and went into a long process of ordering drinks. I started to get a bit crotchety at this, I just wanted a drink, for fucks'. And then I found out they didn't even have frangelico. Jesus. 2 tequila shots each and a very fucking strongly mixed scotch and coke later I'd had enough of this shit and we headed off to a "gaijin bar" (foreigner bar).
Along the way I naturally caused a bit of chaos in my own way, just as I do at home. Totally non-offensive mind you, no arrogance or piss taking just being friendly to strangers. I felt quite popular, or maybe I was making a scene. I dunno it was fun anyway. Talking to the girls on the way I asked them how they meet new people if all their bar's are like the one we were just in. They said it's extremely difficult, and that's why they do things like kompa.
When we arrived at the gaijin bar (called "apure") the place was empty. Never mind they have a pool table, and I'm sure they have tequila. There were a couple of Americans looking just oh too-cool-for-school at the bar who sneered at me when I went up to order, but fuck 'em. I've sort of come to expect that anyway, when they're in groups. Individually the yank's I've met are nice people, but the arrogance just runs thick and fast when they're in groups. Anyway, we were playing pool, dancing. Some totally random J-dude and his wife start chatting to us. Crazy fucker, keeps trying to tell me I've got a big dick. Not arguing with that, I go say g'day to his wife who tells me Nori (that's the dudes name) has got a big dick. Ok. Yeah that's cool I've had way more interesting conversations with strangers on Oxford st. This Canadian guy (Name blain, but to Kana he's "Brain chan") meet's Kana at the bar and comes over and asks how it's possible that I have all these hot girls around me. Uh.. I dunno. But he's alright and I hope Kana can pick him up cos she seems to like him. I do my match making thing.
5 tequila shots each later the place was looking pretty packed. Well from what I could see... "Jesus, I'm having trouble seeing! What the fuck, I've only had that tequila and 4-5 scotches.. over the last 4 hours.." You see the way they mix drinks is totally without regulations in Japan. So for me, who's used to having a measured shot per single drink; having them free-pour half a glass of scotch and the rest coke threw me. I knew I couldn't be drunk, cos I've only had about 5, but I'm drunk.. how!
Later on, in the gutter outside apure, I heard a big group of Japanese go past as I retched yet again into the grill. Laughing at me. I had to laugh at myself. At least I'm not going to wake up in the gutter. Hichan (Oh my god did I pash with Hi-chan before?!) comes out and puts her jacket over me and goes back in to round everyone up. Somehow, I don't know how, I wake up in Hi-chans bed with Kana the next morning, a fucked gaijin.
posted by nascent at 2/17/2006 01:37:00 pm
0 comments
2/16/2006
My kidneys are 1 year older
Well that's it then. I'm 28. What a year it's been folks! Breakups, party's, Work related drama, health issues.. Exciting stuff I'm sure you'll all agree.
I'm sort of in the mood now to make 28 my "year of getting my shit together". I found out a few weeks ago my little brother and his girlfriend are having a baby together, got me thinking about the whole "clock is ticking" crap. I dunno. I so don't wanna end up one of these 40 something Oxford St trashbags in a never ending cycle of one night stands, drugs, alcohol and club music. Must be more to life than that. Must be! So why does it all seem so dull compared to life now? What's up with that?
I'm sort of in the mood now to make 28 my "year of getting my shit together". I found out a few weeks ago my little brother and his girlfriend are having a baby together, got me thinking about the whole "clock is ticking" crap. I dunno. I so don't wanna end up one of these 40 something Oxford St trashbags in a never ending cycle of one night stands, drugs, alcohol and club music. Must be more to life than that. Must be! So why does it all seem so dull compared to life now? What's up with that?
posted by nascent at 2/16/2006 05:06:00 pm
0 comments
2/08/2006
The slight breeze of change
OK yeah I know it's been ages since I updated but really I just couldn't be bothered lately. Also not having an internet connection at home combined with a crackdown on fucking on the internet while at work have made it rather difficult.
Work is starting to really suck. It seems like we're talking different languages sometimes. When having a technical conversation, I seem to have to go through many alternative interpretations of what the other person is saying to me to be able to comprehend. I think that's just this companies fantastic culture showing through though. I've had it with the 1.5 hour travel time as well. Updating
resume tonight.
My new place is pretty cool, much better than 333 in it's current circumstance. At least I don't have to worry about the landlord coming over and being a dick. Oh I found out from the other flatmates that he finally went through with his threat to throw the stereo out. What a tosser. Everyone there is pissed off with him now. I also found out he just said he was going to move in to force me out. I just have to forget about it or it makes me so angry.
Not much happening on the girlie scene. I've met some nice chicks but no one yet that I feel I can have anything long term with. Could be that I don't wanna re-live old drama, but I dunno.
Not much else to report.
Actually there is, I'm gunna be 28 next Monday. Wailing and gnashing of teeth etc. I think I'm actually getting more irresponsible as time goes on. In another 50 years I could be that old guy on the bus into the city, pissing himself and laughing about it.
Pray for me if you have a god.
Work is starting to really suck. It seems like we're talking different languages sometimes. When having a technical conversation, I seem to have to go through many alternative interpretations of what the other person is saying to me to be able to comprehend. I think that's just this companies fantastic culture showing through though. I've had it with the 1.5 hour travel time as well. Updating
resume tonight.
My new place is pretty cool, much better than 333 in it's current circumstance. At least I don't have to worry about the landlord coming over and being a dick. Oh I found out from the other flatmates that he finally went through with his threat to throw the stereo out. What a tosser. Everyone there is pissed off with him now. I also found out he just said he was going to move in to force me out. I just have to forget about it or it makes me so angry.
Not much happening on the girlie scene. I've met some nice chicks but no one yet that I feel I can have anything long term with. Could be that I don't wanna re-live old drama, but I dunno.
Not much else to report.
Actually there is, I'm gunna be 28 next Monday. Wailing and gnashing of teeth etc. I think I'm actually getting more irresponsible as time goes on. In another 50 years I could be that old guy on the bus into the city, pissing himself and laughing about it.
Pray for me if you have a god.
posted by nascent at 2/08/2006 05:19:00 pm
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