Well, that was a bit of a long break from posting, now, wasn't it? Seventeen days. by my reckoning.
How to explain? Not sure there's much to say. Just what's happened in the meantime, I guess.
But I'll start with the latest and most exciting news: it looks like J-land is definitely on!!
</scary></cool, though>
(The new contract starts in April, handily on the fourth anniversary of me starting at the place.)
Ergo, I'm currently investigating places to live in'n'around Tokyo, as well various ways that might help me to learn the oul' Nihon-go... Those Kanji flashcards might just do the trick. In the meantime, I'm trying to learn about ten katakana, and I'm going to get the Youngest to try and test me on them later. Ah so.
I've got (very) approximately (thanks to the unique way these things work) eight months to get to grips with the basic language, where to live, what to do in public, what NOT to do in public more importantly, how much I'm going to be paid, whether I'll get a laptop, and probably a million-and-one things that are more important, but haven't occurred to my slightly bewildered head just yet!
And, breathe...
The Aussie sounded like shite warmed up this morning, thanks to him visiting Fahrenheit 55 till the very VERY wee hours of this morning (the finishing time he quoted began with a "five"). At the other end of the night, I'd had to phone Lord Simon to make sure he was up at 12:30 am. My life in Augher, quite deliberately, is very sedate by comparison.
I...
...like it.</Louis Walsh>
A lot.
So what's been the craic since the last time...? A rather sedate first half of December, due to a large influx of bills, etc. Changed everything over from Dr R's name to my own, which now (hopefully) means I should be able to hook Age and meself up with broadband. This is a dull but — in my scatter-brained life — significantly significant piece of <ahem> "actually sorting my fucked-up life out".
Elsewhere, I hit a point not long after the last post where I realised it was going to be impossible to get everything done that I was being asked to do on time. So I stopped trying. It was like a strange Zen calm had come over me.
I plan on doing this on a more regular basis.
That, and employing the ancient Norn Iron wisdom "Catch yerself on" when being prodded by my employers.
What else.... Oh aye, Age's birthday party, a couple of weeks ago. See the next post for that one ;o)
Rounding it all off, for now, I just wanted to say — and she'll never read this, unless the world really is a very small place — a big congratulations to the Cullybackey Man's sister on her wedding today. She was the same Pisshead Diploma year as meself, and even came to my graduation in place of Himself, who was stuck in the America, being told that his arms were too long for his body. (You can imagine the likely chat-up lines that followed. Hello, ladies, etc.)
Anyway: Well done, Anne, on escaping all family name ties to the Cullybackey Man. I'm sure you'll never look back.
