Lost In Tokushima

Podcast 102

2006-01-08T20:39:00.000+09:00

So after what seems like ever, I'm waking this slumbering beast and putting out a new years pod cast, not like anybody will be still hitting up this page.Anyhoo get the New Year podcast here (note at one point I say "This is a really funny story" and I don't deliver, that's due to tangents!)

Long time....no blog

2005-10-28T10:15:00.000+09:00

Yes again, I've let the blog slip. I was planning, or have been in the planning stages of doing a second podcast. I've decided to wait until next week as I'm sure this weekend will bring about a tale or two that i'd have liked to have squeezed in.In just over an hours time I start out on my trek from school to Osaka to see Doves tonight. There are 13 of us going (all blokes) and well i'm sure

Podcast 101

2005-09-02T17:27:00.000+09:00

Always one to move with new technology I decided to trial a podcast for my blog. Now i'd only advise listening to it if you haven't heard my voice for a while and wonder how American I sound! Or if you like the user of "Er" in about every sentence.Theres also 4 tunes inamongst the blabber to ofset my random chatter.Listen to the Podcast

Sayonara in stages

2005-07-25T09:44:00.000+09:00

It turns out that this weekend wasn't as emotional as I was expecting. Partly because at the end of the night I was too trollied to say goodbye to some people, but also because I started agreeing to see a number of people each night over the coming week. I even recall me and Beej telling Craig we'd finally go up to mountain to Koyadiara to see his little retreat.So apart form this morning and

Where does the time go?

2005-07-20T13:26:00.000+09:00

Coming up this weekend is my last chance to hit the town with a good bunch of the kids I came out with. Which is gonna be sad times. I have had so much fun over the past two years and hope that next year despite a massive friend overhaul I'll be having I can look myself in the eye and say I made the right decision.I spent a lot of the last weekend doing not a lot. We had a meeting last Friday

A blog is not just for Christmas....

2005-07-12T09:32:00.000+09:00

Hello, well yet again, i've let it slide a number of weeks since my last post. I've been having too much fun and have actually been working. Oh, now don't fret not doing my proper job, but making sure that my fellow JETs got the best possible send off party (Sayonara Party).That was last weekend (more of which later). But since my last post I have:- Been to Osaka and Kobe and not seen baseball,

Champions League hangover

2005-06-21T14:16:00.000+09:00

My scavenger hunt team, this was beer one before the mentalness of the nightNot that I haven't been doing much over the last couple of weeks rather that after all the excitement of the Champions League victory the site has suffered a bit of Dudek, but we're back on track.The main reason for my absence has been the effort I've been putting into the Tokushima AJET website that we've had up for a

European Champions!

2005-05-26T07:06:00.000+09:00

The most dramatic football match I have ever witnessed, currently watching the boys go up to get their medals. Had about 2 hours sleep because of excitement, being down 3-0 at half time and I though "If we can keep it respectable I'll be happy" Then 6 wonderful minutes and its 3-3. Dietmar Hamman and Vladamir Scmicer (both leaving on frees) were imperious. To be fair Milan were better in

Nervous Tension (Champions League Final Preview)

2005-05-25T09:57:00.000+09:00

What its all aboutToday (well tomorrow my time) will see Liverpool playing in their first European Cup final for 20 years. Being a little removed from it is probably a blessing but my stomach is still swimming with a nervous energy about the impending match.On paper Milan should comfortably beat us the likes of Dida, Maldini, Cafu, Stam and Nesta at the back would send most seasoned strikers into

Star Wars premiere

2005-05-23T11:03:00.000+09:00

"You brought me back for those lines Lucas?" - James Earl Jones really deserves lines of gravitas So the rest of you lucky guys outside Asia probably got to a screening over the weekend. In Japan and South Korea we're having to wait until July to see it on the big screen. But that did not stop the film getting a gala preview screening at my house on Saturday night. Got a copy of the

Vortis v BBQ v FA Cup Final Saturday

2005-05-18T14:49:00.000+09:00

Well thanks to a rescheduling of the kickball my hand wasn't forced and now plans are afoot for a day of fine football action, drinking and BBQ (Currently my weather widget in Tiger is telling me to expect a high of 23 low of 17 on Saturday). First up will be a trip to Naruto to watch Vortis Tokushima play Mito Holly Hock (from Ibaraki prefecture). Mito currently lie 11th in the table but have

Songs of the Week

2005-05-16T22:34:00.000+09:00

Forever Lost - The Magic Numbers (Heavenly)Not the prettiest band in the world by any stretch of the imagination. In fact in the superficial age we live in its amazing they got signed. But their sweet harmonies and infectious summer sound juxtapose this. The song moves along like a welcome summer breeze on a hot day. Perfect for the current weather in Tokushima. The eponymous debut album

Drinking + Unplanned Sets = Bad

2005-05-16T09:32:00.000+09:00

On Friday night I played a support set for a local band, now I only got asked to do this the previous Friday, but still, I don't think I could have done a worse job. Firstly getting pissed is never a good idea, combining that with using the devil may care attitude of "I'll play the first thing that comes into my head" which resulted in a drunked set of Oasis covers, which I think went as

心に抱く疲労 - Entertaining Fatigue

2005-05-09T15:51:00.000+09:00

After 5 days of entertaining the Toyama crew I have a cold and am suffering from a lack of sleep, from that you can draw I had a fucking good time!To recap:Tuesday May 3rd - I turn 27, Robbie's engine explodes on the expressway & James saves the day. Go out on the town and introduce the noobs to the joy's of Karaoke at Ingrids (she gives me a nice adidas bag for my birthday)Wednesday May 4th - We

みどりの日 - Green Day

2005-04-29T09:39:00.000+09:00

Today is Green Day which means the first of four bank holidays (well national holidays, the banks are always shut, so you reallly can't alluded to them being the cause of us getting time off!) over the coming week (Golden Week). Well for everyone in Japan except the fine staff, pupils and parents of Mino Junior High School, for today see's PTA day. This entails me being in all morning doing

I can see clearly now the gunk has gone

2005-04-26T08:53:00.000+09:00

I'd say I managed to get rid of 90% of the glue from my rear view, will tackle the rest tonight the main thing is I can now see whats behind me and it dosnt stink of sick, which is nice... Any Star Wars fans out there may want to check this out: 7 Minutes of ROTS footage Confirmation came through yesterday that I'll be entertaining 9 Toyama JETs next week so that should be logicistical fun!

"It's a deal, it's a steal....It's sale of the fucking century"

2005-04-25T13:58:00.000+09:00

So I've been driving my new Subaru for the last 4 days and am loving been back on the road and loving that I paid £500 for a car that would set me back £2000-£3000 in the UK (I doubt I'd find a 1995 with only 52,000 miles on the clock and immaculate interior). I'm almost tempted to ship it home next year, I'd still break even! Having said that it did have a tint job on the rear window that had

Oh Happy Day

2005-04-21T11:27:00.000+09:00

Today is my last on foot as I type in 7 hours I will finally have my new wheels and to celebrate I have a date tonight! Everythings coming up Andy! Since I found out Monday night that I could finally get the car (and sorted the insurance yesterday, extra £5 a month for 200cc, the bastards) I've been in the erstwhile words of Natalie Imbruglia "Counting Down The Days". It's been tempered by

Keep The Dream Alive

2005-04-19T09:24:00.000+09:00

Track 9 - Keep The Dream Alive written by Andy Bell the former Ride and Hurricane No 1 guitarist writes a song reminiscent of his former band (who did get tarred with the brush that the songs sounded like Oasis) and its also pulls a guitar riff from Rising Sign (an excellent track off the second Hurricane No 1 album). The song has a really great rolling baseline (as Bell is now a bass player

Let There Be Love

2005-04-18T15:25:00.000+09:00

Track 11 - Let There Be Love Oasis manage to nail late 60's Beatles in a Hey Jude meats In The End way, sees a vocal duet between Liam and Noel and some beautifully lush, sparing strings not like the bloated, overblown All Around The WorldLyrics:(Liam)Who kicked a hole in the sky so the heavens would cry over me?Who stole the soul from the sun in a world come undone at the seams?Let there by love

Mucky Fingers

2005-04-18T13:25:00.000+09:00

The new Oasis album is being drip fed onto the net as I type. So as I get it I'm gonna review tracks:Track 2 - Mucky Fingers with Noel on vocals, seems really good, kinda a little reminiscent of Kings of Leon crossed with The Strokes with more 4 to the floor drumming ala Doves. The lyrical structure and the harmonica would have you pointing towards Dylans "Positively 4th Street"Lyrics:I know

New Phone/1st Beach Party of the Year

2005-04-18T08:48:00.000+09:00

The new Keitai....multilingual does not mean bilingual!This weekend (still without a car grrr...) I went down to Komastushima for a Beach Party the weather was good (if a little cool in the evening) and it seems that Dubs "14 bottles of Turkey for my Birthday" had a great time.I decided that after the previous nights fun, which almost resulted (well did for 5 minutes) me sleeping on a park bench

You'll Never Walk Alone!

2005-04-14T10:02:00.000+09:00

Xabi Alonzo = less is moreOk admission first I woke up at 3:30am but kinda snoozed till 4:30am so I missed the first half of the Juventus v Liverpool Quarter Final, second leg.There were no goals but we held on for the most heroic 0-0 match I've ever seen. The red's also helped my ticker by limiting Juve to only a few heart in my mouth moments. Igor Biscan, who for some reason seemed to be

Strolling in the rain

2005-04-12T14:13:00.000+09:00

Another beauty Luis, onegaishimasu!Today is drizzly and misty and not too nice, chotto samui ne (a little cold?). This is in distinct contrast to Sunday when it was 27deg C and bright sunshine. But the good weather is almost here I think past this weekend we'll start hitting 20+ every day and April/May are when its really nice, hot weather but low humidity.I am still car-less but (I think) all

No real movement

2005-04-06T11:49:00.000+09:00

Well Hiroshima was fun, we saw the sights and partied hard and even got in trouble with the law (which may or may not bite me is the ass). This week has seen me stuck at home thanks to getting rid of my car last Friday (I also managed to get my first proper haircut in Japan the same day) so with no bike I'm left walking everywhere. Currently waiting for the local Police (not obviously to be

Pneumonia

2005-03-29T10:19:00.000+09:00

The new car Long time no write, main reason was that I spent 5 days in hospital (18th-23rd) with pneumonia. Not that I knew I had it. I'd had a nasty flu like cold for about a week before I went to the hospital (no doctors surgeries in Japan, if you need to see the doc, you gotta get to the byoin (hospital)). The only reason I went to the hospital was to placate my school as I'd overslept

The Return of The Blue Typhoon

2005-03-07T09:22:00.000+09:00

Tom Collins practicing before the infamous "Mino gig on the roof"Currently feeling rather jaded after a long weekend with the musical.On Friday night I went out on the town a couple of the boys just to wind down the week and also have some fun before selling my soul to the musical for the rest of the weekend. We stayed out till 4:30 and then Rory and I ended up crashing at Jenna's apartment

I think I've got a feeling I've lost insiiiiidah!

2005-03-01T10:46:00.000+09:00

Oh blog how I've neglected you! Well truth is nothing of any real excitement has happened in J-land, yeah even less than usual Mr. McCarthy! Last weekend I was teaching students from Kitako (Kitajima High School) who are a SEL High (which means they teach English only in English) so despite the students being 1st year high school students (the same age as my 3rd years from last year) they're

Back in the warmth of Tokushima (weekly digest)

2005-02-14T10:50:00.000+09:00

Well today has been quite so far as I had a cancelled first lesson. Nagano was great, despite the fact I had tonsillitis and only managed to board for half a day.We left on Thursday night and I got nicely merry on the bus, played some cards with Beej, Craig and Jody and managed to snag a sweet spot on the comfy sleeping area. Also partied with a group of teachers from Kawashima High School, who

Farewell Tokushima I'm off to Nagano

2005-02-10T13:18:00.000+09:00

Now if you recall i'm in the middle of the Island below where it says JAPAN, roughly under the stem of the P This will be my last entry in the blog till next Monday, tonight I'm off on the Niki-sensei (Ell's teacher) bus of fun to Nagano to do some mountain diving, I mean, snowboarding. Yesterday I must have cooked 12 pancakes between my English club at school (where I made a nice Orange sauce

I'm in love with The Delays

2005-02-09T10:34:00.000+09:00

It's been a long time since I've heard a debut album and fallen so instantly and fastly into it but it happened yesterday. I got a copy of The Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour and its trully brilliant. Not a bad song on it, its soaring, inspiring, i'm actually at a loss for ways to describe the wonder of this album. I've been reading some reviews that have likened to lead singers style to

We're a proud nation, honest we are

2005-02-08T15:45:00.000+09:00

Do Scotland have the same genius who works for Middlesborough in the shite shirt sponsors department? For Boro's Dial-a-Phone and this seasons 888.com (you just fall right for the kappa slapper scrunchy boro vibe, dontcha) read Scotland's sponsor of Morrisons (see above). Now its ok for a team in the lower reachers of the leagues to be sponored by a shitty company but a national team and

Do a little dance, drink a little beer, get down

2005-02-08T09:18:00.000+09:00

No post yesterday because I felt like crap, the tonsils are swollen to hell and it was freezing and overcast. Not in the best mood to be LOT'ing. Today I feel slightly better, although the dreary North of England weather is still with us. I'm in full on IT mode this week, last night I went round to Karen's to help her with 27 (TWENTY SEVEN) questions she had about her computer. Then

Little Red Riding Hood

2005-02-04T12:15:00.000+09:00

So after my musical rehearsal no show last weekend and Sarah's pissed offness with that, I'd thrown in the towel and told her I wasn't going to do it. Why? For the ultimately selfish reason that I have so much spare time during the week where I'm stuck in the country the last thing I want to do is have my weekends impinged with musical rehearsals. So she wasn't impressed but I was out. I

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2005-02-03T10:18:00.000+09:00

Plenty of crisp snow on my car and on the ground this morning, which helped to shape my lesson plan for elementary school. We're gonna be making paper snow flakes and a snowman shaped book about what they like and dont like about snow, if they knew about the concept of snow days the number one answer would be "I don't like the fact that they make us come to school when its so fucking cold" but

It's officially cold today

2005-02-02T11:41:00.000+09:00

Despite it being freezing outside (and I'm typing this from the heat of the staff room) I can see my unlucky 1st grade kids are running laps on the snow covered sports field, well a few are trying by the looks of it to instiagte snow ball fights but Ogita-sensei isn't playing ahem, ball! Hope that some of you get some enjoyment out of the sampler, probably anyone from back home is laughing at

Audio: The Mino's 2004 Sampler

2005-02-02T09:14:00.000+09:00

Following on from yesterday's Top 10, I've put together an MP3 mix of the standout track from each album. You can get it by clicking here.

Albums of 2004

2005-02-01T14:27:00.000+09:00

So this was something Joe suggested so here is my guide to my personal top 10 albums from 2004. 10. The Open - The Silent Hours The Open's debut album kisses the sky like Richard Ashcroft wished his lame ass solo albums did, apart from the poorly packaged best of The Verve this was the closest we got to hearing the soaring epic qualities that made Wigan's favorite son's an integral part of my

We went, we saw, Jody conquered

2005-01-31T09:18:00.000+09:00

Does Jody's grin even need a quote? So the conference was exactly as expected, the party on Thursday night was pretty good and it was the first of two evenings over the weekend where I ended up staying a Chez Nature Boy. On the Friday I managed to stay until 3:00pm, which I didn't think was a bad feat due to the amount of alcohol imbibed the previous evening. We got into Takamatsu around 7:

Kagawa's Brilliant Init?

2005-01-26T10:31:00.000+09:00

Looks like all systems go for the assault on Takamatsu, just waiting to find out who else is gonna join in the road trip and then i'll get onto some hotel reservations and the like this afternoon. We have a venue booked for tomorrow night (P's again) so after a day of lectures and workshops there will be chances a plenty to go out and let off some steam. WIth going out in Tokushima tomorrow

9 Songs Trailer

2005-01-25T16:29:00.000+09:00

View Movie Trailer (Quicktime) Interview with Micheal Winterbottom (Independant Online) From the man who brought us the fantastic 24 Hour Party People, here's the trailer for Micheal Winterbottom's new movie 9 Songs which features songs by Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club incut with scenes of a couple having graphic sex, sounds like a winner to me!

Gran Turismo

2005-01-25T15:39:00.000+09:00

Well I'm already starting to loose hours to Gran Turismo 4, its fantastic to get 45 minutes in at Lunchtime, a great stress reliever (yes how you laugh those who know how "stressful"my job is). I'm making up a a couple of videos (some people still have the oldest of school technology even in Japan) of the OC for Amie. 9 episodes in total and I've been leaving the computer attached to the VCR

Words of Wisdom

2005-01-24T09:57:00.000+09:00

Friday evening was good fun, Sarah had gone to fantastic lengths for the restaurant and I was lucky enough to be sat next to Vivi, who I don't see that often, turn's out she's into Alias even more than me, so the following day we watched episodes 3 + 4 at mine before going onto the Burn's thing. The rest of Friday night was a bit of dancing at P's, a bit of Karaoke at Ingrids and some

Burns Night

2005-01-20T10:45:00.000+09:00

On Saturday night we are celebrating Burns night with our throng of Scottish ex-pats (2) the fact that 43 non-Scots are turning up must be to do with the ale, or wanting to show off their poetry skills. I have 3 to work from; 1 poem proper, 1 ode to Kerosene I wrote myself (which isn't very good) and 1 that is a song but fits in nicely to the Burns night feel, that is if we were celebrating a

Mixalicious

2005-01-19T13:02:00.000+09:00

Another party another mix. Spending today trying to pull together a mix for the Joe/Liz/Sarah Friday night Birthday-a-thon that we'll be having at P's. After Beej set the bar at Christmas I'm gonna try and pull it out for a dance/funk/rock mix. I may even cancel my eikaiwa tonight so I can work on it. At the moment I have a couple of definite tracks, the new Chemical Brothers single Galvanise

J2 Football here we come

2005-01-18T10:06:00.000+09:00

So from next season (which in Japan kicks off on 5th March) the island of Shikoku will have a team in the professional J-League ranks and what's more they're based in Tokushima. Last season Otsuka FC (named after the sponsor Otsuka Phamaceuticals; makers of the legendary Pocari Sweat, google it... it exists!) decimated all in their path in the JFL (kind of like the English conference) and

Akitamatchi how I missed you

2005-01-17T10:12:00.000+09:00

This weekend (despite, or maybe inspite of my lack of cash) was fun, catching up with everyone, trading stories about our holidays, where to get torrents from now suprnova's down and script writing for fairytales. Oh and we did a spot of cheeky drinking too. On Friday night I went round to Jane's with Craig, Dubs, Kirsten, Beej and Greg. Me and Jane managed to quaff our way through 3 bottles

Mac Mini

2005-01-14T08:55:00.000+09:00

I sold my iMac yesterday and am now in the market (well probably not till February) to get a Mac Mini to use as a media server in my front room. The only thing stopping me is that at the moment they don't make a DVI-RGB convertor so I can utilise my Sony TV's 480p psudo hi def mode and have a nice monitor for viewing all these shows I keep talking about downloading. I could use s-video as

Ah the half day

2005-01-13T09:16:00.000+09:00

Well the cold is now in full effect and i'm out of Beechams, I need to get my mum to hurry up sending the care package out. Watched episode 11 of Veronica Mars, which despite my panchant for crappy teen dramas (the 5, the dawsons, the OC) its actually much better than the usual level of pretty "kids" using over-advanced words for their "age". Episode 12 came online this morning so I should be

Music: Ian Brown - Time Is My Everything (video)

2005-01-12T14:15:00.000+09:00

And to finish this weeks round up of what is exciting me in the world of music we have the new video to Ian Brown's second single from the Solarized album. The horntastic Time Is My Everything. Click here to view: Hi|Lo (Windows Media)

Music: Embrace - Looking As You Are (video)

2005-01-12T14:10:00.000+09:00

Here's the video to the 3rd release from Embrace's fantastic 4th album Out Of Nothing. The new single is called Looking As You Are and features a young model type who can't seem to get anyone's attention. Ah, didums! Click to view: Lo - Hi (Windows Media)

Music: Doves - Black And White Town (single & video)

2005-01-12T13:52:00.000+09:00

One of the last gigs I saw in the UK before coming out to Japan was a Doves gig when they were touring the excellent Last Broadcast album. Well 3 years since its release they are back with a new single Black and White Town and a new album called Some Cities. Stream Doves' "Black And White Town" here: Hi | Lo (Windows Media). View the video here: Hi | Lo (Windows Media)

Image: What were we thinking?

2005-01-11T15:02:00.000+09:00

Hanging around like a bad smell

2005-01-11T14:54:00.000+09:00

Well I hope that BitTorrent holds out till next August cos I just signed my papers to stay for a third year. The question this poses is what kind of third year am I going to turn into. 1. The bitter "Jet Lag" third year who realises that they only stayed for the money and all their friends have gone home. 2. The hermit 3rd year who nobody knows bar the odd posting on the JETlist and lesser

Did I miss Opening Ceremony?

2005-01-11T09:18:00.000+09:00

The only reason I'm in school today is for Opening Ceremony, well not the only reason, I'm paid to be here from 8pm-5pm, but in all practicallity thats the only thing for me to do today. As I sit typing this everyone has been missing for 30 minutes and have now all returned in less formal clothes. I really should point out that I haven't figured out what the Kanji for "Opening Ceremony" is yet

Back in Japan

2005-01-10T13:43:00.000+09:00

Sitting on a speedy internet station in Kansai waiting for the bus to wend us our way back to Tokushima. Flight back from Taiwan was really fast and the food was again good, EVA Air are number one in my book for quality airline food. We got a little merry on the flight from Vietnam to Taipei yesterday lunchtime thanks to us being sat right next to the galley. Slept in the airport which was

Miu Ne....is there any room at the inn?

2005-01-03T13:07:00.000+09:00

We got to Miu Ne at 1:30am on Sunday, which would have been ok, but the tour company didnt book the hotel they were supposed to so we just get told to get off the bus and find somewhere, which at that time of night you can imagine didnt fill us with much hope. We tried 3 or 4 resorts before thankfully finding a guest house that let us stay. I looked at the lonely planet guide in the morning

Happy Hangover!

2005-01-01T11:39:00.000+09:00

Well as I type and recover from the excesses of last night, I have to say that I had the best New Years Eve ever, Saigon is probably the most viberant city I've ever had the chance to party in. Got to meet up with Sarah and Jane who are staying at a really nice 4 star hotel, went out for dinner with tem and Craig, which was nice. Then met up with the others (including Dave and Mizi who had

Ho Chi New Year

2004-12-31T17:11:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year from Vietnam! Got in to Ho Chi Minh early yesterday afternoon and despite not staying at "the lap" the hotel we're at is the best by far and only a $20 share a night, bargin. Spent today going round the Saigon area of Ho Chi Minh on a cyclo, with my guide Mr. Son, if you've seen the Peter Key Albert Halls vid, think the taxi driver at the start. Good bloke, took me to the City

Last blog outra Phnom Penh

2004-12-30T13:55:00.000+09:00

Chicken Cordon Bluer rocks! Had a really nice last meal in Phnom Penh last night, down by the riverside. I bailed after dinner to get my beauty sleep. We got to the airport at 9:50 this morning and I'm currently chilling at a cafe waiting for our plane to board. Bad news of the day is "the lap" is out of the equation as its fully booked which is a pain. Anyway just got the call for my

Leaving Sihanoukville

2004-12-29T13:41:00.000+09:00

Met my little friend at the beach again yesterday, she remembered my name so I delivered good on my promise. She ended up chilling with me and Zazza for a good couple of hours, her name was Mei and its turns out shes from Vietnam. ' She drew a picture of us in the sand and Zazza got some good photo's which i'll put up once we get back. Mei also made me a nice liverpool flavoured wristband,

Last day at the beach

2004-12-28T15:24:00.000+09:00

Today is my last full day in Sihanoukville, I'm taking the bus back to Phonm Pehn at lunchtime tomorrow. Although I'm having a great time chilling on the beach eating western food and of course drinking a fair bit. My thoughts keep drifting to friends and aquaitences from Tokushima who are to the west of us in Cambodia and could have been affected by the Earthqaukes/Tsunami's that have

Christmas Message

2004-12-26T13:49:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas one and all, This year the focus of my Christmas message will be....... So we have been in Sihanoukville since Friday night (Christmas Eve) the journey down from Siem Reap here was fun to say the least. We decided to get the boat back and had to wake up at 5am (after a heavy night out celebrating Craigs birthday) we get to the boat and it sets off at 7am. An hour out on to

Relaxing in the lap

2004-12-23T13:39:00.000+09:00

Today we are relaxing from the rigours of the tour around Angkor. It was great to see the site and I have a boat-load of pictures that are sure to bore one and all. We went out last night for a curry which was really good, if a little spicy, Japanese food has definietly affected my spice tollerence. Today Craig and Susi have decided to go to Angkor for another day, for me it was enough as

Siem Reap

2004-12-22T11:13:00.000+09:00

Yesterday we woke up at 6:00am to catch a boat from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap in the north of Cambodia, now we had varying times banded about for how long this boat took but 7 hours was not one of them. Now I we were sitting atop this boat in 30 degree sun with no sun block, suffice to say we all have some pretty nasty sunburn! We got to our hotel Freedom at 2:30, had some lunch in the hotel

Phnom Penh

2004-12-20T14:56:00.000+09:00

Ok so it's the first full day in Phnom Pehn. Craig, Dave, Susi and Steve-o have all gone to the Killing Field's this morning. I decided to take the chance to have a lie-in and then read a paper and watched TV (our $15 a night hotel room, split three ways in my case has 50 channels of satellite TV) I even managed to catch the Liverpool v Newcastle match last night while out at dinner (I had

Way's not to prepare the night before a big trip

2004-12-17T09:03:00.000+09:00

So all was good when the passport arrived I decided to go out and do a last "shop" at my local convenience store Sunkus. I came back with the healthy 2 pizza breads, some steak and onion flavoured crisps, an Aero and a 6 pack of Kirin Gold. So my plan was to have a drink and do some packing, it turned into just drinking and getting nostalgic by watching White Christmas and Scrooged. I also found

And the results are in....

2004-12-16T14:47:00.000+09:00

Yes I officially am a Jammy Bastard! Passport turned up this afternoon. Not that it was the embassy's fault they turned it around in a day (I sent it on the 6th they sent it back on the 7th) but it seems that Yamato transport's next day business letters actually take 9 days. If I was American i'd be on to a lawyer for the emotional distress it has caused me.... But fuck it... As of 3pm

Hung over

2004-12-16T09:22:00.000+09:00

Last night was certainly interesting, only 5 people turned up to the Eikaiwa Christmas Party and of those 3 don't come to class, but on the upside one was my supervisor at the BOE Takeda-san who is a nice bloke even though we communicate in basically nods and winks. So a load of food was ate, I sung a lot of karaoke (I may have to add Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me to my 'oke set!) and was home

Image: Dance, boogie wonderland....

2004-12-15T16:54:00.000+09:00

Image: The Swiss Family Partridge

2004-12-15T16:52:00.000+09:00

Visa where art thou?

2004-12-15T11:11:00.000+09:00

I'm starting to get a little worried about the lack of my passport not turning up, if nothings arrived by lunchtime I'm gonna have to get on to the embassy, which could be fun seeing as I don't speak there langauage, hope they have some English speaking staff. Basically if my passport dosn't arrive by lunchtime on Friday I'm £400 in the hole and stuck in Japan for Christmas, I know that's not

Mexicano Ham Naanza update

2004-12-14T13:43:00.000+09:00

It's good, but dude I have the belly gargles this afternoon, good job that Fujino-sensei next to me is such a loud and consistant talker otherwise the aftershocks would be rumbling round my otherwise quite staff room!

I made a kid cry

2004-12-14T11:26:00.000+09:00

This picture is from Awa O'dori back in August, you can see most of the chaps are in Jimbei (that's probably not the way you spell it) which is traditional bloke ware for the summer. This was just before we went out on bender number two (the one that I managed to get in at 5:00 and had to be up at 7:30 driving Craig to the airpot, it's safe to say I wasn't exactly within the legal limits that

Carol singing and partying

2004-12-13T11:31:00.000+09:00

On Friday we did our Miyoshi-gun Carol singing tour hitting up all 7 junior high schools in the area, spreading 15 minute sets of Christmas cheer, or something like that. The day started up in Higashi-Iya (60km from my house) and wound up in Miyoshi (the next door town), it was a 130km round trip but all the kids and a lot of the staff seemed to enjoy the novelty factor of us ALTs rocking up and

80s Vs 90s Mix (MP3 Thursday Bonus Post)

2004-12-08T14:16:00.000+09:00

I finished compiling the second CD I'm doing for Saturday Night this one is far more eclectic...... Get it while its hot I got my first real six string.... (its roughly 100mb so no dial-uppers i'm afarid) My Sharona/The Knack Come On Eileen/Dexy's Midnight Runners Super Freak/Rick James Rappers Delight/Sugarhill Gang Kung Fu Fighting/Carl Douglass There's No Other Way/Blur Connected/Stereo MC's

Get out those Flares

2004-12-08T13:55:00.000+09:00

Like a bad reminder of a Saturday night down Ethos (those who know, know the shame!) here for your retro pleasure is an advance listen to this weekends D.I.S.C.O portion of my virtual (as I don't want this DJ lark to get in the way of drinking and boogiing) DJ set. Get it while its hot Get Me My Disco man! (its roughly 100mb so no dial-uppers i'm afarid) Track Listing as follows: I Will

I'll be the sun shining on you, hey Cinderella step in your shoe......

2004-12-08T11:51:00.000+09:00

I got the 70's mix finished yesterday (mp3 wednesday will be returning with a vengence this afternoon). Today I have been downloading to make up an 80's v 90's mix, how well Snoop Dogg, The Charlatans, Billy Ocean and The Prodigy mix is anyone's guess but I think I can pull it off! Another day at school doing nothing. But BIG news from the 4th-8th of May I will be filming as an extra in my

Oh yes I forgot...

2004-12-07T14:43:00.000+09:00

I was watching this last night, yes sometimes I wonder myself! At least I didnt cry when "nobody put's baby in a corner"!

Superstar DJ

2004-12-07T14:06:00.000+09:00

Woo look at me in the words of The Killers "Andy, You're a Star"! (cheers to Joe for the flattering camera work) My day off yesterday revolved in the morning around finding a fax machine (as school was shut) to send of my details so my travel agents could charge my credit card for the holiday (as of course I dont have enough money in my account to cover it). I also had to go to the post

Too much.....

2004-12-05T09:41:00.000+09:00

Blogging on a Sunday shouldn't be done. I should be sleeping on someone's floor (or in someone's bed!) nursing a hangover. Instead I'm in school and had to spend the first Saturday night at my house since (I think) the first week I came to Tokushima (damn you school). It turn's out that the whole reason for this Sunday school day is that the kids are putting on a play or some sort of

Holiday Monday, but working Sunday

2004-12-03T11:39:00.000+09:00

So thank's to the ever important end of year tests (as in lunar year not school) I have to come in on Sunday and do nothing, I was going (honestly guys) to play basketball (well.... look like a Brit making a ham fist of the sport) on Sunday morning. Well I explain this and I get told "you have no lessons so you'll be ok taking nenkyu!" fuck that I say so I'm coming in on Sunday and i'm gonna

Power to the people

2004-12-01T09:54:00.000+09:00

Sometime's the power of the brew is overwhelming! The meeting yesterday was the usual drag from hell, I ended up sounding like one of those people who like the sound of their own voice, which I don't I have a weird inclination to my accent that dosn't quite fit from the part of the world I'm from (but I digress). It was a case of ALT's on one side of the table and JTE's on the other each

Osaka pics: The Boy's in the Band

2004-11-30T11:29:00.000+09:00

Yeah, Gaijin in Hard Rock, screw you the burgers were fucking tops!

Osaka pics: I don't know where it went wrong Mart, honestly I don't!

2004-11-30T11:25:00.000+09:00

Is it any wonder we lost him the next day?

Osaka Pics: Why you should'nt take Americans to "Football" matches

2004-11-30T11:22:00.000+09:00

Look at the game for god's sake man!

Gappei - Merging Towns

2004-11-30T08:57:00.000+09:00

Normally I only post irrelevant shit on here but I feel the need to talk to you about something that is gonna happen to mine and many towns across Japan (and some already) in the next 12 months. Gappei is the merging of towns in my case Mino (pop 5,215), Miyoshi (6,174), Ikawa (5,206) and Mikamo (10,025) will merge in April to form Miyoshi Town (pop 26,620). Which is kinda great; bigger town,

I give thanks to the Japanese government.....

2004-11-29T15:43:00.000+09:00

for paying me all this money to live out here. Well that was my Thanksgiving speech on Saturday (and thanks were indeed needed, a fantastic spread of food put on) played the Open Mic on Friday and did the following set: intro (Dancing Queen) Start Again (Teenage Fanclub) This One's For You (Ed Harcourt) Tightrope (The Stone Roses) On Your Own (The Verve) Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morisson) That

Maybe....just maybe

2004-11-26T13:07:00.000+09:00

Well I think things have finally turned the corner holliday wise, I can't say too much (as I really don't want to jinx it) but I may have found a destination that will have me thats not too expensive. Now all I have to do is convince the Board of Education in Mino to pay me 4 days early so I can pay bills and of course have some money to spend abroad. I'm gonna have to reign in the

Have you noticed.....

2004-11-25T10:02:00.000+09:00

How much I use "So" to start a sentence? That's from teaching, not sure if my voice goes up at the end on words yet, but Japan sure has affected the way I speak. For example I now use the following words Trash, Trunk and Hood on a regular basis (I don't do garbage though) theres probably more in the old noggin as well that seep out from time to time. The reason is I've got more American

Just when I thought Eikaiwa was getting smaller

2004-11-25T09:34:00.000+09:00

The apple crumble went great, although the crumble turned more into a cookie dough pie crust, but that works..... So I'd managed to ship at least two of my Eikaiwa (Adult English conversation) members to Ellie's in Miyoshi (due to my "fuck teaching you fools anything" shtick) but then a couple of weeks back a new kid Yutaka started coming (which I don't begrudge, he's 19 lived in the states for

Toys R Us

2004-11-24T11:53:00.000+09:00

So for the day off I had a solid 3 hours of re-stringing and auditioning tunes for Friday night. Should have a solid set, just need to learn the chords properly for 3 1/2 out of the 6 1/2 songs I'm playing, but it should be good fun. The first song and a half will certainly raise a smile! Then in the afternoon I went up to Takamatsu with Craig and Dubs to go shopping for presents for the

So I got.....

2004-11-22T16:07:00.000+09:00

The Shirt The Knitware They don't have the jeans or the t-shirt online but eh, there's a taster for you. Change of plan this evening I'm gonna stay home and do some recording for Friday (and probably spend all day tomorrow doing the same as well) if I get a full song done i'll upload it for your audio pleasure (no cheating and downloading if you're coming to watch the live performace on the

Oaska, FCUKing Brilliant

2004-11-22T14:39:00.000+09:00

The comedown today has been hard (and it was literally a comedown as I stayed at Dubs house up in Ichiu, fucking freezing it was) but a splendid weekend was had by all. Top 5 things about this weekend in Osaka 5. The match 4. The capsule 3. Loosing Martin 2. Namba Parks (shopping centre which led to......) 1. Spending 40,000yen in FCUK FCUK was so good I went in twice I now have a new

Osaka-nanny!

2004-11-19T09:23:00.000+09:00

Well today has started well, no shogakko lesson, which means I have to get through two second grade (my best students by a long stretch) lessons about christmas. If they're lucky I might (just might) get out the axe and rip up some carols. I'm also trying to download the new band aid video to show them but the torrent is only seeding 76%, so that's probably for next week. Apart from a load of

Screw you Japanese travel agents

2004-11-18T12:05:00.000+09:00

Spoke too soon, I think Hawaii is definatly off the map as far as Christmas is concerned. This is due to Japanese travel agents websites, displaying flights that they don't have availability for, I mean is it to hard, you'd think they'd got some looser no-mark like me to design their sites! Anyway looking into other options now, Thailands a possibilty (El, Marita and Jamie said I could join)

Having said that.......

2004-11-17T13:02:00.000+09:00

I do now have both Football Manager 2005 on my Mac (Champ Manager in your old money) and Winning Eleven 8 on my PS2 (Pro Evo 4 in your European Lingo) how I find the time to do anything besides is beyond me, but entertaining sports simulations will no doubt keep me going as the days and nights get colder (it is a nippy high of 16 low of 11, this country has made me such a nancy!). Give me 4deg C

Nothings been happening, honest!

2004-11-17T10:09:00.000+09:00

Well yes of course it has but, to write about it would hurt my hands and your eyes so I'll give you a nice concise list of what I've been up to: - Went to Kyoto & Hiroshima with my parents - Went to Hokkaido with my friends - Played in a Soccer tournament on Awaji Island - Had a Halloween party down in Kainan - Went Camping & Hiking to Mt. Tsurugi That about brings it up to date. I've been

Typhoon 21 - Meari

2004-09-29T13:46:00.000+09:00

Yet another typhoon is bearing down on us (as I type the air-raid sirens are ringing round the town) I sure did recommend a good time for my mum and dad to come out. Mean's another night in at home, i'm struggling to download enough stuff to fill the hours (and also running out of inovative meals to cook) I was supposed to be having a meet the friends night tonight, but that's got scrapped,

Ain't it brilliant to be an einsle kinde!

2004-09-28T15:21:00.000+09:00

To be fair before I get into the crux of this post I must admit that I do feel guilty, but i'll take it anyway! So no post for nearly a week due to the (a)parent stress (see what I did there!). Turns out there was no need, Friday was a wash out thanks to jetlag so I got to go out with the boys and party in Tokushima. On Saturday I drove back home to Mino, picked my mum and dad up and went up