On Owing You One

I suppose I owe you all some pictures with all my past crap text-only entries now that I have the internet at home.
I'm just going to post a load of photos to give you, my dear reader, an idea of what I have been up to.

These are photos I took on one of my sporadic bike rides down to the beach in November and December:





It isn't very cold here in those months, dipping at the lowest to 5 degrees Celsius at night, and usually 13-15 during the day. Recently it's gotten cold enough to warrant the purchase of a heater in my apartment, which I just leave on constantly. I'm not looking forward to my electricity bill.

This next group of photos is from the Christmas party held at the Sakata manor, where I made spaghetti with meatballs (following the traditional Christmas tradition) and afterwards got very drunk:

Fumi and I are great in couple photos... we're idiots.

The party group! Michael was my only real drinking buddy. In fact he and I polished off at least two wine bottles, various other drinks and this bottle of Shochu set in a Tanuki bottle:


Finally, here is my best friend Pu. He smells pretty bad and barks all the damn time, but inside his furry, brittle old body lies a heart of gold or some other precious metal. Maybe silver. Or Emeralds.

Then there was Hawaii:



The sunglass trio.


This is a solidified lava pool. The entire thing! Greg is asking what you're waiting for.




After Hawaii, which was absolutely amazing, came New Year's which I spent with the Sakata's once again. Here I am ringing in the New Year, literally, at the local shrine.

And here is Fumi doing the same:

To my extreme happiness it snowed on New Year's day! Here is the mountain behind Fumi's house:


Now I'm just about into February and have no pictures from the past month to show. My next vacation is in May, so hopefully something worthy to write about happens to me! This Sunday I've sacrificed a day off to work for ECC Junior again, which is a pretty good way to earn some extra money. It's a lot of work though, quite tiring.

Also I have started to moderate my comments, so when you post it won't show on the website until I have approved it! I'm looking at you, gramps.

On Not Having the Internet... Still.

I'm unsure whether not having the internet still is a blessing or a curse. On the one hand I have plenty of time to do other things, but on the other I have very little connection with friends and family back home (I miss y'all).
Why don't I have it?
Money, time, etc.
So: I plan on signing up on friday! We'll see how it goes. Companies like to mess with us foreigners. . . well not really, it's really my fault for lack of my Japanese abilities.

Anyways some new things with me: I'm learning to ride a trial bike (a type of dirt bike) and it's so fun. I already destroyed a rice field when I forgot how to stop. It was awesome.
I also am considering getting an open-water certificate (fancy words for Scuba Diving 101), if I save enough money for it. I'm still looking into prices and locations in Kyushu as I type this.

So how are you all doing? Do you still stop by to read this blog despite its 3000 year dormancy?

Drop me a line, hun.