Cherry Blossom Adventures

Last weekend on Sunday I had the worst hangover I have had in over a year. The one before that been the night after my 21st birthday. Although my worst hangover ever …happened at a campsite (and unfortunately in a car ride down a windy mountain) in Saitama prefecture, Japan aged 19. James would agree that he also had the worst hangover ever that day also….It is really bad when you don`t have a proper toilet to throw up in…and worse still when the bathrooms have spiders! Actually out of the 20 of us camping together that weekend I think more than a few of us walked away feeling a bit worse for wear. It is never good to start drinking at 2pm and continue to till 5am then have to wake up at 8am to head back to Tokyo.

Anyway, no matter how sick I wake up the next day the next weekend I am always jumping back on the horse (so to speak) and having something delicious to drink. I am not saying I wake up every weekend with a hangover, with age I have actually gotten more of a handle on the `moderation is key` motto that my mother was always going on about. But sometimes I slip, or sometimes I go to bed feeling fine and still wake up feeling like I am dying. What`s with that?

AM I STUPID?

Is it just me, or is this a lesson people never seem to learn. I am sipping a glass of Aussie sparkling wine (good old Jacob`s Creek) as I write this thinking `What am I doing`….I don`t have a big night planned. Just dinner with some friends so the chances of me having a hangover tomorrow are near impossible but that said, who knows what the night will bring.

Despite the hangovers I have never given up on my favourites. Wine and Vodka. No matter how sick I am the next day the next weekend I will be back drinking one of the two….;Yet I hear all these stories of people that can`t stand the smell of certain booze due to a bad experience. Why hasn`t this happened to me? One friend suggested it was because I haven`t gotten sick enough off them, but I beg to differ.

Ok everyone, share your hangover cures. Is there really such a thing? There are a lot of theories but do any of them work?? I hate hangovers, and I doubt anyone out there is going to say they love them, but I mean I REALLY hate them. But not enough to give up drinking. I guess I am stupid.

People that do not get hangovers should not comment, because it will just piss me off!

Popularity: 3% [?]

Two years ago I was also in Tokyo for new years. My brother arrived in Japan just after christmas to meet up with me and it snowed the following day marking the first day ever my brother and I had ever seen snow. It wasn`t a lot but enough to get us excited. Two days later Tokyo had a record snow fall only a couple of days before the new year.

Here are some photos from that day. Considering we had a 17 degree day on Wednesday and the most rain Tokyo had seen in forever on Tuesday it seems so different from my snowy and cold new years two years ago…therefore making it a blog worthy moment.

These photos were all taken at my Japanese university, Seikei University in Kichijoji. I doubt Tokyo will see any snow this winter, and even if it does I doubt we will get as much as this.

1. Grounds in Seikei near the entry.

2. My brother and I (possibly before or after a snowball fight)

3. Our pathetic snowman barry who had flowers for eyes.

4. Me and Cat (#2)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Ps: Several days after this I went snowboarding…now that was a lot of snow!!

Pps: When this is published I will be drinking with friends…I am so organized for once in my life I managed to do a `publish on 30th Dec at 7pm` set-up thing. I am so proud.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I was sitting in starbucks this morning in Shinjuku and i managed to resist cream in my coffee and the yummy snacks they had on offer. I even got a short coffee instead of my usual grande or tall. And the best thing about my morning coffee was they were playing Ray Charles…(I love Ray Charles…but I really was just glad to hear something other than christmas carols)

I grew up with music from the likes of Ray Charles. Not to mention The Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Roy Orbison, John Lennon, Simon & Garfunkle, Hermans Hermits, Aretha Franklin, Carole King and many many more…

Not only did dad have many records and cd’s and a very eclectic style in music but he also had a record player and that was the one of the best things about been home with Dad when nobody else was around because he would put on a record lay on the floor and just listen to it…

My father can also sing…The best thing about that is that i can also (luckily) hold a tune (when I want to)…so I not only inherited my height from him but also my singing voice. The other great thing about my father singing is for some unknown reason when dad sings, he sings like the artist…My father can sing like John Lennon and then turn into Aretha Franklin at the drop of a hat.

I think before I knew how to sing twinkle twinkle I could sing Imagine by John Lennon and I am a Rock by Simon & Garfunkle..and by 8 I could play them on the piano.

I think my father (and mothers) love of music rubbed off on both me and my little brother because despite growing up catholic I grew up thinking that prayer time was a sing along of 60’s music. If I ever have children then I would love to instil a love of music in them also…although for lessons on the 60’s and 70’s they would be going to their grandfathers place.

Dad always regretted not learning an instrument when he was younger…he would tell stories of how boys and girls who could play instruments were also hits at parties and got all the girls (or boys). He told me this everytime I did not want to go to my Piano lessons…”You’ll be sorry when your at a party and a nother girl can play better than you or if a boy whips out a guitar..” At the time I always thought it was so strange that people used to play instruments at parties but now I understand. My little brother has jam sessions over beer with his friends all the time. He owns three guitars, a keyboard (the piano is at Dad’s place) bongos, a harmonica and probably other assorted instruments…

When I was about 8, I had already been learning the piano for 4 years or so, Dad decided to start getting lessons. It didn’t last long but I will never forget coming home from school and my father saying excitedly…”lulu lulu…come listen to this” because he had taught himself to play I can see a rainbow…

I received my first cassette player at 5 and my first CD player at 11 or 12. My first cassette was Michael Jackson in the early 90’s and my first CD later on in the 90’s was Crowded House. My father approved of both my choices even if he thought they were not QUITE old enough for him. I now have a very eclectic taste in music and my ipod carries tunes from all over…

Popularity: 6% [?]

This is one of my favourite photos taken while i was in Japan in 2004/2005…It was taken a couple of weeks before Catherine went back to Scotland and we were at Asakusa buying souvenirs for her to take home for everyone and it was also the day of the Sumidagawa fireworks. Actually below is another of my favourite photos taken the same day…

Thanks to Ei-chan for taking the first one, and some random stranger for taking the second one…They are both perfect tokyo summer shots.

I can’t wait to go to see the hanabi ( fireworks) and o-matsuri (festivals) over the summer…

Popularity: 2% [?]

I just received news that a high school friend, Annie, has gotten engaged. Congratulations to her and Wade. I didn’t even know that she had moved to Adelaide earlier this year to be with him when he got transferred but thank you to Nicole for keeping me up to date with gossip from back home. We are getting so grown up…Nobody my age ( and i am 21… and Annie will be too a little later this year!) that i know has gotten engaged before so it has got me thinking about it….(well not that i know of!!). Earlier this week i heard of another high school mate that had bought a house with her partner……

Our lives have all gone in different directions… and while i know some of the old LHC groups that were around when we all left high school in 2002 are still in touch and still hang out together…So much has changed, i am really only in touch with 3 or 4 people i went to high school with, and one friend from primary school. It really does seem like just yesterday that we were all running around like crazy looking for shoes to match our formal dresses but it is 4 years since then….I can’t believe how time has flown by……

humpei is still moving in soon, and for me that is a big step and while marriage has been discussed before, it is something that we talk about which might happen in the far away future…but i guess you never know. As my friend Nicole said “It will be fun for you and Chump to play house”….That is true, i think it will be……but i think i definitely want to play house for a little while before i just have to do house… Playing house sounds more fun anyway!

I was looking around to see i had a photo of her, but no luck….did come across some old photos though from a couple years back…They were all taken during January/February of 2004…Just after i got a digital camera and just before i left for Japan to go study at Seikei…

The above photos were taken a year out of high school, but we still seemed like kids…I guess i still half think of myself as a kid still……But around us everyone is growing up, even me…My how time flies…

Well i didn’t come across any photos of Annie, but congratulations again to her…and i wish her all the best!

Popularity: 2% [?]