hisashiburi

Thursdays are big days for me. I get up at around 7:30am to get ready for work. A quick shower, and I'm off. I drive to work because where I work there is little in the way of public transport (2 buses per day) - which is the bane of my life. You see, I live on the north side of Melbourne and work on the south side. What this means is that every morning and every afternoon, I have to drive my car across the city. For those who dont know, Melbourne has a great network of trams, and as a result we do not have many buses clogging the roads and our lungs. I love catching a tram, as it affords me time to play my DS, and work on my laptop, or just close my eyes and listen to music and podcasts. There is a tram stop about 1 minute walk from my house too. So it pisses me off even more that I have to drive to work. Riding a bike isn't really an option for me, as a) it would take a while and I value my sleep, and b) I dont own a bike.

Yes, I would like cheese with my whine, thank-you. Anyway I get to work around 9-ish. I finish at 4:30pm, then drive straight to University. I leave my car outside my office there, and go to a Web Server and Web Technology lecture, from 5:30pm until 7:30pm. After that, I have a tutorial class for the same subject from 7:30pm until 9:30pm. Long day eh? At that point, I have not eaten and will usually do one of two things: Drive-thru somewhere on the way home and eat garbage, or get home and dial a pizza (well when I say dial, I mean order it over the internet). Either way, Thursday night dinner is not good for my health or my slowly expanding waist.

Last night though, I got home and Ben and Yoko had cooked a Japanese Curry, with salad and opened a bottle of wine. It was possibly the greatest thing ever - the food was delicious and healthy, and it meant that I could just eat, then start doing some homework straight away. The main stand-out however, and the reason I am writing about this, is that last night I met God, in the form of fried whole garlic in miso paste. I am salivating right now just thinking about it. PRAISE JESUS! You have to try this if you havent already - get a head of garlic, peel all the cloves, pan fry them in a little olive oil until golden, serve on a plate with a spoonful of miso paste next to them. Dip garlic in paste, eat, repeat. PRAISE JESUS!

On the Japanese front, I have been talking a lot to my friend Shinpei this week. I have learnt how to use の in place of でしたか thus taking me one step closer to sounding like a normal Japanese speaker, rather than someone who has listened to Pimsleur and studied Japanese for 6 months at University (me). I was a little confused at first but Arex of Learn Japanese helped me out cause he's a top bloke. I am now the mod of the Learn Japanese forums, so join up if you are interested in learning the language. I have also been reading I am Doraemon, Gadget Cat From the Future - a manga that is in both English and Japanese.

I was talking to some people online the other night about accommodation in Tokyo, and I started to find the websites of some of the places I have stayed over the years - and it really started to give me the bug again. I'm going to have to start making plans to head over again real soon. Melbourne to Tokyo or Osaka return is about $400 for me (I get cheap airfares) so I should do it soon. Still saving for a new mac though....

We haven't done much lately in the way of our band (besides pull faces while playing). I have obtained a solid state digital recorder too, so I want to try that out. I think we are going to go into the studio on saturday night after the FA Cup final and drink some Jager bombs and see what comes of it. I'll take in still and video camera and record some audio, so I'll put some up online (providing it's "suitable") haha. We have also toyed with the idea of making a podcast so people can laugh at our "funny Australian accents" - dunno what will come of that, if anything.

I have skype set up on this PC, now that my ibook is deceased (RIP). I can get my iSight to work with video, but no audio, so I'll find a mic and then start adding everyone. I'm looking forward to catching up with Uncle Archie in China, having a chat to some friends in the US and maybe meeting Arex and other Learn Japanese people.

I have a heap of new photos to upload, so I'll get onto that over the weekend, and link it on here.