last night at the hotel

Checking out yesterday. Going to bunk with my colleague for a while... so no internet for the time being...

recycle your memories

The past is very much alive over here, and in many ways. Bought some used CDs today and saw some very nostalgic cds on the rack. Beetles' CD still costs quite a bit, though that wasn't what I was looking for. They have a very developed 2nd-hand goods market here and they price second hand goods pretty well here, but still I had some good buys.

Ain't it amazing how some people open their mouth and the sound is soooo nice? Hirai Ken's new album is real good. Go get it!

full bloom

It's been a month here now, and unfortunately I still don't have any photos to put up. In places you can see the blossoms in full bloom now but work too, is in full bloom this period. Everyone's sick-ish; in comparison I am doing pretty well. It's generally getting warm, but today the winds were quite chilly. Today's wind took away some 5 degrees or so when it blows, but it's not like that everyday. Hopefully it'll be a sunny weekend tomorrow.

Ah yes, anyone else grew up with this?

A little pain is good for the soul

Been here for three weeks now, and it's either the ulcer or the busy-ness that's been distracting me so much nothing seems to have changed. But I do believe that the biggest changes often seem so small when they are happening around you.

The night makes me write, and beside me I have a cup of water boiling into steam. The air's dryer than I'm used to this season, and with all the hand cream my skin still feels like it's cracking, in a very microscopic scale. I wonder if boiling water helps to wet the air. But that would be a lot of water I would need to boil to bring the humidity up significantly, despite me complaining that the hotel room is too small for my comfort.

Been starting to swim again. It's pretty bad trying to restart the routine. The muscles are soft and the stamina still not back from its break, and all the other guys at the pool just speed away. The pool here's very decent. 50m and some 6 lanes for laps. Caps are a must, and most people do freestyle here. The only thing is that they make you come out of the water every 1 or 2 hours for safety inspection and warm-up exercises. But swimming really seems to readjust everything for me. And after coming out of the water, all the honey in my nose seems to be gone. But of course, since I don't wear a mask, it gets stuck again before I manage to make my way back.

It's getting warm. Some days really warm. Some days cold again. On good days I can go out with just a light jacket. On others I'll need to dig out heavier jackets. I was told this is what it's like - sankan shion - and it indeed feels so. On days when it's cold, you just can't imagine how warm it had been the day before.

Good thing this weekend's been sunny. Swam, and shopped, spent money and I guess the rest of tomorrow will be spent sleeping in, and walking around my town.