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January sucks.
I’ve never liked January- doesn’t matter what country I’m in. It’s cold, dry (yet strangely damp around the edges), dull and uneventful. January has been one of the most depressing times I've had here so far. Everything is stagnant- there's no change in my schedule, nothing new to get excited about for a couple months. There's also been no sunlight, so every day feelings like I’m living under a Charlie Brown raincloud.
I’ve been making a legitimate effort to go out and see people- do things that normal people do. Exercise, socialize, wash socks, etc. But January doesn’t want me to be happy, so it always feels just a little forced. That isn’t to say that the people I’ve hung out with aren’t awesome- because THEY TOTALLY ARE. It’s my own damn fault that I’m not absorbing the awesomeness they radiate.
The theme of the night was (totally inappropriately) "Sexy". S is for Sexy.
That's his sexy face.
It's the thought that counts. Although the thought looks terrifying...
Still trying to be sexy...
THERE IT IS!
Just use you're freaking imagination.
OH YEAH!
That drinking technique was highly practiced, btw.
Despite all the amazing people around me, the urge to hibernate is more and more appealing every day. All I want to do is curl up under some blankets and watch season after season of Law and Order while stuffing my face with chocolate, cigarettes, and red wine (I have the opening song memorized like you wouldn’t even BELIEVE). But that scenario is horrible to visualize, not to mention the reality- so we won’t dwell on it.
I got to see my friends and loved ones for a brief period over the Christmas break- and it was FANTASTIC. And like most fantastic things, it seemed to breeze past like a dream. An expensive, glorious, and slightly drunken dream of awesome. From Tokyo, I went to Vancouver and Kelowna and saw the family.
Oh yeah- and skiing happened. BECAUSE MY MOM AND DAD ARE AWESOME AND MADE IT HAPPEN. (had to be said). But seriously, there's some serious skill (and money) involved in obtaining rental snow pants on Christmas Eve.
Dear Japan- THIS IS WHAT AN ACTUAL CHRISTMAS TREE LOOKS LIKE. TAKE NOTES.
Captain Morgan?!?! What are you doing in Kelowna??? Lol.
So I danced with my brother on Christmas Eve, and came to the realization that he has grown JUST tall enough for his elbow to perfectly connect with my eye socket- giving me a beautiful black eye in time for the family picture. Luckily it matched my eye-shadow, so he's in the clear. Joyeux Noel, mon frère :). I also used the brilliant excuse of living in Japan to give everyone I know Japanese-themed presents, thus eliminating the difficult task of actually having to buy personalized gifts. TA-DA! SPOILER ALERT: You’re all getting tea and chopsticks again next year! Yay!
I then commuted to Toronto, Guelph, and Niagra falls- to spend time with more loved ones. I took lots of pictures, but most of them are far to criminalizing to post on the internet. My favourite person in the whole world took me to a casino, nay, TWO casinos. I won 85 dollars. I also lost 200 dollars, but who’s counting.
Look! It's famous water!
So as you can imagine, after seeing my friends and loved ones for a brief time over the holidays, I'm finding Utsunomiya to be rather depressing.
HOWEVER! In March, I'll be moving to Shinjuku, with new students and new opportunities... But until then I have to -wait-. Waiting is sad. Waiting makes me want to make a nest out of my bedding and mentally debate the merits of completing basic tasks such as laundry and sweeping.
And so I haven't taken many pictures this month (yes this is actually very few for me), since there's really nothing interesting to take pictures of. I miss my family, I miss my friends from home. I miss ridiculous Canadian things like poutine and Franglais. I also miss a lot of things that aren't appropriate to broadcast on the web.
But I have found a pretty cool little apartment that (knock on wood) I'll be moving into in 6 weeks. It's tiny, but reasonably priced and smack-dab in the middle of downtown Tokyo. It comes furnished AND has a corner balcony. It has an old metal spiral staircase, coloured "burnt orange." I get to climb it every day because I'll live on the third floor. It took me 3 weeks of wading through the realty sewage of Tokyo's rental industry to find this and I'm not about to walk away from it. More on that in the weeks to come.
But I have found a pretty cool little apartment that (knock on wood) I'll be moving into in 6 weeks. It's tiny, but reasonably priced and smack-dab in the middle of downtown Tokyo. It comes furnished AND has a corner balcony. It has an old metal spiral staircase, coloured "burnt orange." I get to climb it every day because I'll live on the third floor. It took me 3 weeks of wading through the realty sewage of Tokyo's rental industry to find this and I'm not about to walk away from it. More on that in the weeks to come.
ALSO- I’ve decided to update this thing more often, because my track record is sucking pretty bad these days. So the INCREDIBLE QUALITY of posts that you are used to might not continue, but the quantity will increase. It’s a trade off.
Now if you’ll excuse me, my snuggie, cab-sauv, and Marlboros are calling me.
