6 months in

In the last 5 months I've...

- Found a one-bedroom apartment just outside the Yamanote Line (the 'circle line') and moved out of the luxurious-but-rather-sterile serviced apartment that I housed me for a month in the heart of Tokyo

- Got most of my furniture second hand - sofa and bed from craigslist, microwave and fridge from a recycle shop, coffee table from a colleague...but I'm still missing a dining table and a desk for my room, but I've resolved not to buy new furniture and stick to second hand 'cause the world doesn't need new furniture

- Flown quite a bit...London x 2, Helsinki  x 2, Hong Kong x 3, Vancouver, New York, Munich, Okinawa

- Had 6 visitors stay with me

- Joined 2 badminton circles

- Flown only once in economy class

- Gone hiking twice outside of Tokyo

- Gone to one (massive) music festival (Fuji Rock!) (but only for one day) and saw The Vaccines, Owl City, and FOO FIGHTERS with Dave Grohl rocking out while sitting on a "throne" made of guitar necks and his leg in a cast

- Eaten Timbits for the first time

- Killed a plant

- Found a church

- Petted owls

- Learned (and still learning) a lot at work, and still trying to find a rhythm in my week and daily routine

- Gotten sick once

I might elaborate on some of those points in future blog posts when/if I have time or remember that I actually have a blog. Meanwhile, instagram has kind of taken over as my photo-blog...sadly.

Owl Therapy

This was probably one of the most therapeutic things I've done in my life - going to an owl cafe in Tokyo.

Apple store woes

I just spent a good half an hour queueing in the Apple store waiting to be served at the the so-called "Genius bar" for technical help on my laptop. Only to be told I had to buy a new laptop charger. All the while there are men and women in blue apple t-shirts just milling around doing not-very-much.

At the same time my mum went to the transport department (note a government department) and got her car license renewed in under 15 minutes.

What just happened.

Coffee sh*t talk

"I wonder...Which is the superior species? These little ferret things (actually they're called Asian palm civets) who know how to find the best beans, or humans, who make coffee out of this ferret shit?"

Hmmm

Civilisation

I like how, despite the fact that probably around 70% of the passengers in this Tokyo train are intoxicated (it's a quarter past eleven at the moment), the train is dead silent, train stations are impeccably clean, and people mind their own businesses.

Japan civilisation at its finest.

My commute

With views like this

I really can't complain.

A daze

It's still feels like a bit of a dream.

Or it might be the liquid rice making me feel things.