Davo

My dentist surgery is great. Really modern and professional, much of the work is done by highly skilled and....ahmmm very cute female oral hygenists. Costs hardly anything cause we have national health insurance, so 1000 yen a visit I think. They're really into promoting good preventative care and do excellent work. I like going to the dentist now

Thanks guys, yeah my wife is Japanese. Her take on it is that it would maybe be embarrassing for the kid when he gets to be a teenager. Funny, we've never discussed it before, but she's keen to get the snips out so to speak...

muikabuchi, NZ and my mother told me a million times not to exagerate, but... Actually, I meant almost everyone has one in reference to people under 40ish I guess. Not entirely true but really common none-the-less, they're just no big deal.

My asics are great-did you ever get your shoes on the net Indo. I wish I could get out 4 times a week. Try to do 2 trail runs a week between 60-90 mins and no idea how far I am running really. I generally have a top of the hill or other such circit objective. Will join the gym in my work building soon and use the running machine during the day if I'm not too busy.

To look at they are...the setting and so on, but snow-wise they are often far from remarkable...

What is the SAJ 3-Kyu? Is that the skiing to do nice turns at a certain speed etc type exercise? Your deal sounds pretty reasonable and August should be a good time for snow. I think for the heli-skiing you'd want to be a good intermediate level skier who's comfortable in powder. If not you could be wasting your money. If you can get down any on-piste slope with confidence and good control you'd be fine. I'm not a skier so take my advice for what it is.

Economically it makes a whole lotta sense and culturally speaking it ain't strange. However, looking at it from the angle of someone who was flatting at 16, living at home past the early twenties seems a little odd unless it's short term. My kids will be getting the boot if they try and malinger around any longer than that. No godamn parisite singles in my house I can tell you!

Anyway, back on topic. I pretty much started off riding in the trees rather than anywhere open or really BC. Get a helmet if you're gonna do that though.

Instead of having to coach the boys how to abuse themselves . You Private XXX school boys are a suspicious sounding bunch.

Beautiful mountain, been camping and partying there several times at raves waaay back in the day. I remember looking up at the lights of the pilgrims doing the climb at one of them. Clear night, Underworld playing, and me howling at the moon. Never made the trip up Fuji but the top of a volcano at dawn is a good place to be. Climbed Mt Merapi in Indo once-the one which is blowing up right as I type.

This guy is pretty cool too hey. Winners all around the world...

Funny how tattoos are such a big deal here in some peoples eyes, especially now that so many young people have them. They're so common at home now that just about everyone has them. I'm glad I never got any even though I think a lot of them look really good.

Fark I'm glad I use a suitcase now rather than lugging everything round in huuuge backpacks like I used to do. Handy things if you're riding round in songtheows sp? but for better or for worse those days are outties for me. My missus has a big ol sutcase on wheels for us to use.

I would say don't do it-just unnecessary. The old hygine argument is exactly that, old. Sensitivity issue I wouldn't know about as I'm not part of the brotherhood of foreskin wearers. Maybe the girls prefer the uncut lads because they last longer.Of course that's conditional on individual staying power, level of maitainence, practice and so on. Glad to hear your sickness has subsided MeJane. This is an interesting issue for me as my wife is pregnant with our second one. I haven't been osting much recently cause I've been busy with work and trying to look after the girls as she's been sic

I couldn't justify the cost of having one. Apart from snowboarding and other out of the city trips there is no need to really have one. If I really need to use one I can hire one for a weekend.

Mmmm...Hi-5 with the hot Malaysian babe, definately a kids show for dad aye sakebomb. I just get up early regardless of the day. Having to get up before 7:00 most days just puts you in a fixed pattern and it beats being woken up by the baby anyway.

I am just starting my 9 days. Stoked...just been down at the pub getting pissed to celebrate in fact. Haven't had more than 2 days off in a row since January.

Monday is a nasty bump along the road to fun times...still, only 4 days left till I have the full 9 days off . FT enjoy your trip and heed my warning that you've got to enjoy the freedom to ski while you can. A baby is a wonderful diversion along the road to the skifield, yet a diversion nonetheless. A bit different when you live a few minutes down the road from the skifield I suppose but...

Sweet FT, I knew something would come through for you and that's the best possible position. As to your old job, you know what they say "if you snooze you lose". That's what these schools are gonna get if they rely on exploitative outsource companies instead of seeing the value that's in front of them. Good to see all of you slackers back at work too.

Well done Cheesers. Me Jane, that's great news for you guys, congratulations.

Why don't they build a park instead? I guess Tokyo isn't as bad as Osaka in this sense though. Osaka essentially has almost no parks, and I would have liked to have seen them build a central city park in Umeda. Instead they're turning the big JR freightyards into a robotics center amongst other things.

I doubt it. You'd have to at least be a naturalised Japanese probably, and I don't think there's much chance that someone who wasn't born here would get to join the blue-polyester brigade. I was think about the same thing this week and found it hard to imagine even ethnic Koreans or ethnically mixed Japanese being cops.

I don't agree with your write off for 47/Goryu Mudguts-it's a great resort and has some awesome backcountry/tree terrain. Just gotta watch out for the patrol if you're off the trails inside the resort. Anyway a 5 minute hike off the top of the lift and you're not breaking any rules. Happo, Iwatake, Tsugaike, and Cortina are all great resorts too, and recently I've been favoring Happo over anywhere else. As you're going in October you have plenty of time to suss out the scene and choose the best season pass option for you. Don't worry too much about finding your way about once you're there

Don't worry about him, he's armless

I voted never again. DB pretty much said so didn't he? He strikes me as the type to set his mind to something once he decides. Now if I threw my toys no one would give a toss would they? Be thankful you've got a poll you godamn new age lurker!