Davo

I didn't know you were educated at all, given the way you usually crucify written English Nice read mate, hope to be up at your place sometime this year/season.

Dude,either you got fit over summer or I am just unfit-hard to keep up with you on Sunday. Kind of sucks only being able to run on weekends. Bring on more of the cool daOrange. The best thing about this time of year is that June is a long long way off.

Pathetic. Who are these myterious "American" officials that play a part in these raids. Must be a bit of a reach around from papa USA in return for Japan's awesome contribution to the war on terror in Iraq. Don't they have real crime happening in Hiroshima?Yak central that town isn't it?

Yeah Indo, it is nice talking to people in shops. Just takes a bit of getting used to and then I miss it when I leave.

I always find it hard to get used to the way people working in shops are so talkative and familiar. It's good but requires a bit of effort compared to here, where grunting 'unh' 'keko desu' and 'domo' does the trick. And it is so smalltown in lots of ways in NZ.

The ChiRunning looks interesting, but I'm fine as long as I keep my shoes up to scratch and don't overdo things. CB, I had my only weekend (and week) of not running last weekend. It's just too hot and I couldn't be bothered with it anymore. Will be keen to get back into it when it's cooler. For now it's all about shorter distance slow runs, which are timed to get optimal conditions.

I went to Pichi Pichi beach south of Kansai airport and swam in the highly substandard water.

Agreed rach, I am already making plans to not be such a prisoner next year...

I think the bells and whistles of Flash applications are generally self defeating. Entering a site to see that loading bar always makes me roll my eyes and think "This is irritating and wasting my time". Aptly named though, it's usually just someone trying be be a bit too flash. Ditto any site that has links which tell you that you need XYZ to keep going. Any web designer putting up these sort of brick walls is going against the flow , which Csikszentmihalyi speaks of. My other trivial irritation for today is the way movies are given another name in Japan. Pronunciation considerations

Given the choice I would rather not be in Japan from mid July to mid December. I'm guessing most of the rest of you are also getting a tad fed up with THE HEAT. Of course the thing I like most about summer is it's eventual demise, apart from that the things I like are... -Swimming in rivers, lakes and the ocean (if I get the chance) -Walking around outside after the sun goes down -Electrical storms and downpours -The holidays -The sound of cicadas -Drinks with lots of ice Not a huge list really. Roll on autumn

Not the root of all evil and often a force for good in many cases. It is however irrefutibly frequently manipulated to pursue greed, power and control agendas, and is similar to nationalism in that respect. I have little time for organised religion.

The obligation round thing is only really in the UK in my experience. It has a strange kind of politics that goes with it. I prefer to buy drinks for myself and sometimes for a few other people.

That sounds good Tsondaboy. I thought the fish Friday thing was Catholic. I had fish & chips at the pub and then takoyaki from the van outside the statiion on the way home-heart attack food. Had a good sardine spaghetti for lunch earlier in the week too.

I was talking to a Canadian guy who teaches at an international school last night. He said that the half kids are ostricised by the, mainly Japanese but also Korean, kids who make up the roll. His take was that the Koreans are tacitly more accepted because they're Asian, but that the halves are Western in appearance. I don't think so many expat kids as such go to that school. As far as I'm concerned my girl is Japanese. It's not like I can turn her into a little New Zealander while we're living here.

Congrats Dims & Animal. Never understood the whole filming of the birth thing really. Seeing my brother's snaps of his wife undergoing a caesarean did nothing for me. I'd have liked to have seen my own baby being born but wasn't allowed into the operating theater for the caesarean. Did get to see her a minute or so after she was out though and hold her for a while.

I don't want to give the impression of being poorly brought up. On the contrary, I'm simply just poorly behaved.

I had Asahi and Hoegarden last night. Have no idea why I started drinking Asahi, complete rubbish that it is...

Yes, still running though still without the waterbottle. Short evening runs anyways so it isn't a problem-day runs are basically out of the question right now. I would love a rainy day or two over the next week. When do you get back CB?

You could do worse than Engleberg Spud. How far away is that from your new pad, 5hrs or so?

shame dude, I love the stuff and it's so healthy too.

FT that sounds like anal with a Fuji sized A. I thought you were up North. I'm on holiday this week so I'll give you a bell mate.

My mate who's going said that Metallica & The Flaming Lips & some other good band are on at the same time too. Go for Tool snowglider-hands down winners if you ask me.

That iced poo story is gross. Reading all of this makes me glad I'm not 17 anymore. I would hate to have flatmates now,last ones I had were good, but I'm not sorry that 6 years have past since then. In my first flat we progressively burnt our way through a large garden shed, much of the garage and various other parts of the property. In another place we collectively forgot to take out the rubbish for about 2 weeks or more, until the ming got too much in the sunroom where it was bagged up. One day we double bagged it and finally got it out on the street, only to find a nice swarm of m

soub, even stuff like buttered Weetbix can taste good in those particular circumstances. You can buy chickpeas ready to eat in sealed bags at my supermarket-you could do a lot with those, some garlic, a tube of tomato puree concentrate, instant mashed spuds, black pepper and parmisan. The salami added would put that into the gourmet catagory for me. Porridge in the morning sounds good too. Strong coffee with that should help with the bung problem.

puretele has basically doubled everyone elses efforts. What elevation did you ski down to from there?