I've been tagged by tipsytoe! I honestly love such memes.

This here is my current desktop.



I know it isn't Arashi (read: Ohno), but I generally like my desktops plainer and I haven't found an Arashi wallpaper I want to use straight away. And because this is a new laptop, I haven't transferred any images yet so I can't make my own. It's only a matter of time though. I have a brand, spanking new 320GB external HD waiting for me.

Wheee.

Today I blew up at my mother, who was just being nice to me. I think the stress of moving, packing and trying to clear all my work is getting to me. Also, I think I shall not meet with my students any more. It is surprising how much stress they give me and how quickly I've forgotten how much stress they give me.

And the next person (read: my father) who asks me what my mission in Japan is going to be, I'm going to punch something. Instead, I will think of where to buy my washing machine and how the refrigerator is getting into my apartment.

Seriously.

There's a rumbly in my tummy every time I think about getting on that plane and moving to Japan to work for the foreseeable future.

Every day, my thoughts are consumed with finding the right gifts to buy for my supervisor, the numerous principals, and vice-principals, teachers and admin staff. Then I turn my thoughts to what I want to bring to Japan. Should I pack it in? Ship it? Will I exceed the 20kg limit?

I'm going mad. And it's all so stupid because I already have a list of items I plan to pack in my suitcases. So why am I worrying so much?

Then, everyone and their dog wants to meet up for dinner. I do want to meet all my friends but with everything coming together at once, my brain gets full and I get the dates all mixed up and sometimes I say I'm free when I've already got an appointment.

I'm kinda' tired but I don't know how to say 'No'.

Another week will be coming to an end and time is running away from me, much too fast for me to catch up.

"I wish I hadn't cried so much!" said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out. "I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears!"

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865

For those of us who are just geeky enough to appreciate this.

Upgrade boyfriend 5.0 to husband 1.0 – Pentium version

Dear IT Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a slow down in the overall performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as Formula One 5.0, NBA 3.0 and World Cup 2.0.

And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Desperate

================================

Dear Desperate,

First keep in mind: Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Try entering the command C:\ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0.

If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, over use can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Late Night Teh Tarik 6.1. Late Night 6.1 is a very bad program that will create SnoringLoudly.wav files.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or reinstall another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.

You might consider additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 6.9.

Good Luck,
IT Support

This week mark my last 4 days at work and I feel terrible. It is nice to be leaving and I look forward to the freedom, but there are so many loose ends to tie up before I go and I feel a little overwhelmed. There's a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Work's starting again and I feel the usual reluctance to return. There's some regret that I set my last day so late...actually, I'm desperately wishing I had set it at the end of June instead. *sigh*

The good news is, I now know my placement. I'm in Akita City, Akita. yay! ♥

• Akita Shinkansen line!
• It's right next Semboku City, home to aforementioned Kakunodate of the cherry blossoms!
• It's not super-inaka!

And because I'm a prefectural JET (Still don't know what this means. Someone enlighten me. please!), I'll only be teaching at high schools and senior high schools. No elementary schools or junior highs for me. My predecessor has already contacted me and I'll be on rotation at 4 high schools.

I'm excited. (≧▽≦)

If anyone wants to come up to Akita to enjoy the fresh air, rice and sake, there'll be free accomodation for you. It's just 670km from Tokyo. HA HA HA! （^_~）☆

Coming back from Arashiyama it somehow got to us that we needed to get back to Shin-Osaka station to take the shinkansen back to Tokyo. We did. But it took us 45mins on the local train - blissfully unaware - before we realised we had completely forgotten we had left our bags in a locker in Kyoto.

We panicked because we needed to check back into our hotel before midnight (or we'd lose our reservation and be homeless). We panicked even more because it was past 7 in the evening when we got to Shin-Osaka, still having to return to Kyoto to get our bags but with a 3-odd-hour ride back to Tokyo in front of us and from there, having to get on another train to get back to Ikebukuro.

Then realising that ribi had left her JR pass in the locker in Kyoto so she couldn't take the shinks. (Though it turned out the local express was faster, because the JR pass didn't qualify me for all Nozomi trains. I had to wait about 20mins for Hikari.)

Pushing past everyone on the train and escalator after getting a frantic call from ribi, who was lost and couldn't find the lockers. HAHAHA.

We made it back to the hotel, panting but relatively whole.

It's hilarious now. But it totally wasn't then. （⌒▽⌒）

What I wouldn't give to go back to that time.