Confirmed departure date

I'm partly still convinced the whole thing is going to not happen, even though I now have my leaving date - 27th September - and I'm booked onto a course next week, etc.

Fear of never getting done everything that needs doing (I found my lists!) is competing with uncontainable excitement, and I'm sure people will be glad to see the back of me, if only to get some peace about Japan and how excited I am and how much I have to do and.......

Slowly the preparation is ticking away and calls are getting made, things are getting ready to be sold and more people are getting told.

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I finished reading 'Hokkaido Highway Blues' the other day. What a fantastic book. Will Ferguson reminded me of the days I used to do lots of hitchhiking. I was just as clueless as to where I was going and often found myself lost / on the wrong side of the road. I love his writing style and his knowledge of Japan. Many more places to visit have been added to my intended list as a direct result of his scribblings.

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I've been told by a friend, that the accommodation given by the school I'll be working for is going to be tiny. I don't care. It'll be mine. I'll be flatmateless and all the mess/noise will just be mine. After a lifetime (nearly 15 years) of sharing with nutcases, you cannot imagine how wonderful this feels. Anyway, I've seen pictures of the accommodation and it doesn't look too bad....... But not having to ask 25,000 times for bill money, or put up with psychos, manic depressives, freaks, weirdos, or clearing other people's hair out of the sink, etc.....

And to just have my own space. I could scream with excitement at this thought.