Random thoughts, comments, observations and general fluff from a random bint who left London at the end of September 2004 to embark on a new life and new adventures in Tokyo, land of the cute.... and is leaving mid-June 2010 - and counting!

Friday, June 18, 2010

The End.

It's Friday 18th June. 2.50am. I should be 'getting up' at 5am to head to the airport... and onto the next chapter in my life. I was too hyped to sleep earlier, despite getting just three hours sleep last night. Seems to make more sense to sit it out now and doze on the way to the airport and on the flight instead.

Japan has been. Five years and nine months have passed. I'm totally ready to go - and totally excited about moving on - but also a little nervous of being totally out of my comfort zone. But it'll be fine.

Over the summer, I don't know how much internet access I'll have but there'll be one more post on here, once I've set up the new blog, to share the address.

Take care!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

What? Where? When?

Early hours of Sunday morning: Picture the scene: I'm sitting on my futon; above me the aircon hisses away, the tv is on - it's the news. In Japanese. I can guess what the stories are but I'm not paying that much attention. In front of me are things, behind me are things. In fact, see me as the centre of a clock with numbers in every direction. Now change the image of those numbers to - things. Things, things, things.

I'm going through the extremely tedious job of picking up every piece of paper, every object, and trying to decide whether:

  • it will never be needed and is crap to throw away,
  • it will never be needed and can't be thrown into normal rubbish,
  • it is useful, but not to me,
  • I'll need it between now and Friday,
  • I'll need it during the summer,
  • I won't need it until the end of the summer and so need to get it boxed up to send on Monday,
  • I can't actually decide so it can sit around for a few days... and then I'll probably dump or chuck it.

There was (is?) a stray cat outside my sliding doors. I had the doors and curtain open, and suddenly saw this little face staring at me. I opened the mozzie screen to see if the cat would come in. It wouldn't. But kept staring. I put my hand out but it wouldn't come towards it. I noticed it had infected weepy eyes and some mange. It moved back a little. I held my hand out again and it moved forward, cautiously, and swiped my hand. Long claws. Ouch. Luckily it didn't draw blood. I didn't know what to do. I don't actually have anything edible in the house that I could have given the cat anyway. It kept staring. I got bored. Eventually I just shut the doors and curtains. And felt guilty. Until I realised how many bugs had come in during the time the screen was open. Then I stopped feeling guilty.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Seriously?

How can I be expected to sleep when I have so much to be excited about?

  • leaving Japan
  • two new jobs
  • a summer of fun in London

And things to be not so excited about:

  • finishing diploma coursework
  • packing, chucking, sending, sorting, etc
  • er, can't think of anything else. those are enough!

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Oops.

I never got round to coming back to my A - Z post or things I like / don't like here. Maybe I will; maybe I won't. Depends how depressed I get with packing!

In ten day, TEN DAYS, I leave Tokyo. Of course, my level of preperation is, thus far, pretty non-existant.

Friday before last I took my diploma exam (bloody hard) and the next day was my final day of work (yes, I was extremely happy to leave). Since then I've been working on my diploma portfolio (final draft finishing, waiting to hear if I need to do any amendments) and, er, not a huge deal else. A couple of lunches and things but I really don't know what I've been doing with the time.

I certainly haven't been sorting through my stuff and deciding what to send in advance, what to give away, what to sell, what to throw away, or what to take with me. Although I'm getting a pretty good idea what to 'hide' in the back of the cupboard in my room!

So that's me. Had a fun day in the park yesterday. A sort of goodbye picnic. We went to Shinjuku Gyoen, which you normally have to pay to get into, but it was free yesterday. A couple of my friends had a baby, so they brought a tent to keep him shaded from the sun. Within minutes of erecting the tent, park warden dictator guy ordered us to take it down. Even more ridiculous, in the middle of a beautiful hot summer day - ie 4pm - they closed the park and kicked us all out. Only in Japan. I mean, how ridiculous? 4pm??? We moved elsewhere to continue drinking.

I've got such mixed feelings about leaving at the moment. Mainly, it's excitement, but also a little bit of fear... it's been such a long time since I lived in London and I do feel a bit 'institutionalized' from living in Tokyo so long. It's little things, like wondering if I'll get my things nicked in London vs. leaving my computer on a table in a cafe, bag with iPod, wallet and phone on seat, and wandering off to the toilet here. (Okay, I asked someone to keep an eye on the computer, but had it been bag only, I wouldn't have said anything).

So, I'm nervous. I'm wondering how I'll get on in the new job as it's going to be something so different from what I'm used to.

And I'm excited. Above all, I'm excited. I can't wait to leave now and get back to see all my friends and I'm so looking forward to a summer of London fun. And, even better, knowing I'm leaving again after the summer!