The Routine

1. Firstly, I should apologise for not updating more often; I have no other excuse than that I’ve been distracted — more on that in a moment.

2. Some three months have passed, and I am as settled as I am likely to be until I learn an awful lot more Japanese — which is to say I am about as comfortable as I could be considering I still can’t speak a word of the local language. Well, not totally true. I know the odd word here and there, but not actually enough words to string a basic sentence together. It’s a little sad really, but at least I can pick out the words I know when I hear it used in conversation. That’s gonna help me later, right?

3. Right?

4. (Just so you know, my “pointing and smiling” technique is still working very well.)

5. So I have a nice routine going now, and I’ve settled into the work swing well enough that I no longer have to go to work on my day off to do a bit of extra work. If I did it would make my week easier… but hey, whatever. One consequence of my work hours though is that I’ve lost an awful lot of weight, to the point that my suit pants plainly don’t fit me anymore. (Though I am getting a lot more excercise here than back in Sydney, given that my only transport options these days are a bicycle or walking. I’m too cheap to catch the tram.) There is at least an inch or two extra around the waist, so I figure I must have dropped 3 – 4kg in the last three months — and that’s despite the McDonald’s binge I’ve been having here. Let’s hope I don’t shed much more; as a friend remarked, it’s not like I have a lot to lose.

6. Another reason for my surprising loss of weight (I once was down with a pretty serious flu for nine days, during which I consumed nothing but water, but I shed not a pound) is perhaps the food. Japanese food is generally pretty healthy stuff, even their idea of fast food is a whole lot less cardio-vascular disease-friendly than the local McDonald’s or KFC, but I find the lack of grease and oil a little difficult to take. Hence, I’m going through a serious food-from-home withdrawal right now: Portuguese style charcoal chicken, proper (and I mean cooked in oil three months old) fish and chips, Oporto’s, kebabs (or the late night lamb sandwich), the five dollar steak from the Strawberry Hills Hotel, Thai takeaway, Indian takeaway… and let’s not forget the dodgy local Chinese takeaway.

7. Ahh, the Snapper Pie from the Boathouse, Beppi’s, the Golden Century at 3am, Superbowl when the Golden Century was full, Aroy Thai in Erskineville, the beer battered chips from the Rose of Australia, any number of restaurants down King St… and roasts. My God, do I miss a proper chinese style pork roast or what?

8. Food, as much as I love it, was not my sole distraction in the past month. I did have another distraction, in the form of a lovely young lass which I’m just a little bit smitten with. Interpret that how you will.

Comments

  1. I’ll have a Strawberry Hills steak for you sometime later this week :)

    Also, had Brothers after a gig on Friday night. Aaaaah, just what was needed.

    Curiously, I too am losing weight…

    Comment by Tim — July 4, 2006 @ 11:04 am

  2. I just passed out for 20 minutes in a puddle of my own drool after reading your comment. I just want you to know that.

    :)

    Comment by JohnK — July 5, 2006 @ 3:50 am

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