When Money Goes Out of Fashion

1. I’ve been failing my new years resolutions miserably.

2. Losing my wallet meant money went missing, weekends away meant more money spent, and last weekend saw the double strike of a new guitar (a beautiful and not so expensive solid top acoustic with a nice thin neck and body that fits me perfectly) and a day of snowboarding. On top of which were two birthday parties. It was one of those expensive weekends.

3. First, the guitar. Ahhh, I had not realised how much I missed playing until I decided to buy it. I’ve never owned a decent steel string acoustic, so I’m rather excited about my acquisition. When it warms up a bit I’ll be heading down to the river with my friend, who plays the harmonica, to bust out some tunes, and hopefully pick up girls. We’re gonna call ourselves “The Only Guys Here Who Sing in English”.

4. Spring and summer is really nice in Hiroshima, with the five rivers that meander and divide the city there are plenty of places where people gather to play and sing, turning Saturday and Sunday afternoons into impromptu music festivals. It’s a really lovely atmosphere, and we’re hopefully gonna tap into that a bit. For now though, it’s song learning time.

5. Second — snowboarding! Where have you been all my life? It’s wicked fun, and I found it fairly easy to pick up — though I did have a bunch of good teachers. They taught me how to grind the back edge, and something called the “Falling Leaf”, where you grind the back edge to the left, then right, and left, and kinda slide down the mountain like a falling leaf. By the end of the day I was getting the hang of the front edge as well, and on my last few runs I got a bit cocky and tried to turn — and ending up in some very spectacular spills. But it was really awesome fun, and I will definitely be doing it again.

6. I definitely won’t be hiring the jacket and pants. Not only did they give me the jacket and pants in matching cream, they were also in bad condition and not very waterproof. And it was bloody expensive too — if I invest in my own jacket and pants I could easily make back the cost in one season. Can’t wait until next year.

7. I should point out though, while I have spent a bit of cash so far this month, I am still on my savings goal of 100,000 yen per month — in fact this month I may end up saving a bit more than that. Which will all be emptied to pay for my credit card, but it’s still a worthy effort.

8. Well, that’s what I tell myself anyway.

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