GenesisDreams

Australia is boring

Personal - Travel - University I've got the post trip blues. This coming semester of University is going to be one of the most tedious, and yet most difficult, of my student career. I have a thesis to finish (*cough* start *cough*) writing, but the rest of my courses are essentially no-brainers. That in itself is bad enough, but I'm just coming off the cusp of one of the best months of my life, and six months from now I'll be setting off again for what (I hope) will be one of the best years of my life. I'm looking at it as a six month sojourn, a time between times, when I will muddle through what has to be done, but will always be thinking of what comes next. I want to be back in Japan. In other less angsty news, the pillow fairy came while I was away and brought me nice new big pillows for my bed. They are great. After living with crappy rice filled death-log head rests for a month, I've had a great couple of nights sleep. Just thought people might be interested ^_^ Anyway I'll have my trip report up sometime soon (just thinking about going over all those memories again makes me depressed, wanting to be back there). I've almost finished taking care of everything I missed during the last month (paid off my credit card this afternoon) so in a couple of days it will be business as usual. Until then, be patient!! ^^

Home at last

Friends - Personal - Travel Well I made it. After a month on the road (on train as it were) I am now back on Australian soil. We flew out of Kansai airport Sunday night, and finally arrived at the Gold Coast around seven Monday morning. I've been talking pretty much non-stop ever since. My older brother was home when I got back, so I spent about two hours telling him tales and answering his questions. Then mum called home from work, and I spent another half an hour talking to her. Then I took a two-hour break and watched the last two episodes of 24 that my brother taped for me. Then mum came home from work early and I spent about three hours talking to her. Then LittleWing rang and we tried organising something for the night (I didn't have net access, Ads taking his modem back after about three years). Then I had dinner and talked to mum some more. Then LittleWing rang back and told me our dinner plans had fallen through, so I spent about three hours talking to her. Then I promptly fell asleep. So many stories to tell. I am definitely going to write up a full account of my journeys as soon as possible. I've really enjoyed talking to everyone since getting back about it, but there is just so much to tell and I am already beginning to forget things. I'm at Uni now, catching up on things, but later in the week I'll try to get something up, even if it is just a rough sketch outline of where we went and when. Anyway I'm still really tired. So I'm going to go home and make a start of reading all the mail I received while I was away.

Back in Tokyo

Travel Ok well I'm back in Tokyo after having spent a couple of days in Hiroshima. I'll talk about that in depth later on when I get the chance. There is less than a week now before we have to go back home. I don't want to go home. Haven't got time to write much now. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive.

Got Item!!

Travel Well I can actually access GenesisDreams now. I don't know what the problem was before, but everything seems to be working alright now. I am still in Kyoto and will be for the next couple of days. The Gion Festival is on this week, and we are going to check out all the floats tonight. They block off a whole lot of the main streets and everyone just swamps them. Tomorrow morning we are meeting up with our friend Jared and his friend Andrew for the main Gion Parade. It's supposed to be totally insane. Anyway I've got to run, will try to update more in the last few days we have left. We are past the halfway mark now and are heading for the home stretch.

Missing??

Metaposts - Travel Ok for some reason I can't actually access GenesisDreams from where I am at the moment (which is J-Hoppers in Kyoto for those who are interested). I'll update more when I get the chance, just wanted to check in, let everyone know I'm alive and well. Anyway some of Adante's pictures have been uploaded and you can check them out here: http://gallery.rocketfish.net/ under Trips. Those are all Ads' photos and they cover the first couple of days in Tokyo. I'm not even going to begin to try and explain them now. We have started burning CDs of our photos now becuase we are taking so many. They will all be up sometime in the future. Anyway I've got to run, I hope this appears, even if I can't see it myself.

Tired in Japan.

Travel Firstly thanks to everyone who left feedback or who emailed me privately. I really appreciate all of your comments. Unfortunately I haven't got the time (ie the yen) to respond them them individually, so I'm just saying a great big thank you here and now. I've been keeping a paper diary, where I record the crazy events of each day. This will eventually become the main source for my big, involved, 'JAPAN TRIP' page. I also bought myself a really cheap digital camera (for 22800 yen). It's one of the tiny Sony Cyber-shot U cameras. I'm pretty happy with it, very quick and dirty, but that's a good thing considering most of this trip is quick and dirty. In the two days since I got it I have completely filled up my memory stick and I can't upload from these computers. Expect plenty of photos though, becuase I'm going to buy a new 256 meg stick which should last me quite a while. Anyway I've only got 5 minutes left; just enough time to tell you about my plans for Wednesday. I'm going to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum and Gainax Studios! Both of them just happen to be within 5 minutes walk of Mitaka Station, which is on the Chou line. Our Youth Hostel is at Iidabashi station, also on the Chou line, in fact only about 10 minutes from Mitaka! So yes Wednesday is going to be very cool. Have pre-bought tickets to the Ghibli Museum (you need to) so everything is organised there... Woops time to go. Catch everyone later.

Big in Japan!

Travel Yes... I am big in Japan. Well, at least, I am in Japan. I finally got around to jumping on the net (obviously). I have been here almost a week and have been so increadibly flat out it isn't funny. When I get back I'll do up a proper 'JAPAN TRIP' page, with pictures and full descriptions and the like, but for now let's just say that it's very fucking cool. Or hot, as the case may be. The humidity here reminds me of Summer back home, except that it's Winter back home now and I had gotten used to the cold just as I left. Anyway I'm sitting here in a little webcafe in the middle of Tokyo. I had meant to do an update as soon as I arrived, but yes... busy, busy, busy. I managed to shoot off one quick email to my Mum from the Obama city hall (long story) but that's about all the net access I've had since I arrived. All my friends are good, we are holding up well. Dumped all the Australian stuff we bought for Jarod off, so our packs are much lighter now. Rode the Shinkansen today to get into Tokyo, crossed about half of Japan in about three hours. Then spent half an hour wandering around the immense train station trying to find our way to where we are staying. We are all checked in now, but our friend Nash (who left Obama a day before us to meet up with a friend of his) hasn't arrived yet. He will show up sometime though. I apologise if this sounds a little disjointed. It's almost 9pm, I haven't had any dinner yet, and I've only got half an hour left to use this computer. So while I'm typing this I am also emailing friends back home, checking my University results (aced that InfoSystems subject), and doing all the little chores that build up in a week when you are away. Anyway I had better sign off. Expect some more stuff from me soon.