Ever have One of those Days?

So you've finished using the toilet that you need an engineering degree to understand, and you're washing your hands at the old tech sink, when what happens? The water splashes up and wets your tie. "Damn," you think, but it could have been worse. And then it is because you look down and there's tell-tale droplets on your pants front. Damn.

This is a potentially embarrassing problem when your job is teaching 12 to 15 year old girls. So some vigourous rubbing with toilet paper coupled with some blowing cures the problem in a time that hopefully doesn't seem excessively long to remain hidden in the toilets.

Whereupon you return to the staff room and notice that the hot water urn could use a topping up. Taking off the lid, you turn on the tap. Did it just splash droplets out the top onto your pants. What do you think?

The Night was Sultry

Mari and I officially declared our summer begun with the air conditioner going on for the first time since the end of winter. It became too hot for me to sleep without it. We'd spent the previous week with the sliding door open while we slept, but that wasn't working for me anymore. In true ladylike fashion Mari never sweats, which is good as I do enough for both of us, and anyone else who should happen to be there. For the next few months its days of 30+, and humidity of about 1000%.　Or so it seems.

I do hate the summer heat, but only because I live in the city and have to ride a crowded train 5 days a week. Were I to be unemployed and live near the sea it would be great. Unfortunately Japan's welfare system doesn't support lazy Aussies - in fact it doesn't even support hard working Japanese. Lousy work ethic.

I hardly ever see flies here, and now I know why. Through the black arts they've all joined together into the one ginormous fly that has been trapped in the staff room since Friday. Now that the air con is on here too, it can't get out. When I'm eating I'm reluctant to walk away from my food for even a few seconds. Not so much because it might land on it (ewuhhh), but because it might carry it off.

And I saw the most interesting toilet the other day. I'd read about TOTO's "Princess Sound" toilet in the paper, but had never seen one. What's so interesting about the "Princess Sound"? Well along with all the other features we've come to expect from our toilets (electronic raising and lowering of toilet seat, temperature controlled seat, bidet with dual action and temperature controlled water, jet of warm air after it's all said and done) we can now press a button to make a simulated flushing sound. This is to cover any unwanted noises which may be accompanying the action. Of course I had to try it out. The sound was surprisingly loud. So loud I thought that anyone standing outside would think that I'm somehow amplifying the sound of a toilet flush.

How many times can you use this feature at one sitting without others thinking that there is something unnatural going on inside the cubicle?

Winston Reloaded

As I'm skipping yoga tonite so that I can sit down and write something, I'd better get it all out.

I'm really going to have to rethink my recent blogging stratagy, which has been to think of what I want to type, decide I'm too busy at the moment to blog it, go away, get snowed under, think of more things I want to type, realise that now I need more time to type them up so I'd better wait till later when I'm less busy...

You get the idea.

Small blogs could be the answer. Bloggettes? Sounds vaguley rude or French. Possibly both.

Bring out your dead
I was saddened to read about the death of Emily - Defender of the Universe. She was a weird cat that had a head full of faulty wiring. Sometimes moments of lucidity would shine through, and other times she'd shit on the floor right next to the sandbox. She really landed on her feet when Christ took her in. He had more patience and love for her than she would have found anywhere else on this planet. She'll be missed.

Happy Happy Joy Joy
In keeping the cosmic balance, as one soul departs another enters. Congratulations to Sumie and Ted on the arrival of Hanabanana. I saw the little mite the day after the event and can confirm that she was small and quiet at the time. This is probably subject to change. I am so very happy for the both of them.

Old Farts and Supermen
Recently at the gym I've seen some pretty amazing old guys strutting some powerful mojo. One guy came to the yoga class. Having an older person at the class isn't super unusual - especially at the relaxtion class. But the ones who come to the Power Yoga class often have a little difficult with some of the techniques, or the endurance needed to maintain the pace. Not this porkchop. Balance (and I'm so with you here mate) was a tad on the wobbly side, but flexibility and stamina were right up there. Shows that barring injuries the body can keep on keeping on.

Then there was the guy punching out the 80kg benchpresses. Not so unusual you might think, especially as I saw a delicate gorrilla doing 140kgs the other day. But this guy was definitely over 50 years old. One can but dream of his Samson-like chest.

And now onto another superhero.

Batman Begins
This is SPOILERIFIC.

The more I think about this one, the more I like it. Immediately after I'd seen it I wasn't so excited. I knew it was good, but had been left a bit upset by some elements. These have tended to fade over the last few days. Probably I went in with my expectations too high.

So I'll say it again. I like the film. But I want to talk about something that still hasn't gelled for me. It's the motivations of The League of Shadows. I can't fathom them, and as they are the bad guys, they're fairly central to the plot.

How does destroying Gotham bring about a balance to justice? If they hope to effect any kind of change they would need a manifesto. And so without making public their responsibility they can't hope to effect any kind of shift in public opinion. It is just murder. Now this is fair enough if they are cackling madmen, but they seem to have vision, yet I'm lost at how they intended to make it a reality.

Am I missing something? Can anyone help?

BTW in looking for answers to this I sought out that fount of knowledge - the IMDB message boards. In doing so I found this great .sig.


"If you're posting on IMDB, I doubt you're banging a supermodel."

Fuck I did laugh. That about wraps it up for now.

Nothing Important Happened Today

For the past few days I've been wondering what to write here. I'm at a loss to think of anything worth reporting, or that might even have a passing interest to anyone that foolishly finds their way here. The weekend's gloomy weather meant that that was spent at home, so that leaves me with the week's activities which were, well you know, basically work.

Hmmm. Let's see.

Well I've got only two videos left to watch to complete The X-Files. But actually they're not videos now, for the local rental store has just entered this millenium and upgraded to DVD's. Funny that it's when I'm about to finish. Yet I don't suppose it matters much since it was originally a TV show and so hasn't been modified to fit my screen. In fact it looks like the store went on a real spending spree because a whole heap of new (yet old) DVDs came in. I can now watch season 1 and 2 of Buffy, the Planet of the Apes series of films, or even the Marilyn Monroe collection. Spiffy. I never need leave home again.

Power Yoga is still cruising along. I was pretty happy to do an actual "bridge" pose the other day. This pose is formed by first lying on one's back, bending the knees and putting the hand's at the head, palms down. An arch is then made with the body by pushing one's body up so that the stomach is pointing to the sky. I was quite surprised when I did it, as previous attempts had left me getting about half way before flopping back to the ground. Damn you lousy matchstick arms. However once I'd achieved the pose it wasn't so hard to maintain. The main difficulty was getting there. This is unlike "frog" pose which is excruciating from start to finish. Think of lying on one's stomach while (trying) to do the front splits with knees bent. There's nothing about it I enjoy as it feels like my groin is being ripped in two, plus my boney knees and spindly legs really don't appreciate being sandwiched between my body weight and the wooden floor.

Power Yoga, it's great. Honest.

Let's Put on a Show
The biggest news (sad that it's not mine) is that Miss Alix and hubby David will definitely be coming to Tokyo in August. Hip Hip Horray. Suddenly there's something to look forward to for the summer vacation. I'm sure we'll be giving Kaiser Bill one in the eye while they're here.