Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

...or "Happy New Year!" if you will. May your 2008 wishes come true. God knows I didn't make a resolution, but I'm already wishing I had. As I sit here writing this in nothing but my boxer briefs, my gut is almost managing to block my view of the computer monitor. Gotta get running again. Luckily, I exaggerated on that last sentence.

Tonight, Manami and I made a big purchase. Oh yes, at the end of March we will be spending 4 days and 3 nights in (hopefully) beautiful Seoul, Korea. I'm pretty excited. You should be too, cuz you know I'll take pictures and post them on this here cyber-blog.

Let's talk about Mustique 07/08. It was great. Lots of amazing food, parties, awkward conversations, and sex. None of which I took part in except for the first three. I did, however, get to make out with Hugh Grant. Wait, that wasn't me, was it. God, I wish it was me though. Here's just a few select pictures from Mustique, because as I've said before, this is a Japan blog after all. Let's start with food.

The almighty pilau which can not and will not be stopped.


This was lunch on our first day, if I remember correctly. Spinach wraps with chicken, black bean puree and assorted vegetables. Amazing. Look at that effing color.


Stuffed chicken and mashed pertaters. Comfort food, Carribbean style baby! Cheryl rules. Sorry If i spelled your name wrong, Cheryl.


Here's a picture of me sealing the deal with my dance moves. Sometimes, I just get on a roll. What can I say. Jonathan and I got to pick much of the music played at Tatiana's party this year, so you know the beat wasn't stopping. Neither were my feet baby!


If that's not hot enough, how about a picture of me with my oversized muscles, a half-full beard and a pink t-shirt. Sealed, signed, and delivered.


The fam sans the father figure on New Years Eve.


Courtney on the night Jonathan and I had to carry her to her bed. Jonathan had her shoulders and I had her feet.

Sorry about that Courtney. I had to.

And one of our last few moments of our last night in Mustique. Party people all around.


Ah, they were good times indeed. While it was great to come back to Japan, I can't say I'm not tired of teaching English. Looking for a new job. Any connections out there anyone? If there are any connections out there, don't let them read this next part.

This past weekend was a glorious three-day weekend in Japan. The holiday was Monday and it's called seijin no hi. "Seijin" means "adult" and "no hi" means like "...'s day," so this is the day when you see people who are 20 this year celebrating that fact. Twenty is the age when you are officially an adult and can legally start drinking. It's cool because you walk around and everywhere you look are girls all done up and walking around in kimonos. It's pretty awesome. Oh, and the guys look pretty cool in their samurai-sorta wear too. But let's just say I was looking at the kimonos.

So Sunday I went to my buddy Mamoru's apartment and got really, really, really drunk. Like waking up with a massive hangover and puking twice kinda drunk. That part sucked. But the events leading up to it were great! Here we are in all our raging glory.

We're all from different countries!! Isn't that amazing? Christiana is Chinese from Canada, Mamoru is half-swedish and half-japanese (but 100% awesome, yes he is 200% of a human being), and Dave is British. How epic is that? We all know how to drink pretty well, too.
We went to a katsudon restaurant at around 2 in the morning. I saw this guy eating by himself and kinda felt bad for him, so I went over and had someone take a picture of us. I TOTALLY remember this.

Whatever, all that matters is how cool my sweatshirt is.

And while C-bomb was going at her katsudon and Mamoru was contemplating the meaning of life, Dave was in the bathroom throwing up.


I'm gonna end this with something that, given how much I talk about in real life, I don't really touch upon in blog form: MUSIC! I'd like to take the time to introduce you to the best music that Japan has given me so far in my 16 months of living on this fantastic island-nation. Her name is Shina Ringo (or Shiina or Shena) and she is so awesome. If you're bored right now (which you must be, given you've made it this far in the post), go here. It's a live video of one of my favorite songs of hers. Often compared to Bjork, she's not afraid to mix rock, electronic, jazz, or punk elements on the same CD or track for that matter. If you watch the video above, you'll see that she has a knack for dramatic ballads, too. Anyways, I highly recommend her so long as the foreign language barrier thing doesn't deter you.

That's all for now. XOXOXOXO!!!