Pokemon vs Cicada

AM

Least: By about 9:30am I was awake enough to sit through some kids anime on TV. They were slightly entertaining, but for the simply awful voices screeching from most of the characters. It brought to mind the discomfort of hearing the shop-girls in Shinsaibashi spruiking for customers. Painful.

Most: Just after 11:20am, Rosie and I went for a walk around the lake. The paths were drenched after last night's storm and, as usual, council workers were tinkering with something - this time paths and drains. The interesting thing though, was the deafening sound of thousands of cicadas screaming almost in unison. Despite a few kids and their grandfathers collecting specimens to take home, the insects were victorious in dominating the park. They sounded like a giant dial-up modem - I wondered who they were calling.

PM

Least: By 9:35pm I had spent nearly six hours doing 40 minutes of work. I spoke to yet another, otherwise lovely student who suffered from the deficit of enjoying Disney characters too much. She had a penchant for Donald and Minnie combined with overseas travel. Her favourite memory was her stay at the 101 Dalmatians Hotel in Orlando (pictured right).

Most: At approximately 10:05pm, I took a turn away from my usual route home from Tezukayama station to pop in to the Family Mart. The dark road that took me there was littered with massive and sprawling mansions. The most impressive were the Japanese-style houses, surrounded by gardens and hedges. The bigger the house, the more barbed wire and spikes surrounded it. Japan appears to be a safe place, but people are still paranoid about crime.

Never Watch TV While Poaching Eggs

AM

Least: Between precisely 9:40am and 9:52am and 10:14am and 10:34am I roasted on train platforms in Mikunigaoka and Hineno repectively. It was punishment for taking a slightly later train from Tezukayama. The ten extra minutes at home this morning was repaid three-fold by JR. As the sweat ran down my chins, I couldn't help but notice the condensed breath and sweat of luckier and cooler commuters pouring from the corner of each carriage as it flashed by the station. Another lesson.

Most: While I waited for my eggs to poach at around 8:30am, I watched an animated TV show that, as usual, involved massive monsters in combat. The interesting thing though, was the fact that the trading cards carried by every kid in Japan were built into the story. The cards were used as a means to pitch differently rated piles of steel against each other. I was thinking that this is what kids might imagine whilst doing battle for cards in the playground - cool. The poached eggs were ever so slightly over done.

PM

Least: Between 12:00pm and about 8:00pm my stomach was granted a lone onigiri, a few sugarless breathmints, a bite of weird cake and two kinds of mineral water. As soon as I arrived home, my brain told me to order a large american style pizza with a regular crust. According to the pizza-clock, I ate until 10:50pm - two slices left. Before I finished the second slice, I could feel something of a bile-rush in my stomach. After I finished the last slice of the evening, I knew I wouldn't sleep well. I didn't.

Most: Between about 8:40pm and 10ish deciding to shirk a school releated party in Sakaihigashi, I sat down for a night in to contunue my spaghetti western voyage. While the bile working overtime on the pizza, I sat for a couple of hours to watch 'A Fist Full of Dollars'. The massive body count and the cracking dialogue were just interesting enough for my brain to forget telling me that I'd eaten too much on an empty stomach.