Small Mercies and a Bad Lunch

AM

Least: By 10:10am, I came to the impossibly boring realisation that instead of finishing work early, I had to do three hours of overtime, then my usual six hours. My six hour day had suddenly turned into a nine hour day with an incredibly inconvenient hour gap in the middle. A few hours later, I was able to spend a cool fifteen minutes at home scoffing a paltry lunch of crap from the Family Mart (see below). I believe I was duped into doing the overtime, with the keyword missing from my phone conversation on Tuesday. The minor hangover didn't help either.

Most: At 8:00am, my alarm tore me out my slumber and set the train in motion to get ready for work. The amazing thing, was that after last night's debauchery, I was almost free of any hangover symptoms. Maybe it was the thirteen plates of sushi that I had inhaled before going to T's Kitchen. In a day of disappointments (see above), the lack of a serious hangover was a small mercy that prevented a bad day becoming worse.

PM

Least: At about 1:20pm, it dawned on me that my decision to return home after morning training was a foolish one. By the time the slower than slow train reached Tezukayama, I had walked to the Family Mart and then home, I had only fifteen minutes to relax in shoeless homely glory. As I ate my cobbled together lunch of a convienince egg sandwich and an onigiri, I couldn't help thinking of what could've been. I pictured the sushi conveyor, full of delights doing laps around the restaurant without me. I then pictured the pile of plates that could've sat in front of me just before 1:45pm. I reckon the pile could've been fifteen high.

Most: At 6:10pm, I was bracing to make good on my agreement to hand out tissues at Nazamozu station after being propositioned by the busy-bee staff. A few minutes later, I heard the barking of a political rally crashing through the third floor window. By some miracle, the local government had decided that my time of need was the also the perfect time to give speeches to the masses. Thankfully, the masses were so numerous that it was impossible to carry out the tissues mission. This was the second, slightly larger mercy for the day. In lieu of the tissue distribution, I merely had to suffer the indignation of stuffing them while talking to an eighteen year old schoolgirl. The schoolgirl has a school concert tomorrow - she is doing a dance routine.

A Tale of Two Slices

AM

Least: 8:05am, I was assaulted by the acrid smell of burning toast. What I still cannot explain is why one slice was incinerated, while the other survived to be eaten. My only thought is that because the two slices were from different factories, they had different compositions. One probably had twice the level of sugar than the other, making it dangeously flammable. The boring experiements will continue.

Most: Between 11:25 and about midday, I recieved a near-presentation about the history of post-war politics of Japan. My student did admirably well in explaining the surge to the left after Japan's defeat then back to the right, and now slightly back to the left. It is clear though, that the current situation just after the election is unlikely to last too much longer than four years. According to my lesson, the DPJ has made too many compromises to get to power and shifted too far to the right for its rightwing candidates to escape the clutches of the LDP.

PM

Least: At about 9:20pm, I arrived at Wakayama station to discover that my train was not leaving for another 18 minutes. The journey back to Tezukayama seemed to take forever and was punctated by a series of maddening delays. I missed my local train by seconds at Mikunigaoka, only for my hopes to rise then be dashed by a second train flashing past (actual photo right). Even after I boarded my local train, it seemed to crawl to Tezukayama. The last blow came after I left the train and had to wait for trains at the crossing. Frustrating and boring.

Most: At about 7:00pm I unwrapped a huge tub of KFC and offered it to the small crowd at a staff and student party in Wakayama. The surreal surroundings, a pinkish office on the 6th floor of an office block and the guests including schoolgirls in sailor suits made a potentially tedious event mildly interesting. A series of bizarre pizzas were unveiled and a tableful of assorted and cheap Japanese fare tempted guests. Between one of the awkward silences, were were required to introduce ourselves and give an interesting fact or two - one rather important guest chose her recent purchase of exercise equipment from tv as her nugget. Conversation did not move on too far from there. Near the end of the night, no less than twelve photos were taken, the peace signs were irrepressible and I missed my train.