take on a trip id like to go some day so i ended up running the minimos in 50:17 grr. i was aiming for 50mins! mildly annoying but its good to know that im close. i ran without a watch so im suprised by time was so close to required pace. also the timing chip they had only measured the ending time.. not the start. and i figured i took a good 10-20s to reach the start line, so i very likely did it in time. but unofficially (blergh)

afterwards i headed off to Lugarno (yeh i didnt know where it was either) for lunch. we had these massive lamb shanks which were tasty even though i wasnt really hungry. It was really nice to catach up with some work ppl from head office.. but the drive home was deadly. since id woken up at 6am for the run i was really tired. i had a few microsleeps on the long drive home. once i was saved from oncoming traffic by a small median strip (phew). in hindsight i shoudlve pulled over an had a nap.

last friday i went to the Sydney Film Festival to see this movie called American Teen. I went in with very low expectations cos it sounded like some boring reality tv-like doco-drama.

this past saturday was really busy. I had JET training most of the day which was awesome. from what i gathered by reading the forums i was very worried that the JET program would be full of anime nerds who spent their days flaming and trolling. but the people there were realyl nice and cool. suprisingly though there are 5 Sydney people going to Fukushima and 4 of them are asians (incl me). we also went to Akaneya afterwards to bond.. and drink.

afterwards i went to this 21st/farewell, where i was the only guy who turned up... there was like 11 girls.. and ian =p it actually sorta looked like a hens night cos the girl had this halo headband thing which sorta looked like those mini-veils that hens nights have. it was kinda weird at the start.. but then i was like.. uh.. this isnt so bad =p

my jet number is 20080300027.. i have no idea what its used for.. i imagine japan must have high tech serial number/microchip embedded in my forehead to keep track of my buying habits or something.

in other news: i finally got my green Ps (w00t!) also i get to burn a year worth whislt in japan. But annoyingly my licence expires in Sept 08? wtf? im going back to the RTA tomo to sort it out. I hope I dont have to pay for a new licence.. it seems liek they made the mistake more than i did, but if i know the gov it wont matter who made the mistake, ill have to pay.

Labels: drinking, japan, jet, running

shot through the heart! and you're to blame! on monday we had yum cha and lasertag. yum cha was normal.. laserzone was cool but we spent most of the time waiting in a horrible long line. although they kept screwin up our group, first there werent enough vests (overbooking?) then 3 people had vests which didnt work. but we did get a bunch of free games which was cool (although quite tiring). also frisbee was cancelled yet again.. so we filled int he time with 2 hours of 2 person karaoke.. *cough*splutter*.. bleh.. my throat is now sore =p

i've been doing a bit of running(~40km) in the last fortnight, its like so painful but still so fun. im running the 10k MiniMos fun run on Sunday, which i guess im sorta training for. Im very confident i can make the distance, but there are some pretty hectic hills in the run which make it kinda scary. Im hoping the adrenaline will carry me over those massive uphill parts.

im getting too good at turning off my alarm clock. I can sorta do it while im 90% asleep now, which oft leads to sleeping in. It might be time for a new clock anyway cos part of the LED is broken.. causing the numebrs to appear all wrong.

so today i went to the dentist to fix a chipped tooth, which i suspect i got from indoor this week. but apparently it wasnt even a tooth, it was a really really old filling, old enough that i dont remember getting it. The dentist just grinded off the filling and it seems fine now..... except for the 6 other cavities i have! which need to get fixed before I go to Japan. I suspect my old dentist was a bit sketchy, cos It hasnt been that long since i last went, how can he miss all 6 cavities?

i think i may have been clocked speeding this morning. gah! it will be mildly annoying to have a suspended licence when i apply for an international licence =p although apparently if i quickly go and get my green Ps, then ill have 6 points and thus not have my licence suspended.

in other news: it seems that ill be able to wear converse all stars to work in japan (yatta!) although i probably wont be able to wear different coloured ones =p

Labels: dentist, driving, japan, jet, karaoke

turning japanese so the big news of the past week or so is that i got confirmation of my position in the JET programme! yatta! Im headed to the sleepy town (technically a city) of Shirakawa-chi in Fukushima prefecture. I dont know heaps about it other than what ive read on wikipedia, but apparently its in the mountains, is close to the snow and is famous for its ramen and soba. Oh and google maps shows me at least two McDonalds and a KFC and a Baskin Robbins.

Speaking of Google maps, in Australia if you use the "get directions" function it shows you how to get there by car. but in japan it shows you how to get there by public transport and by foot. Which may by slightly annoying since im gonna drive everywhere in japan, but it is kinda cool that the train timetable (incl fares) is integrated into google maps.

i didnt do much else this week. i went to see Tuesday Spoils at the Lansdowne.. which was ok. the $5 steaks was alright too. also i saw the new Indiana Jones movie, and it gets a bleh from me, it wasnt particularly good. the story didnt really make much sense, the action was cartoon-like ridiculousness and dialogue was just plain awful.

also there was frisbee.. i didnt play league cos of my ribs. i got my ribs xrayed and the results were negative. i did play indoor.. but we still lost in the grand final. grr. i havent found indoor to be great since it quite advantages taller players, but this weeks semi and grand final were both heaps fun even though we lost.

since i misplaced my wallet some time this weekend ive sorta been living on shrapnel, luckily for me i have a lot of it. since i cant really take it with me, i though id count it up so i can either spend or bank it. this morning i counted $239.5. which took a couple of years to accumulate, but still thats a lot. most of it is $2 coins, $136 to be exact. ninety $1 coins, forty three 50c coins, fifty 20c coins, forty-eight 10c coins and forty four 5c coins.

Labels: japan, jet, money

this could all go so wrong, but we're just so happy... most of the last couple of weeks ive been house sitting in north parra. i didnt achieve much except for unlocking lots of recipes in cooking mamma.. and sucking badly at guitar hero iii. it was however much closer to the office timewise. distance wise its almost the same, but its only like 3 roads to get there.. and its mostly 90 or 80km/h. this of course led to me sleeping in even loger and leaving the house at 8:50 most days.

ive found that when im living alone im so keen to cook a meal on a weekend.. but on weekdays.. after work.. i just cant be bothered.. and i either end up eating out or eating junk. so im all fat and bloated now.. bleh...

.. on a related note: i apparently have high blood pressure! i went to the local medical centre to get this Certificate of Health filled out for JET. and the doc is like "um.. you're blood pressure is like totally high, if i write this on you're form you might get denied"... hrm.. everything ive read about high blood pressure eitehr says to lose weight or to take drugs to reduce blood pressure.. either particularly appealing options. but returned a few days later and i was diagnosed with White coat syndrome which basically means my blood pressure is high cos doctors make me nervous =p

last weekend i didnt do much. i went to this wine night things held by this guy from work. i dont often go to work social outings, partially cos i dont that many people who go to them and partially cos im not fun at parties. this party was pretty much what i expected.. a few hours of awkward conversations with big shot economists followed by drinking enough wine so i can just lie down till its time to go home.

this past anzac weekend i just sat on my fat ass for 3 days. i played a bit of starcraft (cos its like the only game which works on a macbook air) and i watched some Harvey Birdman eps and some Sarah Connor Chronicles. i made a brief step in the real world to go shopping for a new pair of work shoes.. which ive needed badly for about 2 months. i came away with some pair which seem nice, and i got the last one in store which was half price and in my size (score!)

in other news: my life isnt exciting... if only i could move to japan and start over...

Labels: jet, medical

See I'm a young soul in this very strange world so i've recovered from my illness which turned out to be shingles. which is very strange since no one can remember me ever having chicken pox.. and its a pre-requisite to getting shingles. hrm.. i guess i mustve just had a really really mild case of it. so mild that no one noticed i had it =p

on the weekend i went to hunt and connie's farewell.. which involved a small picnic in the park.. and some fake skateboarding (insert link to facebook). followed up by some laserzone-ing. its been a few years since i last went.. but its totally awesome. i got better each game.. but in the first game i didnt know where any of the bases were which sorta made my score heaps crap. also the first game had these annoying kids who would follow you around after u killed them.. and just constantly shoot at u until their guns turn back on.. grr.

the place also featured DDR for the wait between games =) im heaps rusty so the diagonal ones kinda screwd me.. but its still such a mad game.. ill have to break out the PS2 version again sometime =)

anyhoo the fare was cos they are leaving to travel around the world making a documentary... which is awesome. if only i could quit my job to do something adventurous..

.. speaking of which i got a letter in the mail today which was mostly fluff.. but included this segment "You are now scheduled for a placement in a Contracting Organisation, which is possible in almost all cases." w00t! in "almost all cases" im in.. although im not sure how many "almost all" is =p .. but if you're not doing anything from this July thru till next July, you should come visit me at some undisclosed location in japan which i might be at.. hopefully.

in other news: ur maybe wondering why ive got 3 posts in one day.. its cos i wrote the first 2 and forgot to publish them.. i guess i wasnt paying attention or something =p

Labels: injuries, jet

a little less conversation.... so i had my JET Programme interview yesterday.. and it was totally nothing like what id read about on forums and blogs. all these ppl were talking about how they got asked about Japanese history.. and current affairs in Australia and Japan.. and to sing the national anthem.. and to give a introduction.. and to make up a sample lesson plan..

and i totally had none of that. It was quite casual, i was in small room with sofas around a coffee table, with three interviewers. two australians and a japanese guy. There was an older australian guy in the middle and he did 90% of the talking, he made quite a lot of jokes, but at the time i wasnt sure if they were jokes or not so i didnt laugh or anything.

At the beginning they spiel on about how they though i had a good looking CV and impressive uni marks... ive always though it was pretty average. they mostly asked me about things i wrote in my application like peer networking and the anime club. They kept asking about why i was applying at this point in my career. They said that they were concerned that i would become bored at being an assistant language teacher after being such a "high flyer" at the Reserve Bank (in my head im thinking "lol, zomg! you have no idea what the RBA is like"). And they didnt seem to heaps like that i had no career path or goals.. or 5 year plan of any kind =p Then there were a few of the standard "what would you do in a situation where no one speaks english?" sorta things.. which i think i handled ok.. but not great. I usually just laugh off those kinda things, but i spose it would be different if i needed to get a non-english speaker to administer CPR or something =p

anyway i feel pretty good after the interview. they didnt really have anything in it which really stumped me.. and they appeared to be pretty positive about my application in general. unfortunately i have to wait until April to find out how i actually went. *sigh*

Labels: interview, jet