The beginning of the end...?

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy at work. Just when I thought these hectic days were gone, along they come again. Apparently the next few months are going to get worse...

However, it's not all bad. Recently some really good things have happened for me...

1) I feel I am becoming a stronger member of the team each day. I have my performance review soon... hoping for a good review.
2) My wrist is feeling better than since my last update, although still not back to normal.
3) I have just recorded a brand new song called "The Everlasting Dream". It is the most beautiful song I've written. I also recorded a new song called "Spiral" about a month ago which is the most depressing song I've ever written.
4) I'm back into the accountancy studies. Took an exam about 3 weeks ago and passed it. I need to get another two done before September or I'll have to wait 6 months for the next chance.
5) I've made some new friends recently, both at work and outside work.
6) The weather today was great...just hoping it's going to last this time. Recently has been nothing but rain and I don't want it to be like last year's summer.

Until next time...
Jody

Egham blues

The past few days have left me with a pretty odd feeling. The four day weekend that is the Easter holidays has now ended and looking back on it I realise that I did pretty much nothing. Having said that, the time seemed to fly by as quickly as the snow that has been falling outside my window today.

Since my last update:

1) Following my visit to the local university's acoustic night, I made a new band mate and we practiced hard in order to take part in the next opportunity to perform. However, the acoustic night we were going to make our official "debut" at got postponed until April and then we recently found out that the April gig may be totally cancelled all together until the beginning of the new university year ie. October. I'm gutted because I have been really wanting to make a new band since coming back to Japan and never got around to it. Now I had the opportunity but it's passed and my motivation went up and back down again. Fingers crossed that the April one does not get postponed. In any case, I have written a few more song pieces and I get closer to finishing them. I also completed a new song last month called "Burning all your bridges".

2) Back in February I bought myself a new iPod Touch. This thing is wicked - not only because it is so technically cool, but it allows me to download Japanese language podcasts for free. It has definitely helped improve my j-skills.

3) I went with my bandmate to the NME Big Gig at the O2 stadium in London a few weeks back. I got to see Manic Street Preachers, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party and Klaxons. Not bad but our seats could not have been further from the stage and the sounds was a bit off. But it was still decent enough.

4) I travelled down to Brighton a couple of weekends ago to look at new guitar amps and settled on an Orange amp. It definitely sounds superior to the one I had before (and it really should do considering how much I paid for it).

5) My wrist, which has been hurting ever since I got back from Japan, is still causing me pain. I went to the doctors last week and got some antibiotics to help it. So far no real progress.

6) I am going to a friend's wedding today.

Jody

New Year; New Changes

I know it's late, but nevertheless HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope everyone out there had a great one. For me, it was pretty decent. Christmas and New year was spent in Japan, seeing friends, going to karaoke and getting as much fresh sushi down my cakehole as possible :p To all the friends I met out there - thanks for taking the time to meet up. I wish that with many of you I could have spend more time with you than I did. I am thinking of coming back this year sometime so I'm looking forward to seeing you again.

Coming back to UK and having to work has been really tough - there's been a lot of new stuff to learn in a short amount of time. Although it's been tough, I have still been in enjoying it along the way.

As I say goodbye to a few good friends who went/are going back to Japan this month, I have also made a few new ones. On Friday I had a party at my house and I think I'm gonna be making a band with one of the guys I got to know. I'm excited at the opportunity of another band - it's something that I enjoyed doing in Japan and missed ever since. Coincidently, I have recently been trying to write more music. A few weeks ago I recorded an acoustic version of my first Japanese song. Also, this Thursday I'm gonna head to the local university to watch an acoustic performance night. I think it's also possible to perform there so I may also take part and show them how it's done ;-)

Bad news - I've somehow damaged my wrist so it's prevented me from my usual routine of gym and karate. It's been like this for weeks. Hoping I'll see signs of improvement soon.

Good news - I found out last week that my sister is pregnant again. The baby will be due around July. Naturally, I'm very happy. Will keep the updates coming.

For now, that's all my updates. You can see plenty of my photos on facebook (if you're not on there, please join).

Been listening to: Go!Go!7188 "Gyotaku", "Daisoku Hokou" and "Tategami"; Radiohead "In Rainbows"

I'm gonna leave this post with a Japanese song I recently came to know and like. It's "Hitori no yoru" by Porno Graffitti. Enjoy!

Can't wait....

for my trip to Japan. It is THE thing keeping me going during this hectic period at work. I don't think I'll ever have to work so hard in my life as I am at the moment. It has taken over my evenings and weekends and will continue to do so. So far, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong one way or another. I really can't wait for this busy period to be over.

I have finally sorted out my itinery for Japan. It's going to be about 7 nights in Tokyo, 4 in Osaka and 3 in Yonago. I'm really hoping to meet up with as many friends as possible and just have a crazy time.

My knee has improved and I have been going back to karate. Fingers crossed if it stays improved it will be ok to do snowboarding on my trip. I'm also planning to take up judo once work dies down.

In my last post I was super excited to get the Tokyo Jihen album. I have since got the new Spitz and GO!GO!7188 albums, so my ears have had more than their fair share of j-pop this month. The Spitz album has some really good songs on it, but the singles from the album are a bit poor. The GO!GO! album is, as anticipated, very good but the production could have been a bit better.

I'll leave this post with the video for GO!GO!7188's latest single, "Nounai Traveller". Enjoy

I couldn't believe this...

Gotta read this about Nova:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071027/tts-uk-japan-nova-a8bf950_1.html

Poker face

Last week I entered a poker tournament with my dad and bro. It was actually my first time ever to play poker. To be honest, before I went I wasn't interested in playing - it was more for the benefit of my dad and bro to keep them company. The tournament took place in a bar on Tuesday. I have to say that although I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, I had a decent time. Unfortunately, there is no prize money involved to play for because it's illegal.

With my new taste for the game, I went to a friend's house on Friday night who holds a poker game every fortnight. This time we played for money, which makes the game more interesting. Luckily, I came second in the first game which allowed me to win the 2nd place cash prize. I then came third in the next game, but unfortunately no prize for 3rd place. I am thinking to make poker games a regular hobby for myself and a good opportunity to spend time with my dad and bro.

Twisted my knee at karate 3 weeks ago. I haven't been able to walk properly since, but it has slowly gotten better. I think it will get back to normal soon enough but I'm being very careful not to damage it again.

I wrote my first song in Japanese recently. The song is called 未来を巻き戻す, which means "Rewind the future". I'm quite proud of the lyrics. They fit the song well, but I'm sure that they are full of mistakes. I'm still working on recording the song.

On the subject of music, I got the new Tokyo Jihen album last week. It's super good and, as ever, I'm very impressed. I'm going to get another two j-pop albums through the post during the month - can't wait.

The time is coming for me to start seriously planning my visit to Japan in December. If those of you reading this reside in Japan, be sure to let me know what your schedules are. I definitely want to make this a great trip.

Heian Nidan

Just a brief update here...

I have recently been very fortunate to make a few more friends. Firstly, I have made a lot more Japanese friends at my local university. I've met about 10 people so far - they are all very nice people and I think they will become good friends of mine. Apparently, they think I am very Japanese.....is that correct??? I'm not sure what that means but I'll take it as a compliment. hehe. I hope to show them more aspects of the British culture in the near future.

I have also made more friends at my workplace and become closer with my team. Last Tuesday there was a night out in London for just the people in my team, expensed by Cisco as a treat for all the recent hard work. As a gesture from the team leaders for my hard work I also received a bottle of champagne. The night out was pretty good - we went to Soho for drinks, food and had a few giggles along the way.

I've been writing a few more songs now and then but nothing new recorded yet. Yeah, I know I'm lazy but I've also been really busy with work.

A couple of weeks ago I took another grading for karate and obtained my yellow belt. I'll end this blog with a video of the kata I had to perform as part of my grading. The kata is called "Heian Nidan" and, no, it's me in the video! ^_^