1 Year Anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of my arrival in Japan. Obviously, since I'm updating at home updating the blogg, I'm not celebrating tonight.

However, tomorrow I'll be hitting up the Ichikawa fireworks display, just as I did in the first weekend of August 2006, and this time instead of sitting on the riverbank alone, I'll be going with some good friends and a nice girl who kisses me sometimes. So in terms of progress, that's pretty tangible I suppose.

Here's a quick review of the year in incomplete sentences.

Things eaten:
Guts
Compressed Rice
Pig Uterus
Fish Spoof
Spinal Cord
Mince Slime w/Noodles
Marmite On Toast
1x Large Whelk (excluding Shell)

Skills got:
Speak Slowly
Catch Trains
Level 1 Linguist
Swim (Basic)
+1 to Wisdom
-1 to Fatness
Operate Inter Net
Identify
Bowling (Accuracy)
Bowling (Power)
Bowling (Finesse)
Bowling (SPECIAL ABILITY: Rhino Storm)
Speak To Americans
Imaginary Friend


Equipped:
Same 3 Shirts I Had When I Got Here, Plus Those $10 Hallensteins Shorts
Stubble
Fan
Tiny Dictionary of Inadequacy
Triceratops Trucker Cap


Disappointments:
Didn't write enough.
Didn't draw enough.
Didn't make enough music.
Didn't learn bugger all Japanese, really.
Still basically a bit of a lazy prick no matter what country I happen to be in.

All up, it has been a decent year, and far preferable to the hypothetical alternative in which I remained in NZ, earned reams of cash, and spent all my time gnawing on myself wondering about what I might be doing instead. So, yay for me, et cetera. If you have a choice between going to a strange country and not going to a strange country, my advice is to go to a strange country.