Sorry for being late on this one. I had a bit of a long weekend. Today (Wednesday) is the equivalent to Independence Day in Japan. This is only the second holiday which has not fallen on a Sunday or a Monday so I got an extra day off for the first time since my first week in my office, back in March.
Tuesday I didn’t have any classes until 5 so I used some of my paid time off. I only worked 5-9. I had 2 classes and a few counseling meetings. It was only 4 hours so it went by pretty easily.
The weekend started on Saturday night after work with a party in Osaka for some friends who moved to Australia a few months ago and came back to visit and take care of some other things around Osaka. The party was at my usual couch provider’s house in Osaka. I got there around 11 and there were a ton of people there. Perhaps more than any of the other parties I had been to there. I was happy to see a lot of familiar faces, and I made some new friends as well. We stayed at the house until around 1 or 2 then headed out to the downtown area to go to a few clubs.
Overall it was a really fun night. I was happy to see everyone and we all had a great time. Other than the people, the night was not so different from other nights I have been out in Osaka. We went to some of the places we usually do, and we did the normal drinking and stuff. We stayed out pretty late. One friend and I were among the last to leave the last club. We got back to the apartment around 8am and there were several people still awake in the living room. We messed around for a while longer, and I chowed down on some convenience store food (convenience store food is actually decent in Japan even when you are sober). I think I ended up getting to sleep around 930 finally.
Greg, Mr. Koyama, and their new friend…
In the afternoon when we all woke up, a bunch of us walked to get some food. We took forever to get motivated and make it to the place, so we didn’t even start eating until about 4 or 5. We watched a movie back at the apartment and then everyone decided to go back home.
Monday I slept late and chilled out in my apartment. I had plans to go to the Horoyuji temple again, but when I was getting things together it started snowing, so I wimped out and stayed home. To make up for my lazy day, I convinced Koichi to get some food with me that night, so I would have some sort of “purpose” for the day. We had yakiniku, and as always, it was amazing.
After that I just went home and passed out.
Tuesday I slept in some more and then piddled around a while before going to work at 5. I had plans to meet some friends in Osaka again for a night of debauchery. One of my friends is leaving Japan in a few weeks, so we decided to go out together for one last hoorah. It was a good night, but again other than the people it was just a standard night of partying.
We stayed out a bit later this night and I decided to take the train home to my own bed, instead of couch surfing at the Osaka apartment. I made it home around 10 and passed out immediately.
STANDARD RAMEN BREAKFAST
I ended up waking up around 2 and got ready to meet a friend for some lunch. They ended up canceling though, so I just did some laundry and cleaned up my place.
In the evening I decided to go to Ishikiri to take a walk around. Whenever I take the train to Osaka I am always fascinated by the view of the city as the train comes down the mountainside. I have been wanting to walk around that area for a while and try to take some pictures, so today-since I had nothing else to do- I went. It seems that the train is the best vantage point though. I walked around to some places I saw that seemed like good spots to get a view of the city, but there were always trees or fences in the way. Nonetheless I walked around for a few hours and hung out until dark at one place that had a decent view. It was a warmer day, so it was pretty relaxing hanging out outside for a while with nothing much going on. I got some pics but nothing too great.
There are also trails to hike up to the top of the mountain and get a good view, but today I was not about to do any hiking after the beating I gave my body over the weekend. I will save it for another time.
After the little walk about I headed home and made some sushi for dinner. I got some fish that I usually like in the restaurant, but it wasn’t as good when I bought it at the store. It’s ok though. Other than the fish (which is the most important) my sushi turned out alright… Just not as tasty as I hoped…
Now I am busting through this post as fast as possible so I can climb into bed and make up for all the sleep I didn’t get last night. Sorry for the boring post. Of course I have some details about the weekend, but it is all just the normal bad decision making type stuff we all learned about in college so I wont bore you… Or embarrass myself.
Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great week. I hope to have some good sober adventuring stories for you next week. I need them.