Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The last few weeks have been very slow, waiting for snowboarding. It's been snowing on and off, but there have also been a few days of (relatively) warm weather which would melt a lot of the snow. The local ski hill was supposed to open on Nov. 23rd, but winter is late this year. In preparation for the start of the snowboard season I've been adjusting bits and pieces on my snowboard, installing new straps on my bindings (after somebody broke them... RJ...) , and practicing my skills on my Playstaion snowboarding game. Everyday I watch the weather report, waiting for the real winter to come. Finally, about two days ago, I saw the weather report that I have been waiting for. Snowmen. Lots of them. All lined up in a row. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday... snowmen. Sweet.


I'm sitting in the staffroom at junior-high school looking out the window. Everything is white and the sky is filled with big, fluffy snowflakes, all of them the size of a 50 cent coin (or bigger). Most of the people in the town are a little depressed now that winter has really started. They know what it's like to have months and months of endless snow and temperatures well below freezing. As for me, well everyone thinks I'm a little crazy wanting it to snow. But I'm just happy to have a cheap, almost always deserted, powder snow covered ski hill about 2 minutes from my apartment. Bring on winter!

Thursday, November 23, 2006

I haven’t written in a while so I thought I’d get back into it with some big news. Actually, I’ve been sitting on this news for a while. I figured that I would need ample time to do this piece of news justice, so I’ve been waiting until I had plenty of spare time to write about it. And yes, this news may surprise and shock some people (mum), so take all necessary precautions.

The big news is: I have another girlfriend. Yes, not a new girlfriend, but another girlfriend. That’s a total of two girlfriends. I’m a lucky guy! Let me explain. It all started not long after I came back to Japan, when I first came to my new town and I finally realized how isolated it was. I also realized how far away from my girlfriend I would be living. She’s hours and hours away by car, and it takes even longer in winter because of all the snow. I thought about it for a few days and made the decision. I’m a young, energetic, virile guy with plenty of loving to give. I needed someone else.

My town is way too small, so I knew that to find what I wanted I would have to go to a bigger town. I talked to some people, spent some time hanging out in various larger cities on my island, but no luck. Finally, I decided to try some of those special internet sites. I spent days scrolling through pictures and descriptions, and when I was just about to give up I finally found her. I don’t know if I believe in love at first sight, but on seeing her picture I was definitely smitten. I knew this was the one. I made contact by e-mail, and then on the telephone, and made plans to meet. She was in Sapporo, the biggest city in Hokkaido and a few hours away from my little town, so we had to wait for about a week. I spent most of that week looking at her picture and memorizing all her details.

Finally, the day came. I took a train into Sapporo, then an underground train back out to the outskirts of the city where she was staying. The whole time my heart was pumping and I was so nervous I was almost shaking. Would she be just like her picture? Would she be the one? I hoped so. I got off the train and ten minutes later I was at her place. The moment I laid eyes on her I knew I had made the right decision. She was perfect.

We spent some time together, one thing led to another, and I took her home that night. Yes, that night. We were inseparable for the next few weeks. We would meet everyday, most nights and all weekend. We spent time hanging out together in my town, and on Sundays we often took day trips. My town is very small, so everyone in town knows everything that happens about two minutes after it happened. People started talking. “Who was that with Jonathan?”, “Wow! She’s amazing”, “They make a great couple”. My new girlfriend was definitely turning heads. She’s undoubtedly beautiful, especially for a Japanese. She still young, has a great body, a slightly husky voice and she moves …almost sensually. I could tell people were jealous. I could tell that they wanted her, but she was mine. Only mine.

During the next few months I did spend some time with my other girlfriend. We met on long weekends and public holidays and had a great time together. But I’ll be the first to admit that most of the time I was with my other girlfriend, I was actually thinking about my new girlfriend. I soon decided that the right thing to do would be to tell my old girlfriend about my new girlfriend. Surprisingly enough, my old girlfriend seemed happy that I had someone else to spend time with while she wasn’t around. In fact, she was so cool with the idea that I decided to introduce them to each other. They spent some time together, and my old girlfriend told me she approved of my decision. In fact, she seemed to get along really well with my new girlfriend. She was happy for me, though I think she was probably a little jealous. And my new girlfriend… well … she’s not really the jealous type. She does what I say when I say it and never complains. Perfect.

Three months later and I have no regrets. I still consider myself a lucky guy. I’ve got one girlfriend to hang out with on weekends, and one girlfriend to keep me happy during the week.

I suppose you’d like to see a picture of my new girlfriend.

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There she is.

Beautiful, isn’t she? Actually, the rims (or lack of rims) kind of brings the whole image down. But its winter, and those are my winter tires, so when summer comes I’ll get a new set.

In case you’re wondering, she’s a 1996 Subaru Impreza WRX E-GC8. This is the Japanese model, so it’s got much more power than the exported models (such as the Australian model) which apparently have to be detuned due to various regulations. Due to a “gentleman’s agreement” made by Japanese car manufacturers, the “official” book says she has about 260-280 BHP, but in reality most of these models are even more powerful than that. What this means is that my car is fast. Very fast. In fact, it’s way faster that I’m ever likely to need. That’s not even taking into account the turbo. When I really want to go beyond fast, all I have to do is put the pedal to the floor. At about 3500-4000 RPM the turbo kicks in and my body gets mashed into the racing seats. It’s a great experience, somewhat like the feeling you get when you’re in a plane and it starts accelerating down the runway. The other great thing about my car is how well it sticks to the road. I can accelerate through just about any corner without any fear of losing control. It’s amazing. The area that I live in has almost no traffic, with a nice mixture of long flat roads winding mountain roads. It’s a driving paradise and my new girlfriend makes it all so much more fun.

Take, for example, the case of the obnoxious Japanese driver. There are actually quite a few of these kinds of drivers out on the roads. These are the ones that will sit on you tail while you are in a no-overtaking area, about a meter behind your rear bumper, swerving from left to right hoping to make you go faster. It’s weird. These kinds of drivers regularly break the law by driving at 40 or 50kmph over the speed limit, but for some reason they won’t overtake in a no-overtaking area. Anyway, when I have one of these guys on my tail I usually take this opportunity to have some fun and hopefully teach them some patience. While we’re in the no-overtaking zone I’ll sit on the speed limit (which is painfully slow for most people, more so for obnoxious drivers). As soon as we come to an overtaking area or some winding mountain roads I make use of my amazing car by flooring it and leaving the obnoxious driver in my dust. It’s great to watch their jaws drop as my car takes off. As soon as I reach the next no-overtaking area I’ll slow down and wait for the obnoxious guy to catch up. If the guy is still driving in an obnoxious manner I’ll repeat my tactics. If the guy has calmed down and is driving normally, I’ll pull over and let him pass, rewarding his patience and humility. I like to think of myself as “Lord of the Road” (that doesn’t sound too pretentious, does it?), rewarding those who show driving virtues while eternally tormenting those who are just plain jerks. I don’t do this all the time, just when I’m bored. Also, I probably couldn’t get away with all this in Australia (I’m pretty sure someone would punch me in the nose sooner or later), but in Japan it’s great fun.

Monday, November 06, 2006

I've finally finished all my Uni work for the year so I've got some spare time. The last month or so I was unbelievably busy. Weekdays went like this: get up, breakfast, go to work, come home, study, go play volleyball, come home, study, dinner, sleep. Weekends were just as bad. Anytime I wasn't at some school festival or work meeting I was finishing of Uni work. Now I've actually got time to relax after work and on the weekend. Nice....

It's been getting steadily colder over the past few weeks. It's well into the minuses at night time, though it hasn't snowed in town yet. It probably will this week. It has been snowing on the mountains surrounding my town for about a week or two now. My apartment is nice and warm. In fact, it's too warm. There's a great big heater that sits in the middle of my apartment cooking everythin agound it. Even when its off (which it always is) it still radiates enough heat for me to have to open the windows regularly. I guess it will be perfect when the weather really starts getting cold.

Yesterday was a great day. School started at 8:30 but I didn't have any classes until about 11:00 so I spent some time on the internet. I checked all my regular news sites and each one gave me great news. Spurs beat Chelsea in the league for the first time since 1990. Arsenal lost. Australia won the Champions trophy. Australia won the International Rules. Adam Scott won the golf. A great day to be a sports fan.