*Fairytale*

Gosh darn my 9 year old cousin for getting me to fall in love with this song (hard not to do when she sings it 5 times at karaoke EVERY time). The lyrics are exactly what a girl wants to hear. It's all I want or need - really.~

*Addiction*

I'm also currently addicted to the "Back-dorm Boys"... LOVE 'em!~

*MuSiC*

I'm addicted to Regina Spektor. She's kind of a mix of Sarah McLachlan, Bjork, Alanis Morrissette, Amy Lee, Enya and The Cranberries (is that weird?). She's FAB! I'm sure I heard her when I was back in New York... definitely check out her music.
Going to the U2 concert tomorrow. Not overly excited, but definitely ready to go. Jesse burnt me a CD of their last album... I need to listen to the songs before tomorrow.
Work's piling up. I'm falling behind... but eh... so what?
Can I fit in another concert this year? I never go to concerts... I'm starting to get addicted... SMAP, Madonna, U2... who can I hit next?
Ooooh... Greg's just said he's coming to visit for New Year's. Yay! Haven't seen him in ages! We're going up to Nagano to ring in the New Year. Woohoo!~

*Didn't quite forget*

Forgot to blog this... but couldn't forget this...
As Sharona and I made our way home from Shibuya, we pulled into Ichikawa on the rapid line and I heard a clunk against the train. When the doors opened, everyone peered out and the train remained at the station for a while. We were wondering what was up...
I stuck my head out the door, only to see a man laying on the ground right in front of our carriage. There was a pool of blood on the ground next to the man and someone was already attending to the guy. He'd hit his head against the train as it was pulling in. Sharona also peeked out, but thankfully didn't see what I saw.
Seeing the blood and the poor guy on the ground freaked me out a bit. It's amazing though to see how Japanese people react to this sort of thing. They all just stand around quietly and watch. No one freaks out, and everyone just... watches. It was all a little surreal...
Time for bed. I'm so sick... I hate this. Time for a bit of Nyquil magic...~

*KO-KO-AH Desu*

Boy was I in a cranky mood today. I felt sorry for Sharona, who had to witness the crankiness on our ride into Tokyo. I was just annoyed with inconsiderate people... and I am also very sick with a horrible cold (yes... I know I should've stayed home... but I needed fresh air)
So we headed into Shibuya, and kinda did a detour at Kudanshita. I noticed that the Yasukuni Shrine was right outside the station and convinced Sharona to do a detour with me. It was a pleasant surprise and it was such a beautiful area... We're both a bit iffy about the whole Yasukuni thing, but it really is a beautiful temple and the Kitanomaru park next to the Shrine is gorgeous too... That detour perked me up... albeit temporarily...
We finally got to Shibuya after the detour and promptly headed to... Starbucks (duh). I ordered my usual (Grande Hot Chocolate)... but of course, it had to be ordered in Japanese... Guranday Ho-toh Ko-ko-ahhh. Lo and behold.. the don't have Grande... they only serve Tall sizes (what's up with that?) so fine... I settled with a Tall Hot Chocolate.
There was a girl that picked the order up for you, then handed you your order (as though we're incapable of getting our own coffee). I understand that she has a "high stress / high tension" job, but she didn't have to shove the very hot paper cup into my hands without a sleeve. I kindly asked for a sleeve, and she looked as though this was a huge inconvenience for her even though they were right by her elbow... All this time, I was thinking that I could've just picked up my order myself... It's STARBUCKS...
Anyways, we headed out of that particular outlet as quick as we could... when I took a sip of my "ko-ko-ah" and realised that it was a "lah-tay". I was a little annoyed already at this point because I had to retrace my steps and face that girl again.
I got to the counter and said to the girl that the order was filled wrong. The girl picks up my paper cup and reads "ko-ko-ah" that was pencilled-in on the cup. The next part played out this way:

• Girl (after reading the cup): "ko-ko-ah desu" (it's hot chocolate)
• Me (shaking head): "Chigau. Ko-ko-ah janai" (wrong, it's not hot chocolate)
• Girl (emphatically): "KO-KO-AH desu" (it's HOT CHOCOLATE)
• Girl turns to the 2 baristas (rolling her eyes)
• Baristas together (after reading pencilled cup): "KO-KO-AH desu"
• Me (*#$%ing annoyed): "Ko-ko-ah janai. TASTE IT"
• All 3 not believing that the "ko-ko-ah"-labelled cup could actually contain something other than "ko-ko-ah" just stare at me in disbelief.
• Me (screaming at this point): "JUST TASTE IT"

I finally got my hot chocolate... but I was more than just a little annoyed with the situation. So here's Ollie's apology of the day to the perfect people of the world...
To the baristas and order-pick-up-girl at the Shibuya Hachiko Starbucks: I'm sorry, it was all my fault that my hot chocolate tasted like a Latte today. I should've known better than to question the label that was pencilled-in on my Starbucks paper cup.~

*WHY?*

Why am I *$&%ing up at 8am on a National Holiday? Let me tell you why... it's because my neighbour upstairs decided that it's the perfect day to CLEAN with the help of her mum! I don't know how Japanese people do their apartment cleaning, but it shouldn't sound like a whole football team's doing marches across the floor.... so... I did something very NOT Japanese... I marched up and very KINDLY told her that it's alright to make some noise, but to not drag things across the floor and to walk a little more lightly across her apartment.
So despite the blood at boiling point, I thought I handled the situation fairly calmly. I'm REALLY tired but I can't go back to bed because they're now SCRUBBING the floor... It's fine though, I guess... This is the first time in 2 years.
Holy crap... I've already been in Japan for 2 years?~

*Ice Ice Baby*

So I'm skating again... I met my instructor today and he's super nice... but I don't think he's going to be my permanent instructor because our schedules don't mesh.
I haven't skated in 12 years and I'm CRAP! But Takaya asked me if I'd help his wife teach a kids' English skate class. Holy crap! I never thought I'd TEACH figure skating! How cool is that! The best part isn't that I'm getting extra money... the best part is the free ice time I get with teaching the classes. It's fantastic!
I have the week off. I WAS going to go away... but... gosh dammit... anyways...
So I'll just be skating all week and having a girlie week off... ah... I LOVE my job!~

*Where's Arabella?*

Just waiting for my dinner to steam. Finished my one day work week (awesome) and went skating (really awesome). I can't skate now! After all those years of lessons and hard work... I can't even do a simple 3 turn... it's a really horrible thing to say, but I really do feel like I'm carrying extra weight. So I'm going to start taking lessons again and get back in shape. Hmrph...
It's wet and cold. I hate it... but it reminds me of Vancouver. I think we're all getting a little homesick. I can't wait to cross that Pacific Ocean again.
Anyways... where's Arabella? I haven't seen her since it started raining...~

*Fantabulousness*

Gut feeling telling me that 2007 is going to be fantabulous. The wedding count has gone up to FOUR and the latest pal to walk down the aisle is non other than my BEST FRIEND! Yay Connie! Yay Al!
I've been waiting for this for YEARS. (Heehee) About time! I know that Connie and Al will be ridiculously happy together - they already are.... and I can't think of a better guy for my best friend than Al.
With all this positivity surrounding me, how could 2007 be horrible? I'm planning all my hols already around all this happiness. It looks like I'll be spending a lot of time in HK and New York for 2007... and at least 2 weeks in Europe.
Gosh... I guess with break-up season... also comes commitment season: you either decide to stick it out or part ways to move onto other endeavours?
Oh heck. It's all good. As long as people are happy around me... then I'm happy.
...
Got distracted for a couple minutes. I'm finding myself missing snow and ice right now. No wonder I was called "snow child" when I was born... being born on the coldest day of the year brings about a natural affinity to all things cold and white. I started googling for rinks around Japan. I'm going to try and go skating this week.
Time to clean and do domestic stuff. Another crazy thing that I love - domestic household chores!~

*Pack it in*

Fun comes all in one go. Life never fails to disappoint me.
So... since my last post... I've been to Fukuoka for a conference, been sick, harrassed, stressed and annoyed... all in the course of 2 weeks!
And to top it all off... We had a Tsunami warning today! Woohoo!
I'm exhausted. Work's been awfully busy and in some ways quite fulfilling... and other ways... er... um... Let's just say... quite frustrating (that's putting it lightly)
I bought the new Nike+ipod thingy last weekend. It's FAB! I actually WANT to walk and run everywhere now! Except that with sleep deprivation comes lateness... and walking / running ain't as quick as revving up my trusty little scooter.
Can't think straight right now... I think I'm going to make new pod playlists. All my friends have funky names for their playlists... Mine are all so boring - "Cardio", "Warm-up", "Slow"... People have playlists called "Sleeptime", "Get in the mood", etc.
Am I boring?~