Blog Breakdown! Apologies! Frustrated Errands! Hello July!

Matthew actually "bone-to-pick-ed" me about not posting here for going on a week now, and certainly I've got a lot to answer for. I will however use my time machine (a.k.a. alcohol - Oh! I kid! I won't touch a drop for at least another week) to go back and fill in the last five or six days I haven't posted with some business or other. Be sure to check it out! I'm sure there'll be some real gems in there!

Sigh.

Despite blogging here almost daily for almost a year now I'm still fairly skeptikal about blogging in general. That is, I want to blog daily, almost as a challenge for myself, but I don't want to just contribute to the ailing lifespan of a meme, limping its way through the internet, or keep chuntering along on reposts of found material. So last week I ran out of steam and anything I thought I wanted to write about, I quickly second guessed myself into dropping.

While I love writing I'm also aware that people like pictures more than words in some cases (internet browsing being one of those) so I generally hold off on posting unless I've got something to illustrate my post with. That's kind of come round to bite me on the ass though, because I probably end up writing less and using the pictures as a kind of crutch. Also I never remember to take photos of things. I meant to do an assload of restaurant reviews, but every time I go out I completely forget to snap the restaurant or the meal. Anyway I've put aside some time today for writing - any kind of writing - and this'll do as good as any, pictures or no pictures. I'm still stricken by the fear of vanishing into even more of a snivelling parody of a twenty-something indie-ish caucasian male though, so I also don't want to write too much about my day-to-day life. That's the kind of blog-work of which Chris always used to say "Why the fuck should I care?" Never a truer word and all that, but I think I'll have to relax a little bit.

Today I got up early-early and caught two trains and a bus to get out to the Unten Menkyo Shiken Jo - the driving test centre in Teine. Teine isn't that far from where I live, but there's no connecting bus routes from here, so I had to take two trains and a bus to get there. I went there to get a Japanese driving license, hopefully I can do so without taking a test because the UK and Japan have a reciprocal driving license scheme going seeing as we both drive on the left. I brought a veritable portfolio of forms, documents and IDs only to find that I'd still slipped up. I needed to prove that after having obtained my British license I had lived in the UK for at least three months and though it was pretty obvious, both my passport and driving license have been renewed while I've been in Japan so there's no actual written proof that I lived there. I could have got my license in the UK (11 years ago) and then fled the country immediately afterwards, spending the intervening time in Guatemala or Austria for all they know. It's a pisser, but you cannot (really, I didn't even bother, and I'm sure that I came out of the situation much better than if I had) argue with the rules in Japan. So I'll take my old passport and driving license and go back next week. I'll take photos then I think. The shiken jo feels like it's out in the middle of nowhere, and the pounding sun, the dying grass, the crowds of people aimlessly moving between innumerable counters and clerks made it feel like some kind of holding facility for lost souls who weren't quite bad enough for hell.

Next disappointment was at the post office. I'd already tried to post this sodding box to Bunny once, but it was 150g too heavy for regular parcel post. I took out a couple of inessential things and took it back, still 38g too heavy. So... one more time for the world.

The rude ladies at the bento shop Sazae (I used to think it was coz I was foreign, but my coworker told me they're rude to everyone) were marginally less rude than usual when I picked up onigiri for lunch.

OK! To the time machine...