Firstly, I bought an ocarina at a little store in Chinatown in Yokohama. 1000 yen for the ability to make music! The first tune I played was the theme from Rocky :)
While there I also bought a new pet - a gay panda called Ping. He was only 400 yen, how could I resist?
Then last Tuesday I bought a keyboard!
So I'm slowly remembering how to read music - 12 years away from the keyboard, in which time I've played trumpet for 5 years and then nothing for 7 has meant that my musical skills are lacking, but they're slowly coming back. The biggest challenge is learning how to play with both hands again. When I learnt keyboard last I seem to remember only using one finger at a time on my right hand and playing chords with my left hand. Now I'm learning from piano books, and so I have to use both hands to play many notes. 'Tis tough, but I'm getting there, and it's giving my brain a workout, which is what it needed.
Anyway, I thought now was a perfect time to show you my new home. Wonder at it's storage space - a desk! A set of drawers! A wardrobe!
Marvel at the bookcase! Even my bed (yes! a real bed!) has drawers underneath it!
See the Great Wall of Photos! (haha and yes that is the Under the Pink sheet music - optimistic, yes, but I can already play the opening part of Pretty Good Year).
Compare this to the first room I stayed in upon arriving in Japan, which had only a small set of drawers and a clothes rack. And I pay less rent for this place, which has a much larger kitchen, shower and better housemates.
Okay. Will start writing entries showing off some of the places I've visited lately.
But just quickly - I've decided to leave Japan by May or June next year, and will be heading to London. So in the next 8 months or so I've got many people visiting and many places to visit myself. In the next month and a half I plan to climb Mt Fuji, and am taking a trip to Kyushu, where I will visit Fukuoka, Nagasaki, and hopefully climb Unzendake, a volcano that last erupted in 1995. Excitement! Also, at this stage it looks like I may be spending Christmas in Hokkaido with my housemate Jasmine and her friends - so I'll pretty much be guaranteed a white Christmas!
In early September Verity and Lauren are coming to Tokyo for a day or so, at the end of September my cousin Jared is coming with his schoolgroup, and then in December Anita is staying for a couple of weeks. Also, in November I may be going to Thailand with my housemate Sara. Then in February, Mum and Ayla are coming, and Moo is planning to come in March. And that should be it till I leave in May. In that time I also have to see Hiroshima, Niko, and Nara - but I might try to do these when I have visitors.
So the next 8 months are going to be very busy! But I'm very excited by it all :)
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Now playing: Sufjan Stevens - All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!
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