Poetry in motion

A bored colleague sent me this:

Fontpark 2.0

Amazing animations of kanji and kana being turned into pictures! Watch out for the martini...

Not that I've had much time to surf around finding interesting websites... I'm just finishing up now after having swiped out already to ensure I don't go over the mandatory 10-hour cap that German law enforces. And next week looks just as busy.

Weekend! Time to plan for Japan in October!

What comes after Pete Tong?

Two and a half days later, I finally finish the massive update that solves the unreliable data problem.

Only for it to break all the things depending on it because neither the project manager nor myself understood how it worked under the bonnet. It's all gone to IT to get yesterday's files restored, leaving people to recreate a day of work. Damn. I wish we had a better system for this. There are some things you just shouldn't use Excel for.

Oh, and the data is still unreliable. I found updates I should have found previously but didn't.

But even more seriously, I got home and was distracted by someone outside repeating and spelling out Z's name and flat number. It was our other co-workers in the building talking to the police - his flat was broken into during the day, new laptop taken.

And it seemed like such a nice area too.

I then realised while tidying up (too distracted to do the study I really should have started on this week, with getting up early and pulling 10-hour days) that I didn't know where my camera was. Desperate, I checked in places that weren't immediately visible and found it - I must have hidden it before going to Sheffield and completely forgotten.

I guess I'll put it back where I found it and take my laptop to work for a few days.

All gone a bit Pete Tong

We came to the conclusion around 5:00 yesterday at work that all the data I have gathered over the past month or so is unreliable. This is going to take a while to put right, and I don't really have a while. At least it was a little cooler today.

In other news, I have become embarrassingly addicted to 'Cinnamoroll's Saucer Snap' on the Sanrio website arcade.

Our resident bodybuilding Hong Kong-Australian HR man took us out for what must be one of the best Chinese meals I have ever had, in Jade near the Hauptbahnhof. We had soup with dumplings, baked fish, cuttlefish and mangetout, black pepper beef, sweet and sour pork and ma po tofu followed by watermelon and a sweet bean soup. For all six of us, with drinks, it was 88 Euro. Most highly recommended.

And I finally got to see the 'dodgy' area around the main station. Mostly well-lit and very business like 'Shop und Kino' places, so I doubt I was in the truly dangerous part, but it was all very neon. Tempted to go back and take pictures, but maybe not by myself...

For your amusement

It's a slow day. These sent to me by my esteemed colleague:

Mark Twain's The Awful German Language

The Onion's Courageous E-mail To Boss In Drafts Folder Since December - which would be funnier if it were less true.

Yes, but no

It is definitely cooler in the mornings, so I think I will carry on with this unholy early rising business. Although the afternoons are just as bad, at least I can go home sooner... There was a massive thunderstorm last night - lightning and thunder rolling on for ages - but it didn't help bring the temperature down very much. This morning is cool, but humid.

I went into the main shopping street yesterday afternoon to get a few things. Cash and a bank statement, some more mugicha (which I have become quite addicted to at the moment) and a bag. My beloved black waist pack - which I use as a shoulder bag - which was just the right size for a Lonely Planet and a small camera, had developed a rip which has now progressed into a hole large enough to put three fingers through. I reluctantly took all the charms and other bits off it and went to find something to use until the custom replacement I'm working on with a lady selling bags at the craft fair I was at a few weeks ago is ready.

So, something to last for two months until I'm back in the UK. Not a backpack, as they're too hot. And since I've started making my own lunch again, something big enough for the lunchbox would be nice. I ended up in a sports shop, where I finally got some camping cutlery - I've been looking for some for months so I don't have to keep getting plastic stuff from the supermarket all the time. Of course, I have to remember to bring it with me... I also saw a nice Sigg bottle - well, I saw the cute child bottle covers first, then looked at the adult bottles and found a 1L one that looked perfect for bringing mugicha into work. Why no cute covers for adults? Discrimination... mutters

Then I found the swanky 'sports' section - more of an exercise in branding and trendsetting. But I fell hard for two things, a Hawai'ian flower print belt (why the print is universally used on menswear I have no idea) and a messenger bag, just the right size, with a beautiful red and white on black crashing wave and chrysanthemum design, obviously Japanese inspired. Adjustable shoulder strap with a padded shoulder section in the same print, black on white chrysanthemum print lining, padded laptop pocket and lots of internal pockets and compartments, which I love. The belt was on sale, but still 20 EUR. The bag... was 70 EUR. I don't think I've ever spent that much on a bag. I'm going to try to sneak in a few hours of overtime...

Success!

Thursday brought feedback on the translation assignment for Social Studies - I got a fantastic mark for it, and I really enjoyed doing it although I spent most of the annotations picking holes in the author's thinking. I managed to mistranslate one word and get a passive the wrong way around in the last section, which threw the whole thing off, but apparently everyone had got the same word wrong. Most of the Social Studies sessions were a concerted attempt by the tutor to get us back on track and keep us on time as we kept talking around and off the topics. But very stimulating nonetheless.

The dissertation and annotated translation sessions were very interesting and helpful in terms of what you need to do. Unfortunately, I still have no idea which I want to do, or what I want to do at all. Either one, now that I've had them explained in detail, is a lot of work. But I can't submit a proposal until I've handed in my last essay, which will be in November as I'm going to ask for an extension.

Feedback on the presentations was good, although the debacle with the laptop put me well over time - the tutor assured me that it was just over five minutes since I got the slides up (we have five to eight minutes in the exam). I also passed the Japanese prose section, although I would have liked to do better. I really need to practice the letter and report sections and keep on reading in Japanese to get my marks up.

Most of the students managed to meet up on Thursday night for dinner, which was a lot of fun even if we were all ready to drop. The first-year students from my course were finished, as was the lone Japanese Language and Society student, although some were staying on to use the library. The librarian had unfortunately gone on holiday, as I wanted to ask her for some things...

Friday was mostly Social Studies, followed by feedback on the Japanese to English translation mock exam and final feedback. I was ready to drop. Coffee and chocolate every two hours, and even that wasn't doing me much good. I passed the Japanese to English mock with a strong mark - really happy with that. We finished up early and headed over to the pub for a quick drink with a few of the tutors and course staff.

I headed back to the library and was there until it closed at 7:00pm. Although there were several of us around, everyone disappeared off - that happened last year too, leaving me feeling quite alone at the end. I picked up a fried rice takeaway and headed back to the halls. Watched Appleseed Ex Machina - gets quite overblown at times, but extremely watchable and well, pre-cyborg Briareos is just fnar.

Between spending most of Wednesday night importing the Sheffield and SOAS library searches into a program called EndNote Web (referencing tool) and then half of Friday in the library building up lists of interesting books, I decided to take it easy on Saturday. First I got a day ticket on the tram and headed in to have a look around and most importantly get my hair cut. Then it was back to the halls to clear out and hand back my keys. I settled in to the outdoors area of the pub up the road with a trashy novel, determined to enjoy the sunny day.

I enjoyed it a little too much as I later found out - the back of my neck burned! I had some lunch and coffees, then moved on to wander around town and picked up some CDs. I had earlier wandered around Waterstones, and bought two brain-off novels (Dead Witch Walking and Magic Bites - both highly entertaining but prefer the latter) and also two 'worthier' volumes, A History of Misogyny and The Descent of Woman. I almost finished one book on the train, as we were delayed by signal problems. Himself had checked for anywhere open late, so we had a lovely Chinese meal before heading home.

On Sunday I was up to pack, then we went into town to meet up with friends for lunch before I headed off again. There was another delay with air traffic control in Frankfurt after a thunderstorm, but we weren't too late. I dawdled in the bookshop in the main station - which has English books - but ended up not getting anything. I really miss the library...

Monday was back to work and turns out we have a desk move. More searching of the content management system for updates, my brain was pretty much shut down by 3:00pm with the heat, and when I went to find my new desk it had no PC on it... so instead of trying to come in early to beat the heat, as I had planned, I now had to come in late so they could put a computer on the desk. Spent half of today waiting for the content management system to do a full checkout. Brain dead by 3:00 again. The German team said in a meeting that the paperwork for the air conditioning had only just been signed so it would be in in November. I can never tell when Germans are joking, but I have a horrible feeling they weren't.

So, I am going to try going in early tomorrow. I'm also making my own salad at the moment, as I'm sick of everything in the supermarket. And my beloved black bag, which I got in Loft in Nagoya back in 2002 or 2003, has finally developed a massive hole, graduated from the tear which I noticed before the craft fair. sigh

Although I decided I would have a week off, I did end up thinking about a topic for the presentation at the exam weekend - I think I'll do it on biofuels, the pros and cons and next stages. Should work in the same pattern as the last one. I'll do up a new study schedule at the weekend. And in the meantime, I bought the eBook of the sequel to Magic Bites, Magic Burns. More brain-off time.

Done and dusted

Today was predictably tough. It didn't help that I started it off taking far too long to reformat and print things in the Information Commons (aka library) and ended up running into the three-hour Japanese to English translation exam five minutes late having had no coffee in between. Three hours can seem like a very short time. I was just about all right until I put all my papers back together and saw the instruction in bold block capitals on the front page about writing on alternate lines... dammit. The tutor was thankfully not bothered.

The English to Japanese paper was harder than it looked - it was short, but long sentences with lots of clauses are hard to rearrange into decent-sounding Japanese, if I even really know what that sounds like. The presentation, apart from the hiccup of the office telling me that most definitely I was not to use my computer because one would be set up and ready to use with a USB stick - and then there being no computer set up. Fancy that. The tutor was completely unsurprised as she lent me her laptop.

We ran late on the presentations - both me and the guy before me kept answering questions for ages until we both took about half an hour each. It was good though. I panicked a bit but nothing substantial and hopefully it will be out of my system by the time the real thing comes around in September. We'll get feedback on that tomorrow and on the Japanese to English on Friday.

After running late on that I had a brief consultation with the Social Science Readings tutor, mainly to ask if it was okay to ask for an extension, as I'm going to be studying for the final exams until I leave Germany, and will be in Japan right up until the essay is due. I may need time in SOAS to get the essay to where it should be, but that will only happen in November.

Not only did June disappear, July is almost gone too, and the rest of the year seems to be pretty much accounted for...

We met up after the lectures and mocks were all over - the girls went to Meadowhall shopping center while the boys went for beer. We shopped until 9:00pm (I got some new shoes, as after destroying the laces on my current ones, I found that the upper has separated from the sole) and then went back to do beer. A few of us bowed out early due to exhaustion or to prepare for the seminars tomorrow. I'm too tired for that now, but will get to it tomorrow morning.

Our father who art in PANIC

I seem to have neglected to mention that the Arts Tower in Sheffield has a paternoster. I had seen it last year, but assumed the doors had been taken off for maintenance.

The woman who walked in in front of me on Monday got straight on it, but I baulked and watched it for a while before trying it. It's very like having an old funfair ride in the building. Other students have been happy to wait for the one other working lift to avoid the paternoster, but I use it every chance I get. It's still vaguely terrifying.

Especially yesterday, when we were on our way to a lecture theatre below ground. Now, I had planned to find out what happened when the paternoster reached the bottom of the building by putting a piece of paper on the floor of a car and watching to see if it came up again... for all I know the cars flip over. But I was so busy talking to one of the other students (who would go on it) that neither of us thought of it until we passed a dimly lit sign on the side of the lower ground floor, stating that the lift would now be going up.

Cue panic.

We were simply shunted to the right, and indeed started to go up. It's very disconcerting when you have concrete all around. But I suppose it had to be safe, or Health and Safety would have ripped it out of the building long ago.

Needless to say, I will continue to use it as often as possible while I'm here. But now, off to try to do some printing, which I was dreaming about last night. The halls have the hardest beds I can remember sleeping in. I have got a cheap rate on a hotel for the exams in September, now just need flights and train...

Fear is the enemy

Monday is over, and it's been really good. We had positive things to say at the feedback session - the modules this year have been really good - and our criticisms were well received. Whether they'll lead to anything is yet to be seen, as they're pretty much the same as last year - rampant disorganisation.

The two tutor-led sessions, on structure of Japanese and English texts and writing letters in Japanese, were excellent - everyone learned something, and the teachers enjoyed them as well. Including the misunderstanding-tutor, who I'm getting on famously with. Phew. It's graduation week, so more on-campus cafes and so on are open this year.

Add to that a nice dinner with lots of fun conversation in both languages (my Japanese is really rusty...) and it's been fantastic. Tomorrow looks good too, with three more language workshops and a library session. Wednesday still looking like the apocalypse. Thursday and Friday are feedback on the mock exams and lots of lectures for the last module, all of which will be useful and informative.

The slight hiccup was on arrival at the halls, when the guy working nights who let me in (by the time he left the room, I knew not only his name but also his course, who he's worked for for the last few years, his country and its political situation...) forgot to give me any of my internet access details and ignored the fact my card didn't work in the outside door. So, when I discovered later that although I had bedding and towels I had no toilet paper, I couldn't go to get any at the 24-hr Tesco around the corner as I would lock myself out. But all sorted out by a slightly irate man at the main office this morning. Turns out it happened to all five of us staying here.

Need to work on my presentation, then review report writing before the session tomorrow. Although I am rather sleepy, and without a source of coffee at the moment. We'll see how long I last.

Omen

I have the schedule for next week.

Wednesday will be the Day from Hell. Three mock exams in a row followed by the presentation.

And the tutor I had a meaningless misunderstanding-turned-email-war with will be there.

And she'll be handling the presentations.

It's time for chocolate...

High and low

The flight over to London was lovely. Got stopped and taken aside by airport security twice to have the Wii Fit board wiped down for explosives, and generally got more interest than if I had a puppy with me. Frankfurt airport staff have perfect English and are generally a very good-humoured lot.

We came over the east coast of England while light was falling and got a beautiful view of fat rivers winding their way into the sea, with a gorgeous sunset overhead. I kept looking from one to the other, amazed at both. Then we went over London with all the lights on, turning over Canary Wharf and getting a great view of Tower Bridge, the river, the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

The craft fair went well, not as busy as last year, but sold quite a bit - including some larger pieces than last year, and some that I've had for ages - made some new friends, got some presents for people and also have started planning a new bag with a lady who makes them who was there. We're going to try to use some of the fabric I brought back from Japan, which I still haven't learned enough sewing to do anything with.

Was so tired on Friday night I thought I was going to come down with something. Couldn't stay awake, throat hurt, head hurt, sniffling. But I was okay in the end, and stumbled back to the flat in Frankfurt slightly delayed by an air traffic control problem just before midnight - still early enough to get a decent train and U-bahn connection home.

Then downstairs neighbour decided to play the keyboards. At 1:10am.

I decided that undignified as it was my only option was to shout out the window gently requesting that he stop. I am going to have to a) speak to him (although if he thinks playing the keyboards at 1:10am was a good idea in the first place you wonder if it's going to do any good) and/or b) get someone at work to speak to him and/or c) ask to be moved.

I could do without this with a week to go to the residential. My hard drive is also making an odd noise and says it could do with a software repair that I need the disc that it came with (currently in Reading) for. Next weekend, when I'm there...

Anyway. Apart from the noisy ending a wonderful time, and most indebted to himself's parents for all their help. It's a gorgeous village.

Deferred pleasure

I have to admit that I haven't been reading the feedback for my MA work as soon as it comes in.

I was somewhat alarmed to find how long I haven't been reading it for though - since the beginning of the year. Not something to look on with pride.

But although I have obviously been dreading it - particularly since getting into an ultimately senseless debacle over comments with one of the tutors - it's actually all quite good. The patents tutor invites me to take up translating patents as a profession. The tutor I had the altercation with gave me an excellent mark on round 2, although my basic grammar is still not what it should be. And the Japanese to English translation tutor gave me a very high mark for my last assignment and a cheerful 'keep up the good work'.

Not much going on. I have been alternating between studying for the residential on the week of the 21st and procrastinating about it. Flying to Heathrow on Thursday night to get ready for the craft fair on the weekend - as I haven't been in the country to organise anything I'll just have to hope for some unprepared version of beginner's luck. At least all the display materials from last year are still in a crate in the attic, so I'll just have to get some change from the bank and polish up any tarnished silver and get everything to the right place.

(If you're anywhere near Kings Langley and Abbots Langley - just outside Watford - go to the Festival of the Arts! All this week! Especially to see Kindertransport! And the craft fair is in the hall of the beautiful St. Lawrence church in Abbots Langley.)

And this time - I have to buy the chickens from the quilting group and give them to Mom instead of keeping them for myself as I did 2 years ago.

Ahem. This has all turned into a bit of a confessional...

Better

Today started out just as hot as yesterday, but the rain started after lunch and carried on all day - I'm now sitting beside a large open window, and I'm a bit cold but it's so nice after yesterday that I'm loving it.

Making progress with my translation assignment for the residential week, and hope to switch on to something else soon. The weekend will be reserved for the thing I'm most worried about, the presentation. I need to get a bit of grammar study in too. I also really need to improve my kanji and handwriting skills, but I'm not sure I can do anything with them in two and a bit weeks...

Other than that, some things are much cheaper here than in the UK - I got 50 Loratadine (active ingredient of Clarityn) for 16 Euro, and also got some free glasses wipes and green tea flavoured sugar free gum in the bag with them. I already had some glasses wipes - 1.50 Euro for 20 - to clean the DS with.

I will be moving at the end of the month - Nintendo have decided to move all their contracts to a new agency and so all the contractors are being moved. No concrete news on where, just that we need to move 31 July and we'll have free internet. It also probably means I'll have to go and update my registration, so another trip to the local government offices... At least I'll have a few days to get my German together after the residential!

Not the best day on record...

30 degrees. And that was when I checked at about 7pm, so it could well have been hotter during the day. Was completely zombified at work. Really hoping the air con does arrive soon (it has been promised for next week).

Got home just in time to say hi to someone taking their laundry down to the basement... which is what I was hoping to do. I had even left work bang on time after getting in a little earlier than usual - mainly because the internet connection was down. So, I got ready to go to the laundrette instead.

I decided to have an ice lolly - only to find that the teeny freezer on top of my mini-fridge really doesn't work. They were mush. I should throw out everything else in there as well...

But I got a machine and dryer right away at the laundrette, and another resident has fixed the internet connection, and I have a litre of water and a cold glass of caffeinated soft drink. And I did play my Japanese learning games at the laundrette, and treated myself to an ice cream from the place across the road from there. So, not all bad.

Castles and funiculars and gummi bears, oh my!

Photos are here!

Well, I was going to lie down for a bit after getting home, but Mr. Saxophone downstairs has decided to practice, so...

The day started off with the traditional mad rush for the train - for myself and Z anyway, C was there in good time. We all piled on and then found our seats, changed at Mannheim and from there on to Heidelberg. Most of the journey was spent listening to or talking about each others' music.

We got to the station, went and got our 'Heidelberg Cards' which - if you get the two-day ones instead of the one-day ones - give you free use of the funicular railway, free entrance to the castle and the Pharmacy Museum, and lots of discounts in other places. Out at the front of the tourist office we got a 4-person day pass for public transport to cover the three of us, and off we went!

Unfortunately, we went the wrong way. After about 10 minutes on the bus, we figured out that we were not going towards the city centre. The timetables do that annoying thing of listing all stops instead of just the ones the bus is going to in the relevant direction. We jumped off and raced for the bus across the road - thankfully German cars do stop at crossings. A little later we went past the main transport hub - which is nowhere near the station - and then piled off at the funicular terminal.

We ran up to the gates and popped our two-day tickets in, laughing at the huge queue of primary children barely kept under control by parents. Until we realised that although the two-day passes might entitle us to free use of the funicular, they weren't actually tickets. In the queue we got to get our free tickets.

Although we stood near the front window, there was a huge panel behind the driver which meant we could see next to nothing - it didn't matter that much as we were soon whisked up to the castle (which is only a 10 minute walk up the hill). A short stroll up a cobbled slope later, we were inside the castle grounds - I'll leave that to the photos! The guided tour was interesting, but I found it hard to keep my mind on it. Not sure if it was the guide's French accent or just an attack of tiredness. The World Cup has been rough in terms of getting much sleep, as the Germans (and pretty much everyone else here, such as the Turks) tend to stay at home and roar at the TV, followed by driving around sounding their horns. They were more subdued after their defeat last night.

We dived into the Pharmacy Museum, which was interesting for free and had some fantastic cards in the gift shop, and then stopped for a coffee before heading back to the funicular - stopping again briefly for C to buy a hat. We just need a feather for it now. One stop up and we got out of the lower (new) funicular and transferred to the upper (historical) funicular. Apart from the whole being-a-funicular (you all know about my fascination with them by now, as well as cable cars, and trams, and ferris wheels) it hit a 40% gradient at the end. It was like going up a rocket launch track. We stopped to admire the view, failed to get any food and then headed back down again.

Once back down from 500ft above sea level, we crossed the old town through the old market square to the river bank, across the old bridge and over to my must-see item - the Philosophers' Walk! Yes, anything for a gag - in this case contrasting it with the Path of Philosophy in Kyoto (which Dad has the most amazing postcard-worthy pictures of with cherry trees in full bloom). We started up the winding cobbled path, walled on both sides, as it snaked its way up the steep hill. Now, I had made a bad choice that morning in wearing my MBTs, which are the most comfortable walking shoes I've ever had, but are utterly useless verging on dangerous if the ground is uneven or sloped. And this was a lot of both. After we'd got to the point where we were level with the castle on the other side of the river, and realised we were still directly over the old bridge and therefore possibly not actually on the Walk at all, we took photos and headed back down. I'll try again when I've worked on my cardio. And have different shoes on.

After that we headed back across the bridge and into the cobbled streets around the market square, stopping for dinner at a nice place with outside tables. I had some delicious pork in a cream and mushroom sauce - a little heavy on the white wine. It came with something called spargel (not sure about the spelling) which initially looked like noodles but I think may have been shredded fried cheese. I mostly left it alone.

I dragged the guys back along the road to a shop with a gummi bear logo that we'd passed while we were wandering around. We only just got in before they closed, but it was worth it! There were endless flavours of gummi bears, old favourites like marshmallow strawberries and even playboy/playgirl jellies! I got a mixed pack of sample sizes for the team and a big bag of coffee-flavoured jellies for me. (I later repented and brought them into work for my project team...) Fully stocked on sugar, we went back to the bus stop and back to the station for our train.

We were ticket-checked on every train, by plain-clothes inspectors on the first train on the way back - they also had the police meet them at the terminus to discuss something with a young man in our car. I still can't get used to the police being armed here. We checked out the bookshop with English books in the train station and then went our separate ways. C later found out that the gummi bear shop has a branch in Frankurt, so we're doomed.

The adventure for today was heading down to the Japanese bookshop at lunchtime to see if we could get anything interesting in their pre-closing-for-refurbishment sale - I didn't in the end, as nothing discounted was that interesting (I already have plenty of reading material I haven't read yet) and anything that was interesting was too expensive and could wait until I got to Japan.

I am horribly tired. It was a battle to even keep my eyes open at some points today, despite coffee, diet coke and coffee gummis (aka sugar). I think I will be hitting the mattress early tonight, neighbours willing.

Protection

I have fallen in love with screen protectors. My initial experience with the DS ones was mixed - the top screen one went on perfectly but the floppier touch screen one ended up with air bubbles and then I put a small scratch on it when trying to get them out with a credit card. I put it aside until the following night and managed to get them all out with the stylus... and the result is fantastic. The scratchy area in the center of the touch screen (which can be completely blamed on the Kanji training game) is gone and both screens look great. The thing still looks completely battered, mind you.

Today I took the camera in to the electronics shop and ended up getting the cheapest of the cases I was looking at - it fits the camera perfectly, although the pockets have flaps that don't close them completely (can see loose batteries falling out). All the really expensive ones were too big - the whole reason I was looking for a new case is because I already have a huge one - and/or had velcro inside them which is just going to damage the camera. And then - screen protectors! I'm trying the toothpaste dermabrasion on the camera's LCD screen at the moment, as it's covered in small scratches from being carried out of its case, and then I will apply the screen protector ready for taking it out tomorrow. I actually don't use the screen most of the time, as it kills the batteries, but it will be nice to have it looking better.

I ended up staying up late last night, and then was subjected to someone playing lounge music at 1:30am. So, after having headphones in all day, I then ended up with ear plugs all night. My inner ears were not thanking me this morning.

Better get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight - Heidelberg awaits...

No, nay, never

I will be going to the local Mexican no more, as I was awake until 3:00am with my stomach trying to implode upon itself. Still not back to normal.

Have a trip to Heidelberg set up for Saturday with Z and another friend from work, should be good. Will take my camera in on Friday and see if I can't get a smaller case. I never use the lens adaptor, which is almost as large as the camera itself, so the case for both of them is far larger than I would like. The local electronics shop has a good selection of them, which I will peruse on the way to former team leader's birthday drinks.

In other news, it rained all day but even now as it's trailing off the humidity is right back up again. Oh well.

Fontainebleau photos!

We ended up using David's camera most of the time - it's much, much smaller than mine - and he has put up his pictures of Fontainebleau!

Retail and forward planning

Having spent the entire week sitting on my rear end at work or at home, I decided to go out on Saturday into town to at least get out of the flat. First stop was the Japanese bookshop OCS, where they were discounting various items in preparation for closing for refurbishment next month - I picked up a translation of The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment and some Nora Roberts book, as I find them easy to read in English. I even got a free newspaper, which will be handy for revision... not so long to go, as I realised when counting up free weekends to go exploring before the mock exams.

I also used my credit note from the headset I couldn't use with my Mac at the electronics shop, getting some AAA rechargeable batteries for my Sennheiser headphones and a screen protector kit for my DS. I got the same cashier who had given me the credit note originally, and she was incredibly animated about the whole thing. I didn't understand a word, of course.

Then it was into C&A where I picked up some Hello Kitty socks (too amusing to pass by) and a mobile phone 'sock' (black with a cute cartoony white rabbit with a lollipop) to put my new music player in, as even sitting in the outside pocket of my bag the protective case is getting quite scratched. It will make it impossible to operate, as it's all done by touch screen, but hey. It's only a 20 minute walk to work.

I got slightly lost on the way back through trying to avoid the main shopping street, but found the supermarket and picked up some supplies for the rest of the weekend. Including gooseberries! Haven't seen them in ages.

Today, I did a study plan (just have to stick to it now) and more thinking about Japan - where to be when, what trains are available and where to stay. Then I gave my DS a microdermabrasion! A highly amusing tip found on a website, basically use a tiny bit of toothpaste (which contains fine abrasive) and spread it over the screen, leave to dry and then scrub off. It has helped, although there are also some crumbs trapped in the casing that I'm going to get out by the Official Nintendo method of a toothbrush before I put the screen protectors on.

After all that I thought I'd read my book of Kenji Miyazawa short stories that I'd bout the last time I was in OCS, only to find that I hadn't been paying attention and had in fact bought a poetry collection. I will wimp out of that and read either Kino's Journey or something else instead...

Quotes and words

From my reading of the BBC website (which really has gone downhill in terms of quality of English):

'"We are carrying out executions by selecting the people whom we can execute with a feeling of confidence and responsibility," Japanese Minister of Justice Hatoyama Kunio told a news conference.' (Full story here)

'But this ... is nothing compared to an e-mail sent by an extremely powerful person at JP Morgan encouraging his investment banking team to be more human. In it he said: "Take the time today to call a client and tell them you love them. They won't forget you made the call." Indeed. I'm sure the client would remember such a call for a very long time.

'If love has no place in the language of business, neither does passion. Passion, says the dictionary, means a strong sexual desire or the suffering of Christ at the crucifixion. In other words it doesn't really have an awful lot to do with a typical day in the office - unless things have gone very wrong indeed.' (Article by Lucy Kellaway, 'Are you going forward? Then stop now)

And this - amazing torn paper art - look out for the parachuting tanuki and Christopher Walken!