Just when you think its all ticking along nicely something has to tip over the ink well and spill it all over the neat pages of your life. I spent most of Tuesday at the doctors clinic, and hey the good news is that my cholestoral is well normal finally! But theres a bit of a problem brewing else. There is no definitive diagnosis yet but the one that is scaring the shit out of me cannot yet be ruled out.

Been playing around with a new picture gallery toy on the internet.

The Big Picture Gallery

I’ve posted a cut down and edited version on the Kyoto in Autumn pictures.

Would you believe that when you boil it all down I actually missed my new adopted home. And after all the heartache of adjusting that was a shock.

"True Friendship"
(With none of that Sissy Crap!!!!)

You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this card – just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.

1. When you are sad — I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you that way.
2. When you are blue — I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
3. When you smile — I will know you finally got laid.
4. When you are scared — I will rag on you about it every chance I get.
5. When you are worried — I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit ! whining.
6. When you are confused — I will use little words.
7. When you are sick — Stay the hell away from me until you are well again. I don’t want catch whatever you have.
8 . When you fall — I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.
9. This is my oath….. ! I pledge it to the end. "Why?" you may ask."because you are my friend".

Friendship is like peeing your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.

Send this to "all 10" of your friends, then get depressed because you can only think of four!!! (don’t send it back to me….I don’t want to hear it!!!)

And remember….when life hands you Lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over

(2007 September – If only I realised at the time how this was going to be so true!  15 days later I was diagnosed with cancer and really found out about friends.)

Single occupant
Bathroom is locked. Why knock? Door
Didn’t lock itself.

For this and more little gems check out

Office Haiku

It’s certainly made life at the office a little more amusing.

I’ve noticed somehtibg while walking around the centre of Sydney. My first
reaction was how small it was, but that’s an unfair observation based on
relative experience. Once putting this aside I really started to look
around and then noticed what a wonderful mix of new and old the buildings
are.

I guess in Japan if its not over a thousand years old it’s game on to tear
it down and replace with something modern of dubious arhitectual merits.

Sydney being relatively young still values the buildings of yesteryear, and
its not until they are absent are they missed. A message to the planners
of Sydney ‘don’t rip your history down’
— Sent from My Blackberry Wireless Handheld —

Well its time come back! Just been through duty free and remembered to
pick up some sparkling shiraz. Well. The lady saw me coming

‘Do you have sparkling shiraz?’
‘Right this way.’
‘That’s it I’ll take a bottle.’
‘Just one sir?’.
‘Two bottles then’.
‘If you buy three bottles you get a 10% discount.’
‘I can take three bottles into Japan.?’
‘Of course.’
‘Well then three bottles it is then.’

Three bottles are duely selected and prepared for packing.

‘Your not carrying any other wine are you?’
‘No, just a tin of spaghetti and a bottle of mint sauce.’

The ‘oh my god, he’s a fruit loop and he looked so normal expression’.

I think she gave me double packing on the bag in case I had future plans to
swing the bag wildly around my head and they feared legal proceedings.
Might explain why the second bag was inside out with no label showing.

If only she knew that sparkling shiraz is the perfect starter for a dinner
party of roast lamb and roast lamb really mint sauce to really make the taste buds
tingle.

The tin of spaghetti I hear you asking – well that’s has to do with the
morning after brekky!!!!

So my place roast dinner – lambo with sparkling shiraz, sorry no breakfast
only one tin of spagola.

It is hsrd to believe that I have been here for 1 year now. Time flys when
you cannot tell the time! Oddly the language lessons are paying off as
things being said around me are registering. I am nowing waiting for a
flight to Sydney and already it is a little disconcerting having so many
conversations in english going on around me. Its like the filters are
currently wide open so its all flooding in. I am curios to find out how
long it will be before I drown it all out again. I’ll get back to you on
that.
— Sent from My Blackberry Wireless Handheld —

It is hard to believe that I have been here for 1 year now. Time flys when
you cannot tell the time! Oddly the language lessons are paying off as
things being said around me are registering. I am now waiting for a
flight to Sydney and already it is a little disconcerting having so many
conversations in english going on around me. Its like the filters are
currently wide open so its all flooding in. I am curious to find out how
long it will be before I drown it all out again. I’ll get back to you on
that.

For reasons unbeknown to myself I’m heading back to Kyoto for a long weekend. The place Di and her mother were staying at had a spare room!! And given that it was a long weekend and every person so possible can is heading to Kyoto this was a good sign! Booking tickets with my friendly travel agents JTB also worked out well, snagged for myself one of the last tickets out of Tokyo on the Nozomi Shinkansen Saturday morning, and get this, sitting across the aisle from Di and mum on the way back.

First stop was Nanzenji to meet up with them for lunch. There is something very special about Kyoto as within minutes of arriving the stress and rubbish of Tokyo just started to drain away, after just 30 minutes of aimlessly meandering around taking pictures it felt like I had gone a world away! There were some interesting shots of what you not wear when out Temple hoping. The small garden behind the causeway was open this time, and oddly not busy at all considering how many people were walking around the main temple complex, the changing weather of light rain to brillant streaks of sunshine gave the garden a timeless quality and kept its energy level up. Really time to just open up and absorb it all in!

Lunch of yodofu (simmered Tofu), completed the transformation. Di had been given the inside scoop to head off to Daigo-ji which is a temple in the south west and off the beaten track, and what a gem it was. Links below.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3916.html
http://www.daigoji.or.jp/e/index.html

The garden (which you are not allowed to take pictures of) is totally stunning and you just want to sit and absorb. By the time we got the small shrine at the top we had the whole place to ourselves. The photos (when uploaded) are here at the gallery.

We had managed to avoid the madding crowds and returning to Kyoto to find our accomodation in North Kyoto we just travelled beneath the thronging streets! By the time we emerged at Kitayama station it was surberbia. The place Casa Nutu is just a little difficult to find and in the dark its quite the challenge but well worth it. The house used to belong to our hostess’s mother and father. She returned to care for them and after there passing decided to open the house up as a small guest house. Its an original Kyoto home and has to double rooms down stairs and two small upstairs. And forget on-suite and private bathrooms, this was a real home and has not been changed drastically to make it work as a small and totally unique guesthouse. I’m not even going to mention how to get there or the phone number – as we are heading back!!