Based on my past experience of going to a gym in Japan I knew that there would be a lot of people staring at me and wanting to poke me. Especially the old folk. Here in Japan there are 70 year old dudes at the gym pumping iron. Pretty impressive seeing that where I’m from most people that age are circling the drain on their last legs…

There was this one dude who seemed to be there every time I went. He looked like one of those busy bodies that knew everybody. He was always talking to a different person. He tried to nod his head and smile at me a few times but I just pretended that I couldn’t see him.

I know his type well. He is looking for an icebreaker. Once the ice is broken he will start trying to talk with me and get all pally pally. So I kept ignoring him and avoiding eye contact.

One day I was doing some bench presses. I did my last lift and sat up. It was a really hot day. I remember thinking to myself,“Woah, I’m parched”. I looked down to my left and saw an unopened bottle of sports drink.

Wait a minute, time out!!

There are only two possible ways that this drink could have gotten there:

1) The power of the mind. I was so parched and needed a drink so badly that I somehow willed it out of the vending machine and next to my foot.

2) I bought it but forgot about it.

Using logical deduction I came to the conclusion that it was neither of the above. I looked around and saw dude smiling. “Fuck, he got me” is what went through my mind. He came over and said, “For you”. I tried to say no thanks but he insisted and wouldn’t take it back -_-

So long story short ever since then dude is always trying to talk to me and keeps randomly throwing me drinks…

I have been watching a cool TV series called Criminal Minds lately. A team of FBI agents who make profiles on criminals. Here is my profile on the dude from our brief interaction:

“I don’t know his age but I think he is in his late 20s or 30s. He is about 5 foot tall. He has no job. He told me that he wants a girlfriend but is too pussy (chicken) to talk to women. He goes to the gym everyday and stays from 10am till closing time… “

I try not to judge people or anything but dude is a bit …

It is good to be dedicated about something. But when you aren’t training for the Olympics and you don’t work at the gym, what excuse do you really have for spending all day everyday there?

I think a few times he tried asking me what my plans were and then tried hinting he would like to tag along LOL. I obviously shot him down. I kinda feel sorry for dude. A part of me wants to take him under my wing, help him get laid, get him addicted coke and basically just help him get a life..

But part of me wants to just tell him to fuck off and never come near me again… However, the gym is pretty small and I don’t really want the awkward vibes… 

It is not that I am anti-social or anything. I just wanna pump iron for an hour or so in silence and then go home…

I think I messed up by taking the drink. I should have just left it untouched and walked away…

I sold my soul for a bottle of sports drink

Anybody in any weird predicaments with people that they have to be cool with even though they don’t want to be?

I can stomach it if I don’t have to see the person again/often, but when they are at a place you go to on a regular basis….

I hate having to fake being nice…

On sunday we went to Toshimaen Amusement park. We decided to warm up and go on the Flume Ride. It was a log water ride with a small dip at the end. It was actually kind of fun and had a decent dip at the end for a small water ride.

0.5/5 thrill-o-meter
 

We then decided to be brave and ride what seemed to be the flagship ride of the park which was called the Cyclone. Unfortunately the dips were too low and the coaster was too slow. There was a cool part where we went into a pitch black tunnel for a few seconds and could not see anything.

2/5 thrill-o-meter

Next was the Flying Pirate. It is one of those big boats that swing up and down. It is quite a popular ride at most amusement parks.

1.5/5 thrill-o-meter

Across from the Flying Pirate was a yellow roller coaster called the Corkscrew that goes sideways and upside down. It had potential to be a great ride but it was over way too quickly. It was an anti-climax. Kind of like when you…. never mind…

2/5 thrill-o-meter

The ghost house was ridiculously bad. Nothing more to say -_-

0/5 thrill-o-meter

Meanwhile, two kids broke into the zoo, stole a panda and went on a rampage!!

The flying swings ride was actually quite soothing. I don’t think I have been on one of those since I was really little

1.5/5 thrill-o-meter

All in all it was a fun day. The queues were short, it was close to home and the environment was pleasant. However, for an action junkie such as myself it has left me itching for more. It is golden week in 2 weeks time. Anybody up for going to Fujikyuu Highlands and riding some real rollercoasters ?

I don’t know a thing about photography. But nevertheless it is a topic that I find very interesting. So, in order to try and develop some skills and learn how to use all of the settings on my camera I have set myself a little challenge. Once a month (or maybe fortnightly) I will grab my cam and go to a random place and take photos until I have at least 3 photos I am happy with. I will then post them and you guys can berate me and tell me how much I suck, and hopefully give me some pointers to help me suck a little bit less :p

Today’s location was Hikarigoka Park (biggest park in Tokyo?) which is a few minutes from my house. I was mainly snapping people who were doing some sort of sports activity.

So the first photo I tried to take was of a kid throwing a baseball against a wall. I wanted to try and get a photo with him on the far right side and the ball in flight on the far left side. I kind of succeeded with the positioning, but the photo itself is kinda meh..

I took it on sports mode to try and catch fast movement but couldn’t really get a sharp shot. Any tips on taking shots of moving people without getting blurs? Is there too much wasted space in the background?

Second photo was of some dudes playing basketball. I took quite a few shots but sadly this is the best I could get. I dunno, maybe if I got it a few split seconds faster while the ball was still in his hands it would have looked better? Or if I actually got the hoop in the photo as well?

Third photo was of some ladies doing tai-chi. Maybe I could have zoomed in more or got a better angle? Also what do you think of the colour? Too dull, too dark?

CONCLUSION:

So what I learnt today is that 3x zoom just does not cut it… I think I missed out on a few good shots because I had to be ridiculously close to get any sort of picture. Also my reflexes suck. I was always like a second too slow and kept missing the shot I wanted to get

I am using a 7.2 mega pixel Sony T30.

So, let the berating begin lol.

I used to be a football fan. Liverpool was my team. Why do I say, “Used to be” you ask? Well I probably have not watched a game or read up on anything football related for the best part of 2 years.

As far as I can tell football does not come up on TV. Maybe there is some special channel, but the games are on at 1-2am while I am asleep. Come to think of it, I don’t really watch TV full stop anymore.

A funny thing happened last year sometime. I probably couldn’t tell you what month it happened in. I signed onto MSN messenger and saw that somebody had changed their name to, “First black president Barack” or something along those lines. I remember thinking to myself, “What is this clown smoking” and, “Who in the hell is Barack…”

So I Googled his name. I clicked on the first hit and see some skinny Middle Eastern looking dude and the words, “WINNER” written above his picture. I was confused. What in the world had happened? Some black guy has become president? So I messaged the guy on MSN.

Asking him outright, “Who is Barack?” would make me look pretty retarded since it seemed to be pretty big news. So I decided to play it cool.

Me: “Sup man, it’s a good day. Barack did it. We have a new president.”

But obviously he was AFK (away from keyboard) and didn’t answer lol..

So I Googled more and found out that he wasn’t the president. He had beaten Clinton for the democratic vote or something like that. It is a good thing that the MSN guy was AFK. I decided to block him on MSN for a few weeks and give him some time to forget the retarded message I had sent him.

I have been in Japan for like 2.5 years now. I don’t read the newspapers, or more correctly I can’t. If I sat down with a dictionary for a few hours I would be able to knock out quite a few pages. But that just isn’t happening. g

I don’t really turn my TV on much so I don’t catch the news. Reading news online is something I don’t really like doing. I only check out murder cases and weird stuff once in a while when people send me the links.

As a result, I am really behind on current affairs (like 2 years behind). I am a Brit, but I only found out about Gordon Brown becoming the Prime Minster late last year sometime.

Heck I didn’t even know it was Easter until someone told me on Facebook on Saturday..

It is like I am living in some alternate universe.

If someone asked me what is going on in Japan now I would not even be able to give them an answer. I am not Japanese, and even though I live here I am not really in the, “System” so to speak. I think because of those reasons I have convinced myself that is ok to adopt a, “I don’t need to know what is going on in this country” attitude. And when you are abroad I guess it is easy to just let yourself say screw it all, and walk around living oblivious of things that are going on around you.

As a result of that I stopped taking interest in not only Japan, but things going on back home and in the rest of the world.

I think I am going to have to start forcing myself to spend at least 20 minutes a day reading Yahoo news.

Elevator Mind Tricks

I live on the 8^th floor. Got a pretty nice view of Shinjuku at night time. All those red flashing lights. I can’t wait until it gets a bit warmer. I will buy a few chairs and sit out on my balcony using my laptop.

I have two elevators at the entrance of my building. They are normally quite busy. It seems like the elevator software normally keeps one at the ground floor and one on the higher floors. The people in my estate are not too kind with the lift in my short experience. It seems like as soon as they get half way into it they have already pressed the button to close the door.

I guess it is not that big of a deal. But it sucks when you are literally 5 foot steps behind someone, but by the time you get to the lift the person and the elevator are already long gone. I don’t know, but it would be nice to like just take a quick peek left and right before u hop in and check if anybody is around before blasting off to the 10^th floor.

Once in a while I will see someone getting into the elevator and sprint to it and press the button just before the door has fully closed. The shocked look on their face as they see the shutting doors go in reverse and little old me walking in with a smirk on my face is so awesome.

But, apart from the no waiting for people policy I have had quite a few interesting encounters in elevators in my building.

I already spoke of the one where the old dude asked me if I was the “Guy” who lives on the 8^th floor.

The day I moved in, I was moving my stuff up in the elevator and some old dude was in it with me. I remember our conversation was something like:

Old Man: Hi.

Me: Hi.

Old Man: Are you married?

Me: …um no…

Old Man: Have you been in Japan long?

Me: umm.. not so long.

Old Man: How much is your rent?

Me: (what the!!??)

This was literally the first time I ever rode the elevator.

There was another time when I woke up at 5am and was going to the shop to buy breakfast because I had no food in my house. I got in the elevator and the person in the house next to me got in as well.

Person: Good morning

Me: Morning

Person: Do you always wake up this early?

Me: umm. Yeah

Person: Are you on your way to work.

Me: No I am going to the 100 yen shop…

Person: Me too.

We both got out of the elevator and the person just walked off without saying anything. It was pretty funny because after asking me a million and one questions we both walked to the same shop about 1-2 steps away from each other with the person acting like they didn’t know me…

On Saturday night I dropped my chick to the station, bought some spaghetti and was about to cook it. I realized I had no onions so I decided to run to the shop. I got in the elevator but heard footsteps so I decided to wait a few seconds. Someone came and we both rode.

Old Lady: You are from India, right?

Me: (WHAT THE!!??) No.. I am from the UK… And I am black..

Old Lady: There are a lot of Indians aren’t there?

Me: (huh??!? What does that even mean) um…!??..

There is an Indian family next door to me so maybe she was getting confused or something. I don’t what she meant by there are a lot of Indians. Was she talking about our building? The country? I haven’t the foggiest…