It's two days on from that heavy snowfall and the snow is still here. In the area where I work today, the snow was almost half a foot thick in places. Thankfully, some people have cleared away the snow from the more frequented paths thereby eliminating the possibility of an embarassing death. Those parts were pretty safe.
Other parts either (a) less heavily travelled (b) not in direct sunlight or (c) both had that dark and sinister bit of winter imbued in it. The weather is still hovering some degrees above zero which technically means that the snow should be melting, albeit quite slowly. But with the windchill and several inches of what can now almost be considered permafrost, what snow that IS melting is refreezing under the normal puffy blanket which means that once the normal snow is gone, it's like walking on sheet ice.
Walking to work today required me taking the 'road less travelled' as it were. Meaning, half my journey consisted of me walking veeeeeeery carefully across snow/ice and sometimes down a slope. My saving grace was the fact that not all of this was completely ice. Some portions were still snow-like and this in turn meant that I could crunch my way schoolward without slipping and sliding around like Rudolph on Absinthe. Imagine my surprise and bemusement when a normal salaryman wearing normal work shoes shot past me with his suitcase walking like Nanook of the frickin' North. *grumble grumble* ACGs my hairy beanbag *grumble grumble*
Maybe I should have worn golf shoes or something.

On the way home, I saw some people clearing away some of the frozen death-walkways. Their methods ranged from the boring and expected (sprinkling rock salt or using a shovel to break up the ice and scoop it to the side of the road) and the slightly strange (using a small hammer to break up the ice and THEN using a shovel) to the rubberneck-inducing (using a golf club to putt ice chips into a drain).

First snowfall this winter!
And it's been snowing since I woke up.
Quite unusual actually as I don't really remember seeing much of it thus far.
But now it's covering everything outside in about two inches of fluffy snow. ^_^

Mums have Mother's Day.
Dads have Father's Day.
What do single men have?

Palm Sunday.

Was invited round to Jin and Tomoko's on the 2nd to partake in some 'New Year's food'. Goodly fare to be sure and a nice way to spend the day although we finished it at the local pool hall putting balls in pockets. The rest of the week was spent lamenting the fact that I had a lot of words to put on paper but the ability to actually make sense of those words seemed to be on vacation. Thankfully, as I type this, my assignment is now complete and waiting to be printed. That's a little bit of weight off my mind.

On the 9th, I met up with some of my classmates from uni to go for a 新年会 (literally 'New Year Meeting') which is just another excuse to go out, drink, and make with much merriment. A whole bunch of us met in Shinjuku and made our way to Doze, a strange little bar located right next to a store promoting some sort of Adult entertainment (not sure if it was a video shop, a massage shop, or something else entirely). How do I know? The posters of large-chested women around the doors kinda gave it away.
So here's the deal, 2 hours in the bar, drink as much as you want (from a set menu including beer, cocktails and soft drinks), and there's some food provided (nuts, sausages, fried chicken, and pasta). A so-so deal. Noone drank much (but 'much' is a relative term anyway). We were done at 8ish and some left but some of us who were still a little wired went for the now-almost-mandatory karaoke session. 2 hours in a karaoke box with yet another all-you-can-drink deal (only one beer each and unlimited, but strangely watered-down cocktails thereafter). The singing was always fun. Much warbling was done by all in attendance and I actually couldn't take the train all the way home. Blasted thing stopped two stations away from mine so I had to take a cab back. At after-midnight rates. Grr ... oh well ...


My classmates have another outing planned for the last Sunday in February. A hot spring somewhere ^_^
I love onsens ... haven't been to one in 3 years (I think). The best time to go is when it's cold and ... oh, what's this? It's pretty cold right now! Handy, that. Yeah ... can't beat sitting butt-nekkid in an outdoor bath filled with hot water.
As someone once said "It's time for Naked Friendship!"

The end of another year and the start of another.
Feels like every other new year.
No, I'm lying. The end certainly feels like the end of any other year. But from end to end, upon a little reflection ... definitely not the same.
I'm not back in Malaysia this year.
Definitely colder ... brr ...

Some of the highlights of the year gone by:
I've learned to be more tolerant when it comes to shopping (in certain situations).
I played the tour guide.
Went to some awesome parties (Van Dyk, Ground Beat, Labyrinth, Dusk Til Dawn, Nagisa)
I started my Masters.
I went to my first baseball game ever.
My plan for world domination is slowly progressing.
Heard some fantastic one-liners from my students.
My sis graduated.
I was actually a wingman for someone ... and it paid off ^_^
Met lots of girls ... This really should be number 1.
I dressed up as a pink bunny.

Yes, indeed. A busy, if thoroughly enjoyable year.
Here's hoping 2006 will just as good if not better!

Since the 21st, nothing much happened on Christmas ... unfortunately. I was nursing a cold and was bedridden for most of the festivities.

Once that was dealt with however, I was back up better than ever and went for a nabe party at Sean's. Sean and Tomoko provided the pork, crab, and prawns. Jin and Tomoko brought the veg. And I brought the udon, soup base, and tofu. We actually had enough to fill the huge clay pot 4 times.

A few days ago on the 30th, there was another party at the increasingly popular Raver's Cafe. There was a percussion band performing before the regular DJ sets and they're apparently quite popular. Gotta say, I've never seen that many people there before. Easily twice the usual number of people. On the plus side, there were some new girls there but on the minus side, I felt it was way too crowded. The percussion band also kinda overstayed their welcome. So they were good. But the regular clientele aren't there for percussion performances. They actually started up again after the first DJ started spinning. Quite rude if you ask me. But once the DJs got into the groove, it was game on! As per usual, met some hot chickies. True, as usual, not the kind I'd like to actually go out with but man, fun to flirt with anyway ^^