Mata Kimi Ni Koishiteru
27 December 2010
Well, Christmas is over for another year. I would like to say 'good riddance' but, rather surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it this year. Normally I would spend Christmas Day all alone and wishing I could hibernate until Spring. However, this year the gods must have been feeling quite generous. I was invited to a Christmas party by some Korean friends. I don't usually like going to parties as they're rather loud and obnoxious affairs at the best of times, but this was more like a gathering of friends than a party so I decided to go along. We all made some food and had a Christmas meal together. Was quite possibly the strangest Christmas dinner I have ever had but it was also quite possibly the most enjoyable as well.
After dinner we spent the rest of the night messing around with fruit and talking about various philosophical topics in broken Japanese. I'm glad I've managed to find some kind and generous friends in the short time I have been in Japan. I can quite safely say that this country has the most friendly people I have ever met. It's taken awhile, but I think I can say I'm beginning feel glad that I'm in Japan. Thinking about it, it's already been three months since I left the UK. I'm already about 25% of the way through my year abroad, yet it feels like it has only just started in earnest. I'm looking forward to being able to really make the most of my time here when 2011 arrives.
Posted byHocchan at 8:41 am 0 comments
Merry Christmas, Deshou?
24 December 2010
Here's to a very lonely Christmas! Hope everyone is going to have a very merry Christmas! Please celebrate for me as well, as I won't be able to enjoy it very much this year.
Posted byHocchan at 3:00 pm 0 comments
Out-of-Date
23 December 2010
The information in the sidebars is so hopelessly out-of-date that it's rather embarrassing to look at. I'll have to update them as soon as possible. Tomorrow... can't be arsed right now ^^
Posted byHocchan at 1:45 pm 0 comments
Ame Futte Ji Katamaru
As Jill Valentine once said in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, 'I'm still alive'. Although, there were a few times during these past couple of months when I wished I wasn't. I'm not going to lie; life has been challenging, nay, gruelling since my break up in November. I was seriously contemplating jacking it all in and returning to the UK back then. I owe everything to my amazing friends who kept me going through that tough period with their words of comfort and encouragement. If it wasn't for them, I can say with certainty that I would be back in miserable, dreary England right now with no future prospects. But instead, thanks to them, I'm still here in Japan, fighting and slowly remembering what I'd been working for all these years. I'm not fully recovered yet, though, that's going to take a bit longer. I've made mistakes that I wish I hadn't, and I'm regretting ever having been so weak-willed and cowardly to allow them to happen. I'm really going to have to work really hard next year to atone for all the bad things I've done to people this year. Rest assured, I will become a better person.
With only two days until Christmas and nine days until 2011, I'm beginning to look back on 2010 and review the last twelve months. Like those proverbial football matches, this year really has been a 'game of two halves'. For the first half, life really couldn't have been much better. I was in a happy relationship, I was on my way to Japan, and I was enjoying each day that came. However, things really turned to shit during the second half of the year. My relationship was in trouble, I was miserable, and I was wishing I was somewhere else a lot of the time. To be perfectly honest, I can't wait for midnight on the 31st December to tick around so I can resign this year into the annals of history. I'm looking forward to being able to make a fresh start in 2011 and being able to recover even a small piece of that happiness that was so cruelly torn from me. Not long to go now, just got to hold on for a little longer. Wish me luck!
Posted byHocchan at 12:49 pm 0 comments
Day 24 - The Trenches
08 October 2010
The situation has become like the long, drawn-out trench warfare of World War I. Every day there seems to be a new enemy to fight. And every day is an uphill struggle to avoid falling into the pits of despair again. I don’t know why it’s become like this again. It was all going so well only a week or so ago. But recently it seems to be getting a lot tougher to keep my spirits up. While I still have enjoyable moments throughout each day, whenever there’s a lull in proceedings I tend to feel a sense of uneasiness wash over me. And no matter how much I keep trying to tell myself that it’s only a temporary spell, I can’t help but worry that it’s becoming more frequent and more tangible with each occurrence. I fear that I may be turning back into the person I swore I would not become ever again. If that happened then I would lose everything I’ve worked so hard for, and that’s probably the biggest demon I face right now – the fear of returning to a state of depressive paranoia.
The war is by no means lost, however, I still have plenty of fighting spirit left in me. I have the determination and the willpower to overcome this obstacle. I’m not going to let all that’s precious to me slip out of my grasp again. I refuse to be beaten. I will succeed. I will be happy.
Posted byHocchan at 10:14 pm 0 comments
Day 19 - The Tide Is Turning
04 October 2010
It's been awhile since I've written a status report. It's partly due to the lack of internet in my room and partly due to the fact that there have been a lot of things to do since arriving in Japan. Unfortunately, it seems as though it’s going to take a little bit longer until I get internet in my room. There seems to be some sort of problem with my application but I’m not entirely sure what that problem is. They’ve told me to call them but I’m not very confident about being able to understand what they’ll say if it’s something technical. I might have to get someone to help make the call for me. Why can’t anything ever be simple? *sigh*
That last sigh brings me onto the current status of my psyche. While it’s been fairly good for the last week or so, I’ve noticed that the negative thoughts are slowly, but surely, creeping back into my head again. It feels like the tides of war are turning, and not in my favour. It’s not that I’m letting them control my actions again. It’s just that it seems to take a lot more effort to remain positive and dispel the negative thoughts from my head. It gets very tiring after a while if you constantly have to cheer yourself up. I’m feeling despondent at times, even though I shouldn’t be. I’m fighting it, I really am. But it’s a war of attrition at the moment…
Posted byHocchan at 8:53 pm 0 comments
I Really Don't Like Ube/Yamaguchi
27 September 2010
I don’t have an internet connection at the moment but I’m going to write this now so I can see if my opinion has changed by the time I publish it. I arrived at my university in Yamaguchi a few hours ago. Although it was a really nice, sunny day when I set off from Nagoya, by the time I reached Okayama it had begun to go cloudy. And by the time I arrived in Yamaguchi it was pissing it down. The rain seemed to get heavier as I rode on the local train to my destination too. It wasn’t exactly the most reassuring of welcomes… The countryside was really mountainous and full of rice fields. Dotted throughout the landscape were small, traditional Japanese houses, which I assume would have looked very picturesque had it not been pissing it down all over the place. Every now and again there would be a few more built-up areas that seemed to have some large stores. But it was nothing like Nagoya.
I think I may have inadvertently created a culture shock for myself by visiting a big city like Nagoya as soon as I arrived in Japan. The place where I am at now is nothing like that. It’s most definitely more on the rural side of Japan, and even though it’s classified as a city, it doesn’t really feel like one in most places. I haven’t had any time to explore the area yet (what with the rain and the lack of daylight) but there doesn’t seem to be very much around. There does appear to be a few large supermarkets near the campus, though, so that’s not too bad. And there’s even a Uniqlo here, if this map is to be believed. Any place that has a Uniqlo can’t be too bad; although I can’t imagine the shop being very big…
I think the biggest disappointment has to be my room. While I got my wish and ended up on the second floor (third if you use Japanese/American system), the quality of the accommodation is really poor. I know the rent is really cheap (not that cheap once you add all the utility bills onto it, though) but it should be a bit better than it is. The furniture that they’ve given me is really old and dirty, and the bathroom is tiny and doesn’t even have a proper shower basin. And the worst part is there are tons of little cockroaches and beetles crawling out of every little crevice. I’ve already vacuumed up about 30 of the bastards since arriving, but I think there are loads more hiding somewhere. I’m going to have to see if I can get some traps or something for them.
I’m not sure how long it will take for me to get an internet connection in my room, but it seems like it will take the best part of this week at least to set everything up. I’m told that there are computers to use in the library that’s on the campus but I can’t go in until I’ve made my library card. I’m supposed to be heading into the city tomorrow to register for my alien card, open a bank account, and register for the health insurance. I’ve also been given a bike to use (I say given, I had to pay for it) but if it’s raining again tomorrow I doubt I’ll be able to use it yet. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get a prepaid mobile phone in the next couple of days so I can at least e-mail my girlfriend without needing an internet connection. I’ll see how it goes. Right now I’m tired from today’s travelling and the shock, so I’m going to bed.
Posted byHocchan at 9:48 pm 0 comments
Neuroticism
06 September 2010
I had never fully understood the definition of 'neuroticism' until today when I decided to look it up. I had a sneaky suspicion that I would have some aspects of it in my personality but I never expected it to be a completely accurate depiction of what I'm like. It was as though they'd based their definition of the word on me. Everything trait of neuroticism was something I could identify with. From the constant feelings of depression and anxiety, to the borderline obsessive-complusive behaviour, they were all to be found in my personality. So I guess that makes me a neurotic? I don't know if that's the term. But it's not exactly a pleasing discovery (even though I had kind of expected it - which in itself is sort of neurotic).
I have no idea why I'm such a classic case of neuroticism. I don't know where it stems from. Could be why I always focus on the crap stuff that has happened in my life, rather than the good things. Though I swear, in my head, the number of majorly bad things far outnumber the number of good things that have happened. But maybe that's just my neuroticism clouding my judgement and making me biased. I don't know if there's any way to fix this personality problem. It's not quite as easy as saying 'don't worry, be happy' and expecting life to be sunshine and rainbows. I do wish I had the ability to stop worrying about things so much and to stop expecting the worst in everything. But it's difficult (there comes that negativity again). Sigh...
Posted byHocchan at 12:07 am 0 comments
99.9% Of Bacteria
04 September 2010
I've noticed an annoying trend recently with television adverts. There seems to be an obsession with getting rid of "99.9% of bacteria" in almost every product. And from the way they present it you'd think that you'd die a horrible, crippling death from these 'dangerous' bacteria if you didn't buy their products. There's one advert for some washing powder that has bacteria-killing action in it (99.9% of them). Seriously, what the fuck? Unless you're trying to launder the contents of a sterile room in a hospital, why the hell would you need to kill bacteria on your clothes (not that there's much to begin with). How have people survived until now with just normal washing powder if this product is so important? The answer: it's not required at all. It's a completely bullshit product.
There's another one for anti-bacterial wipes that's used to clean surfaces. Now I'm all for keeping surfaces clean, especially if they're used for food preparation. But seriously, in the advert they have someone eating food from the surface. Who would do that? Use a fucking plate! That way you won't give yourself food poisoning, and you won't need to use that product as much, if at all. And why is it that everything can only kill 99.9% of bacteria? You might as well say 100% of bacteria. Is it really 99.9%? Has anyone actually checked? Such bullcrap.
Posted byHocchan at 9:30 pm 0 comments
Calm Down, Dear!
Phew! Now that that small (massive) irritation is out of the way for the time being, I'll try and write a more constructive post. Not that anything's been solved by venting my frustrations on the blog, but at least it's taken my mind of the matter for a short period of time. That should give me a brief respite to calm down (dear) and think of a solution to the uber-crap situation I now find myself in. In the meantime though, I suppose it would be a good idea to update the current situation regarding the year abroad in Japan. I've finally heard from Yamaguchi University and they sent me my Certificate of Eligibility, as well as some other information regarding accommodation and stuff, in the post. I can't tell you how good it was to actually receive this stuff in the post. After months of anguish and torment, my nightmare was finally over. I could, at last, book my flights and begin preparations. Having gotten my Certificate of Eligibility, I recently went down to London to get my student visa from the Japanese Embassy.
The train tickets down to London were a rip-off. Cost me just under £100 altogether. And for that money, I got a seat on a train that was cramped and 45 mins late there, and 10 minutes late back. Shitty trains are so shitty in the UK. Thanks to the train being so late I wasn't able to spend as long as I would have liked in London. I spent about 30 mins in the Underground trying to buy tickets, then I went straight to the Japanese embassy and got my visa application sorted. Then I decided to go through Green Park and take a look at Buckingham Palace since it was so close. After that I had just over an hour to head down to the Japan Centre and buy some lunch, then head over to Uniqlo and buy a t-shirt. I didn't have time for anything else after that so I just headed back to the train station via the Underground. I don't know if people who have to use the Underground everyday during rush hour share the same opinion, but I found the experience to be very enjoyable. The speed and convenience of the system is very nice, and I liked the feeling of navigating the tunnels as I went from station to station. It was kind of warm down there though, that was the only thing. They could do with some air conditioning in there or something.
After waiting a few days my visa arrived in the post this morning, as they had said it would. I don't know why the photo they've used for the visa turned out so dark though. The photo that I gave them was fine. Maybe they have a shitty scanner or something? In any case, I'm all sorted now for Japan. I have my visa, my accommodation, my plane ticket, and very soon I'll be packing my stuff. There's still some crap to sort out thanks to SHIT-house, but one step at a time.
Posted byHocchan at 6:33 pm 0 comments
It Was Your Bloody Fault!
14 July 2010
Success! I can now buy things online again! My replacement debit card arrived in the post today and it was accepted by Amazon. It turns out that the problem of not being able to use my Visa Electron card online was isolated to my old card. I don't think I'll ever be able to find out why it suddenly decided it wouldn't work, but I don't really care anymore. At least I now know that Halifax were the ones at fault after all. My new card is practically the same as the old one and yet it was accepted with no problems at all. So screw you, Halifax, you lying bunch of halfwits, it was clearly your fault. Try listening to your customers next time instead of trying to fob me off with a shitty excuse!
Posted byHocchan at 10:17 pm 2 comments
It's Not Our Fault, Honest!
13 July 2010
I called the bank again today about my Visa Electron card problem but the matter still hasn't been resolved. This time, because I'd ordered a new card yesterday, they were trying to blame it on that. I had to repeatedly tell them that this problem existed way before I ordered a new card. However, they also told me that because I'd ordered a new card, the expiry date on my current card had changed. They told me to try it again with the new expiry date and see if that worked. It didn't, no surprise there. I asked them once again to make sure there wasn't a problem with my account or a block on the card. They said there was absolutely nothing wrong. I would have argued further but it seems like they've already sent my new card out by First Class post so it should arrive in the next couple of days. I decided to wait for that to arrive and see if the problem continues.
Meanwhile, just in case I am stuck with a Visa Electron card that won't work online, I've decided to apply for a Lloyds TSB account. Unlike Halifax's basic account, they offer a proper Visa Debit card rather than a Visa Electron card. The only drawback is that I'm only allowed to withdraw cash from a Lloyds TSB cash machine, but on the plus side I am allowed to use the branch counters to pay in money (unlike Halifax if it's less than £300). If my application is successful, I may turn the Lloyds TSB account into my main one, and just have the Halifax account as a back up. I haven't heard from them yet so I'll have to wait and see.
Posted byHocchan at 6:49 pm 0 comments
Work, Damn You!
Just a quick update about my Visa Electron card. It's still not working for online purchases (which is a major pain in the arse as I do a lot of online shopping) but it works when I use chip-and-pin in shops. I went into the bank today but they tried to fob me off with the usual "Oh, it's because Electron isn't that widely accepted, blah blah blah..." bullshit. If it's not that widely accepted then why the hell have I had no problems buying stuff online for the past two years?! It's only been in the last week or so that the card has been getting declined. I need to be able to use the card to buy things from the internet. It's just crippling not being able to use my card. It's right when I need to buy some stuff too. It's so irritating, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?
Ahem! Anyway... I asked them to provide me with a new card. Unfortunately, it's got to be another Electron card but hopefully it'll sort out whatever dickery has befallen my current one. If not, then I don't know what I'm going to do. The internet is just a much better place for buying things that aren't groceries or everyday stuff. I don't know how I'll manage if I'm not able to buy anything online. I hope it won't come to that.
PS. Royal Bank of Scotland is to blame for all this bullshit!
Posted byHocchan at 1:45 am 0 comments
It's Not Hip-Hop, It's Electro(n), Prick!
11 July 2010
I feel much better after writing that last update. It seems like writing all my worries and anxieties down has helped me to deal with them. Previously I had been bottling it all up inside and that had made me feel awful. It really does seem as though this blog's only purpose at the moment is a place for me to vent my frustrations. With that in mind, I'm going to write about another thing that has been annoying the hell out of me lately - my Visa Electron card.
A few days ago I tried to buy a Dell Studio laptop for someone using my Electron card. The site said that they didn't take Electron but I thought I'd give it a go anyway (from past experience it usually works). But for some reason it got declined. I spoke to a representative from Dell who tried to use the card again but got declined once more. It was definitely not because I didn't have enough money in the account, I had the online banking webpage right in front on me. Eventually I managed to pay Dell by arranging a bank transfer instead. I thought nothing more of the incident until a few days later my card was declined by another online retailer. I tried several times but each time the card kept getting declined. Once again it wasn't because I had insufficient funds. And the retailer did accept Electron cards. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't the retailer's fault so I tried to order something from Amazon. I'd used the same card to pay for many items from Amazon in the past. There was even a purchase a couple of weeks ago that went through fine. But this time the card was declined.
I didn't know what the hell was going on so I phoned the bank asking them if there was some sort of problem with my card. I was informed that there was nothing wrong with the card and that it must be the online retailer's system. But surely it can't be getting declined at several different retailers for the same system error? I decided to test my card in the shops at a chip and pin device and, lo and behold, it worked no problem at all. It seems as though there's a problem with the internet purchases only. I'm going to have to go down to the bank on Monday and get it sorted out, once and for all. I don't see what the problem could be. If there's nothing wrong with the card, why is it getting repeatedly declined at an online retailer that has accepted it many times before? It just doesn't make any sense!
Posted byHocchan at 4:28 pm 0 comments
