One of those rides

you just know you're gonna remember for a while.

This morning James and I braved the cold and the snow (despite the fact the sun was shining, it wasn't much above zero, if at all) and headed out to the Asuke trail for the last ride of 2009. Friday night and Saturday morning saw quite a bit of snow fall, and this was the result where we left the car:
Not much further up it looked like this, with thanks to my model du jour James.
The snow on the gravel road made for interesting climbing, but it was over soon enough, I think the extra concentration needed to stay upright and moving forward meant we didn't notice the hill so much, or something like that. Anyway, at the top before starting down on the singletrack:

The snow was in that oh-so-rare state where it was just deep enough to smooth the bumps, just packed enough to provide grip and just dry enough that it didn't turn to muddy gloop and spray all over us. We were doing a lot of grinning on the way down, it felt like I stopped a hundred times to get photos, of course none of them were in the funnest bits, but here are a few more to give you an idea:


What the photos can't tell you is the almost indescribable joy of being out in the snowy hills on a perfect blue-sky day, having snowflakes flutter down on you out of the trees sparkling all the while in the sunshine, nor the wonderful scrunchy sound bike tyres make on snow, or the half gripping-half drifting descents and corners that make you grin like you were 12 again on your BMX ripping through the bush with your mates....or the fact that you've never felt so alive, and that in the most crowded country in the world you don't see a soul all day...

James finishing - sadly no photo of his grin right after he stopped here - I was too busy grinning with him to take another photo.

Bikes are fun.

I love the internet

These watchbands arrived today from somewhere in America. They got here in exactly two weeks, which is longer than I expected, but then I can't complain as I got two delivered to my door for a lot less than one costs here (even if I could find them - rare). When you factor in the fuel saved by not having to drive around looking then I practically made money on buying these online, but the best part is I didn't have to use real money.

Thank you Al Gore for inventing the internet.

The simple things

are often the cheapest.

I had promised myself that once I got THE TEST out of the way I'd get back to cooking, partly as a hobby, and partly for health. I also read a book two months ago that got me thinking - it was about using local foods, and has inspired me to cook more with things produced around here - reducing carbon emissions and all that. Needless to say that if I am going to be doing that I'll be cooking a lot more, but I've been running a very reduced kitchen inventory all year as I rushed away from Hokkaido and left a lot of my cooking stuff there. None of it was expensive, so I thought I'd just replace it when I got here, but that was pre-"new financial reality" and so I have been making do ever since.

To cut out at least a little bit of the waffle, I wanted a big, deep saucepan, but had never seen one cheap enough for me until today - for $12.50 (equivalent) this is what I got:


It's only aluminium, and I only cooked pasta in it tonight, but I already see what the fuss is about - it rocked! Next will be my world-famous pumpkin soup. I had actually hoped it was going to be about seven or eight dollars, as they were selling a 20cm diameter one for $5.99, however as all real cooks know, you just can't live without at least a 21cm pan, and thus the extra expense was well justified. It's also teflon coated, and NOT IH (Inductive Heating - an unwanted very expensive feature of just about every other pan or pot here these days) which is acutally a bonus for me.

...and you all thought I was just a bike geek, well I can geek out about a lot more than just bikes, let me tell you!

Well it's done.

About what I expected except for the reading section. H.A.R.D. Waaaay harder than I imagined, and it's the bit I didn't specifically study (maybe that's why it was hard?).

Anyway, I might have passed. Hope so.

Will find out in February.

This time tomorrow...

the test will be over, and hopefully my cold will be gone.

Can't wait.

Falling down.

Things have been quiet round here, real quiet. Lotsa study, which doesn't make good blog fodder at all. About the only thing I have to talk about is, sadly, bad news.

Some folks may remember my move to Hokkaido summer last year and ensuing misadventures, and finally how happy I was to be back in sunny central Japan. I don't know if back then I talked much about my new job status, but as a school ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) I have spent the last eight months singing songs and reading sentences from textbooks. Far from satisfying work, but at least the hours were good and it was stable.

Was. Stable.

Past tense.

It seems like the bottom has fallen out of the industry this year - I think I have the golden touch - I brought financial ruin to Hokkaido last year, and now I have destroyed the ALT industry.

No, sadly, it wasn't me - otherwise I'd have something really interesting to blog about. It was a union. Without going into too many details before I actually know them, a legal case brought about by a union trying to act on behalf of English teachers in Japan has sent a massive, tsunami-sized waved through the industry and it'll take a while before we see how it all pans out. The timing couldn't be better - on top of the fact that the GFC effect has finally trickled down to our level and ensuing threats of insurance/superannnuation law changes next year.

Boy am I glad I am getting out. Not ready to say much more about that yet, but things will be announced just as soon as they can be.

While this year has been even more rocky than the previous few, I guess it has turned out to be an important stepping stone to a brighter future (...and one with no kids songs...).

Now if I can just pass this darn test on Sunday, then I might have ended up with two good things to come out of this year, which would see me break even.

Sorry, so many words, and so few pictures. If you need more visual stimulation, see the bunny picture in a previous post.

ciao.


PS: yes, the race results were also good things, but they are trivial really, in the grand scheme of things aren't important at all. Above I was talking about real things that matter. Wow, how grown-up do I sound?