Decent lunches, traditional drumses(?), driving hunches

Shorty this week. Not a lot to report quite honestly

Let’s start with the basic, apparently it’s cultural season here at the moment. Autumn seemed to start properly here after the city festival, the leaves have started turning to various shades of red and brown,the winds have started plucking them off the trees, the evenings grow short and winter is ominously baring its icy teeth. It would be nice to be a tree in some ways, you just gather enough energy during the nice weather and go for a nap for 3/4 months. Alas, the humans have only gotten more active if anything despite the cooler weather. In the last two weeks I’ve witnessed multiple concerts of various types. Choirs, drums, orchestras, the full shebang. Have also been treated to some lovely school lunches of late, some sort of feast before the famine mentality I’m sure. Have also partaken in some social events, highly scintillating you can be assured.

Was lucky enough to watch the school orchestra perform for the local town. I was actually impressed, didn’t have high expectations or anything like that but it was very clean , no mistakes to my untrained ears and some great pieces of humour in there as well, novelty hats and scenes etc. Highlight was time to say goodbye which was almost flawless, singing included, managed to stir some nostalgic emotions in the old chest, nothing like a great piece of music to stir and poke memories you had archived. Another good one was a pirates of the Caribbean medley of sorts, basically blitzed the entire soundtrack within five minutes, very impressive and well rehearsed obviously with the transitions etc. Next piece of music was a mini concert in the younger schools. Some choir action and then some taiko drums. Taiko drums were a serious display. Big heavy drum at the back and then medium and light ones. They pounded out a serious rhythm , it did feel like something you’d hear around a bonfire and do some throat chanting to. The great thing about drums is that they are physical, they send the vibrations through you so it isn’t just a sound but a physical manifestation of the sound as well, would have been nice to have a dancing circle going but that may have been highly out of line. Will definitely be seeking those out again though hopefully in a forest with a big fire of some description. Lastly, today, a practice for a school choir show or something like this. It would of course be nice to have a report on this one but unfortunately it occurred directly after lunch (which involved quite a bit of rice) and inside a warm hall with comfy seats. Having essentially no responsibilities foisted upon me, I struggled and failed to fight off the drowsiness and spent most of the practice in a state of semi-sleep, nodding off then waking up again much to the combined amusement and disapproval of those around me. So nothing really to report there but it can’t have been a bad showing if it didn’t jar me into consciousness.

Speaking of lunches, there is some sort of harvest or something going on as we’re getting absolutely plied with vegetables and meats. It’s like when soldiers get a nice feed before they get sent off to be shot. Soups, chicken, beef, vegetables all delicious, hearty stuff. Decent feeding. No entire fish bodies or the likes.

Have had various opportunities to mingle with the other foreigners employed in the same role here. Decent bunch, nice split across all the various labels you can apply to a person. Also interesting developments between the Australian clan and the American clan, two groups desperately fighting to prove they have some sort of culture and history of note. Nice to observe the jostling. Reflective of the actual countries themselves in some way, lots of talk and action internationally to define themselves in some way. No language, no history, no monuments of note, nothing really and yet they make the most noise ! Again as always, it’s not a bad thing at all, I do enjoy their company more than most. Ironic that there’s a high chance they have some Irish in them there somewhere as well. What is an incredible dynamic is the diseconomies of scale involved with unorganised group of people. There is a complete diffusion of responsibility, a complete lack of productive drive. Example, take 10 people and put them in a room with 2 simple boxes of Halloween decorations. How long does the room take to get decorated ? Apparently it takes 2.5 hours. Then have them organise an event for 10 students - 10 participants, 10 organisers, when have you ever seen that occur, complete bizzaro breakdown of any semblance of structure. Not a disaster but certainly not optimal, overly confusing for all involved. Too many chefs spoiling soup etc. “Did you add salt? Oh no not yet, pepper now salt later, oh but what about some salty pepper”. There’s something to be said for constraints improving efficiency. Noticeable in many fields and organisations I imagine. Anyhow I don’t think any participants either noticed or cared, just my own psychosis.

NFL fantasy report:

Eagerly awaiting the new power rankings. Have pulled through the last few weeks now and am sitting pretty at 5-3 with not a lot of points scored being the main concern. Down and dirty knifefights in gutters with down on their luck foes. Sitting at 3rd overall but a loss this week could easily topple me down to 6th based on points. A precarious lead. Trade talks have gotten nowhere with the slimy diskin, a man who wants to cull his immediate threat with some form of Sam darnold <-> tyreek hill deal. Have no idea how that would work at all but always good to see the inner workings of another’s mind and all that. A loss this week would be devastating for the contention. Plenty of sacrifices to be made. This is the inhalers charge of the light brigade, a new name will be in order next year. So hoping the gods favour the fellows this week and for many more to come. Humbly of course.

Japanese language is difficult but I’m starting to pick up some base level phrases (butchering them of course) and assimilate some very basic vocabulary for survival purposes.

Last notes, the coldness is starting to creep in. The accommodation situation is frustrating. One would think the housing would be optimised for something : either insulate it to survive the winter or make it airy to survive the summer. Instead it’s neither. The perfect blend of building materials to make it an oven during the summer but somehow a freezer during the winter. There are a few months of runny nose in the immediate future me thinks. Can feel the damp big time morning and evening. Other final note, the glory of driving. What a real pleasure it is to be able to just zoom around wherever you please. It is the first time having a personal car so most already know the feeling of novelty. The keys are quite literally freedom and on multiple occasions the urge to just keep driving past work and not stop until the road ends has needed some serious suppression. If there’s a nice morning at any point I’ll set the video up and share. To continue burning rubber all the way through the valley and beyond will be one of the final acts I think. Big work night out on Friday, as well as an interesting constellation on Saturday so stay tuned for the juice (considerable surely) after those ones.

Alright, cheers for reading. Again nothing mad really happening, two weeks worth of stuff within a few minutes read how boring is that. Not what is expected from the readership, I’m sure I’ll receive many letters of vile hatred as a result. In terms of other projects we are nearing d-day and a lot of behind the scenes suffering is being done, the contractions of one hell of an ugly baby on it’s way. Keep pushing.