July 25, 2004 – Tokyo with the Penpal
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal, Tokyo on August 14, 2014
Rental boats at the Ueno park duck pond
I managed to wrangle a day off, and met The Penpal at Tokyo station. Recently we have always been meeting in either Numazu or Kawasaki, so this was a nice change.
Our first stop of the day was Ueno Park. We walked around the park and rented a swan shaped paddle boat in the duck pond. Yes, it’s cheesy, but it was still fun. After Ueno, we moved on to Shibuya to explore the area.In the evening, we went to the Shiodome building in Shimbashi to look for restaurants. We ate dinner in a sensibly priced restaurant, and then decided to check out how expensive the restaurants on the 46th floor are.
In big buildings in Tokyo, you can usually find restaurants in both the basement and the upper floors. The restaurants in the lower levels are more likely to be moderately priced. The restaurants on the upper levels are likely to be expensive, especially in skyscrapers. Shiodome was no exception – one of the restaurants near the top offered a multi-course meal for a fixed price of 10,500 yen (not including drinks).
The best part of the evening was the glass elevator from the basement to the 46th floor. We got an amazing view of nighttime Tokyo as it fell away from us. Highly recommended.
July 21-23, 2004 – The saga of the new computer
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Lux, Tokyo on August 13, 2014
July 21, 2004 (day 1) – I used a shift swap with Jem today in order to get a break from my 20 days of work in a row. I ate breakfast outside of Hello House, and had a pretty relaxing day. In the evening, I went to pick up a used computer in central Tokyo. My sister’s ancient laptop is just not enough for me anymore. I searched English language ads online, and found someone selling a used desktop tower for 15,000 yen (about $150). It isn’t the world’s greatest computer, but it is a huge step up from the laptop.
Zoe and Lux came with me to pick up the computer. The seller was a Malaysian man with a fantastic apartment. He seemed nice, but Zoe and Lux were getting a creepy vibe from him. We tested out the computer and it seemed to work well, so I handed over the cash and we were on our way. I didn’t realize how big and heavy the computer was until about 5 minutes into our walk back to the subway station. The tower was huge, so it was awkward to get a grip on. I am very happy that I brought friends with me to help with the keyboard and doors. Carrying a desktop computer through busy, massive Shinjuku station is NOT fun.
On the way home, Zoe almost got into a fight with a salaryman on the train. He was sleeping while standing and kept inadvertently hitting Zoe with his umbrella. She responded by kicking him every time the umbrella hit her. Good times!
When I got the computer home, I formatted the hard drive so I could install a fresh copy of Windows. I rebooted after formatting and I couldn’t get the computer to work! F**K!! The rest of my evening was very frustrating.
July 22, 2004 (day 2) – I bailed on Thursday night karaoke to spend time working on the computer. It still isn’t working correctly. I ended up watching The Shield in the Hello House common room while grumbling about wasting 15,000 yen.
July 23, 2004 (day 3) – I got some ideas on the computer from my more tech savvy coworkers. The main problem is that the CD-Rom is on a SCSI interface, which won’t work without drivers. Windows has appropriate drivers, but my Windows 98 install disk is on CD-Rom. I ended up making a simple boot disk on floppy so I could get the new computer running. I then used my box of floppy disks to slowly copy the Windows install files from the CD-Rom on the laptop to the hard drive on the new desktop.
Once all the install files were finally copied, I was able to run Windows installation from the hard drive on the desktop. When Windows finally installed, it recognized the CD-Rom and everything started working! It took forever, but the new computer is finally running! Victory!
July 20, 2004 – Seventh consecutive workday
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 13, 2014
Today was an exhausting day. I had some emotionally draining phone calls in the morning and a busy day at work (my seventh in a row). I didn’t get out of the office until late, but still found some time to hit the internet cafe before going home.
(2014 Update) 1o years later I can’t remember what the draining phone calls were, or who they were from. If I had to guess, it was either a conversation with the ex or a call about sick relatives. Maybe both? Who knows. If I can’t remember, it probably only seemed bad at the time.
July 19, 2004 – Six days and nine gates
Posted by Barniferous in Keikyu-Kawasaki NOVA, Movies on August 12, 2014
My sixth consecutive day of work was a relaxing day at Keikyu Kawasaki NOVA. In the evening I actually got time to clean up my room. I also watched The Ninth Gate with Lux on her new massive TV. It’s about a 40 inch flat screen tube TV, which looks huge in a Hello House 5 tatami mat dorm room. I am thankful that I didn’t have to help move it up the stairs.
The movie was pretty good. I am not usually into supernatural horror movies, but it was well done and Johnny Depp is in it.
July 18, 2004 – Tired
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English, Uncategorized on August 12, 2014
Working a late shift followed by an early shift is never fun. I was so tired today. So very very tired. Nothing productive happened after work.
July 17, 2004 – Too many kids
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on August 12, 2014
The entire Kawasaki NOVA schedule was filled with kids classes today. I was scheduled for three, but only had students show up for two.
I taught a 3 year old girl in one of my classes. She kept trying to climb furniture and jump on me. She also picked her nose a lot. Seriously a lot. When she wasn’t trying to jump on me, her finger was spelunking in her nasal cavity. I felt nauseous for about two hours after the class ended.
I finished my busy day, and then realized that since tomorrow is an early shift, I will be back at work in about 11 hours. BOOOOO!
July 16, 2004 – Return to Gyu-Kaku!
Posted by Barniferous in Lux, Teaching English on August 11, 2014
I was working with a slight hangover from last night’s karaoke. Working with a hangover, no matter how small, is not fun.
After work I took Lux to Gyu-Kaku. Once again, the food was fantastic! Lux is a smoker, and usually I don’t enjoy eating in the smoking section of restaurants. However, the ventilation at Gyu-Kaku is very good due to all the smoky grills at each table. The fan above our table sucked up all the cigarette smoke and I didn’t notice it at all. Just one of the many reasons why Gyu-kaku is great.
July 15, 2004 – Return to karaoke
Posted by Barniferous in Karaoke, Keikyu-Kawasaki NOVA on August 11, 2014
Today was notable for three reasons:
- I got my first full time paycheck! Much nicer than my part time paychecks! Yay!
- It was my first shift at Keikyu Kawasaki NOVA in 2 months. Keikyu is always more relaxing than Kawasaki NOVA. Also, most of the students actually remembered me and asked where I had been.
- It was my first time at Thursday night karaoke in a few weeks. Karaoke and beer = good!
July 14, 2004 – How big is Uranus?
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on August 11, 2014
Every month the lesson plans for NOVA kids change. This month’s topic is outer space. The senior class (9-12 years old) is learning the names of planets and comparison words.
Today I had to teach the kids “Uranus is larger than Earth”. If I tried to get kids to say that in Canada I would have been arrested.
July 12, 2004 – Only day off
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 10, 2014
I used up all of my vacation days when my university friends came to visit. My family’s recent visit was covered entirely with shift swaps. Today will be my only scheduled day off for the next 20 days.
This is going to suck.
Drinking in Japan 
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