It’s been a while since my last blog entry. I’ve been trying to keep a low profile lately. My attempts to steer myself towards a less stress filled lifestyle has not really been achieved. On the contrary, the busy days literally and imaginary have made me ill again.

The realisation that I get ill a lot is worrying. I hear a lot of people saying they never get ill, or haven’t been ill for years… I used to think I was one of them. Unfortunately, that’s far beyond the case. I seem to be ill at least a few times a year; sometimes in the form of mild fatigue, sometimes full on fever. On this occasion, I forced this on myself.

Year-end. It’s the time of year when there’s a lot of parties, drinks, events and so forth. This year, it’s also extremely busy work-wise. Admittedly I don’t do that much over-time, but I have had to work 6 days a week a lot lately. Feeling below average is just cannot figure. Denial of the cold weather, denial of feeling a little unwell. Going out with no jacket when the temperature was close to freezing. What started off as a slightly sore throat turned into a chest infection, runny nose and muscle ache.

Anyway, after attempting to recover by taking a half day… I marched in to work on Monday morning… only to be told to go to the clinic, and if I insisted on working, to work from the other office – the one that’s near empty. I was banished. The result of which, I was persuaded to take a day off work. So, along with the national holiday (Emperor’s birthday), I’ve been resting at home for the last couple of days. I have not stepped one foot out of the house, nor have I got out of my pjs. Do I feel better? Maybe. Then again, it’s prob all the drugs I’m on.

The Bounenkai Season

Bounenkai – literally a gathering to forget the past, otherwise known as the year-end party. I held my own bounenkai / christmas / birthday party last week; invited a few friends and booked out a snazzy little bar.

It ended up being a little different to what I imagined; the guest list was mostly made up of friends from work and a few key members weren’t able to attend. I don’t really know what I was expecting. I did have a great time catching up with old friends, and hanging out with workmates outside of the office. …but… something was missing.

I have yet to truly feel the Christmas spirit since I moved here. It’s just so different. No family gathering. No Christmas turkey. No presents under the tree. It’ll be just another day at work.

Now that I’m back from my self-imposes exile. I guess I’ll be writing another post around year-end/new-year. I’ll most likely reflect on a year sprinkled with a few memorable moments and showered with all sorts of lows.

Merry Christmas everyone! I truly wish you have a wonderful festive season!

Last night was a somewhat depressing night in watching tv and sitting infront of my computer. I guess the usual pattern wouldn’t involve going out or anything and quietly spending it with family, but seeing so many couples out and about it was quite a shock to my system. So much so that I woke up with a slight temperature and a severe headache!

Anyway, I felt a bit better in the afternoon, but actually spending a day at the office on Christmas day was very bizarre. It was definitely very quiet but it felt so much like a normal day. Even with all the Christmas lights and all that, as there were so many people out and about, it felt a bit surreal.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to spend a second night sitting at home alone, as I went for an impromptu drinking session with a few work colleagues/friends. Despite all the bad points about the Japanese style Christmas, I had a fantastic and unique Christmas evening! I was totally smiling all the way home! Bad points? Well, firstly there’s no Christmas Turkey! Secondly, it’s not a national holiday (nor is my birthday but we’ll get to that). Thirdly, it’s a couples day rather than a family day. But yeah, so thankful that I have good friends like those I went out for a drink with tonight!

Actually, this Christmas is the first occasion that I won’t get pressies or open them with family. Having said that my mum left a present when she visited. But yeah, tomorrow will no doubt also be a low key day; it’s my birthday and all as well!

My mum told me that I should probably get used to this kind of low key Christmas/Birthday as I turn into a fully fledged adult but I’ll definitely miss those family gatherings.

I also feel slightly guilty that I haven’t sent any Christmas cards this season. Usually I’d write to a few people but this year I’ve been ultra lazy. Then again, I can’t really fix that now that Christmas day is nearly over.

My birthday is less than an hour!!!!!

So we have another 3 day weekend in the wonderful land of the rising but not so warm sun. It’s now Monday afternoon and for the first time in a while I’ve felt like I’ve made good use of the weekend. I spent Saturday playing tennis for the second time since moving here, but we can discuss that later.

First, I want to talk about the holiday feeling.

The Holiday Feeling

I spent today and yesterday at my grandparents place out in the sticks. On the train there I still felt that my whole life changing move to Tokyo has yet to blast into life; it still felt like a temporary move and that there was this end date in the not so distant future, when I’d “wake up”. I have no idea when that moment of realisation will hit and I guess I’m never believed I would stay long term, but it was still a strange feeling to experience.

The Other Holiday Feeling

I also had the other holiday feeling this weekend – you know, the one to do with the festive season? Being born so close to a major holiday has always given me mixed feelings about Christmas. I don’t dislike it but I can’t say I go hyper when the bells start jingling. I’m finding it even difficult to comprehend this year as in Japan it is a totally overly commercialised season starting from the day after Halloween up to Christmas day. However, Christmas day is a normal working day making it the most anti-climactic holiday in the year.

I guess there’s also this confusion about how to spend the holiday this year. In any other country it would be a family day but in Japan, New Year’s has been set aside for that purpose making Christmas day pretty much a “couples day”. Ah well… I’m just bitter that my birthday is no longer a recognised national holiday :p

The Alternative Holiday

So the alternative holiday. It looks like this year I’ll be spending the festive season in Japan as travelling abroad is far too expensive! I’ll probably do some sort of domestic trip but popping outside of Japan will most likely be saved til early next year. Cheaper, plus something to look forward to beyond the festivities!

Tennis

So, Tennis. The second tennis session since the resurrection (of my tennis playing), we played a solid 3 hours. It actually did not feel that long. Maybe playing for a shorter time adds to the pressure of making the most of it, plus restricts the time for warming up and thus doesn’t feel so satisfactory.

During the session we played a round robin set each – there were 3 of us. Thankfully I managed to win a match 6-4. However, despite my so called tennis lesson years back in my younger days, my backhand and serving was and still remains beyond amateur. You might think that the game was one by a single break of serve…. you’d be wrong. The game was one by a single holding of serve (I think). Either way, it was a dire performance and the comparison of my technique to John McEnroe was somewhat bizarre and unmerited. The only similarity between myself and the legendary McEnroe is that I was holding a tennis racket and that I shouted profanities a lot.