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OMG OMG OMG.  I'm still like :DDDDDD after the concert last night which is awesome.

I only wish this picture was mine.

OMGOMGOMG!!!

Okay, so I manage to get home from work earlier than expected, showered, hair curled and all dolled up in record time.  Got to Shindaita at 5:50 and waited for JR, who in typical gayman fashion was late.  He got there around 6:35 and then we went to find some eats and went to the show.  This live house only opened in March so everything is still shiny and new.  It's directly across from the station so super convenient.  There really isn't much else in Shindaita but its only one stop from Shimo-Kitazawa, the old hipster hub of Tokyo, JR tells me.

The first band, Haushinka was interesting.  A mix of punk, rock and metal.  They did some Beatles and Ramones covers, very lively and entertaining.  The second band was Rally the Bird. these two guys, one on drums and one on guitar that were pretty blah.  Pretty nice arrangements and the singer had a nice voice--it's just too bad we couldn't really hear was he was saying.  And pretty much no crowd interactions.  Boo.

THEN JOE! :DDD  I went to the bathroom before he came out the start setting up but JR said all the girls screamed.  LOL  When we got there there was maybe 2 dozen people but there was a fair crowd by the time Joe got to the stage.  He opened with Nowhere and then played Pa-pa-pa.  Then he says, "Where are you guys from?" into the mic after his song in English.  JR and I were the only visible foreigners in the crowd, but we couldn't help but ask, "Who, us?" 
"Yeah."
"Oh, Canada."
"Awesome. Rock on!" 
Though being the only two white people in a sea of Asians, dead centre, is kind of hard to miss.  But it just makes me feels so amazing because that is absolute, undeniable proof that he saw me there and took notice. :DDDD 

And I bet you all the rest of the girls in the audience--ie the whole audience were jealous as fuck!  Especially the one in pink right at the front who spent his entire set waving her hands and jumping up and down.  I guess it's not done in Japan to sing along at shows but I didn't care.  I knew all the words and JR made fun of me but whatever.  He sounds just as good live as he does recorded and he's damn cute.  As if I wasn't already in love with him before.  He also played Closer, Maboroshi and his new song coming out this month, Go.

I had hoped that he would come out and mingle afterwards like the first band (they passed around comment sheets to everyone!) but no dice.  I guess because he's on the up and up he (or his management) doesn't want to mingle with fans for security reasons?  I don't know.  JR and I hung around after a bit, had another beer and played with the door-girl's dog for a while afterwards. 

All I can say is that he's very personable on stage.  Some of the girls were calling out things, "Kakkoii~", "Ganbare~", "Oishii?" when he took a drink of water, and he just rolled with it.  He hasn't got a big head about his fame (yet) which is nice to see.  I wish all the best for him in the future.  Now I can say I saw him before he got big, from 6 feet away. 

☆ Work was long and painful. I didn't get enough sleep last night, as I predicted. I was almost nodding off in Kaneko's class. Fuck, what is the point me even being there? I want to ask him.

☆ My aircon has been acting up lately.  It'll run but I can't change any settings with the remote.  The Toshiba man came and fixed it.  It was the sensor, just like I thought. So he replaced the part and I don't have to pay anything. :)

☆ Somehow, I managed to not burn 4 episodes of Grey's Anatomy S2. Right in the middle. WTF? I didn't even realize it until just now.

☆ So the fucking city hall never ended up calling InterGlobal, of course.  I crunched some numbers and in the end just decided to not fight it anymore.  If you divide the total in 12 (as opposed to the 10 payments it is), I'm really only paying 9,800 a month.  But still dropping 800$ on my bills this month really, really hurts.

☆ I made gyoza!

I have so many recipes, I've just been lazy to post them. I think I've got 5 or 6 things to post. :X Today, I though I'd be all hardcore and make my own gyoza. They actually came our really well! And hell of a lot cheaper than buying them at the store. Aside from sauces and seasonings and stuff which I always have in the house (garlic and ginger), the ingredients were under 1,000 yen and I made 30 dumplings with enough filling for about 2 more left over. Took a little while to get a hang of the pleating but I'm pretty pro now!

Ingredients

Filling:
320g ground pork
8-10 shrimp, pre-cooked
2 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1 chunk ginger, about the same size as garlic
Pinch each of salt and pepper
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sake
4 tbsp vegetable oil

1 package gyoza wrappers

Sauce:
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp vinegar
Rayu (chili oil) to taste

1. Rehydrate the mushrooms. Blanch the cabbage and scallions.
2. Mince the cabbage, scallions, mushrooms and shrimp. Peel and mince and ginger and garlic.
3. Put the meat and shrimp in a bowl and kneed with your hands. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil and sake. Mix well until smooth.
4. Squeeze excess moisture out of the vegetables and add them to the bowl. Mix well.
5. Spoon about 1 tsp of filling onto a wrapper. Wet the edge of water with you ring finger. Fold in half and pleat the edge. Arrange on a plate to rest while you prepare some hot water and heat a non-stick pan over high heat.
6. Add oil to the frying pan. Line the gyoza up on the pan and fry the bottom until desired golden brown colour.
7. Pour about 1/4" hot water into the pan and quickly cover with a lid to trap the steam. Steam until the wrappers are transparent and the filling is cooked (about 2 minutes).
8. Arrange on a plate and serve with dipping sauce.

The wrappers and filling.


Close up of the filling. Mmmm meaty.


Little dumplings ready to be cooked!


Frying the bottoms til golden crispy.


出来上がり☆

They weren't very crispy but delicious none the less. Though, I don't know if I'm ever going to do this again... least of all just for myself.

I sat in the hot and sweaty city hall for half an hour waiting for my number to be called. Long story short: some percentage that it used to calculated your insurance premiums went up from 1.8% to 2.3% this year. Nothing else changed but that little uppage is the reason I'm now maybe 1,000$ a year instead of 150$. She calculated things for me and said there was no mistake. It's what I owe.

So I asked her if I could cancel it because I am going back to my country (eventually) and I'm going to start a new insurance and she told me, Alright, that's fine. When you come back to turn in your gaijin card, they'll send you over here to cancel your insurance. Alright, well, that didn't work. So I told her I already have a company I want to join now, so I don't need the other one and, like everyone said, there are all these stupid stipulations that prevent you from getting out of it. But, as if this was some kind of consolation, it's the same for Japanese and foreigners. Though I don't see why any Japanese folks would have a reason for leaving.

You can get out if you're leaving the country, or moving to another city (where I assume you would enroll again... I thought it was supposed to be 'national') or if you are getting enrolled in your company's health plan (but then only under certain conditions). If you don't want to pay that much (though it wasn't an issue before), or see a different/better plan on TV, you can't just opt out. What a crock. I'm trying to remember back in Canada if you have to be part of the provincial insurance. Maybe you do. But it's free (or cheap; never again will I complain about paying 54$/month to BC Medical) so who cares. The only issue BC Medical gave me when I left for Japan was that they said they never recieved notice of me telling them I was leaving and so I wanted to suspend coverage. They bugged my mom for 6 months of backpayment until she yelled at them directly about me having cancelled it in July.

The lady at city hall took a copy of my application form for InterGlobal, which they had never heard of, and they are going to check to see if whatever services the company offers allows me to be released from the NHI. They're checking it out and going to call me to let me know. I wonder if they copied my credit card information... I'm kind of uneasy about that because they didn't tell me they were even going to copy anything. :/ I figure if they don't call me back in 10 minutes (city hall closes at 5:15), I guess I have to wait until Monday for a verdict.

I filled out my forms for the new insurance company and coverage will take effect as soon as they get them.  I can even expidite the process by faxing them to the Osaka office.  However, the guy there told me that it's nearly impossible to cancel the national health insurance plan.  I can see why, the government doesn't want to loose $1000+ per person a year.  Well, fuck that shit.  I'm hoping that because I'm a foreigner, it won't apply to me.  I'll just lie and tell them I'm leaving the country.  Although, I don't see why they wouldn't let me cancel it...  But as if we haven't learned this already, the Japanese government operates on a completely different plane of logic than the rest of the world.  The good thing is though, they send you the invoice for it and you can pay it monthly (or all at once) at the convenience store.  So I just won't pay.  They won't cover me if I don't pay for it.  At least that's what I'm hoping.  InterGlobal has a 30-day money-back cancelation policy so if I find out that the government won't let me cancel, I can cancel the new insurance no problem.  

This insurance thing on top of current events totally killed any happy buzz I had going on.  I really hope to get this fucking health plan thing sorted out tomorrow after work.  Expect either a really upbeat happy entry or the bitchiest rant from hell.  

Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.  I have that drinking party tomorrow night.  But it starts at 7.  Well, it'll be all you can drink so I can drown my financial woes with beer in the worst case scenario.

Work went well today... I need to figure out how to deal with Shinozuka-sensei's and Kubo-sensei's classes.  Both of them are so fucking noisy and hard to control.  Both of them are great teachers and don't take shit, but even they have a hard time with them.  And it's not only in English class, it's all the time.  Esepcially Kubo-sensei, I feel really sorry for her.  She said to me today that they make her feel like crying sometimes because they just won't shut up.  I copied tomorrow's lesson plans for the grade 5 teachers and highlighted what I want them to do so hopefully things will go smoothly.  Fudaba-sensei, the head for English, is seriously bugging me.  It's his first year teaching so he's obviously trying and still getting the hang of things (and his class is like so disinterested, but he says they're like that all the time) but it makes it harder on me when he forgets to set up the computer in the morning or something like that.  I don't have time to set shit up or do things that I asked them to do for me.  It's a good thing he's cute... but that's not going to take him much farther.  I'm going to suggest they rearrange the classes next year, maybe have his class during 3rd or 4th period to see if that makes a difference.

The Good:
1. Got a decent nights sleep and didn't sleep in. Was up bright and early. Treated myself to Starbucks in the morning to start the day right.

2. I had 4/5 classes with Kaneko but he sent me down to the teacher's room after the test each time so I didn't really have to teach with him at all.

3. Because of all this sudden free time, and no marking, I got to do some reading.

4. Nakamura-sensei helped me read this letter from my rental company. A new company is taking over this building and it was just a notice. I told him about my air con issue and he is going to call them for me about it.

5. GOT INOUE JOE TICKETS!! #16 and #17. I went before work but they weren't on sale until 10am. I could have reserved them online, but I could only use credit card. It would have been another 15$ with fees and exchange. :/ I asked Andrew to use his but he didn't know what his visa verification password was. So I waited... thank god he's still fairly unknown so I didn't have to worry about tickets selling out on the first day. Thank god he's not a Johnny.

August 3rd-7th!

I've decided to go to Singapore in the summer.  I'm not really rolling in money at the moment and I'm going to get fucked by shit paychecks for July and August but my visa card is all paid off and I've got a sizable limit (not that I'll be spending that much but it's good to know).  And I've got a bit in the bank.  I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would rather travel than save money and I'll just have to take a loan out for school. 

I've found some really cool looking hostels for CDN$30 a night or less downtown and found return flights for about CDN$500.  I'm going to check out this website Andrew recommended as soon as it's done being a bitch and gotten fixed.  I'll only go for 3-4 days.  I just want to rendevous with friends (Lydia!  And Yukiko, but she's actually leaving Singapore next week so I guess not... I don't really know who else is still there that I would actually want to see) and see the old sights.  Walk down Orchard, go around the old historical area of Raffles, the art museum, Chijmes, Fort Canning Park, eat satay in Clark Quay, have some beers in Boat Quay, eat a shitton of hawker food, maybe swing by and see my old apartment building.  I got that damn multiple entry visa and I'm going to fucking use it at least one more time to make it worth the extra 3,000 yen I paid for it.  I would be stupid not to go because the rate of the yen to the Singapore $ is sweet right now; I can make SG$50 on 10,000 yen.

I've asked Kumiko if she wants to come with me--she mentioned going when we met up a couple weeks ago--but her mom says she can't travel anymore (unless/until she moves out).  I sent a message to Anna cuz she talked about going somewhere but I don't know if she wants to go to Singapore or when her holidays are.  Justin is going to Indonesia in July and maybe we can rendevous in Singapore since it's just a hop, skip and a jump from there.  But I kind of want to go by myself.  I've never done a trip alone--I've done the traveling from point A to B by myself before, but never gone to another country by myself.  (I guess, you could count moving to Japan but that's kind of different.)  I'm kind of getting really excited at the thought of it.  And it won't be scary at all because I will know my way around essentially and know exactly what I'm in for.  And I can do everything at my pace and go wherever I want to go and not have to accomodate anyone else.  It would have been alright with Kumi cuz we both lived there and could go off and do our own things; it would just be catch up for us.  If I went with someone else, I think they would want to do more touristy things which I don't really want to do.  Not that we couldn't split up and do stuff seperately but what's the point of traveling together then?

I'm pretty much ready to book tickets, I've resolved to go regardless of anyone else.  Maybe I should wait until Justin gets his Indonesia travel plans sorted out but I kind of want to just do my thing and make him accomodate me.  I'm thinking the last week of July or the first week of August. 

Now that the site is working, I found I can get a return flight through Cheapoair.com for CD$468 after taxes and fees for the 27th to the 31st of July or the 3rd to the 7th of August.  I'm going to wait until I find out if I hit for tickets to a play before buying because they might give us a different date than the one I requested.  It would also give me a bit more cash in my pocket.  I just hope that the prices don't change much between now and Thursday/Friday.

Justin got accepted into school today!  He's leaving in August.  ;___; 

I'm not really too thrilled about York and the response I got from them.  I didn't really mind them just redirecting me to a stupid webpage and giving me fluff answers so much.  It was the large offensive blue font that really turned me off.  I'm looking at U of T and they look like a better option.  I only need 3 courses in English (check!).  But the intermediate/senior option requires two teaching areas which I don't have (FUCKING Asian Studies!  You are so useless!) but the junior/intermediate only requires one.  I actually really like being in junior high school.  There's always room to move up to high school once I get my degree and some experience.  They also don't require an interview (at least from what I've skimmed) which would be sweet.  I have kind of stopped caring about that for the moment; if York isn't even interested in me, it won't matter about trying to schedule an interview that I can't be in the country for.  I think I have everything for UBC, unless they've changed things since I applied the last time.

I always forget that university applications cost money.  Shit.  It's going to cost me like 300$ to apply to 3 programs.  York's application is due at the end of November, U of T is due December 1st and UBC is sometime in February.  I think applications will all be available around the same time, in September.  Which is only 3 months away!  Sigh~  I'm getting anxious just thinking about this.

I am going to have to pilfer the school's resources and print off information.  I need to figure out how much this is going to cost and start seriously saving.  Or figure out how much of a loan I'm going to have to ask for.  Honestly, I would rather go to U of T over York.  If I had to stay in Ontario, that is.  York just doesn't impress me at all and U of T has the prestiege.  I should hope by the time you're doing your second degree, the snobbery has worn off.

It's only barely June.  There's time.

I can't return this fucking phone.  I don't understand.  I'm frustrated because it doesn't make sense -- I'm the customer, I'm not satisfied with the product, I want to return it.  Why can't I?  I haven't even paid for the stupid thing yet.  At ALL.  So what's the big deal?  I don't "own it" yet.  I don't want it.  I don't care if my phone bill isn't going to change since I went down to a cheaper plan; I don't want to pay for something I'm not going to use. 

But I'm more frustrated that I can't explain myself or full understand what they are saying to me.  I went to the place I got the phone and they were like "Oh, I'll change it to English for you" but you can't, idiots.  Don't think I haven't tried; I'm just pretending to be that clueless.  And then they tell me they can't do anything.  You sold it to me!  Why not?  It's not like I'm canceling the contract or anything.  So I went to the AU shop in Kashiwa on the way home and they said the same thing.  I'm not canceling my contract.  Ahh, but I am canceling the upgrade becuase if I give back the phone, they won't get 20,000 yen from me over 2 years.  I probably haven't paid off my last phone yet anyway so now they are getting double.  The guy told me the only thing I can do is cancel everything, which costs 10,000 yen and then get a new phone and number, for another 20,000 yen.  IGULSKDFASDKj.  It's only been 5 days since I got the stupid thing.  Isn't there some kind of grace period where you can cancel things?  I'm sure there is in Canada.  I want to think there is, but I've never been in this situation.

So I could either learn to like this new phone and use it, even though I just got new ringtone and layout for the old one (which I fucking should have waited to get... UGH).  Or try and sell the fucking thing on CL.  It must be an old model because the stupid thing isn't even listed in the May catalogue.  

GOD FUCKING DAMN ASSHOLES.  I am so not happy right now.  This is fucking bullshit. 

Okay, so Andrew and I met up for dinner last night and he gave me his JLPT2 study stuff so I can start thinking about that.  I got a new backpack -- pretty pink Coleman thing for 3,300. :D  I also found Freecell at the bookstore in Ueno station.  And then we had donairs for dinner.  Yum.  Though now I'm hungry and miserable.  We spent 2 hours in a phone shop discussing changing to Softbank since Andrew's contract with AU is up and he's getting jerked around. 

Ah, and it had been such a good day until then!

I ended up trading in points (which I didn't know what they were for anyway) and got a new handset... and I regret it so bad.  I switched to a different, cheaper plan so my bill won't get any more expensive even though I have to pay 840 yen a month to pay off the handset but still.  The biggest thing that I hate is that I can't put it in English.  I don't need it really but I want it.  But even without that... I don't think I like it.  The interface isn't as nice as mine (though you can download new ones, I just never bothered) and I don't like the buttons.  The screen pixelates the emojis and it makes all this fucking noise whenever it does anything.  I haven't gotten around to messing with the sound settings but I feel miserable after doing this (I should feel so happy to have new things!).

It's only a phone!  I'm just worried I can't take it back.  I just wanted a new phone--even though I like the one I have and didn't really like any of the others.  I didn't like the others more than I like my own, not enough to change but I did anyway.  I should have looked at other models, gone to Yodobashi Camera or something and actually played with them and I would have seen right away.  I don't see why I can't take it back on Saturday (providing I can... I'm not canceling, just returning the hardware I don't want) when I'm out and about in Tokyo if I really, really hate it.  And I probably will.  It will be a bitch to trek from Hiroo to Ueno and then back to Shibuya or wherever I'm meeting Kumiko though.  But cheaper than making a special trip to Ueno just to return it.

I feel so wretched.  Really, really awful.  The most aggravating thing--all the shit I downloaded on my other phone can't be transfered so I have to pay to get it all again if I want. DX  I better like the damn phone if I do that.

I slept on it.  I still regret it.  Well, I did find some cool things about my phone.  I can switch the little window to show tomorrow's weather or my fortune by holding # and it flips through them automatically.  I like the time window in front and the lights.  The functions on the main menu are better; I don't have to search for the infrared functionin sub menus anymore (though I had it as a shortcut on my old phone on the standby screen).  It's red and matte which I like. 

I'm so-so that the screen doesn't swivle, but I didn't really use that much anyway and it's become a bit wobbly on my old phone.  The standard ring tones are all really boring and I don't like any of them.  The icons are kind of plain and the emoji all look pixelated and ugly.  It runs slower--I have to go through more commands to send a fucking email and takes time to open and load things.  The camera is 3.2 megapixels instead of 2.1 but I don't use my phone for taking good pictures and the upgrade is negligable. 

I don't feel as miserable as I did last night but I still don't like it as much.  It doesn't seem like an upgrade, especially not interms of the screen.  But maybe that's because it's Toshiba and not a Casio.  I'm giving myself until Saturday and then I'll decide whether or not to take it back.