it's not life that matters but the journey...

so how do you like my new blue layout and my new Hello Kitty icon, which was designed for me by my friend serialbathera?

I've been feeling a bit lost and emotional lately, which is why I haven't really updated very much. But after a busy weekend, and a very positive email today regarding a job, I'm feeling more like joining the world again. I can't say for sure yet that I have the job, but I had a good feeling about it after I talked to the recruiter on Friday afternoon, and he sent me an email today telling me that he received "unofficial" word from Fuji city about the number of contracts they will get; if this number holds true, then I will have the job! I'm waiting for an "official" job offer and contract - and until I get that official email, I won't be buying any champagne... but it looks very promising!

The weekend was quite busy, though not necessarily very productive. We went shopping Saturday afternoon, and then in the evening we went to a "Sobetsukai", which is a farewell party. We actually went to another of these a couple weeks ago - seems like lots of people are leaving Fuji these days! This party was for a young man named Yusuke who will be moving to Tokyo next month to attend university. We were invited by Masahiko's good friend Shimura-san, a piano player who is friends with the Yusuke's father. Masahiko was invited to jam with Shimura and others, including Yusuke and his father, who both play trombone; in fact the father is very talented, and supposedly used to play in the orchestra for a famous Japanese comedy show back in the '70s. The party was held at a small ramen shop run by the Yusuke's family, and there were quite a few people there, many of them musicians. I was most impressed by the really young musicians, especially Yusuke's friend Yuhei (I think that was his name), who is already an amazing jazz drummer and he hasn't even finished high school yet. We also had the treat of seeing this old guy (who actually owns a very large water refinery in the Izu Peninsula, and who used to be Shimura's boss) play a washboard! It looks like a home-made contraption with bells and a horn, and the old guy wore these gloves with knife-like contraptions on the fingertips for making noise against the washboard. I've never seen anyone play a washboard before, and this guy had a great personality too! The music was great, and went on until about 10 p.m., and then Yusuke's mom prepared food for the musicians (and their significant others like me), so we got fried chicken and ramen and apple pie! it was great! The shop also has two resident cats, one of which took a great liking to me and Masahiko both; she's just the tiniest little cat, though already 6 years old, named Komomo (which means small peach). I took a couple pics of her, including one when she was sitting on Masahiko's shoulders - she was adorable. I think Masahiko wanted to take her home with us!

Here's some pics from the party:

The washboard guy:




Masahiko (kind of hidden in the middle) a bassist (who's also a veterinarian) and the really young drummer:


Komomo (the cat) with Masahiko:


some pictures on the wall in the ramen shop (the owner loves cats):




Last week we had our one and only snowfall of the winter, it was on Thursday morning I believe. I took pics early in the morning while it was still falling, but it melted by about 10 a.m. here's a pic:



Masahiko's temp job is supposed to be done this week - he's glad to have some more time to study for his English proficiency test, and then after that (mid-March), he'll start to figure out his next plan. Yesterday we spent the afternoon with his friend Machi-san, who's a monk. There may be something coming up in the future with regard to a career path... but I can't talk about it now. When we learn more, I'll write more.

If I get this job, I'm going to get really busy starting at the end of March - so I've got a month to do some writing, planning, researching (like how to get a green card in Japan, how to get a driver's license, etc...) and also my last bit of relaxing and serious studying. When I join the ranks of the working world, my free time will be relegated to nights and weekends like everyone else...

and though I've got more to write, I'll leave you for now, with these pictures of my lovely Leo:



Leo sticking his head out of the kotatsu (heated table):



and on his favorite lookout spot:



and waiting to be fed (you can see he's seriously deprived of food!!):





happy week everyone!