Status Update

Today is the end of two insanely busy weeks and what a friggin' relief it is. I literally had to work day in and day out for the last two weeks, including Saturday and Sunday, which is far from my idea of how weekend should be spent. Add 3 hours of daily travel to it which in fact is the worst part of it. I can work till late no problem, but I can't friggin' wake up so early everyday. But that's what I had to do, so the last two weeks was pretty much wake up at 7 in the morning, be at work at 9.30, work till about 10 or 11 - P.M. that is, not A.M. - and then be back home at midnight. And then the same routine again. And again. And then again. You get the drift right. Anyway I'm not complaining for a) I knew what I was in for when I came here and b) late night and weekend work means a fat pay check. As someone somewhere said, whoever said money can't buy you happiness simply didn't know where to shop. So yeah, I went ahead and ordered online a CASIO G-Shock watch; a present to myself for no particular reason. A note to everyone who doesn't know where to buy happiness; go to Amazon.com - you don't even have to spend a lot as things are quite cheap over there.

On other things, Sunday will be our third (I think so, I've lost count (losing count when you count up to 3 is sad, I know, but still)) attempt at starting the much awaited cricket season this year and I pray to the non-existent gods please don't spoil the party. I don't remember why but the first time we couldn't play as scheduled for some reason, then last week we couldn't play because of weather. Of course I wouldn't have played anyway since I was at work, so I didn't really miss much there, but I'm not going to miss it a third time too. Bashing a hapless Indian team is always fun so there's extra motivation as well. Wish me luck, as I have a feeling that I might need it since I'm planning on scoring a run-a-ball 100 and following it up with a five-fer, but of course that would be possible only if we bat first, and since I have not planned to take five wickets and follow it up with a hundred, run-a-ball or otherwise, it all depends on our newly appointed enthusiastic captain, let's call him A, winning the toss.

P.S.
Keep this quiet; I'm hoping against hope the bugger will lose the toss.

P.P.S.
There will be a company gathering sort of thing this evening, which means getting drunk to your heart's content, and god (no-existent again) I can do with a good ol' shot of whiskey right now. Off to getting drunk then. Later peeps!

Booze, Poker and two Sleepless Nights...

What a weekend it has been!
Like an express train without seats. Or something like that.

I got in the bus from Nagan to Shinjuku around 6pm. It's 250km and a 4 hour ride. I hated the Kandy - Colombo ride every weekend, when I was back in Sri Lanka. However comfortable this is, still it's the same. Long and boring. And goddam tiring.

I picked the phone and dialed R's number.

"Moshi moshi..."
"Er... Ruwan-san imasu ka?"
"Chotto matte ne..."

That was his wife.

"Ah malli, kohomada?"
"Ayya... hawasa mokada karanne? How about a Beer?"
"Beer gahala hariyanne na ban... Whisky bagayak thiyenawa... eka gahamu"

Typical R.

Couple of hours later I arrived at B's apartment. V was online.
"Ado enne nadda?"
"Enawa enawa... gimme 20 mins..."

Apparently, R had called L. From him to V. I called Chan. V to A to Other V. And C. Seemingly a half a Whisky had turned into a mega booze party in no time!

Wonders of modern communication.

And it was one hell of a night. Near the little stream which flows in front of our apartment. A lot of fun. Seems Shukugawara had turned into a Sri Lankan Bar or something... So the party was over at about four in the morning and A prepared a goddam tasty pork or beef curry ( can't remember which ) and went to sleep without eating it. As usual.

So we went to sleep at about 5am and had a few hours of sleep. When I woke up the next morning - or rather the same morning - my head seemed to weigh something like 10 kilos or so... The usual sick feeling... And the usual thoughts... why did I drink?

But had to get up - I was supposed to meet Puncha. So somehow I managed to drag myself up and went to Kawasaki and met him - it was after some time. The bugger is like twice the guy that was in the University. Maybe a bit more... And then we went to Akihabara - I wanted to buy a camera - and just wondered around in the middle of all the electronic stuff. And without any real need I talked with a cute chick who was in the place where they sell iPhones. I wan't going to buy it, but she was too cute to go without having a word...

That night the joint was Other V's place.
Lot of food, some beer and a lot of Poker. Had to teach couple of guys how to play it. But in the end N seemed to have so much luck that even a train would go around him if he decided to jump in front of it. So, obviously, we were smashed.

Again, it was so much fun though.

I haven't had any sleep, but didn't feel like sleeping at that time either. Rather, wanted to come back to Nagano. So went straight to Shinjuku that morning and got on a bus. Seemed I had opposite luck of what Nageeth ayya had. The goddam bus got late, and I arrived in my apartment at about 3pm.

So, just like I said before, it was definitely an express train ride without seats.

Fast, restless, yet enjoyable.