end of an era

Tomorrow, my good friend Jake is moving back to America after four-and-a-half years of living in Japan. A few of us went out to dinner tonight with him and his wife Yoko to basically have one last night out and to say our goodbyes and such. Honestly, it was kind of sad. It's not like I'm never gonna see the guy again (on the contrary, I'll probably see him often -- the first time being two weeks from now when we both head to Los Angeles for E3), but it's still a weird feeling. Mainly because ever since we became friends (about four years ago, when a group of us went out for drinks after one of the Tokyo Game Shows), he's been my closest friend in Japan, and the one guy here I could always count on when I needed something, whether it be a stupid thing (i.e. to go out for a few drinks and bitch about relationships) or an important thing (i.e. to go out for a few drinks and bitch about games). He played a large part in convincing me to follow my dream of moving out to Japan, and for that I'll always be grateful.

In any case, that era came to a close tonight, and starting tomorrow, it's on with the next stage of my life in Japan. I have a lot of friends out here who I like and respect quite a bit (like many of the Tokyopia crew, for example), but nobody who I clicked with on quite the same level as Jake. I consider myself lucky to have known a guy like him (and to continue knowing him -- it's not like he got hit by a truck or something), and I hope I'll get to meet more people like that in the future while I'm here in Japan.

So, anyway, here's to the end of one era and the beginning of a new one...one that I hope will be as exciting, adventurous and all-out ridiculous as the last one, for all parties. Good luck in the U.S., Jake and Yoko!

midnight maraudin'

I had a long story planned for this update (even wrote about 90% of it), but ultimately I decided it just wasn't the right time to tell the tale, so I guess I'll save it for another day. Annnnyway, right now it's just after midnight and I'm loungin' on my sofa, listening to music, drinking green tea and generally enjoying life. I'll study Japanese for another half-hour or so before I crash, and then it's off to Akiba tomorrow to pick up a new hard drive for my PC. I need more space for my mp3s so I'm just gonna go all-out and grab a 120 gigger. The new iPods'll be out in a couple of weeks, so I'm getting all my music ready for the big move. :) I can't wait! I've been waiting for the new ones for almost six months now. It's about time they finally got those things ready to go.

burnin' out

I think I'm gonna give Movable Type a try and see how it goes. I'm kind of clueless when it comes to technical PC stuff though, so it may be a while before I can get it up and running.

I'm really, really, REALLY burned out on games lately. Probably moreso than I've ever been in my entire life. This definitely warrants an editorial of some sort, so look for that soon, either here or over on Tokyopia. At the same time, I'm kind of high on life, so it's not all bad. In fact, I'm kind of glad. It's nice not feeling obligated to have to play everything major that comes along... there's just too much stuff and not nearly enough time to care about it all.

In other news, it's finally time for me to get serious about studying Japanese, so I'm working out a plan to get brushed up on what I've studied so far so I can get back into taking classes again from this summer. No turning back this time!

By the way, the Yankees are 9-1. Godzilla's tearin' it up. I miss ya, NYC!