Wow, that was definitely one of the bigger weekends I've had! It kicked off on Friday afternoon and was pretty much all go from that point on. I'd had a pretty quiet day at school, thanks to two of my classes being cancelled, so was able to relax for a bit and race out the door at dead on 4pm. Which was lucky, as I had a HAJET meeting before the beer garden started and only had just enough time to get home and get ready. I made it though, and we had just enough time to run through the beer garden and a few other things before the JETs started rolling in.

The Beer Garden itself was really good, as there was a massive turnout of JETs and I hadn't seen many of them for quite a while. We all hung out eating, drinking, catching up, reminiscing and saying goodbye until the party ended at 9:30pm. The time went by so fast! Towards the end I realised that it was one of those really ambivolent moments in my life, when I was so excited to see so many people I knew and hadn't seen for so long, but sad too because so many of them are leaving and I may never see them again. And I have to admit, I did feel a short pang of regret at not having gotten to know some of them better, especially those who lived 'close' to me. Anyway. I made sure I grabbed some photos of the people that were really important to me, just in case I don't see them again before they leave.

After the beer garden, most people were pretty drunk, but all headed out into Sannomiya anyway. I've been cutting down on how much I drink recently, so I was fine, and tagged along mainly because I was heading back to Goran's place to crash for the night. We all ended up in Trinity, which was ok, and Amanda, Goran, Dan and I zipped out at just before midnight to catch our last train home to Myoudani. We ended up doing our traditional konbini run on the way home, and I bought a big bag of fireworks which we set off in a big park near Goran's house. That turned into lots of singing and trading crazy stories, so we ended up getting home at about 3am, haha. We all finally got to sleep at around 4am.

We were up at around 10am on Saturday, which was a bit painful, as Goran needed to do some National AJET work. So Amanda and I quickly showered and headed out into Sannomiya to do a spot of shopping. Amanda wanted a new camera, so I went with her to check them out. I hadn't been keeping an eye on the compact digital market, but I figured Canon IXYs were still good, so recommended one of them. Amanda chose one and picked up a memory card and a bag, all for less than 30,000 yen. God they're cheap these days ;)

After that, we grabbed a quick lunch in a relatively decent Italian place and headed off on a shoe quest for me - the price I charged Amanda for helping her with her camera, haha. I headed to the shop I'd visited with Rachael when she was here, and immediately found the shoes I wanted. They're called Dragon Beard, and have a range of really funky styles. With Amanda's approval I picked up a pair with crazy Japanese patterns on them (check 'em out here), and was really happy. She also tried to help me look for some new clothes, but I wasn't really in a fashion mood and we were short on time. So after she changed quickly in SOGO and we stashed our stuff in a coin locker, we raced over to meet Goran and Dan in the Hankyuu Station, ready for a night in Osaka.

Goran's friend Misa was there too, who is really friendly and who I'd met the previous weekend, so that was nice. We all headed off to Umeda and then Shinsaibashi together, stopping quickly at an awesome little ramen shop to bag some amazing garlic ramen in preparation for Club Pure. Pure was holding another WhyNot!? Japan International Party, which are usually a really fun time. The party wasn't too bad that night, although it wasn't as good as some of the others we've been to. I did meet quite a few cool (and some strange!) people, though, and we all drank and danced the night away together. The most interesting person I met was Hitomi, a police woman from Kobe. I spent quite a long time talking to her because she was really interesting - she even did judo, which is really rare for women in Japan. Stupidly, I totally forgot to get her contact details, though, haha. Very 'Daniel' ;/ Oh, well! I might meet her again one day.

After Pure, which finished at 10pm, we all swaggered back to the train and home to Myoudani. We crashed Dan's place and I was so tired that I went to sleep almost straight away, although I did wake up at about 3am when everyone was shouting and laughing about some game, haha. Again, we were up at 10am and headed into Myoudani together for a Mister Donuts breakfast. Hehehe. Hardly my first choice, but once in a while is ok. About 1pm, Dan and Goran had to meet a teacher of theirs for lunch so Amanda, Misa and I went home. Misa lives two stops further from Sannomiya than Dan and Goran, which is great for them (as usual), so she went her way and Amanda and I headed back to Sannomiya.

In Sanno, Amanda decided to go straight home and I headed out to Osaka. I was supposed to go to an Alcapella performance that night, so figured I may as well get there early. I had wanted to do some photography in Osaka but the weather was awful, so I went to Yodabashi Camera instead. I'm doing a photo gig at the San-in Beach Party this coming weekend, and decided to replace my aging flash (thanks for the lend, Dad!) I picked up a Canon Speedlite 430ex for just under 30,000 yen and ended up buying a smaller camera bag, a tripod bag, some gloves and a few other random bits and pieces too. Good times!

After that I headed into Shinsaibashi for the concert, which was at a Chinese restaurant near the big department stores there. My friend Ann had invited me because she was in one of the groups performing. I wasn't entirely sure what Alcapella was before she told me, so was quite intrigued to see it. It turned out to be singing without music, which I was kind of suspicious about until I actually heard it working. And it worked pretty well! I guess mostly because a few members of the group sing harmonies in the background, or beatbox.

While the groups were good and some members were absolutely amazing, I have to say that Alcapella definitely isn't my type of music. That said, it was definitely worthwhile seeing it and having the experience. That's what life is all about, I think. Plus, there was a buffet dinner, hehe, and I also met a few of Ann's friends. Ann seemed to have a good time overall, which is the main thing. I was glad I could be there to support her. After dinner, there was another 2 hours or so of performances scheduled, which was a little bit too much for me. I was really tired and the music, while skillfully performed, wasn't really my thing, so I decided to head home. I was a bit disappointed as there were some interesting people there I would have liked to have met and talked to for a while, but such is life!

Back home I grabbed dinner at Minato-ya, did a few chores and headed to sleep. Thankfully I'd taken the opportunity of exams this week to book a day of nenkyuu to recover, which was very useful. I did a lot of chores, picked up a package from my parents (OMG real deodorant again, WOOHOO!) and generally veged out. It was good.

This week is looking to be pretty quiet as I have no classes. My ichi-nensei's have their English test on Friday morning so I suppose I will be marking 240 tests, haha. That sure as hell isn't going to be finished by Friday afternoon, and as I'm fully booked all weekend, I hope I can mark it next week :) And speaking of the weekend, it's the San-in Beach Party, woohoo! I'm heading up with the National AJET Press team as a photographer, which should be great. I can't wait to get some real camera work in as well as enjoy the awesome music and do a wee bit of partying too :) That kicks off on Friday night so I'm going to head up by train straight after school on Friday, w00t! Good times ahead.