I never thought I'd use a diary again, but recently I've had so much on that I've had trouble remembering it. So a diary was the only way! I was updating it today when I realised that I'd forgotten when the next badminton tournament is. Hoping, rather ambitiously, to pick up the info off the net, I eventually found myself at the Ako BMC website. To my amusement, they'd added not just an English page (with a somewhat decent translation done by one of the club members) but also a blog entry dedicated entirely to my first visit to the club. Hahahaha. You can check them out here and here. The entry had a blurry photo of me on court with Daiichi, that some cheeky bugger had taken on my first visit. There was also a hilarious message in mixed English and Japanese. The English needs no translation, but the Japanese reads roughly "The large-sized newcomer Daniel came to Japan from Australia. More and more, Ako BMC is communicating globally. If we provide our lessons in English too, will the number of people attending increase too?" This is fairly stereotypical Japanese writing, and it never ceases to amuse me :) I especially loved the 'large-sized' and 'corresponding globally' bit, hahaha :)

The other thing I needed to add to my diary was a seminar I have just been accepted into, at the Toyota factory in Nagoya in late March. It's a JET only thing, which I heard about from Emerald, a new friend I made at Hadaka Matsuri. Networking strikes again! :) It should be very interesting. We get to check out the production facility, have lunch with the staff, tour the Toyota museum and ask questions. I'm very interested in their technology, R&D processes and environmental efforts.

After the tour, I'm thinking of staying in Nagoya for a while. Hopefully I can catch up with Junko M if she's there as well as check out any sakura that will hopefully just be beginning to bloom. I was in Nagoya at about the same time last year, and the castle was very beautiful then. I'd relish the chance to take a few more photos of it, using what I've learnt over the past year. I'm itching to try out some new techniques I've learnt from reading my books. I've just read another pretty good one, 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson. A lot of it's extremely basic stuff designed for someone who's just getting into photography, but there were some really good sections on advanced techniques too. Reading about them, I realised that something I'd assumed was a problem with my camera, causing white and black to look more like a grey, is actually a problem with the way I do my exposure. Needless to say, I can't wait to try some of the techniques out.

Aside from that, the only other semi-exciting news is that my new computer should arrive any time from next Monday or so. In the meantime, I need to decide where to put it! I'm thinking upstairs in my spare tatami room. It's empty enough, has power and can also be cooled by the air con in summer and is small enough to be efficiently heated in winter. There isn't much light, unfortunately, but that's ok. I also need to think about getting a computer desk and a chair. I forgot about these things, and they're surprisingly expensive in Japan. Looks like I'm off to the recycle shop on day, haha.