one day maybe...

i was having dinner with my friend K. and her boyfriend when i asked him how they'd met. his answer was pretty simple: he explained the location and said he saw her and thought she was amazing. that was it. and he seemed to happy about it, too! her side of the story was over 10 minutes long and only got to the point after a whole lot of completely useless side details!

back to Japan!!

the joys of being back in Japan! it's great. not as hot as usual but plenty humid and as long as i'm out of Tokyo, lots of fun ;) spent another whole day in Kamakura yesterday, as if i hadn't been there loads of times. but it was so nice and calm and full of noisy semi and lots of local birds. add some matcha and monk food (vegetarian): bliss.

just before the holidays!

... i was called into a short meeting with my line manager and the soon-to-be figurehead of the school (the big boss is leaving) and they wanted to know whether i'd consider stopping teaching and managing full-time instead. i assumed i'd be able to think it over during my holidays but no, they wanted an answer by the end of the day. so i said yes. i mean, what else? i didn't spend all that money on a management course and all that time working here to turn that down. to be discussed further upon my return...

inspiration

i was really inspired at improv the other night. i don't know where it came from, whether simply because none of the usually inspired people were there or just because i happened to have brilliant ideas but i was in most scenes in one way or the other. it felt great!

twisting things

i've discovered that a friend of mine has a habit of slightly adapting the truth. as in, a few days ago she stated that Casablanca was someone's favourite movie when the person in question likes it very much but wouldn't say it was his favourite movie. and the other night, someone else mentioned the actor of a show they used to watch religiously every Saturday morning which no less than 5 minutes later was translated to 'this actor is X's hero'. we both looked at each other and went 'what?' - how did that get twisted? anyway, i guess it's good to know.

the next day

the phone woke me up. S. was calling with news. Sh. was ok, was being moved to a ICU bed and SL was going home to get some sleep. i said i'd be going to the hospital later and he suggested we go together. ok. 

most of the day i felt like i was majorly jetlagged. i was feeling weak. then i got bombarded with SMSes after offering a ride to the hospital and i couldn't quite deal with them all. picked up S. as planned and got to see Sh. 15 mns before they threw us out. he was so groggy that we decided not to wait and let him rest. on the plus side, he was not in the ICU at all and apparently out of harm's way. 

i wasn't feeling great and, to be honest, didn't really feel like going home and being alone so we sat down in the park in front of the hospital until i felt better. when i said i was ok to go he said there was no rush so we kept talking. we were there for an hour and a half. it was great and made me feel much better. the only minute i wasn't comfortable was when he mentioned his girlfriend. cos let's face it, we'd been flirting on and off since the bus the other night. and i kept waiting for it to stop, for him to realise that this was probably not a good idea, torn between just accepting it (he is leaving next week after all so it technically isn't hurting anyone) and telling him to stop. later, in the car, he offered to cook for me in my kitchen. what was i supposed to say? i'm not the jealous type but i wouldn't like it if my boyfriend offered to cook for other women and i couldn't think of anything else so i didn't say anything. i don't really know what to do.

the ER

it was about midnight when T. decided to join her fellow graduates in a bar. SL and Sh. left with her, to go home. the 3 of us that were left were just finishing our drinks before heading home as well. they'd been gone for about 10 mns when SL ran back in, clearly flustered, followed by Sh. it transpired that Sh. had vomited blood and that SL had called an ambulance but that Sh. had insisted on coming back to the pool bar to use their toilet. the ambulance was there a minute later, they got Sh. onboard, ran some basic tests and drove him away with SL. 

there was no way i was going home without knowing what was going on and the others agreed so we went back to my car and drove to the hospital. once there, we spent about 2 hours in the ER waiting for news. SL finally emerged with some: it was presumably an ulcer. we could see him and then go home, she would stay with him until they figured it out and we could come back in the morning. that's basically what we did, although i ended up driving T. all the way home as she refused to stay over at mine, despite the guest room. so in the end, i got to bed at 3.45 and slept incredibly badly, dreaming of hospitals and Sh. nearly dying. cos he could have. if he'd left the bar alone, he certainly wouldn't have called and ambulance and would probably have continued vomiting blood at home for some time before even thinking there was a problem. the ER team said that if he'd got in an hour later, things would have been a lot more complicated. and that is really scary.