Japan - Days 63-65

Thursday was a relatively uneventful day. Lab stuff was the usual, so nothing to report there. In Japanese class, I was meant to give my second Daily Speech presentation on 'Things I want to do in Japan', but the teacher forgot and, as me and Mike hadn't practiced our speeches much beforehand, we decided not to call her on it. We were also never given the New Words Quiz that we missed on Wednesday on account of the health check. In the afternoon, in the lab, I was invited to join them for yakiniku, but as I had to save for Saturday, and it would have cost somewhere in the region of 3,000 yen, I decided against going. However, as they all left at around 5.45pm, I was able to bail from the lab just after that, once my experiment reached a suitable stage. I sat in my room for a bit before Derek messaged me and asked if he could come study at my place, to get out of his room for a bit, so we hung out until about 1am ^^' After which I promptly went to bed
Friday was a bit of a bad day, overall :-( There was a Halloween party in the evening, so I was determined to go to that - I even packed my costume in my bag for the occasion. After starting a PCR reaction, I got some help from a girl in my lab about how to get my protein samples to roughly the same tubulin concentration to act as controls, and thought 'Hm, if I can get this done promptly, I'll be able to go through this experiment and still go to the party tonight'. However, once again, best laid plans... For a start, I poured transfer buffer into the SDS-PAGE tank rather than SDS, so I quickly removed the gel and put some SDS into a new tank instead, and set the gel to run. Unfortunately, I used up the last of one tub of SDS and of transfer buffer, so I had to remake the two of them. During the process, the methanol AND the 10x SDS mix ran out, so I had to pump some methanol from a drum into the bottle, then make some SDS mix. Unfortunately again, I made the mix wrong, so I had to start again. By this time, I'd already missed my lunch with Jen and Molly, but as my Japanese class was in 15 minutes, I had to leave the reagent-making until later. I didn't have time to get a proper lunch on the way there, but I stopped for a mochi which was something, at least
In Japanese class, we owned up to Sakai-sensei that we had to do the speech, so, despite not being in the best of moods, I still managed to fare pretty well. During the questions at the end, one of the guys in my class asked 'Is that necklace from Death Note?' rather than asking a question about my actual presentation XD Then he came and asked me where I bought it after class. I met some of my friends when I got outside the classroom, but I wanted to get the experiment done, so I just had time to borrow a couple of eye pencils from Jen (for my costume, as you will see), before jetting off on my bike to the lab. The way I calculated it, I could finish the transfer and put the membrane into the blocking step before heading to the party, getting to the party only a few minutes late. But, no sooner had I put my membrane into the transfer buffer for a few minutes, I was reminded that I had a group meeting, and that it had already started. I went over to that, hoping that it was nearly over so I could start up my transfer (which takes two hours), but as I discovered, it had JUST started. So, for about an hour and a half, I sat there listening to them talk about their experiments, and tried to talk about what I'd been doing, with the others suggesting improvements to my methods and such. By this time, I was really stressed about not getting to the party in time. I started up the transfer when I got back, which took longer than expected because firstly, I used a tank that all the liquid flowed out of, and secondly, because I'd put the lid of the case on incorrectly. Once I finally got it started, I got to work on mixing the 10x SDS solution. It took forever to get the solids to dissolve in the water, and in the process I finished off a bottle of glycine. Things always seem to run out when I use them -_- But anyways, eventually I finished mixing the SDS, ran the gel of my PCR products, and moved my membrane from the transfer case to the cold room, and got the hell out of that lab
I went to the party, paid my entry fee, then swiftly went to the toilet to put on my costume. I forgot to bring my shirt and tie as part of my Seta outfit from Love Hina, so I opted to combine my lab coat with my neko stuff to become a cat-scientist/doctor XD I must say, it went down pretty well. There were some more impressive costumes there, of course, but still, people seemed to like it. Bob came dressed as Obama with a plastic mask which was hilarious XD There was a dance presentation in the middle where a bunch of people from the Tsukuba Uni dance circle showed off some of their moves. Very impressive, especially the break-dancers! After the party drew to a close, we stood outside deciding what to do. I knew I couldn't stay out too late as I had to get up at about 5.15am the next morning to go to Tokyo, and despite what I initially thought, I would never have been able to do it after an all-nighter. There were about 10 different options of things to do, but as always, the first stop was the combini. Before going there however, I got a surprise phone call from my homestay host family from 5 years ago, who I'd received an e-mail from a few days before. I talked to them for about an hour, and it was so nice to hear from them again. They seem to really want to meet me again, so I'm thinking about trying to get up there to see them over autumn break if I can. By the time I got off the phone from them, everyone had disappeared, so after quickly calling them, I found them in front of Coco. I got a couple of drinks to be sociable, but in the end I knew I couldn't go to Cybex with them for the 7 hour package they had planned v.v I headed home, got on my computer for half an hour or so, then called it a night
Saturday morning - 5am. I woke up while it was still dark outside, and it was raining. I'd prepared most of my things the night before, and luckily my warm coat and raincoat had enough pockets for everything. I set out for the station at about 5.30, and managed to get the 5.51 semi-rapid to Akihabara. This got me to Akihabara very early, so early that all the shops I intended to browse in to kill time hadn't even opened yet. So, I opted for Starbucks, where I had a green tea frappucino while I tried to eavesdrop on some Western woman speaking English to the attendants, asking for their customer service number because something was apparently wrong with the coffee she'd been served -_- Anyway, after I finished my coffee, I went down and got the Yamanote line to Tamachi. The nostalgia was immense! As I arrived about 30 minutes before I was due to meet Laura, a friend from 6th Form who's also in Japan right now, I decided to take a quick walk in the direction of Keio to see if I remembered the way - I did :-D I got as far as the University before I decided that, yes, I could find my way to the middle school, before coming back. Funnily enough, I remembered a lot of the landmarks - the combinis (though I'd forgotten which chains they were), the crossroad, the McDonalds and the little shrine. Just as I was almost back at the station, I saw Brad coming the other way! As I got beside him, I said 'Ohayo', and he gave a little nod and kept walking. For a start, I thought he was trying to be funny, but as I had my hood up, he actually hadn't recognised me! He was shocked when he found out it was me, but it was so funny XD I told him I'd meet him in a bit, then went and met Laura at the station, before heading all the way down to the school
Before I go on, did I mention it was raining? I'd been warned by my host mother on the phone the night before that there was a typhoon on the way, so I'd made sure to be waterproofed, but my shoes were still letting in water. We were pleased to reach the shelter of the entrance to the school, where I called Mr Gdula, my old Japanese teacher and Brad's current teacher, to show us where they all were (speaking in Japanese, of course :-p). He guided us through to the library (I was speaking to one of the Keio teacher's I'd originally met at the Avon Tyrrell summer camp on the way), where I met the Hockerill group and gave my brother a biiig hug XD
As the typhoon was coming in, the itinerary for the day was up in the air, so eventually it was decided that we'd go to Asakusa and then take it from there. After a short train journey, we arrived at Asakusa station, and walked along to Kaminari-mon (Thunder gate). After a few group photos, we were given an hour to go shopping along the markety street leading up to a temple. I went with Brad and his friend Olly, and we got pretty wet walking around, but it was still quite cool. I bought myself some Death Note trading cards (I got a shiny L :-D) and a shuriken necklace (though it's got a clip fastener rather than just a long cord, annoyingly). Once we'd all met up again, we went for lunch at a small restaurant off one of the side streets. I had katsu-don and a melon soda, which was very tasty
During the meal, Mr Gdula got a message saying that, due to the typhoon, the Keio students would be leaving school at around 3pm (yes, they have Saturday school too :-O), so we had to go back early rather than staying out until 6 or 7. On the way back, we took a detour to a mall in Roppongi called Tokyo Midtown (I think), where we did a bit more shopping and looked at some tech exhibition that was going on. Me, Brad and some of his friends had a shadow photo taken (basically a silhouette), which we posted on the wall at the exhibition with a speech bubble with all our names on it. After this, we headed back to the school
At this time, my plan was to meet some other friends and go drinking either in Tokyo or on the Yamanote line (a foreigners' tradition of some sort, around Halloween time, which the Japanese really don't like, for obvious reasons XD), so I wanted to hang around in Tokyo a little longer to find out what was going on so I didn't have to go to Tsukuba and back again. After checking with Derek, I found out the location of the Tokyo Pokémon Centre, and decided to go there and to Akihabara to kill time. Laura said she'd come with me until about 5pm, when she had to leave to get to a party of her own back in Yokohama. However, as Brad's exchange's mum didn't arrive at the school to pick them up until about 4.30pm, Laura could only come with me to the Pokémon Centre. After mine and my brother's farewell, we got the train (going the wrong way for a start ^^') to Hamamatsucho. From here, it was only a 2 minute walk to the Pokémon Centre. As it was smaller than I thought, I would've kept walking had Laura not pointed it out XD However, I wasn't disappointed!
For a start, I noticed that over the sound system, they played the video game Pokémon Centre music on a loop. Then I was hit by a visual overload of Pokémon stuff :-D Plushies, stationary, food, books, clothes, so much stuff! After walking around for about 5-10 minutes, I finally settled on - a little Pokémon Black pocket guide book, a Reshiram phone charm and a Pokabu plushie :3 I guess it was a little expensive, but I left the store a happy bunny ^^
After saying goodbye to Laura at the station, I got back on the train to Akihabara, where I planned to hang around for a few hours and wait for the others to get there. However, on the platform, I got a message from Kat - her and Molly were going to Mo's apartment on account of lack of money and the weather (which had turned wetter and windier throughout the course of the day), so wouldn't be coming to Tokyo. As they're my two favourite drinking buddies, I decided not to go drinking after all. On reflection, given how much money I'd spent in the day, this was probably a sensible choice. Therefore, I quickly looked in Book Off, Shosen Book Tower and Yodobashi before coming home. I used the wi-fi in Yodobashi to check my game sync to the Dream World in Pokémon Black. As it turns out, my Gigigear and Oddish hadn't disappeared, so I was able to get those back. In addition, my Pokabu had been successfully traded for a Zorua ^^ I uploaded my summer-forme Shikijika to the Dream World before heading back to Tsukuba, where I was very tired and almost falling asleep on the train ^^'
When I reached Tsukuba station, I bumped into Ciaran, Cenk and Asoon just heading into Tokyo, armed with copious amounts of drink. After saying a quick hello to them, I went up to Seibu, grabbed some dinner and then took the short cycle back to my dorm. As it turns out, the weather wasn't so bad here, so I got home before the rain started to get heavy. Once I got back, I changed out of my wet clothes and put up the curtains which mum had sent with Brad; now I can walk naked around my room without worrying XD I went onto the Dream World, and tried doing a few things, but after about 20 minutes, it started telling me once again that I didn't have a Pokémon uploaded, so I dunno why it doesn't like my game -_-
Now, one last point for the day, as this has been a very long, detailed entry - as Brad went to the Studio Ghibli museum last week, he bought me a little soot spirit from My Neighbour Totoro (and Spirited Away, but the label said Totoro), as well as one for himself. His idea was for us both to take pictures of our spirits in different locations and send them to each other. So, for starters, I've taken a picture of it on my pillow. I guess we'll see where this leads XD
Anyway, I'm about to head out with Derek to take a walk to the combini - night all ^^

Japan - Days 61-62

Tuesday was a fairly uneventful day. In fact, I can't remember much happening that was worth of note at all ^^' Lab was okay, I continued on with a Western blot. Japanese class was roleplays about calling a taxi, and I got my Daily Speech script back, which I need to practice. After class, I went to the Hirasuna cafeteria and had dinner with a friend, although as I'd already bought some noodles from the 100 yen store I took those along to eat, hoping that the staff wouldn't complain - they didn't :-p
Wednesday was a bit more interesting. We had a test in kanji class which went alright, I think, and then worked on some sign kanji, like 'push' and 'pull'. We talked about strange signs we'd seen, and someone said they'd seen a sign with something about toilet paper and crows in the toilets of his building, though I wonder if he read 'garasu' (glass) as 'karasu' (crow) by mistake. I had to miss Japanese class, along with most other exchange students, to take a health check. I'd prepared a urine sample in the morning (that was nasty -.-), and had to queue for an age to even get into the building, then had to queue at each of about 6 different stations for - urine sample submission, chest x-ray (this queue lasted something ridiculous like half an hour), blood pressure test, eyesight check, height and weight check, then going in to see a doctor who checked heart rate, eyes and glands (again, stupidly long queue), so all in all I was waiting for about an hour and a half. Apparently I've lost a few pounds, and I could feel myself stooping when they measured my height because I wasn't quite backed up against the pole when they started, so they underestimated my height a little, but still, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. After this, I had to go clean up the mice, then got the same text through 4 times about going for sushi, so I got to a suitable point then headed out, took a shower, then met up with everyone. There were only 6 of us, so we could fit perfectly around one table. It was very tasty, once again ^^ Then when I got back, one of my friends asked if he could come over to study and talk for a bit. 'A bit' lasted until about 1am, so I was pretty shattered by the time he left, and promptly went to bed. I am slightly worried about something I discovered online when he was here - on the Pokémon Dream World, my Gigigear has disappeared, and it seems like the Oddish I befriended has been downloaded. I don't think it's possible that someone hacked my account, but the site was down for maintenance some of yesterday and was acting a bit weird after, so maybe that's it. I'll be annoyed if they've disappeared though -.-
Anyways, that's about it from me for now. Byesie-bye :-)

Japan - Days 58-60

This weekend wasn't quite as good as I'd been hoping, but still not too bad on the whole
On Saturday, I was really looking forward to going out to Hot Stuff/Staff in the evening, so I was restless for most of the day. [Edit: I can't believe I forgot the first thing I did in the morning - I met one of the people from my lab at 9am, checked if the mice from Friday had mated (involving checking if the male deposited a plug in the female by sticking tweezers up the females'... yeah), separating out young male and female mice so they couldn't mate uncontrolledly, and finally... murder! O.O The male mice we separated out were experimentally useless to us, so, while the girl from my lab killed one to show me how, I disposed of the other two. The method is easy - grab their tail, grab their neck tightly just at the base of the skull, pinch and pull until you feel the neck dislocate. One mouse turned and bit a hole in my glove because I wasn't fast enough, and the second one still looked like it was breathing, though apparently it was just spasm. Still, I guess video games ARE desensitising me - it didn't freak me out as much as I'd imagined it would. My friends think I'm psycho now lol]. I invited some people to join me in going to Tsukuba Centre to buy my bookcase, and so while I was waiting for them to get ready, I cycled around and around to kill time. Anyway, as I had to carry my bookcase back, we opted for walking rather than cycling (one of my other friends tried to take a bookcase back on his bike, ended up walking anyway), but it was a nice warm, sunny day so I didn't mind. We had a quick lunch in Mister Donut, then proceeded to Seibu, where my friend directed me to the bookshelves. As it transpires, the one he bought was meant to be a shoe case, although it was a pretty decent size. Plus, it only cost around 650 yen! To put that in perspective, I then bought some Pokémon stickers for my DS - they cost about 200 yen. By the time we got back to Oikoshi, my arms were about ready to drop off from carrying the huge flatpack bookcase (which I occasionally held like a massive machinegun XD), so I dropped it off in my room, then went to the combini with my friends for a bit of lunch, then my friend came over with his screwdriver and helped me construct the bookcase, which took about 20 minutes. I then proceeded to unpack my suitcase into it, so I could stuff it under my desk, leaving my room looking rather tidier and a bit roomier than it did before. I then hung out with my friend for a bit, before we were meant to meet some friends. As it transpired, another of our friends was planning on going to the same gyoza restaurant as us, with a few more people, about 30 minutes after we originally planned to meet up, so we all decided to meet and go together. I did get a little upset when I ended up on a table of all the people I knew less well, while all my friends were on the next table, but still, it was a fun night, though we had to wait for what seemed like an eternity for our gyoza to arrive. It was sooo tasty though :-D After the meal, a few of us waited around outside the combini with a few drinks, waiting for the rest of our friends to show up. When they didn't after an hour or two, we decided to just head to the bar anyway. We nearly ended up losing two of our party, as one of my other friends took us a way we'd never gone before, but we finally made it there safe and sound. Hot Stuff was definitely emptier than it was last time, so we all sat around the middle table with our drinks (I ordered a Long Island ice tea first, out of habit) and played 'Never have I ever'. Basically, you go around the circle saying 'Never have I ever...' followed by something you've never done (usually), then the ones who HAVE done it take a drink. Once someone drinks 5 times (counted on your fingers), they have to double drink, then triple drink after the next 5, etc.. Things start off fairly innocent, then escalate to dirty stuff and targeting specific people. We played it at Oikoshi once before, but I couldn't remember whether you drank when you HAD or HADN'T done something, so one of my friends was under the illusion that I'd had sex in public before XD I soon set him straight once I found out ^^' We played this for a few hours, getting into our second drinks (mine was a White Russian - vodka and milk - which was actually pretty good), then thirds. Now, this is where I made the same mistake as a few weeks back. I had a second White Russian, which, after a few sips, made me feel sick. I wretched a few times in the toilet, luckily not bringing anything up, then decided it was best that I cycled home; it was about 3am by this time. I managed to get home safely, and on the way back I even had the strength to stop at the combini and buy myself two pizza-pan - one for that night, and one for the next morning. I then went home, ate my pizza-pan and promptly fell asleep. Now, what I discovered later was that, after I left, the others stayed at the bar for a few more hours, then moved down to Gold Rush, and the part that upset me most - they went to Cybex and did karaoke for 4 hours! Still, I guess there's always next time
On Sunday, I set my alarm for 10.30 and woke up feeling a little woozy, but still not hungover, thankfully. I texted Jen about shopping, then we met up and got the train to Iias, where she bought some cat ears for Halloween, and we looked around for a little while before taking the train back to Tsukuba Centre, where she did her groceries and I got some lunch. We got back to Ichinoya, where my bike was parked, and Jen asked if I wanted to accompany her to the lab while she skated there (basically - she wanted me to go with her). This didn't take too long, so I was soon on my way back home. One of my friends had mentioned everyone going for Chinese that night, but as he was ill, I decided to make a contingency - dinner at Ichinoya cafeteria. However, all but one friend bailed, so she invited someone else and the 3 of us met up at Ichinoya. This was where I discovered what had happened the night before after I left, so that put a bit of a downer on my mood, but still, it was nice to hang out. That night it rained pretty heavily, so I got the bus to and from Ichinoya, and wore a t-shirt, my Heroes hoodie, my blue fleece jacket AND my waterproof coat. I felt a little overdressed, but it seemed to do the trick :-) When I got back, I wrote the script for my Japanese presentation in a few days' time, then went to sleep
Today, I woke up pretty tired. Two people were giving their scientific paper presentations today, so by the time they finished I was nearly asleep. In the lab, I set up the repeat of my Western Blot, then decided to try texting my old Japanese teacher. My brother arrived in Japan on Saturday, but neither me nor my parents had heard from him, so I wanted to make sure they landed okay. However, even after Japanese class (which was okay, nothing really interesting happened there), he hadn't replied, so I went online on one of the lab computers and searched for the phone number of the school he's homestaying at. Once I found it, I called them up to ask if they'd made it there okay. I discovered that they had, but then the lady on the phone said something that I didn't understand, so when I said that my Japanese still wasn't great, she put me on the line to one of the English teachers ^^' I ended up talking to her for a few minutes explaining that I just wanted to make sure my brother had arrived safely (in a mix of English and Japanese by this point). In the lab department, I got my Western blot to the blocking step, where it was safe to leave it overnight, so I then zipped back to my room to dump my bag, then back to join the others for kaiwa club. Today we ate at a place called Gasuto, which is basically an American-style restaurant. I had a burger with cheese on the inside of it, along with some rice, corn soup and a couple of potatoey things. It was pretty tasty :-) Afterwards, one of my friends asked if I could show her the way to the post office so she could pick up a parcel, so while she was paying for her meal, and I was waiting around, I ran across the car park to Book Off to see if they had Pokémon Special 3 in the 105 yen section. Bad news - they didn't have Pokéspe 3. Good news - they DID have Pokéspe 19 XD I know I'm now buying them out of order, but it was less than £1 for a manga :-D Result! Once everyone was ready to go, we took the cycle ride along to the post office, then back around to the dorms, in the rain, and as I wanted to protect my new manga with my hoodie, I was cycling in my t-shirt. I maintain, however, that whereas I'd be able to recover from a cold, a book wouldn't recover from getting wet
[Edit: Forgot this the first time around - I stopped in the 100 yen store after my friend left, and I bought a small box of mochi (I had the munchies lol), and there was a long hair on the counter when the lady was putting the mochi through. She apologised and brushed the hair away, and I assumed it to be mine ^^' Then she said it was a blonde hair, which I hadn't noticed, and said it was from another customer, so we had a bit of a laugh about that XD]
Anyways, that's about it from me for today. I discovered an e-mail from my brother when I got back, so I was pretty pleased about that - it sounds like he's having a good time :-D Tomorrow should be another regular day, I really must study for my kanji test though :-( Until next time, nighty night :-)

Japan - Day 57

Today wasn't too bad really
In the morning, I discovered that a bunch of my friends who are taking classes were going to Tokyo for sightseeing in the daytime, and clubbing at night, so as I couldn't go to that I was rather upset for a little while. In the lab, I continued on with my Western blot (apparently I wasn't supposed to leave my experiment overnight at the transfer phase - someone had to wait a long time to be able to use one of the machines because I wasn't there to dismantle my one ^^'), and by the end of the day I got SOME results, but as the concentrations were uneven again, I need to start from the beginning again on Monday with a protein assay :-( Maybe I'll get it right this time
[Note: My computer froze up when I was writing this last night, and because it was late and I was tired, I decided to call it a night, so this is written on Saturday morning ^^']
During lunch break, I went with Jen to a rice place at the university cafeteria, which she'd been wanting to try for a while; it was pretty good :-) Then we went to the ISC to collect a few things for a medical check-up next Wednesday. I checked the time, and although I'll be able to go to kanji class, I'll miss Japanese class -.-
Back at the lab, after a couple more hours of continuing with my experiments, one of the girls in the lab took me down to the mouse room to put some mice together for breeding. Saturday morning at 9am I have to go in to check if they've mated. Then comes separating out babies before they can breed with each other, and practice with something I've really been dreading - killing the mice. For the next experiment, we have to extract embryos from the mother mouse. As this also includes removing the uterus, the mouse itself becomes essentially useless in the eyes of our science, so it has to be 'sacrificed'. Over-anaesthetising them is out because it either involves an injection in the stomach, or gassing them, which could both effect the embryos either physically or through stress, respectively. Which leaves the final option - neck-breaking, like I saw the assistant professor doing a few weeks back. The thought of it makes me cringe, but I guess I have to steel myself against it. On Saturday I'll be practicing by killing some wild-type mice, which, as they don't have the mutant gene we're interested in, are also useless to us. I'm sure the lab could make a bundle on the side by selling them off as pets instead, but there we are
After going to mate the mice, I had to go to the lab for another hour and a half. This meant that I missed going to gyoza with my friend, which was annoying. When I got back to my room at about 8pm, after dinner and a much-needed shower, me and a few of my friends who hadn't gone to Tokyo were trying to decide what to do. We decided on Shein's Bar, but just as we said this, my friend checked Facebook and it transpired that he was hungover, so the bar was closed. The next plan was just going walkabout for a while, but my friend up in Ichinoya didn't fancy that, so I met up with my friend in Hirasuna instead. We walked down into Tsukuba Centre and back, a good hour or so's walk at our pace. On returning, I tried to write my blog but my computer froze, so I went to bed
And now I'm awake once again, looking forward to a day that's probably going to be full of trauma and fun in equal measure XD Until next time

Japan - Days 53-56

The past few days have been mixed, but fairly good on the whole
Monday was the usual 9am start, with my tutor giving his Monday morning presentation; it was something about viruses so I was sort of interested, though again, as it was all in Japanese I had no hope of understanding it. After this, I began my Western blot. Last week, I had planned out my schedule to ensure that I'd have enough time to fit in the Western blot, go to classes and go to kaiwa club. Well, you know what they say, "the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry". I made my stacking and running gels, poured them into the casing, and by the time I needed to go to class, the stacking gel still hadn't set. After checking with a couple of the people in my lab, it turns out that a.) I hadn't mixed the running (bottom) gel correctly, as the density was different in different places, b.) There was still water between the layers, meaning the protein wouldn't have been able to pass through properly anyway, and c.) I hadn't put a layer of water on top of the stacking gel, so the air had stopped it from setting properly. So, in the interest of still being able to go to kaiwa club, I opted to skip Japanese class. I knew that there were no tests on the day, so I just texted my friend in the class and got him to send my apologies. In addition, when I went to the common room to input some data to the PC, I discovered that some of the guys in my lab had brought their DSes with them again and were playing together on Pokémon, but I'd once again left my DS in my room. After being supervised by a guy in the lab, I got my gel set okay. As he found out I wanted to leave for kaiwa club at 6.30, though, he helped me out by setting the gel on a faster run setting and letting me leave it a stage early to sit overnight, even though I said I was willing to miss kaiwai club in favour of completing the experiment, trying to show I was committed. However, they didn't seem to have any qualms with it, so I got out and away to kaiwa club on time :-) After sitting talking for a while, we went along to a place just off of campus. As one of my friends couldn't decide what to have, I went for the kara-age and she went for the spicy meatballs, so that if she didn't like the meatballs, we'd switch. As it transpired, she wasn't very hungry anyway so a bunch of us on the table ended up sharing hers anyway XD Once the meal was over, we all stood outside the restaurant talking for about an hour before everyone finally dispersed. Two of my friends and I decided to head off and retrieve my friend's bike once and for all, and so, with one friend riding on my back rack and the other riding her borrowed bicycle, we made it to the bar and retrieved both her bike AND the key she lost, so I'd say the night was a success :-D
Tuesday wasn't too bad a day either. Although, as far as the experiments were concerned, it was a bit of a failure. I finished off the Western blot, and stained the membrane and everything, but I got no results. In the end, I was told to leave the film in the case overnight to get maximum development. I managed to make it to Japanese class; nothing exciting there, although we did stop in the combini on the way back and I bought a delicious mochi :-D In the evening, one of my friends was meant to have dinner with her tutor, but as her tutor bailed, she invited a bunch of us to eat at a Chinese place near the 100 yen store. I had originally planned to go buy myself a bookshelf, but socialising seemed like a much better option :-) A few of us turned up, including a couple of Japanese guys we knew. I had a delicious ramen set, and even ended up finishing some of my friends' food too (I always feel greedy eating with my friends ^^'). Afterwards, we went along to the 100 yen store and grabbed a few things, and then stood outside for a while chatting. A few more gaijin were stood out there, including the guy who runs the local bar, who recently returned from India. A few weeks ago, when I posted my birthday party event on Facebook, he offered free champagne if I went to his bar on my birthday, but when he met me on Tuesday, he formally introduced himself and finally worked out who I actually was. Then we were all invited back to his bar for a free drink on the house. I had a long island ice tea, as did everyone, and even though I dislike the taste, I managed to finish mine off before everyone else, and still didn't feel drunk (maybe I'm building up a tolerance). As I had to be in the lab the next morning, I left around 11.30 (my friend also had to be in the lab at 9am, but she stayed out until 3am XD)
Wednesday was a rather bum day. Once again, I tried running detections on my membrane from Western blot, but to no avail, and my PCRs didn't work either. Kanji class was alright, though we have a test next week to prepare for and we were given more homework. Japanese class was pretty standard, although it was our last until Monday, as all ISC classes are cancelled for entrance exams, I believe. I thought I was going to be able to get out of the lab early, so I texted a couple of friends about going shopping once I got out. As it transpired, my photography of the gel kept failing, until it was too late for me to do anything, so I had to cancel, and felt really pissed off at letting my friend down. I couldn't get the development to work, so I just left at about 8pm, once the person supervising me had gone. On the way home, I met my friends cycling the other way, on their way to hang out at the combini, but I had the report from last week's transgenics lecture to complete for Thursday and I was in a foul mood from having to stay in the lab so late, so I decided to head back. As it transpires, they hung out on the Oikoshi grass until about 2am, and it was good fun, but as I say, I was busy. Very busy, as it transpires. I'd been lent some answers to last year's report from a friend, but not only were a lot of the questions different, the answers that were written were in such bad handwriting that I couldn't make them out. I was really stressed out by this point, and thought I was going to have a bit of a breakdown, but as it happens, I managed to hold it pretty much together. To make matters worse, though, once I realised I could copy the text into my computer and search phrases on Google, my internet died when I was still only half done (about 4-5 hours after starting). As it was about 2am, however, I decided to call it a night, setting an alarm for 6am to get a good blast at the essay
And at 6am I awoke. As it transpired, with the internet once again at my disposal, I was able to finish the rest of the report in about an hour, leaving me with some time to chill before heading to class, submitting the report on the way. For some reason, I was in not only a much better mood than the previous night, but a slightly hyperactive mood despite the lack of sleep. I decided to start from scratch with the Western blot as it just wasn't working out right, and the PCR and gel that I ran, using the protocol my supervisor showed me, gave a few more, clearer results, so at least that's a start. I was also informed that on Friday and Saturday I would be preparing to breed mice, and check them for having been impregnated, as well as practicing killing them in order to extract embryos. This saddened me a little, but I guess I need to learn. As there are no Japanese classes today or on Friday, I got out a bit early for lunch and ate with my friend again. A friend then texted to say that some people were going to the Korean place, so I tried to get out early again. I made it, but only just. I was aiming for 6 (meet-up was at 7) so I could shower beforehand, but first off, I'd put my gel in the case the wrong way for a start, which slowed me down by 90 minutes; then there wasn't enough buffer in the tank so the gel didn't run, setting me back another 50 or so minutes, and then I had to make up both transfer buffer AND the transfer buffer premix, as well as refilling the methanol bottle (I've now experimented with (hydrochloric) acid and meth(anol) XD). In order to leave on time, I finished one step early, pushing my experiment back an hour or so tomorrow, and even then I only left at about 6.30. Arriving in plenty of time (and realising there is SOME wireless at Hirasuna Community Centre), I waited for a bit before the rest of the people arrived - 6 of us in total - before we headed off to the restaurant. I had bibimbap this time, to compare with the ishiyaki (I think the Korean is 'dolsot' - stone pot) bibimbap I've had the last two times. This one had a major advantage - not only were side dishes refillable, but so was my rice. I ate my bibimbap, two bowls of rice, a little bowl of soup, and some sides. Then, as the girls in our group were light-weights, I ate half of another dish, two more soups, and some more sides in order to finish them off. By the end, I felt just about ready to burst. However, as it was a bit of an expensive meal, I'm glad I got my money's worth
And so here I am, with a bit of a stomach ache and feeling very tired. It's about 12.30 now, so I'll sleep very soon. Until next time, good night :-)

Japan - Days 50-52

This weekend has been a pretty big improvement over the rest of the week, I'm pleased to say
On Friday, I nearly ended up having a bike accident on my way to the lab - I turned too far into the corner and nearly tipped my bike, but luckily I put my foot down in time to stop myself from falling. I arrived at 9am for the start of the presentations that the people in my lab were giving, about their work so far this year in the lab. Some of them I could get the general idea of what they were talking about by looking at the pictures in their slides, but some of the time I just had no idea. I did, however, manage to write a poem during the gaps between presentations. As I hadn't written a sonnet in a while I decided to go for that style:

Disorder

If destiny has not been prearranged,
Then I must forge my path with my own hand,
Though I may, from my logic, be estranged,
Due to my trials in this distant land,
The foremost difficulty in my mind,
Is that I 'lack commitment', so they say;
Humiliated, must I leave behind,
The happiness that just now comes my way?
And then, with my emotions, troubles lie;
When I had almost my decision made,
A friend of mine, who may know more than I,
Said but few words, and so my hand was stayed,
To friendship, work and love I must give all,
Lest I should into endless sadness fall.

At about 12, we reached the midway point and so we all went to lunch at a Chinese place that I went to with a few of them one evening a while ago. I decided on a bowl of soy sauce and spring onion ramen, which was tasty :-) At 1, we went back and the presentations started up again. I stayed for one of these, then headed along to Japanese class, where me and my partner had time to go over our presentation a couple of times before the class started. The presentation was about a place we recommend people to visit, so we chose Cybex. I think the presentation went pretty well, to be honest, although the questions afterwards were mostly answered by my partner rather than me. I should get the results of that and my other midterms in the next few days
After Japanese, I went back to listen to a few more presentations, and once everyone had done, we went back to the lab for a little bit. As the power was all going off in the lab building due to maintenance, everyone was arranging their experiments and such so that nothing would thaw out, etc over the weekend. As I didn't have any experiments on the go, I went up there for about 5 minutes, straightened out the stuff on my desk, then my tutor said that I could go. It was about 5pm by this time, and the lab nomikai started at about 7.30pm, so after getting directions to the place in Dayztown where it was being held, I went and met a few friends who were going shopping at Iias that evening. As I had the nomikai I knew I couldn't stay with them for all of it, but I timed how long it took us to cycle there (about 30 minutes, as we took a wrong turn at one point XD) so that I could cycle back to Dayztown with plenty of time to spare. First off, we went to a pet store just to look around. They had so many puppies and kittens in there, they were so cute :3 They also had a few pets which I'm pretty sure must be illegal in most Western countries, such as baby porcupines, some sort of bird of prey and, my personal favourite, a squirrel monkey (which looked very angry). The monkey cost a ridiculous amount of money though. We then walked around a few clothes stores, with one of my friends spending a ridiculous amount of money ^^' After about an hour of this, I had to leave, cycling like the wind back to Dayztown and meeting the people from my lab. As it turned out, about 3 of them had brought their DSes with them, complete with the new Pokémon games, so they could trade. If only I had known >< My tutor said that he'd trade me a Zorua sometime though, as he has 2 :-) The place is called Caribbean Club, and is full of pirate-like decor, so it looked pretty cool. We were mainly drinking (during the course of the night, I had a beer, a Calpis sour and a hawthorn sour, though some of the others had more than me), but every now and then we'd be served with some sort of side-dish, such as aubergine slices, salad, chicken nuggets and chips, and finally a couple of pizzas. During this time, the main things going on at my end of the table were a bunch of the guys pestering another guy who looked like he was falling asleep (either that or he was drunk, I'm not sure ^^'), and me being quizzed about my love life, or lack thereof. Still, it was a fun evening. At the end a few of them went off somewhere else for ramen, but as I was meant to be climbing Mt Tsukuba the next day, I declined the offer and headed back. On the way, however, I replied to a missed call from a friend (I'd been out of signal range during the nomikai) and was invited to hang out and drink at Oikoshi. I powered my way back to the combini, getting a call from my mum on the way, and met my friends there, where we bought a few drinks then returned to where our other friends were sitting. We sat around and talked for a few hours, until about 1.30am when it started to drizzle and we thought we'd better call it a night, after which I promptly went to bed and fell asleep
Saturday was a very long but very interesting day, I must say. I woke up around 8.30am, took a shower, then headed out to the combini to buy some rations for the climb up Mt. Tsukuba. I then headed up to Hirasuna to wait for everyone (I was the first one there, naturally ^^'). I swear it must have been the hottest day so far this month, which we knew from the outset would make the climb harder. After everyone had arrived, most of us started the hour and a half cycle ride to the mountain (a couple of lazy asses got a lift in one guy's car XD). We stopped for a few photo opportunities as we neared the mountain, the results of which will be uploaded in due course, once I finish this blog entry. As I was trying to hold my camera while riding my bike, and I had my hand resting awkwardly on the handlebar, my thumb knuckle has been rubbed red and raw, which stings a little. Once we got nearly to the start of the trail, we had to walk our bikes as the hill just became too steep. By the time we reached the shrine, where the trail begins, everyone was already looking exhausted. Therefore, while all the guys set off to climb the mountain, the girls opted to take the cable car. I later discovered that they sat and had an ice cream before getting the cable car, which made me hate them even more for it XD The path started off alright, mainly just a big staircase, but as we kept going, the climb got steeper and the rocks got bigger, which made them harder to climb. Luckily the path was almost entirely shaded by trees, so at least that kept the heat off us, though I could still see the sweat standing out on my arms. We had a few rest stops for about 5 minutes at a time, and reached the top after about 80 minutes. We found the girls, then all sat down for some lunch. I bought myself a souvenir cup and an ice cream to celebrate XD We went and sat up on top of a slowly-rotating tower which was pretty cool. After much debating, we then decided to climb the last little stretch to the shrine right on the tallest peak, which only took another 5-10 minutes. Then began the descent, which all of us took part in. By the time we reached the bottom again, it was dark and almost everyone had left. The people who had gotten the ride to the mountain got a ride back again, while the rest of us biked back. The first stretch involved us free-wheeling down the side of a main road at some ridiculous gradient. Every few seconds I could hear the squeaking of everyone's brakes. At one point near the top the guy in front of me fell down a gap between the road and the crash barrier, and my brakes didn't work fast enough so I ended up hitting his leg, but he was alright thankfully. The rest of the ride back was pretty uneventful, although at one point we saw a tortoise crawling along the gutter at the side of the road, which was pretty cute. Along the way, we were told about a barbecue party that was going on later that night for international people (technically it was for foreign researchers living in Tsukuba, but the guy who organised the trip to the mountain invited us along with him), so me and two of my friends decided to meet up for that about half an hour later, along with the guy who invited us. We stopped by the supermarket to bring some food to take along, as well as a few drinks (and I bought an onigiri to satisfy my craving XD), then headed off for the party.
I didn't think it took too long to get there, but on reflection, having cycled there and back a few times now, it's a damn long way. The party was held in the courtyard of a very fancy apartment complex which is where most of the international researchers live, so most of the people there were Westerners. We met up with a few people we knew, and I met a woman who's also obsessed with Pokémon, so I ended up talking to her about that for a while (probably boring the socks off everyone else ^^'). There was also a really annoying Australian guy, who was just getting on all of our nerves, standing right by us, though thankfully he soon moved away, pursuing one of the Japanese girls, I think. The guy who invited us took over the barbecue for a while and was cooking us a bunch of tasty food, and me and my two other friends drank the drinks we'd brought with us (two cans at this point), though as the apartment complex had a lot of families living there, the party ended at 10pm, after which everyone left to go to one of two bars: Hot Stuff (or Hot Staff, I'm not sure which) or Naked - we opted for the former. It's quite a nice place, though it was packed with all the people who'd just been to the party. What followed was, well, crazy XD We bought our first drinks (long island ice teas, a concoction of various alcoholic drinks which tastes really strong, which at least encouraged me not to guzzle it I guess ^^') and stood talking by the bar, before moving back a bit and finding a seat near the window, where a couple of people came and started talking to us. After another long island ice tea, we moved back up to the bar and talked to some more people while I ate a bunch of the nibbles in the middle of the table, then after a beer, things started getting pretty wild. One guy took his shirt off, which encouraged all the other guys to do the same, then those that didn't were made to (myself included ^^'). One of the girls got topless too, though she did still have a bra on, fortunately for her. She then proceeded to make out with a random guy XD At one point, I walked along to the toilet, and caught my necklace on a guy's bag, ripping the claw off of the scorpion. It broke off once just after I bought it, but I guess it's gone for good this time v.v At about 3am, the bar closed, so we went down to another bar on the ground floor called Gold Rush. We shared a couple more drinks, and chatted to a few more people, but I was almost falling asleep by 5am, so I decided I should head home. One of my friends had lost her bike key during the night, so she and my other friend stayed behind so they could take the bus home, meaning I had to cycle home alone by the light of the dawn sun XD Once I finally got home, I promptly went to bed, though just before I got to sleep I twisted my now-aching leg and got one hell of a cramp in it, but thankfully it passed and I got to sleep
Interesting observation 1 - Whereas two and a bit combini Chu Hais ends up making me feel rough to the point of sickness, two supermarket Chu Hais, one and a half long island ice teas (bearing in mind these are very strong alcohol), a beer and a few sips of various other drinks just gets me pretty drunk. I'm guessing my tiredness didn't help, but still, maybe this means I'm developing a tolerance lol
Interesting observation 2 - Even when I was drunk, tired, and in a place I'd never been to before, I still managed to find my way home with relative ease. I guess one of my ancestors must have been a homing pigeon XD
Anyway, back to Sunday. I woke up at 1.30pm, as I decided not to set my alarm. I texted Jen as we'd been planning to go into Tsukuba Centre, but she bailed on account of laziness. Then my friend who'd lost her bike key texted me, asking for help in showing her how to get back to Gold Rush to collect her bike now she had her spare key (the owner had let her leave the bike inside so it would be safe). I had a few hours to kill between the time she texted and the time I was due to meet her (we were going to try and reach the bar at the time it was meant to open), so as she was busy at the time, I decided to go for a cycle around. I went to all the used book stores I knew of, looking for a cheap copy of Pokémon Special volume 3, but I couldn't find one unfortunately. When I got to WonderGOO, there was an ambulance right outside, worryingly, but it left just as I was parking my bike. I also took a ride up to the bar, just to make sure of where I was going. The road was a hell of a lot longer than I remembered, but I eventually made it there, before riding all the way down to Ichinoya to meet my friend at the bus stop. From there, we rode along to Tsukuba Centre, then started the loooong walk to Gold Rush. When we got there, we sat for about an hour waiting for the place to open. The guy had apparently said 7, but by 8, neither Gold Rush nor Hot Stuff (where my friend lost her key) had opened, so we decided to walk back and try again on Monday, after kaiwa club. I had intended to stop at Seibu on the way to buy myself a bookshelf and maybe a cheap kettle, but it closed at 8pm, rather than 10pm as we'd thought, so I rode the bus back to Ichinoya with my friend and then cycled to Oikoshi
Which is where I am now, listening to some Chopin and about to upload photos. It's been a pretty awesome weekend, hopefully next weekend will be more of the same ^^ Now to upload those photos...

Japan - Days 48-49

Well, the past few days have been crappy, to put it lightly
On Wednesday, the girl in my lab who shows me how to do a lot of the stuff asked to speak to me in private. I knew I was screwed. Apparently, my level of commitment to the research is unsatisfactory. And because my experiments keep failing, and most of the people in the lab that I know better are going to be really busy with conferences, theses, etc., I'll be moved to a slightly easier style of work (with the same protein) that anyone can help me with. When she said that my commitment wasn't enough, I nearly broke down there and then; I stay in the lab longer than anyone else from Manchester, so far as I know, and I only bail early to hang out with my friends a few times a week, so it was pretty humiliating. After this, I went to kanji class. Probably a good thing that I only had 5 minutes to get from the lab to the class because otherwise I'd probably have had a little breakdown in one of the toilets. Kanji class was alright, and then we had Japanese class, which was all preparation for Thursday's (or in my case, Friday's) presentation. Then back to the lab, where I finished off my Western blot and it actually turned out pretty well, though because the thickness of two bands which were meant to be the same was quite different, I have to redo it on Monday and Tuesday, meaning I'll be lucky if I can finish in time to get to kaiwa club on Monday -_- I eventually made it home at about 9pm
On Thursday, I was back to doing PCRs, which all failed in various manners, so I need to retry those again sometime next week. At 1.30 there was the second try at the lecture I missed last month on transgenics. As I'm not fluent in Japanese and my tutor was asleep, half of it was lost on me, though I have an English translation of the guide to the law on the subject. And apparently one of my friends has the answers to the report I need to write (it's a fill-in-the-blanks sheet), so hopefully I can get the answers off of him. During this lecture, I felt my first earthquake :-D I missed Japanese class, but my teacher said I can take the test tomorrow. After this lecture, I went to show my supervisor my newly-arranged notebook, only to have most of the protocols I'd written in it altered. I'd've thought the people in the lab would have known what they were talking about -_- I also have to retry a bunch of DNA samples in PCR, so hopefully my supervisor's revised protocol will work
Anyways, it's now very late and I need sleep. I think I've more or less got my presentation memorised for tomorrow, and so far as I'm aware all I have to do besides Japanese class is watch the people in my lab giving presentations all day, then there's some sort of party for the people in my lab in the evening which I'm invited to. I heard a lot of 'nomihodai' being thrown around in the lab today, so I'm a little worried, but I guess we'll see. I'd prefer 'tabehodai' :-p
Nighty night

Japanes - Days 45-47

I really need to write this blog daily again, or I'm gonna start forgetting important stuff
Sunday was the day I'd decided to go walk around the school festival with everyone. I texted a few people, but one of them had to be in the lab and was too lazy to go in until late, one of them who I'd prearranged to go to the festival with never messaged me, and then the other was talking to his girlfriend on MSN which was at least a valid reason. So I decided to take a long walk into the festival waiting for replies on my phone. Sat for a little while listening to the music playing on one of the stages, then walked up to meet one of my friends when he finally replied. We walked around for a bit, I got some takoyaki from another friend's stand (was my first time trying it, but it's nice ^^), and then my friend was feeling kinda tired so we took a slow mosey back to the dorm. Then Jen called and said she was finally ready, so I took a slow mosey BACK to the festival and met her. We walked around for a bit, but as I was in a very bad mood I didn't enjoy it much. We watched a display on one of the stages which was kinda acid-trippy, then something traditional, after which I decided to call it a night. After getting back here, I talked with one of my other friends and discovered that the whole Saturday night thing had been a big misunderstanding - he'd posted on Facebook to say to whoever wanted to come that they could come, and I hadn't seen it, plus he hadn't realised that everyone wanted to go along. It sounds like they had fun, but they also got soaked so probably a good thing I didn't go. I then went out with the others for a little bit, but I wasn't feeling it so I headed back, and hung out with another friend for a little while
On Monday, it was a national holiday for the end of school festivals, so I slept in until 11am. I was kinda bored so I messaged a few friends. Jen nearly busted her toe so we couldn't go to the festival as we'd planned, and I ended up studying Japanese for a few hours with a friend in preparation for Tuesday's test, then at 6ish a group of us had dinner at the Ichinoya cafeteria. I still haven't eaten at the Hirasuna one, so I really must sometime
Today I was back in the lab at 9 for a presentation. It was about pancreatic cells differentiating into different types when one type is almost destroyed. If I'd been awake/fluent in Japanese I think it would've been pretty interesting. In the lab, I discovered that I'd used the wrong antibody in the Western blot on Friday/Saturday, so I spent today setting up the repeat - I have to use tubulin antibodies, not Cullin-1. In Japanese we had to do the roleplay exam - I got given the roleplay where I had to ask my sempai about borrowing a book on my specialist subject. I ended up asking the teacher for a book on human genetics, preferably in English, but Japanese might be fine, and then reserving a book that was out on loan because the only one she had at the time was pretty out of date. I don't think she had any major criticisms about my presentation, though I think I paused and hesitated a little too often. I'll get the feedback tomorrow I think, during the preparation for our pair presentations (which I'm giving on Friday rather than Thursday because I'll be absent from Thursday's lesson on account of a lecture on transgenics which I missed last month). Wow, saying 'last month' reminds me of how long I've already been here... Plus Brad gets here in about 2 weeks, which will be fun :-)
During my time in the lab today, I managed to write another poem:

Choice Of Damnation

How can I move into the future,
When I remain chained to the past?
Wishing for things that could be,
While mourning those that didn't last.

Do I move on, accept defeat,
And from that once-bright future turn?
Or do I wait in darkness,
In hope that past joy will return?

My plight recalls to mind the tale,
Of one they once called Great,
Chained to the past, he fell and died,
I shall not share his fate.

In the evening, while I was finishing off a stage of my Western blot, I got a text saying that a group of people were going to sushi. I managed to get the gel set up for an overnight, then zoomed from the lab to Hirasuna in about 5 minutes, getting there before a few other people even :-D We then headed up around Tsukuba Centre and along to Hamazushi. I know a few people had been there before, but it was my first time having sushi since I got to Tsukuba, so I was pretty excited. I managed to finish off 10 plates (they only counted 9 ;-)), and even got to try a natto sushi. It tasted weird, but I still want to try the real deal sometime. After this, we rode down to the Seibu and bought some ice cream, before heading home
And so here I am, listening to music and talking on MSN :-) I shall try to update more frequently again from now on, as I said. Until then, nighty night ^^

Japan - Days 42-44

Thursday was a pretty good day. In Japanese class I found out I scored 96% in the grammar test and around 87% in the listening test, which I was pretty pleased with. In the lesson we just went over the test and prepped for the oral tests. However, after this, I had to go to the mouse house, alone, to cut off the tips of the tails of 6 mice - two in one cage and four in another. This would have been bad enough at the best of times, given how much I want to avoid being bitten and scratched, but it was made worse by the fact that I walked in just as the assistant professor in my lab was breaking the necks of a couple of mice, and wrapping still-wriggling baby mice in tissue paper. This was really horrifying to see, so I really hope I don't have to do it. I managed to cut the tails of two mice, which involved clipping the ear of one (I still can't get the hang of grabbing them, so I just did it while they were on the cage top, holding onto their tails and trying to manoeuvre so they couldn't bite me). I then went back to the lab, hands shaking, until I calmed down a bit, started another experiment, then went back and did the other four, having to clip the ears of 3 mice this time. Still, it's done now. In the evening, one of my friends texted us with a message to the effect of 'You are all dying, and Korean food is the cure, so come have dinner tonight'. As it transpired, only 3 of us turned up, plus the guy who invited us, but as I've seen most of the other people who he invited since then, I'm guessing it wasn't fatal after all XD I had the ishiyaki bibinba again, which was tasty, and we got the sides refilled about 3 times, taking advantage of them being refillable XD So it was a nice meal, if a little pricey. We then sat outside Cocos for an hour or so, then I went home and hung out with another friend for a while as the others were going to a bar - I figured it wouldn't be a good idea for me as I was going into the lab the next day
On Friday, I started up a Western blot experiment in the lab. I also had to make some Tris-HCl buffer mix which involved me pipetting hydrochloric acid into buffer solution to lower the pH to 8.8, which was slow work as had I gone past 8.8, I'd've had to start from scratch. In Japanese class we had to recite a short piece to our teacher from the textbook, which went pretty well - I scored 9 out of 10, dropping a mark mainly because I emphasise my K sounds too much. [Edit: I forgot to add this the other day, but after Japanese class, because they were preparing for the festival, I'd had my bike moved from outside the International Students Centre, so I had to search around for that, eventually working out from the map where they'd put it. That scared the crap out of me for a few minutes]. In the evening, we were meant to have a nomikai, but the Japanese guy who was going to organise it didn't message anyone, so we just all agreed to meet in front of Cocos. After a couple of drinks, we headed back to Oikoshi and sat for a while. Then one guy went to the combini to buy more drinks, so stupidly, as I'd already had my standard 2 drinks, I asked for another. I managed a few sips of it before I felt really rough, and ended up throwing up in my sink. Luckily it was pretty much all liquid as I'd not eaten much that day, but still, I was annoyed at missing most of the evening, though apparently they didn't go anywhere else besides Oikoshi
Today, I woke up at about 8.30, even before my alarm went off, which makes it the most sleep I've had all week I think. I sat on my computer for about an hour, feeling slightly rough from the night before, before going up to the lab to finish off my Western blot. Well, I thought I was just going in for an hour or so, to get it up to the point where it said 'Leave overnight'. However, the guy who was in today, and helping me with it, uses a different protocol to my tutor, who showed me it the first time, so I ended up doing the whole experiment, which took roughly 5 hours overall. During this time, me and the guy helping me were talking, and he ended up inviting himself to the outing that me and my friends were planning on in the evening - going to Shinjuku. He also seems to have become very familiar with me all of a sudden, which slightly scared me ^^' Anyway, after the experiment was FINALLY over, I met up with Jen and we went into Tsukuba Centre, stopping on the way to meet another friend who was gonna come along with us. We had a late lunch in Starbucks (I had a cinammon roll and orange juice), then went down to Seibu for Jen's groceries. I bought an onigiri as I was STILL hungry ^^' We then headed back to the bus station in the pouring rain, and I caught the bus to Ichinoya, where I'd left my bike. My friend's bike is still parked in the same place it was last weekend, with the note I left her still in the basket o.O Anyway, I went and grabbed some dinner (more rice balls, I was having cravings) and headed back. I wasn't really feeling in the mood to go out anymore after getting soaked (I washed my clothes then dried them twice to make sure they were definitely dry), but I was still waiting for the invitation. It never came. One of my friends took my 'I may or may not come' as a sign I wasn't going at all, so she assumed I wasn't going and so never told me. No idea why none of my other friends let me know, so this is gonna bug me for a while -_- So when one of my other friends saw I was still online late at night, he asked me if I wanted to go to the combini with him for a bite to eat. I went down there equipped with my raincoat, and I got an anpan. We then walked down to the 7-Eleven because I told him that you could get pumpkin Pocky there and he fancied some. Then we headed back, and so here I am now. I'm shattered, so I think I'll call it a night now. Nighty night

Japan - Days 39-41

Monday was pretty average, lab-wise. I gave my Japanese presentation about the happiest day of my life. I wrote it about the day my ex-girlfriend/current close friend came to stay for the summer, though I adapted it in places to make sure I used the target grammar. Although I knew the speech beginning to end, I hate giving presentations so I couldn't make eye contact and I hesitated a little. Still, I got a decent mark for it, so that's something :-) I had to leave Japanese class half-way through to attend a lecture about handling lab animals. It was all in Japanese so I couldn't really understand Then in the evening, one of my friends called me up in the night and we went to get some ice cream and hung out for a little while, which was nice
Tuesday was a long day. Went and paid my rent in the morning - that's about 14,000 yen. Ouch. In Japanese class we did some preparations for the mid-term test, just going over little bits and pieces of what might be in the test, as well as a couple of drills. In the lab, I did a couple more PCRs/gels, one of which took until 9pm. During the last PCR, I got together with one of my friends in my Japanese class and we wrote our presentation for mid-term orals. We're going to recommend people to go to the karaoke place - Cybex XD Also during the PCR, I managed to write another poem:

To A Crush

I write these words despite the fact I'm sure you'll never see,
I want to know the truth about the way you think of me,
Afraid to put my heart on show and tell you how I feel,
But wondering if these emotions could become more real,
When we first met I thought you fair, but beauty can mislead,
Therefore I wished to know you, so your true self I could read,
Now, since I your acquaintance made, a month has gone behind,
And from our time together, I see you are fun and kind,
Yet still I feel you treat me with some mild indifference,
Which makes me wonder how I may have caused any offence,
If, maybe, I came on too strong, I do apologise,
For it was unintentional; I did not realise,
But with this feeling of unease, I wonder what to do,
If there is hope of something more than just friendship with you,
I'm sure you'll never read this, but I write these words sincere,
For if I had the courage, I would speak for you to hear.

Today, I had a test in both Kanji class AND Japanese class. Checking after the test, some of my pronunciations in the Kanji test were off, but I think when it came to writing them, I had them down well enough. The Japanese test was listening and grammar today (we have more on Friday/Monday), so I think I did fairly well, at least. When I got back to the lab, I had to go to the mouse room and clean out cages. I have to cut some tails by the end of the week, but I really didn't feel up to it today, so I decided to leave it until tomorrow. While I was waiting for one of my PCRs today, also managed another poem, inspired by one a friend had written and shown me this morning:

Take My Hand

Come, take my hand this moonlit night,
Find in yourself the strength to fight,
The loneliness that shrouds your heart,
As we, from this dark place, depart,
And fly together to the stars,
Where we forget those painful scars,
That flaw our past, but now no more,
As through the endless sky we soar,
Forever; we don't have to land,
So darling, sweetheart, take my hand.

That's about it for my day today. Maybe I'll get an early night as I've been tired lately, but chances are, I probably won't ^^' Pokémon and MSN are calling me XD Ciao for now
[Edit: After I blogged, my friend called up and asked if I wanted to hang out, so we did for a few hours until around 2am]

Japan - Days 36-38

This weekend was pretty good :-D
Friday I learned about a new experiment - I finished the Western blot, then I did a protein assay. Because of finishing the Western blot I couldn't eat lunch with Jen again for the second day in a row -_- However, after I finished in the lab, I went to the Coco's by Hirasuna and met up with some friends and we had a quick drink, before meeting with a couple more people. By this time, we were on our second drink and so when we rode through campus to go meet some more people, it was... amusing ^^' After meeting about 5-6 more people, we went to a restaurant to hang out. I ordered a whiskey (which I barely drank any of because it didn't taste too good) and some karaage because I was kinda hungry by this point. I stopped drinking after this because I was starting to feel slightly ill. We then took a drunken bike ride (during which one of my friends fell off his bike) to the karaoke place, where we got a 4 hour package (overstaying by half an hour), and left at 6am when the sun was already up XD We ended up singing Disney for a lot of the evening, and I attempted To All Tha Dreamers (which I had to skip out of halfway through - I can't read Japanese that fast ^^' ) and Zetsubou Billy (which killed my throat - I can't sing screamo). Two of my friends fell asleep in the booth for a little while, one of them for almost the whole night ^^' I was sober by the time we finished though, so the ride back wasn't as amusing as it could have been ^^'
On Saturday morning I met up with Jen and we bused to Tsukuba Centre before walking along to WonderGOO. We didn't buy anything, but it's always nice to look :-) We then went to the supermarket so she could get her groceries, which involved us trying to translate a kanji at one point to find out why a croquet was called 'Lord Croquet' ^^' Then I rode the bus round the loop with Jen and got back home. At 4.30 I met up with a bunch of people and we cycled for about an hour to the neighbouring city of Tsuchiura, where there was a massive fireworks display. I took a short video on my phone but it really doesn't do it justice. We ended up sitting on a hillside about a mile from where we stopped our bikes, because there were so many people there and there was nowhere else to sit/stand. After this, we rode back and grabbed a drink from the combini, then sat outside Oikoshi. We planned to go to karaoke, but a couple of other people dropped out and, as I spent way too much money on Friday night, I decided I'd better call it a night too
Today I woke up at 11.30 to a text message from a friend asking if a few of us wanted to get together for some lunch. We cycled from Ichinoya to Tsukuba Centre, then went to the supermarket and got some lunch. I bought a couple of onigiri, a pack of dango and a coke, which all tasted good, though the dango were VERY sweet ^^' After this, one of my friends left, so me and my other friend walked around for a bit. She bought a really expensive shirt, but she gets a scholarship so I guess it doesn't worry her XD We then went back to Ichinoya, and from there I went home for a couple of hours to shower and do my laundry. Then at about 6 a few of us met for lunch at the Ichinoya cafeteria. I ordered karaage curry, but I swear some guy took my order before me because I waited for about 10 minutes before realising that they'd served up something else with karaage by mistake. I still managed to finish before the rest of them though XD Me and Jen then went to the combini and bought a bit of chocolate, then petted a little cat for a few minutes before I cycled back, and now here I am. I've got to study a little for my Japanese presentation tomorrow, but aside from that, I'll chill the rest of tonight :-) Night all