Being sick on the weekend is very annoying. It means I’ve watched a lot of the West Wing, listened to the latest Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo film review podcast twice, and am now very close to watching Korean TV even though I have absolutely NO idea what’s going on.
I did just check the mid-afternoon Yakyu scores tho- SoftBank are beating Chunichi 3-0; they are undefeated in the Kouryuusen so far! Why the hell do they do so well? This happened last year too, when they pipped us to the winner pennant and the huge cash cheque that came with it.
Yakult are losing to Lotte- good- and Seibu and Kyojin are drawing 1-1. Maybe I’ll watch that game. Maybe not. Hmm. Later today Hanshin take on the Nippon Ham Fighters in Sapporo, a lovely city. If you go there visit Brits Beat Club for the some great British indy covers from the inhouse cover band (a bunch of legends if ever there was one).
The Lotte Marines are based in Chiba and are managed, for the 2009 season at least, by the wonderfully named Bobby Valentine, an American import who has captured the hearts of a large portion of the Chiba peninsula.
This season they’re a bit behind the leaders of the Pa-League, in fifth- though the league is very close.
The blog hasn’t been updated for a while, so I thought I should write something! I was away in Jonju (?) over the weekend, down in the south of Korea and with better weather than expected. Beer, fried chicken and the sun all contributed to a lovely weekend.
In the time since my last post- when we drew with the Softbank Hawks I believe- Hanshin have stuttered and stumbled along. We lost the second game against the Hawks, and went 1-1 with our neighbours the Orix, losing 8-3 on Saturday and then winning 7-3 on Sunday. If I seem more reluctant to post about Hanshin than usual, it’s because I am- we’ve been all over the place really, and while I obviously maintain my support, checking results and watching games when I can, this doesn’t always mean I want to blog about it, especially if we lose. Still, tonight saw victory! After yesterdays game against Bobby’s Marines was called off, tonight saw us squeeze out a 4-3 victory over Chiba Lotte thanks to a 3-run home run from Arai, great batting from Hirano (and Kanoh), and a tight, tight save from Fujikawa. With a 4-3 lead, the Marines had the bases loaded, and the count was 2-3. Thankfully, the Marine hitter flew out (I wasn’t fancying Fujikawa to get a strike!) to end the game and bring us victory. My Chiba Lotte preview will have to wait to the return leg- or tomorrow actually- when we play the game that was rained off yesterday. They are an interesting team, with lots of political upheavel going on due to (what I see as) crusty Japanese owners getting annoyed by the popularity of team coach Bobby Valentine.
Finally I’ve almost finished Remembering The Kanji, James Heisig’s approach to learning Japanese Kanji by relating them to a specific English keyword. Today I passed the 1900 mark, and there are 2044, so I should be finished by the middle of next week. Then its only a month or so of reviews until I can say that I’ve learnt them to a sufficient level. I’m pleased though- its a big achievement, and an important step on my journey to being proficient in Japanese.
My future plans have basically come down to two options- go to London and pursue a Masters at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), or get a job working in a university in Tokyo for three months, then travel for the following eight.
What should I do? When in doubt, ask a number of people that you may or may not have met but who read your blog!
Being sick on the weekend is very annoying. It means I’ve watched a lot of the West Wing, listened to the latest Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo film review podcast twice, and am now very close to watching Korean TV even though I have absolutely NO idea what’s going on.
