POP LIFE

Blupdate

The blog is dying a bit. I thought it might. Various things continue to occur in this wild fairground ride they call life. I’m moving into my own place in London- from east to north-west, at not little financial cost. This puts pressure on me to get a reasonable job next year, and I’ll probably be in London for at least another year after this, if not two.

There are certainly things I wish to blog about though- more on politics, film, society, Hanshin Tigers 2010, and my 12-month round the world trip, scheduled for 2012 perhaps? But at the moment my time is spent drinking, eating or reading and writing for the MA. It doesn’t exclude time for blogging, but it does take away the motivation a bit.

So the blog will never die. It will stumble on for years maybe. But the volume of content will decrease- for now. Roll on that 2012 travel tour of the world!

Tigers 2010 Season Slogan

Not sure about the green background. Still, its nice to celebrate our 75th anniversary!

British Library

With academics, students, journalists, literati and occasional celebrities, the British Library is a varied and interesting place to do my reading. The main reason I’ve moved here, a few hundred metres from the SOAS library, is that it has big desks and really comfy chairs. Plus massive reading rooms with impressive titles like “Maps Room” and “Rare Books” room. Ultimately it hasn’t made reading about Japanese peasants any more interesting, but certainly a bit more tolerable.

My first essay on the Tokugawa state is almost done, and soon enough I’ll be moving onto contemporary Japanese foreign relations for my Politics module. In between I have a statistics assignment for Japanese, which thankfully I can base on the Hanshin Tigers!

Thats the most interesting news I have today, sorry.

 

 

 

Hotaru no haka / Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

mid-november update

Try this if you’re bored- BlogBooker can make your entire blog, including links and pictures, into a PDF file for free! Naisu. I’ve been looking through my new and shiny PDF, and realised how much less fun this blog is now- movie reviews and baseball have replaced photos and adventures. My time is taken up with study- writing and reading- I take far less photos than I want to, and I’m eager to the extreme to find my own place.

A carefree existence of boozing and relaxation have make way for a busy life of intense study. Put another way a life lacking in challenge has been replaced by one of intellectual stimulation. Still, the need for space, and money, is paramount in my thoughts these days. I want to travel, take photographs, have a nice place, and have money for treats. All of these things lead to the conclusion that its time to find a job, not for a year, but for the future. And this is what I’ll do.

But I want these things now! Mostly space…I need my own place.

 

Mibugishiden / When The Last Sword Is Drawn (2003)

The Hidden Blade (2004)

Tokugawa State

Blogging of baseball has fallen by the wayside as I focus on my first Masters essay, to do with the nature of the Tokugawa state. I’ve also cut my working hours, limiting myself to reading and writing time, and fun time on weekends. Maybe this was a bit drastic- I might be picking up some more tutoring work, but baseball blogging takes up the prime hours of my productive morning reading sessions, so sadly I’ll just be loosely following the Japan Series. Hanshin aren’t in it anyway