So. Here it is - the dusk of another year. The photos above were taken a week or two ago in Kamakura. There are some more pictures from that day up at Flickr.

Technorati Tags: events, japan, life

I was there on a sightseeing trip with Aureole. She was so moved by the thousands of jizo at Hase Dera that she cried. It was lovely to have my old friend back here for another visit again - it makes me wish that more of my oldest and dearest would get off their complacent asses to save up some money for a trip to Tokyo.

She left last Saturday and James and Sean, more friends from Brisbane, arrived the next day - Christmas Eve (my four year anniversary in Japan). We spent Christmas Day (after pancakes and coffee and prezzies with Charlene then croissants and champers and prezzies with Kat and Daz) wandering around the park playing with each others camera lenses. I realised just how low quality the lens that came with my 300D really is. A couple of new lenses for the 300D are now on the shopping list. In the mean time, the old Canon G3 is getting a pounding.

I've been living hard these past few months, lots of getting out and about, meeting new people, drinking way too much, eating poorly and generally burning the candle at both ends. Hence the week-long cold that won't quite go away now. I am looking forward to some quiet time when James and Sean leave on the 2nd. Jump back on the healthy-life wagon for a while. Starting to feel a little too much like butter stretched over too much toast.

Things I loved best about 2006 (in no particular order):

my house;
improving my japanese;
watching the staff at my fave cafe's and restuarants automatically start to include 2 sugars and a glass of water with no ice with my coffee or meal without having to ask;
teaching English to school kids;
teaching English to private students;
my fave workplace: inokashira koen starbucks and staff;
mishima cafe-bar and staff;
peppermint cafe and staff;
drinking coopers beer in inokashira koen with friends all summer long;
booking my first ever photo exhibition for Feb 2007;
tatsushi, kazuma, mikorin, nobu, shitoshi, mishiyama-san, sota, risa, sachika, misaki, naomi, haku, akiko, shigeto;
my holga camera;
my ipod;
dealing with and overcoming grief;
lots of travel - australia, taiwan, thailand;
getting so comfy riding my bike that I have overcome early fears of speed, irregular surfaces, steep hills and narrow, busy paths;
walking around kichijoji and - more often than not - running into someone I know;
my new kick-arse boots;
watching the class sizes of my elective high school conversation English classes double for next years classes (guess I'm doing something right!);
seeing some great live shows including the last ever Arab Strap show;
unexpectedly starting up and maintaining lovely email communication with some of my parents best friends - they are planning to fly to Tokyo for my next birthday!;
my brother David and his gorgeous family - Elissa, Darcy, Fraser and my god-daughter Evie;
Christian, Charlene, Tyler, Kat, Darin, Helen;
seeing Jackie's face when I walked in to her house to surprise her for her 40th birthday party in Australia;
flickr;
skype;
making and receiving mix cd's for friends;
youtube;
bloglines;
feeling the fittest and healthiest I've felt in years - a result of bicycling, walking, swimming, yoga and eating well (though not for the last 6 or 8 weeks....);
getting a beautiful second tattoo from my friend Aureole, once again in the comfort of my room;
men. especially long haired, goatee'd J-men;
becoming a flirt;
knowing that 2007 is going to be a kick arse year.

I'm out - we're off to the Peppermint Cafe to enjoy our New Years Eve countdown party in fine form - with Thai food and Thai beer and various of my mix CD's playing on the PA.