Gary's Boring Blog

Recent Reflections

I have been harangued by a few people for not posting anything recently. Apologies. Here is a quick 'life update' for the past few months.

In December, I took a week off work to take my first-year MBA exams. Some of my fellow students managed to fit in the exams (3 hours a day every day) around their work schedules. I have no idea how, and can only marvel at that Japanese work ethic!
(I got 3 'A's and a couple of 'C+'s grades, including being in the top 6 for one of the modules, Organisational Behaviour). Megumi, as I wrote back then, took Angelie down to Tokushima to visit her relatives while I was stressing out here. I then joined them for a weekend, before we all flew back to Tokyo. I went back to work for another week, and then the three of us got on a plane again, this time to jolly old England (My friend Yusuke, from my Lawrenceville days, always preceeeded England with 'jolly old', without fail!)

England was great. We spent a lot of time with my family, a little bit with some friends, and we managed to go shopping in a fairly major way. (I bought a very nice velvet Ted Baker jacket that I haven't had the occasion to wear yet. Will have to test-drive it some time soon!) Angelie enjoyed meeting her grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. She got LOTS of lovely Christmas presents, which we have no room for in our little house!

After coming back, it was time to prepare for the Saitama Stadium football event. As I have written elsewhere, the Jets tend to always do pretty well, without winning anthing. Last year, we got comprehensively beaten in the semi-finals, so we didn't get to play inside the stadium. It was very disappointing. This year, as you may have read, we got that one step further and played in the stadium. My contribution to the game was to get kneed in the face early on, play a few nice long passes, tackling their best player and putting him on his bum a couple of times, and generally getting in the way of the other team. I didn't get a chance to get in a shot, which was unfortunate, but WE WON. We are THE CHAMPIONS. It still hasn't really sunk in. I have been playing for this team for 8 years or so now, and it has been a truly fantastic experience. I was there when we won our first championship, at Hasaki. I was in charge of the team when we won our second trophy, the Tochigi ALT Tournament in 2004. And now, this, our 3rd and surely best victory. My personal contribution to the weekend was OK. I scored a couple of goals, including the winner in the quarter-finals, and had a decent influence on some of the games. The whole weekend was a great victory for the whole team, and shows how much we have progressed over the last couple of years.

Finally, a short Angelie update. She is fine and well, and generally very happy. She laughs and smiles, and seems to like her Mummy and Daddy. I try and take her out for a walk at the weekends if the weather is nice, to give Megumi a bit of a rest. She is trying to crawl at the moment. She can do a step or two sideways, and a couple back, but going forwards is proving tricky. It's funny to watch her get frustrated as the item in front of her she is trying to grab or touch gets unexpectedly further away. She is into grabbing, so we have to remember to keep her away from food at the dinner table. We haven't had any major accidents yet, but I'm sure they are coming!

Megumi is a great Mum, and takes care of Angelie with great patience and stamina. I am very lucky to have them both.

I will put some photos on here soon; give me a few days!!

Posted by Gary at February 17, 2006 05:28 PM