Itjaw

So, I suggest that if you haven’t read the post before this one then I suggest that you read it otherwise it will make even less sense than these things normally do…

You might think that I’m just too lazy to think of an actual title for this post but it’s actually meaningful so stuff you.

Now that that’s out the way, I’ll start.

I was catching the bus home today but to get home I actually needed to catch 2 buses. I caught the first one(shocking I know) and when I got of I saw the second bus that I needed to catch sail past. If it was about thirty seconds later I would have managed to catch it. I had a look on the board that tells you when the next one is coming (they’ve installed a electronic one which is very shiny). It predicted that the next bus that I could catch would come in 40 minutes. As I begin to sit down at the stop muttering under my breath about how I hate public transport I think to myself “It’s not that far, you could probably walk it in 40 minutes anyway, plus you’d save some cash. Plus…” I said to myself(actually picturing a miniature version of me dressed in a devil suit perched on my shoulder saying) “Plus… then you would have proven that you are the conquerer of the bus network” (I would think of a better title later). Because you see only a few days ago I had shown that a bus was no match for me in a short distance sprint and now I was presented with an opportunity to demonstrate my stamina and speed over a long(-ish) distance. There was no time for further deliberation I sprang up hurled my bag over my muscular shoulders (yeah right) and began to walk.

What I had not anticipated about the test of long distance stamina was that it was test my long distance stamina(a bit of a mistake on reflection(You might be thinking it’s only a bit of a walk but it was very hot and there were hills in the way, no matter how hard that I try and show that it was tough and that I’m not weak you won’t believe me anyway so I’ll just continue)). Even though towards the end I was begging to waver the end was insight, I could see the finish line (it was actually a bus stop but you get my drift). I was going to make and gain the title of “conquerer of the bus network” which after walking in the sun for a long time begins to sound quite fetching. I was willing to see that it wasn’t perfect but just think, if you gain a title with conquerer in it while you are young there is now telling where your title might eventually end up when you are older, so I was pleased. Maybe I would make a cape with it printed on the back….

Just as I thought of this ridiculous idea the bus came streaming over the hill. So fast that I thought that it would surely crash. Buses weren’t built to go at that speed I thought. It was as if the bus driver had known of my aspirations.

I pictured myself sprinting to the finish line  and then dancing around while the theme tune to Rocky played. Then I thought about what a stupid idea it was and that I’ve already followed though with a couple of stupid ideas today and that I should just cut my losses. Which was a bit depressing… Oh well at least I’ve learned my lesson now.

Itjaw

So yesterday morning I woke up and I did what I normally do. I tried to remember what the hell I was dreaming about. I normally forget but this morning I didn’t which I was quite proud of.

Now I’ve jumped into the story a bit too much so I’ll just back track a bit. I’ve been learning Japanese now for about 4 years. I enjoy and think it’s interesting and can sometimes be fun, I’m also completely terrible. It’s not one of those when someone goes” Oh, I’m not that good really” and then it turns out that there actually really really good it’s that time when someone says “Oh, I’m not that good really” and then it turns out that there even worse than you thought. It’s one of those…

Any way, I woke up yesterday morning and realised that in my dream I had had a conversation IN JAPANESE! and that it made sense and then (this was this bit I was proud of) there had been someone who didn’t speak Japanese and I had explained what I had said. The thing is that now I’ve been learning for so long people keep going “You should try thinking in Japanese when you’re doing it” and I haven’t been able to but now I have! By the time I had reached this conclusion I was 20 minutes late…

The walk to the bus stop from my house isn’t a long one but it’s really hilly and is quite hard work. I did the walk in about half the time I normally do and was quite tired. The beauty about the last 500m or so of the walk is you can see right down the road the bus comes down and I could see when I turned the corner that it was about 100m from the stop. If I didn’t catch that one I would definitely be late. So in a quasi-manly, Hercules like display of fitness and athleticism I legged it. I have to say that I was surprisingly quick of the mark. Almost sprinting I manage to get onto the bus just as the doors close and it pulls away. It took the bus driver a couple of seconds to realise that there was an out-of-breath person standing right next to him looking expectant (because I was late I had forgotten my saver card thing and therefor needed to buy a ticket). I made him jump. And in turn the steering wheel he was holding and in turn the car sitting in the lane next to us that got the scare of it’s life. Normally I’d have a quiet chuckle/giggle to myself but I wanted to add to the effect, so I just acted normally like I had been standing there for a while. Payed for my ticket and went down and had a seat with all of the people on the bus that weren’t distracted by MP3 players or books staring at me.

On reflection I probably looked really weird but it was still a really good morning.

Itjaw