Yes, my toilet seat is heated......

No really, it is. Kind of disconcerted and not very useful in the middle of July, but who knows, when the winter hits, it might be rather comfortable.

Beyond that, the weekend was rather uneventful. I turned down an offer to go party it up with Paul's surfing friends when I realised that it might be a few weeks before I get a pay cheque. But I'm looking for more work while I'm here to fill in the rather large spot of free time I have early in the week.

On sunday I had dinner with Richard and Rie which was lots of fun. We went for karaoke afterwards and I must say, my first Japanese karaoke experience was great.

Richard and Paul

It's actually a lot like karaoke in Vancouver (well..... Richmond). Y'know, with the pirated English songs set to a background of some random couple walking on the beach playing frisbee. The difference is the attitude where it's not about being good, just about having fun. Loudness is more important and good-ness. Which is different since lots of people in Vancouver would turn down karaoke for fear of embarassing singing talent. And at the end of the song, there's a little counter that tells you how many calories you burnt. One of the songs got up to 12.6 kcal, which seems like a lot for basically yelling.

Overall though, the rush of the first week is over. All the interviews have been done and I got pretty much all the jobs available for me except one I'm waiting to hear back from. And there's tons of work in around town or nearby on the train to do, so money won't be an issue a few months in.

So, it's onward and upward from here.................. except for the bugs. There's lots of bugs. And spiders..... huge spiders that spin huge webs. That's pretty gross. Although we did see these massive 2'' long beetles that fight each other. Apparently you can just buy them and lots of kids use them as toys. I got a picture of those too.

Oh, and yesterday, Paul and I went to Joyful Honda (ridiculous sounding yes, and it has nothing to do with cars) which is essentially like a giant Costco, Superstore, and Home Depot rolled into one. We sat in the massage chairs and tried these mini at-home bucking bronco type things. You're supposed to sit on it and it gyrates like you're riding a horse and is supposedly some sort of work out. They have a Rodeo King, Rodeo Queen, and Rodeo Boy in different sizes. It's pretty fun to put it on the fastest setting and film each other pretending to be on a horse. It's not so fun when all the men in Joyful Honda stare at some 16 year old girl trying it out. That's rather creepy.