Weather Turmoil

Not only was yesterday the hottest day, not just that, but... in England, it was stormy. Cold, rainy, stormy, everything. Those words can't really be used to convey how bad the weather was yesterday. How about the word tornado? Still not enough?

Hmmm...

How about weather so damn bad that they cancel a flight?

Emma's flight.

Of all the time to have weather bad enough to Code 93 a scheduled flight, they have to do it when Emma's leaving the country. Damnit! Occursed KLM Dutch Airlines! Damn them all to hell. This leaves my whole holiday one more day Emma deprived. Well, so be it. I was impressed that I was having a text conversation with Emma concerning the cancellations while on the Underground. Had that happened in England, I'd have to leave the station and run away from armed police before I received a text message.

I'm sorry that the guy's dead, but how stupid was he? "I can't be caught, I'll be deported to Brazil due to my expired visa. I know! I'll run on to the tube the DAY AFTER an attempted bombing, that'll make sure those hordes of armed police don't stop me!"

Now I know that stupidity isn't a crime by punishable by capital punishment, but still, he really should have known better. And his family is calling for an abandonment to the shoot to kill suspected-terrorists-in-public-places? That's practically offering open season on running from the police onto a bus or tube. When the police need more power than ever, considering the high probability of London being attacked for the third time, it's not a time to start taking away the only defense against SUICIDE bombers.

Whatever, a small extremist group is taking on The West, and so far not doing too badly. It irks of Vietnam, but the battlefield is now public domain.

Now my real points of posting! Yesterday, finally as scheduled, I went to karaoke with Yayoi and her friend. It was just the three of us, and we stayed for something like two hours and twenty minutes. If I can remember my list, it went along the lines of:

Pardon Me - Incubus
Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith
Without Me - Eminem
Here, There and Everywhere - The Beatles
Intergalactic - Beastie Boys
Paranoid Android - Radiohead
Sora Mimi Keiki - Oranges and Lemons
Just - Radiohead
American Pie - Madonna
Club Foot - Kasabian
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
Digital Love - Daft Punk
Growing on Me - The Darkness
I Wish You Were Here - Incubus

I was pretty much taking requests towards the end, and you can't probably imagine my shock when the quaint little Miyoshi asked me to sing Kasabian. Not only is she a fan, but she's seeing them live. Considering they choices of songs were Japanese ballads (which they sang beautifully), Kasabian and Eminem weren't quite what I was expecting. It all went well, aside from the last line of the chorus of Growing on Me, at which my voice broke every time. Oh, and during one particularly filthy verse of Eminem, I was a little put off by the words I had never actually realised were there. I also tried my hand at singing the Azumanga theme, which I managed to an extent, but my reading isn't quite the level it needs to be, and only certain kanji had furigana, so I was stuck at them. But still, at least I attempted. My throat now really hurts.

After receiving the texts confirming that Emma was not indeed in the air and on the way, I sadly wandered Namba, texting her sporadically. I heard somebody say something about Nokia, and knowing that Nokias here are quite rare, I looked up, expecting it to be reference to mine. It was. And that's how I met Masaya. It was two Japanese guys, sitting outside Namba, also waiting for the last train, also having just sung karaoke. Except this guy is a professional, he's got an actual voice. And he actually is a professional. If I weren't hopeless at remembering most Japanese names (actually, names in general), I could tell you the other guy's name. But he spoke little English, and I spoke less Japanese, so our communication was limited. Masaya, though, was self taught and practically fluent in English. We chatted for about an hour, and he is outspoken and loud, which to me and to him, seemed very unJapanese. He loves Celine Dion. So last night was productive musically and socially, but not avionically. I have new friends to introduce Emma to, and I'll have a photo of what I look like after two point something hours of karaoke, as soon as Masaya sends it.

Ah, the confinement of public viewing. There are things I want to say, but knowledge of my readership stifles my license. But ultimately, I am writing this for the readership, and I'm writing this for memory's sake. But the details I cannot include, maybe they are best forgotten, as they are usually the painful ones.

I'm still feeling ill. Changing the settings on the air conditioning didn't help much, I just felt overheated. Maybe I'm just due for a spell of general illness, and it happened to fall during my holiday. But still, a cold?

Stuart's school's baseball team is playing in the Osaka final right now. From the description that I'm hearing, apparently they're losing because the other team are good batters. I still have no hope in understanding that sport. I think that stems from having no desire to understand it, as understanding it makes it less amusing. Speaking of amusing, I had eel for breakfast.

I have made a decision to put my deeper personal feelings into this post, but I will do it in code.

J sihoj pe Ztlhoz fufqz rjmhkf cbx.

And now if I ever feel like dwelling, I'll spend ages decoding. Of course, in Welsh, that reads as a perfectly logical sentence.