A Troy in Tokyo

Hello! It's been almost a month since the last blog post, and as seems to be my current MO, I have enough material for at least three more blog posts, so prepare for quite the information dump! My friend and former flatmate, Hamish, has come and gone, and what a time we had together! He was here to take part in a fighting game tournament called EVO (short for Evolution), and while these games aren't my cup of tea, I figured I would never ordinarily go to such a video game tournament, and so along I went - with absolutely no idea as to what to expect. Arriving in the venue, with hundreds of gamers ready to prove their mettle in a number of video games, I had no idea really of what was what - my understanding of the games and their intricacies is embryonic at best! But nevertheless I threw myself into things, making myself out as EVO Team New Zealand's coach, with Hamish being our solo athlete! This was solidifed when we were approached by a camera crew asking to inte...

Hello all! Long time no blog - almost an entire month! So much has happened since, I feel that an omnibus blog is in order - get everything out into one big picture filled fiesta! Christmas has come and gone, with all the fun associated with that. Christmas Eve was spent feasting on various sweet treats (including some fruit pies from NZ) We had a group of us go to Yokohama and visit an all you can eat Chinese restaurant (because of course that's a Christmas tradition), and then as the light faded we went to a German style Christmas market by the waterfront, drinking mulled wine and enjoying the crowds. Mt Fuji on Christmas morning Christmas included the red pants that have made an appearance at the last three Christmases It was certainly a different Christmas to most that I've ever had, being my second one in Japan (2011 being the other one), but this was the first one where time with friends as opposed to family, host or ot...