So there I was, trying to get some yogurt for breakfast. I bought the yogurt yesterday at the supermarket. After a bit of searching I was able to find it. So glad I can already read hiragana and katakana, because without it, it would’ve been sheer guesswork which pack contained yogurt in the first place. Anyway, I came home and stowed it away in one of our fridges. I went to sleep happily, knowing I had at least secured my breakfast.

Great was my surprise when my yogurt had turned into a big lump of ice. Apparently the fridge was not a fridge, but a freezer. So now, instead of an easy breakfast, I had to try and defrost the thing. First of course the standard method: nuke it! But our microwave doesn’t seem to have a lot of power, so I had to revert to oldschool methods. Thus the hot water method was used, which worked out pretty ok, although I think the yogurt shouldn’t have ended up as thin as it was.

Oh by the way, my first night in my new crib was pretty ok, slept like a baby! It was a bit of getting used to having to create my bed on the spot, but it all worked out. As you can see below, my covers are pretty ‘n pink. Oh, and I’ve installed some of my back home stuff, like the Discworld calender (thank you Sinteranna), and my Japanese Magic Eyes kit (thank you Dirk).

Anyway, after my delayed breakfast I tried several options for installing a web gallery on my server, because everybody is screaming for pictures (of course!). I tried Flickr, but didn’t want to pay for extra storage. So now I am installing Gallery2 on my server, which should be fully integrate able with my site. More on that when it’s finished.

Then I went to see if I could find someplace to withdraw money with my foreign bank card. Luckily we have a post office nearby with an ATM that accepts these, so that problem has been solved as well . Then it was on to the roppongi area to try and find myself a mobile phone. Although I did find a place where I can get a prepay card, they were out of prepay phones, so I will have to try and find another shop where I can either buy just a phone, or a full set of phone and prepay card. To Akihabara it is!

Just a final thing, there are many vending machines on the street where you can buy all sorts of drinks. You can get anything like coke, water, or even coffee. But, who’s the boss? Not Tony Danza apparently, but Tommy Lee Jones… I never knew .

I arrived at my hotel about 2 hours ago. First taken a shower, and then I was off for my first Ramen and Kirin beer. Let me tell you, they tasted goood! Behold my first true Japanese Ramen!

Now I’m off to bed, trying to get rid of my jetlag asap!

x

It’s now 7 AM local time, and I arrived at Singapore Airport a little less than an hour ago. The flight was awesome! Never had such a smooth takoff and landing in my life, no painful ears whatsover.

Met some interesting people on my flight as well. One elderly Dutch woman on her way to Bali to visit that magical island. And I met Dr. Paul D. Giammalvo, an American who has been living and working in Jakarta for 15 years now. We talked a bit about what we did, and he advised me to try and get a job at Goldman Sachs investment banking. Don’t worry Wouter, I won’t do it (yet), but still it was a nice suggestion.

He’d be coming to Tokyo on business in March, so maybe we’ll hook up for a few beers. Anyway, I have to wait for another two hours, more or less, before boarding to my flight to Tokyo, so I’ll explore the wonderfull Singapore Airport some more. Can you believe they actually have entire gardens and Koi fishponds in here! Carpet everywhere and a very homely feeling about the place. I’m liking it already.

 On to Tokyo!!!!

This year I went to Droomstart at the Schram Filmstudio. It was a nice little minimal electro, techno get together with a great atmosphere and awesome beats! Check it out:

What did you do to celebrate New years eve?