I sent an email out to some of my friends, asking them to define me in one word. I don' t usually do the forwarded email thing, but seeing as I'd been feeling a little lost lately, I figured I had the karmic go-ahead for fishing for a little character reassurance. Here are the replies I've gotten so far, in alphabetical order (thanks everybody!):

Ananda (RF)
Audacious (TM)
Brilliant (BCW)
Canadian (MB) (Uh, duhhh. Thanks, Mike!)
Cordate (SC)
Free (AM)
QUIDNUNC (JT) (Yeah, I dunno what it means either...)
Radical! (MM)
Renaissance (AB)
Unique (JM and KD)

For the record, Ananda was a principle disciple of the Buddha, and the guardian of the Dhama; an Audacious person is someone who is unrestrained by convention or proprietry; and Cordate means 'to have a heart-shaped outline'. Again, thanks to those who replied. You kind of put me back on the centre track.

To see what I was doing on tuesday night, check out this address. http://picasaweb.google.com/lairdtravis/DrinkDrinkDanceDance Let's just say, I wanted to go and eat yakitori, but No-o-o-oooo. Neil had already eaten, so I hung out with Neil and Travis and consumed copious amounts of Kirin Lager instead. The dancing began when Jamiroquoi came on-- I cannot sit still when Jamiroquoi is on-- and it progressed into a full-scale three-person dance extravaganza. Nothing else for me to do but dance-- had candy in my heels that night, baby! Neil is my dance partner in the photos-- our dancing was pretty sloppy in part because I have the annoying habit of trying to lead. And if you look at the pictures, you'll see that Neil is not of the leadable size variety.

Culture-wise, all is well. I still get a lesson from Bubu every time I go in to his shop (whether I want one or not), which I do at least once a week. Today I was carefully informed to use a respectful form of the verb 'go' in most of my everyday dealings. However, I don't really know how to use verbs at all, so it was a bit of a confusing lesson! I'm also going on a two-day jaunt to Kurashiki next week, so Bubu and Haruko were making me take notes on where to go and what to see. Kurashiki is on Honshu, close to Okayama-- it's a bit of a cultural centre. It was left completely unravaged by WWII, so there will be lots of old architecture to enjoy. I had planned to go yesterday and today, but it was a spur-of the moment plan (wake up, stuff a backpack, walk to the station and ask "Kurashiki ni ikitai?") and I had missed the bus by the time I got to the station. Undaunted, I bought tickets for next week. Initially, Bubu was horrified: "Who will go with you? No-one?! Unbelievable!" He told me that the city is crawling with yakuza at night-time, and to watch out for any cars with triple-digit licencse plates-- those are the yakuza cars. I don't know what a yakuza would want with me! But seeing as I am keeping my activities strictly daytime-based-- art galleries and what-have-you, I should be safe.