Marathon Weekend

It was indeed a bit of a handful, these past two days. I'll have to try and remember it in reverse.

Sunday ended with a marathon music session at Field Studios, the ever-present Anime and myself working to get the CD finished. I am having problems with one tune which is bulky and needs to be finished properly. Trying to avoid studio perfectionism without compromising the quality of the album overall.
On Sunday afternoon I went watching the Sumo with a bunch of good friends in Saiin, west Kyoto city. Amie and Steve made delicious pizza (bringing B. Mc Auliffe's 'Rathmines Pizza Nights' to mind). That event was followed by a keyboard jam back at the house with Dave Rodwin on bass. The Sunday morning was the Kyoto City Half Marathon, which I ran in 91 minutes. 10 faster than last year, but it was tougher going as I had trained less. The never-say-die Valerie and Mike Yoshida also ran - what a trio! Sandwiched in between all that was the Kyoto St Patrick's Day parade. Now I never seen a dog in a St Paddy's Day outfit till I came to Japan, but that, as they say, is true internationalisation!
I can't remember what I did on Saturday...ah yes, there was the Oxfam Pub Quiz at Zac Baran Jazz Studio, in which we held the lead till I disappeared down to my friend's gig just before the music round....all that was preceded by an impromptu jam at my friend Hiro's wedding, on a GLASS PIANO. More pictures soon folks, I'm out of time here...ST　PATRICK'S DAY　PARADE　はすごいたのしかった。そのあと、PUBで、あいるらんどのギネスビルを飲みましたーおいしかった！

Looks like Milk...

Looks like milk, doesn’t it? Thirsty shopper beware, when buying milk in Japan, make sure it’s actually milk, not 北海度のヨグルト！Not very nice inside in the cup with the Lyons tea.

Well, this weekend was spent in 天おじ、大阪市 where we played a football tournament. All proceeds went to Habitat For Humanity, a チャリテイ helping to build homes in The フィリピン、among other places. Good luck to the lads, Warry and Jim, heading out there! The footy was awesome and our team, Osaka Irish, made it to the final. On the way we memorably trounced Murphy’s B (5-1) and Osaka A (3-0) before succumbing on penalties to Murphy’s A. The following lined out for the Irish: Chris “Carras” Carrington, Luca Kouno, Dai, Matteo, gifted defender Paul Spencer and Man of the Tournament Yuki in goal.

In other news I recently enjoyed a 週末休み with the Kansai Outdoors Club in Hakodateyama, Shiga Prefecture. We went スキing for the weekend. 土曜日 was clear skies and good (although melting) ゆき、けどう日はよくなかったー大雨が降っていました！そしてたくさんの写真を撮りました、mostly of the area around the minshuku, the guesthouse where we stayed. Enjoy the photos!

I’ve been made AJET (Association of Japanese Exchange Teachers) Block 6 Rep for 2006/7 – an elected position. More about that job in a bit, le Cunamh De.

My new CD is out in shortly, featuring 11 tracks, a bunch of originals and some excellent covers! MADE IN JAPAN, BABY - recorded, engineered and mixed at Field Studios, awesome cover design by the lethal combo of Mr T. and the perennial ‘Pattokun’, Pat Shields of Newry. More on that in a while. Paddy’s Day is creeping up, and I got a gig at a famous Irish Pub on Oike Dori! Might be the first person to play a cover of ‘Beverley Hills Cop’ as part of a Paddy’s Day set, but that is true internationalisation! Running the Kyoto Half Marathon on Sunday, butterflies in the stomach, but should be OK. Go 2, Raptor!