Today's the day!

Finally here: the day that I circled on all my calendars as far back as April. November 4th: LEAVE FOR JAPAN.

Actually, I can't quite believe the day really has come. I'm in the mindset of "Hmmm, what shall I do this weekend?". I'm in for a bit of a shock.

I have been a little stressed about getting ready to go because of many things to finish at work. When under pressure, I get in the habit of listening to the same songs over and over andoverandover again. This week, the tunes were without any common thread:

Nelly Furtado "Wait For You" (Nice drum groove. I miss the sweet, fresh Nelly, though.)
Travis "Walking Down The Hill", "Last Train"
Utada Hikaru "Be My Last", "Keep Tryin'"

I finished packing my suitcase on Wednesday. That left me two days for unpacking some of the excess stuff. I know I have too much, still. I simply cannot pack light. I'm cursed with an imagination that creates opportunities for wearing many different outfits. If you know what I mean.

I just remembered: somewhere I have an SMBC bank card that would have given me access to about Y10,000 which has lain untouched for four years (health insurance pay-out that came through after I left the country). That would have come in handy. Also, somewhere I have a gift certificate to Kinokuniya for a pretty decent amount (a prize for having this photo published in Kansai Time Out magazine). Zan nen.

Have decided to stay up all night tonight since I need to head out at about 5am for the airport. Kyoto is 14 hours ahead of Toronto so I need to totally flip my schedule very quickly. I want to be sleep-deprived so I just pass out as soon as I get on the plane. Perhaps that explains the totally scatterbrained nature of this post...