Ouch!

Knees are hurting from too much basketball yesterday.  Or is it too much winning?  Hehe.

Anyways, the usual Saturday today.  Lunch at the cafeteria.  Saturday seminar.  A little bit of work.  Dinner at home.

I had "curry," Japanese-style for lunch.  It is basically Tonkatsu in a Japanese-style curry sauce, which had some beef in it!  This is one curry that most Indians won't be able to eat.

Overcast day the whole day today but no rain.  Generally cool but it became as warm as 29 degrees, maybe.  Humid.

For dinner, I didn't have any cooked food anymore.  My knee needed the rest so I thought I could do with what I have at home.  I remembered I have tuna and instant noodles.  Then I looked into my freezer and I have a 12-piece siomai pack, ready to be microwaved!  And instant pizza.  And takoyaki hemispheres (they're not ball-shaped).  So I had one pizza (maybe it's 6" in diameter).  6 takoyaki balls.  12 pieces siomai.  And a partridge in a pear tree.  Err, rice.  Siomais were dipped in Kikkoman, of course.

Anyways, a world record is set today.  I've been in a foreign country the longest now.  My previous stint here in Japan was from April 15 to June 17.  This time I arrived here April 16 and well, it's June 19 now.  My stint in Singapore was only for a month...  Oh wait, I was in the US for more than two months, around Christmas and New Year's Eve of 2000!  But actually I don't count the US as a foreign country, not when I lived with relatives and ate Filipino food quite regularly.  In Singapore, I ate Filipino food almost everyday because there was a Filipino restaurant very near the office I went to.  And I always had Filipino company.

Anyways, last night, I arrived back at the office to see a bottle of Pocari Sweat waiting for me on my desk.  It was my "prize" for winning in basketball.  More like, for betting actually.  Today, one of the students raised another small betting game - and 8 of us happily obliged for 50 yen apiece.  We had to "guess" what will be the final outcome of the Holland-Japan World Cup match.  I bet 2-0 in favor of Holland.  Two of us actually did.  So if I won, I had to share the 400 yen ($4) pot with someone else.  Big money, eh?  Well, for risking 50 yen, I could buy three 110 yen drinks from the vendo by winning!  Anyways, 2-0 was the lowest "guess" for Holland.  The highest "guess" was 5-0 for Holland.  One guy bet 1-0 for Japan.  Two bet 3-0 for Holland, one bet 3-1 for Holland, and another bet 4-0 for Holland.  Guess where the guy who bet 1-0 for Japan is from.  Anyways, Holland was leading 1-0 midway through the second half and I was so hoping they score another goal.  And...  No, they didn't.  So no one won the "betting."  I guess the pot moves on to the next game.

One new discovery I made is that with installation of certain software, I can access my work PC from home or any other place where I have a computer and internet connection.  Yup, I have internet access now from home, although it is a little bit choppy because I connect only via wifi.  If you're interested to do the same thing, assuming your work network doesn't have a firewall installed, check out logmein.com.  Free and very useful.  I hope it stays free forever!

Anyways, I am so looking forward to tomorrow. :-D