Weekend roundup

Something of a packed weekend, my faithful readers. Had a couple of beers with Tom on Friday night in Shiogama...something needed to be done to mark payday, but the rest of the Shiogama clan were too boring to come and drink with us. In the course of sampling a bottle of 600 yen "ice vodka" from York Benimaru, I came across the alarming fact in the 2005 Guinness Book of records (a birthday present last year from my aunt Liz - thanks, Auntie Liz!) that your average Russian male consumes around 220 half-litre bottles of vodka per year. I just thought I'd share it with you. Not to be understood to imply anything about anyone's drinking habits, obviously, especially not Mr. Nisbetovich.

And the following day I bought that long-awaited digital camera from Yodobashi. A reasonable deal at 27,000 yen...got it home and started taking photos of random stuff, just because I can now. The evening saw a trip to karaoke and Bar Isn't It, the sleaziest bar in Sendai. As far as karaoke goes - a quick word to the wise in the Miyagi community - stay the hell away from Song Park on Ichibancho. The beers are too small, the service is slow and the rooms are overheated and lacking a remote for the aircon. Not impressed. Bar Isn't It was, well, as it ever is...the usual meat market. A good time was had by all (not sure what her name was though) and I made it home about 4 a.m. My ears were still ringing 24 hours later, a testament to the DJ, full of sound and fury, signifying...

Monday dawns, and I am another week closer to retirement...