The last couple of weeks have been crazy, even by the standards I have come to expect of 2016. For the world at large, 2016 has been a shockingly bad year so far. However for me personally, 2016 has been wonderful, and it appears that it will be continuing that way. I am going to Japan again in October.
As often happens if I am left to my own devices, what started out as a simple thought ('I must see Team H live if humanly possible') quickly spiralled out of control and before I knew it I was having to request a full two weeks of holiday from my boss, who is a queen among bosses and granted me the holiday despite me having exceeded my allowance by so much that it was laughable.
It is a very good thing that I knew even before I got home from the last trip that I would be returning, although I really had not envisaged returning quite so soon. My mum, quite reasonably, on hearing that I was planning another intercontinental journey, asked how on earth I was planning to afford it given that I had completely emptied my bank account as recently as July. I was able to calm her down a little (about my finances, if not about my diet or social life) by pointing out that since July I have been living on beans on toast and barely leaving the house. I was able to further impress her with my dedication to the cause by explaining that I have not bought a single bottle of wine since then either (if she hadn't already thought I was crazy due to the now apparently frequent trips to Japan, this would certainly have persuaded her). I have also switched bank accounts (banks now give you money to open an account with them! What a time to be alive) and sold various non-essential items. I left out the more alarming details about 0% credit and the fact that my budgeting for this trip extends to approximately 2020 because I wanted to spare her that anxiety.*
(*couldn't face the thought of her giving me a look every time I bought something for the next four years).
In what was either a masterly stroke of marketing genius or a total lack of organisation (or possibly some devilish combination of the two) the announcement of the dates of the shows and the opening of applications for the ticket lottery (!) was separated by a matter of hours. Though this may have been daunting to some folk who might feel they should give careful consideration and reflection to the matter before committing, my impatient and impulsive nature rejoiced and immediately applied for tickets for all four shows. I should point out that the application process for me, someone not living in Japan, speaking Japanese, or possessing a Japanese credit card, was made possible only by the goodness of others who employed who knows what kind of voodoo to make it happen.
Once the application was in there were several days of trying not to get horribly carried away and book flights and accommodation before finding out about tickets because the system is some kind of lottery and I have never been successful in any kind of lottery before now. However, I won!
I found out this morning and have not stopped beaming since. Rather ridiculously but completely fabulously, I am now officially going to FOUR Team H parties.
As often happens if I am left to my own devices, what started out as a simple thought ('I must see Team H live if humanly possible') quickly spiralled out of control and before I knew it I was having to request a full two weeks of holiday from my boss, who is a queen among bosses and granted me the holiday despite me having exceeded my allowance by so much that it was laughable.
It is a very good thing that I knew even before I got home from the last trip that I would be returning, although I really had not envisaged returning quite so soon. My mum, quite reasonably, on hearing that I was planning another intercontinental journey, asked how on earth I was planning to afford it given that I had completely emptied my bank account as recently as July. I was able to calm her down a little (about my finances, if not about my diet or social life) by pointing out that since July I have been living on beans on toast and barely leaving the house. I was able to further impress her with my dedication to the cause by explaining that I have not bought a single bottle of wine since then either (if she hadn't already thought I was crazy due to the now apparently frequent trips to Japan, this would certainly have persuaded her). I have also switched bank accounts (banks now give you money to open an account with them! What a time to be alive) and sold various non-essential items. I left out the more alarming details about 0% credit and the fact that my budgeting for this trip extends to approximately 2020 because I wanted to spare her that anxiety.*
(*couldn't face the thought of her giving me a look every time I bought something for the next four years).
In what was either a masterly stroke of marketing genius or a total lack of organisation (or possibly some devilish combination of the two) the announcement of the dates of the shows and the opening of applications for the ticket lottery (!) was separated by a matter of hours. Though this may have been daunting to some folk who might feel they should give careful consideration and reflection to the matter before committing, my impatient and impulsive nature rejoiced and immediately applied for tickets for all four shows. I should point out that the application process for me, someone not living in Japan, speaking Japanese, or possessing a Japanese credit card, was made possible only by the goodness of others who employed who knows what kind of voodoo to make it happen.
Once the application was in there were several days of trying not to get horribly carried away and book flights and accommodation before finding out about tickets because the system is some kind of lottery and I have never been successful in any kind of lottery before now. However, I won!
I found out this morning and have not stopped beaming since. Rather ridiculously but completely fabulously, I am now officially going to FOUR Team H parties.