Back To The Old House

I pretty much spent my adult life in this house.

Arriving here a mere whippersnapper in my mid to late 20's, and leaving the building in my early 40's, albeit I had 3 years off along the way.

So many memories.
Too many to count.
Most of you have only seen this house as the living space of a miserable, regretful, ranting, goya-hearted git - me- due to the two unplanned stints in Japan that happened outside of My Real Fun Years here.

But let me say that I have had  many good times in this house.
Wonderful times.
Weekly dinner parties with three female friends, who all wound up marrying foreigners in the end, two of whom now live in the US and France respectively.

Dozens of dinner parties were held around The Round Table. 4 chairs and a table bought for $10

Lots of other random parties.

I slept in this room during the three months the folks in the below story stayed with me.

Then there was the British/German couple I met ONE time in Jo'burg, South Africa, at the hostel there,when I was gushing about having just bought a flat in SA and jumping out of a plane twice over the Namibian desert,  unaware at the time that I was carrying a 32cm diameter tumor on my ovary,  and inviting them to visit if they came to Japan, which they did, and then stayed 3 months!

We are still in touch and they have been based in the Philippines for the past 5 or 6 years doing really, really good things for the people there. They also bought a fridge for the small hostel they stayed at in rural China a few years ago. Good people and I'm glad I could offer them a roof for their time here.
During their stay they got to witness me believing that I had won 3 Million Pounds in a Nigerian scam. You had to be there. I really believed it.

I also lived here with my Toy Boy Samurai, Yoshi, for a year.
How funny was that! His dad was a miserable git headmaster of another school in the town and he hated that his son was dating a 'gaijin'. He used to call me, 'Dare?' or 'Who?' in Japanese.
He he he. I'd have to sit across from him at graduation ceremonies (principals attend the ceremonies of other schools). Awkward or what.
Yoshi and I were more like friends, clubbing every weekend and so on (he was always involved in trying to make millions with door-to-door sales ideas and was a master at Pachinko, making hundreds of dollars a time at it)  but it was certainly more platonic than 'gotta have you baby', and to tell y'all the truth, I didn't really wake up to sex, iku-ing and shakuhatchis till I left Japan in 2006, when I realised that I had more going for me than the Japanese had ever allowed me to feel.

I'm glad I went back to the house today because I'd forgotten my Constellation Wheel, as one does

Anyway, blah, the memories are endless and it's a shame my time here got tainted by '08 and '11.
I am relieved that I was able to move out in September this year.
Part of the problem was living here with so many memories and a fcked up head.

Plus the bath was totally shot, needing a brick and plastic for the plughole, and wine corks pressed into rusty holes in the tub itself.
I can say that it was the leaky bath that drove me to drink.

The infamous Bangkok Hilton Bathroom

Yep, I loved this house.
$50 a month rent.
A little garden.
I was a lucky mothrafcker.

I've always been lucky with rent here.
Nagasaki 3 bedroom, two-storied house = Free.

The beautiful old school where I worked as it's first female member of staff  EVER in its hundred year (at the time) history.

Little prefab by the beach in Ise-shi.= Free

Flat opposite the Imperial Park in Kyoto = Free

I'm still sad that I blitzed the Original Blog. It had some great pics of my time in Kyoto.

My current flat - including all utilities, even the net - $100 a month.

My orbs have been taking care of me, that's for sure.
All that money I saved in rent is one of the reasons I can retire young.
Wow.