Nippon, won’t you take me
Into your arms and make me
Into a sergeant
Emboldened and enlargened

37 days to go? That’s nearly five weeks! And 17 more shifts. And 660 more pounds. Planning is going reasonably smoothly. I’ve got practically everything except socks and underwear. I’ve decided not to take a sleeping bag because a) I probably won’t need it and b) I can use the space for clothes. My sister seems to think everything is going to plan, which I guess is a good sign.

Things to do:

Get money: at some point next month, I’ll get £500’s worth of traveller’s cheques (useful because Japan doesn’t have many ATMs, apparently) and like £150’s worth of yen (¥35,000 or so). Which will be awesome. No idea if I should bother getting some cash for my short stay in Sri Lanka. I doubt they’d do like £10’s worth of rupees. I guess I could get a couple of blue and red rupees together.
Get debit card: I swear I applied for one but I’ve heard nothing more, so I guess I’ll have to try again. Applied for!
Confirm trip with bank: Just to make sure they don’t cancel my card when I start making big withdrawals half-way across the world with no notice. Done.
Hand in notice to work: in order to quit. Shouldn’t be too difficult.
Cancel contract with O2: I imagine the conversation would go something like this:
Me: I’d like to cancel my contract, please.
O2: Wait! Don’t! We’ll shamelessly offer you a new phone and a better contract! Don’t go!
Me: Well, a better contract won’t be much use… in Japan!
O2: Hmmph. No, I suppose not.
Sort out university: Uhm, kinda difficult this one, because I still have no idea what I want to do. But can I really get it done while in Japan?
Technical crap: copy over my various essential .docs and .xlses over to my Mac, backup and wipe the iPhoto library, etc.

And… I think… that may well be it.

However, I’m not entirely excited. Well, I am very excited, but not quite as excited as I should be. Strangely enough, people are beginning to be all “Whoa, you’re going to Japan? That’s amazing!” which is what I wanted all along, but part of me is “Well it’s not that amazing.” But of course, it is. I’m just… jaded and the novelty has worn off. Well, the novelty of planning has worn off, but I’m still confident that getting there will just blow me away completely. It will be incredible, I hope.

So, what’s worrying me?

Finding a job: Damn that television! I’m only (going to be) 19, I haven’t got a degree, I don’t speak much Japanese, I want a flexible, short-term job. That will make it somewhat tough to find work. I think I’ll find a job eventually, and at the worst I can survive three months on my savings, but I’d hate to run out of money and come home early.
Forgetting something: I keep thinking I’m going to forget something at the last minute. Or, more accurately, remember I’ve forgotten something at the last minute. Well, I’m bound to forget something, but hopefully it won’t be too big.
Problems: Worst case scenario the plane crashes in a firey fireball, in which case I don’t really have any problems. But what if I’m delayed in Sri Lanka? What if I lose something? What if I have some other, unforseen problem? I should plan for contingencies.
Blogging: I’m still slightly annoyed at how un-seamless my blog is. I have to load my photos into iPhoto, then open up the folder in Gallery Remote and upload them at a painfully slow rate and then make a blog post and pick which photos I want in. At this rate, I’ll be spending half my time there just blogging about it. Of course, the other option is to just not bother, but as I’ve said I have a need to record events and happenings. Hopefully though, with Japan’s 100Mb internet the uploading will be a lot faster.
Language: I saw a Japanese couple at work today: I mean, you could tell by the man’s goatee alone that he was Japanese. Didn’t say anything in Japanese because there was always the chance they were not Japanese and also I would look like a pretentious tit, but I reckon I could have held a conversation. This is probably a good sign, but I am a long way from being even halfway to full comprehension.
Homesickness: I think I’m making this one up half the time to make myself feel bad. Still, I will kinda miss home, especially being away for 11 months. On the other hand, I’ve been here 18 years and I’ve been in Japan none so it’s really a fair trade.

So, 37 days and counting. Finished reading Mishima’s After the Banquet today. Good book.