It has been a while now. I'm sat in the office at the moment, desparate for stuff to do, and the snow is quite literally 'puking' from the sky outside. I should go skiing on Saturday, but I'm not looking forward to it because I know my boots will bring me much pain. I can't believe I paid over 100 quid on those bloody things for them to cause me so much misery. The problem is that when I try to make a turn (whilst skiing) the tongue of the boot digs into the bit just below my downhill shin and weakens my ability to control the turn. This is dangerous stuff considering all those trees at Hakkouda. I can make long turns OK in them, but at Hakkouda, my favourite ski park, the runs are either back-country (off-piste) or ungroomed and narrow, which means I have to make much shorter turns and put more pressure on my legs. I'm capable of doing this in good equipment, but every turn I make in those new boots of mine are absolute killers. The last time I went up to the mountain was Monday, so maybe my feet have hardened since then. Poor quality design though, to say the least.

The office is alright, much the same as it always is. I forgot to go to the New Years enkai (party) the other day, so I think some of the teachers have issues with me right now. They wouldn't say anything to my face though. I have one class today with the lovely Yamada sensei. Apart from that, it's just a matter of sitting at my desk feeling my back slowly cripple itself and my eyesight go even fuzzier from constantly staring into a computer screen.