I'm back!

This is the first post I have written since November!

I have been busy being a dad, working during the week and weekends, starting a new business, starting a band AND researching and writing my dissertation. There are not enough hours in a day. Here is a quick run down of the above.

Work during the week - my regular lecturing job.

Other work - In November I was the keynote presenter at this year's Nagasaki ALTs and Japanese English teacher conference. I gave my speech to around 200 people. I went all Steve Jobs (RIP Steve) by delivering my speech by walking around the stage, pausing, changing the slides (via my iphone) and telling a joke or two. It was a great experience and I had a lot of positive feedback from ALTs and Japanese teachers.

I've also managed to give a few different speeches on teaching and learning English.

Band - My friend Shuji and I have started an electronic band with two local musicans. We just get together and jam in whatever key we can think of. We all have different tastes ranging from jungle, electronica, rock and dubstep. Its all instrumental now, but I've managed to achieve my goal of playing in a band and having at least 2 keyboards to play from - one with each hand (think early 80s synthpop bands on top of the pops). I also use apps on my ipad to play live.

Business - Also with Shuji we have started a sell, repair and buy vintage synth business. We have just finished the start up side of the business that took a couple of months, and we are almost ready to launch. Expect shameless plugging on my facebook and blog.

Mia - Mia is doing well and getting bigger every day. Whenever I turn away from her, she manages to grow a little bit more. Lately she likes babbling and grabbing hold of anything she can get hold of. Her latest thing is "dancing" to music. She also likes to "sing" (shout) whenever I play the guitar.

Thats all for now, just a quick update as the only person who reads this (aka Ikumi) asked me to update :-)