Some lessons smell worse than others. on thursday night, i made a big batch of vegetables in mustard sauce. ate about half, and figured that i'd finish the rest on friday. seeing as it was going to be only a day, i thought it'd be ok to leave the vegetables in the pan, and the pan on the stove (heat turned off, of course). didn't count on friday being the hottest day so far this week, and i came back to the smell of rotting garbage. some form of bacteria had started to grow on the vegetables, and produced slimy threads when the vegetable pieces were moved, like natto. chucked everything, scrubbed out the pan, and learnt a lesson. the stuff is double-bagged and sitting in the rubbish bin now, but i still catch an occasional whiff of the rotting smell. not fun. will put out the rubbish earlier tomorrow, although collection is only on monday.

happy to announce some positive progress! submitted my application for japan visa extension (along with supporting documents) yesterday, and got a confirmation that it's been received. no idea how long it'll take to process, but i'm hoping that it'll get done within the next month. i only asked for a year's extension, so i think that should be ok? after that comes through, i can begin the next phase, which consists of submitting my UK visa application, arranging an appointment for my biometric data to be collected, and planning a trip back to singapore around the appointment date. the idea is to land back in japan, go for the appointment while on layover in tokyo (where i'll have to give them my passport, although i might use the option to pay to keep it), and flying back to kochi after that. i tried looking at flights in december today, but with the uncertainty of my japan visa's status and timeline, it's still too risky to solidify anything. well...one step at a time.

separately, i've also received confirmation to attend a UK IP firm's virtual open day. it's still far from a job offer, but it's closer than nothing. i figure that if nothing else, it'll give me a better idea of whether i want to work for that firm, or in the UK in general. the thing i've been feeling so far is that UK firms seem to be kind of elitist, like they say second upper class honours is ok, but would strongly prefer first class. well, i'm hoping that i can bypass that. for once, the time difference works in my favour, as it's planned to run basically a full day in the UK, which is nighttime in japan. i think it'll last from 6pm to 12am my time? will consider taking an hour off the next morning if i need sleep, since i don't think i have first period class scheduled.

well, i think that's all i can do now. waiting is really the toughest part. at least with a decision, i can move on from there. oh, there was a firm whose automatic system insta-rejected me, and the HR people told me the system said that i'd withdrawn my application. well, there was probably a technical fault somewhere, and i'm asking how i can resubmit my application. with luck, that will go through...though i'm not super hopeful. it seems that despite the "no sponsorship required" feature of the visa, UK employers are unwilling to take holders of this visa on because once they reach their maximum stay, they will either have to leave the country, or employers will have to register to be a visa sponsor and pay some fees to keep the employee. as far as i know, most IP firms don't have that credential. maybe i might have better luck doing a year as a chemist and trying plan australia PR? that's the backup plan for now.

should stop thinking about it over the weekend. after all, everyone's not working, so it's not like i'm expecting big news. i'm supposed to get a haircut in the next town tomorrow, coinciding with getting groceries during 5% off sunday. also did a first transfer of funds to my singapore account. hopefully it goes through ok. that reminds me, i'll have to update my residence status here with the bank, unless i decide to leave earlier after all.

-random thought of the day: Feeling flu symptoms coming on.-