after a slightly traumatic end of the month (more on that when i know more) i am home in los angeles for a bit of r and r and my friend's wedding. my dear friend Kat is getting married in north carolina and i am going to be there for a few days to participate in the festivities. need to find a new dress and shoes -- i feel like i wear the EXACT same outfit to every semiformal/formal occasion (which i do) so i am in the market for a new dress. i go shopping with my mom this afternoon.
it was great having dinner with the whole family last nite. Riyoko and Cory picked me up from the airport and we came down to my parents house for dinner and hanging out. mom made a fantastic dinner and i got to shoot the shit with dad and play with the dog. what is it about the small comforts of home that you can't get in other places? my home is Tokyo is definitely a home rather than just an apartment and i lik eit there but there is a sense of self that stays in the home where i grew up. weird. maybe it's just me.
went and caught a damn cold at the airport in Narita though so i am all blocked up and can't breathe. snot, eyeboogers, dry skin, froie hair, and a sore throat. very attractive. i realized that i packed quite badly for my trip; i didn't really bring any other shoes besides my sneaks, i have no moisturiser, and i don't think i brought my toothbrush or enough underwear. oh well, i guess that's ok. can always buy stuff. just need to kick this damn cold.
will have an update with all my lovely wedding stories in a few days. it will be my first real southern wedding so i am looking forward to all that it entails!
5.31.2006
5.16.2006
outdoor activities, a drunken pirate game, and nudity. Ah, a weekend away from the city!
decided to get out of the city this past weekend. Tokyo is making me nuts.
I went canyoning up in gunma this weekend with my friends. canyoning is like white water rafting without the raft. basically you are the raft. they packed me into like 3 layers of wetsuits and i finally understood how it felt to be a sausage. you lay in the river and it washes you down and you jump off of cliffs and stuff. the water was absolutely freezing but we had a great time. we went rafting as well. i got tossed out of the raft and watched the boat glide over me. wheni popped out into the surface, i had to swim to a boat and got pulled on. when i got in, i realized it wasn't my boat! eventually i got back into my boat. it was great fun and we were completely soaked, wrecked, and bruised by the end of the day. at least is was a physical exhaustion instead of mental which was fantastic. we drove ourselves so we had a car so we fucked off and went to a local onsen to warm up. it was great. all that was missing was a back rub.
there was a full moon party later that night but not til much later so we decided to get trashed before. ever well prepared, we brought our own provisions such as booze and snacks. (side bar: did i write about the tequila shots we did at club Vanilla in roppongi for new years? well it was totally nasty cuz they didn't have any salt or lime wedges so i vowed to make sure we did tequila right the next time. all this has a point as you will see in a sec.) i took the pirate game which i got as for my secret santa gift 2 chrissys ago (it's the one where you stab the barrel with different colored knives in the slots until the pirate pops out. it's brilliant!) i also brought a bottle of tequila, lime wedges, and salt. the game involved popping the pirate, spinning the bottle, and doing a modfied body shot off the person the bottle pointed to. what is a modified body shot, you ask? instead of wasting the tequila like college students on summer break in mexico, you lick a part of a person (your choice where) and they hold the lime wedge between theyr teeth. you salt the place you licked, like the salt off, down the tequila, and take the lime wedge out of their mouth with yours. it was pretty tame in the beginning but it got pretty crazy towards the end. as you can imagine, we all got pretty trashed.
after we finished off the tequila, we cleaned up and went out to the party which pretty much sucked cuz it was all trance music and it was very drizzelly. i left very early and crashed out as i had barely any sleep the nite before.
the next day, we had a groggy morning. my friend cor and i went out for a walk which was actually very nice. i loved getting out of the damn city and breathing fresh air for a change. around midday, we went out to this special co-ed onsen which was really bizarre. weird dudes just walking around with their bits all over the place! there were several different baths so we went around and tried all of them. we didn't nude up, we went with a biggish towel around us. it was so strange to wear next to nothing after we had been squeezed into so many layers the day before. after our onsen, we toddled home and back to the city. it was quite a weekend.
my only regret is that i have no pictures because we couldn't really take a camera. during the rafting and the canyoning, there is NO PLACE to put a camera and it would have been a bit obscene to take a camera into the onsen (althought several people were just snapping shots all over the place). the few pictures i do have are from the tequila shot pirate game which will be saved for blackmail purposes only. should a blackmailing occasion arrive, i shall post the pix on this blog. yep, you heard it here first!
I went canyoning up in gunma this weekend with my friends. canyoning is like white water rafting without the raft. basically you are the raft. they packed me into like 3 layers of wetsuits and i finally understood how it felt to be a sausage. you lay in the river and it washes you down and you jump off of cliffs and stuff. the water was absolutely freezing but we had a great time. we went rafting as well. i got tossed out of the raft and watched the boat glide over me. wheni popped out into the surface, i had to swim to a boat and got pulled on. when i got in, i realized it wasn't my boat! eventually i got back into my boat. it was great fun and we were completely soaked, wrecked, and bruised by the end of the day. at least is was a physical exhaustion instead of mental which was fantastic. we drove ourselves so we had a car so we fucked off and went to a local onsen to warm up. it was great. all that was missing was a back rub.
there was a full moon party later that night but not til much later so we decided to get trashed before. ever well prepared, we brought our own provisions such as booze and snacks. (side bar: did i write about the tequila shots we did at club Vanilla in roppongi for new years? well it was totally nasty cuz they didn't have any salt or lime wedges so i vowed to make sure we did tequila right the next time. all this has a point as you will see in a sec.) i took the pirate game which i got as for my secret santa gift 2 chrissys ago (it's the one where you stab the barrel with different colored knives in the slots until the pirate pops out. it's brilliant!) i also brought a bottle of tequila, lime wedges, and salt. the game involved popping the pirate, spinning the bottle, and doing a modfied body shot off the person the bottle pointed to. what is a modified body shot, you ask? instead of wasting the tequila like college students on summer break in mexico, you lick a part of a person (your choice where) and they hold the lime wedge between theyr teeth. you salt the place you licked, like the salt off, down the tequila, and take the lime wedge out of their mouth with yours. it was pretty tame in the beginning but it got pretty crazy towards the end. as you can imagine, we all got pretty trashed.
after we finished off the tequila, we cleaned up and went out to the party which pretty much sucked cuz it was all trance music and it was very drizzelly. i left very early and crashed out as i had barely any sleep the nite before.
the next day, we had a groggy morning. my friend cor and i went out for a walk which was actually very nice. i loved getting out of the damn city and breathing fresh air for a change. around midday, we went out to this special co-ed onsen which was really bizarre. weird dudes just walking around with their bits all over the place! there were several different baths so we went around and tried all of them. we didn't nude up, we went with a biggish towel around us. it was so strange to wear next to nothing after we had been squeezed into so many layers the day before. after our onsen, we toddled home and back to the city. it was quite a weekend.
my only regret is that i have no pictures because we couldn't really take a camera. during the rafting and the canyoning, there is NO PLACE to put a camera and it would have been a bit obscene to take a camera into the onsen (althought several people were just snapping shots all over the place). the few pictures i do have are from the tequila shot pirate game which will be saved for blackmail purposes only. should a blackmailing occasion arrive, i shall post the pix on this blog. yep, you heard it here first!
3.30.2006
Hey Tokyo! What part of DISABLED don't you understand?!
Now here is a true rant:
I have the ultimate love/hate relationship with this city. there are days when i hate it and days when i love it. these days, i'm hating it. first of all, the whole damn city is so handicap unfriendly. there are tons of stairs and you really gotta get your walk on in order to get anywhere. escalators and elevators are fairly far apart for a one legged english teacher and the bathrooms leave you with either choosing to wait for a "western style" toilet or peeing down your leg and into your cast if all they have are squatters. restaurants pack in so many tables that a person in my current condition can hobble between the tiny crevices between tables which leave you no space for your crutches. oh the joys of trying to eat in a restaurant in tokyo.
but the worst part of this damn city right now are the fucking people. people refuse to get out of my way despite the fact that most of the time, i can only go straight. crowds of drunks commune in masses at night leaving me to attempt to hobble around them. HELLO? WHAT PART OF "I AM ON FUCKING CRUTCHES" DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? middle aged women and all the olds stare at me with sneers wondering why i'm moving so slowly or why i'm in THEIR way. Gee, if ya take a glance at the fucking cast of my leg and the crutches which are keeping me from falling flat on my face, you'd kinda get a picture. but the public transportation bugs me most of all. These selfish little tokyoites (in PERFECT HEALTH, mind you) refuse to make space for me on the trains, buses, and elevators even when they are in the PRIORITY SEATS which are designated especially for people like, oh let's just say, ME. i like the sad little attempts that the few karmically guilty people make to give up their seat to me WHILE THE BUS OR TRAIN IS MOVING. Ya know, i think i'll pass cuz if i let go of this pole that i am HANGING ONTO FOR DEAR LIFE WHILE THE VEHICLE IS MOVING, I'LL DIE. but thanks anyway. This is an official notice to let you know that your karma sucks and you are all going to hell.
We have this one student at my school who is handicapped and he's always angry. he's like one of the angriest little men on two wheels that i've ever met in my life. i always used to think to myself, "dude, why is that guy so pissed off?" but now i know why. he's pissed off because HE LIVES IN TOKYO. i've become him. but i have it easy because, God willing, i will have my cast off in another month and i won't have to keep hobbling around this damn town. I am a tourist (much the same way that people go gay just for their college years); and although i'm hating this city right now, i go to bed at night with the comfort of knowing that this is not a permanent situation for me. my angry wheelchair-bound student doesn't get to go to bed with that thought. so in a sense, i am lucky.
i am currently sporting a walking cast but i destroyed the soft rubber stopper like hoof at the bottom of my cast in less than a week so i had to redesign a hoof for myself today. i chose cork but we'll see how long that lasts. if it lasts a week, i'll be surprised. but that last one that the doc put of me was a piece of crap. and i went around littering tiny pieces of rubber as i hobbled around the city. not good. i've even had to buy a door knob cover to put on it when i get home because it's just kinda yucky. and they don't make shoes for stumps. i wonder what people with peg legs do.
at any rate, i am trying my best to lead my normal life minus the mobility factor. i am working at full capacity again (although not at full speed) and i'm starting to eat out the contents of my packed pantry because i'm too lazy to hobble to the super market. and yes, i'm back to using the retard backpack so everyone can see me coming from a mile away. where's yoko? oh, she's the one with the BRIGHT RED BACKPACK and the CRUTCHES walking like a very bad impression of the hunchback of notre dame meets paddington bear (cuz i always wear my trench coat).
let's hope the cast comes off soon lest i really do find myself doing my rants from a real asylum.
I have the ultimate love/hate relationship with this city. there are days when i hate it and days when i love it. these days, i'm hating it. first of all, the whole damn city is so handicap unfriendly. there are tons of stairs and you really gotta get your walk on in order to get anywhere. escalators and elevators are fairly far apart for a one legged english teacher and the bathrooms leave you with either choosing to wait for a "western style" toilet or peeing down your leg and into your cast if all they have are squatters. restaurants pack in so many tables that a person in my current condition can hobble between the tiny crevices between tables which leave you no space for your crutches. oh the joys of trying to eat in a restaurant in tokyo.
but the worst part of this damn city right now are the fucking people. people refuse to get out of my way despite the fact that most of the time, i can only go straight. crowds of drunks commune in masses at night leaving me to attempt to hobble around them. HELLO? WHAT PART OF "I AM ON FUCKING CRUTCHES" DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? middle aged women and all the olds stare at me with sneers wondering why i'm moving so slowly or why i'm in THEIR way. Gee, if ya take a glance at the fucking cast of my leg and the crutches which are keeping me from falling flat on my face, you'd kinda get a picture. but the public transportation bugs me most of all. These selfish little tokyoites (in PERFECT HEALTH, mind you) refuse to make space for me on the trains, buses, and elevators even when they are in the PRIORITY SEATS which are designated especially for people like, oh let's just say, ME. i like the sad little attempts that the few karmically guilty people make to give up their seat to me WHILE THE BUS OR TRAIN IS MOVING. Ya know, i think i'll pass cuz if i let go of this pole that i am HANGING ONTO FOR DEAR LIFE WHILE THE VEHICLE IS MOVING, I'LL DIE. but thanks anyway. This is an official notice to let you know that your karma sucks and you are all going to hell.
We have this one student at my school who is handicapped and he's always angry. he's like one of the angriest little men on two wheels that i've ever met in my life. i always used to think to myself, "dude, why is that guy so pissed off?" but now i know why. he's pissed off because HE LIVES IN TOKYO. i've become him. but i have it easy because, God willing, i will have my cast off in another month and i won't have to keep hobbling around this damn town. I am a tourist (much the same way that people go gay just for their college years); and although i'm hating this city right now, i go to bed at night with the comfort of knowing that this is not a permanent situation for me. my angry wheelchair-bound student doesn't get to go to bed with that thought. so in a sense, i am lucky.
i am currently sporting a walking cast but i destroyed the soft rubber stopper like hoof at the bottom of my cast in less than a week so i had to redesign a hoof for myself today. i chose cork but we'll see how long that lasts. if it lasts a week, i'll be surprised. but that last one that the doc put of me was a piece of crap. and i went around littering tiny pieces of rubber as i hobbled around the city. not good. i've even had to buy a door knob cover to put on it when i get home because it's just kinda yucky. and they don't make shoes for stumps. i wonder what people with peg legs do.
at any rate, i am trying my best to lead my normal life minus the mobility factor. i am working at full capacity again (although not at full speed) and i'm starting to eat out the contents of my packed pantry because i'm too lazy to hobble to the super market. and yes, i'm back to using the retard backpack so everyone can see me coming from a mile away. where's yoko? oh, she's the one with the BRIGHT RED BACKPACK and the CRUTCHES walking like a very bad impression of the hunchback of notre dame meets paddington bear (cuz i always wear my trench coat).
let's hope the cast comes off soon lest i really do find myself doing my rants from a real asylum.
3.10.2006
Karaoke, Snowboarding, and Breaking My Damn Foot
Post Jamaica lifestyle was extrardinarily hectic as all the work i had done before i left was completely unraveled by the time i got back. Damn, i need another vacation.
So the Train's friend, James, was in town for a few days after i got back which was nice. we got to hang out and do some drinking. on his last niite (valentines day -- barf) we went out for drinking and karaoke at the amataro which was indeed a top nite. i got trashed, yet again, and i think a few of them continued the celebrarions well into the wee hours of the morn but i went home and crashed as i had an early morning the next day. felt rather seedy until my requisite mickey D'z breakfast. but i think the most memorable part of the evvening for me was the feeling that the "new family" was really pulling together. it felt good as solidarity was something that's been missing for a while.
to further ensure that solidarity (not really, we just wanted to go), the train, julie, sue, ads, alisa, and i went snowboarding last week. we went back up to adatara where we went last year. of course we were the loudest people on the bus ride up and we got told to shut up the entire time but we just played the role of the ignorant gaijins and talked and drank the whole ride up. the slopes were really icy but we were able to meet up with our former snowboarding instructor/friend Hideo. he said he would teach us how to turn. but because of the ice, er snow, conditions, we were all pretty much wrecked by the time we could check into the hotel. we soaked up the onsen ( a first for leilani who was actually VERY nervous but pulled through like a champ despite all the naked chicks) had dinner, and hung out in our room all nite. like complete foolios, we forgot to pack a deck of cards, uno, jenga, the pirate in a barrel game, or anythin g else which may have proved entertaining for us; but ads got to tell some good riddles, i got to tell some lame ones, ther were shitty magic tricks and very cheesy "psychic connectons." but we all eventually got to sleep thanks to the soothing snores of alisa.
the next day, we all warm up and hit the gondola to get to the top of the mountain. we get down alright despite an extremely icy patch in the middle which really burned me, sue, and ads out. we hung out while the rest of the crew went for a few more runs. it was getting close to lunch time so sue and i decided to go down the intermediate slopes a few more times to practice our turns before breaking for lunch (ads decided his ass was too sore and he needed to recoup by getting his cancer on). on the second run coming down, i turned onto my toeside and hit a rough patch of ice. my board wouldn't stop and after a few very hard crack, crack, CRACKS, i felt something in my foot pop and a tremendous shot of pain went running up my leg. i couldn't move for a couple of minutes. i knew i fucked something up in my foot really bad. so i turned back around to my heel side and slowly made my way down the mountain and straight to ski patrol. pulling off my boot was one of the most painful moments of my life and i was told i was done, i needed to ice it, and go straight to the docs when i got back to tokyo. on my way to the bus going home, i slipped on a patch of ice and ate it again whichg was even more painful than the boot coming off my foot. i actually broke down and bawled (something i haven't done since watching that movie about the dog in shibuya). but i pulled my crap together and made it onto the bus. we chilled all the way home and i called in sick the next day.
i get the x-rays and talk to the doc who tells me i've broken one of the big roundish bones in the arch of my foot. he thinks it's a strange place to break my foot but it's all the same to me. i had to have it taped up for about 4 days while the swelling went down and got my cast yesterday. it's really heavy, and most of the time when i'm home i hop around without the crutches which is starting to take it's toll on my ankle. i swear i'm falling apart.
so i should be in the cast for about 4 weeks. my doc says i'm looking at a totaly of 2 months recovery time. by then my left leg will wither away and my right leg and arms will be tompletely buff. yes! i can look like a circus freak again!
but big props to the friends who got me though this ordeal. they have been super nice and helpful, bringing me pressies and dinner and keeping me company and covering for me at work (i've been out for 5 days). i really love them.
so call me gimp for the next few weeks. i'm hobbling along this long windy road of life at the moment. will let you know if i pick up speed anytime soon . . . . .
So the Train's friend, James, was in town for a few days after i got back which was nice. we got to hang out and do some drinking. on his last niite (valentines day -- barf) we went out for drinking and karaoke at the amataro which was indeed a top nite. i got trashed, yet again, and i think a few of them continued the celebrarions well into the wee hours of the morn but i went home and crashed as i had an early morning the next day. felt rather seedy until my requisite mickey D'z breakfast. but i think the most memorable part of the evvening for me was the feeling that the "new family" was really pulling together. it felt good as solidarity was something that's been missing for a while.
to further ensure that solidarity (not really, we just wanted to go), the train, julie, sue, ads, alisa, and i went snowboarding last week. we went back up to adatara where we went last year. of course we were the loudest people on the bus ride up and we got told to shut up the entire time but we just played the role of the ignorant gaijins and talked and drank the whole ride up. the slopes were really icy but we were able to meet up with our former snowboarding instructor/friend Hideo. he said he would teach us how to turn. but because of the ice, er snow, conditions, we were all pretty much wrecked by the time we could check into the hotel. we soaked up the onsen ( a first for leilani who was actually VERY nervous but pulled through like a champ despite all the naked chicks) had dinner, and hung out in our room all nite. like complete foolios, we forgot to pack a deck of cards, uno, jenga, the pirate in a barrel game, or anythin g else which may have proved entertaining for us; but ads got to tell some good riddles, i got to tell some lame ones, ther were shitty magic tricks and very cheesy "psychic connectons." but we all eventually got to sleep thanks to the soothing snores of alisa.
the next day, we all warm up and hit the gondola to get to the top of the mountain. we get down alright despite an extremely icy patch in the middle which really burned me, sue, and ads out. we hung out while the rest of the crew went for a few more runs. it was getting close to lunch time so sue and i decided to go down the intermediate slopes a few more times to practice our turns before breaking for lunch (ads decided his ass was too sore and he needed to recoup by getting his cancer on). on the second run coming down, i turned onto my toeside and hit a rough patch of ice. my board wouldn't stop and after a few very hard crack, crack, CRACKS, i felt something in my foot pop and a tremendous shot of pain went running up my leg. i couldn't move for a couple of minutes. i knew i fucked something up in my foot really bad. so i turned back around to my heel side and slowly made my way down the mountain and straight to ski patrol. pulling off my boot was one of the most painful moments of my life and i was told i was done, i needed to ice it, and go straight to the docs when i got back to tokyo. on my way to the bus going home, i slipped on a patch of ice and ate it again whichg was even more painful than the boot coming off my foot. i actually broke down and bawled (something i haven't done since watching that movie about the dog in shibuya). but i pulled my crap together and made it onto the bus. we chilled all the way home and i called in sick the next day.
i get the x-rays and talk to the doc who tells me i've broken one of the big roundish bones in the arch of my foot. he thinks it's a strange place to break my foot but it's all the same to me. i had to have it taped up for about 4 days while the swelling went down and got my cast yesterday. it's really heavy, and most of the time when i'm home i hop around without the crutches which is starting to take it's toll on my ankle. i swear i'm falling apart.
so i should be in the cast for about 4 weeks. my doc says i'm looking at a totaly of 2 months recovery time. by then my left leg will wither away and my right leg and arms will be tompletely buff. yes! i can look like a circus freak again!
but big props to the friends who got me though this ordeal. they have been super nice and helpful, bringing me pressies and dinner and keeping me company and covering for me at work (i've been out for 5 days). i really love them.
so call me gimp for the next few weeks. i'm hobbling along this long windy road of life at the moment. will let you know if i pick up speed anytime soon . . . . .
2.22.2006
Post Vacation and Back to the Old Grind
Jamaica was fucking cool. ads and i had a 12 hour stop over in los angeles after a 9.5 hour flight from Tokyo before heading off to charlotte so cory picked us up and we had a very good breakfast at Roscoe's chicken and waffles. we did a quick tour of the studios in LA and then picked up crash at Dreamworks before heading back to their house for a bit of rest. after a mexican dinner we went back to the sirport where we boraded a red eye to charlotte NC and waited another 3.5 hours before getting on a plane to montego bay. by the time we got to jamaica, we didn't know if we were hungry or tired or insane so we piddled around our resort and then took a bit of a drive around the area in our rental car.
SIDE BAR: the rental car joint was insane. on the second story unmarked building there was one woman named Sharon running the entire operation. when she needed someone to bring a car around, she'd use her "PA" system which was Sharon yelling outside of her second story window in a very thick jamaican accent to "brang da kyar round mon." and she moved slower than mollasass. the roads in jamaica leave much to be desired as well. there are potholes the size of texas all over the place and many of the roads are not paved at all. drivers overtake or undertake where ever and when ever they like, and they honk their horns very liberally. they generally drive on the left side, as it is told in the Lonely Planet "da left side is the rite side, da right side is suicide." the speed limit is apparently just a suggestion.
Ads and i met up with Kuniko (sab's ex-roommate) and her friend Shiho who came traveling with her. Kuniko rented or villa in Montego Bar for us. it was a very nice, spacious place. a stones throw from the beach (Dr. Cave beach apparently) and really good jamaican breakfast. the jamaicans eat this "fruit" called Ackee which is a savory fruit that they pick after the ass of the fruit bursts then they soak it in salted water and cook it with a salted fish. it tastes like scrambled eggs. it was weird but good. Shiho and i were all about the jamaican food. Ads eats nothing and Kuniko was a bit weary as well but i thought jamaican food rocked. but stay away from the "rasta relaxers" a drinbk that is 97% rum. made me sick.
We went to Negril on our second day and also drove out to Roaring River or Rolling River where Bob Marley apparently "wash away da bad luck and wash in da good luck." we saw some nice little plants, goats, crops and marijuana plants which apparently "belong to da rasta man." everyone was high there. it was an interesting little trip.
we were led out there by out self appointed tour guid named Kevin. he says he works with the police to aid tourists but he didn't seem to be very helpful when i got pulled over by the jamaican cops. i didn't get a ticket; i think they were more curious about tourists driving around in a not touristy area and i got let off with a warning. Kevin gave us a little tour of the country side and took us to the river area then we parted ways after we "showed him our appreciation."
SIDE BAR: everone in jamaica wants a tip, and i ain't talkin' 'bout on how to keep your toilet sparklin' fresh. everywhere you go, please are asking you to "show me your appreciation." they prey on tourists and expect you to tip them for everything from using the PUBLIC toilets to pointing you in the direction of a good restaurant. Jamaicans are also good hustlers. even the sweetest unassuming little old woman knows what she's doing when it comes to tourists. they make you buy shit you don't even want or ask for. they are super pushy. i think they were more polite in thailand!
on the 26th, we drove out towards St. Ann's bay where Sabrina was getting married. it was a couple hours drive from Mobay (montego bay) and the area was quite nice. the closest town was Ocho Rios where we had to go to get supplies for our villa such as food, drinks etc. we settled in and met up with stuart and his wife and also sab's student tomonori and his weird taciturn friend with the super tight pants. we went on our excusion to Ocho Rios which is a nice little place. we did some souvenir shopping (i got everyone jerk seasoning. i swear the entire bottom of my suitcase was filled with jerk). Sabs had her rehersal dinner on the 27th and i got to meet all of her friends from college. she had some bridesmaids and they were LOVELY girls. i can see why they are all so tight.
the day of the wedding was unfortunately very windy. the weather wasn't espeically nice which was too bad but Sabs looked absolutely fantastic. she seemed to take the entire thing in a stride but i guess that's because it was pretty much the Sharon Shelton show (Sean's mother). The food was amazing, especially the Coconut Chicken Rundown which i am still trying to find a good recipie for. Lots of speeches and toasts, etc. Lots of rum.
we went out to Dunn's River Falls the next day to climb up the waterfall which was pretty fucking cool. the water was initially pretty cold but it's hot in jamaica and you get used to it. we did a bit more last minute shopping and went out for dinner on our last nite in jamaica to a pretty bad restaurant which had a nice view but super salty food coupled with bad service. not a good end. but overall, we had a great time in jamaica. and it was awesome seeing sabs again. i really missed her.
We flew back to LA the next day and had dinner with the family. We went to the rock bottom brewery where we met up with dad and ryan. I took ads all over LA and LBC. we had a big BBQ at the house one nite and a bunch of people came. i ran errands, i saw old friends, i went to the dentist. we also went out to vegas for a couple of days which he seemed to really like. it was nice to see dick and colleen as well.
anyways, we hoofed it back to japan on the 9th and got into narita on the 10th. we were both completely wrecked. 20 days everyday is a lot of time to spend with any one person but i think we both survived it ok.
now it back to the same old grind. i went 12 days straight without a day off when i got back and today is the first time since forver that i have gotten home before 9:00pm. grandpa and i have fallen back into our old routine plus one, i now make breakfast and dinner for him every nite. i had to fight with my uncle just to get one weekend off to go snowboarding with my friends next week. but it's a good thing. it makes me appreciate my time with my friends who i must give much credit to cuz they have been soooooo supportive and kind during the past few months while i have been inaccessible for much of the time. they've pushed back plans, rearranged schedules, and tucked me in at nite. i take care of grandpa and they take care of me. i love them.
to celebrate and give thanks, i'm having mexican dinner nite tomorrow for them and then we will have jerk chicken nite on the 5th. yummy! dinner always brings friends together!
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