... or No Physical Labor, Buddy
Drop-dead gorgeous and Bordline-Illegally Handsome readers... I'm not sure if you've ever tried this whole "writing-at-length-on-a-daily-basis" thing, but it's certainly no cake walk. I can say this earnestly and a bit sheepishly because it has been a solid two days since I have posted anything at all. I'm sure some of you have been concerned (or hoping) that I had given up on the concept altogether. You can rest easy, weary travelers. In all honesty, the last two days have been so very busy that I haven't really had more than an hour at a go to get to typing, and these posts take much longer than you would think to slap together (not that the end product shows that level of effort). Having said all that, do I have some great stories for you, internet. (Below is a picture of me at Karaoke that, oddly enough, I don't own).
I thought I'd start off today/yesterday/the day before yesterday's blabber with some introductions. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you.... he's bad, he's mean, he fixes computers in his dreams... OTOUSAN!!!
For those of you who haven't been following my blog religiously (and may I say it costs nothing but time to join this religion), I'm forced to question what you're doing with your lives. Those who HAVE been following my blog religiously will find the Suicide Hotline number at the end of the blog. Anyhoo, way back in post two or three I mentioned a little form I got from the college about my Host Family (whom I had yet to meet) listing their hobbies and their ages and their blood types and such. This little form said that my Otousan (... father. Crack a book sometime) was into computers and woodcarving, but in actuality he worked the entirety of his professional life in the world of computing and so has all sorts of fancy toys and inner knowledge. He has the TV in the kitchen/dining area hooked up so that it can work as a computer (using the mouse you see on the table there), and I've caught him messing around in the family car electronics as well. I'm hoping that some day soon he'll take me on an adventure to the past in which we fight samurai or something... (a bit like this, if only I owned it...)
Carrying on, I have managed to capture one of the Seven Wonders of the World on digital film, a find more elusive than Loch Ness and the Sasquatch... my Host Brother Fumio.
This handsome gentleman is seen in front of his Bento, hands in his pockets jangling the dreams they are full of. I wish I could have a nice little dialogue here about the realities of Fumio's charming attributes as opposed to what the Gaidai's cold little form whispered to me in the dead of night, but quite frankly I barely see the guy. However, I can vouch for the fact that he seems to be very sweet and good spirited, especially for a guy that works as much as he does. However, I do harbor the secret hope that one night we will end up at the same bar, have a few drinks together, and connect on a deep level. Until then, I seem to play a perpetual game of Where's Fumio (and this is not of my possession.)
In the spirit of the previous post, I thought I would talk a bit about a couple of meals I have shared with some good friends recently. The first venture was a little escapade made with Ashlee, Tony, and a friend named Brett (he's the handsome one) to Hirakatashi Eki to hit an Okonomiyaki place that, from the outside, looked nothing short of absolutely scrumptious. I had seriously just finished eating my weight in Curry Rice when I first saw the display for this shop and I nearly suggested heading in to grab a little after dinner meal... thankfully, Ashlee mentioned Baskin Robbins and we got sidetracked. But I digest (as in I'm still digesting most of this stuff)...
It looks phenomenal, right? The small display was somehow less impressive...
Still yummy-lookin', though. Anyhoo, my friends and I piled into the store, and after studying the display case because the Menu was a bit unintelligible (by no fault of the restaurants... we're just Japanese-illiterate Gaijin), and started waiting for Okonomiyaki bliss. Here we can be seen sitting at the table, which is also the Hot Plate for the meal.
I particularly enjoy whatever dance move Brett was pulling here. After waiting for about twenty minutes or so the waiter came over and plopped Brett's dish in front of him, and I would tell you how good it looked, but I believe in not jading one's opinions of something, as can be plainly seen in all of my opinions in this blog...
Next came Ashlee's Kimchi (spicy Korean Cabbage) Okonomiyaki, which looked equally divine...
And then we have Tony and my selection, both variations on the Hiroshima Okonomiyaki, making our table look like the most delicious thing conceivable...
And in case you don't believe me, here's proof that we devoured that mess (aside from Ashlee who left about an eighth of hers...
SOOOOO GOOOOOOD. Now, there is a particular Japanese specialty that I haven't really spoken of yet, and which oddly enough I have not had the chance to eat that much of just yet: Sushi. Yesterday at the insistence of my friend Maura, she, another friend Molly, and I went to a 100 円 a plate conveyor belt Sushi joint not too far away from where I live (after a crazy fun day that I'm going to get into at length later). In keeping with my obligations to my blog readers, I took many photos with my phone throughout the course of the meal, which brought out some decidedly derisive glares from a young French couple sitting right next to us. I just thought I'd let you know how I suffered the condescension of the French to bring you the bounty of some shaky pics of some sushi. Here we have Salmon...
... and some Tuna...
... and some ambiguous slice of fish...
... and I had a lot of other stuff, including clam and octopus and squid, et. al. At the end of the meal, I ended up with a whopping eleven plates, and a great time it was.
I have another long and exuberant tale to tell, but unfortunately I don't think I have the time to do it in this post... I would expect tomorrow's post to be sublime, to say the least. And lest you think I forgot, here we have your brief moment of time in which Zen may or may not exist...
And...
And for the curious, this is an actual advertisement display that I actually saw out and about. I can only assume that they are advertising Baby Meat...
ご親切にありがとうございます、
Alex -..-
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