This past weekend Mr X ventured out and about in Japan to enjoy the countryside....I mean city. I guess there isn't much in the way of countryside where he went. Unfortunately he didn't quite make it to the Sumo match but he's hoping to try for that again this weekend. So here are some of his pictures of Japan so far:
This is Mr X's first car in Japan. It's a Nissan March. It came equipped with a nice GPS...which was basically useless to Mr X since he can neither understand nor read Japanese. See how the driver's wheel is on the 'wrong' side of the car? Mr X reports that took some getting used to. He was also running around Japan accidentally turning his windshield wipers on every time he meant to turn on the blinkers. Luckily the gas and brake pedals are in the same order as they are here so he wasn't stepping on the gas when he meant to hit the brakes. That could have been a problem. But all in all, Mr X says he's getting used to driving on the other side of the road with everything opposite. 
He had to turn this car in yesterday for a new one. Now he's the proud renter of a Honda hybrid car of some sorts. In other news - rumor has it that Mr X is headed to watch a real live Sumo Wrestling match Saturday. (Since Saturday for him is pretty much Friday for us...I guess he's going today.) I'm excited to hear about that experience. Hopefully he'll take some pictures.
Yesterday as I passed two coworkers in the hallway (neither of whom I know), one of them cheerfully blurted out “Hi Char!”
Two things:
1) I’ve never spoken to this coworker before in my life (at least I don’t think I have) so how does he know who I am?
2) Who does he think he is, calling me ‘Char’?
Lately I’ve also been receiving emails from coworkers that have been starting out with “Hi Char…”
I guess I don’t mind quite so much in the instances where I know and work with those coworkers every day. I suppose I can tolerate that. Barely. Usually the only people that are allowed to call me ‘Char’ are my family members and friends. Close friends. You know who you are. (Even Mr X sticks to my full name.) But really not even many of the close friends I’ve made post-college have attempted to address me that way….so it’s strange to suddenly hear my coworkers using it after all these years of being addressed simply as ‘Charlotte.’ But strangers or near-strangers? They better stick with 'Charlotte' or else....or else nothing really - I'd curse their names behind their backs but I don't know what their names are. Maybe I'll just have to shake my fist at them....menacingly.
It's been nearly a week of disturbingly warm weather here. I don't mean to complain about it because I love the warm weather, it's just that it somehow seems wrong for it to be 80 degrees all week in the middle of January. It was 78 degrees on Saturday, 82 on Sunday, Monday was 86, yesterday was 80 and today it's at least 75. In fact, the next seven days are supposed to be in the mid-to-high 70's. Doesn't that seem strange? I know I've been gone for a while but I thought typical winter weather in SD was supposed to be in the 60's. Well I should probably take advantage of the beautiful weather and go sunbathe on the beach or something. Except I don't sunbathe...at least not without some good sunblock on. Pasty is the new tan, in case you haven't heard...at least that's what I keep telling myself. How's the weather where you live?(I realize my life must be boring if all I have to blog about is the weather. Bear with me, I'm waiting for fantastic pictures of Mr X's adventures abroad so we can all live vicariously through him.)
Why is my breath so stinky, you ask? Well, I just indulged myself by eating a tin of Kippered Snacks. Delicious, I tell you, delicious! If you've never tried them, do yourself a favor and give 'em a go. They're protein packed and they've got some good Omega-3 Fatty Acids. And everybody loves Omegas, right? I know, I know...you think I'm disgusting right now for downing kippered snacks, but seriously, have you really ever tried them? What's the grossest thing you eat and enjoy?
1) While driving today I saw a giant SUV with a license plate that read "Namaste 2" and I thought that it was strange to see that on a gas-guzzling car like that. I would imagine that someone that is so into yoga that they would personalize their license plate with "Namaste" would be very into all things "green." But I suppose that's just me generalizing.2) I found a cockroach in my apartment yesterday and now I am consumed with thoughts of those creepy crawly creatures. I made multiple attempts to kill it but because it totally grosses me out to hear the crunch when I smash bugs I am loathe to do it....and therefore I'm not aggressive enough. But finally I managed to kill it. I used one of Mr X's shoes because the idea of having cockroach guts on the bottom of one of MY shoes makes me never want to wear them again. They become contaminated. (Sorry Mr X!)3) I walked by a girl in her twenties this weekend at the beach who had this perfect little figure - she was a beautiful girl. But her nose was completely bandaged up, probably due to a very recent nose job...and then I just felt sorry for her. 4) I miss Mr X. Due to the time difference in his location to mine, talking on the phone is just not feasible on a daily basis. I didn't think it would bother me so much to not hear his voice every day because we could just send crazy amounts of emails to each other. But now I'm rethinking that because I'm completely convinced now that his voice is the best sound on earth.
This is a Japanese vending machine. It looks very exciting. I don't know if Mr X actually bought anything from it or not. Hopefully he did because how can you pass that up?
This probably would make any American feel like home...until you walked inside of it. I guess it's packed full of gourmet Japanese food and it's not 'fast' junkie food either....
Mr X bought this from the 7-11. He's had these in the states before (I have too) and he thought they were just decent here. But this one that he got at the Japan 7-11, he says, tops them all. He thought it was delicious. I forget what they are actually called...pork dumplings? I have no idea.
Ah yes, the karaoke bar -this one is huge! And no, Mr X didn't sing any karaoke, in case you were wondering.
