Sayonara, 2009

I'm not actually still in Japan, though by the looks of my last post, one might begin to wonder.

2009 was an intense year. It wasn't as bad as 2008 or previous years -- no one died among family and friends this year, hooray -- but it was definitely breakneck speed at times. A year ago, I wouldn't have planned to travel so many miles (Japan and Alaska both for the first time!), attend so many weddings (nine, almost ten), work so many hours (68 in one particularly grueling week), catch up with so many old friends (ah, Facebook), and lose so much hair (2010 resolution: Rogaine?). Oh, and eat horse (somehow forgot that one while blogging from Japan). I guess it was a year of surprises. The only unsurprising statistic is how little I blogged. Goodness, I can still see the post from a year ago on the front page.

In a matter of hours, we draw the curtain on a decade that I've taken great pleasure in calling the Naughties. Coming up are the Teens, I guess? Sounds so adolescent...and awkward. So promising, yet pubescent. It's gonna be great.



Happy New Year.

Tokyo

Now in Tokyo. Still haven't come down with whatever disease is plaguing my sister, but am probably nursing a few million germs by now. Incubation will likely finish right around the time I board my flight home. I can already imagine the other passengers rolling their eyes at me in disgust. I will laugh if I contract swine flu...and then I will cough a little from laughing so hard. It would just be too ironic.

Asahi was pleasant, but Tokyo is much more English-friendly, and the subway system makes me happy. Meanwhile, a childhood friend of my mom hooked us up with a condo, internet access, spare cell phone, copious antibiotics, and her personal translation/navigation services, which makes this portion of our trip a whole lot easier. She simply rocks, as does my mom for having such great friends.

I'll wrap up with some thoughts from the past few days...

Apologies and pardons.
What would seem like profuse and unnecessary self-deprecation back in the States is nothing short of a national pastime here. I could get used to this!

Playing Japanese tourist.
Super fun in Japan, as there is no shame in whipping out the camera anywhere and everywhere.

Export/import industry.
Renders souvenir shopping almost pointless, as there are precious few things one couldn't just buy at Uwajimaya back in Seattle. My friends at home wouldn't know where their gifts came from. Either sad or awesome, can't decide.

"Vacation" with the family.
A bit of an oxymoron, it would seem.

Blue screen of death.
Even scarier in Japanese. Can now relate with the parents and their experiences with technology.

Japanese toilet paper.
More prone to tear longitudinally than across the transverse perforation. Whatever. Will wipe with streamers if necessary. Which brings us to my final thought...

Bidets.
Oh, wow. o_O

For those of you who happen to be cursed gifted with a visually-prone imagination like I, you are welcome.

Asahi

It was time to fly, and so I did. For dirt cheap. I flew on the airline whose paint schemes I've always liked, whose ad campaigns I truly respect, and whose slogan I totally stole for this blog. Ah, United. Thank you for being so desperate to stay afloat that I could fly to Japan for only $645.

So I'm currently in the provincial town of Asahi, about an hour outside of Tokyo, visiting with my mom and staying with my sister who's lived here for the past couple months. Hooray for vacation, good times with the family, and, of course, good eats.

Class

My graduating class's 5th Reunion is coming up this fall, and in preparation, alumni have been invited to submit one-page updates to summarize their post-undergraduate lives for the Class Book.

Of course, in true college fashion, I am putting mine together on the day it is due.

Mockery

As if my recent 401K performance weren't insulting enough, some of the depressing figures in my latest mailed statement were printed in Comic Sans -- that ugly, overused font that mimics children's handwriting.

Seriously, what is this? A note from my piggy bank?

Cheers and Jeers

Just a few thoughts to kick off a new year for my blog. For those of you wondering how I'm doing, maybe these random snapshots will help you piece together a picture of my life at the moment. I don't care if it looks like a Picasso.

Hosting family and friends for the holidays can be draining, but always fulfilling and ultimately enjoyable. Definitely a cheer.

Unfortunately, the momentum of cleaning up my house didn't extend far into my disaster zone of a bedroom. This would be a jeer.

Cheer: We enjoyed a white Christmas.

Jeer: Home Depot is still sold out of snow shovels.

Cheer: I enjoyed returning to work in the new year, and I'm still loving this job...for as long as I have it, anyway.

Jeer: The bad economy, and ensuing layoffs to be announced at my company. We'll see what happens to me.

Cheer: My vision apparently improved the slightest bit possible over last year. I celebrated and bought an awesome new pair of glasses. Hooray, titanium.

Jeer: Said awesome pair of glasses cost me way too much. That's what I get for shopping at a store named "Eye Society."

Cheer: I've started running again these days.

Jeer: After the extended holiday break, run = sore.

Cheer: A new season of 24. Featuring a 767 and an A340! Okay, maybe not featuring...

Jeer: No more episodes of "Pushing Daisies." (I still despise ABC for canceling it.)

Jeer: I have no more cheers.

Jeer: I'm finding more white hairs on my head. They apparently grow in symmetrical pairs on both sides of my head. (I guess it's a cheer that I still have hair to speak of.)

Jeer: My inbox stands at 111 unread emails.

Double jeer: My spam folder contains 666.

Okay, I lied, I can think of one more cheer. Megan, a friend from church, got me The Book of Whale Insults for Christmas. Let me close with an excerpt from this gem of non-fiction reading: