It is done…
Crossroads
I hate making decisions. To be more specific, I hate open ended decisions. These are the types where there isn’t really a right answer. There are lots of pros and cons, and none of the options that I’ve thought of so far are particularly elegant or profoundly life changing. These decisions suck. Why do have such a vehemence with these little things? Because I remember them forever. I remember these decisions from now until forever and who can really stop themselves from asking “What if I had done it the other way?”
Perhaps you think I’m exaggerating. Who really remembers all those potential mistakes of their past right? I actually think most people do. The real issue is how often it crosses the forefront of your mind. I remember back to the 7th grade. I made a ridiculously stupid decision to stop playing sports. My soccer coach from elementary school had called me up and asked me to join his team and I turned him down. Why? I did it in the name of academic focus. I was worried I’d need more time studying, because after all, Jr. High is scary! I still wonder if I should have done that.
I never took that many AP class in high school. Took 3 of them. US History, Chem, and Calculus. Yep, that’s it. Everyone else I knew had taken like 7+. I don’t really think I made a bad decision there but I sometimes wonder if I could have done better for myself. Am I really achieving all I could be? I didn’t apply to a single private school for undergrad. I’ve never had grad school aspirations. Should I have tried harder? Am I just lazy? Why is everyone else so driven?
These are all freaking open ended decisions that don’t really have a right answer, and it only seems to get worse as I get older. They say that a person with absolutely perfect memory of everything that happened in their life would go insane regretting all the mistakes they’ve made. I’m not quite batty yet, but I can totally see how it’s possible. There’s absolutely nothing I can do to change the things that I agonize over, so why bother? Instead, I’ll just write blogs about it in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.
Anyways, I’ve got a big decision coming up and I’m not really sure what to do about it. I have a feeling I’ll be writing about that in a couple years down the line.
I can has advice?
Can you remember the last time you stepped into a room full of strangers and felt that self-conscious and awkward feeling rush over you? Or that heart thumping moment when you wanted to ask someone on a date, but were too shy to do so? Or wanting to approach someone for business, but was too hesitant to actually do it? That anxiety in the pit of your stomach in social situations? Does it always feel like something is holding you back?
I’m thinking I could probably use some of this advice… ‘cept I’m too shy…
Japan Pics!
Hello Kitty is to Japan as Clowns are to the U.S.
Dude. Live sized Hello Kitty characters are SCARY.
But before that, lets review. We slept in like crazy and went to an udon place at 1:30 pm for our first meal. It was this place called Mentsu-dan. Pretty nifty place. We pick our flavor as we walk in and then comes the TEMPURA BAR. Oh yeah. This thing was awesome. I picked out the Deep fried egg tempura (soft center), the fried octopus, and the onion and potato fritter thing.
It was damn good. The menu was funny too. I’ll have to post pix. Shortly after we met up with Jen’s friend Rich. He showed us around Korea town. We actually picked up a couple gifts for friends. I picked up one specifically for Jack. I think he’ll like it. teehee….
Resuming Hello Kitty stuff:
We headed out to Puroland in the afternoon. Puroland is basically an amusement park for all things Hello Kitty related. It was insane. It was packed with little kids and walking life sized hello kitty characters. I have a ton of pics of Jen and Cyn with various fuzzy animal things. And dude…. there’s stuff to buy EVERYWHERE including mens HELLO KITTY BRIEFS. EWWWWWW!@@.
Anyways. I’ll have to post the pictures and videos later. I didn’t go willingly, but I ended up enjoying it. Some of the dancers in the show were hot.
Wrath of the Ramen + Fog Land
Well, the ramen was tasty the other day, but I ended up in the bathroom at 3 am for a good long time taking 1.5. Anyway, thursday was pretty okay. We went to Hakone and ended up seeing a lot of fog.
Anyways, it was pretty sad. And cold. But we had MOS burgers! Boy, those are tasty. I had the shrimp cutlet. Dude…. fried shrimp patty between buns is fantastic. Jen had teriyaki beef and Cyn had the tonkatsu burger. The fries were woefully inadequate and we didn’t have ketchup. No loss to me, but my travel buddies were suffering.
For friday, we got up at 5:30 am and went to the Tsukiji market. DUDE. That place is a mad house. My friends had warned me that it was insane, but I didn’t believe him. BUT BELIEVE ME. It’s crazy. I almost got run over several times by these mini motorized scooters.
Then, we had to worm our way around the district searching for a particular sushi join called “Uoshiki” which was pretty tasty. We had the “breakfast sashimi” set. A little hamachi, a little tuna, and a little bit of red snapper. All in all not bad for 15 bucks.
We wandered around and I dunno how it happened, but we ended up in a freaking STARBUCKS. Though, really I’m glad we did. I got a red bean frap! Dude. TASTY. Anyways… suffice it to say that by 9 am, I had already downed 2000+ calories.
Following the ridiculous intake of food, we headed out to Mitaka for the Studio Ghibli Museum. This was pretty entertaining. They had a quick film, some cool statues, and various drawings and stories about Miyazaki. They also had some really cool demos of “live” animation. I’d show you a picture, but I wasn’t allowed to take a picture.
We got slightly delayed by this department store called MUJI. I’ve never heard of it, but it probably sucked up a couple hours of our time also. Anyways, we head back and meet up with Tony Chang for some dinner and wandering.
He took us to this nifty place where the ordering was done through a touch screen prompter. It was pretty slick. The almond tofu in particular was pretty tasty. It was way more creamy and smooth than the normal stuff. Also, the tako-yaki imitation was pretty good also.
We followed that up with Tony showing us around Shibuya including the Hotel from “Lost in Translation”. We tried going to the lounge/bar but we got rejected for dress code violations.
Japan - June 4th
First full day in tokyo. We started the day off wandering the financial district near Tokyo Station but found out a bit too late that nothing opens before 11 am. So we wandered the streets wasting as much time as we could for the first sushi restaurant in the area to open.
Sadly, lunch was unimpressive. Tough sushi and an unremarkable though seafood filled salad. We followed that up with some more wandering and then hit up the Imperial Palace for a guided tour. Actually, that was kind of a bust too…. but we did each some snacks!
We tried a couple sweets shops below one of the buildings nearby. One place in particular was of interest to us: Mochi Cream. Basically just mochi filled with random stuff. I got the sesame filling, Jen got mango, and Cynthia got raspberry custard. Tasty, but our choice for eating location was spoiled by a spattering of ants.
Afterwards, we wandered some more and ended up going to Asakusa to checkout the temple and wander the streets shopping. The temple was actually WAY more impressive than the Imperial Palace. Can’t really say why, but the palace was kind of a letdown. The temple on the other hand was way over the top. Plus, the area is surrounded by tons of street shops that succeeded in suckering us into trying various high calorie snacks.
Dinner was kind of an interesting experience. We were told to try a place called Keika Ramen. It’s supposed to be less popular in Japan lately, but we had a pretty strong recommendation from a friend. The problem is we can’t read japanese and the websites all just said what station it was near. We ended up going to the one near exit C4 of subway station Shinjuku-sanchome. In case anyone else ever tries to go, from the C4 exit, turn left. Immediately turn left again. And immediately turn left again. It’ll be on your right next to yet another ramen shop.
The rest of the evening was filled wandering around in a couple malls in Shinjuku. The place is pretty glitzy at night. I didn’t take any pictures since my camera battery was dying. Anyways… we head back but end up getting some green tea soft serve on the way. Not too bad for a first day.
Oh, and the Japanese subway system is freaking awesome. That is all. KTHXBYE.
Where I’ll be in 3 years?
And article about the dying breed of single men over 30.
How to tell if you’re a Spurmo
When you meet a woman, do you check her wedding ring finger?
On holiday, are you always put in the worst room of the chalet/villa?
Is hair loss a greater threat to the planet than global warming?
Do you mention ex-girlfriends early in a conversation so that people don’t assume you’re gay?
Have you ever said: “Fifteen years is not that big an age difference.”?
Do you have two or more godchildren?
Small Accomplishments
I feel stupid for even posting this but here it is anyways…
I finally freaking beat tower defense on 10k “fun.”
Kind of sad really… but in case you want to try, it’s at:
http://www.handdrawngames.com
The Daughter of Femenism
My mother’s feminist principles coloured every aspect of my life. As a little girl, I wasn’t even allowed to play with dolls or stuffed toys in case they brought out a maternal instinct. It was drummed into me that being a mother, raising children and running a home were a form of slavery. Having a career, travelling the world and being independent were what really mattered according to her.
I love my mother very much, but I haven’t seen her or spoken to her since I became pregnant. She has never seen my son - her only grandchild. My crime? Daring to question her ideology.