Outdoor Lunch

It is Sooooooo nice to get outside and eat my lunch. Even though the wind nearly blew it off the bench, the simple pleasure of getting direct sunlight on my skin is heaven. Sure my hair is probably getting easier to style as the wind blows dirt particles into it, but easy styling is a good thing!

Sure the dust is attached to cedar pollen that will have my nose running and me sneezing all afternoon, but clearing out the nasal cavity is a good thing!

It is worth it.

I miss Fukui.

Apparently the sakura are likely to suddenly all blossom today and tomorrow so I imagine this weekend will be when everyone gets their best hanami drunk on under the trees about the city.

Tonight Im off to the gym, the bath, the katsu dinner and then I think I'll walk home instead of taking the train to my station. I did that Tusday and Wednesday and it was nice to be outside.

Enjoy YOUR spring and all the little pleasures that go with the season.

I love you!

Cam

Good Lunch

Ahhhhh... I just finished my lunch:

hamburger meat with onions
basil sausages
nanking pumpkin
okra
spinach
pickled/salted chinese cabbage
salad
natto
miso soup
camembert cheese

Mmmm mm mmmmm mmmm mmmmmmmmmm

Continually Amazed & Delighted

It never ceases to amaze and delight me...

The variety of edible fungi in Japan takes mushrooms to an entirely new level of culinary ... fungigasmic heights!

From left front, clockwise we have:

Enoki

Eringi

Bunashimeji

Maitake

Shiitake

And there are several other varieties as well that were not in the supermarket today such as:

Matsutake (quite expensive)
Regular Mushrooms (brown and white)
Shimeji

And others, whose names I cannot recall.

They are all delicious, even the variety that go all slimy and goopy when you cook them so it is a pleasure to do my weekly shopping and stock up for my meals!

A Real Burger, A Real Carbover

After arriving at Mayu's and enjoying giving/receiving those wonderful Canadian hugs we headed off to her work. The trip took about 45minutes with the traffic (it took her 15 this morning with no traffic). We set an appointment at 18:15 for her and 18:30 for me. Mayu wanted korean scrub called aka-suri and I had a balinese aroma massage. I chose the black pepper oil as the aroma. The bath was amazingly crowded with little kids running willy-nilly. That was one thing people didn't have to deal with at Relaim in Fukui as kids are not allowed. The bath was fine and the massage went well. As I only got a couple hours of sleep the massage knocked me out.

I went back to the bath and washed off the oil. No matter what carrier oil is chosen, and we have tested this with a lot of different kinds, if I leave it on as most do, I get itchy.

We went out for dinner on the way home rather than cook at home and decided to dine at a gourmet hamburger restaurant. I chose the biggest burger they had and added avocado to it. It cost about USD $20. Don't go flipping out now as this was not a McD burger... Even the bread was good stuff and I ate it. Thus the title: Carbover. Mayu and I were so dehydrated from the bread and this morning we both had cottonmouth. She even noted last night that whenever she goes out for dinner with her boyfriend she gets dehydrated dry mouth... and realized that it's because he is a reg-carber like the majority of people around the globe, and she eats the same as he when out with him. Her body has adjusted to lower-carbs so the dose of high-carb dinner once a week with him does her in. And she realized that is what it was that caused it every time they went out to eat.

We came home, unloaded the stuff, had coffee and went to bed.

Mayu works today so we got up at 6am. I put my futon etc. away and then had breakfast. Mayu boiled some eggs for her obento today and I had two along with salad, some ham, cottage cheese, natto, and boiled vegetables in a broth she had made yesterday before I got there.

We shared some more of those wonderful Canadian hugs that are famous around the Multiverse (or at least in New Jersey, New York, Miami, North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, California, Japan, Italy, etc.) and parted ways. Mayu drove off to work and I walked to the station in the fresh, brisk morning air.

I'm at the Shinjuku Segafredo I took Paula (and Stefnee?) to when they visited me. It's my favourite one so far and I have been coming here for years. The reason why I am not rushing home is because I want to go to Zara and look again at a pair of shoes I have tried on four times now just to see if #5 is the turning point. And most retail stores do not open until 10 or 11am. But that is OK because I have my kindle and am reading a very bizarre classic (again) that many of you may have read in your schooldaze as I did: "The Trial".

Well, a group of elderly people just sat down nest to me... about 10 of them... and all of a sudden I am enveloped by "old person air"...
So I shall end this thumb typing on my keitai and I wish you a wonderful weekend.

I love you!

SaturDay in the Park

Hi

I just got on the train to visit Mayu. The gym last night was extra hard and took longer than usual. But it felt good to push my body hard. I knew I was in trouble when I was so exhausted at the finish that I was able to count to 10 during meditating without going away. I had a long shower, then a late night 693katsu and got home after 11pm.

Sometimes when I push that hard although my body is dead my brain wont stop. And last night was one of those nights. I tried to go to bed about 1:30 but my mind kept me up late. I think I finally fell asleep some time after 3am.

Of course I happily awoke with a hangover but rather than getting up I stayed in bed and drifted for a while.

Finally I got up and did a load of laundry, had a late breakfast, took the sheets off the bed and washed them all, too (second load), vacuumed the house, had coffee, cleaned the kitchen, checked the net and got ready to leave.

This past Monday I found a library card IN THE PARK but couldnt take it to the police box until just now. I filled out some forms and then finally was just able to catch this train (walking) about 14:30 so all is running smoothly.

This afternoon Mayu and I will visit the spa at which she works as she can give me a free pass to enter. She wants to try the aka-suri.
I'm going to stay at her place tonight and have dinner there. Maybe we will watch a movie.

I have to change trains at Kudanshita to get to Takadanobaba so I guess I should finish here for now.

Have a great weekend.

I love you!

Cam

Heading off to visit Mayu for the day (and night). She has a free pass to the spa where she works so we are going to go there today and enjoy a luxurious, relaxing afternoon. But first I need to finish washing my second load of laundry!

Sayonara Sapporo!

I'm back in Tokyo, safe and sound but feeling a bit ill ... a lot ill from lack of food. It always happens with flying no matter how well I try to plan it or what I bring... the timing is such that the time between big meals is simply too large and snacks dont to the trick. It's nothing new but still it is not pleasant feeling "so hungry I could puke". So I got off the bus at Ichinoe Stn which is three subway stations from home and instead of going home directly I came to Saizeriya for dinner.

Today's accomplishments were the Sapporo Clock Tower which was built 128 years ago and still keeps perfect time. Then it was off to a seafood restaurant to enjoy the famous ricebowl dish of tons of fish eggs, sea urchin, sashimi and more on a big bowl of vinegar rice (reduced to a teeny bit of rice just for me).

I went back to the hotel and when I came out of the subway there was a snow flurry going on! The train to the airport was delayed about 30 minutes to the wind (Tokyo would have been gridlocked and shut down in such flurries). The plane was also delayed and it took us some time to taxi on the runway. But we made it.

So now it is time to eat, head home, shower and go to bed. Thanks for coming along and see you next time.

I love you!

American Cafe Dining

Mmmmmmmm....

The hotdog and hamburger and pizza and all you can drink espresso, cafe latte, cappuccino hit the spot.

Sapporo is a nice place.

Cam

Ski Dow Memory Lane

I just wanted to add this photo to my blogs for those of you who remember skiing at an early age before the advent of safety bindings, ski brakes and more.

These skiis and other wooden ones are on one of the walls in the lobby... they are quite old.

The amazing thing is not their age but rather the fact that I grew up skiing on a pair of the very same skiis as these! Same bindings, colour... everything.

What a ski down memory lane!

Warren Buffet Porkgasm

You might think I'm going to talk about wealthy people after reading the title of this blog... but this isn't about that.

There is a town in Manitoba called Warren, MB ... but this isn't about that either.

What it IS about is ... BACON!!!!!

Yes, food! A smorgasbord of unique and tasty delicacies all served up in a pleasant and alluring buffet-style for breakfast.

One of the highlights of this trip for me is the breakfast buffet... I just knew there would be mountains of crispy available for the taking. And take I did! It was delicous.

Of course on top of that I enjoyed a huge variety of unique vegetable dishes (names elude me in my satiated euphoric ecstasy) with seafoods and hard breads, sausages, fish, mushrooms and more... I had four or five vegetable dishes, a three-egg omelette, mini-baguette with lavender butter (and two other butters) made in Hokkaido... There was the euro-balkan-style yogurt to which I included swiss muesli and even a dish of stroll-down-memory-lane bread pudding as a pleasant surprise. The coffee was quite delicious especially with real fresh cream. think I had six or seven cups (not NA-size mugcups mind you) and floated out quite nicely!

Guess what? I get to repeat it all again tomorrow! Yummy bacon!

I love you!

Cam


Sorry I couldn't rotate this photo on my keitai. Please imagine it at 90 degrees clockwise...

Sapporo Weekend

Ahhhhh.... having a great seafood dinner in a small izakaya up here in Sapporo. The sashimi, grilled fish, shiitake mushrooms... everything is delicious (compared to Tokyo food but not as good as Fukui food).

It is snowing outside but as the humidity is even lower than Tokyo iut feels pleasantly fresh.

Tomorrow Im going into the city center and spend the day walking around. I hope the temperatures stay low as the forecast is for rain. And then tomorrow night it's back to the hotel for a prebooked 90 minute aroma massage (@ about $85 with no tip) in the evening followed by some relaxing onsen bathing and soaking.

It sure is nice to get away from The Tokyo Hustle...

I'll be back Sunday evening and going out with Megumi on Monday if the weather is good. I offered her "Coffee in the Park" so that should be enjoyable.

Ahhhhh... it's a good long weekend.

I love you!

Cam

Go North Young Man

Good evening. How are you today? I hope you are having a wonderful morning. (how is that for touching all time zones?)

Tonight I taught my two hours of English to my co-workers. There were not too many people who came. After that another English-speaking coworker asked if I would like to visit the Chinese Restaurant next door and have some of the kara-age that I always talk about. And since she actually waited around for me, I said yes! We had a nice chat about stuff, and talked while eating for about an hour. Then I came home.

I am doing a little bit of packing tonight and then heading to bed early. Tomorrow is the last day of the week for me as I will be taking Friday off in exchange for the Saturday we all worked on 2/27. That will make it a four day weekend.

On Friday morning I will head off to Haneda Airport to catch a flight to Sapporo, up in Hokkaido. It's time to get away. I've been in the Megalopolis grind for nearly seven months now, and only got away once to visit Max in early November. It's time.

The last time I was up in Hokkaido I was hitchhiking around the island. I think I was still in my 20s... Late 20s or very early 30s. This time, I don't have any plans, but am going to head up there for two nights and three days. I want to enjoy the crisp, cool air. While it will be 20C here on the weekend, Sapporo is expecting 4C in the day and -4C at night so that will be nice and refreshing for me. There are no plans (the way I like to travel) as I plan to enjoy every NOW moment as it comes about.

Short and Sweet...

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Goodbye Hello

It is a grey, overcast day here in Kobuchizawa; the kind of day where a blue-eyed fellow might feel the need for sunglasses just to take the edge off the squint. The kafun or cedar pollen seems not as bad today as my eyes are not itchy. But we aren't out of the water yet for I do sence a touch of stuffiness that has come upon me since arriving.

I am just over halfway through the 14th Cadfael medieval crime story... it is the last book I have. I don't know how many more there actually are but I presume I shall be saying a prayer for our good monk Cadfael on the train ride home tonight as I close the book on this chapter of his life and ponder the next series of about 25 books that have also been in my collection since about 1991...

Dragon Ball!

The first one had me laughing at the stupid antics so much even though I could not read it at that time that I decided to collect a bunch and keep them for the future, when I could read them.

And guess what?

The future is NOW!

I love you!

Cam

I Pampered Me

Talk about an excellent night! It has been MONTHS since I was actually able to pamper myself. And tonight I did!!! here is how my night of pampering went:

Tonight I finished work at just after 6pm and came directly home.

I had a shower, changed into my cowboy flannel pjs made by The Fabric Goddess, my haramaki, my leg warmers, wool socks, green used-to-be-an-anorak polarfleece thingy, and my Golden Fleece blanket.

I poured and mulled some wine, heated it and went out to enjoy the cold wind on the balcony.

I did a big load of laundry.

I vacuumed the apartment.

I did some IMS work that needed to get done, and wrote some important emails.

I cut up all the plastic garbage to reduce it.

I cooked a big dinner and enjoyed it.

I cleaned the dishes, sink, range and all around.

I washed the toilet.

I did all of my accounting, and cleaned up my receipts in my wallet.

I enjoyed coffee on the balcony (again), but with HotKittyMoo this time.

I chatted with Jen for a few minutes.

I wrote an email to Mia who will be here in a month and a half, from Copenhagen.

I wrote this blog.

...

Wow! Did I ever pamper myself tonight!!!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. The fridge is completely empty so I need to grocery shop tomorrow. And then in the afternoon I'm going to meet Megumi. She is riding her bike here, we'll go to the river and I will make The Best Coffee in the Multiverse for her, riverside. Saturnday night I'll be out with Masami. And all day on Sunday I am going to a museum a few hours away from here. Miyuki gave me the free ticket to enjoy it so I'm off!

Just Say, No 2 Mac!

I just wanted to briefly write and let my Sister, The Fire Goddess, know that I wasn't able to feed my McHunger today in such a way as I usually do on Mondays, heading out to Kobuchizawa. For you see, I left later than usual today, missed the 11:55 train (as the doors were closing) that would get me to Shinjuku at 12:34, allowing me the time to go to McDonalds and get my two DQPW/C and a small coffee for JPY 1100, then walk back to the station and settle in. The next train left at 12:02 but it stops at a station along the way for five minutes to let an express pass by, getting me to Shinjuku at 12:46 which is just enough time to walk to the JR Stn platforms and get on the train but not enough to go to McDs, stand in line and order. So today I am McMeatless (and hungry for protein...)

I love you!

Cam

Update To 3/08 & Beyond

Here is an update before I head out for the day in the rain, and the cool Tokyo March...

Well, I just finished lunch, vacuuming, cutting up all the plastic garbage and putting it in the separate trash. I washed the blankets I sleep under etc. Yesterday I stayed home all day and did shopping, laundry, accounting (left over stuff from the Intrmarket business - Alex in France still insists on buying some stuff from me so I do it, but have to take care of taxes, etc. etc. here; it isn't much, but it keeps his customer happy).

I'm going into Shinjuku this afternoon to look at a light fleece blanket to consider replacing my Golden Fleece, the one I got 18 years ago from one of my students in Ono (textile company).  His wife made it for me as a gift many many moons ago. It is the kind I wrap around myself because I don't use the heat here in winter... don't need it as it is not nearly as cold as Fukui, but of course to the Tokyoites it is winter, and cold. Maybe my body will adjust as Mayu's did. For her, her second winter here, it is now "cold", but the first winter was not. so, I saw that at a sporting goods shop at Shinjuku they are selling off some tartan ones, and thought it might be a good chance to replace this one, as it is pretty thin now after 18 years of wearing it wrapped around my waist all day, all night (except when sleeping).

I also need to go to Yamaya and buy more of my stock of Lavazza coffee as I am down to three packs now which will run out in a couple of weeks. I don't get the opportunity to go and find the place in Tokyo that sells it that often, as I don't go into Shinjuku and go shopping often. Of course I am there every Monday to go to Kobuchizawa, but I arrive, (maybe meet someone at STBX for coffee if they have free time, like Mayu, or Kayo), get lunch, get on the train and go. Other than that I am not wandering around there that often.

Mayu wants to meet me for dinner so tonight she and I will meet at Hiroo station after her concert is done and go to an italian restaurant that she has wanted to visit for some time.

On Friday a group of us moved from the 7th floor to the 8th floor so I spent most of the day moving my departmental stuff because my partner, Kyoko, is away as her dad just died of cancer - a bazillion different cancers that he has been battling and keeping at bay for 10 years. It finally caught up to him last weekend so it is possible that it moved up into his brain as he had a sudden collapse two weekends ago and had to be admitted to the hospital. My boss got promoted up to be the boss of the entire division, and the new boss is from Osaka. He is like an absentee landlord as from Mon-Wed he will continue to run the Osaka office, but Thur/Fri he will come to Tokyo and do his Educational Training Office responsibilities. So that left me to take care of it, and I did. However Kyoko and I will have to move our cabinet stuff on Tuesday when she and I are both back in the office as I am not sure where she had planned to put it all.

There are huge changes in the company as it is a new year, and SMR (Sugi Medical Research) is now one year old  after acquiring two other companies and merging all three into one. So people are joining, people are leaving, some are being fired, others promoted, and so forth. It is going to be a tough year as everything is in flux after they are finally brining all three business cultures into one new standard business culure. Who knows where I will be in a year? Maybe living out of a box in Shinjuku Station. One never knows.

A new "International Office" was created with my "other boss" running it. He and I are the only members of that "office". It is too small to be a "bu" or "department", just like the Educational Training Office (Kyoiku Kenshuu Shitsu) is too small to be an actual "BU". It gets relegated to the "shitsu", or "office" status.)

Although it is March and the weather in Tokyo usually starts warming up, this week looks to be cool and rainy. On Friday it was an unusual 20C, but today it is down to 4C with rain, and some sleet tonight. It will be humid and chilly.

Next Sunday I will go to Atami which is a couple hour train ride away to see an art gallery (Japanese) that displays old pottery, kakejiku wall hangings, and the like. Miyuki, a coworker gave me a free pass to go as her parents voluneered there during last year to do some stuff. So, since I like that kind of art gallery (not fond of the painting galleries, though, which Mayu always loved <while not having a particular interest in the natural history kind of museums that I love>) I thought it would make a good outing for Sunday.

Then... I have a four day holiday from 19-23 of this month. Actually it is a long weekend, with 3/22 being an exchange for the national spring equinox day which lands on Sunday this year. I had to work (we all had to work) on Saturday, 2/27 so I'm taking the corresponding friday off (3/19), making it a four day weekend. And... I'm going up to Hokkaido for a holiday. The flight and hotel are booked to Sapporo and I'll be leaving probably early on the 19th (not sure yet, as the flight is kind of up in the air as to which time... typical Japan). There were no flight packages available for four days, so I'll be coming back on the Sunday, then doing my catchup weekend stuff on the Monday.

The last time I was up in Hokkaido, I was hitchiking around the island and was in my late 20s (I think). It's time to visit again XX years later. I will NOT be taking my computer with me as they charge for internet access in the room (Sheraton Hotel) so will be gone for the weekend, off the radar, getting out of Tokyo, leaving the internet world in the past for that time.

Mia, my former eyeglass-related associate & friend from Copenhagen (I stayed with her for a week when I went there for business years ago), will be coming here from Apr 26 - May 12th. I am taking the entire time off to be with her. She wants to eat sushi, drink tea, see Japanese gardens, temples, ride the shinkansen, visit the sea, experience a beach, an onsen, also go to the countryside and see the nature. She has listed other things she also wants to do and I am sure that since I will be completely off for that time (need to request my time off). I am looking forward to giving her a wonderful experience.

That is about 1.5 months away, but I know the next month will fly and we will hit spring. It will be interesting as she wants to go to Kyoto... Golden Week... the chances are we may not be able to get there because GW travel is ABSOLUTELY THE WORST TIME TO GO ANYWHERE, DO ANYTHING IN EXISTENCE, as everyone gets the time off, and everyone travels. Trains are usually 150% overcapacity and people jam in and stand in the aisles for hours as they don't limit riders to available seats only. Reserved section is quiet but full, and nonreserved is first-come-first-served basis, but they keep letting people in so it gets totally packed in the aisles, and between the cars and you can barely move. Have to go to the loo? Might as well carry a cup with you, cuz you might not be able to make it in time... But if possible, we will try.

So that's it for me, from Tokyo.

I love you!
Cam

I really need to come up with something to write about. I'm afraid that [correction] --> MY <-- new friend Eddie, thinks I might be some sort of blogger who just pops in here and there, and leaves little comments, but never writes anything of substance. If only he knew how much I have written in the past...