a history of me

Hello, Planet Earth. By the time this post goes live I'll be wandering around Narita Airport, trying to find my connecting flight to the United States. I don't normally enjoy spending my birthday in an airport or on airplanes, but thanks to the miracle of the International Date Line I will arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday morning, so I'll have an entire day to celebrate and enjoy the Bay Area.

My weekend was pretty relaxing if uneventful. We spent Saturday in Osaka doing a little shopping for souvenirs, but we didn't quite get everything we needed. My constant second-guessing of what people might like to receive from Japan makes me a pretty poor gift-giver, and the whole international-flight thing makes certain items impossible to properly import anyway. So I will apologize in advance to anyone who felt their present was lacking feeling. It's not because I'm a monster, I'm merely a nervous idiot.

Saturday night I was invited to an after-work party by my colleagues to celebrate the conclusion of another "presentation lesson," if you can call it that. I did not attend the event but the beauty of these parties is it doesn't matter. Indeed, one of the regulars at these parties is a teacher who took an extended leave of absence in April to care for his new baby. I don't know when he plans to return to work and if he will be able to rejoin the same school he left, but in the meantime we keep inviting him to the parties and he keeps coming.

We had Korean food which was a wonderful change of pace from the Japanese restaurants we've hit for the last six or so of these gatherings. I didn't eat any rice at all but the constant servings of high-quality beef and other self-grilled goodies were incredibly filling. I tried not to drink too much because I've noticed lately that booze is a direct trigger for me feeling like hell afterwards. It's like I've always got a cold just waiting to run wild in my body and all it needs is an evening of excess to break loose and raise hell. I guess I did OK because I felt no ill effects the day after (or Monday for that matter) but I certainly had a fair amount of draft beer and two glasses of some Korean milky-white stuff I've never tried before. It looked like a White Russian but it sure didn't taste like one. The Dude would not abide, methinks.

Sunday was extremely low-key. We went to the in-laws to borrow a suitcase for our trip (we have some luggage, but they have bigger and newer luggage that we might as well use) and just take it easy. I was surprised to learn that Mako's sister was coming over with her whole family. Was there a special occasion I wasn't told about? Were they going to sing me Happy Birthday? It was neither, they just wanted to see everyone and pick up a few things from the house. We all had cake (little individual cakes, not the big slice-up-and-distribute kind) and then just like that, they left.

I shared my initial reaction already, but having thought it over I'm still baffled by their decision to leave so soon. I make it a rule that any trip worth taking must include an amount of leisure time equal to or exceeding the total travel time (both ways), barring emergencies. Driving over six hours to spend less than forty minutes with your family is absolutely nuts. When I drove to Albany to claim that apartment it was an urgent mission and I at least took a walk around and had lunch before driving back to New York. Why would you put yourself through that kind of hassle for such a brief visit? They must know we're not leaving for the States for good, right?

Monday was a kind of catch-up/clean-up day to get everything in order. We went out and bought a few more souvenirs (I hope I have enough, I really do), I got a haircut, and we packed. I ended up staying late to type a bit more of this post, but that's OK because I'll have plenty of time tomorrow to sleep on the buses and planes I'll be taking to start my trip.

One last quick note before I turn in: now that is actually my birthday, I can reveal the present my wife bought me on Friday night. It was.....a PSP! Given how adamantly Mako is opposed to me buying an Xbox 360 because we have a PS3, I assumed she felt I had more than enough games to occupy my time (in a way, she's right). But she surprised the hell out of me by taking me to the electronics store to pick one out. I chose "mystic silver" to match the silver PS3 we have, as the two machines work together. I don't own any games yet, but for now I'm just super psyched about my new toy. Supposedly it does everything my iPod does in addition to some Internet stuff and playing games, which after three years I'm sure there's a substantial library of titles to explore.

I'll call it there so I can get a little rest. Most everyone who reads this lives in America, so I'll be seeing you real soon. As for my Japanese readers, well, I'll be back in two weeks. I'm not sure if I'll post at all during my trip - I suspect not - but I'll definitely keep tweeting. Just because I'll be hanging out with friends doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing!

Feit...out!