promises forever young · Tuesday, November 8, 2005
one of the worst feelings in the world is sweating in a sweater. what’s even worse than sweating in a sweater is sweating in fleece (personally, i am not a huge proponent of wearing fleece on the daily unless doing athletic activities). I vividly remember running in cheap fleece in cold weather (well, San Diego winters) and feeling hot sweat press out of me and then cool sweat pressing back onto me. ugh. a surefire way to get sick, and i say this as i sneeze all over my keyboard.
i almost missed my train this morning because i forgot to put on deoderant. of course, i only realized this as i was running out of my apartment building and halfway to the train (which is only just around the corner), when i had to shoot back upstairs and smear some on my pits. definitely another one of those “worst feelings in the world” (and yes they can each only be described as “worst” even though there are many – it’s like “best friends”). getting to where you’re going and realizing you forgot to slather on the ol’ deoderant—eek! anyways, my legs simply did NOT want to run up the stairs to catch the train, but somehow my timing was ok and i made it. i was sweating profusely in my sweater when i thought to myself (again) that i really need to stop running to train stations and sweating in sweaters. life is just too short for those kinds of uncomfortable dalliances.
riding the train is like riding an infirmary on wheels – Howl’s Moving Infirmary. people are snorting back snot and hacking up lungs and i’m also singing in that ugly choir. i’ve been officially sick since last wednesday and that could be in part of kids open-mouth sneezing on my face or from riding Howl’s Moving Infirmary (and i try not to think about any epidemics moving through this city). i’m moving into my tenth day of consecutive work (it will be 12 days total) and it is absolutely ridiculous. i am JUST NOW getting my voice back so it has been impossible to sing all the stupid little ditties that i’m paid to perform, yet i have to show up day after day. why?
my company does NOT offer any sick days.
what kind of sick, inhumane company offers ZERO SICK DAYS? and why the HELL did i sign up for this? anyways, it’ll all be ending soon. the cold and the job. for god sakes, people are showing up at my sister’s work with pneumonia! what the hell is WRONG with these people?!
anyways, here are some pictures. i have successfully gone through about five of those pocket sized packets of tissues and my nose is raw. it’s one thing being sick, but LOOKING sick is a whole other cross to bear. boo.
i present to you ya-kun. is he not the cutest thing in the whole wide world!? he is one of the reasons i DO enjoy teaching kids. because they are so god damned cute that you can’t help but feel happy. he is dressed as a little bird for our halloween party on sunday (IN NOVEMBER, mind you). i love the droopiness of his little yellow jumper and how he is so nonchalantly holding up the ritual “peace” sign. he reminds me of Wario. anyways, he has a mustache, heart, and star on his face courtesy of my artistic endeavors. i was in charge of face painting at the party and he was the only little critter that would let me paint on his face – no questions asked, no squirming, and no crying afterwards. i wanted to put mustaches on all the little kids and i thought it would be possible, but i got so many rejections that i began to lose hope in our future mankind. i mean what kind of little kid DOESN’T want a painted on mustache? anyways, i handed him a little mirror and for the next twenty minutes he sat there staring at himself and making faces. it was adorable!!
i didn’t get a picture of it, but as revenge for a particularly big five-year-old bully, i drew on a hulk hulgan mustache and beard. the other kids were calling him “grandpa” when he furiously demanded a mirror and when he looked at himself, he started to panic. my coworker, robin, and i could NOT stop snickering. it was honestly the funniest thing ever seeing him try to smear it off and getting nowhere. we teachers have to get our kicks, y’know.
maybe he will kill me, but i love this pic of schlongly on halloween. dude looks like a lady!
what a triumph! ces as prince. the picture speaks for itself.
my new favorite japanese restaurant is the ever cheap, convenient, and delicious Ootoya! It’s a great chain restaurant and waaay back in the past, everything in the place was only 50 yen (or so says the sign in every restaurant). one thing that is really hard to find around the shibuya and shinjuku area is good JAPANESE food. it’s funny because you can find great indian, french, and italian, but japanese food is hard to come by – especially at prices like Ootoya offers. Elise and I tried the tofu and shrimp croquette teishoku (fixed meal) shown below and it gave both of us quite a stomach ache because of all the fried elements, however, i love the miso soup, steaming rice, and japanese pickles you get with your teishoku.
last wednesday was Culture Day. In the morning, I trekked up to Yoyogi Koen to see what was going on. There was a huge culture festival and here are some guys making mochi! There was a huge line to eat some and i should’ve stayed and waited in line but i was too impatient. i was also feeling light-headed and overwhelmed walking around amongst all the people by myself without my sister there to explain all that was going on around me.
the obaasans doing the bon’odori (community folk dances with odaiko (big drum). as i was watching this, i teared up. it’s weird when you tear up and you don’t really know why. whenever i see cultural activities, i always tear up. i guess it’s the whole roots thing and thinking about my father participating in all of this when he was young – how much i never knew about him or his culture, but at the same time how much i see now in hindsight. sometimes the emotion is overwhelming. after i snapped this picture, i sort of wanted to bolt out of there..i felt weird for tearing up amongst such merry-making, but i stayed for a bit and walked around more in wonderment and awe, both as a foreigner and as someone who is discovering her roots.
with that, i’m going to listen to marvin gaye and do some push-ups.
afterall, we’re all sensitive people, with so much to give….
g’nite,
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