I feel obligated to apologize for the tardiness of this post.  Last week I had 2 tests and 3 quizzes to contend with, and although that’s roughly .000014% of my daily Physics workload last semester, it somehow still managed to eat up a good portion of my time.

Alright, now let’s see if I can figure out where exactly I left off, and what the best strategy is for ACTUALLY getting you guys up to speed with my life. I suppose I can no longer delay some form of exposition regarding my daily life, even though I feel like that’s significantly less entertaining than the grandiose tales of sightseeing and adventure I’ve regaled you with so far.  Know what I mean? It’s like the obligatory middle boring stuff that you have to wade through to find the gems of amusement.  In other words, it’s like every part Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones that ISN’T a lightsaber fight. (BA-dunch!)

I think I’ll start off by mindlessly hurling some of the pictures up that I took of my room after several weeks of Mom’s demands.  Although, these were the last pictures taken by her camera before it inexplicably descended into some strange limbo dimension where it refuses to turn on but continues to make noises after I’ve attempted to turn it off. Y’know, those errhh-rrchhH-EERRCH noises that cameras make from time to time when the lens doesn’t know what the crap it’s supposed to be doing, and instead contents itself with sounding like a broken wind-up toy.

My goal is to leave this room with more bears than it started with.

Ahh, what better way to sleep at night than content with the knowledge that Ol’ Pooh is ever vigilant, protecting me from all manner of yokai, tengu, and tanuki. 

My personal favorite feature of the room. (Oh, and that robe-lookin thing that I’m wearing over my clothes is called a hanken. It’s what Japanese people wear about the house so they can justify keeping it as close to absolute zero as possible. My okaasan MADE it for me!)

The location where I spend the regrettable 5 or so hours a day that I can’t be DOING things.  Still comfy though. Oh, and there’s an electric blanket that has proved greatly beneficial to my survival as well.  (Except that I wake up every morning and for a brief second think I’ve urinated all over myself because my legs sweat so much. Sorry if that grossed you out or anything, but if it did… you’re reading the wrong blog.)

Clearly the most thrilling part of the room.  Nice up-to-date globe in the corner too! (Prussia is still a country, right guys? :P)

 Where I am currently sitting.  It took a second glance at this photo to make me realize that the yellow dog beast next to albino Pooh appears to be saluting me.  I approve, dog beast.  I approve.

Okay, now that that’s taken care of, I’m going to try to speed you through some more entertaining events.  I’m gonna up the pace a little bit in the interest of actually getting you guys up to date, which means more pictures and less words. Bear with me!

Went out for sushi with some folks last Friday.  Wait, crap, I think that was actually two weeks ago.  In any case, sushi happened, and it was on a Friday.

Automatic tea dispensers and disembodied hands at every table!

Daisuke and Brett, the former seemingly waiting for sushi to appear in his mouth of its own accord.

Don’t like raw fish? That’s fine, you can have BACON SUSHI instead.  

The whole gang.  By the way, the guy at the table across from us had a pile of plates greater than all of ours combined. Some people really chow down.

The following day I made my second sojourn to Osaka.  The early part of the day was spent in an amazing used book, manga, game and movie store.  I, however, was not about to go home without first visiting the Pokemon Center in Umeda.  Getting there was a bit of an adventure, but I took plenty of photographic evidence to document.

Upon arrival at the Pokemon Center, we found it absolutely PACKED. There were probably upwards of 400 people filling every nook and cranny of the store.  We had apparently arrived on some special day where they were giving out these free keychains (which believe it or not actually looked really cool) but the line for them did not seem to have any discernible end. I would have liked to get one to prove I was there on that day, but decided it wasn’t worth waiting so long that afterwards I’d probably head directly to a nursing home.

An inevitable fixture of my future home.

Unfortunately I’m blocking your view of an elderly woman playing Pokemon on 2 DS systems simultaneously.  She was probably the coolest person there, except for perhaps the mother with one child clutching her coat, one toddler held in the crook of her arm, and the lot of them playing Pokemon on 3 separate DSs with their spare hands.  If only I had had the gumption to blatantly and unabashedly take a picture.

And, of course, no sightseeing trip would be complete without some weird Japanese signs.

Who doesn’t love here?

So there you have it.  I won’t lie to you and tell you you’re up to date, but I think some amount of time lag is necessary for me to get my thoughts in order anyway.  I had to skip some events too, but like I said before, this just gives you more incentive to talk to me after I get back.  I’ll now leave you with this…

Whatever it actually is, I’m regretting my decision NOT to purchase it.