blatant random silliness

truckstop and movies

On Monday, Denny had the day off and we planned on finishing up Christmas shopping for the gifts we need to ship.  Well, we got a little bit sidetracked when we saw that Elizabethtown was playing at the Iruma theatre.  So, we decided to go to a place the American's have dubbed "Truckstop Gyoza" (the sign on the outside says Manshu Gyoza in katakana along with some kanji) because Denny wanted some ramen.  This place reminds us of a Waffle House without the waffles. I had the yakisoba which was really excellent.  I dare say it's the best yakisoba I've had here.  Denny had the ramen and we shared a plate of gyoza.  Yummy meal. After our meal, we drove to Iruma to see the movie Elizabethtown.  Really great movie...we really enjoyed it.  So much so, that after, as we were walking out, Denny looks over at me and says "I wonder what's playing next?".  So we looked and In Her Shoes was showing in about 15 minutes, so we decided to do a double feature.  We bought more tickets and snacks and headed back into the the theater.  Needless to say we didn't get any of our shopping done.  Luckily, he had the day off on Tuesday as well.  Now, about those snacks, our first round we each had a chocolate churritio fresh and hot.  They are really the best snack ever, and I'm so sad that they dont' have them in the U.S.  Our second go round, I went for the Harry Potter snack pack with the holographic cup and chocolate popcorn.  Denny shared this with me, but couldn't wait to have another churrito. We asked the lady who sold us our food to be in the picture and she thought we were really funny.  By the way, In Her Shoes was another really good movie.  We had a very good movie day.  Of course, having a double feature off base wasn't cheap, but it sure was fun.

Shinkansen

I went with Denny on a band trip this weekend [click the links for photos]. We rode 10 hours on a bus to Misawa in northern Japan. 10 hours. On a bus. But, we had a little DVD player and watched Angel season 4 most of the way. And we stopped at rest stops every two hours. One of the rest stops had BUNNIES! Little white bunnies with red eyes. Too cute. And we ate lost of snacks along the way as well. Saw some nice views.

It was (*#^@(%^#@$ cold in Misawa when we arrived. Wow. We checked in, then walked in the cold to the BX (this is what the band guys usually do on the trip...don't have much time for anything else) for dinner. Then to bed.

The next day, I went for a long walk from the base to the station. Much longer walk than I anticipated. Misawa is a nice place. Found some cool stores to shop in. And an old shrine to photograph. It snowed on and off all day, which gave my walk a nice magical feel. At the shrine, a japanese couple and their son came up behind me. I noticed they had the son take their photo in front of the shrine, so I offered to take a photo of all of them. And I did. Then the wife wanted to take my photo with her husband and son. And she took a photo with my camera as well. Very nice random strangers. At this point, it was really snowing a lot. And was quite cold. They left, and I hung around taking photos. Then, the sun came out (while it was still snowing), and I couldn't help but wonder if there is such a thing as a "snowbow". Wouldn't that be cool?

After my walk, I met Denny and some of the guys from the band for lunch. We ate at a little restaurant where I had a northern Japan version of yaki niku..except with pork and lettuce in a BBQ type sauce. It was called pork barayaki and it was quite yummy. After lunch, Denny and I went for a small walk, but as my feet were tired, we ended up heading back to the base for a rest. He went to his gig, I ate calzone from a cafe on base, and that was that.

The next morning, the band bus dropped us off in Hachinohe to catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. In contrast to the 10 hour bus ride, the shinkansen took all of 3 hours. And it was really fast. And a nice, smooth ride. Amazing really. We were in the green car (which is the nice car) and had really great seats with leg room and foot rests. With trains like these, who needs airplanes?

Back in Tokyo, we boarded the Yamanote line train to Ebisu. We were on the Gap train (as in, the only ads on the train were for Gap). From Ebisu we took a taxi to the New Sanno Hotel for Denny's next gig. We found a great brick oven pizza type place called "Plates" where we had Pizza Margarita and a Mortadella Pizza....both quite yummy. Then I went for reflexology on my feet (and to wander around some more), while Denny went back to set up for his gig. The reflexology was really interesting. She did some pressure type things on my feet (that really kinda hurt), but when she was done, my feet felt great. And she could tell from my feet that my neck and lower back were sore.

We stayed at the New Sanno on Sunday night (I watched TV and read while Denny had his gig). On Monday, we had a traditional Japanese breakfast of miso soup, salmon, rice, and some very odd vegetables. Then we went exploring. I showed Denny the Azabu International Market where they have an english bookstore. And we went to the Prince Arisagawa park to look at the ducks and blooming trees.

For lunch, we ate Jerk Chicken. Really good, but really spicy jerk chicken served with coconut rice and banana chips. After lunch, we walked back to the Sanno to catch the free bus back to the base.

All in all, a nice mini-vacation for me and a typical work weekend for Denny (well, I guess not so typical since I was along to drag him around *grin*).

nippara cave

nippara cave
Originally uploaded by petitshoo.

I've been working on getting my Japan photos onto flickr...there are lots and lots...but I'm back to early May of last year....it's fun revisiting photos I haven't looked at in awhile. Fresh perspective is a very good thing. Also fun to revisit postings from last year to refresh my memory about the photos. Here's one of my faves.
" 2005-03-14 22:27:00,procrastinating,"As if I needed any more ways to procrastinate. Thanks to my friend Jen I have found a new addiction to add to my arsenal of internet procrastination tools--Prognosticate.com. Thanks Jen. *grin* As if I needed anything besides Flickr to keep me occupied when I'm putting off doing actual work.

Today was a pretty good day for a Monday. Well, except for the having to drive the long way to take Denny to work, and then come back and take the car to get fixed (which wasn't really a bad experience...the stem of the tire was leaky..they replaced in under 10 minutes)...then driving back to the other side of the base for lunch (the long way again) and then back to get Denny after his work ended....because they closed the shorter way to get to the other side...and whoever designed this base decided it would be cool to split the base with the flightline and runway...and lets make it so you have to go around your ass to get to your elbow if you want to go anywhere. We've decided that will work at keeping those terrorist pizza delivery guys from finding us.

Anyway, tonight, we went the long way again to go and see Electra. We really enjoyed it...good flick....one to see again. If you haven't read the comic books at all...then you may not know what to expect....it is a dark movie (like the tone of the comic)...and well done (much much much much much better than Daredevil ever thought it would be...course....i guess that doesn't take a whole whole lot). Jennifer Garner did a great job in the role...you totally forgot about Sidney Bristow and thought of her as Elektra after the first few minutes. (course, there was still a scene or two where i thought her cellphone would ring and she would answer and say "i'll be right there").

All in all a good day. And I did manage to get some work done. yay me.

going to the movies

Hello all. We just got back from seeing Kill Bill 2 at the theater in Tachikawa. Awesome movie. Only downside was that the scenes with Pei Mei didn't have the english subtitles....so we missed what he was saying. Well, I guess the other downside is the price....it cost about $18 per person..and then we paid a little extra for reserve seating complete with popcorn and a drink. But, it was so nice to be in a theatre with respectful people, who didn't talk through the movie. Plus, did I mention it was awesome?

(On a sidenote, mainly for Jim: we saw some Japanese school girls with lollipops on our way to the bookstore before going to the movies).

All in all, a good experience...they even had caramel popcorn. okay, it's really late here now...so I'm off to bed.