GorillaDust In Japan

Small News

So we got our promotions - excellent! Aside from some obvious nervousness by our interviewer which in turn made us a bit edgy, it went without any problems. We did a small interview, and that was it - bam! Next Thursday we head down to Ikebukuro for a little training, and then we'll be crackin' the whip in no time.

Congrats to Stephanie's sister for having her baby today - Allyson. So now I'm an Uncle of a Nephew AND a Niece. Whew, gettin' up there in years I guess.

Oh, and if you haven't checked out Moveon.org, do so. They've been having issues trying to get an ad on the air during the SuperBowl, but since it might ruffle some feathers down Whitehouse way, they're blowing it off. Good ad too!

In other news we'll be heading to a haggis dinner tomorrow in Tochigi-city. Indeed.

Tokyo Visit

Stephanie and I went down to Tokyo today to check out the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. They had a show by this woman Patricia Piccinini that makes these crazy, ultra-realistic figures. For example "Still Life With Stem Cells", which features a small girl caring for several strange lumps of flesh, and "Game Boys Advanced", which I think is supposed to be 2 cloned boys playing a Gameboy. Also, check out the pig-woman nursing some strange creatures in "The Young Family" - badass work. Really very cool stuff...very strange though!

Later on we cruised over to Shibuya for some Mexican food which was excellent, but the train ride home took forever, and I passed out as soon as I got a seat. Ahh, the wonders of the train ride.

Happy Chinese New Year

So I actually just realized that today is Chinese New Year. So hey, Happy New Year once again. Got a bunch of errands taken care of today, and have been just trying to stay warm in this Nippon chilly weather. Nothing like the NE in the states, but it's still damn windy here. I'm also realizing that my musical tastes are falling behind - perhaps a sign of growing older? I've been listening to a lot of tunes from the early 80's, and thinking that newer bands are full of Sh!*. (I edit this because it's a family site, you know) So I don't know what I'm going to have to do...listen to some new bands and randomly state "Linkin Park is the shiz." Nah, not gonna happen, but it's starting to make me feel old. Eh, anyway, off to take a bath, sip some bourbon, and listen to Bad Religion. Bwah!

Gross...

Now I'm as sensitive as the next guy, but this story is just nasty:

MIAMI (Reuters) - An international team of doctors hopes to operate in the Dominican Republic next month to remove an undeveloped second head from a baby girl born with one of the world's rarest birth defects, caused when a conjoined twin fails to develop in the womb.

The baby, Rebeca Martinez, was born in mid-December at a hospital in Santo Domingo with the head of an undeveloped twin attached to the top of her skull, facing upward.

Sumo

Yow, I do love sumo. It's the winter sumo tournament right now, and it's amusing as always. My Mongolian man Asashoryu is in the lead as always, and there's much action. I'm in the midst of taping some of the bouts, so that'll be amsuing for future viewing. Also, I'm in the midst of a bottle of wine while watching The Simpsons which I also must say, rules. Anywhoo, Stephanie and are at the beginning of another weekend. We're heading down to Tokyo on Friday to check out the Contemporary Art Museum and have some food - no doubt a rockin' time. Ah, and I finished my New Year cards finally, wahoo! Another fine day in the Year of The Monkey!

Completions

So I'm pretty happy with myself...last weekend was a weekend of completions. Small, but I'm pretty psyched anyway. I finished Grand Theft Auto III on the ol' Playstation, and "Wizard & Glass" in the book department. Woo hoo! Stephanie and I also managed to make it over to Tochigi city and pick up some items we've been searching for. Ahh, good times. It's been super cold and we haven't been up to too much. Working, checking out some flicks (finally saw Terminator 3 and was semi-let down), and doing some reading. She also picked up some knitting equipment, so she's breathing heavily and working on that as I write this. Good times as always!

Plasma TV

So I think we've somewhat made the decision to buy a plasma TV when we return to the states. I've been doing some research, and prices don't seem that bad. The actual TVs look badass, and they're only like 4 inches thick. You can mount them flat on the wall, and they look crystal clear. They have many here in Japan, but the prices on the web to buy them in the states aren't really too bad. Now I keep saying that, but they are still in the $2,500 - $3,000 range. Still, we've never had a nice TV before, and it would be cool to have a little home-theater action set up. Check 'em out! So I dunno, I think it would be cool, but it's still a year or so away. Ahh, to have dreams. Stephanie is pretty concerned about a couch, but I'll mull the TV over a bit more. Ahh, as I look here, I think Panasonic is in the lead. The price on their 42" set is $2,679, not too bad. I like Sony too, but they are running $1000 more. Maybe when we finally get around to buying one they will come down a bit more.

New Year Pics

Just posted a few pictures from our Oyama New Year. Good times. Had some tasty takoyaki today, but possibly a few too many. So cold out tonight, so we might just be forced to stick inside and slack around inside...pizza does sound good though. You might think I'm getting all fat during my time in Japan, but I'm as svelte as ever!

Another Earthquake

Felt the first earthquake in a long time this morning. When we first got here there was about 1 a week, but it's seems to have quieted down. This morning we were laying in bed and there was a sharp jolt followed by a little rumbling for a few seconds. Short, but still not bad. I kinda miss them now! Adds a little excitement to the day.

Off to a takoyaki lunch up in Utsunomiya. They're little octopus fritters that are actually pretty darn tasty. Maybe there will be mimosas too!

Back to work blues...

Well, not really, but it always seems like when you're on vacation and it's coming to an end, it was the shortest vacation in the world. It was a good time though, and we're back to work tomorrow. I bought a snowboard today (a Lamar 158) and even though I felt sick spending the money, it's good to have. There's a couple of places close to us like Mt. Jeans, Hunter Mountain, and even Bandai in Fukushima. We'll try and hit the slopes a bunch more before this season ends. Ahh, I do love winter. We've been doing some serious shopping the past few days and I did notice one funny aspect of post-New Years shopping in Japan - all the stores have these grab bags that you can buy for 50,000-100,000 yen. I mean every store too. The Body Shop (and boy was Stephanie tempted), clothing stores, sporting goods place, everywhere. I really wanted to try one out, but I just knew it would all end in tears and suffering. Still, I wonder....

Recovery....

Whew, had a good time at Switch last night. As an added bonus they broke out an actual turkey! Hell yeah, what's New Years without turkey. It was pretty hilarious though because everybody was very talkative and, well, drunk. Much random English was flying. Our friend Dallas made an appearance, but the rest of the place was full-on Japanese. There's some tradition of eating soba noodles as well for long life, but I abstained and stuck with the White Russians. Also my dart game was off...waaaaay off. Ah well, something to practice in 2004.