January
A number of things have happened in the last couple months I've neglected to journal away at, partly due to eternal busy-ness and partly due to eternal laziness. I hardly know where to begin, but let's talk about
One of my students I may have mentioned before is a gold-medal winning Volleyball player (Munich Olympics) and President of his own company. In early December, Yoshio invited me to his place, a beautiful house at the foot of the hills below my favorite windmill. His house is not massive, but very beautiful, containing various tokens of his travels: a silly plate from America, various Chinese and other Asian artifacts. And a massive "Lion Dog" named, of course, Leon. First, we had some Dom Perignon which, though I don't care for champagne, I did enjoy. We moved to his garden gazebo, with a small central barbeque, where we had tongue, various vegetables including potatoes from his garden, and Kobe beef. His grandmother joined us...I could only speak a few words with her, but she was very kind. With this, I chose a red wine, something French, the name of which I've forgotten. The day was perfect for lounging outdoors, with a beautiful blue sky and lovely hills in view. It was a magnificent meal, probably the best I've ever had. Ironically, like the champagne, I was not so impressed with the Kobe beef; it was great meat, to be sure, but considering the price, I'm perfectly happy with any number of inferior steaks. I found the tongue quite good (醤油と山葵と; with soy sauce and wasabi), and the little shell fish creature we ate. When we were quite stuffed, we walked down the lovely rural roads to a little tea garden, where we had traditional Japanese 抹茶 (maccha), a neon green radioactive-looking tea which is quite tasty, along with some traditional sweets. The garden is gorgeous, with bamboo gates leading to a small but enchanting network of trails through various Japanese flora, and even a small shrine which reminds one a bit of "Spirited Away" (said Kaori when I took her there later, "千と千尋見たい"). Then we met with his wife, who had been doing some volunteer work...her name is Kaoru, and she's damn near my age (almost half his age), his second wife. Being well-off has its advantages, but not to judge...they seem quite in love. Finally, we visited a cave, which was very interesting, but rather damp, so we didn't go far, but apparently it's quite large. It was quite the experience...he also called his friend in LA to see if he could get me some fruit from CA, but it was out of season...I can't even remember what it was now...but he put me on the phone for some reason, which was strange, but I guess he thought it would be nice for me to talk to someone at home, even a stranger. All in all, a magnificent day.
I'll not say much...I still haven't sorted out the consequences of New Years yet. For the third year in a row, the universe has announced her renewal with a gift, always in the form of a female which both invigorates and complicates my existence. This one complicates things more than most, because for once I am not unattached. I spent New Years in a gaijin bar in Roppongi called First Bar. I went with Becky and her sister, one of the other teachers she works with, and a student. It was a slow start, though I enjoyed their company quite a bit...I rather thought it was going to be a sad sort of New Years...Kaori had stayed behind to do homework, and this year I thought the universe was going to let my penance of November to January depression go unrewarded...There was the poor drunk girl who was absolutely bent on taking off her shirt, but that was hardly titillating, as we were busily trying to keep her from it and gentlemanly attempting to preserve her dignity. Don't know how well that went, but Becky's friend helped get her out of the bar at least...there was a fellow groping her that gave us a bad feeling. He seemed to be "taking care of her," but he certainly was acting like a boyfriend. Anyway, to sum up, a girl appeared, dancing with a number of guys, and at first she left me with a rather negative opinion, but for some reason she decided to dance with me...The first thing that interested me was her control...quite subtly, but firmly, she was controlling exactly who she danced with and what they did, placing hands where she wanted them, silently demanding what she wanted. I began to enjoy not only the dance, but the competition: having nothing to lose, I decided out of sheer egotism and competitive spirit to see if I could win her little game. Nothing to lose has always been my peak condition. She very soon shunned the attentions of the other guys and was dancing solely with me. Somewhere near the beginning of our dance, Becky wanted to move on (after her sister disappeared with a random guy), but I was rather happy where I was, so I let them vanish into the crowd, telling her I was going to stick around. I stayed with the girl, Mayu, until about five in the morning, when I extricated myself, taking her phone info with me. She is quite beautiful, and seemingly taken with me, dammit...If I had no ties, I'd obviously pursue things. As it is, my relationship with Kaori is hardly failing. As intriguing as her possibilities are, and as much as I'm not willing to relinquish future possibilities, I do love Kaori, so I must let those possibilities lie dormant. I'm treading dangerous ground I've never been faced with before, and I know I'm vulnerable to temptation...I've not had enough experience with it to truly have much resistance...left open by Kaori's twisted opinion that "if she doesn't know, it's 'ok' if I cheat on her, but if she ever finds out, she'll break up with me." The utterly ridiculous logic of this is evident, but my legal-type mind finds it very easy to exercise that loophole. Lions and tigers and bears...sigh.
White stuff is falling from the sky. I missed it Friday, because I was working in Numazu, but I took a few pictures of the remaining snow. Then tonight it started snowing again, fairly heavily...it's 一度, one degree out (Celsius), and there's a light covering of snow on cars, trees, and roofs. It's quite pretty, and a foreign experience for a SoCaller like me. I've hiked and camped and played in snow, sure, in the mountains, but having snow falling on me where I live...this happened only once in my whole childhood. I went to the Gotemba Outlet to see Kaori after work and took a few pictures...I've also got a couple pictures from Chris and Phil's birthday party and Gotemba Kogen Beer, where we went to a massive buffet. The pictures are mostly of the strange little bugs they both got...they walk until their antennae hit something, then they back up and turn to the side. You can also clap to make them back up. They're quite cute, but not all that smart...
North side of my apartment (Fuji-san!)
South side of my apartment
Bug pic.
Bug pic with Chris.
(Left to right) Yuki, Brendan, Tejal, Phil.
Friday night:
Saturday morning:
Today, at the Gotemba Outlet:
Cute pic of Kaori.
Terrible pic of me and Kaori.
Outside my apartment:
One of my students I may have mentioned before is a gold-medal winning Volleyball player (Munich Olympics) and President of his own company. In early December, Yoshio invited me to his place, a beautiful house at the foot of the hills below my favorite windmill. His house is not massive, but very beautiful, containing various tokens of his travels: a silly plate from America, various Chinese and other Asian artifacts. And a massive "Lion Dog" named, of course, Leon. First, we had some Dom Perignon which, though I don't care for champagne, I did enjoy. We moved to his garden gazebo, with a small central barbeque, where we had tongue, various vegetables including potatoes from his garden, and Kobe beef. His grandmother joined us...I could only speak a few words with her, but she was very kind. With this, I chose a red wine, something French, the name of which I've forgotten. The day was perfect for lounging outdoors, with a beautiful blue sky and lovely hills in view. It was a magnificent meal, probably the best I've ever had. Ironically, like the champagne, I was not so impressed with the Kobe beef; it was great meat, to be sure, but considering the price, I'm perfectly happy with any number of inferior steaks. I found the tongue quite good (醤油と山葵と; with soy sauce and wasabi), and the little shell fish creature we ate. When we were quite stuffed, we walked down the lovely rural roads to a little tea garden, where we had traditional Japanese 抹茶 (maccha), a neon green radioactive-looking tea which is quite tasty, along with some traditional sweets. The garden is gorgeous, with bamboo gates leading to a small but enchanting network of trails through various Japanese flora, and even a small shrine which reminds one a bit of "Spirited Away" (said Kaori when I took her there later, "千と千尋見たい"). Then we met with his wife, who had been doing some volunteer work...her name is Kaoru, and she's damn near my age (almost half his age), his second wife. Being well-off has its advantages, but not to judge...they seem quite in love. Finally, we visited a cave, which was very interesting, but rather damp, so we didn't go far, but apparently it's quite large. It was quite the experience...he also called his friend in LA to see if he could get me some fruit from CA, but it was out of season...I can't even remember what it was now...but he put me on the phone for some reason, which was strange, but I guess he thought it would be nice for me to talk to someone at home, even a stranger. All in all, a magnificent day.
I'll not say much...I still haven't sorted out the consequences of New Years yet. For the third year in a row, the universe has announced her renewal with a gift, always in the form of a female which both invigorates and complicates my existence. This one complicates things more than most, because for once I am not unattached. I spent New Years in a gaijin bar in Roppongi called First Bar. I went with Becky and her sister, one of the other teachers she works with, and a student. It was a slow start, though I enjoyed their company quite a bit...I rather thought it was going to be a sad sort of New Years...Kaori had stayed behind to do homework, and this year I thought the universe was going to let my penance of November to January depression go unrewarded...There was the poor drunk girl who was absolutely bent on taking off her shirt, but that was hardly titillating, as we were busily trying to keep her from it and gentlemanly attempting to preserve her dignity. Don't know how well that went, but Becky's friend helped get her out of the bar at least...there was a fellow groping her that gave us a bad feeling. He seemed to be "taking care of her," but he certainly was acting like a boyfriend. Anyway, to sum up, a girl appeared, dancing with a number of guys, and at first she left me with a rather negative opinion, but for some reason she decided to dance with me...The first thing that interested me was her control...quite subtly, but firmly, she was controlling exactly who she danced with and what they did, placing hands where she wanted them, silently demanding what she wanted. I began to enjoy not only the dance, but the competition: having nothing to lose, I decided out of sheer egotism and competitive spirit to see if I could win her little game. Nothing to lose has always been my peak condition. She very soon shunned the attentions of the other guys and was dancing solely with me. Somewhere near the beginning of our dance, Becky wanted to move on (after her sister disappeared with a random guy), but I was rather happy where I was, so I let them vanish into the crowd, telling her I was going to stick around. I stayed with the girl, Mayu, until about five in the morning, when I extricated myself, taking her phone info with me. She is quite beautiful, and seemingly taken with me, dammit...If I had no ties, I'd obviously pursue things. As it is, my relationship with Kaori is hardly failing. As intriguing as her possibilities are, and as much as I'm not willing to relinquish future possibilities, I do love Kaori, so I must let those possibilities lie dormant. I'm treading dangerous ground I've never been faced with before, and I know I'm vulnerable to temptation...I've not had enough experience with it to truly have much resistance...left open by Kaori's twisted opinion that "if she doesn't know, it's 'ok' if I cheat on her, but if she ever finds out, she'll break up with me." The utterly ridiculous logic of this is evident, but my legal-type mind finds it very easy to exercise that loophole. Lions and tigers and bears...sigh.
White stuff is falling from the sky. I missed it Friday, because I was working in Numazu, but I took a few pictures of the remaining snow. Then tonight it started snowing again, fairly heavily...it's 一度, one degree out (Celsius), and there's a light covering of snow on cars, trees, and roofs. It's quite pretty, and a foreign experience for a SoCaller like me. I've hiked and camped and played in snow, sure, in the mountains, but having snow falling on me where I live...this happened only once in my whole childhood. I went to the Gotemba Outlet to see Kaori after work and took a few pictures...I've also got a couple pictures from Chris and Phil's birthday party and Gotemba Kogen Beer, where we went to a massive buffet. The pictures are mostly of the strange little bugs they both got...they walk until their antennae hit something, then they back up and turn to the side. You can also clap to make them back up. They're quite cute, but not all that smart...
North side of my apartment (Fuji-san!)
South side of my apartment
Bug pic.
Bug pic with Chris.
(Left to right) Yuki, Brendan, Tejal, Phil.
Friday night:
Saturday morning:
Today, at the Gotemba Outlet:
Cute pic of Kaori.
Terrible pic of me and Kaori.
Outside my apartment: