I miss central heating

So, I'm back in Seattle already. My two weeks in Japan went by all too quickly. And now, I'm left struggling with jet-lag in my oh so cold apartment. The trick with jet-lag is to force yourself into a normal sleeping pattern. But that's easier said than done . . . after all when I got back yesterday I made myself stay up until a 'normal' bedtime and then ended up sleeping for 16 hours! I've probably made my jet-lag even worse. It just means there will be more nights of puttering around the apartment in my PJs with cups of tea . . . much as I am doing now, puttering around in my slippers, wool socks, a scarf, and a sweater. Have I mentioned that it's cold in my apartment?

Yeay it's Christmas! Now let's eat cake . . .

That's right, in Japan Christmas cake is a big deal. I don't really know how it got started, possibly a European influence since its more common to celebrate with Yule Logs in Europe and the Japanese Christmas cake phenomenon could easily be an offshoot of that. Anyway, cake is big on Christmas here. In years past I've had every intention of getting the order forms and fliers advertising said cakes to prove that this really happens here, it's not just a crazy story I'm telling about Japan. But I never manage to do it, mainly because I get back to Japan too late in the season . . . apparently the week before Christmas is terribly tardy in the game for the true connoisseur of cakes. But this year dad and I decided to get a cake of our own. I managed to snap this shot of the lovely cakes in the case while being jostled by the little old ladies rushing to get bargain priced cakes. Last minute cakes sometimes go for half price, after all who wants a Christmas cake on the day after Christmas?

And this is our very own cake. You may have noticed that it's a strawberry shortcake. It's a little strange since strawberries aren't natural winter fruit here either but I guess that's what looks pretty on a cake. The little Santa is a completely edible sugar creation. It's hard to convey the size of the cake through the photo since there's nothing to compare it to but it's about the size of a small paper plate, a rather petite cake by American standards. There were some other equally lovely cakes in the case next to this one but I couldn't even get close to take pictures, Japanese grannies can be quite pushy and all elbows when it comes to a bargain!

Time is so elusive

So, I thought that winter break would mean more time for me to do all the things that I usually want to do but don't have enough time for like blogging, baking, writing letters, reading fun books, and knitting. But have I done any of those things? No. My blogging has been minimal, I've been getting lots of tasty baked treats from other people (thanks Kleo and Naomi!) but haven't made any myself, I haven't written a single letter (not even email!), I read one book on the airplane but that doesn't really count since it was particularly fluffy, and I left my knitting needles in Seattle since I didn't want to have to worry about traveling with them. The lack of knitting needles is particularly aggravating since my fingers have been itching to knit since it got cold outside. Now, all I want to do is knit socks and gloves! What do they say about the pastures always looking greener?

And have I mentioned the leaking ceiling? Ugh. In any case, the ceiling is still leaking. The building maintenance people apparently can't get to it until this weekend because they need to open a hole in our upstairs neighbor's wall and the only time they're available is this weekend! In the meantime we have to live with the sound of dripping water, a bucket in the middle of the hall, and newspaper all over the place. Bugger, bugger, bugger!

So, what am I doing with my time . . . that's a good question that even I can't answer. I spend a lot of time sleeping and puttering around the house in the middle of the night, oh the beauty of jet-lag. That's about it.

Feeling wonky

So, the trans-Pacific flight has been completed and I'm back in Japan, how lovely. It's strange isn't it, the whole idea of "flying" in a giant metal tube - after all that's basically what an airplane is. Much like how driving is sitting in a large metal box that you really don't have as much control over as you would think. Anyway, there was bizarre side-to-side turbulence during the flight and someone actually screamed! Usually there's just a collective gasp . . . equally strange. I was just happy that the food was identifiable and not just a dish of indistinguishable goo. And the fact that none of my luggage got lost was an added bonus.

What can I say about being back in Japan . . . well I've already been out to a delicious lunch, Indonesian food in Ashiya. As soon as I got home yesterday the ceiling started leaking in the entrance way. So now I get to talk to the building maintenance people - Dad's thrilled I'm sure since its one less task in Japanese he has to stumble through. Really, the leak is ridiculous. There's a bucket in the middle of the entrance! And newspaper wadded up in the corners to make sure it doesn't soak through the carpet. Ugh!

Jet-lag is making me feel extra wonky, this is in addition to the wonki-ness of not having had a proper meal or a proper night's sleep in close to a week because of intense paper writing and self seclusion associated with said writing.

Crash and burn Mondays . . .

I'm back! Where have I been? Well, nowhere really. I've just been sequestered in my room with my books for the last week and a half. It's the end of the semester and I was drowning in academic wordy garble. At the moment I'm functioning on 8 to 10 hours of sleep for the past 3 days. I know it's a far cry from the days of college when I would pull an all-nighter to crank out a paper but . . . well I really like my sleep and I'm not as youthful as I once was. But I handed in my last paper at noon today and now I feel elated beyond belief. A million paperweights have been lifted from my shoulders and I'm walking on cloud 22 and a half. I even indulged in a shopping spree . . . gasp! I know! I'm a broke grad student, who am I to go shopping? Have no fear I'm not spending myself into debt or anything. I just got a couple of essential items for the long plane ride tomorrow - a book of crosswords and a novel.

So, Monday was when I was starting to hit 'crazy town.' My usually calm facade was starting to get a crazy eyed glow. And inside I was going absolutely nuts. So, after I decided that turning in a better paper late was worth the letter grade I'd be losing for its lateness, I went into fuzzy logic mode and decided that if I was going to be torturing myself through another night of paper revisions I could eat whatever I wanted. I came out of the store with a giant bag of Cheetos, a package of Safeway brand Oreos (which are called Tuxedos, I'm partial to the ones that have vanilla cookies with chocolate and vanilla cream inside!), and an antioxidant fruit smoothie. This isn't my usual diet . . . they're all things I would consider a bit of a treat but . . . well it was crash and burn, so why not?

Now I need to pack my bag for my trip tomorrow. There's nothing like 10 hours on a trans-Pacific flight with 300 grouchy strangers to round out the week.

Another roadside attraction

I was walking home today and happened upon the severed pant leg from a pair of jeans on the edge of the sidewalk. Just one denim leg, all by its lonesome. How did it get there? Why is there just one? Inquiring minds want to know. Any ideas?

I hope the reference to the Tom Robbins book isn't completely lost. It does take place in the Puget Sound area. And I have found that since moving back to Seattle my roadside encounters with unusual items has been increasing incrementally. A couple weeks ago I came across a wet suit nestled up to the curb, but somehow that didn't seem quite so strange since we do get a lot of rain here.

Rock shows and tooth decay

Yes, I'm cold and tired but I'm also basking in the glow of having gone to a rock show. I've hardly been to any shows since I've moved out here (it's a crying shame, I know) so it was a nice change.

Who did I see you ask, why Tapes 'n Tapes of course. They were playing at the HUB, a slightly odd venue since they were playing in a ballroom, but hey a show is a show and it rocked. Actually, it rocked a little too much decibel-wise and I wished that I had some earplugs . . . I feel old when I say things like that but then again there's no replacing my eardrums so I've gotta take care of the ones I've got. Anna was saying something along those lines about her teeth today, some sort of need to cut back on sugar because her teeth were hurting (FYI, Anna is a candy fiend!). She was freaking out because one of her co-workers told her about how he's already lost several teeth (literally lost, as in they spontaneously fell out and there was nothing he could do about it) to his love of candy and sugar. I think the damage may have already been done for Anna, not to mention I don't know if she can kick her sugar habit completely.

Anyway, where was I before I went off on that tangent . . . oh yes, rock shows. So, Tapes 'n Tapes is especially exciting because I can actually say I know someone in the band! I think watching a rock show when you know the musicians adds another dimension to the interest of the show, wouldn't you agree? Plus it's just nice to see people making a living at something that clearly makes them happy . . . they really looked like they were having a good time and that made me smile.

So, here's to the gentlemen of Tapes - a round of smiles. Show off those pearly whites before the sugar gets to them and they spontaneously fall out.