Nothing to Report

Sometimes...



The bad decision in question was a 10 day free trial of the World of Warcraft expansion on my upgraded computer, which I haven't touched for almost 3 years. The consequence was that I didn't do much of anything since I've been back in Japan (10 days).

Well, actually there's a funny Junior High story. So before the winter holiday, I mentioned that I was going to America to some of the students. They asked, nay, requested that I bring them Hanah Montana... things. Anything would do, magazine articles, stickers, golden effigies... whatever. This obsession by a few choice students has led me to know way more than I want to about Hanah Montana. For example... there's hella books, yeah, printed books about the Secret Popstar. So I kept an eye peeled for anything Hanah Montana and cheap. The emphasis here is on cheap.

And sure enough, Target had Hanah Montana sticker packs on sale for a dollar.

First day back to school, and I couldn't remember who had asked me for the Hanah Montana shit. I figured I'd just ask each class in the warm-up part of the lesson, "Do you know who Hanah Montana is?" while showing them my 266 stickers and temporary tattoo pack.

The 1st class gave me a look, like "What the hell is wrong with you?" Hmmm, guess it wasn't them.

The 2nd class, 知ります. I know. Mild excitement.

The 3rd class... well that was the one. When I mentioned Montana and stickers in the same sentence, she flipped out. Screaming what could only be the Japanese equivalent of "Oh my god oh my god oh my god." The chair hit the floor. The boys in the class were visibly confused. Then she started crying. Actually crying tears of excitement at the prospect of Hanah Montana stickers.

Hey, if it gets em speaking English...

Photo Recap of my 3 Weeks in California

For the first time in over two and a half years, I traveled back to America. America, land of sizzling steaks and creamy cakes. Why so long? Well, it's hella expensive to fly anywhere, and for the $1000+ needed to fly you could have some serious good times in Japan. Or just keep working and earn a G instead of losing a G. So that's like two Gs. Right? I dunno, money stuff isn't my forte. I got a D in Economics in college. That's right, a D! Deez nutz.

Anyways, here's the account of all 21 days in the U. S. of A.







The young uns... ain't they cute? These are my 2 nieces. The older one is diligently copying all the characters from my old hiragana practice book.



Delicious foods were enjoyed by all. This would be a theme. In 'N Out Burgers, Zachary's Pizza, and hella Mexican food.



The Academy of Sciences in San Francisco sells out of tickets every day by about 1pm. Seriously, it's great that people are taking an interest in science museums. I used to volunteer here back in the day, and it would be totally empty on a weekday.





The roof is covered with native California plants.





Boy vs. Butterfly.

After a week in the Bay, hopped a plane down to Los Angeles.



Dudes were swimming in the ocean. Madness! Now, in Tokyo, it is so cold that it hurts to breathe. This morning was -3 Celsius.



Yeah, LA is comfortable. If I had Doremon's magic Docodemo Door, and didn't have to actually drive anywhere, I'd live here no problem.



I forgot how this works. When you have a barbecue, everyone brings enough food to feed everyone else. So one guy brings 6 pounds of carne asada, one guy brings 12 chicken breasts, a girl brings a gallon of artichoke dip, and so on. We had seriously enough meat to feed twice the number of people there... then homeboy shows up with an entire beef brisket. 30 minutes later someone comes with a dozen pulled pork sandwiches.



I can haz sum dat meetz?



Cats like gin?



I like ramen.



Took a little walk down to the LA "river". Here you can see the beautiful sandy banks along the side.



Ah, the smells of nature.





What's that green thing coming out of the ground?



A majestic bird taking a little nap.



The raging torrent. Yep, this is where they filmed that scene from Terminator 2 and also that one from Transformers.



A nice tributary feeding the larger river.



Do you think these beautiful birds realize where they are?





This is the new Walt Disney Concert Hall. Fun fact, it was too shiny when they first built it, and since it has every angle humanly possible, you would be always blinded by the sun at any hour of the day if you looked at it. Hilarious! So they buffed it all down.









Birria. It's a traditional Mexican goat stew. Had these at El Parian. You should go there.



Back in the Bay Area, I had to hit up this place. No one knows the name of it, it's a Mexican place in San Jose. But if you just say, "That crack sauce burrito place," people will understand you. It's pretty famous. The only topping is this bright orange spicy, creamy stuff. That's where the crack reference comes from. Cause crack is good. It's right next to the tattoo shop I used to go to.





Cute dog.



Lumberjack stack at a place called... Stacks.



The irony is that I bought him a Shinkansen children's silverware set for Christmas.



I'd never been to this spot before. Actually, I was surprised that I never really went to many of the touristy places in all my time in San Francisco. In Japan, I'm spending every free day on some adventure, exploring the mountains, looking for new museums.

I'll leave you with some photos of my neice and nephew.











Getting hyphie.



She had chapped lips, so I gave her my medicated lip gloss from Japan. 2 seconds later, "It burns! It burns!"