Sayonara winter?

This past week the weather has been horrible. The start of the week, temperatures were almost summer like. At the time, I was really debating whether or not I should gather up all my winter clothes to put in storage and bring out my spring/summer attire. Fortunately, the idea never materialized and by the middle of the week, it was raining nonstop and temperatures fell back to winter levels. One of those days it evened snowed! The crapiness of the weather has even affected this drama filming at my apartment complex where they had to fake a sunny day outside.



I was told that weather forecasters are predicting that May should be mostly sunny. I really hope they are correct because June is the start of the "rainy" season and pretty much it rained 80% of the time during the month of April. I really hope that spring decides to show up for the long term soon!

Monster ball in Yokohama

Monster ball as seen from my obsolete camera phone.




Monsters come in all shapes and sizes.




One of the crazier fans of the night.




My seat was pretty close up to the main stage. Pretty good view.



Show is about to start.




Gaga went all out for this concert.



First time in Yokohama Arena, it was packed.



Fans showing other fans how to do the claw thingie.

From check up to root canal.

I finally played some basketball this weekend. The court was in a park filled with lovely Cherry blossom trees so I managed to "experience" the sakura feeling a bit while balling.



I actually played with a couple of people from my former basketball team. It was good to see them and fun. Playing pick up basketball to me was much more fun than the last few practices I participated late last year. I am definitely back in the ballin' mood and I think I will try to ball more often.

In other news, my routine check up late last week took an unexpected turn and I ended up getting a root canal instead. My weekend plans was also affected from my root canal as the dentist put me on antibiotics. Lucky for me, I have another follow up appointment tomorrow. I absolutely can't wait...

Tasting Europe

I just completed a gastronomic tour of Europe. As mentioned, Saturday was the Belgium Beer pub, and last night some co-workers and I went to a British pub near the office. I'm all beer'd out to be honest. Unfortunately, as with the Belgium place, the food was not as "authentic" as the menu made it out to be. But I guess after a few pints, it doesn't matter anyway. I totally struggled today during my 6:00am status call. Now I have to keep my teeth nice and clean so I won't scare the dentist too much during my check up scheduled later today.

Quiet yozokura - night hanami

Sakura-less Weekend

The first official weekend of hanami season, and I was not able to indulge myself in Japanese drinks under a cherry tree. I did however consume a lot of Belgium beers at a Belgium style pub with a friend in Kawasaki. The selection was quite impressive, and I was able to taste a wide variety of beers. The food, also Belgium themed was quite disappointing however, as it was more Japanese influenced and very similar to what you get at a typical family restaurant. We spent almost 6 hours at the place, which was the most time I ever spent at one pub. You can imagine how many bottles were consumed at the end of the night.

I am hoping that my hanami will start this week. It is pretty crappy weather today, but the rest of the week should be decent. I am also trying to play some basketball this coming weekend. If it goes down, this will be my first "ballin'" session this year for me. I am kind of afraid to see how much my skills degraded from last year. Hopefully I won't meet some motivated high school student who completely demoralizes me on the court which will force me to take another long hiatus from the game.

Sakura season coming to a tree near you

Its almost time for hanami as the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. Unfortunately, its cold and wet outside. The other day, if you didn't look at the calendar, you would think it was January. I don't know what my hanami plans will be, but I hope I will have an opportunity to enjoy some of the cherry blossom trees during peak time at least once. Until then, I will spend my time staring at gray skies while under a warm blanket. Where 's a snuggy when you need one....