Doggy Debut

Well the Japanese drama Cafe吉祥寺で "Cafe Kichijoji De" with DonDon finally aired on TV today. His screen time came and went in a blink of an eye. He was only in one scene but it was cool. As always, I took pictures with my keitai camera of my TV screen which is why the low quality. I really need to invest in a new camera. The digital camera I have now is almost 8 years old and the zoom lens sometimes doesn't work. Anyways, below are the pictures.

Diagnosis..

Bruised ribs. I was glad that I didn't fracture anything. It seems it got worse as time went by because I kept playing sports and pushed myself when working out. So now, it will be at least a week until I see the gym again. This sucks, especially since I was on a roll with my workout routines. I will have to really watch what I eat until I can start being active again. It doesn't help that there are tons of programs featuring their delicious annual Holiday foods, especially desserts. Man.. really craving for a nice slice of chocolate mousse cake and a jar of custard pudding.... Gotta fight the temptations... fight ...

Dusting away the heater

The temperature has dropped dramatically over the past few days and I feel winter is here already. Like the AC during summer, I tried to see how long I could last without using my heater but I lost pretty quickly. Needless to say, the heater has made itself back into daily use. In other news, the left side of my chest has been really sore. I actually collided with a kid during basketball. At first it stung but I didn't feel any pain for a couple of days. Recently however, its been getting sore and actually sort of hurts when I take deep breaths. I hope its just a bruise and nothing serious. Its been going on for about a week and a half already. If it doesn't get better by the end of the weekend I'll most likely see a doctor. I'm very afraid of doctors here.... last time I went to see a doctor in Japan.. he stuck a tube down my nose and almost made me vomit on him. Good times.

Time to buy some dollars!

I can't believe I missed the opportunity to buy dollars when it was at 90 yen to 1 dollar. That is the lowest I have ever seen the dollar vs. Japanese yen. Today is not as a good, 94 yen for a dollar but I think I'll go ahead and jump the foreign exchange currency collecting band wagon before its too late. I have seen some reports that some locations are sold out of the dollar, so my contingency plan is the Euro. It is currently selling at around 119 yen. I don't plan to travel anytime soon to either Europe or U.S. but if the yen stays strong as it is doing, I may have to change some of my plans in the coming months.

School'd!

Just got back from basketball... and man.. I got school'd by a couple of high school kids. Recently, with my working out regiment and me balling consistently once a week, I've been able to regain some of my basketball skills (which ain't much to begin with) and have been controlling the game flow when I play with these kids. However, today.. this one kid who I was assigned to guard had it in for me. He tried to do them "And-1" moves on me. At first he was dribbling for like 20 seconds and not moving at all... I got out of my guard stance and just stood there looking bored. Most of the time his fancy dribbling didn't work on me, but this one time, he straight up crossed me out, went to his right, I quickly recovered and tried to block his lane to the basket, and when I went up for the block he adjusted his shot and made me look like a fool when the ball went in the net. After he made it, I saw a grin on his face and he said something to me which I didn't understand. On the playgrounds where I come from, you don't let anyone do that to you. So I told him, I'll remember that move and he will never do that again on me in Japanese. I then let my competitive nature take over me and started talking smack to the kid. When the kid had the ball I made sure he wasn't going to make another lay up on me. He was dribbling in circles and even faked the ball to me a couple of times, I smiled and when he drove in, I blocked his shot (even though he got passed me) and let out a loud roar. Everybody looked at me like "What is this foreigner doing?" because here.. everyone plays hard but most of the time no emotions are shown. I felt kind of bad, because usually back in the U.S. emotions are really high when I'm playing sports with others but at the end of the game, everyone (except for a select few who have real anger management issues) leaves their feelings on the court/field. I highly doubt that the kids I played with understand that so I came up after the game and thanked them for whooping my ass, yeah.. my team ended up losing anyways hehe. On a positive note though, I appeared to have made two new friends, they are college students who were on my team during this session. I asked if they wanted to hang out sometime or better yet play ball on a non-Saturday because I'm really craving to ball more than once a week. Actually.. I'm really wanting to play some flag football but I know that will be harder for me to do in Japan. Anyways, I'm really happy that my body is starting to get in shape and I can be active again. I really can't wait until next Saturday where I can re-match those kids again....yeah.. I'm that pathetic hehe

1st game that ...

I'll miss the Dallas Cowboys play this season. They are playing the lowly Rams so that game doesn't seem to be bigger than the 49er/Giants game that is going on at the same time slot. Oh well... 6 weeks straight of watching the Cowboys somewhat live in Japan is a pretty good streak. I hope the Boys pull together and get their season back on track!

Train delays...

I had a nice Saturday planned out which involved going to different parts of Tokyo. Everything at work was clear and the day was sunny. Unfortunately, an "accident" occurred on my train line, actually my station in particular and now there are massive delays. By accident, I mean it most likely is a suicide of someone jumping at an on coming train. Delays like this are not new to me as it happened to me a few times already since I've lived in Tokyo. I don't understand it to be honest. If a person hates their life so much and wants to end it, why do it jumping at an oncoming train? The consequences affect thousands of innocent people and actually the immediate family of the deceased will be held responsible for the cost of the "clean up" effort. Ending one's life selfishly is a lose-lose situation for everyone. Anyways, I'm going to try to make the best of today by bicycle.