Recovery Day

I kind of feel like the one all curled and dazed on the bottom.
(Link to real description at the end.)

[Afterthought and back story: My good friend, K from high school just got married. The high school group reassembled, and we partied in the hotel Friday night and after the wedding reception on Saturday. Fine for them, a bit of a challenge for the bridesmaids (me and V). It's now Monday and I need ochazuke *bad*. PS: Keep an eye out for new pictures in old posts as I get more organized. I just added some to the Ranch 99 post (Learning New Things!).]

The past three days have been a lush blur. I remember traffic, chocolate covered strawberries, good wine, bad wine, surprisingly uncomfortable shoes, new girlfriends, old girlfriends, and a margarita fountain.

Yesterday it was all over. I was struck how easily everyone said goodbye, considering this was the first time we had all been together in...ages. I'm tempted to say this was the first time we had all been together since high school graduation, although most of us have met up here and there over the years. I think Japan made me really get into goodbyes--probability says I won't be seeing these guys for a very long time. But unlike Japan, we all have our own separate lives now, which we interrupted for a quick weekend trip to revisit our high school lives.

I drove home in an exhausted stupor (no ipod music! stupid forgotten FM transmitter), and tried to catch up on the internets. My dad took me to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It felt authentic enough, although the English menu was confusing. Disturbing, even. I'm not ballsy enough to ask for the Japanese menu though.

A dude was sitting on the far side of the counter talking with the sushi chef about some of the patrons. The udon wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I made my father eat a natto sushi (it was a roll, like a small kappa maki, so tame by all standards). He ordered a dragon roll. Do those even exist in Japan? It was all avacado and anago/unagi on top. Seemed like overkill.

The girl at the front greeted us with an uninspired irrashaimase. I remember clowning on the high-pitched combini girls, but it's really sad hearing it like that. She had a back tattoo that you could see because her shirt looked kinda intentionally hiked up on the side. Weird seeing a Japanese girl as an American. I wonder what the opposite looks like to a Japanese person. (A nikkei dressed as a frilly, multi-layered J-girl.)

I even snuck some pictures, which was weird. I don't have excuses for that anymore. Random photos in a normal restaurant? I think I overheard the guy in the corner saying I was on vacation.

Today the internets (boingboing.net) told me some neat stuff. The titles say them all, but I'll provide the links for the people who want them:

Rare white moose? Let's shoot it, says Norwegians.
Mechanized, motorized rideable lion. (No fur. Very awesome.)

[edit: Oh, let's just make it animal links day:]

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Wolves fly into glass. (art project)