Impending Doom...

So in about a week I'll be geriatric. Bring on the depends and the menthol cigarettes. And don't forget the bifocals. On the upside I'll finally be able to dye my hair green or purple without all the "looks" from passersby. They'll just chalk it up to the whimsy of the elderly woman. Maybe I'll stop wearing a bra. I'll be one of "those" women. You know who I'm talking about...no bra, t-shirt tucked into their waistband as a substitute. Mmm...sexy.

And I've been doing that thing where you take stock of your life (ack! who ever decided that was a good thing to do?) and all I can think of was that line in Grosse Point Blank where Minnie Driver's character says of an impending high school reunion and the inward reflection that these kinds of things tend to generate, "leave your live stock alone people." It's kind of fun though...I had this plan in high school (because you always have to have a plan) of things I wanted to have done by the time I was 30...so what can I remember? Well, I was positive that 25 would be the perfect age to breed. In my mind I'd be finished whatever schooling and travelling I needed to do (including at least a year spent in Tokyo so at least I'm sort of the right track there) and would then begin my "adult" life of children and purchasing (home, car, etc). My goal was to be living in Vancouver, New York or Italy and working as a designer (either a fashion designer or advertising). Beyond that...I can't remember much. Must be all those drugs I did in the 90s. Tee hee.

But whatever. The one thing that kind of picks my ass about myself is that there are too many things I want to do. I don't have a singular drive. Which is both good and bad I guess. Good because I get to do a variety of things and I seldom feel really trapped by life (it's a horrible feeling and I can't imagine having to feel that way everyday) and bad because I haven't found any one thing to devote my time and energy to. At the moment I'm working as an english teacher, taking on freelance illustration work for a children's english school (educational materials for children aged 4 and under), working on another freelance job building a corporate website and semi-unified identity package for WPG, the design company Kohsuke works for, studying japanese and working on some side projects of my own (which include gre study and graduate school prep) which I don't want to talk about anymore in case I jinx them. Because I'm supersticious (sp?) like that. I enjoy doing all of those things but not any one thing stands out as the cat's ass if you know what I'm saying (and who decided that cat's asses were a good thing?).

Also, back in high school (and college and university) I never actually envisioned myself being married. Not really my thing I thought, but it's good. Who knew? No kids on the horizon but we've got a cute little dog (again who knew I could love a little dog? traditionally I'm all about the golden retrievers) and that's more than enough at this point. I like the little half-japanese babies but I'm not so sure I want one myself. Maybe later. When I've lost my desire to sleep. Or have anything even remotely resembling a social life. Not that I do now really, but there's always the option. This is important. :-)

My point? I have none. Or maybe I did but I've already forgotten because I'm so old. The memory is the first thing to go. Well, that and bladder control. Tee hee. I'm kidding. I'm surprisingly not bothered by the impending 30. I joke about the depends and the whatnot but I'm pretty satisfied by where my life has gone so far. I think I secretly had this fear that as you inch up on 30 you inevitably become obsessed with mortgages and mini-vans and babies and all those really grown-up things that I've never been particularly interested in and you begin obsessively searching for wrinkles and gray hairs and lose your sense of fun (because really, a lot of people do). And if it makes you happy then woo hoo! But not for me. No, no. It's all going to be okay...I'm hip. I'm with it. (Dukka, dukka, dukka...).

Anyway...I still have a week left before the big 30 (ok, 6 days but who's counting?) so there's still time for my migration and nesting instinct to kick in and awaken in me an overwhelming longing for the suburbs (and don't forget the mini-van) so I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it I'm really quite fond of this japanese car called the Cube which is kind of like a mini-van but it's square (hence the name) and has this really cool back window that wraps around the side of the car (I will NOT refer to it as a mini-van) so as to reduce the blind spot for the driver. And it comes in fun colours. Kohsuke says I can't have one because it would make me cry on the highway as a giant cube on wheels is so not aerodynamic. But my thinking is why limit yourself to one car? Why not a cube for looking cute in and a sportscar for driving on the highway? Seriously? Variety is the spice of life. We could have custom flames painted onto the sides of the cube. I'm going to stop now.

Ooo...and I'm stoked about my birthday celebrations because Kohsuke has some sort of surprise all planned for this weekend and I'm all aflutter because I love surprises!!! Especially birthday surprises!! I'm so excited I'm actually bouncing. Don't worry, it'll pass. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhh! Birthday!!!!!!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ee! Happy birthday to me!

Did I mention I'm excited?

And I'm back...

So I'm on the plane and I'm a little teary because I'm leaving my friends and family and my lovely island (it's MY island) behind yet again and suddenly over the speakers comes a flood of crazy sounds and I'm thinking to myself "what the hell?" and then it dawns on me...it's japanese. So of course I instantly start to cry. Because that's the kind of girl I am. It was just so fabulous to be able to talk to anybody, anywhere about anything while I was home that it seemed really overwhelming to go back to only understanding a fraction of what's going on around me at any given time. I'm pretty much back to normal now but it was a bit of a shock. And I think I scared the little old lady sitting across the aisle from me so that was a bonus. :-) It's a strange thing living somewhere where you can't speak the language. Especially when you're planning on staying indefinitely. I think in some ways it would be a much more enjoyable thing if you had a specific date that you knew you were going to leave. That way while it would still seem scary and overwhelming at times you could just tell yourself you were on a big adventure and when you got back home you'd be able to look back on it all with humour. But for me there's really no end in sight and I keep telling myself that one day I'll know enough japanese that I'll understand it all and it'll be such an accomplishment that I'll be this super fabulous version of myself and I'll be rich and fabulous and have all designer clothes and a penthouse apartment in the heart of Tokyo and hundreds of really great shoes. And I don't even like designer clothes. What can I say, we've all got quirks. On a side note, I dyed my hair on my last night in Vancouver and it's now a really delicious red that makes me very happy so it's not all bad.

And what's with this jet lag? I've never had jet lag before. When we moved here last summer I was a bit tired and crazy feeling but I functioned semi-normally and made conversation and all that without too much difficulty but last night at work I was pretty sure I was going to die. I felt alright during the day but once I got to work...yeah. I'll be surprised if I don't get a complaint or two from my students. Good times. At one point I was explaining to my boss that some of my students were laughing at me and I wasn't sure why but it could've been because I always joke around with them and yell at them to stop laughing at me so naturally that makes them laugh more or it could've been that they were talking about me and they were laughing because they knew that I would ask them why they were laughing which I did which made them laugh more or...you get the idea. He just looked me straight in the eyes and said, "you really are tired aren't you?" Which I was.

Kohsuke made me pancake breakfast today. It was good. We had real maple syrup on them. Mmm.

And now I'm done.

I is home!

So the flight sucked. It was boring. The movies were Shrek 2 and Muriel's Wedding. And it was boring. Although Muriel's Wedding did remind me briefly of Shae (you're terrible Muriel!) which was fun. But short lived as I wasn't drunk. Sadly. I am however drunk now. Marla and I got drunk with my uncle who is funny. So there you are. The food was also quite ass. It was like the 4th world but in the air. There were frozen peas for breakfast. I would tell you about it but I'm still distraught. I also bought shoes that cost $140 and make me very, very happy. They have heels. It's good.

Now I must go because typing is really hard when you're runk. I mean drunk. Oviously. Obviously. Whatever.

Kisses,
Ange.

Crack=bad

So I'm leaving tomorrow for a week in BC and I have to say, while I'm excited to be back home and spending quality time with my friends and family, I'm not so jazzed about the flying. I mean, jet lag. I leave around 5pm and I arrive at 10am the same day I left. How weird is that? And the leg room. I mean, I'm not so tall and yet I have no room for my legs because evidently the planes were designed for those with no legs. I don't even know how Virve flies. She has way more legs than I do. Which is of course not precisely what I meant to say. It's not like she has 6 legs and I only have 3. She's just much taller. Anyway, no leg room=bad. Crappy airline food=bad. Crack monkey in the next seat=bad. Nine hours in a steel box being propelled through the air in some strange and magical way=really bad. So there you have it. Not so at one with the flying. I really like the taking off and the landing but the bits in between lick my butt. In a bad way. Eeeeew. Quick! Think of something nice! If my plane crashes I don't want the last image of me you have to be one involving butt cracks! And now I said crack which makes it all worse. I have to go.

Okay bye!

More Mango Tree Action!

So I went to this restaurant called the Mango Tree. This was a few days ago now but I've been a little preoccupied so I haven't got around to writing about it yet. Until now. And let me tell you...it was fantastic. As I may have mentioned, it 's located on the 35th floor of the Marubiru in Otemachi (smack dab in the middle of Tokyo, across from the dreaded Tokyo station and within viewing distance of the Emperial Palace - is it emperial or imperial? ooo...I'm thinking imperial now that I'm really trying. whatever.) which is the swankiest of the swank Tokyo high rises. And yet they let me in. It was great!

Anyway, you already know about my elevator obsession (or if you don't you can always just skip on over to the post titled...wait for it..."elevator" and find out) so I won't bore you with it now. Suffice it to say...oooo. So yeah, 35th floor.

When you step out of the fabulous elevator (which really you may never want to leave) you are immediately confronted by an immense wall of glass which logic would say shouldn't really exist at that height but hey, who am I to consult logic really? It was fantastic. Of course I didn't actually go within say, 20 feet of the wall o' glass this time...I'm working my way up to it. Next time. I had people waiting for me! What do you want from me? Whatever.

The restaurant itself was beautiful. It wasn't kitschy or crazy or any of those theme type thingys (which are never a bad thing actually says the queen of the snow globes) it was just simple and dare I say...elegant. Okay, now it sounds boring. But it wasn't. It was done in sort of a posh loft style. The floors were a dark stained hardwood which was polished to a high gloss the like of which I've never seen before. I tried to take a picture but the flash prit near blinded me. What does prit mean? I don't actually know. Best not to dwell.

The restaurant also had an immense logic defying wall of glass which looked out over the city. We could see the Tokyo Tower and heaps of other impressive looking buildings that I should probably recognize but sadly didn't. It was sweet. The ceiling was all exposed metal rafters (do they call them rafters when they're made of metal?) and pipes and all the other lovely lofty type accoutrements that we've all come to know and love. Well, I've come to love them anyhow. Let me think...floor, windows, ceiling...what else? Oh! The walls (where there were walls - not much due to the terror inducing windows) were designed to resemble the sort of old fashioned New York office building converted to a swank flat in some 80s movie where the main characters all speak really quickly and do a lot of coke. Do you know what I mean?

And the food.

The food was wonderful. My favourite bit was this lovely warm curry. It was thick and coconutty and just spicy enough to make me happy. My tongue was a bit warm but I had no desire to bite it off to stop the burning. Which is good. There was also a really nice peanutty noodle dish that made me feel warm and tingly in my tummy. In a good way but not a goooood way. Because really it's only food. There were a whole lot of other delicious looking dishes but I didn't try all of them and I couldn't even begin to describe them even if I had. There was a dessert portion to the buffet, a noodle bar, a salad section (somewhat meager really but I'm not so keen on the salad anyhow) and the main entree area. I think there may have been soups as well. I really just had the curry and the peanutty noodley thingys and some chicken. It was good. Oh, and some cucumber but that was pretty much the same as it is anywhere.

I may not have mentioned it was a lunch buffet. Which it was. I also enjoyed a mango slushy which really wasn't up to the same standard as the rest of it. The Starbucks Mango Frap is far superior. It's true. It was a little on the pricey side (for a girl who went to art school anyway) but worth every penny. Yen. Especially since I didn't pay. Actually the lunch buffet wasn't all that expensive at all. I think it was 2,500 yen and the slushy was about 800 yen so there you go. Dinner apparently runs about 8,000 and up. I myself have decided that I particularly enjoy lunching. I could lunch more often.

And I'm spent.

Ode to the Doglet.

Have I mentioned recently how obsessed I am with my dog? Really. She's so cute. SO cute! She's so small she's almost not like a real dog at all. It's true. And she has outfits. Because if you're so small you're not like a real dog at all and you live in my house you're going to have outfits. It's just the way things are. And she does this thing where she just sits there and stares at you with her big brown eyes and her ears all back until you're all awwww and you go to pet her and she pounces on your arm and chews like there's no tomorrow. It's so cute. Did I mention I call her kitty? This has no relevance to the previous statement but it's true nonetheless. And she sleeps all snuggled up to my butt at night. And the other day I woke up and she was snuggled into my arm with her little face sort of between my shoulder and my neck. I mean how cute is that?! Oh, and she gets into her little strawberry house and jumps around until it tips over and then she peeks out at you from underneath. And then she steals Kohsuke's socks and underwear and runs back into her house with it. She's a little strange. But so cute! Oh, and she hops. A lot. All over the place. Like now for instance. Because I'm sitting on the bed with the laptop which is obviously so wrong of me she is currently jumping around the bed trying to get my attention. Hop, hop, hophophophophophop! The best part are the flopping around of the ears. She can totally stay.

I have about 30 pictures of her on my cell phone. And I show them to my students. And they're japanese so they have to pretend to care. This is so the place for me.

Elevators

So as it turns out I have this unhealthy fascination with elevators. They're lovely really. Well, some of them. The one at our school is less than lovely but it does go so I like it anyway. But the one in the Marubiru (Maronouchi Building) in Otemachi is fan-fucking-tastic. Seriously. That's not just a extraneous curse word my friends. Oh no. When I went to the Mango Tree yesterday (which I will speak more of another time) I had the unexpected pleasure of riding in one of those super fast swankalicious elevators that they have only in fantastic cities like Tokyo. And Vancouver. And probably New York. Okay so they're everywhere really but not Nanaimo or Halifax. Or Victoria. Anyway, it was great. It was pretty and cleaner than any elevator I've seen before but the real treat was the way it wooshed from the 7th floor to the 35th in about the same amount of time as it takes the elevator at work to get to the 3rd. It was so fast that I swear the electronic number display blurred they were flipping so fast. Of course that may just have been all those drugs I did in the 90s because on the way down we all watched eagerly for the blurring in vain. Sigh. It saddens me when I'm all cracked out. But it was still good. Blur (I swear it really did blur on the way up) or no blur.

Next I will tackle the elevator on the really big building I was ogling from my table. It's giganticore also and the elevators are on the outside of the building and they're made of glass. I don't know what the building is or how I can get into it but I'm gonna. And then I'm going to wet myself in drunken japanese businessman style. Did I mention I'm a touch afraid of heights? Because I am. But that's okay. I'll just close my eyes and take pictures along the way. As I do.

Take a moment now to imagine what will happen to all those giant glass and metal buildings in the event of a major earthquake.

And repress.

Welcome to my life. It could be worse. I could have a sty in my eye. Ha ha Laurie! Please don't kill me. Oh god, I hope I don't get a sty now! I take it all back! No stys for my eyes! I just like saying that. Sty. Eye. It rhymes. Cool man, cool.

This is a test

Yes, it is. A test. Woo hoo! Go man go!

The Mango Tree

This is a really funny engrish review of a swanky thai restaurant that I'm going to for lunch today. I'm very excited. The review makes me happy. For obvious reasons. I will indeed be spending the slightly special time with the best view. Who wouldn't? I'll write more details once I've actually been there. All I know right now is that it's on the 35th floor of the marunouchi building in Tokyo.

Without further ado, the review!

"Mango tree Tokyo, which becomes the 3rd restaurant in the world following Bangkok and London is opened in New Marunouchi Building on 35th floor. The delicacy of the Thai dishes which can taste without putting on airs is the restaurant of the new style for which it can feel gentle of Thai remaining as it is. Will you spend the slightly special time with the best view?

Please enjoy yourself with the material of the season, the traditional taste with using of the local color of Thai selected carefully."

Really tired.

I am so tired. Hence the title. But seriously, this has got to be the worst time of year for me. It's getting toward the end of the really hot season and it's becoming a lot more reasonable as far as the temperature goes but it's still sticky and it feels like I'm trying to walk through warm pudding everytime I go outside. And I'm just so tired. It's just not just me I guess...many of my students complain of the same general feelings. Ennui, malaise (sp?), blah. You know. No energy, no excitment, just blah. I hate it.

As some of you know I've applied to go full time at Nova toward the end of October. More cause for blah. I've also been going for interviews with other schools because you never know what might come up right? But I have to say, it's been mighty hard hauling my sorry butt around Tokyo for these interviews what with the pudding and the blah. So far I haven't found anything that floats my boat but I'm still looking.

I was looking for a 9-5 type job rather than the wacky Nova hours but it's recently occurred to me that there's not much point. I want better hours so I can come home and eat dinner and go to bed at a normal hour but Kohsuke will still have his ridiculous job so nothing will be different except that I'll get less sleep because I'll still be waiting up for him and going to bed around 1 or 2 but I'll have to get up around 7 instead of 10. It's frustrating.

I'm sorry this post isn't so much with the entertainment but I was feeling the urge to share. Because I'm just a sharing kind of girl.

Speaking of which, let me share one of the big reasons for my overwhelming blahness...I now know the text at Nova so well that I can recite from memory. How much space in the sad old brain is that taking up?!

Level 6
Unit 31
So Am I.

I'm taking my vacation next month.
So am I.
I need a change.
So do I. I'm tired of the same people and the same office everyday.
Where are you going?
The Dominican Republic.
Really? So am I.
We always go to the Dominican Republic. But we never go to La Romana. There are too many Americans there.
Neither do I.
Where exactly are you going?
Sosua. It's a little town on the north coast.
You're joking!
No I'm not. I've been there three times.
So have we!

And so on. Some of the we's and I's may have gotten a bit mixed up but you get the idea.

And that's not the only one I've got. But you can just take my word for it. Unless you really want me to type some more. Because I've got all the time in the world. I may fall asleep though. I'm just like that these days.