sup from da motha-land

hey all, i'm bloggin from across the world. i'll give you the break down on what happened so far (sorry, i can't post pics yet).

thursday...
woke up early, got ready, ran to target to pick up socom 3 (that was on sale.　yea!),　did some laundry at the local laundry mat, and ran home to get some playtime in before i had to start packing. after finalizing my packing, went to shoe pavilion to return some shoes with my wife. then returned home to get to bed early.

friday...
woke up early (too early in fact. like 5 am early and couldn't go back to sleep), got ready, packed the car, and drove to steve sato's house. steve let us leave our car at his place (cuz he lives close to lax) and we arranged a shuttle to pick us up at his house. we gave ourselves an hour and 15 minutes to get there but the traffic getting there was so bad, that we barely made it to steve's house just as the shuttle was driving up. so we got our bags from our car and ran into the shuttle (whew). we got to the airport 5 hours before our plane leaves so we had lots of dead time. when we checked in, my wife's co-worker has a connection with the people at the check in desk, so she was able to block a row for us. so we had 3 seats to ourselves and plenty of leg room.

while we were waiting to board, i saw a japanese girl wear a pink t-shirt with the words 'relax bitch' on it. i thought this was the funniest thing cuz i don't think she knows what it means, and its something that a japanese person would never say. man, i wished i took a picture, it was priceless. also, she was kinda dressed up with it (wearing jeans, high heels, and a jacket) on so it really didn't fit in. man, that made my day.

we were pretty much in the front of the economy class seats, so less noise from the engine. i started the flight with a beer, then another, and then another. 3 total from the flight. i also saw way too much movies. i started with 'war of the worlds' (a good remake and worth buying on dvd for the effects), then 'cinderella man' (a good heart warming flick, like rocky. but i don't know if i would buy the dvd), and finished it off with 'batman begins', which i need to watch again since i was falling asleep through out the flick (since it was like 9 pm already and 3 beers later). each seat has its own small lcd screen on the back of the seat in front of it, and a controller on the side of the arm rest. you can chose movies to watch, listen to music, and play really simple video games on it (worse than an atari 2600). when picking a movie, the movie runs constantly. so if you pick one during the middle of it, you have to wait till it ends for it to start at the begining. so i didn't get to see all the movies i wanted cuz i didn't want to start in the middle of them. i still have to watch 'crash' and a few japanese sci-fi's on the way back.

the food was okay. my wife had a bad dish but mine were fine. my wife also heard from a co-worker about a basket of snacks in the 51st row, so we made a grab at them. a couple of biscuits, japanese rice crackers, and m&m's. all i did　on the plane was watch tv and eat. good times.

after landing, we got our luggage, went through customs (which was easy when you're with someone who speaks japanese. not like last time when vince made me carry his maxim magazine and the security thought it was a playboy, which is forbidden in japan. thanks vince). then we caught a shuttle and made the hour ride to my wife's parents house, coming in around 8 pm (japan time). ate a light snack, then showered up and hit the bed.

sunday (cuz we lost a day from the flight)...
woke up early, ate some breakfast (never had salad for breakfast before), got ready, and walked to catch the train to go to my wife's uncle house for her grandfather's memorial service. only my wife's aunt spoke english, so i didn't do much talking. and the memorial service was buddist, which wasn't new to me since my grandfather's memorial service was buddist. the only problem i had was sitting in the kneeling position while my legs falling asleep. but i took karate in college, so i was used to it. and the monk chanted in japanese, which i thought would make a good sample for a rap song.

after the service we had lunch at a shabu shabu restraunt. man, i ate so much i almost busted my belt. the lunch was a set meal, so it had many courses, which i was not aware of and ate too much at the second course. after the shabu shabu, there was an udon course, then dessert. after eating all that, i almost broke out in an overeating sweat.

we were in the city of sannomiya (which is kinda like a shopping district of new york). we had planned to get some eye glasses made, since its so cheap to make here. its kinda like 'lens crafters' without the name brand frames, and the prices were low as $50 for the whole glasses. it was kinda wierd since we didn't need an appointment, and i'm not quite sure that the guy who checked out my eyes was a licenced eye doctor. but the place was packed, and my wife had gotten her glasses there before, so i figured it was ok. so i had to have my wife with me when i got my eyes examined since no one spoke english. and after the long translated eye examination, i picked out a nice frame (i found one for $50) and we waited an hour for them to be made. after getting the thin lens and the anti-scratch coating, my glasses came out to around $120 (with no insurance). i think thats the best price i ever got, even with my insurance.

then we walked around a bit and made our way back to the train. my feet was so tired from all the walking, and i think i have some new blisters down there too. then we just relaxed at home and now i'm writing this blog. tomorrow we're going to the onsen (hot springs) for a day to relax and take in the view.

hope you all are doing well. i probably will update in the next few days, since we'll be away from the house. catch ya later. ja mata (see ya later).