I woke up at 4:30 today…

I stayed up again last night to watch the US fall to Ghana.  lame.  Tuesday night gonna watch Japan take on Paraguay but thank god that’s gonna be a 11pm kick-off.  Coming up on a week till take-off and only 6 days of work for this guy! More on all that stuff next post probably.  This one is all about お食い初め…

Yesterday I got off work early and came home for お食い初め (おくいぞめ） action.  お食い初め is a kind of “weaning ceremony” that literally means “first eating.”  The wife made a bunch of traditional food for the occasion: 鯛、カボチャ、梅干、赤飯、etc.  Some of them are strictly traditional and some were takes or variants on them.Since the wife doesn’t eat meat and I rarely do, we replaced the 鯛 with たい焼き but her mother still made some for herself.  The whole ceremony we basically pretend to give the baby tastes of different food that have different symbolic meanings for obvious and not so obvious reasons.  The “ceremony” is supposed to take place 100 days after the baby is born but for timing purposes we did it 98 days (later) after he was born and pretty much he just sat there being held by his grandma and made face after face at the food:

After we finished shoving food in his face, it was our turn to actually eat and the food was pretty good, the wife had slaved all day to prepare, おつかれさま mornin!

Finally, trying one of the beers the wife got me for father’s day, this one is the “Sun Sun Organic beer” from our friends at ヤッホーNot bad, easy to drink, light, well-rounded, might as well give it a shot but it’s not gonna knock your sock off, what do you expect from a beer whose big selling point is that it’s organic?

Sun Sun: Ar

break the cycle…

Sunday wasn’t a total wash out this week.  It wasn’t a particularly beautiful day but it didn’t rain enough of the time so that we were able to go to Olympic and pic up a new rug for the living room.  It’s not bad, a bit bigger and maybe softer than the old one, hopefully a good place for the boy to motor around on when the time comes.  Pretty much spent the rest of the day hanging out and played a bit of Red Dead at night.  I’d planned to do some cooking yesterday but both of my plans were based on it being a nice day so all I ended up making were some cookies in the evening: They turned out pretty decent.  Good news is that this Thursday is looking good weather-wise and I’m hoping that I can put my garden chairs to good use and maybe even fire up the barbeque.

In other news, it’s looking like all of the July vacation plans have come together, we’ve booked the chapel, the hotel, the plane tickets and the car.  The only thing that we really might have left to do is arrange a tux for me (might do that through the chapel) and get tickets to the D-backs game.  It’s all turned out to be a bit more expensive than I’d hoped (I think that using a travel agency mighta made things a touch more pricey) and with me not getting paid until after we leave, looks like I might be using my “family” credit card a bit on the trip…  I don’t like the sound of that… Think I’ll finally get some of my old games together and take them to book off to sell this week maybe to get a little extra cash. I wish there was a place that bought used US games around here, I’ve a got a ton to sell.  Might end up taking them to the US to sell them there.

In other, other news, the boy looks like he’ll smack the grin off your face in this one!That’s my boy!

missed

at work so things I type here could come true when I get home or not.

So with our trip to the states now about 6 weeks away planning has been ramped up. I started the research about flights and info a few months ago but the wife has since taken over, well, her sister and her. The original departure of July 1stish has been pushed back to the 6th or 7th (so we won’t be there for the 4th) in part because the 4th of July weekend my sister had reserved a camping spot for her fam. The return date is set for the 16th or 17th. The sister-in-law and her husband are going to be with us in Vegas and maybe the last two days in Phoenix. It’ll be nice that we’ll at least have a couple extra hands on the flight there and back to handle MJ when going halfway around the world. Anyway, tickets have been reserved and on Wednesday the wife and sis are going back to the travel agent to reserve the hotels and car I believe. MJ has his US passport (came last week, a lot sooner than I thought) and I think the wife is supposed to start getting his Japanese passport and renewing hers this week, hope it’s not too late! Here might be a picture of a baby’s passport:

I’m gonna head down to immigration (yuck!!!) either Tuesday or Wednesday to get my re-entry permit and hopefully reserve the chapel tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully, if all goes well, we should have everything locked down by the end of this week. We’ll still have some stuff to take care of while in the US if we can’t do it online, like a tux for me, but not too much.

One of the things we were going to do while home was to visit my dad and g-pa who are living about an hour or so outside of Vegas in Pahrump. I haven’t seen my dad in about 4 1/2 years and my g-pa in maybe 8. Unfortunately I got the news that my g-pa passed away on Friday (US time). I’m of course sad, I liked him very much, but I’m most sad about MJ not getting the chance to meet him. He has no living great-grandparents here in Japan and now only one in the US. I was lucky enough to have met 4 of my great-grandparents (at least that I remember) before they passed and all of my grandparents lived at least well into my teen years so I have fond memories of all of them and even lived with my grandma (punkin) for most of my life. MJ will get to meet punkin on this trip as well as my father. He’s already met his two grandparents here in Japan several times (his grandma almost daily). It’s too bad, miss you grandpa!

Anyway, I went to round-face’s b-day party on Saturday after work. He and his wife built a house out in Chiba (deep!) and the party was great but I was more impressed with the house, I want one… the wife and I have been talking about building one on her family’s property here in Ikebukuro for a few weeks now and it’s still only talk but after learning yesterday that Jingu stadium is only 10min away by train I’m pretty sold! If we can build something decent I think I could live with living right next door to or above her parents. Again, only talk at this point but…

I haven’t posted too much the past couple weeks but that’s mostly for two reasons; first it’s rained all day my last two (or three?) days off and my life at home has been dominated by Skate 3 and Red Dead Redemption so all the time I spend at my computer is the time I’m playing those games not on the TV. That’s why I’m writing this on my phone, I started at 2 today but the student didn’t come and my next class is at 5!? fuck! well, we’re getting close to maybe actually teaching today, 4:43 now… we’ll see. If they don’t come, my next class is at 6:20… what a balls day.

update: Hey, I posted it!  Now it’s time for some more Red Dead!  But not too much, gonna get up early and go to immigration tomorrow… oh, but booked the chapel tonight!

It’s about time…

I know I said I’d post these pictures a few days ago, but nope.  I was gonna yesterday…  Yesterday was MJ’s 2 month birthday (?)!  It’s all happening so fast!  My first niece is going to be entering high school next year!  She was born when I was 16… crazy!  First up though is a sweet picture of my grass!OK, not a great picture but wasn’t easy, but I’m happy that even a little of the grass is coming in!

OK, here’s MJ from a few days ago, gotta get ready for work so that’s gonna be it for now:

Oh, I love that 3 picture series! So tired…  Alright, one last one so he doesn’t look so silly:

old folks young folks green folks reddish-brown folks

Making travel plans has been a hassle this evening… on to better and more interesting aspects of my day.

This morning I got up early.  The wife got up early.  The baby got up early.  It wasn’t his fault though, it was mine.  On our walk last weekend I noticed an advertisement on a neighborhood bulletin board about a Japanese phenomenon;　グラウンドゴルフ.  They meet on Thursdays so I thought it was a perfect chance to get out, get some excercise, and hopefully have some fun.  We got up early, as the sign-up started at 9:30 and the real deal began at 10.  Well, when we got there, there were already people playing (which I thought was odd) but I made my way to some old guy and signed up.  I noticed on the list that the average age of the other people on the list was about 70 and I was a good 30 years younger than anyone (except the wife and baby) else there.  I expected that but it was a pretty funny sight I imagine.  After a short time we were all called up to the bleachers to get an information session about the rules and then we were led to the first tee area to begin.  Or so I thought.  Everyone lined up and took a practice go and that was it…  everyone just kept lining up and doing it again. and again.  That was it.  We missed the beginning of the explanation (and maybe it was mentioned there) but apparently we were not actually going to play anything more than the first couple trial holes.  I almost had a hole-in-one.  It seems you have to be a member of the group and also you need your own club and ball and what to really get down to business. Oh well, we packed up and headed back towards the station and stopped at McDonald’s for a bite to eat.  It was after breakfast (the only thing I like at Mc) and MJ was not a happy camper while waiting for his food but we made it through the ordeal.When we got home I set about sitting in my garden in the new chairs we picked up on Monday and drinking a bit.  Oh it was nice!  Perfect day, planted a couple of things with the wife:Top left is oregano.  Top right is レモンバーム ( can’t remember the English name but I don’t think it’s “lemon balm”) and the bottom is chili peppers.  Also we put in the ground a weird little fruit called a ペピーノ (pepino) that I’d never heard of before but the wife and I found it at Olympic and decided to give a shot.  It’s from the same family as the tomato and eggplant apparently:I also threw down some grass seed on Monday that I’m praying will at least come in in 50% of the area I put it down.  I’d love to have grass!!! We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the garden (I spent some time with Skate 3 later) and also messing with a fussy baby.  He was in rare form today but when he was good, he was cute!We also had a surprise visitor, a lizard:I had an encounter in the garden the other night with what I would describe as being very “opossum-looking” but couldn’t be.  I looked around online but really couldn’t come up with anything it might have been except maybe a クロテン.  Really?  It was dark and hard to see.  Not sure what it was…

pretty much everything else

My Golden Week is coming to a close.  Tomorrow I’m back to work.  The only saving grace is that I only have two days until my next day off, well, I guess that’s true for most people this week.  The last day of the break was pretty good, got up really early and headed down to the US embassy in Tokyo to apply for the baby’s passport, social security card and to “report of birth abroad.”  I think he’s not quite an American Citizen yet but it’s gonna happen soon and I’m pretty stoked!  I’m actually most looking-forward to seeing a baby passport, I think it’ll be hilarious. Today’s appointment was at 9:30 so we actually talked to somebody at about 10:15 or so. The wait caused some trouble in timing baby feedings and changings…  Man I hate the embassy.  It’s a pile of shit building that recalls the stereotypical DMV images.  The people there are usually great but just the building has to have been built in the early 70′s and got stuck right there (just checked on Wikipedia, built in 1976).  It’s a pretty sad, drab representation of The US here in Japan.  How about a renovation?  Anyway, the whole thing was a pain in the ass but I did meet a nice (talkative) guy and his wife and son.  We were done a bit past 11 and to celebrate we headed over to Shinbashi to visit a great all-you-can-eat place called Carne Station.  It’s definitely better in the evening when they offer alcohol, sushi and desserts but the lunch time price (1000円+200 for soft drinks) can’t be beat.  Grilled up some beef, some pork, some veggies.  Ate some curry, some salad and a bunch of other stuff.  After lunch we came home (drained) and after watching Frontale’s amazing 4-4 tie at Gamba we all took a family nap.  I’ve spent the rest of today catching up on some podcasts I’ve missed lately.

I was gonna write some other pointless garbage but I think I’m done.  No pictures from today, should hear back from the embassy in a few weeks.  Man, gotta work tomorrow. Lame.

こどもの日 2010 in few words but many pictures

Today was the first こどもの日 that ever meant anything to me.  Actually, it still means little more than a day off but we went all the way to the in-laws’ anyway.  It was the first time for my boy and his cousin to meet.  It was also the first time for him to meet one of his aunts.  We showed up around 11 and immediately it was a whirlwind of poking and prodding and comparing  the two. 

Ko-chan is one month and one day older than MJ but they are about the same weight but, apparently, very different in other ways.  Of course Ko-chan has begun potty training (isn’t that a bit early?) and she’s got a little bit better neck control but I gotta say they are pretty similar.  It’s pretty cool that they are so close in age.  Growing up I never had anyone quite that close to me in age.  It was also a trip to see how different they look. I know MJ is “half” and at times I can see both sides of him clearly but Ko-chan is full on Japanese and looks very much like it!  When they were next to each other, it looked like a Asashoryu/Baruto Sumo showdown!  After everyone settled down a bit we ate some food and after that I was pretty well ready to head out… not to be.  But I did head outside to take a bit of a walk (get away from everyone) and take some pictures in the park that runs in front of the wife’s family’s house.  Of course it was pretty boring and I just ended up taking more flower pictures…

Eventually we all headed outside to take some group pictures but the wife’s aunt is terrible at taking pictures and we didn’t end up with anything decent on my camera but I did finally get my dream picture: it was ruined by the girl in the back (one of the wife’s cousin’s kids).  She was sitting on the wall and so the whole perspective of me being massively taller than the wife, her mom, her sister and sister-in-law was thrown off   I recommend putting your thumb over her face and enjoying it that way… While we were at the house, I went out to the studio and took a couple pictures of stuff, some crazy stuff in there…

On the way home the boy surprisingly was awake (after sleeping to the train station) and I took a bunch of pictures that are pretty much the same background, same foreground, just different expressions, this was my favorite:

Finally we made it home in the late afternoon and I found some Corona and lime and the wife made tortilla soup because, don’t forget, today is also Cinco de Mayo!

Golden Week, first half… over.

I’ve still got two full days off before I need to be back at work on Friday but it seems like this break is flying by too quickly.  After the epic Sunday to kick off the holidays, the past two days have been pretty low-key.  Yesterday we spent a good amount of time at Lazona in Kawasaki, having lunch at the food court:

getting my toenail broken by the wife (see the header) and doing a bit of shopping at the famous 赤ちゃん本舗.  We ended up getting a pretty decent little Pooh mobile that the boy is just loving so far:

We spent the whole day today at the house.  I listened to a few podcasts, downloaded Tecmo Bowl Throwback and played a couple games and spent a good deal of time filling out paperwork (and translating others) for our trip on Thursday to the American Embassy to apply for the boy’s US passport and Social Security card.  Of course, we have to submit some pictures for the passport so the wife put on one of my white t-shirts and held the baby while I took some pictures, they turned out OK but most of them weren’t exactly passport material but we settled on this one:I had to do some cropping but I think it should work out fine. Tomorrow we’re all heading out to the in-laws’ for こどもの日 festivities and for the first ever family baby meeting/ throw down! I’ll have more on that in the next couple days.

The last of my once massive selection of beers in the fridge is a good way to go out, this SanktGallen Pale Ale is really nice, doesn’t have quite the bite I’d like but it’s a very drinkable beer with good all-around flavors:

SanktGallen Pale Ale: Ar

A flower…or two…

My, oh my, what a wonderful day…

After Thursday’s less than perfect conditions for our first family outing, today more than made up for it,  It was a perfect day! Got up, had a cup of coffee and then packed up the baby for an outing: We headed out and down the hill to 鵜の木 station because the wife heard that the サンデーマート that used to be there had turned into a マルエツ.  Big new round these parts!  It was somewhere to go… On the way, we saw some nice azaleas (五月ツツジ) that aren’t all in bloom yet but when they are I think it’ll be pretty spectacular: We did our shopping, ended up being pretty heavy because we ended up getting a bunch of cans.  I shoulda brought my big backpack (we always bring our own bags and usually I bring my backpack shopping) because it was pretty stuffed.  Ended up being a bad idea that we didn’t get at least one plastic bag from the store because we also got some lunch there (me: 冷やし中華 and milk, wife: scones and yogurt) and took it to the park on the way home: We ate lunch, the baby ate lunch:I brought my tri-pod to the park because I received a picture frame from a student that I thought would be a great showcase for a family picture and today was a perfect day to at least try to get that picture: eh, good enough I guess… There are some other ones on the Flickr page but they all have their little imperfections…

After the family cheese, it was time to turn the camera to, you guessed it! plant-life!!! It was just too glorious a day to not try to take advantage of the blue sky, the sunlight and the bright colors of the leaves today:

That’s about it for the first part of the day, we came back here, the baby has mostly slept, I’ve drank a couple of beers and played プロ野球チームであそぼう and tried out the frisbees I bought the other day… I’m a little worried, they have holes in them and I’m not sure that that helps them fly…  Think if it’s nice on Thursday this week I’ll take them for a little bit more of a lengthy spin.  Also I took some more pictures that I’ll put up here in a few minutes… What a wonderful day!

7 day’s epiphany

I just realized that I’ve actually only spent just over 7 days with my son.  Since he’s come home from the hospital, today was only my 7th day off from work.  Of course I’ve spent some time with him after or before work the rest of the days but that’s been pretty sparse and most of the time he’s been sleeping.  While the wife has spent most every minute of the last 33 days with him, I still feel like I’ve barely begun to know him…  there are some of his “moves” that I’ve come to understand and can even predict some things he’s about to do but, I wish I had more time with him…