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Holy double-posting, Batman! Yes, two posts in one day!

Well, it's not much of a second post, but I just wanted to remind everyone that, for better or worse, I'm officially halfway done with being here in Japan. I know lots of people are waiting for me to come home, and I can't wait to see everyone. I also can't wait for the next trip to Rosario's or Romano's (hmm... looks like I'll have to spend the rest of my life in New York State from here on... then again, Oscugnizzo's does actually ship pizza anywhere in the continental U.S. now...).

But yeah. Just wanted to say that I miss everyone. I even miss Utica, and anyone who knows me well enough understands exactly how weird that is. In addition, the weeks have been passing like quicksilver, so I have a feeling that I'll be home before I know it. I miss you all!

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Edit: Because of this, I think that I'm happy to be here in Japan this winter. It's only snowed twice in Tokyo so far, though snow was always on the ground when I visited Holly in Kushiro (釧路) and when I went to Nikko (日光). It's extremely nice to only have two snowfalls (even though the snow lasts for a few days), and I seriously think that is all any winter really needs. Not this four feet of snow per week central NYS garbage. Hehe.

Cheap Ice-Cream Girls and Orgasmic Toast

So, where to begin? Well, today was kind of cool. Terry (one of the other Americans here) and I went out just to walk around Kokubunji (国分寺) for a bit, since it's on our train line and we can go anywhere on our line for free. It's also one stop, which is very nice. We've kind of gotten into the habit of doing this every now and then (though sometimes we go to Kichijoji [吉祥寺] or Ogikubo [荻窪]).

He and I have developed an interesting relationship. Being the only two people who live in the dorm here and have morning class, we basically are walking to the train to school together every morning, so we've gotten to know each other fairly well, and have become good friends. Aside from checking out the towns along our train line, we've been out for parties, karaoke, and all sorts of other things, though no one reading this would know that since I'm so bad at keeping up this thing. Mom and Dad know I was never good at keeping up journals when I was a kid. Some things never change.

But I digress. So we went to Kokubunji and just kind of hung out tonight. We went to play his favorite Gundam Seed game in the arcade, and he forced me to play (so if I get addicted, guess whose fault it is), but it was pretty cool. I had fun. We hit a couple of hundred-yen stores, a pretty crowded bookstore (referring to the books, not the people in the store), and an out-of-the-way-music-store-complete-with-a-cat-lying-down-on-a-shelf-of-records. Boy was he cute. First cat I've been able to pet since I got here. There are tons of strays in Shinjuku, which is nice to see, but none of them trust humans, and probably with good reason.

Anyway, we ended up at this cafe, the "Chat Noir," which we had gone to twice before. I mean, it's not Gitsis by any means, but it'sstill quite good. I guess going three times makes it a sort of Kokubunji tradition. But anyway, we were having all sorts of interesting discussions from past (and future) lives to games, and from movies to--of course--relationship issues. Stayed on that topic for a long time, and it was kind of fun to talk about it all. It was in the cafe that Terry coined the title above. After ordering his signature 500-yen blueberry parfait, he said that he loves the cafe because its cheap, there's ice-cream, and there are girls. He was right. Then he repeated, "Cheap Ice-Cream Girls," in which I pointed out that if he switched the order, hilarity might ensue. I had ordered buttered toast actually, which was quite good. In fact, it was so good--and I haven't found good buttered toast elsewhere in Japan--I decided to name it "Orgasmic Toast" because that's how my mouth feels. So, now everyone knows where the title comes from.

But the point of the story isn't that. It's that I've really gotten close to some of the people here, and it's really interesting bonding, especially when so many people come here for so many different reasons. I've seen--and am still seeing--people coming here from all different stereotypical Japan-related backgrounds and with stereotypical American-in-Japan mindsets, and it's interesting to know I don't fall in that group.

Also, for those interested in my excuses for not posting recently, blame it on grad school applications and my recent midterm. I'll try to keep up as much as I can from here on.