We're still here!
Passing Worchester on the Mass Pike rght now. The dreaded downpour didn’t materialize, but the fog is really thick. It’s not really stopping the Fong Wah bus driver from pushing 65.
Oh, and happy birthday to AS. Tried sending a note to him but something’s wrong with sending email to him.
Being the good boy that I am, and being that P works for them, I donated a pint of blood today at work. After going through the battery of questions (more than 30) and reading which countries were on the bad list, I was led to the bed closest to the room’s TV. Which was good because I was getting kind of faint after the first bag. I did make sure to eat before going, but I should have drunk more liquid. The nurse saw me turning pale, and raised my legs and lowered my head onto a bag od ice. Afterwards, P showed up and stuffed me with traditional blood drive goodies. Still, I felt rather weak and beat up. I wanted to do certain things, and my body wasn’t cooperating. My dad had to do this 3 times a week for 4 years for dialysis, making up about 600 times in his lifetime. Good grief!
Today was 1 month after my dad passed, and we had dinner with my mom at the houe. Thankfully she has found things to occupy her time. The big thing is her high blood pressure, which was a problem for my grandmother. My dad seems to find a way to make himself present; this time it was the low battery sound on the fire detector in his room. I have to believe he is looking out for us.
3 picks for restaurant week on Atlantic Avenue: Atlantic Chip Shop – great batter, Dhakaindian – much better than anything on Montegue St,; Shinjuku Japanese – pretty good but staff was harried; also was the namesake of the Tokyo neighborhood we stayed in the last half of the Japan trip.
Last day in Tokyo: morning at the Tsuji Fish Market, where one third of the world’s fish passes through. Absolutely an incredible sight! Then amazingly we found Sushi
Dai, a famed sushi purveyer. I really wished that I knew Japanese,
because the three guys behind the counter not only put together the best
sushi ever (hey, even the bad sushi places can’t go wrong if they have
access to fish this fresh) but they banter with the customers like they
were bartenders. The most interesting one was a snapper nigiri flavored
with lime juice and rose rock salt. Incredible!
Checked out the Sony Center, where they demoed incredibly great and
expensive home entertainment systems. Met up with P’s friend M and his
girlfriend SC again in Ginza. We went to the Toyota showroom center,
where we got to ride in self guided electric cars, I crashed a GT at the
Fuji Raceway simulator (not simulated: I took a turn hard and crashed
into the guiderail, the simulator jerked me back, there was a popping
sound and the entire steering wheel ripped out of the console. I thought
that the airbags had deployed). Saw the most expensive thing I’ve
touched in Japan: a sports car with a sticker price of 6,300,000 Yen
(drop 2 zeroes for the $US price).
Had Japanese Okonomi-yaki pancakes on Harumi island for dinner —
absolutely fantastic. Many of the traditional Japanese foods were
originally designed to stretch limited meat with lots of rice, broth or
starch. Of course if they are delicious, that helps too.
Finally had dessert at some place in Harajiku that had an American
Indian/Italian motif. Very funky. SC was trying out her English, and she
was doing very well. Off to try to see the department store opening production and to the
airport. Will make reflections on the trip on the plane. See you back on
your side.
