"I forgot what its like to be normal....to feel normal" -Rooney

Spent the weekend in Tokyo. Caught the Shinkasen Friday after work and was at my hotel by 10.30. Giving me enough time to change clothes, and drag my father out on the town. We had a really good time. You know, father/daughter bonding. He's a great guy to travel with, because he just goes with the flow. So we went to Roppongi and did a bit of wandering...most of which was off the beaten path, since i was gathering some materials for the 'zine. I found lots of random pictures, but nothing mind-blowing. There was a white trash charms store...which made my day, as they are one of my favorite stores back home, and I had no idea that they were also in Tokyo. Then we went to TGIFridays...which has never been one of my favorite resturants...I don't even think I've been there since college...but regardless, I was so happy to be able to eat at a resturant that didn't offer udon on the menu. We left the resturant at 1am. Not because the food was fabulous and we had to gorge ourselves, but because I honestly forgot what it was like to be in an area where people would wander the streets at that hour. I mean in my little hamlet, the streets are empty at 9 pm. At 1 Am i could run for miles naked, and see nobody. Anyhow, I had no idea it was as late as it had become.


Saturday, I went to Disney Sea, the new Tokyo Disney theme park. Which was totally fun (I know, I am a geek)...they had some great rides, but much like California Adventure, it doesn't really take up the entire day. So by noon, I had gone on all of the major rides (indiana Jones, 20,000 Leagues under the sea, journey to the center of the earth) a couple of minor rides (Journey of Sinbad and the carosel), and caught a show (the little mermaid show...which was really cool, because it was all of the castmembers were attached to trapezes, so they could float freely thru the air...and there were some amazing puppets that were used to represent some of the fish and the sea witch). By 4pm I had seen every inch of the park, gone on all of the rides, and wandered into every store. So I headed back to the hotel.

That night, I caught up with my wonderful friend Y, who lives in Tokyo. We had a wonderful bbq buffet (it was so Las Vegas) at the hotel (which is owned by the US Government, so its totally and american establishment...they even have american tv channels, american shopping areas, and they accept american money...crazy!!) I don't know, if under normal circumstances I would have been as excited as i was over this buffet. But, Y and I ...we were so stoked...I mean, its been ages since I've had any sort of bbq...and they had corndogs, and cornbread, and salad...and baked potatoe soup...It was like HeAVEN....afterwards the two of us continued my search for 'zine materials, by going to Harajuku (where the goth kids hang out)....there were no goth kids to be seen, but we did find some random English signs....It was so wonderful to see Y and just wander the streets late at night and feel like i was in a real city.

Sunday, Dad and i did a bit more random touring. We went to Asakusa so I could get smoke blown on me for a blessing (I've become very superstitious)...then we went back to Harajuku where I got tons of photos of the crazy cos play kids. My favorites were the Dancing Rockabilly guys. My dad had seen them on a previous visit and was really excited to see that they were still hanging out at the same spot...they were like a bunch of asian elvises...it was fantastic. Before catching the Shinkasen back home, we stopped at a couple of art galleries....i got a new painting which i am really excited about. i love wandering thru galleries and checking out what people are doing.

This was such a great weekend. I totally felt like my old self. Not that I am miserable here but it was so nice to just feel normal. And to be surrounded by many of the things that i never really thought I would miss, but i totally do (crowds, chaos, american food, american shopping, traffic, galleries, museums, having a million choices of what to do with my day or night, enough resturant choices to fill a zagat guide, and not having to think really hard as to how I am going to communicate something...because trully 90% of Tokyo speaks English)