The following items on my life list can now be updated:
Visit all 7 continents.
Visit 20 countries.
Eat sushi in Japan.

Hooray!

I was dreading the 9 hour flight from Seattle. I of course I convinced myself that I would get deep vein thrombosis and the plane would have to make an emergency stop on some remote Aleutian island and it would all be very embarrassing and terrible. Chris recommended not sleeping on the plane so that by the time I was settled in Japan I would be exhausted and would be able to sleep. No problem! I cannot sleep on planes or anywhere else where I am not lying parallel to the floor and I envied the passengers I saw who conked out the second the flight hit a cruising altitude.

The flight actually went by faster than I thought. The flight had movies on demand (best invention EVER!) and I watched Whip It, The Invention of Lying, and Adam. I sat next to a very friendly and talkative guy named Reggie who was on his way to the Philippines to meet up with his online girlfriend. I left that flight knowing more about him than I know about people I see on a daily basis, but I’m not complaining! He made the time zoom by.

The flight arrived over an hour early, so my fantasy of seeing Chris after two weeks and having a sappy reunion involving us running towards each other, arms open, like a sappy RomCom, was crushed when he wasn’t there to meet me yet. When he did arrive I realized that it was a blessing we decided to take this vacation after he was finished working, and not before. By the time I got there he had figured out the subway system and getting to our hotel was easy and stress-free. The iPhone was a godsend during this trip–yes, we had to pay extra for an international data plan, but having the ability to type in our location and have a map at our fingertips was worth every penny.

Anyway, after settling into the hotel (a great place, Citadines Shinjuku, which I would definitely stay at again), we met up with Chris Jackson, Chris’s coworker who was going to be traveling with us. One of the best things about Japan was of course the food. Most nights we would wander around the city until we found a place that looked good. The first meal I had was just a basic beef and vegetable dish, but it was better than anything similar I’ve had in Salt Lake.

By the time we were done eating, it was around 9pm, or 5am Salt Lake time, meaning I hadn’t slept in about 24 hours. No jet lag problems for me! I was out cold in about 2 seconds, and woke up freakishly early the next day, but who wants to sleep in when you’re in Tokyo?!

Everyone keeps asking me if I’ve started packing yet for my trip to Japan. No! Why would I do that when I can put it off until the very last possible second?!

I find the idea of this vacation very bizarre. I only recently found out about it, and unlike London, where I have fantasized about going for the past 10 years and already have a nearly complete itinerary planned, I have no great desire to travel to Tokyo, and no clue what to expect once I get there. Of course I’m excited, but at the moment I’m more excited to see Chris who’s already been there working for the past two weeks. He hasn’t had much of a chance to sight see yet, but reports that the food is amazing, and the television commercials are crazy. At the very least I’m looking forward to the best sushi of my life.

AFI!! I have been waiting months for this show, and was eager to get in line early to get a good place in line.

HOLY FUCK it was cold! I seriously cannot think of a time in my life when I have been colder than when I was standing in the same spot for two hours with temps in the teens. Time actually went by surprisingly fast, though. I think my frozen brain must have periodically caused me to black out. Thank you thank you thank you to my darling husband, the only person I know who stand out in the cold for a band he doesn’t really care about, just for me. He’s the best.

Too many people were willing to wait in the cold longer than I was and I wasn’t able to get my coveted front-row spot, so I headed up to the balcony with the over 21’s. This proved to be the best decision ever since the crowd below turned into a giant mosh pit about 2 minutes into the show (turns out mosh pits from above are amazingly fun to watch). The second benefit of the balcony was access to alcohol. After coming in from outside I couldn’t feel my feet or fingers and wanted a drink to help me forget about all that. By the time the opening band started I was very hammered and very happy. Unfortunately, that didn’t make the band, Middle Class Rut, sound any better.

There was a lot of loudness and a lot of screaming (I think they were real words, but who knows) The drummer had the dumbest tattoo on his chest (yes folks, that’s permanent):

But who cares, I’ll put up with any crap band to see AFI. When they came out on stage I thought my head would explode with joy.

Well, OK, I thought my head would explode with joy when Davey Havok came on stage.

Ah, so dreamy…

The show definitely made up for almost having to get my toes amputated from hypothermia.

I love my family’s tradition of going down to Zion National Park every year for Thanksgiving. Sure, eating in a restaurant means no leftovers, but I’ll gladly trade a week’s worth of turkey sandwiches for reduced stress levels. Being out of town during Black Friday is an added bonus.

Saturday morning we hiked Huber Wash. I was so excited to have Maggie on the trail with us. She’s a trooper.

Me:

George and Zane:

Family on the trail:

Sometimes you get bored in the motel room at night, so what do you do? Put the complimentary shower cap on the dog!

I didn’t even hear about it until after we got home, but a woman had fallen off of the Angel’s Landing trail and died that afternoon. She’s the second one to fatally fall of that trail this year, and the fourth since 2006.

Sunday morning Chris and I woke up early for a short hike.

He made me scale a gigantic rock so he could get a good picture.

and pose idiotically next to a sign:

(I really like how the artist made the chipmunk look skeptically displeased)

But I do it because I love him (and he’s so cute!)

Afterward we ate a wonderful breakfast at a restaurant called Parallel 88, then posed for some family portraits. Our family is a few members smaller this year, and my brother sadly couldn’t join us. No problem, I’ll take another one at Christmas!

Outtake featuring Maggie’s bum:

Another one with everybody posed:

If you haven’t noticed already, NaBloPoMo was a bust. I tried! But when I relaunched my blog, part of the deal was that I was writing this entirely for myself, and being obligated to write every single day, even when I have nothing to say, doesn’t really fit into what I want this blog to be.

I am still committed to writing more often, and to every one else still chugging along at NaBloPoMo, I’m having fun reading your blogs!

A few weeks ago Heather and I ran our second 5K this year. We weren’t finished with our training, so I wasn’t prepared to do that well, but we ended up cutting 3 minutes off of our last time. I think part of it was that at the last 5K there were so many participants we spent a lot of the race weaving in between other runners. This race hardly had anybody in it, so that wasn’t a problem. Also, we were just awesome;)

Me and Heather before the race:

Me after the race:

Things that made me happy today:

Getting together with an old friend I haven’t seen in over five years.

A serving of Pad Thai bigger than my head at Sawadee.

Watching Maggie wade into a pile of leaves twice as tall as she is.

Tea with Dad and Diana.

Getting a UPS package containing new sneakers that are both cute and comfortable.

Life is good.

Chris finally shaved off his beloved Colonel Sanders facial hair yesterday. He said he wanted to keep it for Halloween so he could integrate it into a costume, which he did, but I was starting to get a little worried when he kept it for another week. Don’t get me wrong, I think he looks great with a mustache and beard, there was just something about this style that I didn’t like much. Who knows what he’ll grow next!

Before: (at the Regina Spektor concert trying doing his best ‘I’m not going to blink!’ pose–and no, I don’t know what the hell that girl behind him is doing!)

And, taken tonight:

A video of Chris destroying the pumpkin he broke his toe on…and an innocent pumpkin that never caused him any harm.

One thing that always fascinates my about concerts is the other people in the audience. Yes, they drive me insane with all the pushing and sweating and clapping off-beat to the music, but I’m usually pretty good at predicting what kind of demographic most of the crowd will fit into. I was dead wrong this time. I thought Regina Spektor’s audience would skew a bit older, but oh my God, the amount of 5-feet-tall, brace-faced teens with their MOTHERS blew my mind. A large crowd of them was gathered near me, screaming at the top of their lungs and periodically turning to each other, clasping hands, and squealing. Was I that irritating when I was a teenager? Hell yes I was. Does that make me any more sympathetic to their annoyingness? NOPE.

Regina Spektor’s amazingness made all the teens (and the guy in front of me who covered his girlfriend’s ears whenever he knew there were swear words in a song) disappear. She now ranks as one of the most amazing performers I’ve seen live. Love love love her!

Video of her singing “Silly Eye Color Generalizations”: