On the train

The 8th Layer of Hell

Tokyo's subway system is like an intricate spider web beneath the city.  The only bad thing about it is you go down, down, down, down to find your metro line.  Sometimes 8 stories down.  But, then, you've got to go up, up, up, up to get out!  Look how long the escalator is!  I swear the damn thing goes on forever!   (Running babe, Bean and Jude are pictured below.)

Sponge Bob

This is what happens when McDonald's gives away Sponge Bob junk with their happy meals:

Louis

On Saturday, we took a train into town and walked around the Ginza district of Tokyo.  Ginza is where all the fancy, expensive shopping is done in Tokyo.   But since I'm a cheap ass and trying to save money for our trip back to the mother land, I had no intention of buying anything.  I simply felt the need to be surrounded by expensive items.

So, my friend and I walked into the Louis Vuitton store and molested purses.  We touched, caressed, and even tried on the most expensive purses in the store.  Of course, we had no intention of buying one.  We just wanted to touch and see what's out there, just in case Husband gets all warm and fuzzy and decides to buy me my third Louis.  I just want to be prepared for when that might happen.

A day off

Today I'm off.  I think I might go to Jude's school and harass him during lunch, watch a few Twilight DVDs, and veg out on the couch with my hands in my pants like Al Bundy.  Yep, that's what I'm going to do today.

I see dead people

Lately, I've been dreaming about dead people.  Actually, my dead friends have been visiting me in my dreams.

I'll have some arbitrary dream about crazy shit, and then, behold, my dead friend knocks on the door.  I open the door, and standing there is my friend.  We sit and chat like old times.

My dead friends look exactly the way they did the last time I saw them, even if it was 15 years ago.

We chat, enjoy each other's company, and then the damn alarm goes off.  I wake up startled, confused, and slightly upset over just what happened.

I'm not sure what all this means.  Maybe I've been eating too much salsa before bed time.

Minus 3

Since January 1st, I've lost 3 pounds!  I'm not trying to get super skinny or anything.  I'm just trying to exercise regularly and make healthier food choices, and, well, it's working.  (I also just bought my airline tickets back to the States for our summer vacation, and I don't want to look like a fat pig on my cruise to Mexico.  If I've gained any weight at all, people will be sure to notice!)

So, I've found the secret to weight loss:  EAT LESS, MOVE MORE!

These boots

I've been in Japan for over three years now.  Duh!  Well, I really think I'm turning Japanese!  My outfits are getting stranger and stranger...and I like it.  My style sense has gone from Western (Western in the sense of Western countries, not Western like cowboys, cowboy boots and straw hats) to crazy-ass Japanese, where anything goes.  I will pretty much wear anything, regardless if it matches, and I'll wear it boldly with attitude.  For example:

...blue, glittery tights paired with brown ankle-boots, jean skirt, and sequined top.   Yes, I rocked it!

Drama

I won't go into the details about the recent drama I've been sucked into, but let's just say I'm shocked at how mean, ugly and disrespectful some people can be.

Now, this drama has nothing to do with me.  As you know, I hate drama.  I try my best to live drama free.  But sometimes other peoples' drama drifts into my life and sucks me in, wearing me out!

And right now, I'm being sucked hard!  (Hmm, that sounds dirty!  I think I like that!)

Lunch

Even though I've been  living in Japan for over 3 years, I still get excited when I get to eat my favorite Japanese meal:  Japanese hot pot.  Basically, it's a giant bowl of  yummy goodness that cooks at your table, courtesy of a small, portable, propane cooker.  And, everything in the bowl tastes like kimchee.  Delish!

On the right path

Today I ran 7 miles, and it felt so good!

My running buddy took this picture of me this morning.  Since it was about 27 degrees outside, I was all bundled up.

LOL

Okay, YaYa is going to be mad about this post!


The last month or so, YaYa has been posting comments on my Facebook account.  After each comment, she writes lol.  I'm not sure she knows the meaning of those letters, though.  Here is her most recent comment:


Can't wait for you guys to come back to the states!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully, very, very, soon. Miss Julian and you guys!!!!!

lol
Ya-Ya & Po-Po


Did you notice the lol? 


It's becoming a joke in our house.  We'll say something very serious and then finish with an lol and a chuckle.  


Look, I love YaYa.  She's the best momma a girl could have, but she's silly.  Really silly. 


I guess I should just be glad she knows how to use Facebook!


lol


(YaYa, lol means "laugh out loud".)

What I've learned in Japan...

1.  raw food is sometimes the best food;

2.  most Japanese people will follow all the rules all the time, no matter what, even if you try to convince them otherwise;

3.  traffic jams in Tokyo have given me a new appreciation for traffic jams in Houston;

4.  sitting on the floor for hours sucks, especially if you just ran 5 miles an hour before;

5.  there's a line for everything...to use the restroom, to check out at the grocery store, to see Mickey Mouse, to ride the subway, to eat dinner;

6.  watch out for the automated door in the taxi cab...sometimes the elderly cab driver will slam it on you;

7.  Japanese schools are crowded, and the teachers work ridiculously long hours;

8. the Tokyo subway system goes all the way down to the 8th layer of Hell;

9.  drunk people will just lie down and take a nap anywhere;

10.  Asahi Super Dry beer is the best;

11.  nato tastes and looks like boogers;

12.  Japanese school girls will find ANY way to make their knee length skirts much, much shorter;

13.  Japanese boys look WAY too much like Japanese girls;

14.  Blacky's is not a place where I would like to get a tan;

15.  I will no longer complain about gas prices;

16.  everything in Tokyo, Japan is really, really expensive;

17.  Japanese women don't look their age;

18.  if you are sitting near the window when your bullet train passes another bullet train at top speed, you will shit your pants;

19.  Ginkaku-ji pavilion, "The Temple of the Silver Pavilion," in Kyoto, Japan is not really effing silver;

20.  Japanese baseball games are kick ass, and PoPo (my dad) really loves the beer girls!

Girlfriends

Jude:  "Mom, my friend Marcus has a girlfriend."

Weenie:  "Oh, really?"

Jude:  "Yep."

(silence)

Jude:  "Mom, what's a girlfriend for?"

Weenie:  "A girlfriend is a girl who does your homework for you in high school."

Jude:  "Oh."

I totally wasn't expecting that question so soon!  They really do grow up WAY too fast! 

The week of the bee

This week my son had a school project.  Benny the Bee (the class mascot) spent the week with us, and Jude had to write in Benny's journal.  Jude had to describe all the fun activities Benny was a part of while he was staying with us.  Here are a few pictures from this weeks' events:

Jude, Jude's piano teacher and Benny the Bee at piano lessons.

Jude and Benny the Bee at swim lessons.

Jude and Benny the Bee eating dinner.  Benny enjoyed his honey.

Here we go again!

Here I am running the Tokyo Marathon a couple of years ago. 

I just signed up for another 1/2 marathon.  I know, I'm crazy.  I think this will be my 4th or 5th half marathon.  It's crazy to think I've forgotten how many I've completed, but I have.  Shit, I'm getting old!

Anywho, my training has begun, and I can't wait to cross that finish line.

The half marathon is April 10th.  Wish me luck!

(I'll keep you posted on my progress and training.  Hell, why don't you join me and train with me?  Huh??!!)

Balls

If I had a dollar for every time the word BALLS was said in my house, I'd be one rich bitch!

New Year's Resolution B.S.

Every year I make a New Year's resolution to do this and that, but somehow doing this and that never happen.  So, this year I'm going to do things differently.  Instead of trying to do things, I'm just going to shut the fuck up and, as my sister-in-law would say, I'm gonna get 'er done.   And, well, I've been getting shit done all week, and I feel so good about it.

I've decided to stop taking the elevator, even though I live on the 5th floor.  So, by the end of each day, I've gone up and down about 30 floors worth of stairs.  Crazy, huh?!  Yes, I'm winded.  Yes, my quads scream at me.  But, I get a little rush when my heart beat goes way the hell up there, and that makes me giddy, and a giddy, midget, Mexican momma is just what this world needs.  I promise!

The 4th day

Today is the 4th consecutive day I've gone to the gym and worked out.   I'm determined to become a lean, mean fighting machine for our summer trip back to the States.  I want to look like a sex goddess good for our cruise to the mother land (Mexico).

Plus, I want to be a few pounds lighter before I add a few more.

On a side note, the hallway in our apartment building smells like a stinky vagina.  Nasty!

All cleaned up

This is what we look like after we've showered and shaved, both of us.

Dearest Sister

Sister has been missing in action, literally.  Several months ago she moved to Kuwait to be a teacher at an international school.  Well, we didn't hear from her for several months.  Then, out of the blue, she e-mailed me on my birthday.  This was my reply:

Hey Sister!  We were beginning to wonder if you were taken hostage by a sheik and turned into a sex slave!  

How's life in the desert?  

Merry Christmas...wait, scratch that...Happy Hanuka and Happy New Year.  Since you don't celebrate Christmas, we didn't get you anything...but we ate a shit ton of bacon and thought of you.   

Yes, my sister is Jewish.  She's the only half-ass Mexican Jew I know, so that makes her pretty special.

I'm a bad blogger

So, I've been neglecting you.  Please forgive me?  This year got away from me.  My butter covered fingers just couldn't keep a grip on everything going on.  But this year I promise to be a better blogger, a more diligent blogger.  And I promise to let you into my world just a little more.

I hope you will stay around for a little piece of Weenie while!   *Smile*