Tuesday, February 22, 2011

LA Trip



A couple of years ago we went to LA so Midori could see her favorite band perform.  Her and Emili went to the show in The Staples Center and I hung out in the area, met with Deanna and Bob.  (Margie and Danny might have been there too.)  It was a good time and the weather was great.  This was before I worked at Disney so we didn't go to the park.

The Snow is starting to fall

I am sitting in a Starbucks in Factoria waiting for Emili. She is taking Japanese classes at the college formerly known as BCC. Now it is just BC. She is old enough to drive, and she even has her license, but she doesn't have a car yet. I suppose I could just let her use mine.

While I'm waiting I can work, surf the web, or just listen to music so it's not too much of a hardship.

We are expected to get up to 6 inches of snow tonight. (End of February surprise!) I these days of internet connections and VPN there isn't any snow day for me or Midori, but at least we can work in our pajamas if we want.

I have not updated this blog in quite a while so here goes.

As you can tell from a previous post we spent Christmas and New Year in Tokyo again this year. We had a great time and did some touristy things we hadn't done since Emili was little. I will post some pictures later.

Next month, Emili turns 17. WHAT?!? Yep. She isn't currently in any shows but she is participating in a workshop putting together a play or something like it for a couple of other theatre groups in South Africa and North Carolina. She is getting the opportuniny to participate in it using one of her other talents: writing.

I continue to work for www.drugstore.com and Midori is working for KPMG still though her role has changed. She now works almost completely from home.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Some observations I made while in Tokyo over New Year

Just found an app that will act as an online storage bin for mind droppings. From time to time I'll use this to document our trip. 




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We are just about to head down to central Tokyo. 




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We are in Shin-Okubo (KoreaTown) so Midori can find memorabilia for favorite boy band, Tohoshinki.  It is just basically like every other Tokyo neighborhood but every shop it seems has something to do with Korea and most of the restaurants sell some sort of Korean food. I'm enjoying the food but could do without the boy band hero worship. So it goes.  




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Tokyo is known as one the most fashionable cities in the world and walking around in the middle of Harajuku or Omotesando certainly reinforces this image. It seems that everybody from the youngest girl to the oldest man is hyper concerned about every thread on their bodies. Fashions swing from the outlandish (girls dressed in frilly dresses with petty coats and French maid style bustiers or eclectic nerdy garb with eyeglasses without any lenses, to upscale yet conservative elegance).  

A vacation from our vacation

Midori and I with our friends Hiromi and Atsushi Ozaki.  Atsushi is managing a plant down there and Hiromi and Midori thought it would be...