I went running the other morning. I don’t wear glasses when I run, and I usually run at 5:30am when it is still dark. At about mile two, I saw a row of dead piglets on the sidewalk. When I got closer, I realized that they were just sandbags from a house under construction. Was pretty shocking at first, though.

Surfer Girl – The Beach Boys
My Best Friend’s Girl – The Cars
All Night Long – Faith Evans Featuring Puff Daddy
Show Me – The Pretenders
Paradise – Sade
Lovefool – The Cardigans
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye
When Will I See You – Pretenders

One of Mariko and mine’s friends is a sushi chef (as well as makes regular Japanese dishes) at a restaurant here in town, and we sat at his sushi bar last night and enjoyed an amazing omakase. He pretty much chose the best fish, and created lots of sushi that I had never had before. I mean, the types of fish weren’t exotic types that I had never seen before, but they were combined and presented in a way that was special and unique. All of it was awesome! Like a dumbass, I forgot my camera, though… My favorite was a makizushi that had ikura, shiso and a special sauce made from uni. We also had baked tako with a little bit of cheesy spicy sauce on it, with crispy garlic slivers. It was so great. And an asparagus sushi with a miso/mayonnaise sauce. To end the meal, we had ama-ebi which was oishiiiiiiiii. I love eating the deep-fried body of the shrimp too, although it seemed like lots of people were watching us, since it is not something Americans would normally eat. We did think it was weird that people put their miso soup bowls on top of their plates when they ate it, though. And I had to ask Mariko about putting wasabi into the shoyu… something that I never do anymore and is rarely done in Japan. FYI, we put a little wasabi on top of the fish, then make sure to dip the fish-side into the shoyu, not the rice.

It was such a great meal. Omakase is wonderful because you get to eat dishes you would never eat otherwise. Normal sushi from the sushi menu is good, but omakase creations are the best!

Here’s a great article on the how to’s of enjoying sushi: Sushi Eating HOWTO, by Eugene Ciurana

What’s up with people calling California, “Cali”? It sounds very odd to me. Never heard it called that when I lived there. It’s funny, but I often hear it called that from people who think of themselves as Californian (maybe lived there for a few years). But I don’t think any natives would actually say Cali. SoCal sometimes, but not Cali. I don’t know… whatever! Nevermind me.

Besides our dSLR, we have a compact digital camera, a Canon SD200. It’s great because it is so small, I can slip it in my pocket, or Mariko can keep it in her purse. A couple months ago, however, we lost the charger for the battery. I looked for it for about a month before deciding to buy a replacement. The local camera store wanted $49 for the new charger and told me that no one made a cheaper charger that would work with the battery, which is quite common as it is used in several different Canon models. So, I went on Ebay and found a no-name brand charger, which works with either wall-mount or in the car. Plus it came with an extra battery, and the price was around $14 including shipping.

I was thinking to myself that as soon as the new battery/charger arrived, the old one would turn up… and you know what? Right after I opened the new package and had the new battery charging up, I decided to have a look underneath the temporary tablecloth that is covering our new kitchen island (no countertop yet). I thought, maybe the charger fell into the island. I lifted up the tablecloth, and there was a little wicker basket in one of the island cabinets, and in it was the charger. And a checkbook I lost. So now I have two chargers and two batteries… At least we can keep the new one in the car, I suppose.

I don’t really like Rap, and I think that Japanese Rap sounds silly. Well, just when the rapper tries to have attitude. In the case of silly fun stuff like Halcali, it’s good. Buy you know what? French Rap sounds really really cool.

It makes me mad when I see someone use about ten paper towels just to dry their hands after washing them. I only use two. Granted I have small hands, but dude who uses ten isn’t exactly frickin’ Paul Bunyan either.

When I hear people lamenting the fact that they just turned 20, or even 30, and they feel “so old” now, I always feel amused, like a wizened old sage thinking, “you have much to learn…” or something… Anyways, I think it’s pretty rude to be saying stuff like that around people who are older than you are. I’m never the one to bring up the subject of age when I am around my sempai’s, and if the subject does come up, I don’t say things like “you guys are so old”. On the other hand, it is perfectly fine for the older person to say “your still a kid” to someone younger.

Oh, my birthday is coming up and I thought I was going to be 39, but Mariko corrected me and said I was going to be 38. Bay said “whoa”.