Out in the Heart of Texas

So the Executive Producer and I ended up flying out to Dallas to visit Funimation, one of our co-production partners, before flying out the LA for the week-long slog of AFM. While I don't recommend not sleeping at all on the plane coming out, it is a pretty handy way to combat jetlag. Unfortunately I had forgotten to take into account dinner on the other side, so was basically in a world of pain for a while. Glutton for punishment? Apparently it's genetic.

The DFW springhill suites has an incredible room arrangement with exceedingly comfortable beds and large rooms. I actually felt slight culture shock coming in.

Meeting up with Chris and his wife Leila (plus their daughter Evie in tow) was awesome. We got the 2 bit tour of Dallas looking for restaurants. And for all that we are in Texas, apparently there are NO BBQ places open on Halloween Sunday. It was rather surreal. We ended up at a steakhouse called Sweetgrass, where I reaffirmed my love for steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and a ranch side salad.

I hate to admit it, but it is the food more than anything else (aside from really wanting to see family and friends) that makes me want to come back here. I supposed I have hit a mental plateau with my Japanese for a bit, (especially given that I have a habit to comparing myself to my coworkers... despite the fact they are Thai and Korean) and it makes me want to throw in the towel sometimes. The idea that I won't be here for another 3 years is disturbing, though I suspect moving back here would make me miss Japan just as much. Perhaps I will try to move to Osaka before the soulkilling pit of Tokyo leaves me naught but an empty shell of gaijin OL. Still, I find as I live there longer, I grow used to the sprawling beast of the Japanese capital and like certain aspects of it.

Again too, there is the memory of meeting up with friends and all the adventures I am having out there, that reminds me that I belong in Japan at this current period of my life. Thank goodness I met up with Mika for a quick lunch before leaving Tokyo, or I suspect this trip might have been substantially more painful.

I suspect LA this week will hold a similar challenge for me. Between the day of what is shaping up to be brutal negotiations with Funimation, 8 days of boothwork at AFM, and then a full week of work after, I am just praying I don't get sick. Thank goodness we have the 23rd off!

Thanksgiving Chaos

Got a call from Nabe in the morning nailing down details... which was probably a good thing considering that he had assumed we were having T-day at my place and I had thought we were having it at his. SO after a mad scramble and some negotiation with my roommate, whom I had some akwardness the night before over laundry, we somehow opened up the possibility to have it at either place. In the end, I went and picked up Dai at the station since she was coming in from Kobe, and in the end we decided to have it at Nabe's place.

So we finally got everything together after running around Seiyu and started cooking around 4... keep in mind we had to be at Nabes by 7. So Dai looks at the Stuffing, Corn Bread, and Pumpkin Bread she wants to make, each avg 45 minute cook time, and becomes a whirlwind. Meanwhile I'm sitting on the floor peeling potatoes because that Japanese do not seem to believe in usable counterspace... I mean seriously here.

Which is where we ran into brick wall 1... I had no can opener to open the pumpkin...... so we flee to the local convenience store only to find that the Japanese don't believe in canopeners either.... right. So we hop a bus back to Seiyu to have me realize half way there that we hadn't killed the gas to the stove. (Cue me silently panicking). So the hour long trip that Seiyu usually takes took a round trip of about 20 minutes.... this includes such gems as two white girls pelting through the multi-story Japanese Walmart equivalent (with supermarket) at full tilt. How we beelined for the can opener... I would be happier not thinking too much about...though I suspect some diety or another out there now owns about a year of my life.

My coworker, Nami, showed up about halfway through and met us at my place. We then walked the three of us, the half hour to Nabe's where his two coworkers, Ushi and Mura, showed up shortly afterwards.

So, in tradition with the holiday, we had good food, good friends, and about three days of sheer chaos crammed into a 9 hour period... feels like the holidays to me.