Beautiful Day

The title has no connection to any film, music, et cetera for once. It was just a really nice day.

REWind to yesterday first though.

Yesterday was a holiday (the fall equinox is apparently a good enough reason to not go to school, but considering that it's an actual event, and all our days are for dead people, I'll take it), so I had a day, part of a day, on the town. Shortly after lunch I went for a run. I was hoping to do around ten klicks, but I got to where the trail (it was no longer a paved path) wasn't marked for distance, I made it all the way to a bridge in a nice suburban area when I decided I should turn around. I'm guessing it was between seven and nine km. I showered, and then my host mother took me to the modern art museum. On the way there (we walked) it felt a little feint (but I was still fine). In the sun, everything looked like next gen graphics with the gamma set above max (everything was very, very bright). This slowly dissipated as we went along (it took about twenty minutes to go away). We got to the modern are museum and as some of you might guess, I wasn't that impressed. It's not that it was bad, I just don't get the point of most of it. There were bad CG movies that didn't make sense, a few optical illusions, and many statues and paintings. Anyways, we went back home and I got out a map and set it in my memory. I asked to go by myself to the shopping district, and I was allowed out until six (the earliest possible time for supper, though that's usually nearer eight, and when the sun goes down).

So, I set out. I made it there in fifteen minutes and looked around for almost an hour for a book store. I went through two multi-floored malls and quite far down the road. Along the way I noticed my cheeks aren't as red as they used to be, and their cool to the touch. Finally, I decided to turn around, but on the way back I checked for the book in the convenience stores (all stocked with the latest manga). I was a little, not quite shocked or impressed, but more... I don't know somethinged at the types of magazines there. Seriously, manga goes to fan-service, to echi, to doujin to hentai even, and back in the same shelf (manga=comics, echi=slightly perverted, doujin=fan comics, usally perverted, hentai=perverted, usually manga based). I would quickly look through the manga, then take a look around the store to see what kin of stuff was in a japanese convenience store, then I'd leave. I went through about four of them before I got to the bridge and started to jog to make it home on time. It started to rain, bit it was a light rain, very nice. The main thing was that it was getting eerily close to six and dark.

On a final note, I'm glad for the freedom of being able to stretch my legs.

Fast Forward back to today.

I spent the early part of the day at school. I went to my classes, I ran from the top floor of one building to the next at least six times. I'm dong fine in math III where we're working with trig, and now exponents, and while I'm slipping a bit in math II I'll be trying to make sense of the japanese worksheets. Physics is going well, in physics III we're doing momentum. And I'm continuing my private Japanese lessons (I'm not sure if I mentioned them). To a little annoyance I found out that I need my backpack to carry my lunch, but if it weren't for that I'd just use my clipboard. On an *ahem* entirely unrealted note, I've been drawing, I hope to start up one of my comic ideas and translate it.

After school I found out that English club was again cancelled (damn). So, I went "home" and asked where I could find a bookstore (hon-ya). My host mother pointed out two, and I chose the one further away, but on this side of the river. She told me to be home by six for supper (I would be going to a Rotary function at that time). So I set off, fully equipped (a term I use meaning I had my jacket, wallet, camera, PSP and anything else of use) and I jogged to the store. You wouldn't believe how amazing the Saigawa is. Really, down stream it's cluttered with tended hedges, bridges, and grass and a few trees, but upstream it's beautiful. Picture will follow. It starts out with wide open fields on both sides, then you walk by a forest as the river becomes enveloped in trees and plants. It's so green that it makes it look more like the Saimouri (a joke, sai=it's name, gawa=kawa=river, mouri=forest). Then the forest thins out on the land side and you come to a well developed suburban area. After that is a construction site, a farm, and then a major road (where I stopped because the bookstore was nearby).

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Inside the mega book store, I took a little time to look around (walked through at a brisk pace), I figured out what BL means (pink section of store to be avoided) and I forced myself to walk past the large video game section (which needed a considerable amount of will power). I looked for fifteen minutes through what were at least a thousand manga, and finally, after figuring out the system I found the book I wanted. Luckily by this point it was less a matter of having courage and more being glad that japanese clerks don't idle in small talk that made it easier to buy the book. I won't be reading it in public. It's not a bad book in any way, it's just not one someone like me is expected to be reading (again, ask oji-san why I'm not naming the book, actually, for my parents, I have two copies of the same series at home, one in English, and one in French, this is the reason why I wanted a third in Japanese, but back to the story).

I left the store and hurried back, running to Metallica's Seek & Destroy. Just over a half hour later, a heavily breathing, sweating, overheating, smug geoffcard was walking quickly away from the steps where he had used up the last of his energy. I had plenty of time to spare, so I decided to delay going back home and replenish my energy with a Calorie Mate. Those things taste heavenly after a run like that (remember, I was carrying everything on me while running much faster than the joggers along the river, and up the steep stairs back to Tera-Machi). I got back in with five minutes to spare, it was even still bright out.

I took a shower and dressed more formally. My host father came in ten minutes late and rushed me out the door and we drove to supper (after turning around when he realized he forgot his camera, though I had remembered mine). At the traditional looking restaurant (former house of a well known samurai) I met a rebounder who was coming back after thirty-three years. She and her husband (both Canadian, now living in London, Ontario) had impeccable manners. They greeted me very nicely and the whole group, the couple, several Rotary members and I, had a wonderful supper and evening. They talked about Kanazawa, about how they met (it's a wonderful story and I'll get to it in a moment) and about their experiences in life.

It was love at first sight." They met on a trip to the Bahamas. While really they got together after they realized they were in the same hotel, she says that in the airport, she pointed to him and said to her friends "I'm going to go out with that guy." It was he who made the first phone call, but had he not moved so quickly she was ready to phone him up. Anyways, they got to know and like each other. Then he lost all his money at the casino, and so she bought him his ticket home, but she took his favourite t-shirt with her so that he would have to find her once they got back. Three months later they were engaged. They're now thirty-one years together and they're still in love.

She showed us some pictures of her trip to Kanazawa, and they talked about the Canadian meal they were going to prepare for Thanksgiving (they had trouble deciding on what was a Canadian meal, understandably considering how much Canadian culture isn't purely Canadian) and apparently he makes an absolutely delicious turkey. She talked about how they still kept connections to Japan, while he added that he had been hearing of Kanazawa for the full thirty-three years. They really enjoyed being here, and I was amazed at how good their Japanese manners were (I know all the words, but knowing when and how to use them is still a little confusing, especially figuring out how humble to be). We traded cards and it was over.

And....cut!