Midnight Ramblings

Well, here it is. January 1, 2004. One year ago, I was hanging out with Mr. Anderson at a Japanese shrine, ringing in the new year in a traditional Japanese style: praying for luck and fortune in the new year. While at the shrine, Mr. Anderson made my buy a fortune. He said it's the whole point of going to a shrine. Naturally, it was a little slip of paper in Japanese, so I had no idea what it said. I slipped it in my pocket, but Mr. Anderson gave me this warning. If it was a fortune for bad luck, then it had to be left behind at the shrine, or the bad luck would follow me. If it was for good luck, then leaving it behind was optional. I just slipped it in my pocket and kind of forgot about it. In the year that followed:

- I lost my job in Japan.
- I'm still fighting with my former place of employment in Japan over a poster I left behind.
- I'm once again living in my parents' basement.
- I'm running out of money.
- I'm still a virgin.

I guess we can safely assume it was bad luck. I knew that night I should have left it behind, just to be safe....

Anyway, my Mom borrowed Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl from one of her coworkers. I must admit, it was a pretty good movie. It brought back fond memories of riding the ride at Tokyo Disneyland.

I actually thought I was going to be sick when I rode Pirates of the Carribean. See, we got to Tokyo Disneyland right when it opened at 9am. In order to do so, it meant getting up at 6 to catch the train at 6:30. In all that time, I didn't have any breakfast. So, it was 10 am. We just got off our first ride, the Jungle Cruise, and some of us sat down to take a break. I decided it was time to finally have breakfast. I bought an (overpriced) sandwich from a Disney concession, and as I sat down to eat, some of the people I was with said, "OK, while everyone who wants to rest rests, we're going to go on Pirates of the Carribean." Now, it was my goal to ride all of Disneyland's famous cheesy rides, of which Pirates of the Carribean tops the list. So I said, "But I want to go too!" But I couldn't go on the ride while eating my sandwich. What was I to do?

Well, it was the first time since before I had teeth that I ate without chewing. I stuffed that whole sandwich into my mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. How I didn't get sick on Pirates (or on the next ride, Big Thunder Mountain) without throwing up, I'll never know.

Ever since I got home, I've been debating as to whether I want to write a column about my trip to Tokyo Disneyland. I don't really think there's a whole column in there. It was cheezy! Now, goint to the Studio Ghibli Museum, that warrants a column.

Next Issue...And All That That Implies