suck it, j-spot

Looks like I'll be letting this blog idle for a while. I was really hoping to have a very picture-heavy thing going on here, but the only site of the ones I've tried (including flickr) that I didn't have trouble uploading to was Facebook, so that's where an abbreviated collection of pics will be for now.

Today we stumbled into history...and there's written evidence to prove it.

After breakfast this morning, we decided to wander over to the Imperial Palace, simply because it was the closest obvious "attraction" to our hotel. It was a pleasant walk through clean streets and the beginning of the park that surrounds the palace. The weather was beautiful...a bit on the warm side, even, if you want to know the truth. (Do you?)

Initially, it didn't seem as if the public was being allowed onto the the grounds proper of the palace, but eventually we discovered the tents that were set up to greet people who were visiting on this particular day. We passed through 3 checkpoints of the most polite, yet thorough, security (bag check, wanding, and frisking) and eventually meandered up to a long row of tents. There, people were lining up to sign some document or other. We were reluctant at first, since all the signatures appeared to be in very nice calligraphic kanji, but the attendants were very encouraging, we stepped up signed with our sideways scratchty hancocks.

As it turns out, today is the Emperor and Empress's 50th anniversary. So, on today only, for a window of only about 6 hours, the people were given an opportunity to sign their names in order to wish the Emperor and Empress a happy 50th anniversary.

It doesn't sound like much, I know. But for some reason, after all the other neat stuff we saw and did today, when we stumbled back to the hotel room, we all remarked about the remarkable serendipity that allowed us to participate in such a simple, but unique, event. And we left our signatures to prove it.

grr

I've been trying to upload pics all morning, but this connection is killing me. I'll try again later...

a preponderance of snot

I'm convinced that the likelihood of a person getting sick in proximity to a specific event is directly proportional to either (or both):

1. that person's excitement about the event itself
2. how much more inconvenient it would be to be sick during the event, over and above the usual inconvenience of such an illness

I am no exception to the laws of the universe. If I am cut, do I not bleed? If I tickled, do I not laugh? If I forget to do the dishes...well...again, do I not bleed?

You see where I'm going with this.

Yup, I got a cold. Two measly days before I leave for Japanland, I get sick. It's not a big deal, normally. Sure, I feel like crap now, but it'll pass soon enough, right? No point in complaining. The problem, however, is threefold: I'm sneezy and congested, I'm going to a country where one of the most effective and common decongestants known to man is illegal, and nose-blowing is considered disgusting and rude. What's my out, here? What creative ways must I invent to handle these copious amounts of mucus? Perhaps a CamelBak, only in reverse...

Anyway, my spirits shall not be dampened! This time tomorrow, I'll be, like...halfway there!