February 23, 2009 - Monday

Rainy this morning in Tokyo, sunny this evening in Tsuruoka.

I'm back from the AFWJ Convention and my night away in Ikebukuro. I had a fantastic time and I really enjoyed myself. I can't possibly talk all about the convention tonight, I'd be here for hours.

Last night I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Metropolitan Hotel in Ikebukuro. It was a snazzy place to lay my head! I had decided to treat myself to an extra night away and also to not stay in the cheapest room. I got a special single room. It was on the 23 floor. I could see for miles. Gorgeous views. The room was small, but very nice. I could tell that it wasn't the usual single room.

I had a very nice dinner in a restaurant in the Metropolitan Shopping center, did a lot of window shopping, but not a lot of buying. I retired fairly early to my hotel room, but watched a movie and some TV for the evening.

This morning, I had breakfast in my hotel...it was great...then packed up and had a quick shower. I checked out of my room and caught the bus to Haneda airport.

I checked my bag as soon as I got there, then walked around. I did buy a couple of books in the bookstore, and had lunch at the American Diner. It was good, but I sort of wish I'd gone to my usual place instead. I was wondering when would be a good time to go through security, and then I saw a huge group of high school students sitting on the floor listening to their teacher. They were parked outside my entrance to the departure gate, so I decided I'd rather go in early than get caught behind them! I went through, and had time to buy a magazine and a coffee before walking to my gate. The flight back was smooth and uneventful. Yay.

I had to wait for Fumihiko to finish work before he could come and get me. Luckily it was only half an hour or so and I had one of my new books to read! When he arrived, we went to the mall to get coffee, then to Sakata to have dinner.

We went to a place in Sakata called Udoko. It's a very nice kind of Japanese restaurant. Usually we have their teppanyaki, but tonight, we ate in a tatami room. We both had steak, with different side dishes. Very nice.

We came home for a few minutes to get the keys for my school, then went and set the heater for tomorrow. Yep, sad to say, I'm back to work tomorrow.

We also picked up a few groceries as I've decided to cook tomorrow too. I'm a bit tired of restaurant food.

We watched some of the Oscars on tape. It was quite funny. I did stop it because Fumihiko was falling asleep and he needed to take a bath.

That's it. I'm out of here. Night night!