March 2, 2009 - Monday

Slight snow flurries both here and in Niigata. Cold.

Today was a good day. I went to bed quite late last night. I wanted to finish the book I was reading, and I did. It was called Zen and the Art of Vampires. I quite enjoyed it. The heroine was pushing 40 and wasn't thin, which I thought made a nice change from the sylphlike young heroines I sometimes read about!

This morning I got up around 9. It was tough but okay. I packed my clothes and I made sure that I could grab my backpack out of my suitcase easily. I checked out just before 11 and asked the hotel to store my suitcase for me. Yay. I went shopping. I explored Billboard place and found a couple of strange things. The Mujistore that was there has moved, and the Sony Plaza store is gone. Ack. I loved that place.

I had a delightful lunch upstairs at the teashop. I had the lunch set, which was a couple of tiny pancakes, a salad, then a souffle-style omelette with vegetables in it and some bacon on top. I also had dessert and a pot of tea. Very nice.

After lunch, I decided to explore LoveLa, the other major shopping area near the station. I went there and hacked around. The Virgin Megastore is gone again. Sigh. I bought a few things, including a couple of magazines, but really didn't spend all that much.

Around 4:30 I had a cheap and not so healthy lunch at KFC, then went back to the hotel to get my bag. I took my backpack out, and then sealed everything back up again. I walked to the station and got on the train early.

The ride home was pleasant, except for the child that sat behind me. She kept banging the window and making other annoying noises. Still, my iPod was on and I was enjoying the music!

Fumihiko met me at the station and then took me to Benkei for dinner. It's an izakaya. I'm not sure why he chose it! The food is good, but since they moved and upgraded it, I just haven't felt the same about it. After dinner, we stopped at my school to set the heater and then bought a few groceries. I begged off cooking dinner tomorrow. I have an early class tomorrow so won't really have a lot of time I think.

We came home and I unpacked. I have a mound of laundry that really needs to be done soon, hopefully I can do a bit tomorrow. We also had some coffee and watched ER.

That's it. I'm home again. I really hope that I don't go anywhere for a couple of weeks now. I needed to get away, but now I need to stay in one place for a while!

Night.