running around all over today, kinda

Today I stayed home and liveblogged the Fighters Opening Day game, which was on TV. It was Darvish vs. Sugiuchi, and the Hawks won 5-3, which kinda sucked. Beforehand, I rode my bike for the first time this year, over to Saboten to get a katsu bento for lunch (it's just superstition -- I get a katsu bento with a Hokkaido croquette and some other stuff in it, before watching Fighters games on BS1). Was nice to ride again. I did laundry during the game though, and so that was good.

In the evening I went down to look around for some stuff. Went to the Tokyo Dome and got some baseball tickets -- so now I have a visitor's cheering seat for the Dragons-Giants game on April 9th (YOMIURI TAOSE O!) and two tickets each for the Fighters games on March 30 and 31 for when Mike is here, because this year they're actually letting you buy tickets in advance and get the fan club discount! Hooray!

Made my way to Akihabara after that. Looked around Yodobashi for some things, didn't find them, but DID find an awesome "N700 Shinkansen" deck of cards for 700 yen. It is SERIOUSLY THE COOLEST DECK OF CARDS THAT HAS EVER LIVED. EVER:


(stolen from the Nikkei release)

The backs are the shinkansen train, the front is either stations or train trivia questions, and the cards are shaped like an N700 shinkansen. So awesome. I have no clue whether it's actually possible to play anything with these, but so what?

Okay, so anyway, I went up to the 8th floor of Yodobashi and got ramen at Chabuya for dinner because it had been a while (and still damn tasty). Then I did something odd: I went to Warabi.

Warabi is where I used to live, and I was hoping to find a second level to the plastic cheapo 100-yen DVD rack I have, that I bought at the Can-Do 100-yen store there like 2.5 years ago. I haven't been able to find one at any other Can-Do stores, but figured it was worth a try, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I went back to Warabi. Period. There really is no reason to unless I was going to go to Diamond City mall, I guess, and there's no real reason to go there either.

Anyway, it turns out that Warabi is dumb. The Ito Yokado changed into some "Best Price" place, and the Can Do moved from its own building into the 4th floor of the Yokado, so they have a lot less stuff than they used to, and, you guessed it... no DVD racks. So, crap.

Walking around the Warabi station area reminded me that I'm really glad I live in Tokyo now, though. :) I mean, there were some good things about where I lived, but I was a mile from the station, nearer the big industrial road that had a lot of stores and whatnot because lots of people drove there. So there were a lot more bikeable things and a lot more things within 2-3 blocks of my house, rather than the way I have to walk down to the station or bike to Motohasunuma to really be near stores, but on the other hand there's so much MORE in Akabane that it doesn't even compare.

Anyway, came home... now debating what to do tomorrow. I was thinking to stay home and watch the Fighters on TV again, although now am thinking of going to either a minor-league game or an industrial league game instead. I dunno. We'll see how I feel in the morning and how the weather is, I suppose...

also, wow! one week until Mike gets here :)

The Project To Divide One Room Into Two

I said I'd post pictures sometime, so here you are.

( Lots of photos -- watch as Deanna turns one room into two by using cardboard and tape and bookcases. )

And then today I covered the cardboard with posters to make it look like a real wall. What do you think?



Does it mostly look like there's a real wall there?
I still need to fill in like 45 centimeters worth with more cardboard on that left part -- sadly I can't use the sliding segment because there's an outlet in the way and it can't go all the way to the wall. But so far, so good, I think...

Oh, as for the rest of the day

Slept really late because I couldn't get to sleep last night due to a stomachache and due to RIDICULOUSLY LOUD WINDS shaking my house and making noise all night. So I ended up not going to any games today (had some options to, but oh well), and instead stayed home and watched the Fighters and watched Koshien. The Fighters lost in a heartbreaking way, but with Koshien, at least Tsuruga Kehi beat Tenri, which was funny, and then I saw about half of the game with Nichidai San stomping Yamagata Chuo, which wasn't surprising.

I'm actually headed to Osaka tomorrow, and to Koshien on Tue-Thurs. Shame that the weather forecast is ABYSMAL.

The winds have actually been really ridiculous, I don't know what's up with that. I decided to ride my bike down to Oyama for dinner -- was going to get 100-yen kaitensushi, but the place was PACKED, so I went to Coco Ichibanya instead and got this current seasonal "sakusaku chicken katsu curry" which was FANTASTIC. I also went to the Can-Do 100-yen shop there, and found the DVD racks I wanted!!! So now I added a new one to my old one and it's a lot better.

Riding my bike was kinda tough at times due to the wind. It made it cold and it made it hard to control the bike. I thought I'd twisted my ankle at one point where I took an awkward turn onto the sidewalk to avoid falling onto the road, but nothing hurts now so I guess it's probably fine.

I don't have much else to say about the day. I sorted my old calendars from their poster forms, and then I put up some posters on the fake wall that I made out of cardboard. I mostly put up stuff I don't actually want to keep, on the idea that I might not be able to easily get it off the wall thingy afterwards anyway. It's really a little weird in the mornings when I go out to the outside room and it's like... hey, only half the room is here! But it's cool.

I should be packing for Koshien but instead I think I'll nap.