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More fun with bike riding
Today was a sort of wacky day. My two 3pm students took me out for dinner after class, as a "belated welcome party". We went to a sushi restaurant under Akabane station, and they ordered a bazillion things. Random sushi, random tempura, a weird selection of tofu, some soups, etc. It was way too much stuff for three people (and in the end I think it cost like 4000 yen, which they paid for, and made me feel really bad, though since we spent the 2 hours at the restaurant speaking in English, maybe I can think of it as getting sushi in return for more English practice). I tried yuzu miso on tofu, which was pretty great, and scallops sushi which was also pretty great, but they also made me try other things that I didn't like, like pickled daikon, and strange leafy tempura. Still, it was nice, although I was totally stuffed for the rest of the day.
Evening classes were odd for various reasons probably best not discussed in a public entry. Not really that bad, just odd. But anyway, despite that things mostly went well, I was still annoyed at myself for something when I left work, so I played a game of PNM when I got to Warabi, since I had a desire to hit something. I decided I was still stuffed from that big dinner, so rather than getting food, I should take a bike ride for a while. For a lack of anywhere better to go, I headed north from the bike garage, since I hadn't really explored that area.
There's a big lighted street that I guess is the main street of Shiba, maybe (I live in Shibanakata, which is next to it). I rode up that for a long time, expecting to hit water eventually. I ran out of lighted street around the same time I hit an elementary school, which was vast and made it difficult to tell where the streets went. I made my way around the elementary school and continued north. It was a pretty nice ride since there were no cars out, just a few other bikers and assorted points of light from vending machines.
After riding for a while up that new road, I finally hit something familiar. Unfortunately, it wasn't the river I expected; it was the BIG FUCKING HIGHWAY intersection that I had been terrified to ride my old bike across, several weeks ago, even before I was hit by a truck. I figured that was a pretty good turning-around point, since I didn't want to continue up a road I'd already been on, especially one that scared me.
I started back down the road and got a few blocks past where I'd turned north. I heard a sound like the crack of a baseball bat, but I figured I was imagining things. That is, until I rode one more block and saw this:
Yes, the Shiba Batting Dome. I rode around the perimeter to check it out, and sure enough, there were some guys in there hitting baseballs off a pitching machine. Dude! It appears to be open from 10am-midnight most days, though I got there around 11:45pm and I was too scared to go in alone. I wish I could bring someone with me to go there sometime, but I don't really know if I know anyone who'd want to go to batting cages. Maybe I can ask my students. Hmm. Or better yet, next time I leave work and I want to hit things, this might be a good idea...
Dude. Batting cages! Nearby! Open late!
So, I tried to figure out exactly where the hell I was, so I could look it up on Google Maps later, but fortunately, there were several big landmarks nearby, including a bowling alley and a Welcia drugstore. It turns out to be on the same road as the Shibanakata post office, anyway.
Anyway, I got home intending to watch Megaspo, but instead ended up watching whatever sports program was on channel 8. Normally I would have been sad that there was so little coverage of the PL Playoff game today, except... the reason was, this show had Atsuya Furuta on as a guest. If you don't know who Furuta is, he's one of the greatest baseball players ever in Japan; just an insanely good catcher and hitter back in his prime, a former players' union leader, and until tonight he was the player-manager of the Yakult Swallows, though he didn't play much this year, people still made a big deal over "daida, ore", otherwise known as "Now pinch-hitting, me." Tonight was his last game as a player, and sure enough he did a Daida Ore in the 9th inning, AND he got a hit, too.
I really just sort of wanted to cry. The wacky thing about Furuta is that he doesn't even really look 42; I'd say he looks in his mid-30's. They did a whole retrospective on his career and had brief quotes from tons of random players, it was just sad. Funny how some teams passed on drafting him because of his ridiculously big glasses. Of course, some teams passed on drafting Ichiro because he was a ridiculously skinny runt, so hey, nobody's perfect. Still, Ichiro grew up and Furuta got smaller glasses, and both have had Hall of Fame careers, so hey.
The thing that sucks is that I never actually got to see Furuta play. Even in the Giants-Swallows game I went to in 2004, he didn't play; nor in any of the bunches of Yakult games I saw in the last two years. So, I am sad.
Anyway, I need to stop goofing off online and go to sleep. Bleh.
Evening classes were odd for various reasons probably best not discussed in a public entry. Not really that bad, just odd. But anyway, despite that things mostly went well, I was still annoyed at myself for something when I left work, so I played a game of PNM when I got to Warabi, since I had a desire to hit something. I decided I was still stuffed from that big dinner, so rather than getting food, I should take a bike ride for a while. For a lack of anywhere better to go, I headed north from the bike garage, since I hadn't really explored that area.
There's a big lighted street that I guess is the main street of Shiba, maybe (I live in Shibanakata, which is next to it). I rode up that for a long time, expecting to hit water eventually. I ran out of lighted street around the same time I hit an elementary school, which was vast and made it difficult to tell where the streets went. I made my way around the elementary school and continued north. It was a pretty nice ride since there were no cars out, just a few other bikers and assorted points of light from vending machines.
After riding for a while up that new road, I finally hit something familiar. Unfortunately, it wasn't the river I expected; it was the BIG FUCKING HIGHWAY intersection that I had been terrified to ride my old bike across, several weeks ago, even before I was hit by a truck. I figured that was a pretty good turning-around point, since I didn't want to continue up a road I'd already been on, especially one that scared me.
I started back down the road and got a few blocks past where I'd turned north. I heard a sound like the crack of a baseball bat, but I figured I was imagining things. That is, until I rode one more block and saw this:
Yes, the Shiba Batting Dome. I rode around the perimeter to check it out, and sure enough, there were some guys in there hitting baseballs off a pitching machine. Dude! It appears to be open from 10am-midnight most days, though I got there around 11:45pm and I was too scared to go in alone. I wish I could bring someone with me to go there sometime, but I don't really know if I know anyone who'd want to go to batting cages. Maybe I can ask my students. Hmm. Or better yet, next time I leave work and I want to hit things, this might be a good idea...
Dude. Batting cages! Nearby! Open late!
So, I tried to figure out exactly where the hell I was, so I could look it up on Google Maps later, but fortunately, there were several big landmarks nearby, including a bowling alley and a Welcia drugstore. It turns out to be on the same road as the Shibanakata post office, anyway.
Anyway, I got home intending to watch Megaspo, but instead ended up watching whatever sports program was on channel 8. Normally I would have been sad that there was so little coverage of the PL Playoff game today, except... the reason was, this show had Atsuya Furuta on as a guest. If you don't know who Furuta is, he's one of the greatest baseball players ever in Japan; just an insanely good catcher and hitter back in his prime, a former players' union leader, and until tonight he was the player-manager of the Yakult Swallows, though he didn't play much this year, people still made a big deal over "daida, ore", otherwise known as "Now pinch-hitting, me." Tonight was his last game as a player, and sure enough he did a Daida Ore in the 9th inning, AND he got a hit, too.
I really just sort of wanted to cry. The wacky thing about Furuta is that he doesn't even really look 42; I'd say he looks in his mid-30's. They did a whole retrospective on his career and had brief quotes from tons of random players, it was just sad. Funny how some teams passed on drafting him because of his ridiculously big glasses. Of course, some teams passed on drafting Ichiro because he was a ridiculously skinny runt, so hey, nobody's perfect. Still, Ichiro grew up and Furuta got smaller glasses, and both have had Hall of Fame careers, so hey.
The thing that sucks is that I never actually got to see Furuta play. Even in the Giants-Swallows game I went to in 2004, he didn't play; nor in any of the bunches of Yakult games I saw in the last two years. So, I am sad.
Anyway, I need to stop goofing off online and go to sleep. Bleh.
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