alright! I'm here in Seattle! on a new laptop! with a new phone number!
Flight was long and I only slept for one hour of it. I wish that wasn't typical. This time I didn't even spend all the time watching movies since all the movies sucked. I just didn't sleep. Bleh.
No trouble with customs or whatnot on the way out, but on the way in, as I mentioned, I had to go through the damn line twice because I didn't know in advance to fill out my reentry permit. Sheesh. I barely got to the gate on time. On the other hand I had kaitensushi for lunch before I headed in so I guess it's my fault for that. The place is the same chain as the place by Suidobashi station that I go to sometimes. And, I bought some omiyage in the airport, whee.
However, I am really annoyed at Advantage rent-a-car and will not rent from them again. Maybe it's because of my circumstances or what, but it turns out I have to pay like $320 for renting the car for five days instead of the $100 quoted online, due to "fees" and "tax" and "insurance" and some special thing for out-of-country residents -- I don't know if it'd be worse for in-state residents! And THEN they don't even have their cars at the airport, but at a place a 10-minute shuttle ride away, at 208th and Highway 99. Bleh. There's more to it but basically I am unhappy about the experience with them.
Then I drove up here. That was really scary at first. I took 99 for fear of I-5. Got here okay, talked to Zach and Carl for a while, petted Sherlock and Watson doggies, and then Carl and I went up to Northgate together (he drove, because I was all freaked out over driving at the time. yes, we are now in a world where Carl would rather drive than me -- though I feel bad because gas costs like $3.57!!!). My mission was to get a cellphone. But the T-Mobile people in the mall were RUDE and aloof and simply wouldn't help me because "if you don't sign up for a month, it comes out of our paychecks". I was in sheer disbelief in the stark contrast to customer service in Japan, sheesh.
We grabbed lunch at Chipotle (splitting an order of tacos), looked at clothes in JC Penney's, stopped by Best Buy to check out laptops and find out if Carl could recycle batteries there... and I saw what looked like a good laptop deal. This HP pavilion dv6815nr for $649 weekly special. so I talked to some people there about it and said I might come back after thinking about it.
We stopped by the T-Mobile store at 85th and 15th, and the people there were super-cool -- I told them I wanted to prepay and activate my old T-Mobile phone and they did. So now I have a cellphone working for the week. I'll be posting the number in a friends-only entry, if you aren't on my friends list and need the phone number, email me.
I called Paul (pdb) after that since he was in town and I made my way down to the Elysian. Sadly by the time I got there around 4:30, Brett & friends had just left, and Paul and Mark were also about to leave! Doh!! So I chatted with them a few minutes, then ended up hanging out for an hour talking to![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gomezticator and Matthew and Johnbai and some others about baseball. I want everyone to call Bedard "Five For One" but these guys are too young to remember Von Hayes. WTF?
Came home. Oren and Carl and Zach and Rehana were playing Wii Smash Brothers or whatever. We ended up heading to dinner at Taste of India in the U District at my request. Oddly, and I am not making this up, there were TWO separate parties of Japanese people waiting for tables outside the same time we were. One of the groups had a very young son who wandered over to our group, so I kneeled down like "Konnichiwa!" and he smiled, and I asked the grandmother-type how old the boy was, and the father-type-probly-around-my-age was like "oh, you speak japanese! wow!" so I explained that I live in Saitama and had literally just returned to Seattle today. I was wearing my Chunichi Kawakami t-shirt all day today, so he asked if I liked Kawakami and I said yeah, and it turns out they moved to Seattle from Nagoya. Crazy.
Oh, and the Indian food was good, especially the unlimited iced chai. I split chicken tikka masala with Zach.
Carl and I went back to Best Buy after that and I bought this laptop. YAY.
The rest of the evening has been spent setting up the laptop, talking to people, etc.
You know what's weird? I mean, it's almost 1am Sunday here, which is like 5pm Sunday Japan time. I woke up at 8am Saturday Japan time, after 3 hours sleep. And I slept for 1 hour on the plane. So I have pretty much been awake for 33 hours... and something more like, slept only 4 hours in the last 60. Yet, I do not feel tired. I don't really get it.
Also, it is REALLY freaking me out to be in Seattle. I keep trying to remind myself that I don't have to speak in Japanese when talking to other people, and it is so weird that everything is in English and everyone here is a foreigner! Even just being here in my old house with my old friends, it's a little bit hard to believe I'm here... especially right now, typing on a new computer in what used to be my old videogame/guest room but is now Carl's office/guest room. Carl and I have been chatting in Japanese on and off all day though, which is helping my brain a little I guess.
But yeah,bhudson remarked that it's weird to be home when home isn't home anymore, and I'm kinda feeling that too. The house is the same, and yet... it isn't. I am happy to be here though. And to have a new computer! Oren took home the clunky big one and is going to see what he can do with it. It's easier to give it to him than to figure out how to dispose of old electronics in Japan, I think...
No trouble with customs or whatnot on the way out, but on the way in, as I mentioned, I had to go through the damn line twice because I didn't know in advance to fill out my reentry permit. Sheesh. I barely got to the gate on time. On the other hand I had kaitensushi for lunch before I headed in so I guess it's my fault for that. The place is the same chain as the place by Suidobashi station that I go to sometimes. And, I bought some omiyage in the airport, whee.
However, I am really annoyed at Advantage rent-a-car and will not rent from them again. Maybe it's because of my circumstances or what, but it turns out I have to pay like $320 for renting the car for five days instead of the $100 quoted online, due to "fees" and "tax" and "insurance" and some special thing for out-of-country residents -- I don't know if it'd be worse for in-state residents! And THEN they don't even have their cars at the airport, but at a place a 10-minute shuttle ride away, at 208th and Highway 99. Bleh. There's more to it but basically I am unhappy about the experience with them.
Then I drove up here. That was really scary at first. I took 99 for fear of I-5. Got here okay, talked to Zach and Carl for a while, petted Sherlock and Watson doggies, and then Carl and I went up to Northgate together (he drove, because I was all freaked out over driving at the time. yes, we are now in a world where Carl would rather drive than me -- though I feel bad because gas costs like $3.57!!!). My mission was to get a cellphone. But the T-Mobile people in the mall were RUDE and aloof and simply wouldn't help me because "if you don't sign up for a month, it comes out of our paychecks". I was in sheer disbelief in the stark contrast to customer service in Japan, sheesh.
We grabbed lunch at Chipotle (splitting an order of tacos), looked at clothes in JC Penney's, stopped by Best Buy to check out laptops and find out if Carl could recycle batteries there... and I saw what looked like a good laptop deal. This HP pavilion dv6815nr for $649 weekly special. so I talked to some people there about it and said I might come back after thinking about it.
We stopped by the T-Mobile store at 85th and 15th, and the people there were super-cool -- I told them I wanted to prepay and activate my old T-Mobile phone and they did. So now I have a cellphone working for the week. I'll be posting the number in a friends-only entry, if you aren't on my friends list and need the phone number, email me.
I called Paul (pdb) after that since he was in town and I made my way down to the Elysian. Sadly by the time I got there around 4:30, Brett & friends had just left, and Paul and Mark were also about to leave! Doh!! So I chatted with them a few minutes, then ended up hanging out for an hour talking to
gomezticator and Matthew and Johnbai and some others about baseball. I want everyone to call Bedard "Five For One" but these guys are too young to remember Von Hayes. WTF?Came home. Oren and Carl and Zach and Rehana were playing Wii Smash Brothers or whatever. We ended up heading to dinner at Taste of India in the U District at my request. Oddly, and I am not making this up, there were TWO separate parties of Japanese people waiting for tables outside the same time we were. One of the groups had a very young son who wandered over to our group, so I kneeled down like "Konnichiwa!" and he smiled, and I asked the grandmother-type how old the boy was, and the father-type-probly-around-my-age was like "oh, you speak japanese! wow!" so I explained that I live in Saitama and had literally just returned to Seattle today. I was wearing my Chunichi Kawakami t-shirt all day today, so he asked if I liked Kawakami and I said yeah, and it turns out they moved to Seattle from Nagoya. Crazy.
Oh, and the Indian food was good, especially the unlimited iced chai. I split chicken tikka masala with Zach.
Carl and I went back to Best Buy after that and I bought this laptop. YAY.
The rest of the evening has been spent setting up the laptop, talking to people, etc.
You know what's weird? I mean, it's almost 1am Sunday here, which is like 5pm Sunday Japan time. I woke up at 8am Saturday Japan time, after 3 hours sleep. And I slept for 1 hour on the plane. So I have pretty much been awake for 33 hours... and something more like, slept only 4 hours in the last 60. Yet, I do not feel tired. I don't really get it.
Also, it is REALLY freaking me out to be in Seattle. I keep trying to remind myself that I don't have to speak in Japanese when talking to other people, and it is so weird that everything is in English and everyone here is a foreigner! Even just being here in my old house with my old friends, it's a little bit hard to believe I'm here... especially right now, typing on a new computer in what used to be my old videogame/guest room but is now Carl's office/guest room. Carl and I have been chatting in Japanese on and off all day though, which is helping my brain a little I guess.
But yeah,
bhudson remarked that it's weird to be home when home isn't home anymore, and I'm kinda feeling that too. The house is the same, and yet... it isn't. I am happy to be here though. And to have a new computer! Oren took home the clunky big one and is going to see what he can do with it. It's easier to give it to him than to figure out how to dispose of old electronics in Japan, I think...
no subject
no subject
Are you aware of the earplugs that help with the air pressure issues? They would kind of preclude music, so you get your pick of pain or music... Otherwise, a doctor-friend recommended visiting an ENT specialist; apparently there is minor surgery that can help a lot (basically by making the narrow passages wider), not that I've tried it. Last thing: I often take both decongestant and allergy meds, and I drink tons of water, which helps (clogged sinuses are bad, but so are dry sinuses).
no subject
I definitely need to visit an ENT, the problem, as always, is the insurance. When I'm flying I take a decongestant, and recently I've started having to take an antiemetic too.
no subject
no subject
And ok, I'll try to make a plan for going down there! I was seriously considering my 8-hours-of-local-trains idea just for fun, though, still...
no subject
no subject
no subject
I am also going to Pittsburgh, on Wednesday night.
no subject
no subject
http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2008/4/2/388811/becu-family-nights-10-view is our thread about Monday. I don't know how many people will go so it'd be nice to see you. We usually just take over a few rows, spread out, and make fun of the Mariners.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject