Whither weather?

[dr4b]

It's supposed to rain on and off for the next few days. Of course, tomorrow is all-day practice for Sports Day, and Sports Day is on Sunday... I guess it's tsuyu time soon.

I got paid, so today I actually went to make sure I could take out money. I showed up at a Shinsei ATM in Ikebukuro just as they were apparently either supplying or unsupplying an ATM with cash, so there were these two security guards looking very strict (but not particularly dangerous to be honest). It was a bit weird. But yeah, all is right with the world.

I went to Mint and spent like 6000 yen on baseball cards because I'd been so good and held off until payday. Got the Tokyo Big 6 2009 Spring set full price, got the 2008 Spring set for 1000 yen. Also got the 2009 Fighters and Marines team sets for 1260 each (100 cards in the set, no rares, it's a decent deal). I played some UFO catchers and got some more stuffed animals I don't need, and I also played some Pop'n, and I had my favorite kaitensushi for dinner.

I did something very odd tonight -- I cut and polished my fingernails. I guess I'm sick of the kids at school exclaiming that I'm some kind of mutant freak because my nails are so long. And I figured I still had the polish that Yoichi gave me as a goodbye present from GEOS (he works for a cosmetics company here and used to always come to class with his nails painted from the tests in his lab). I actually can't remember the last time I painted my fingernails, first, but second... I don't have any nail polish remover, nor do I know how to say it in Japanese, so I'm sure in a week or two I'll be at Ito Yokado or Matsukiyo pantomiming wildly to try to get some.

I really should join a gym. I really miss the one back in Seattle. I'm kind of afraid of being stared at all the time if I join one here.

Comments

[firearmofmutiny.livejournal.com]

From what I saw, gym memberships are expensive as fuck in Japan. It didn't really help me that despite their advertised long hours (open 'til midnight), I still managed to be held at work past the entirety of their operating hours. XD;

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

Hmm... now you have to make up a story about having a romantic date and so that's why you polished your nails.

[guitarcries.livejournal.com]

I joined a gym when I was in Japan and it seemed like mostly people hardly noticed me. There were occasionally other gaijin in there too. I found that the employees at my gym were incredibly friendly and helpful and sometimes even a little clingy. Too much at first for me, but I got used to it. Gyms are a great place to observe a microcosm of Japanese culture - people doing synchronized stretching to a video, taking off and putting on your shoes a million times, watching everyone wait patiently in a straight line for a class to start. I really recommend it!

[isamum.livejournal.com]

There's a gym on the 4th (or maybe the 5th or 6th?) floor of Bivio called "Renaissance." The price isn't too bad, but I'd join when they have some kind of deal going -- as in no 入会金.

Being a male type, I know nothing about nail polish and the rituals therein, but because I'm weird and make scale models I have a bottle of nail polish remover. (You can actually use it in making models.) The bottle I have is made by Kanebo and has printed, in English, "Nail Color Remover Media." (I think Media is the name of the product line.) In the back in Japanese it says メディア　ネイルカラーリムーバー. Having written that, this particular brand might not be available any more since I think I bought the bottle before Kanebo filed for the Japanese version of Chapter 11. Plus, I think I've heard the term マニキュアはがし with reference to nail polish remover, but I'm not positive.