Last of the Year

I'm changing my domain name provider...more than a few of you won't know what that means, but suffice it to say, it's been a pain in the butt! So far, I've lost a day of my life to lack of sleep, come down with the worst cold I can remember (still can't talk normally after 2 1/2 weeks), totally lost a year's worth of e-mail (including very important work and work-contact information) and basically haven't even managed to fix my work e-mail as of this typing.

I just woke up in the chair (again). I'm still not fully packed for my trip to Kochi...which has a departure time some three hours from now. Too much time for a shower, and not enough for sleep in an actual bed. If I'm not ready, it's not for Taka's lack of heroic efforts. She has almost everything ready to go. I only need to finish the essentials (toiletries, iPod charger, Palm stuff, cell phone accesories, etc.). So far, I have failed miserably at packing.

I meant to do a whole post on this, but I'll just mention that in the lull when I thought I was over this cold (but was about to relapse) about a week and a half ago, Taka and I went to a concert. We saw the Yoshida Brothers (Yoshida Kyodai in Japanese). They were fantastic!!!!!!!

Suffice it for now to say that if you've never seen two brothers that have been playing together for 25 years on three-stringed traditional instruments with what looks for all the world like an ice scraper, you need to broaden your horizons. Seriously, these guys were great. They played everything from traditional Japanese, to jazz, to some pretty rockin' pieces. Their back-up band included traditional Japanese drums (taiko), a traditional flute (shakuhashi), an electric violin(!), a western drummer, a keyboard, and both a base and rhythm guitar. The Yoshida brothers played separately and in almost every combination with their backup band as well as just the two of them alone. There was music to suit almost every style imaginable. In short, a great concert!

As I mentioned before, I'm off to Kochi for the New Year in a few hours. It'll be nice to get out of Tokyo for a while. I like Taka's family, and there will be loads of fantastic food and drink. I'm even going to get to spend some time at a hot spring! Can't say I'm looking forward to the airport/plane thing though. It might not be as bad as the States, but any trip through an airport is one I'd rather not deal with...just an evil that needs to be embraced when you want to be someplace far away.

The whole trip will be a little tough on Taka (and I don't just mean the packing). My Japanese skills are nowhere near up to the task of dealing with her family (hell, they mostly don't even speak standard Japanese anyway...it's something called Tosa-ben). I'll try to be better this year (by not asking her to translate everything all the time), but that won't help when the guys are all over and drinking. Her uncles have been known to wait outside the bathroom to get her to translate something to me once the beer starts flowing. Taka's a trooper, but it gets to be a bit much. I'll try to lighten her load a little this year. When I told her that I'd take my Japanese book (Japanese for Busy People) with me, she laughed (when she finished choking). I've had the book for 10 years and have made it to chapter six at least five times (the book has 40 chapters).

Well...Happy New Year to all! May it be everything everyone is hoping for.

Peace.