Date night, we are heading to Nectar thanks to a coupon that Bob's folks gave us to use when we had lunch/dinner with them on New Year's Day. I look forward to my infrequent sampling of the foie gras with just a bit of hyper wiggling anticipation. Just a bit.
Tonight is also the night we go to the bank and officially tell them to attach the Travel Savings account to a credit card. And then... we go home and book our tickets on All Nippon Airways, landing in Narita Tokyo on May 16th. (The tricky part having been that we took off on May 15th!)
We will then also proceed to make reservations and the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo, a ryokan in Kyoto, and a nice small place in the heart of downtown after we're done with an evening of relaxing.
It is really hard to believe that we've been saving over a year for this, and that we've achieved the goal already! Anything past this will cover the rapidly tanking dollar vs. yen issue. it will help cover food and transportation as well, and possibly also some souvenirs. It's just amazing that we've got it done and still have 5 more months to save more. This is going to be a fantastic trip.
I don't know what I'm looking forward to most; perhaps being completely immersed in Japanese culture instead of the filtered fleeting glimpses we get through an Americanized viewscope over here? The feeling of being in a completely foreign place and navigating it with intelligence? Sitting down in front of a TV or a movie screen and being able to follow the common themes that belong to all human beings even though we'll only vaguely understand the details of the story we're watching? Experiencing a culture much older and more profound than the one I was born in to? All of these are very present in my mind.
Oh, such plans we have... such plans!
This is day 4 of "no coffee for Helen" trial #8. I am hoping by preparing myself very strong black and jasmine teas that I will get around the need for the caffeine. Day 4 tends to be about where I crumble. And I'll be honest, I can feel the brain doing the prune-job it always does on Day 4 when there isn't enough caffeine in the world to help power it along. I shall persevere, however. I'd really like to say that I can operate without the stuff in case of something like a nuclear war that obliterates all of the coffea arabica plants but somehow leaves the camellia sinensis........?
Just go with it and smile. The arabica plants are grown in more tumultuous areas than the sinensis are...there is logic to that statement, I swear it.
I got my hands on some sock yarn and I am quite seriously contemplating learning how to make socks. I'm told by many voiceless sources on the interwebs that by doing so I open my life up to a world of luxury and decadence the likes of which normal men do not get to experience. AFter all, how many people get to wear hand made socks??! I am also told that because it is such a small project that one can by smaller balls of yarn and still complete it, allowing one to make their socks from such formerly formidable things as yak down, cashmere, silk and angora. I am currently staring down two hanks of yarn, one self striped with black and purple that is made of merino wool, silk and nylon. The other is merino wool and acrylic with just a touch of bamboo. I've been too scared to touch either one of them for fear that the failure at the sock project would sound off a klaxon in my merely coming in contact with the fibers. It would be SO imminent that the gods would just be waiting for me to step up to it to warn me of how horrid it would be. Then they would provide me with a book on fancy macrame to try instead, so I could just wrap my feet in strings instead.
I made the mistake of not immediately converting one of the hanks in to a ball and was treated to 2 hours of unknotting and winding after Chaucer got a hold if it while we were in the midst of a power outage and scrambling for candles.
As an aside, it's VERY soft and I can't wait to see how it feels.
I got my "korean mink" blanket last night finally. It is incredibly warm and very, very soft. I would get one again if we needed it (but in person because I got gyped on shipping.) and I think it would probably be excellent for keeping us warm while campking. As it is, I got it to cover myself while meditating in the 3rd bedroom.
Also have some lovely new things from Victoria's Secret that I must say I am highly pleased with.
There were other things I was going to go on about, but with the lack of caffeine I find my brain has given up for now. So we'll call this good.
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