Do You See What I See?

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!



That's my TV, in Japan. That's the Red Sox on my TV, in Japan. I got a pleasant surprise Saturday morning. I went through my Saturday morning Red Sox ritual of waking up at some ungodly hour (6 a.m.-ish)to sign into my mlb.com account, tune into the Sox game, and promptly fall back asleep until about the 7th inning. But no sooner had I passed out again when Chieko came running in to tell me the game was on TV. This was not anticipated, but now we know the weekly TV guide type flier we get in the mail is full of lies!
So I enjoyed watching the game Saturday morning, at least until about the 4th inning, when Japanese TV promptly ended the broadcast to play some show about people eating, which is all that's ever on TV here. But it was nice while it lasted, and I listened to the rest of the game, which turned out to be a dramatic win as the Sox scored a mess of runs off of the untouchable Mariano Rivera to win the game in the 8th.
Let's talk about the sweep of the Yankees that the Red Sox just pulled off (you listening Sheryl? :-)
First, the caveats: it's April; the Yankees rotation sucks, and they are on the cusp of getting their real pitchers back; regardless of one series, the Red Sox and Yankees basically end up splitting the season's games 50/50.
That said, I'll take a sweep of the Yankees any way I can get it. And there was some exciting games, not the least of which was the back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs yesterday. That was cool, and there's no team I'd rather see the Red Sox do that to than the Yankees. Round two is next weekend in Yankee Stadium, and I won't be surprised if they turn around and sweep the Sox in return. But I'll enjoy the moment while all the Yankee fans try to brush this off by citing most of the caveats I've already mentioned.
The rest of our weekend was also enjoyable. Saturday in general was hectic around here as the big elections were on Sunday, so the megaphone-mobiles were making the rounds extra slowly, with the speakers cranked up just a little louder. In turn, my neighbor's dog was losing it's mind barking for the majority of the day, so it was a bit loud and obnoxious around here. Thankfully that's all done now. I don't know, nor do I care, who won the stupid election. I'm just happy relative peace and quiet has returned to our neck of the woods.
Friday night we attended the wedding party of some friends of ours, which was quite enjoyable. I showed a modicum of restraint and came home around midnight, while Chieko went off with the ladies until some ungodly hour. I don't know when she got home, but she was in bed in the morning, and stayed there for most of the day. Here's a picture of us from the party, looking like a million yen.



So today it was back to work. After this week, we'll have a week off for a group of national holidays known as 'Golden Week.' We're weighing our options in terms of what to do, if anything. In the running: visit the in laws, head to Tokyo, do absolutely nothing. Tough decision, as they are all attractive options.
Spring is booming here, which is nice. They've flooded the rice paddies, and the frogs be singing. Personally, I like listening to frogs as I'm nodding off, which is what I'm going to do now. Sorry for the lack of posting lately, I will try and devote more time to keeping everyone up to speed on my exotic, fascinating life! Night.