Happiness, Sportiness, Bizarreness, and a Little Sadness

So Jeff is out of town, right? I'm in the bathroom, ready to go to bed 'round midnight, and I hear my front door being unlocked. Wha?! It's Macky. He has the key because he's borrowing the car while Jeff is gone. He has a girl with him, who has missed the last train, and bags in his hand, full of food. He tried to call me, but my phone was in the other room all night, and I never heard it. After hearing that Tomoi will also be coming over, I declare the Davis Izakaya and Hotel open. And go to bed. Too tired for the shenanigans.

Was I annoyed that Macky just let himself into my house at midnight on a Tuesday? A little, at first. But then I just shrugged. He's like part of the family, and our house is like home to him, so why not. Besides, he was gone by the time I got up, and left me a fridge full of leftovers. And a broken glass on the patio. I have a feeling that was Tomoi, around whom glass tends to break. Whatever. It's not like were going to take that glass back with us.

What I thought about was how sad Macky is going to be when we, and our house, are no longer available for impromptu late-night eating and drinking and listening to records. And how sad we will be that he won't be popping over at strange times to whip up yummy treats.

Jeff was also getting a little melancholy when he realized that he has already started saying good-bye to people, namely those parents and teachers at the kids' school who will be gone by the time he gets back from his trip. Hakan will be off to Turkey to get married. Some fellow-parents are also going back to their home countries. First good-byes at the Horizon Sports Day.

This was a re-scheduled-due-to-rain annual event on what was also, coincidentally, Father's Day. Like the old field-day-type thing. Sack races, tug-o-war, races. Jeff did two separate races with a kid on his back (I couldn't believe they didn't stop at 2nd graders - they expected parents to piggyback fifth graders), and won! D won his age-group sprint. Our team, of which I was actually a participating member, won the relay race, too! We were (unofficially) voted Fastest Family.

Here's a quick montage, you know, for anyone who cares, like family (I know the one long-jump pic is up too long, but that P.O.S. Windows Movie Maker froze up every time I tried to fix it, sue me):



D standing with his medal, with dad and Mr. Kara, the principal:




















The day's winners:















A swell Father's Day, I think, though having M on his back had some ill after-effects for Jeff.

Earlier in the week, I went with Helen to visit Kevin in the hospital. I had to buy a mask inside the front door. Heavy-duty, too, not just the usual sort you see on the streets.




















Kevin's sister Sarah was there already, inside the Germinator's tiny curtained alcove. Helen gave him his weekly contraband beer, and we chatted for awhile, listening to the guy in the next bed hacking and trying to breathe, and reading quotes from an inspirational book Helen's grandma (?) sent.















I don't think it's helping. Especially after Nurse Ratchett came and rudely kicked us out. Fair enough, it was after visiting hours, but they don't usually hold to them, as Helen has barely any time after work to visit and WE ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE HE TALKS TO since everyone else around is Japanese. To make it worse, bitch-nurse was complaining loudly to another patient how rude these foreigners are. Not realizing that one of us speaks excellent Japanese (Helen, not me, duh). Jee-zus. He has also had complaints about humming while brushing his teeth, whistling while making coffee, and wearing deodorant. Apparently these people have never heard about positive thinking aiding in the healing process. THERE WILL BE NO HAPPINESS HERE. Poor Kevin. If it were me, I'd act up as much as possible, in defiance. Sing. Tap dance in the halls. Recite German poetry to the other patients. What are they gonna do, kick him out??? I'm sure he'd welcome it. Kevin, are you reading this? Don't let those assholes get you down.

His sister is very cool, by the way. Very mature for her 22? years. Pretty, too.

I also went to Tyler's event called "29 and Shoe" with Martine. I was dying to know why it was called that. Apparently, Tyler just turned 29, and he was having a little exposition of his photos, which center around, you guessed it, a shoe. Floating in the water. They were very cool, way cooler because they were unaltered in any way. Couldn't Photoshop such serendipitous art. Anyway, there were a few performers, including a guy who does Tuvan throat-singing, which sounds cooler than it looks. Weird. And ipod dj-ing. Which is my favorite. Which drove most of the guests away. Which degenerated into Darrin instigating a Queen-themed karaoke session. Awesome.

Speaking of weird, this was parked outside the bar. I don't know why.















To wrap it up and book-end the Father's Day thing, we went over to the Makimoto house to present Macky's dad with the painting I did of the old ice-company family photo. Total surprise. Apparently, the original photo was given to the city of Yokohama, as an historical treasure (behind us is the plaque-thingy they gave him for it). Macky said his dad got teary. I didn't see.















So the kids' last day of school is next Tuesday. Yea. I jump up and down with glee. Remind me to stock up on wine.