I didn't do anything, but Jeff did

I haven't done much in the past week besides hang out with some folks. I met Helen for lunch, who suspects, as you already know if you've been keeping up with her stuff, that she has latent TB. Here she is, very happily showing off her skin test gone blistery in an ominous way:




















I also, that day, saw the people lining up for the new iPhone (some people for the past 3 days, I guess) on Omotesando-dori. I guess it's really cool , I don't know. At the moment I just want my phone to make and recieve calls and simple text, but I may change my mind after Jeff gets one and I have phone envy.















I wandered around for a couple hours and got kind of lost on purpose to avoid shopping on Takeshita-dori, and later met with Martine, with whom I went to Kichijoji for my farewell to that bit of Japan. I met Andrea Innocent, whom I knew was talented, and her friend Beck, whom I did not know, did not know was talented, and is. She made these:















Those two (Andrea and Beck) went to karaoke with Martine, Christian, and Dr. Dave, and me.















If you've ever wondered what karaoke in Japan is really like, well, here ya go. If you're not wondering, too damn bad, because I just got a new laptop and I can actually make movies with my computer crashing, so I had a good time making it whether you watch it or not. And maybe you don't want to.



I took the kids to Ueno Zoo the next day, not that exciting, I've posted pictures of that already but JEFF WENT TO GO CLIMB MT. FUJI. With Macky. That's way cooler. I stole these photos off of his guide's website.



























































































































He said it was hard. And great. And he'll never do it again. Except maybe in a few years if the kids want to do it (maybe), or me (fat chance).

Then I kind of lost the rest of the week. Something about meeting Cynthia for lunch and getting home at 5am. Oh, yeah, that was the night we met up with Helen and Kevin (shhh!). Stuff was closed, no darts, no pool. Some cards, I think. I'm not sure what happened. And then, did I mention I got a new laptop today? I also went to Jeff's farewell BBQ on the base. But only because he bribed me with a new laptop. He got a giant signed-by-coworkers picture and a really nice speech was made about him. Cuz he rocks.

One thing that did happen this week is that I turned around and noticed that we have TWO WEEKS. Shit. Go ahead, ask me if we've started packing. Go, ahead, ask me. The answer is HELL NO. We don't really have to, anyway. It's being packed for us. All we have to do is put aside the suitcase stuff that we can't do without for a month, and get rid of a bunch of stuff we aren't taking. Kids' bunks are going on Monday. POS half-working washer-dryer (have I mentioned that I've finally gone Japanese and started hanging my clothes outside to dry on one of those 100-yen plastic things? Why do some clothes dry so stiff and nasty, like tube socks and towels, but other stuff is fine? Ancient domestic knowledge that has died off in my neck of the woods) has a home, as do some other household items. Car needs to go. Some books. Fish. I keep thinking there's time for these things. But the days are slipping by.

I swear to god, Helen, if you leave me a sad comment, I'm gonna stuff you in my closet with all the suitcase stuff.