An update before I run away

This weekend I:m running away to Niigata. This trip was planned a little before I figured out the best ways of getting around in Japan, so it:s not planned so thouroughly as I would like, and I:m spending more money than I inteded, but I:ll get to see curi, and hopefully eat some sushi that:s not grown in warm water. Some salmon would be nice. They don:t have that here. And it:s kinda a specialty in Niigata, so I hear.

My plan is to fly out tomorrow evening and get to my hotel in Tokyo before they close the doors. I *shouldn:t* have to run. Then the next day I will maybe meet up with Tiffany for a little bit before curi drives down from Niigata to meet me and we both drive back.

Then I run around Yuki-kuni for two days and head back on the shinkansen on Monday to Tokyo to catch my plane back to the island life. I hope it:s WARM here when I get back. My kids are all still wearing shorts and I had that sweat is dripping down my back sensation today. It:s nice. Weird, but for the latitude, normal, which is nice.

I still don:t have my costume done, my house is a mess, and I have to take the trash out on my way to the airport tomorrow (hopefully noone will mind it being out there from 5:00pm the night before, hopefully the dogs won:t get into it). I don:t even know yet if I:m bringing my computer or leaving it at home. I:ll probably end up bringing it, but that:s just because i want to write, which is silly, I should be able to write by hand, and probably will on the plane. (Oh God, I just realized I:m going to be flying in a plane. I:d forgotten that part of this plan. Gods, I hate flying) But the computer allows me to think so much quicker, and allows me to go back and edit works, something that I hate doing by hand. And my voice is different. It:s funny how I can tell if I:ve written something by hand or by computer just by the tone of voice. And that I repeat words and make shorter sentences by hand. Because they look longer on the notebook page than on the computer screen, so I cut them off sooner. And I repeat words more often because there are fewer words on each page, so I can:t see how often I:ve used a particular word. And having a thesaurus at your fingertips is amazing.

So yeah, I:ll probably bring it. That doesn:t mean I:ll be happy about it. It:s heavy. Hopefully I won:t have to run. I don:t like the idea of my computer bouncy on my back as I run down an unfamiliar tokyo street. But I have the number of the hotel. If I:m running late I will call them.

In other news, I:ve finished the book I started 2 days ago. I ate it yesterday. Mostly because I really needed to. I was HUNGRY for good reading, my last book, as you well know, was really hard for me, and the fact that this one slid down my throat so easily was not just pleasurable, it was tasty. Moon Called, Patricia Briggs. Werewolves in Washington (state). Modern day, but the fae have *come out of the closet,* as it were. Main character is not a werewolf, but was raised by them. Really good reading. So good I:m looking into her other books for my next order. But it seems like the other books are high fantasy, and not modern fantasy, which I like a whole lot better. But I liked her characters and writing style enough that I might read them anyway. And the fact that she:s one of those who makes me really like a character before killing him/her off. That makes me respect her.

Oh, and my Grandmotts is in the hospital again. You know, she:s my poster child for anti-smoking, she:s been dying of emphazema for, what, 5 years now? Which is pretty good, she:s a tough one. She was a high school principal for a very long time before she retired. She:s where the phrase, By the Book Bundschu comes from (and yes, you know how much I fit that bill). So yeah, in the hospital again, and not looking really bad, but bad enough to be in the hospital again. I called her a bit last night. She was tired from talking after 2 minutes. Literally, skype times the calls. She:s actually one of the reasons I was worried about coming to Japan in the first place. I:m worried that she:ll die while I:m over here and won:t be able to go to the funeral. I mean, I:m worried that she:ll die anyway, but this just makes it worse that I won:t be there for/with my family.

So yeah, that was me expressing. Don:t smoke, kids. It:ll kill you. And hurt everyone you love while it does it.

So tonight I plan to clean, pack, cook the last of my tofu, collect my garbage (so I just have to come home, grab my suitcase and chuck the garbage at the curb), and run away to see my best friend on this side of the planet for the weekend. I:m soooo looking forward to this weekend, you would not believe.