Gaijin Girl

well hell’s bells; it looks like i’ll be ringing in the new year with a fever and a sore throat.    i am so psyched to be back in the desert with late evening calls for karoke and beers, dinner party invitations, birthday parties in parks, and plans for campouts and other grand adventures.  just as i prepared myself to grab it all by the horns and dig in to this grand life that i plan to live to the fullest, it set in.  the dreaded attack of the evil sinus infection….yellow green slime pouring from my nose that no tiny neti pot can entirely tackle, the persistant scratchy throat that burns and keeps me awake at night yet exhausted during the day, the pounding head that throbs and burns intermittenly, and the general confusion and frustration that accompanies all these bothersome physical symptoms–yup, it has come to conquer me this beautiful sunny last day of the year–a day that i am supposed to spend celebrating with friends, most of whom i haven’t seen in such a very long time but instead am spending it in jamie’s guest bedroom, longingly staring out the window at the ivy-covered sun in between fits of half-sleep and hot/cold flashes.  it’s the type of sickness that has swallowed my whole being; half the things i think and say don’t add up to become complete thoughts, and my actions are slow, clumsy, and cumbersome.  i started the beautiful morning yesterday with a broken coffee cup and frustrated tears in my eyes.  things didn’t really improve after that.  one of the things that still holds true in my bewildered state is the goodness of my friends here in tucson.  thank god for cell phones, the internet, and the physical presence of josh, who has fulfilled countless requests and cooked lots of soup and garlic dishes in hope of curing what ails me.  i’m not well yet, but i’m feeling pretty damn good just thinking of all the people i love in this beautiful town and how one day–ok, so maybe not a traditionally symbolic day like today or tomorrow–but one day i will get to sing and dance and eat and ride bikes and laugh and drink with them again.  yay!

so enough feeling sorry for myself.  remember that time i got to spend almost a week in hokkaido last summer?  well, let me tell you about josh’s and my trip to sapporo; that’s right, the beer town.  here is a shot from the summer-long beer festival in the park that happens every night for two months!

no, josh and i did not drink a giant test tube of beer; we stuck to regular glasses, but if we’d had company and/or hadn’t been so tired, you know i would’ve ordered the shit out of one of those! 

other highlights from the trip included watching bad television in an old-fashioned bar, riding a giant ferris wheel on the roof of a skyscraper, shopping for brand-name bargains, viewing beautiful flowers and visiting green and blue parks, taking long walks, visiting the sapporo factory and museum, and riding the bus around town.

here is a park we found on one of our walks:

sapporo was beautiful, and i’d love to go back there someday!  someday….when this godforsaken infection has left my beaten-down little body!!!  grrrrr….

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