Firsts of 2010

See this photo above? I’m using this to brag that up to this day here in Japan, there hasn’t been a single snowfall! This is the best winter I’ve had since a long time. Sure, I loved playing in the snow and dig tunnels of doom when I was a kid. But, once I grew up, it’s funny I can only appreciate the first beautiful white snowfall of the year and hate the rest of the cold season just an hour later.  So, I will gloat in delight, because all you can do, my dear friends and family members in Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick, is to stare at this picture above and weep when you remember of the warm fuzzy days of summer.

Okay, moving on…

Now that we’re in the middle of the first month of 2010, I thought I’d publish a few firsts of the year that I recorded.  This is important.  (Times are in Japanese standard time, and those without dates happened on January 1^st.)

• First breakfast at 10:16. Ate osechi ryouri, the traditional bento, or Japanese boxed meal set, eaten on the first day of the year.
• First movie watched: Avatar on January 4.
• First people we visited: my girlfriend’s former colleagues and students for the usual Japanese first lunch.
• First place we visited: the small Shinto shrine near my girlfriend’s parents where we drank a few cups of sake. (Alcohol and religion is a perfect mix.)
• First picture I took: me eating some soba noodles at around 1 AM after the 108 bells chimes of the new year. (This needs some explanation… with the actual photo.)
• Most crucial datum: first flatulence occurred at 0:59 followed by the first urination at 9:55.

There you have it. You can finally sleep well tonight. My apologies if I caused you insomnia for the past fortnight.