I should have posted this when it was still fresh on my mind, but procrastination gave way to illness and the days turned into weeks.  Despite still being sick, I'm going to give it a shot.  As usual, the writing will be short, choppy and sucky, but here goes...

Around mid October, two good friends came for a visit.  Pin and Brian traveled from Shizuoka Prefecture to Ome just to see the family and me.  After a two and a half hour bus ride and an additional hour on the train they were sitting in my living room.  I felt a mixture of mirth, nostalgia and - strangely -  security.  I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have friends around.  I've always made friends immediately wherever I've gone, no matter the town, region or country.  Here and now, however, my sociability has waned and I have to have my friends shipped in.



Hangin'                                                                     "What do you mean, 'there's no Starbucks here'?!?!"


We hung out at the "crib" and around town, just like old times, then I cooked them dinner:  MEGA-MEAT pasta!  I was not pleased with the sauce - it wasn't creamy enough - but that's another long and boring tale I don't want to get into.



Of course, afterward we had to put them to work washing dishes.  Gotta earn yo' keep in da Bush house!
Actually, they insisted.  No, seriously!  They did!  They're really nice guys.


Later that night, the fellas took me out and treated me to a night on the town.  We rocked nearby Tachikawa and the Air Force base town of Fussa.  Sorry, no pictures for this part.  It was BROmantic!

The next day, I made french toast then we all headed to the river.  Good times.






Pork salad!                                                                                     The Thinker



Pin pointing at Brian and Brian pointing at...                                    Spider-man!



Chillin'                                                                 Slippin'



Soba lunch






Kai clownin'



Family portraits


Then, a little over 24 hours after their arrival, my two old friends boarded their return train and Ome returned to its usual less-than-lively condition.  They were immediately missed.  Still, it was good to have them around for a short time.  It brought to mind the old days in Shimizu.  Come back soon, fellas.


Coming soon:  The Thanksgiving Report

My brother's choir won the regional "How Sweet the Sound" choral competition!

How Sweet the Sound is a nationwide competition sponsored by Verizon Wireless to find the best church choir in America.  As regional champions, my brother and his choir are now on their way to the national finals.

Usually, I would disagree with such a blatant commercialization of what is supposed to be a central part of church worship, but my brother's excitement over all this is contagious!  I'm very proud of him!

Here's a video.  I can't figure out how to embed it, so I just post a link:

Marble Collegiate Church

He got a few closeups.  You may be able to spot him.  He looks a little like an older version of me.



Also, here's an article from NYDailyNews.com :

Chelsea church's Marble Community Gospel Choir hits high note with competition win

I'm way behind blogging the events of the past few weeks.  I'll try and spread them out over the next several days and get caught up.





Kai had his second elementary school sports day.  At first, the weather didn't want to cooperate.  It started to rain during the first event, so the children were called inside and we parents waited in the storm for an hour while the school's staff deliberated and decided to resume in the afternoon.  By about 1:00 the weather cleared up enough for the kids to complete most of the events.  Kai's team won, allowing him to maintain his undefeated record.

I couldn't really get a good spot from which to take pictures, but here are the shots I got.



 



 
Big, red ball race



Cheering



Relay race

As you can see, Kai was really excited and had a great time the whole day, despite the weather.

small manhood erectile dysfunction patient

Hmmmmm...

The titles of my posts seem to affect the ad results, so from now on instead of "Random Phrase Ad Test", I'll use "RPAT".  We'll see if that works.