Hanging out in Tokyo

Here I am, just hangin' out on the couch in the living room. We've been relaxing at home more lately, as either the excitement of living in Tokyo has worn off a little, or else the approaching holiday, early darkness and colder temps are causing us to "nest."

We attended the Winter Fest at ASIJ on Saturday. It was a balmy 60 degrees and the sun was shining. I couldn't help but think how "Octoberfestish" it felt. I had my first Taiko performance on an actual stage, in an actual theatre. It went pretty well, although there was one moment when I was totally confused. I missed the last class before the performance, so I'm guessing I missed a crucial rehearsal point...In the middle of the piece, we turn our big round fat Taiko drums onto their sides on their stands, so they are tipped toward us, and we sit on the floor, holding the stands with our feet. Then we lean back, using our abdominals to hold us up, wailing away for all we're worth. Well- everytime we had practiced that movement to the sitting position in class, we had always been facing our teacher, Moko. On Saturday, we were supposed to walk around to the side facing the audience, tip our drums and then sit with our BACKS TO THE AUDIENCE, because apparently, it's rude to have our feet facing them. This caught me completely by surprise. Consequently, I was trying to tip my drum the wrong way, (oh no! why is my stand backwards!?)and was struggling with it, when I noticed that everyone around me was already down, facing backward...and there I was completely confused, standing in a sea of seated drummers...I tried to recover quickly, but I'm sure I looked a bit like a deer in the headlights until I figured it out. Eventually I got down, and finished with a flourish. Sheesh. So much for being inconspicuous.

The leaves are still on the trees, although some are red and gold. The tree outside my kitchen window has just decided this week to drop it's leaves. Matt said that just when it gets pretty with all the leaves on the ground all the local folks come out and sweep the leaves away. That's probably true. I commented that at least they aren't using leaf blowers. I can't stand those things.

I just heard from Matt that there is a snow day happening in the 'Burg today! I share your joy. I'm just a big giant kid when it comes to snow days. We won't see snow until we head for the mountains of Nagano when Chris comes to visit. So go build a snowman, and go sliding for me, would you? Have a great time!