Buggirl's Increasingly Strange Tokyo Tales...

The Puppy came over for movies. I've waited on seeing Lars and The Real Girl so we could watch it together. It was our third time trying. Our first time we learned that his DVD player isn't multiregion, so he ordered a cheap multi region one...which didn't work for try two. This time my remote control was broken but, with some trial and error and raw stubborn I figured out I could make it work with the stragic placement of a screwdriver.

I met him at my Tully's and was surprised to see he'd shown up 10 minutes early (I'd brought my sewing just in case there was one of the legendary lateness issues). We caught up over coffee and went to go buy a couple beers for movies at my place...we also picked up ice cream knowing that he might need espresso and ice cream if he started to fade mid-movie.

He looked around, finding what has changed in my place over the last year or so. He wanted updates on fellow Afet Collective members and friends, so I also used Facebook to show him how Eshe, Anaan and Henna are doing and updated him on The Romanian.

We ordered pizza, drank our beers, and watched some of Flight of the Conchords  and Lars and the Real Girl.

We called it a night after two drinks, one pizza, one movie, and three episodes...knowing that it would be pushing our luck to try another one (he was starting to get sleepy and if he doesn't get home before the rains all of his laundry is gonna be soaked.)

There was the odd and tender hugs, and re hugs, and eye-gazing. I told him that there were more episodes of Flight and that if he got some evenings free we could watch them...and that I still do care about him but can't go back to being an Amazon widow...but that he should keep me posted on if his three assistants last and really result in having regular evenings off.

Tonight I’ll be taking the train down to Puppy’s new place for movies and pizza. In the time that I dated him, he and his sister had agreed to move back with family and play happy-family-all-together for a year or so (the fact that his father had had a stroke prompted part of this family together urge, as did time the siblings were studying abroad) so this will be the first Puppy place I’ll get to see. I’m curious to see Puppy Décor. My bet is heavy doses of IKEA. I gave him some housewarming gifts (drinking glasses, wine glasses, scented candles) when I saw him about a month ago. If things get late I’ll sleep on the new sofa bed. One of the amazing things about Puppy, beyond the boundless enthusiasm that earned him the name, is that when he said “you can sleep on the sofa bed” that’s exactly what he meant. He has his own bed. There is no seduction subtext.

I remember the first night I had him over to my place for food and movies after we discussed that we liked each other and were not seeing other people (it was a sweet conversation he initiated that went pretty much exactly like that) and the next weekend he came over to my place…

“ I wasn’t expecting that when you invited me for movies and food.”
“You’re not complaining, are you? I mean, I provided movies and food first!...”
“Not complaining!”

Me: Movies and food are code for “I’m gonna get you in my house….”
Him: Movies and food are code for “I’m a nice guy who is going to enjoy movies and food with you!”

I’m not complaining. Having a nice, clean, male friend I can relax with is a good thing. I sometimes wonder if my ex has been replaced by a asexual-podperson. It’s probably kinder and truer to say that his boundless enthusiasm makes him happy about all social interactions, even pizza and movies with an ex-girlfriend (which I think we can all agree isn’t the best social situation in the world, even if that girlfriend is me)….or, less kindly, to say that Amazon has broken him to the point that he treasures any time in the outside world.  

Don’t worry, I’m thankful to have him as a sometimes hanging-out buddy and I repay his boundless enthusiasm by never being stupid enough to talk about relationships before or after him. I suspect that he hasn’t dated since me, just because I know his work schedule hasn’t changed (movie night has been a month and a half in planning). If the topic ever comes up and it turns out he is dating but is spending one of his available-once-every-few-weeks evenings free with me…we’re gonna have to have another heart-to-heart about his boyfriend skills and priorities.

I know I've left my last post dangling...I'll get to it when I have more energy.

Today I meet up with Puppy. Haven't seen him for a while, perhaps not since the last Afet Collective show (which he came to and brought two Amazon co-workers to enjoy). He's just moved into a new apartment and purchased a new tv. We hope to have a real movie and pizza night sometime soon (my apartment has a tiny 13 inch tv). Prior to this he'd been living back home. When he and his sister returned from studying abroad they promised the folks to move back in for about a year.



He's going to be my wingman and help me get a health club membership today. I stopped the strict hot-yoge about 3 weeks ago, and my chronic left ankle pain has stopped as well. True, it had been flaring up less and less, what with my obeying my accupucturists advice on a few dietary things, but it would still find ways to object to balance poses...and with the fact that I am performing more now, I can't risk that ankle but want to resume my cross-training/excercize.


I've bought him some house warming gifts, glasses and such as thanks.

The Puppy and I now meet up about every other week for movies or food and chat. This Sunday, after my hot yoga and his gym-time (running and a humbling hip-hop aerobics class that I'd have paid money to watch) we met up for waffles.



We'd come across The Big Winner diner two weeks ago, but were already well-fed at the time.The Big Winner was all tricked out to look like a small diner from the outside, down to (we suddenly realized) the rusty pick-up truck and bikes parked in front as props. True, the shape of the diner was of a pure prefabricated steel box, but you don't expect much here in Kashiwa. The English on the sign was, for all practical purposes, correct..It promised to be " Original Hamburger Place in Kashiwa" which, as Puppy pointed out, really isn't much of an ambitious promise. It also mentioned waffles. I like waffles. Unlike hamburgers, I can eat waffles.


We met up at Starbucks, Puppy being only 20 minutes late, and sipped coffee and chatted before heading to The Big Winner.



Yes, it seems to be.

In what may have been the smoothest transition ever, I broke up with Puppy over lattes and then we went for dinner as friends.

It's no surprise, really. He wasn't surprised. He also wishes he could be more there for me than he is, but he can't.

I can't remember the last date both of us were fully awake for. When our schedules match up there has been an obligation to get together, no matter how much one of us might really want to sleep, see friends, do yoga...but it has drained us. So we're trading quantity for a slightly different quality. We''re going to get the sleep or activities we need, hang out when we really want to and are rested up, and see how a friendship works.

Tonight I’ll try a slightly different yoga class. It’s in the same place, same sweat box conditions. It claims to be hot POWER yoga and is no doubt is less Bikram, more Japan. It’s still a shame that my location doesn’t offer Hot Hula like the Shinjuku ones do. That would make for an amusing night.

My main reason for this change is that the studio is small (two yoga rooms) with a limited collection of evening classes at good times for me. I usually take the regular course (an hour and a half with 26 or so poses performed twice each) as I find the short course (one hour, fewer poses, slower) to be not as much bang for my buck. When my ankle is feeling strong I like to do three lessons a week. On Friday nights the regular course is only offered at 4:30 when I am still at work, or 8:30, which is great if I don’t want a social life. More and more Puppy gets out on Friday, although it’s always up to Amazon if Puppy is allowed to run free before dinner. The introductory level hot POWER yoga is one hour and starts at 7pm…getting me showered up and ready for dinner at a reasonable time.

In the 7 months since I started hot yoga at Lava Yoga: I’ve taken yoga 2-3 times a week (minus a month for ankle healing), I lost my one bi-lingual co-worker to Singapore, and have been placed in a second grade class as a control rod. Going into hot POWER yoga, I am no longer worried about the learning curve or understanding the Japanese explanations for each pose, I only worry about if my ankle will be happy or not.

The ankle has good days and stiff/wobbly days, but two days ago my ankle-wrap exploded in microwave.

As to this winter of SAD: adding yoga to the light box, dance, journal line-up seems to be working very well. I feel twinges of it, but nothing overly horrid. Yes, I find myself easily fixated on lj-community drama...but this is better than being overly-fixated on areas of my past that I have no power to change now and is nothing in comparison to public crying jags.