30 VII 07
today was National Eel Day. swear to god. i am ad-libbing the name, but it is succinct. i officially christen today the second greatest holiday of all time, after only All Hallows Eve. if you have never succumbed to the peerless dish called unagi, please sate your unknown hunger with alacrity. fervor!
dinner tonight at the abode of Miya-sensei, one of our collaborators sage in the ways of fishes. a sushi dinner (very appropriate and well-crafted) with his charming family and little dog Lulu. superb all 'round. i would comment more, but... it's time for the birthday tale. let me try Japanese here - otanjoubi-monogatari! yes!
the festivities kicked off, of course, with Tuesday night's birthday-anticipatory baseball game. Wednesday heralded the great day, and i kicked off work to go to a lavish lunch at the New York Grill, Park Hyatt Tokyo. it's the famous bar/grill from the Lost in Translation hotel, where Bill Murray caroused and Scarlett smoldered. you can imagine my delight; me, the guy who toured Ghostbusters (also Murray, of course) film locations in NYC last March. i dressed "right nice", donned sweet shades and rolled up, grinning at film-familiar locales and pretending to be important. hahaha.
the restaurant was incredible - on the 52nd floor of the hotel, with 30+ foot windows offering a god's-eye-view of the teeming megalopolis on a rare, sunny day. truly world-class meals are not commonplace in the life of a humble biologist, but i was treated to one that day. the dining proper comprised three "courses", beginning with a preposterous appetizer buffet that would be a full meal for any sane mortal. not for me. i loaded that mug up like a culinary Noah's Ark before retreating to my elegant seat - tablecloth held back by the courteous waitstaff! - and a fine glass of wine. the main course was a yellowtail fillet in some incredible manner of walnut glaze... probably the most delectable fish ever to grace the palate. the apocalypse was revealed in a full-on dessert buffet. i will leave that one to the imagination, but - no offense - you will probably not do it justice!
went back to work for a few more relatively unproductive hours (being glutted, wined and all) before heading out to Shinjuku with the crew. our object? AYCD karaoke. i expected between six and sixteen to appear, with many noncommittals (being a Wednesday), and so on. after all catastrophes and the such were accounted for, we were an international bunch of eight with beer and street sho-chu in hand (thanks, Jeff). four from the States, Canadian Jeff, Celine and Mikha from France, and for the first time my dear and hilarious friend Yaguchi-san from the lab. we're like Rainbow Six for drinking and singing instead of counterterrorism.
anyway, a few new pictures of the Event are up in the album. we got silly and sang for three hours, well past train-closing-hour for many of us. ofttimes i end up the MC (when Sisi isn't rocking the controller), and felt that the only way to get this party started right was with "Thriller."
and so it began.
Yaguchi-san and i seem to have identical tastes in music, a trans-Pacific likemindedness born of depravity. i rocked the mike hard, earning a standing ovation (haha) for PJ's "Better Man", among others. Jeff joined me for our ritual Johnny Cash. and life was so very good.
rainy season is almost over (one more week), but we've been buffeted by hardcore thunderstorms as a climax to this dreary season. i skipped under lightning and took a train cross-town to the Tokyo Nat'l Museum on Sunday to check out the art. saw some crazy katanas, including a Masamune (seen in half the Japanese RPGs ever released), some of which were probably cursed if the legends are true.
another thunderstorm, so i'll truncate it here. check for new stuff in the album!
