20 VIII 07
as the days ticked down, curious signs were made manifest. the hallway of our lab is open to the air through second-story doors at both ends. upon my arrival at work, i saw a bat careening madly about next to the open door as full daylight coursed through the frame. read: disease.
after visiting the coffee machine i returned to my desk and noticed a wild itch on my right wrist. a moment later, a white pinprick appeared amidst a scarlet flush. under my appalled gaze it grew immense and irascible, some hateful black hole drawing raw matter and energy from neighboring tissue. it completed its corpulent run five minutes later - at near dime size! - and i remembered its forebear. its pernicious cousin two months past: the kiss of a particularly damnable strain of mosquito at Heian-jingu's garden. i actually saw that wretched flying crocodile bite me as i felt a one-gauge needle rend my flesh asunder. the resulting carnage was similar.
at the time, Hurricane Dean drew a dead sight on Houston, marvelously timing his arrival to be coincident with my attempted landing from Chicago. that is, i would likely become a new citizen of Illinois.
Saturday afternoon, sitting on the floor in front of the laptop, i finally felt an earthquake. the floor jumped just a bit under my legs, as though someone was noiselessly stomping around downstairs. it persisted, the building gently swaying. i grinned and felt light-headed. nice.
fortunately, everything has - thus far - panned out to naught.
survived Hell Week in the lab and met up with my long-lost Japanese brother Yaguchi and three other vital members of the crew for sushi and one last carousing hurrah on Saturday night. we drank expensive, delicious nihonshu (sake) and killed delectable courses. i ate, for the first time, not one but a brace of my study organisms. first we had "sanma", or saury sashimi. and oh, it was good. Satoh-san insisted that the meat just behind the head was the most savory bit and, being my farewell party of sorts, he passed it over to me. it was not bad, but upon biting down i could identify bones as my teeth crunched through them. i teased apart the rest and laid bare the... prepare yourself... pharyngeal jaw apparatus.
never go to dinner with a zoologist.
followed that up with the pièce de résistance - "ei-hire", ray or skate wing. it arrived sliced and possibly grilled, maybe baked, with a side of mayonnaise sauce. i could still see the radials supporting the fin and examined part of the shoulder girdle before the crew told me to just eat the damned thing. an interesting and delicious fish... a bit musky and sweet.
and then we kept ordering sake and the rest of the evening is not as well resolved in the ol' memory bank. i spent Sunday rehydrating and putting together my final report seminar for today (Monday).
today was indeed my last day at Ocean Research Institute, and as i packed up i made it a Best Hits sort of day with a string of podcasts from series that kept me mentally solvent over the summer. soba set lunch with Yaguchi before heading back for the main event. the seminar went well and Professor Nishida was in a great mood. at one point in the late afternoon he, as the new director of the whole institution, he was called upon to reign over the opening ceremonies for the ORI's softball intramural league. we had a tea party as my formal farewell, with fine green tea and traditional Japanese sweets. yes.
it was a bit wrenching to say goodbye to everyone, at least for now. through the magic of professional conferences i can hope to see some of them again... or maybe i can find more money through JSPS and return to Tokyo. the invitation is there, the network is in place. it was a hell of a ride.
i'll miss my crew, okonomiyaki, not driving, the convenience stores (trust me), yaki-soba, and karaoke.
Japanese beer? not so much. bless the US of A and its German and Belgian immigrants.
welcome home indeed.
