TiVo has officially invaded our lives! I woke up to pouring rain and a very, very, very gray and depressing day outside, which was not conducive to running (the original plan) whatsoever! Its not like the rain they've been having in BC which led to the collapse of the BC place stadium roof, but it was unpleasant none the less.

Peter and I had a very low key day today, mostly due to the fact that he's very much in love with his TiVo, and spent the day watching various things he'd recorded - the finals of the World Junior Hockey Tournament (Yay Canada!) *watching a game when you know the outcome is even less exciting than when you don't, though!*, Letterman, Leno, that late late night Scottish guy, BC news, etc. There was really no choice involved, but the newness of the TiVo has yet to wear off, so he's making the most of it, I suppose! I could have been more productive, but I really just read and talked to some friends and stuff, nothing exciting.

At 5:30ish, Hitomi came over, and our day picked up quite a bit - at 7, Hitomi and I walked to the hair salon near our house where I'm going to be getting ready for coming of age day on Monday. Luckily Hitomi could translate for me, as the lady insisted on speaking a LOT of Japanese to me, and of course I was only catching roughly one in fifty words, if that. We had to decide how I'm going to have my hair, make sure the kimono was going to fit, etc.

We looked through books of hairstyles, and I was surprised how many different varieties there were - Tons and tons of different styles from very formal to really quite casual! I think I'm going to have it pulled back fairly tightly, and then swept into a bun(s) on the side, with some curls hanging down the side of my face, and then we're putting in these pretty red flowered hair decorations that Hitomi picked for me to match part of the kimono.

We only tried on the top part of the kimono (there are many many layers involved with the real deal!) but it's very pretty - navy blue with a mostly gold obi (sash). We'll take pictures of the whole process of getting put into it on Monday - it seems as though it is going to be quite complicated, with an under kimono, middle layer, and then the blue kimono, and then three (I think) layers of sashes over the top. It's going to be nice though! I didn't go to my high school graduation, but I imagine this probably feels similar - getting hair and makeup done at the salon, picking out a ridiculously fancy dress, etc. I'm excited to see the finished product! The only thing we're not quite sure about is my pump - I think its going to be taped to me somewhere out of the way...

On the way home, we stopped off at a tiny takeaway which Hitomi had noticed earlier - its a little Egyptian place about a two minute walk from the house! The woman told Hitomi that she was a native of Oyama-cho, but lived in Egypt for awhile, and was married to an Egyptian. He is in Egypt with their oldest son going to Mecca right now, but she is staying in Japan with their younger song. The food we got was delicious - hummus and pita, chicken, some kind of curry (really really mild), some other kind of stew, chick peas, egg plant with green pepper, and something else which I think was long beans or something like that also with green pepper, and then rice as well. We (or I at least!) wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was very tasty and also filling!

Now we're just waiting for the new (to us, it's still back in like season one) OC to be on, and I think Hitomi and Peter are watching Desperate Housewives, season 3 (finally!), so I'll go down and join them in a second. Tomorrow morning I'm teaching someone new at 10, but I don't think there's too much else planned for the day. Hopefully something blogable will turn up!

D

PS - I found out that the tent is in fact for Cirque du Soleil - Dralion opens in Yoyogi Koen on February 7th or so, according to Metropolis Magazine.