Peter had an early meeting (well, 10am) out near Haneda this morning, so I managed to score a ride to work, which was great :) It also meant, that since we left at 9, which is a few minutes before I have to leave to take the train, or right around when I have to leave if I'm biking, I ended up getting down to Roppongi about half an hour before I was supposed to be at work. I went and got a drink at Subway and read some of Angels and Demons, which has somehow taken me this long to get to!

I managed to pull myself away from Rome and the Illuminati to pull into work right on time, which was handy, as Helen had lots for me to do :) BAB is about to go to print at the end of the week, so there was lots to do in terms of tying up lose ends - writing a 'things we love' blurb, writing an advertorial, adding some text into women of the world (did you know that 40% of women in rural India have never heard of AIDS!), etc.

After Anthony came in, we had a late content meeting with Caroline, and I also worked on the kids pages for Mar 16 (what I want to be when I grow up) with Karin for awhile, before ending the day by putting in a couple of hours of work on the Things to Do for the Mar 16 issue, which I need to get typed up and submitted tomorrow - This issue goes to print in ten days, but it all needs to get to design ASAP. Its crazy how fast each two week cycle seems to fly by! The calendar was a bit of a challenge this week, because for some reason, I was a little thin on the ground with press releases, but also, all the stuff kept happening on the same days! Very frustrating as we only put one event per day, so there was some tricky shuffling going on! I think I had one event per day penciled in (and crossed out, moved around, and highlighted over!) before I left. It was crazy how fast work went today, I looked up at the clock and was totally shocked to find that it was already 3:55! I left at about 4:30, but it still seemed like a short day, which is great I guess! The new intern wasn't there today, I think Helen said she's not in until Thursday now, but I'm sooo curious!! I want to meet her! I'm also curious how we're going to start dividing up the work between the two of us, although I suspect there will be more than enough to keep both of us as busy as we want to be ;).

Spent my break reading more Angels and Demons (I have to get it back to the library tomorrow), and then went to teach, which also went surprisingly fast. The girl had lots of homework which helps pass the time, again, I went to check the time and was shocked that it was already 7!

Came home on some very crowded trains, bah! Walked in the door and made a huuuuge vat of spaghetti for dinner (and dinner, and lunch, and lunch, and maybe another dinner or so). It was pretty tasty - Hitomi's trick of adding some Clamato juice to the sauce is definitely a good one! Thins it out a little bit and adds just a hint of a kick; good stuff. Venus and I curled up on the couch, and I finished my book, which is good, I've been realising that since TiVo (and biking to work sometimes), I've been reading way less, averaging only about 1.5 novels/week, which for me is nothing! I have to try and cut back on the TV and ramp back up on the reading; I miss it!

Finally, in the 'well this is random' category is this website I found with some Japanese phrases on it. Everything is going along as expected (konichiwa, gan batte; good afternoon, good luck, etc.) until you get to the la la land section, aptly named, which has such phrasal gems as:

What is the meaning of my bellybutton?
Ohesotte nani?)

I am too barbaric to eat a Japanese breakfast.
(Nihonshoku o tabesukete inai yabanjin desu.)

and

How honorably shrimp struggle as they choke to death!
(Ebi no idaina saigo desu!)

Oh those shrimp!

D.