7:20pmmusic: Owen- Declaration of IncompetenceHoly, what a day, and what a weekend, at that. Seriously. I have had the best weekend, and I haven’t even left Okazaki. Mike and I bought bikes yesterday. Mine’s metallic pink, totally oldschool, basket, headlight, Japanese style kickstand. Im so in love with it. We rode around for over an hour after buying them then went out for curry. rode around for a bit after that, then Mike went home and I rode around for another 45 minutes. Okazaki looks like a different world when you’re on a bike. I don’t know what it is, but its so liberating. it felt like the city was mine for the taking. I had goosebumps the entire time. then I came home, drank some wine (shitty Japanese red, remind me to never buy Japanese wine and stick to the imports) and watched Roman Holiday. Was so tired I couldn’t even finish it, so I just went to sleep. Woke up this morning, had breakfast and finished the movie, then missioned out on my bike. First I explored Apita, one of Okazaki’s malls. That’s where we bought our bikes yesterday. So I looked around there for a bit, pretty cool, bought another 5 dollar marilyn Monroe movie. then I just rode around. I went to Okazaki castle and gardens. beautiful. It feels so awesome to know I have a place like that right by me. tons of beautiful bridges and seating areas. just ridiculous scenery. so authentically Japanese. I took a bunch of pictures. it was a grey day, but like I said. I love those days for some reason. There was a bunch of people standing around this clock on the castle grounds, just looking at it. waiting for the minute hand to hit the hour (it was 3:00 to be exact) and then the clock opened up and this little man came out of the top of the clock (mechanical) and it played music and he danced with a little fan. it was soo strange, and everyone was there waiting to see it. Im glad I was there right at that minute. it was so interesting. I rode around some more closer to my house and work. Found lots of cool little stores. didn’t stop in anywhere. Then I decided to grab another bottle of wine to have with a movie tonight. I remembered this little Wine Cellar place right by the convenience store by my house so I stopped in there to see what it was like. I walk in and I’m in heaven, racks and racks and shelves and shelves of import wine. All of a sudden this adorable girl behind the desk says “where are you from?” she gets soooo happy, she had been in Halifax studying English for 8 months. So we get to talking, and she’s a) seriously, so cute, adorable hair, little bangs, nike dunks, incredible English and soooo happy to be talking to me. She tells me she lives above the store and that if I need any help with the wines, let her know my price range and she could recommend me good ones. We talk more and she says she’d love to be my friend, so I give her my number and she says she wants to be my first Japanese friend in Okazaki. Um a) holy fate, me walking in there, her being in Canada and b) SHE WORKS IN A FRIGGEN WINE STORE AND LIVES ABOVE IT. talk about a score. so she’s supposed to text message me her phone number so we can hang out and start being friends. I am so excited. this is exactly exactly what I needed. Okazaki isn’t looking so bad.
