My Baby's a Jumper! (3 months)

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Some Sad News For Vegans in Japan!

My favorite Vegan restaurant in all the world, VegiSmile, is closing it's doors at the end of this year. The owner/operator, Yamamoto-san, is opting out in favor of a steady job and increased salary. Damn his survival instincts!

Anyway, check out my REVIEW to get all the information! If you're near Kobe, don't miss checking this place out before it closes, whether you're vegan or not.

Goings On

It's been a number of weeks since I last wrote and here are some things that are on the going of on:

TAKING IN SOME RELAXMENT
For the past week, My wife's been hanging out with the folks, back in her hometown up in the north of Hyogo Prefecture. Enjoying her mom's cooking was first on the agenda, followed by a simple request, which was never really fulfilled in full: not feeling terrible.

Meanwhile, I'm back in Crapville with a big empty bed all to myself, and I can't sleep at all. I have a lot of early morning shifts and I haven't been getting sleepy until about three am. My internal clock is crapping out on me. I need some new batteries.

MASSUH CHIEF
I got a copy of Halo 3 for my Xbox 360 and have been playing the hell out of it. It's a superb game in the genre, almost as good as Half-Life 2. It captures the intensity of Halo 1 without pissing me off like Halo 2, and the graphics are to dye for. Even the Japanese love this game, and they hate the Xbox.

I'm also hitting the Online Multi-player a lot with my uspstairs neighbor, Norm. Playing it on his huge Hi-Def TV is gorgeous and when I'm not dying myself, I enjoy killing other people. I'm a mass murderer on with a sword (against other people armed only with a sword).

AIKIALICIOUS
I'm bummed lately because I haven't been going to Aikido as much as I'd like. I want to go at least three times a week, but I've been knocked down to one, which makes the money I pay for a monthly free pass a simple waste.

I went to my first Saturday night class, which was interesting. There was an actual 'hot chick' there, which I would not have thought was possible. She and her partner were attended to by the black belt who's best friends are a tanning booth and a plastic surgeon solely. He was supposed to help us all. I wonder why he didn't... Meanwhile, in my Ki class, I paired up with a guy who was overly impressed by everything I did. In the Aikido class, I was paired up with Mr. I had a few this morning, afternoon and evening. Don't get me wrong. He knows his stuff, but instead of continually practicing the skill. He'd show me once, have me do it, then take a nice long drunken rest. (-_-)#

VEGAN FOOD IN FISH LAND
Last on the menu is my recent visit to VegiSmile, the Vegan restaurant in Kobe. I went with a coworker, Natalie and her daughter, Rayna, who's a former student of mine. My coworker's husband is also a Vegan, but he didn't come. Ah well. Natalie and Rayna LOVED the food and the deserts! Rayna drew me a picture which I'll post a little later.

Mr. Yamamoto, the owner/chef/waiter/only employee of the place was very busy that day. Besides the three of us, he had two other customers and a party of eight. WOW! So I did my part and cleaned the dishes and even served the party a little. It's so hard not to want to help this guy out when he's busy.

Until next time,

Mike, the RocketRat of the Procrastination