My birthday in Tokyo!!! part 1

My first birthday in Japan will go down in history as the best birthday of my life!

Got Saturday off of work so Sayaka and I can take an overnighter bus to Tokyo!
all of my classes went soooo fast and sooner than later, I was changing my clothes in the storage room of our office and running to the subway to meet Sayaka in Nagoya!

We found each other near the clock in Takashimaya and went to go buy chu-hai and McDonalds. The McDonalds purchase, became my first experience with Chicken Cesar salads, which I am officially in love with, You see, before Sayaka I would NEVER eat vegetables, but here I am eating chicken cesar salad, from McDonalds!!! Cho Oishikatta!

We boarded the bus after following our group and we both started drinking so we could fall asleep. It worked for Sayaka but not me! I could not sleep for some reason. When we got to the first rest stop, we went to the bathroom, and some strange man asked me where I was from, while I was going to the bathroom. I told him I was from Nagoya, even though I know he wanted to hear America, which I told him also. I also told him it was my birthday, since it was around 12:10 AM or so on the 30th of June! After making a new friend, Sayaka and I ate some rest stop food {soft cream, Sayaka's favorite, and an American dog, which is pretty much a corn dog) and re boarded the bus.

After 4 more hours of Sayaka being able to sleep and me not, we made it to Tokyo alive. 4:15AM.

Now this is Japan, and summer, so that means sun is up and bright, and since it is Tokyo, there are tons of people out and about in business suits walking the streets of Shinjuku. But they aren't going to work or getting off work. After a Yoshinoya breakfast, Saaka and I just stopped to watch these people and they ALL looked DRUNK! Yes, they were getting done from a night of drinking/karaoke or who knows what, and were DRUNK! This was highly amusing, but not enough to keep us awake! We headed to a nearby manga kiss (internet cafe) and got a room for us to sleep in for 2 hours, so we could wake up and go to Krispy Kreme!

Find out about the Krispy Kreme trip and the rest of the first day in Tokyo with my next post. Time to clean up after dinner and head to sleep, or drink more beer... not sure what we are about to do!

Yeah it was my birthday...

...but no time to write all about it. But it was SUPER AMAZING and fun!

My first bday in Japan will go down as one of my best birthdays EVER! Seriously THAT good!

I will write up about it as soon as I have time, but until then, just check out SOME of our pics from Tokyo! (Sayaka needs to upload all of hers, although most are just of me, BORING! Haha!)

Tommy and Sayaka go to Tokyo!

Drinking and bowling with most of the training crew, friends, and Sayaka.

And damn did we have fun (well I know Sayaka and I did!)

The plan was to meet at Hard Rock Cafe at 5:30, but Sayaka and I were really bad at keeping track of time and we got there about 6PM. When we got there Atsushi and Chris were at one table, while Neil, Becky, and Laura were at another. We were later joined by Matteo and Elspeth once we got a table area set for all of us (thanks to Sayaka!).

We all got our drinks and just sat and chatted about our almost year in Japan. Lots of us have lost weight, or shoe size and leg length in Laura's case (how in the hell?), but it felt just like the first night we ever hung out.

Damage wise, I had 2 hypnotiq ice teas, and a bahama mama that I shared with Sayaka. Ate an order of potato skins and a big ass sundae!

Also someone told HRC it was my birthday, so I got a balloon and a picture (which is the most molester picture I have taken, EVER!). But it wasn't over yet, oh NO! I had to get up on stage and dance! I faked being shy for a few seconds, then ran up on the stage. Usually it is YMCA, which I woulda been down to do, but I had no idea what was going on, and gave a half assed dance towards the end, while the rest of the time was hamming it up for the cameras.

After drinking and eating we went bowling. Sayaka and I left first because she needed to go buy socks, and we went to Shop 99, not knowing they sold socks at the alley. We met with the others and did 2 games of bowling, with people rushing to catch last train, and leaving before their games ended (one without his camera!)

Sayaka, @chan and I walked to the station in the rain and her and I eventually made it home safe. Overall, a good night for all!

She goes on one more trip and then she is MINE!

So Sayaka embarks on the last (and second shortest) trip of hers before she is in Japan for good (until we go to Cali in October).

She has pretty much officially moved in and life has been great since. We have so much fun cooking and hanging out for lunch or on the weekends and I can't wait until she is back for good to do more of that!

The other day we went to surprise her friend at her store and she took this pic of us. I REALLY like it because it shows how cute she REALLY REALLY is! (She is more than just cute on the outside, for the first time I have the combination of inside and out!)

Anyways, check it and some other pics!

I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali!!!

This was news discovered a couple weeks ago, but I gotta share it.

I was invited to be my best friend's (since 2nd grade, and we have never had any arguments or disagreements, always been cool)best man for his wedding. Shortly after I moved to Japan, he moved to Colorado, and I thought the wedding would be in Colorado.

A couple weeks ago I am talking with Mark over Xbox Live, and he says he has to go to California to take care of things for the wedding. I ask why, since the wedding is in Colorado. He quickly teaches me that it is actually in California, and rejoice comes over me. I told Sayaka that I would take her to the wedding and we were excited to go to Colorado, but I was gonna find a way to do California for a day or two. Now we can be in Cali for a week, almost exactly (say bye bye to my vacation days!).
I will make my first return home since I came to Japan this October! Watch out!

My dad's surgery went well. Now we wait.

His biopsy results come back on Wednesday (US time) and I will call then to see what is up with them. The doctor said the surgery was successful and everything looks great right now. My dad is waiting for the anestesia to wear off, as he can't move his legs now because he got a spinal.

I just hope he doesn't take out his own catheder like he did last time...

Good job dad!

So why on EARTH would I stay up until 4AM this morning?

Talking to my girlfriend online this morning of course. She recently went on vacation to Detroit, and I don't get to see her again until next Monday night when she returns to Japan.

This is why I am happy now, and who I can't wait to see in 6 more days!

Suzuka part 2. This time D1 Round Drifitng!!!

Such a fun day, event wise, health wise, not soo fun!

I will let the pictures do the talking, but it was a good day!

Could have been great if:

A. My allergies weren't acting up.
B. My stomach wasn't acting up.
C. I didn't have a little kid grab and strike my crotch repeatedly.
D. I didn't have my friend do the same thing while I was trying to sleep on the ride home(so NOT cool!)
E. It didn't get windy and cold, after I was dressed for a HOT day (last time I got my first sun burn EVER here!)

Anyways, on to the pics!

Race pics!

Fun pics!

You have heard about it, now see it, kinda...

I have mentioned my business I am starting with a few partners, and it is starting to come together. Because I want to keep the mystery, I will leave it to the pictures for you to see what WILL be going on at the beginning of July!

Check, check it out!

So my dad's cancer has returned...

I got a call from my sister, that my dad wanted to talk to me, and that I should call him when I get a chance. This was last week. I knew something was wrong, because my sister wasn't too good at making that request subtle, but I didn't find out what it was about till I called my mom to say happy mom's day!

She tells me she talked to my dad and gives me all of the details. I call him after talking with my mom and get more details. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer maybe 2 years ago, and they removed it with a laser and light radiation. It was gone for over a year. So my dad was having problems and went to get it checked last week, and they found more cancer than they did before and he has a surgery scheduled on June 1st (the earliest he could get it done with Kaiser Permanente), to do the same as before, but this time with chemo.

Talking with my dad, I know where I got my not afraid of death mentality from (neither of us are scared to talk about our deaths or no longer living), but it is slightly hard to be on the other end of it.

I will be calling him the day after to make sure all is ok. I lost a coworker to cancer a little over a year ago, and I remember chemo putting him into a lot of pain, and it just made his body so weak, so I am a bit nervous for this next surgery.