Finger Lickin' Good

This evening was my welcoming party. My work group took me to a chicken restaurant - they specialize in everything having to do with chicken. We had yakitori, deliciously salty fried chicken, chicken soup with rice (NOT at all like your standard Campbell soup), "Italian" chicken salad, chicken shumai, chicken gyoza. I think the appetizer was spiced chicken skin. The weirdness prize goes to the chicken sashimi. Yep, raw chicken wrapped in mint leaves. I was brave and had one. Kind of the same texture as sashimi... but more tasteless. It wasn't too bad, provided that I refused to think about salmonella or asian bird flu. At least the drinks were free of chicken. :D

Yamamoto-san has decided to turn me into a Kyoto girl, being that she is from Kyoto herself, so I got a lesson in the different words for 'fool'. In Kyoto, Osaka, and the rest of the Kansai region, the word is 'ahou'. In Nagoya (and only Nagoya, apparently), it is 'tawake'. And everywhere else, down south to Kyuushuu, or north to Hokkaido, the word is 'baka'. I was familiar with 'ahou' and 'baka', but 'tawake' is a new one for me. Probably because it's so localized. I'll have to keep it in mind, in case I end up going there. Yamamoto-san's theory is that each word originated from Kyoto and spread outwards from there because, naturally, Kyoto is the center of Japan. There was much protest from the non-Kyoto types (that is, everyone else in the group).

We also talked about sightseeing in both Japan and the US, fireworks, and musical instruments. Yui-san and Saito-san both play the piano, so there was a mutual comparison of hand sizes. People were impressed by mine - I have a fairly wide fingerspan. Of course, many other things were said that I did not understand, but I still had a good time. Speaking in Japanese comes fairly easily, even though I don't think I'm using as many second-year Japanese structures as I think I should be. It's understanding it that's really difficult!

On the gaming front, I found a couple Pop'n Music simulators. Stepnmusic is an offshoot of Stepmania (a DDR sim, and it looks very spiffy - I will have to try the DDR part out sometime), and is kind of like DDR for your fingers... Sadly, there are no keysounds - I can't play out individual sounds when I hit the keys. And that's really what makes Pop'n Music fun. But that game is what I found several simfiles for, so it's got the most variety. I desperately want to make a few more character designs for it though. It only came with one, and I can't find any more! The other sim is called Feelin Pomu, and it supports keysounded files (YESSSSS!). Unfortunately, I have found only three simfiles for Feelin Pomu, and they are all impossible for me. Sigh. Guess I have to learn in the arcade after all. :P Still... Pop'n Music is awesome! They need to bring it to the US, because I think I am really going to miss being able to play it once I go back home. I'm such a nerd. ._.

This weekend: MIT-Japan intern trip to Kyoto. It's going to be a blast!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: djpretzel - Phantasy Star 2 - BurntMota (Yes, I am going through all my OC Remixes, in case you haven't noticed...)
Current mood: Satisfied