Saturday musings……….

It is 6:30am on a Saturday and I am awake. WTF? Time for a “stream of consciousness” post.

I woke up this morning thinking that I needed to find my passport. The business trip was over and I was heading back to Japan. Then I opened my eyes and looked around, and I realized-just like the horse’s head in the Godfather-that Shopping Mall was still here.

And it was not going away anytime soon. I will be getting on a plane tomorrow, it is just that I will not be checking my bags to NRT. There will be no side trips to Hong Kong along the way either. Sigh

It is not that Shopping Mall is that bad, it is just that there are 100 cities in America just like it. It is not unique. Substitute the word Spartanburg or Asheville, Omaha, or Wheeling for Huntsville and its all pretty much the same. East- West interstate, North= South four lane highway, strip mall after strip mall after strip mall along the way. Thanks to America’s Grumpy Old Mothers and no decent public transportation, one cannot even seek out a decent bar to drown your sorrows in.

However it is not all bad. The S.O., deprived of boring NHK TV , has actually taken to going to work out with me. ( Our apartment complex has a pretty nice fitness center). We have worked out every day this week together. Watching her stretch out her back over one of those big exercise balls, in her gym shorts and T-shirt, is a pretty wonderful thing. ;D

We’ve gone exploring together-since we cannot play golf till our clubs get here. ( Yes I know they have rentals-ask her why not!). Unfortunately that most often leads to an excursion into Kohls or TJ Maxx or some other such place and my debit card is slightly poorer than when it walked in.

Which leads to that whole, find a good bar thing, again.  There is a Hooters here-but that was a suggestion that was  not well received by the other side. ( It is a family restaurant you know!).

I took the S.O. to take her drivers test yesterday. We asked if she could take the test in Japanese and they said yes she could.  Who would have thought you could do that in Alabama? She thought she had failed it, but she only missed two questions. We waited around for another 3 hours for the road test only be told that we would have to come back later. Which is a problem because I will be in Washington DC for a week.

I hate the DMV too!

But we have established a routine of sorts. I have been able to cook for her and in the process make some things I had not had in quite a while. For example, the COSTCO here has some pretty good Italian sausage. I bought some really good Italian bread rolls and made sausage and peppers and onions. It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. It better be, we have three more packages in the freezer to eat. (We did buy the sausage at Costco after all).

And of course there is this:

It is a fun car to drive! Except when you buy gas.

We are on the quest for a smaller-“get to work car”. You know the cheap, not so good looking, “runs well” car. The S.O said she wants a BMW. My response? “Fine, if you buy it, with your money.” Not happening with my cash flow-that’s for sure. If this were Japan we could do with just one car-but not here.

Because there are none of these:

I wish there was!

Who knows? She might just do it……..but I doubt it.

So what is the verdict after two weeks? Ok, but nothing like living in Tokyo. We are adapting and in some ways its good to have the S.O. out of the country of her birth. She will make friends and resume ignoring me, but for the short term at least, she is actually interested my handsome, boyish features. Which is a good thing- for both me and for my libido.

There are good days and bad. On the good days I feel pretty good-other days, its kind of like what Henry says:

Henry Hill: [narrating] And that’s the hardest part. Today everything is different; there’s no action… have to wait around like everyone else. Can’t even get decent food – right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I’m an average nobody… get to live the rest of my life like a schnook

We are committed to being here for a while though and we will make it a good thing. We have to. For one thing we have to see through the building of palatial Skippy estates:

Not bad actually, in just over 6 weeks they have gone from a vacant lot to a framed building. Yea, you can shake your head in disgust- I know I do every time I go by the place. What the hell have I done?

The S.O. and I looked at 30 houses and she decided she wanted this design. If we had done what I wanted,  we would be in a house now instead of a small apartment.  I thought I had her over a barrel when I politely informed her that to get a new construction place she would have to make part of the down payment ( also known as the “nuclear option”). She must have wanted it badly because she agreed to do it.  Game, set, and match-I really could not say no, because of all of my money arguments evaporated at the point. And, truth be told-I like the design too. Especially the garage, which will allow me to be reunited with my tools (I used to have a decent wood shop back in the day-we will see how they survived 9 years in storage).

A house? What the hell are you thinking?

Basically it came down to taking a look at my taxes and without some sort of real estate ownership I am going to get killed. In Nihon I could shield a good deal of my income from Uncle Sam-not so here in the land of the free, home of the IRS. Besides, every one tells me with the BRAC happening here in the next three years, it is a good investment. I sure hope so.

The cement around my feet is really starting to firm up now. 🙂

Time for Bruno and Luigi to show up and toss me from the bridge, probably. Into the river, a deep, dark, cold river……………

I’d trade it all for an afternoon here:

Can you name this place?

There, there, none of that now. You made your bed, now get used to lying in it.

Very correct. It is just the bed has a few lumps in it.

Karen: Do you really have to go?
Gil: My whole life is “have to.”

 
And speaking of “have to”, the S.O. is making noise in the other room. That’s never a good sign and means the end of peace and quiet for this day!

Ja ne,

Skippy-san