Session B of SDC was a success. I can't remember details back that far.

I was very tired for a great deal of the last week, so I'm not sure that I can remember everything. Here's my best attempt.

The Saturday after we finished working, Mia, Aaron, Tomoco, Justin, Justin's friend Julian, and I climbed Mt. Takao. I went home after having dinner at Tomoco and Justin's; everyone else went to a live show. Wes, who had settled into the apartment next door, came over and we hung out for a bit. Mia and Aaron came back and we all decided it was time to rest.

On Sunday, Mia, Aaron, and I went to a barbeque hosted by one of Mia's Session A campers', fathers' fellow volunteer firefighters. It was Japanese picnic insanity; lots of food, lots of beer, lots of silliness.

Mia and Aaron left for Kyoto on Monday. I went to Ebisu, bought a new pair of glasses and a delicious-looking chocolate cake. In the evening, we had a birthday dinner for Kikko. The cake was also delicious-tasting.

The next day, I hung out at my grandma's house. We watched some Olympic events together, then walked to Nishikoyama to look for a rice cooker for me to take to school. The selection at the store we went to was limited, so I did what I should have in the first place and did some research online. In the afternoon, I went back to the apartment and, after an intense nap, met up with Wes and headed for Shibuya to get the perfect rice cooker for my collegiate needs. Kikko and Nahna offered to take Park, Wes, and I out to dinner, so the five of us met up in Shibuya station and ate at Botejyu. It was delicious and wonderful.

After dinner, we parted ways with Kikko and Nahna and walked from Shibuya to Harajuku, taking some interesting detours along the way. Park made good use of his architectural knowledge, pointing out buildings designed by the same architects, searching out weird structures in the small streets around Omotesando. We grabbed some ice cream floats at Wendy's before returning to our respective bases.

On Wednesday, I bought my train ticket to Kanazawa, bought some new jeans, and met up with Wes for lunch. We went to my grandma's house for internet and family time. My grandma invited Wes over for dinner, which was quite nice. (Ponta, the dog, was overwhelmed with tall, white males this month. It was a good shock to his system.)

After dinner, Wes and I returned to Meguro. I packed for Kanazawa and got on an 11:00 pm train for Ueno. From there, I boarded the Express Noto, a night train to Kanazawa. I was ill prepared for the ride. I assumed that the lights would be turned off and the announcements would stop at night... and was wrong.

I arrived in Kanazawa at 6:30 am, wandered over to Kenrokuen, a famous traditional garden, and stayed their until Mia and Aaron were due to arrive from Kyoto. We met up, went to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, and saw an exhibit of the work of Ron Mueck. Look him up and understand that photographs don't do the work justice. Sure, the realism is impressive and the scale is amazing, but until you are in the presence of the sculptures, you don't realize their power. I had a couple of tiny panic attacks after imagining that the figures moved or breathed. It was an experience.

Mia and Aaron also wanted to see Kenrokuen, so we returned and appreciated the beautiful manufactured landscape. Mia stepped violently into a koi pond and got peanut butter in her hair. We fed a rotting beetle to the giant fish. We were all pooped by the afternoon. At the station, we bought Shinkansen tickets and had lunch before departing for Tokyo.

When we got back to the apartment, we found Wes reading in the lobby and invited him up to chill. One of the books he had with him, Piss in the Snow, a collection of raunchy Ozark tales, kept us entertained for most of the evening. In the meantime, I drank a bottle of really bad red wine that no one else wanted to consume and shortly thereafter hurled like I had never hurled before. It was definitely a poor choice, but was pretty amusing, in retrospect.

I don't remember anything special happening on Friday. On Saturday, I had lunch with Mrs. Gotterson at a charming cafe in Kichijoji. We talked about a huge range of things, from movies to Mormonism. Afterward, I met Mia and Aaron in Ueno. None of us felt like seeing any of the art exhibits, so we went to the zoo instead. It was awesome, but it closed before we could see half of the animals. While we were there, Mia and I witnessed a degu licking its monstrous knotted genitals... thoroughly. It was disturbing.

We were planning on going back to the zoo on Sunday, but instead went to Tokyo Sea Life Park which was, above all things, crowded. I was a little disappointed, considering how much the zoo made me feel like an ecstatic three-year-old. But unlike at the zoo, I had my camera with me and took a lot of pictures. For my final dinner in Tokyo, Mia, Aaron, and I went to Tonkatsu Tonki and gorged ourselves on awesome pork cutlet, cabbage, rice, miso soup, and pickles. It was culinary heaven, as usual.

Monday morning, I woke up later than I anticipated and rushed to Meguro to finish packing. Kikko was stuck on a stopped train heading back from a business trip but made it to Tokyo in time for all of us to have lunch together before it was time to go. I said goodbye to Nahna and Kikko at Meguro station. Mia and Aaron helped me haul my stuff to Nippori, where I frantically bought a ticket, took my luggage off their hands, and left them behind the train turnstile. Business at Narita was smooth, as was my transfer in Dallas Ft. Worth. The 'rents met me at Harrisburg. On our way home, we listened to Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic Convention. I happy-cried. I love the Obamas so much for making me love America.

THASSALL THERE IS.