Into to the Kotatsu

It is extremely cold in Chicago. It is time to whip out the kotatsu, a heated table with blankets to contain the warmth and holy goodness.

Chiaki of "Nodame Cantabile" believes that the kotatsu is the evil of the world, because it leads to laziness and procrastination. Being no stranger to either of these things, and in fact best friends with them, I, like Nodame, embrace and endorse the use of a kotatsu during the winter. But Chiaki is right--one tends not to want to leave the kotatsu, things (both useful and garbage) tend to accumulate on and around it, and one tends to start using back-scratchers, pens, and so on, to reach for things slightly far away. In the photo above, you'll notice Frege lying at the corner (he's not allowed in, mostly because he's a hater and he poses a fire hazard inside), some other books and notebooks on the other side, garbage gathering behind my computer, an old can of Coke, some old tea, chocolate, and my DS. You can see where my head goes, where the pillows are. Here is how I nest:

Here is the inside--some people are afraid of getting burnt, but I assure you there is nothing but love inside:

It keeps you warm, it heals your illnesses, it makes no moral judgments about you and your behavior, and therefore genuinely loves you for everything you are.

Mister Donuts in Chicago, if briefly!

Mordecai's friend Kota came back from Japan today. He brought back fresh Mister Donuts "Pon de Ring" donuts. They are a little chewy and mochi-like in texture, and they are lightly sweet. Unfortunately, this is as close as it gets between me and Japan at this time of the year, but we will be reunited soon.

Costco Mascot

I went to Costco last week with my mom to get some contact lenses. After my exam, my mom and I went to the register to pay for the lenses. My mom started freaking out about something, staring at the ground, without telling me or pointing to anything. I soon realized why she was trying to be inconspicuous when I looked at the bottom of a shopping cart:

I guess no one really realized that we were fussing because we speak in Japanese to each other. Let's take a closer look (click for full, albeit camera phone, size):

There were some remarkable things about this rat--it looked quite real; it looked like it was alive not too long before appearing before the optical department in its form; and assuming it was alive, it was most certainly not a starved rat. Another angle:


Optical people started noticing, and we were still the only customers freaking out/laughing about this. They started calling employees in other departments, who would call other people, but no one would move the cart to the side, away from potential customer eyes. Maybe they were calling in for a coroner's report--how did it die like that??? My Agent Cooper skills tell me that it got stuck between two carts when someone corralled the carts up.

Belated Post

In honor of Jenni's birthday last week, I had a Chicken McNugget Happy Meal. In Chicken McNuggetland, my Bionic "boys' toy" tried to attack my last McNugget and sauce.

And then I tried to play Pikmin (the McDonald's on Fullerton has a kiddie zone with four N64s) but the controller wouldn't allow my character to move left to right, only up and down. And then Mordecai reminded me of how dirty the controllers might be.

My love for mochi

It goes on and on.

O-mochi-san