The Age

I guess it's just that time of the week again. Monday, that is.

I generally don't care much for them. Not only do they signify the start of the working week (at least they do for me), but they usually tend to be the days I work the longest hours. So good then, that I'd had the foresight to spend a weekend which - were I to be magically transported to the end of the 1980's - would be called "killer".

If you don't have the same passion as I do for games involving people batting at balls and then trying to run to bases, taking pictures of giant... things, and standing in line with about 80 000 Japanese people, this post might be a little hard to grasp. And I'm not joking about the 80 000, believe it or not.

It all started out on Friday, as weekends tend to do. This one, kicked off with a visit to an arena where baseball is played, and also watched, by for example me. Being there, watching, I got to see "my" team... hammer? Crush? Oh, why not just go out and say it, discombobulate the oppostition. And no, that last one doesn't mesh well with the other two, so sue me. Either way, a Grand Slam by Woods in the fourth ensured victory, which eventually would stretch to 9-1. If you can imagine a better PG13-rated start to a weekend, let me know.

This has nothing to do with baseball, although I guess you could play it on the lawn. If you watch out for the trees. Golf, maybe?

And so the World turned and Saturday came along. And it came to be that I ended up following all those 80 000 people to a place far far away. Well, I didn't follow all of them, it's not like I was last in line, or whatever. Never mind, that place? Makuhari, they call it, in the language of men and - let's be politically correct here - women. My reasons for going had less to do with the fact that it was there and more to do with the fact that they had the future on display in huge booths in even huger halls. I like the future, and got my fill of it during the day.

And thus, as Worlds do, it turned on me again. Yes, this week, too, had a Sunday, and this one was spent with my girlfriend out in Odaiba. Or maybe that should be "over in Odaiba", I don't know. Either way, The Official Kumadude List of Things You Can Do There includes - but is in no way limited to - the following:

1) Take pictures of random Gaijin trying to swipe a race-tuned Toyota Supra

2) Take pictures of random Japanese people trying to climb a giant phallus symbol.

3) Take pictures of random stars descending from across Tokyo Bay.

That's basically what you do in Odaiba. Ooh, and there was this Mexican festival going on too, meaning free tacos, fajitas, and Corona for everyone! If by free you mean "for the small sum of 500 yen".

So that's it. As the World turned yet again (damn it!) and decided it was about time for me to stop fooling around and get back to work, I was so ready to just, you know, not. Join me next week as I discuss... something or other. At great length.