JIA

'Jia' is the name of the new upscale boutique hotel in Hong Kong (the first in Asia designed by fancy schmancy Philippe Stark). It's also where I am now... no, not Hong Kong. I'm at home! It's good to be home even tho' I was heavy-hearted leaving Tokyo after a week of blissful (early) Spring break with the laogong. For a change, we had a pretty slow-paced vacation. No serious heavy-drinking, not overly-indulging ourselves (I'm not saying none 'coz I had my share of uni-licious uni hee hee but I didn't buy the crazy bag with the matching wallet and watch I really liked at Takashimaya lol) ...and in a long time, we didn't even go practice crazy karaoke'ing :) Despite all that, it was still a wonderful trip. It's hard not to have a good time in fast-paced Tokyo (especially if you live in Memphis lol).

It was unseasonably cold - it freakin' snowed TWICE in two days lol... but fear not, with all the walking, after almost being frost bitten and getting head colds (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration here) walking those miles all over Tokyo helped a great deal to build heat and burn some calories that needed to go away anyway lol. And the food... oh the food! We went back to see my toothless ramen boyfriend at his restaurant lol - it's been awhile since we hit the streets of Kabuki-cho at three in the morning lining up for yummy ramen together with all the businessmen and their hostesses... but it's so worth the wait... and of course, we followed our tradition of dropping by Sushi Cho for some serious awesome sushi in the little alley in Ropongi on our first night, had sushi breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market - you might think it's such a touristy thing to do but hey, it can't get any better getting a full sushi and sashimi meal at eight in the morning with the most delicious clam miso soup and beer rubbing shoulders, knees and thighs next to the fishermen and fish auctioneer who's finishing off their day's work :D ...and of course, as usual, we met up with Bruce's ex colleagues, now good friends and our friend Julie who flew in from Seattle via Honolulu to hang out with us for a couple of meals :D So it was nice... we tried more different insane restaurants and laughed at all the crazy things we did, saw and experianced.

It's even nicer to be home because the day after arriving from Tokyo via Dallas, we took the three hour drive up to Nashville for 24 hours (for a Math competition) and back. Please(!), IF there is a 'gawd', DO NOT make us ever go back there again! So it's the Capital of Tennessee. Big phucking hairy deal. Capital of idiots more like it. I don't like it, and I don't want to go back. I don't want go into detail why or it'll become ugly and feelings will be hurt. Hahaha, okay, no I really don't care whose feelings get hurt... but it's almost 2am now and I'm in no mood to rev up my emotions at this hour. All I can say is, it makes me appreciate the Black people in Memphis or simply appreciate Memphis in general lol.

Right, time to get some Z's and enjoy the comforts of my clean crisp bed (Nashville Holiday Inn YUKS(!) ). I envy the husband. He's been in deep slumber for hours.