Landline and Pics

A few firsts to report...

First first, I got a landline phone for $30. It has NO memory dial so I am going to have to actually memorize some numbers or keep a written phone book again. It also has no answering machine, and one of my 25-year-old friends said that he has never seen one separate from a phone. Sooooo, make sure and call me when I'm home, OK? Simple as that. My phone number for the landline should be
011-81-739-25-3531
from outside of Japan. I posted that before, but it was in December and I’m not sure how many people are going to backtrack. My cell number again is
011-81-80-3796-6431
You can call me there because if I receive a call on my cell phone its free (for me, not you).
If those don’t work, someone post a comment on here and tell me.

Second first, I got my first phone call about eight hours after I plugged the phone in. It was my silly friend Masa calling from Denver and of course he woke me up by calling at 8am (wayyyy to early on a Saturday morning).

Third first, a few hours after Masa called, I got my first wrong number in Japan!!! Lets home this number isn't a popular person's old number....

Fourth first, well, not a first but a first in a long time, I paid for a HAIRCUT! First time I myself have ever paid for one. For the 14 years that my hair was down to my fuzzy nipples, I had my aunt Vicki cut it for me once a year when I went home for Christmas. In Denver, after I had it all hacked off, I just rounded up a willing friend or enemy to cut, hack, butcher or shave it off of my head. Some of the haircuts in Denver were worse than others (French female roommate), but they were free all the same. There is a 散髪や (san-patsu-ya or barber shop) about ten yards from my house, so it would have been goofy to go anywhere else. It was really kind of cool, I got a head massage, shampoo, and I got to practice my Japanese cause the barber spoke no English at all. It may have also been the first time in my life that I wasn't cringing when someone was cutting around my ears (MOM).

Finally, not a first, I posted some new pictures. On the left you should see picture links for Tokyo and Tanabe. The pictures of Tokyo are pretty random, lots of scenery (buildings) and a few friends. Tanabe highlights ocean views and some of the people I work with, as well as some friends. The first picture in the Tanabe group is the school where I work. We are in the second and third floors. The first floor of the building is a gas company and they sell lots of propane and acetylene. EXACTLY what you want to be located directly over during an earthquake; thousands of liters of highly combustable gas! The last two pictures were taken on New Year’s Eve. Daichi is the spiky haired guy in the Tanabe pics, and there are a few pics of him sleeping on my floor, under my table that were taken on the night I had to walk his ass back to my house.

That's all for now.
Ta ta
Erich von Meatleg