January 12th, 2006 11:00 hours CST
Currently listening to: "78 Stone Wobble" by Gomez
Feeling: weird

Long overdue update. Yuka had an absolute blast over x-mas. She arrived a couple hours late at O'Hare with this adorable blue coat that she got from an online vintage shop. I swear if I were 5'4" (and also a woman) I would have the coolest clothes ever. I seriously need to hit some vintage clothes places as soon as I have some cash. I digress.

We drove to Mitsuwa to get food for our big x-mas eve dinner. We finally decided on the menu and bought a ton of stuff. Well, I bought a ton of stuff because they had those awesome steamed curry chicken buns on sale in the freezer section. The traffic getting into town was terrible. Took us an hour to get from Mitsuwa to my neighborhood. We had a pack of orange gummi candy to help fight the hunger. We stopped by a grocery near my place so I could get stuff for dinner tonight and we made a quick stop by that house on Logan Blvd that goes absolutely bat-shit-crazy with their x-mas decorations. ComEd must love these people.

Stella immediately cuddled up to Yuka when we got home. She missed her mom. I introduced Yuka to the pinnacle of indoor cooking technology; the George Forman Grill. I marinated some chicken breasts and steamed some zucchini and squash and we stuffed ourselves. We sat on the floor and wrapped presents and watched new episodes of How Do You Like Wednesdays. She slept during the entire flight almost, so she stayed awake this time.

After our morning ritual of cereal and Samurai Champloo episodes, we left for Bloomington. The boring 4 hour drive isn't so bad when you're holding your girlfriend's hand, you know? Despite the flat, empty terrain, Yuka was glued to the windows the whole time. We got into town around 4:30. Mom was home and gave Yuka a big hug. She left to run some errands and Yuka and I put her hand-made ornaments on the tree. It was her secret project that she had been working on. We went to dinner with mom and dad joined us. I missed the pizza from Lenny's. Yuka and I split a margarhetta pizza and it ruled. Dad and Yuka were already talking about cameras and dad and I realized that our gift to Yuka was the right one. Score!

We were going to go see King Kong, but it was getting too late for a 3 hour movie. We stopped at Nick's for a drink and I realized that my checking account was much lower than I had expected. With a full liquor cabinet at home, we drove under the downtown x-mas lights once and then joined my parents back at the fireplace in the living room. We played a couple rounds of Quiddler and I helped Yuka with her words. I miss that game. I only get to play it when I'm around my family.

We ended up waking up early the next morning and we quickly started working on things. Dad and I drove out to Zeibart to get my new LEER truck cap installed, since the A.R.E. one had turned out to be complete crap. Got back home and started the traditional jigsaw puzzle. Dave and Rusty arrived and they took Yuka and I out to lunch. We all talked a little too fast for Yuka, but she really didn't mind. We picked up my truck and I was happy with the new cap. My field of vision wasn't reduced as much as I'd thought it would be. Yuka and I drove to the IU campus and walked around. There was still a little bit of snow on the ground. She took some pictures in a creek bed and I got to tell her about the campus and what it was like for me to go to college there. Mom made some awesome lasagna for dinner. We worked on the jigsaw puzzle for a while and got some last minute things done. Dave arrived with Jenny and Jeremy from the airport. Finally had the whole family together.

Another busy day, Yuka and I went with my mom to a new butcher shop to get stuff for the big dinner we would be cooking. This place was busy. Neat that they had a chalkboard chart listing where the fish came from along with when it arrived. You could get sushi-grade fish here. Yuka wrapped more presents and I got to sign a card for a little boy named Homare (ho-mar-eh). I said "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas, Homare-kun! -Santa". ^_^ Yuka bought him this really cool pop-up book at Borders that my old friend Kendra picked out for us. I have to say, it's the most adorable thing ever watching Yuka wrap presents while singing "Santa Claus is coming to town".

We started cooking around 5:00. We had a lot to do. I think we used just about every dish in the kitchen. Hahahah. At least that's what everybody else said when they were doing the dished later that night. Our menu consisted of: Salmon with mushrooms and bacon, pork and daikon stew, miso with mushrooms, teriyaki chicken, cucumber salad and rice, which unfortunately didn't get cooked long enough. Everyone liked the food and we made enough, which was good. I think there was leftover miso, but I forgot to take it home with me. :/

On x-mas eve, we have a tradition of opening one of our presents. I handed out presents to everyone. I watched Yuka open hers and when she saw the word Nikon, her jaw dropped. Hehehehe. Dad and I got her a Nikon D50 single reflex lens digital camera. Dad has the D70, so he knew exactly what to get her. She was really happy. ^_^ We spent the rest of the night playing Quiddler and drinking. My sister was passed out in front of the fireplace and Jeremy had her covered in wrapping paper in about 5 minutes. I completely forgot to bring my camera for this trip, so I have no pictures of any of this. Yuka's are right here.

Christmas morning was the usual chaos of finding a place to sit down and then having enough room for all of your stuff. We seriously need to spend less money on this blasted holiday. Actually, we don't get each other all that much, but when you have 8 people buying each other presents, it seems like a ton. I cooked a ton of french toast for everybody using the wheat-free bread that mom made the night before. It actually worked a bit well. A little dry, but that's what gallons of maple syrup is for!

The day before one of us has to leave, I always get sad but try not to show it. I was feeling emotional all day, knowing that Yuka and I had to drive back to Chicago in a matter of hours and then she would be flying back to Japan the next day. I can't wait until we can stop saying goodbye at airports. Mom made a great dinner. Beef tenderloin rules. My aunt Janet joined us, as did my cousin Alex. Before dinner, Yuka and I packed up all of our presents while the rest of the boys watched Fantastic 4 and Stealth. I'm glad I didn't pay money to see those. Hehehe.

Lucky for us, it snowed very heavily for about 3 hours. Long enough to cover the ground completely. We decided to take a walk to my old elementary school. We had to take an umbrella because the snow was so wet and heavy. I wish we had brought hiking boots so we could run in the snow. Yuka's Converse All-stars got completely soaked. It's the cutest thing to watch her jump in the snow. Just like a kid. She threw a snowball at me that went into one of my pockets. :P

We had a tearful goodbye around 6:00. I'm so glad that everyone liked Yuka. I mean, I KNEW they would, but it was just a good feeling. She's part of the family. We didn't say much in the truck on the way home. Reflecting on what a nice holiday it had been. We stopped for a hot chocolate for her and a No Fear for me. Bleh. I'm getting sick of those, but they do their job.

As soon as we got home and brought everything upstairs, we got into our PJ's, made some ramen (with toasted sesame seeds), got on the couch and watched Chungking Express. Yuka got me that DVD and also Fallen Angels. I had seen Fallen Angels once, but not Chungking Express. I LOVED this movie. Yuka's got a big crush on Faye Wong and I can't say that I blame her. She's super cute. I really liked her cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries. My stomach wasn't feeling well at all, but the ramen helped. It wasn't the cheap instant stuff, but slightly better stuff that I got from Mitsuwa. "Guilty food" as Yuka called it. Actually, I think she got that phrase from me.

This was an x-mas that will stand out in my memory as well as my family's. I should have given Yuka and extra bag to take her presents home because shipping them is really expensive. She got two very large photo books from my brother, but thankfully Yuka is letting me keep them with me until she moves here. You rock, dearest.

In other news, I've been busy as hell at work. We've been moving the whole office around and we have 6 people starting on Tuesday that I have yet to create accounts for, thanks to all the manual labor I've been doing. I've been so tired after work that I've only made it to the gym once. :/ I made a huge run to the grocery last night and got everything (I think) to recreate the cucumber salad I made for x-mas eve dinner. I'm heading to Arturo's to do my video shoot for Cinnamon. I'm rather nervous. I'm in a winter setting, so I get to wear my hooded parka. Gonna bring my Jazzmaster with the mo sticker as well. I'll have a nice Brit motif.

Somebody got me the Harry Potter box set, which contains the first 5 books. I'm 100% addicted.

Seals and I went to see Munich on Saturday. It's very, very good. Nice to know that Spielberg can make a movie that isn't summer Hollywood pap. After that, we watched Hostel. This movie was much better than I had expected. Seriously. Go see it.

I didn't get any games for x-mas so I bought Metal Gear Solid 3 for myself. Wow, I already suck at it. I need to brush up on how to play as Solid Snake. Being in a jungle with no radar is a whole different experience.