Pre-emptive Birthday Stuff

Bleurgh. I chose Thursday night as birthday!celebration night, because Thursdays in the city are fecking great. I changed into something a bit more funky at work, grateful that Sally had let them know that money comes in useful to a girl saving for a trip to America rather than the ubiquitous bottles of wine or whatever. Spent American money on getting a taxi instead of the soul-draining bus, and now feel guilty. Oops.

Had a drink in Prohibition before making our way to Sapporo Teppanyaki, the expensive Japanese restaurant I've been thinking about visiting for like two years now. They do "theatrical cooking" there, throwing bowls of rice into the air, flipping them and never spilling a grain or the rather worrying spinning of a knife on the chef's finger rather too close to our faces. The food was amazing -- the miso soup had the most tender tofu, the sushi was fresh and served with eye-wateringly strong wasabi, and the teppanyaki was gorgeous. It was an expensive meal, but absolutely worth it.

We got talking to a couple of engineers next to us who are going to travel through Japan this year. They insisted that we should seize the day and get out there. It was so gratifying to talk to such motivated, intelligent people and to discuss our own dreams and aspirations with them. There's a lot to be said for that style of dining rather than the tables spaced rigidly apart, each person inhabiting their own private bubble.

Then there was Brokeback Mountain which...um... er. It was good, I suppose. It didn't grab me as I thought it would, though Chris and I enjoyed doing stilted Heath Ledger impressions en route to the club afterwards. Also, the guy next to me at the cinema seemed to have a hairball in his throat the entire time. I tried to give him "evils", but it's hard to accomplish much in the dark of a cinema.

It was onto Alma de Cuba after that, then to the Krazyhouse. I could only stand dancing to the Kaiser Chiefs and Sugababes for so long before a taxi was required and in a blur of motion I was in a taxi then home then in bed, waking up at 4am thinking the dog was dead because it wasn't moving. Then I realised it was asleep, and relaxed, waking up about half an hour ago with the hangover from hell (why am I shaking?) and feeling very, very pleased with myself for booking today off work, as well as ensuring I won't turn 25 on Saturday feeling like death. Ahahaha.

Also, I suspect one of you sent me a package, but it couldn't fit through the door so now I'm on amber alert for the postman. The alsatian is standing sentry and I've had to change out of my pyjamas to my assault gear -- jeans, shirt and a big warm cardigan. *waitwaitwait*