Edogawa Fireworks

I woke up around 10am today. It was hot, but not as hot as usual. It’s actually much cooler than I thought it would be since Yahoo weather reported degrees of 33-34 today, which makes it very hot. I was thinking about leaving my house around 2-3pm, but I think I might leave later since I’m just going to see the people that are all crowded there and not really see too many fireworks.

I was doing some e-mailing of friends again today and since I’ve regained my internet, I’m more careful with not overwhelming it with too many tasks. I think since the signal is always low, I don’t want to add too much strain on it.

I just got back from the fireworks, and it was pretty amazing. I left my house a bit late. I had wanted to leave at 2-3pm like I mentioned earlier, but didn’t get around to leaving my house till 4-4:30pm. It was a pretty long train ride too. I didn’t realize how far away it was, but it is all the way near Chiba. It took about 2 hours to get there, even though the computer said it would have only taken an hour and 10 minutes. The trains were running in frequently because of the load that it was carrying. There were a lot of people there, and I mean a lot. Before I told you that I wasn’t able to imagine that there was the ENTIRE population of San Diego in one area, but now I know how they did it.

I’d say that it would have been the entire population on the lot of about that of Qualcomm stadium, with a river running through the middle. Rivers in Japan tend to have an embankment on both sides in case of typhoons and the river flooding, so that’s where all the people sat. It was a stretch of about a mile, well that’s only a guess, but as far as the eye could see in both directions. I was in a very good position to see the fireworks, they were DIRECTLY above me. You know how I know they were directly above me. Because after they exploded all the shrapnel came onto me. It was the wind blowing in the wrong direction, but it was huge from where I was at. Like really really huge. I was amazed to see how big they were and how many were shot at the same time. That meant only that there was a lot of shrapnel to fall soon thereafter. It didn’t last as long as I thought it would, but it was still well over an hours worth of time. At times it was boring, but at other times, it was something amazing to see. The finale didn’t match with the introduction. I thought that it started off better than it ended, only because I couldn’t look up as the last fireworks were being shot up. The shrapnel was really falling down hard and plentiful.

It was a good experience and I’m glad that I went alone, in a way because there was no place to sit. I was standing the whole time getting squashed between people as they were walking by. It reminded me of the Yamashita Park fireworks where people would just go back and forth right next to me. But this time it was my fault because I was standing in the walkway. I probably shouldn’t have, but then I was by myself and there was no place to sit, so it was easier that way.

Everyone is so lovey-dovey that it’s sickening. But it showed me that summer festivals would be a good thing to take your partner to go to. I think that both people would really enjoy it and plus they get all into it dressing up in the yukatas and jimbes. There were a lot of them today because there were a lot of people. After the fireworks had finished, it took an hour to get back to the train station, even though it’s only a 15 minute walk. I was near the walkway and closer to the exit than most people, so I’m not sure when everyone was cleared out of the area. But I’m sure it must have lasted a very long time. I mean, I finally got on the train at 10pm and the fireworks ended at 8:30pm.

I didn’t get back to Totsuka station till around 11:30pm and then I went to Denny’s near the station. I suddenly remember why I like this Denny’s a lot. There’s this one waitress there that’s just amazingly beautiful. I know that it sounds like I’ve been saying this a lot, but live with it. I’m only being honest here. She seems very nice and patient because my Japanese just sucked when I was ordering my meal. It was actually a lot of food; I really couldn’t eat it all, but did anyways. I felt really stuffed afterwards, and I think it’s because I haven’t had a regular eating schedule, so that could have lead to my stomach shrinking. It hurt as it was expanding, so I had to take some time to rest and let my body catch up. I was eating really really slow too.

By the end of the meal, I didn’t feel too good. And I don’t mean the food made me feel bad, but it was just a combination of things. Things for me haven’t been going well, and I think now it’s starting to effect me. I have been beating myself up tonight about me not going all out for things that I want. I have the feeling of regret, which isn’t a great feeling to have.

As I was leaving, I was being trailed by some psycho woman who kept asking me if I wanted a massage. It was not good timing because I was just about to explode on her, but it’s not her fault. I understand that she’s just trying to make a living and she needs “work” to survive, but I didn’t want to be bothered. She’s lucky that I didn’t explode on her, because I wouldn’t have been nice about it. I took my time walking home, but kept on getting stuck behind couples all night walking home. It’s very annoying. So I think now, more than ever, I will admit that I am on the lookout for someone special in my life. I’m fine being alone, but now I’m in my second year in Japan, and I’d like to have someone special to share it with. I think that since I’ve done everything in Japan already, I want to have a different experience with someone and to share new experiences. So I’ll change my status to Single, and looking.

Oh and by the way, I arrived home around 12:30-12:40am and took a shower. During my shower, there was a small Earthquake, well at least I thought it was a small Earthquake, but how evil is that? It had to be when I was taking a shower huh? I’m just lucky that it wasn’t a big one and my house came crashing down. That wouldn’t have been fun, and I don’t think anyone would have been ready for it since it was late at night. It’s a little past 2am now, which is my normal time this week to catch some zzz’s. So good night.