Rudolph's staying home, but I'm not!

I was reading about how this evening, Christmas Eve, Mars is going to be shining bright red and I came upon a very cute rendition of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in which they have changed the lyrics to included Mars in Santa's journey:

Mars is a red-tinged planet
With a very shiny glow
And if you look to see it
You will find the moon in tow.
All of the other Yuletides
Santa would have at his side
The shiny nose of Rudolph
Acting as his big sleigh's guide
But this very Christmas Eve
Santa came to say:
"Rudolph, now with Mars so bright,
You can stay at home tonight."
Then all the reindeer teased him.
And they shouted out with glee:
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
Outsourced to astronomy."

Unfortunately, with all the city lights of Tokyo, I most definitely will not be able to see Mars tonight. I am a little disappointed because while I'm no astronomer, I am always up for a cool natural phenomenon. Actually, I can't see the stars anymore at all and it does bother me a little, because this is the first time in my life that I've gone for more than just a few days without seeing them. Stars... I guess they're one of those things you realize are important to you only after you realize they're gone.

In terms of natural phenomenons though, well, I'm still waiting for my first real earthquake. It's okay though, I'm perfectly fine with waiting longer. I've actually been in one earthquake before, when I was going to school in VA, but it was so tiny that it barely counts. Hopefully when I experience one here it will be equally wimpy, because just the concept of an earthquake scares me. People here are immune to earthquakes though, they're just a part of their lives, like stars are a part of mine.

My life, goodness gracious, it's become slightly more complicated since I've arrived in this crazy country, but I think "more complicated" can be equated with "more interesting", so that makes me happy. I went on another date yesterday with a different guy and it was a lot of fun. We ate and walked around and went to the movies. He took me to the Imperial Palace which was really really cool and I'm really really annoyed that I didn't have my camera with me! I'll be going back though, because since today is the Emperor's birthday we were not allowed to actually go as close to the palace as normal since they were making all sorts of preparations. The movies was also an interesting experience for a couple of reasons. First, the theater was absolutely massive, almost like an IMAX theater except the screen wasn't quite so large. The second reason movie going was made more interesting, was the fact that the audience was practically silent throughout the whole film. We went to see National Treasure 2, which includes a character whose sole role in the movie is to act as comic relief. Now because the movie was in English with Japanese subtitles, it's obvious that some of the lines would not translate as being funny in Japanese because of idioms or culturally significant plays on words, but this audience NEVER laughed, not even at the physical humor which does not require any translation whatsoever. It was bizarre, but at the same time sort of cool, because it kind of felt like it was my own personal movie that only I could understand... my date laughed too though, so I didn't feel like a complete dork.

Well, I am meeting up with friends tonight for a Christmas Eve dinner, so I must get ready and I must take out more money from the bank. I get paid on Wednesday though, so it's all good!!!! To all my Christian friends and all my agnostic/athiest friends who celebrate anyways, have a ridiculously Merry Christmas! To all my Jewish friends and family, enjoy your Chinese food!