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No more Japanese classes until after the new year. I'll just have to work on it myself!

This past weekend, danaeris and I met up with posicat for a trip to the Arlington Heights location of Mitsuwa. We visited the grocery store (where I bought some instant udon and a pair of chopsticks. To satisfy the geek in me, I also bought some Pocky (ショコラ on　ショコラ or "chocolate on chocolate' variety), Hello Panda candy, and Ramune (which was the worst orange soda I've ever drunk). At the bakery I got some more of those red bean paste buns that I love so much! Then, we moved on to the primary motivation for my visit; the bookstore.

I looked through some children's books, trying to find something that looked just beyond my current grasp of the language. I picked up and set down a number of things, including Japanese text versions of both Eregon and the Harry Potter books. I won't be up to those for a good while. There was a book full of really beautiful art from Spirited Away that caught my eye too, but I wasn't there to buy expensive books of art in text that I can't yet read. I was pretty pleased with myself (and unabashedly engaged in a short butt-wiggling dance) when I sounded out a phrase ('kuma...san...no...pan...ya...') and realized I knew what that said! Mr. Bear's bread shop!

Finally, I decided on a couple of small volumes to bring up to the register. One of the books was in shrink wrap (most of the books there are), and I asked the clerk for a general sense of what level the book was written at. He let me open it up and look. I decided to go with it even though I didn't realize until later on that it was the story of Little Red Hiding Hood (あかずさん "Akazu-san"), which made me even happier! The pictures are very cute too; they kind of look like still photography of muppets and plushys set up in scenes from the story. And I'm amused that, in this version of the story, Red is taking her grandmother not just cakes, but wine too!

The three of us sat down in the food court and had a bite while discussing plans. We decided to go to Sushi Para for dinner, but weren't quite hungry enough yet. We got into Posi's van and went to the mall for a while first. I'm fairly well cured of that strange desire I had a few days ago to go to a mall. At least until after Christmas.

Dinner was so fabulous. I can't believe it took me so long to like sushi. I had a bunch of things, including rolls with avocado (Dana actually got me to try one of those that she'd bought at Mitsuwa) and realized that avocado is not so bad. I also had non-roll sushi for the first time, and found it on the better side of ok (the salmon and tuna) and pretty good (the eel). I'm very much looking forward to going there again later this month!

Sunday was pretty relaxed. We ended up deciding to stay in instead of trekking to MSI. Mostly we watched some TV shows while snuggled on the couch. I showed Danae Gunslinger Girls, and she introduced me to Numbers, which I really like. The world needs a Numbers/House crossover. We finished the day with a trip to Tommy Nevin's Pub in Evanston to use a groupon I'd bought. Damn but that was tasty food! There may be return trips in the future for food and games. While we ate, I learned how to play Race for the Galaxy, a game that I think could be a lot of fun. I need to look into the free computerized version to play an learn the rules a bit better.

And I suppose that's about it for now. I'm working at home today, and I'll be in the office tomorrow. I think I'm going to go to bed when I'm done at five today so I can stay up absurdly late and watch the eclipse at the Adler Planetarium and still go to work the next day.