Dump set in action

This post will be made up of a number of things:

1) a bike ride
2) an oven
3) a girl in my apartment early in the morning
4) cooking dinner
5) my newest acquisition
6) lots of dumping

I would encourage you to continue reading so that you can be sure all of the strange questions you undoubtedly have in your mind will be answered.

Today actually begins yesterday. Aine and I met up at around 1ish at Mr. Max, the local discount everything store, to buy me an oven. YES! After looking around for a bit, I found the perfect one. It’s made by sharp, and cost me 39,000 yen, approximately $400.

New Oven!

It's quite spacious!

Deciding to get it, I grabbed the ticket (the last one they had!) and went over to the counter, at first confident I would be able to carry it home in my bike. Then they showed me the box and I changed my mind. I would have to have it delivered, and it couldn’t come until the next day (Sunday) in the morning. I agreed, and after some interesting conversation which lead to the Mr. Max people now knowing that Aine and I do not in fact live together, (because we are seen so often together we believe most of Nakatsu is convinced we are an item, when of course you all know from the previous blog post that she is dating Freddy Mercury back in Ireland) we left the store.

Queue a few minutes later when it dawns on me that the next day I am going biking with Kate. From 9:45 until the end of the day. The delivery is set for 10:00-14:00. Problem! Luckily Aine graciously offered to come over (at 9:35 on a Sunday!!!) and house sit for me until they deliver my oven.

Sunday comes and at 9:45 I leave my apartment to head for my bike ride, Aine inside napping on the couch. The bike ride was great, as we biked to Core Yamakuni for the third time now, and then decided to continue onwards, perhaps towards Hita, another 15km away. Little did we know that “towards Hita” meant “UP towards Hita.” Although Hita is technically in a valley, apparently we had to climb the longest, steadily uphill slope in the history of slopes to get DOWN into that valley. Don’t ask me how it works, I’ve come to explain everything weird around here as: “It’s Japan.” Just like you can explain just about anything in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” as: “They’re Jedi.” Anyway, I biked gallantly for another four km uphill before my resolve failed (Kate was speeding along but was kind enough to stop every once in a while to check up on me) and we turned around. The way back was much easier, and all told we did about 75 kilometers and although I came away with a flat rear tire, I am feeling quite good. According to my speedometer we also burned 860 calories, which is quite exciting!

Coming home I spent a little alone time with my oven, getting a little better acquainted, and we quickly make plans to have Cam, Georgia and Aine over for an oven christening ceremony, complete with food, some classy entertainment (Jersey Shore!) and delicious ice cream. We ended up making stuffed bell peppers and they came out really tasty. My oven is a great success, and I plan on giving it a lot of love over the next few months. Well worth the purchase.

Then for some post dinner entertainment as we waited for my computer to burn the first season of “Jersey Shore” for Cam and Georgia, Georgia found her new home away from home.

Georgia in the closet

Georgia still in the closet

And Cam found his new favorite activity.

Poke

I think she likes it?

A sleepover is in the works, as I technically could fit three women in my closet. Following her nap, we arrived at the main event of the evening: A game of dumps. I won’t go into too much detail, the video explains it all. Please enjoy!

-Dash