Week(end) in Review

      Nothing new to report, no new clothes to share. Like the rest of Tokyo, we're just struggling to remain upbeat through the final weeks of the horrible, humid, and annoying summer. Even all those people who profess to love this wretched season because they like the increase of beach visits, barer limb sightings, beer guzzling, or whatever seem to have had enough.
     As for me, I'm just counting down the day until I don't have to shave my legs everyday or make my way to the office only half-dressed. Until then, I'm focusing on the little pleasures to get me into October (my favorite month!).

1. New books!

     My usual distraction of choice at home (besides the internet, obvs) is usually of the video game variety, but I regularly check the Amazon fiction and bestseller lists to see if anything catches my eye. Recently, there have been a fair amount of interesting debut novels so I'm happy to say I'm reading more than usual (though nothing will ever top the amount I read when I was a child, to be honest I think I burned out reading-wise in high school haha). And of course, I was bitten by the Game of Thrones/Song of Fire and Ice bug like everyone else in the English-speaking world, so I'm rapidly making my way through the five books.

2. Something Sparkly!

     Speaking of ice, gotta love how a cheap sparkler from Forever 21 can instantly lift one's spirits. Granted, it's going to rust like mad and fall apart any day now, but it was like $8, so whatever.

3. Banana juice!

     This may be just a German/Euro thing (courtesy of Dad), but damn, I love banana juice. Most people I know wrinkle their nose at the idea, though it's very similar in texture to mango juice. I never expected to find it anywhere in Asia, but recently I stumbled upon this banana/mango blend in a nearby convenience store, of all places. And it's surprisingly good, not too sweet and thankfully lacking a chemical aftertaste. This is Tokyo, so I imagine it will be discontinued come October, but I intend to enjoy it as long as I can.

4. Tuesday Treats!

     On our Saturday, we had a nice dinner at at amazing pizzeria near our place, and picked up some desert at the Payard counter. I had the amazing cassis (blackcurrant) mousse (just wish it came with more raspberries... my favorite berry every but they cost like $1 each over here) and the fiancee had a pumpkin/chestnut tart that tasted exactly like pumpkin pie. And I mean real American-style pumpkin pie, not the Japanese squash version (delicious as a veg, but as a dessert? Uh, no). Needless to say, he was in heaven.

5. YouTube favs!
 

Love the funk song he makes up on the fly towards the end of the video, had me in tears.

      Watching my fav Youtuber DarkSydePhil (DSP) play his way through the new gaming releases (September is that start of the hard-core 2011/2012 gaming season, so my wallet will soon be suffering). What I love about him is that he just enjoys the hell out of playing and can just happily amuse himself and his fans without taking it too seriously. Rock on, Phil.

 

     And, unfortunately, one thing that was definitely not appreciated this week. Our "weekend" kicked off with us finding out via Facebook that one of our favorite TV stars lost his battle with cancer. Spartacus is one of our favorite shows, and we loved Andy Whitfield as the titular character. He was a beautiful man and an incredibly talented up-and-coming actor, and he seemed like such an awesome guy in real life, too. So the next day, we made sure to make a toast to Andy when we had our Tuesday date night.

RIP, Spartacus. You will be missed.