Story of my life Part 3

Sunday, February 11, 2007

I woke up bright and early and realized that my life was empty without my computer. I'm beginning to realize that my best friend has been replaced by my machine and I'm only slightly sad about this. It just means I need to take better care of it! Again, I hopped a train into town equipped with USB drive and made my way to my favorite internet cafe. I wasn't sure of my plans for the day but I knew for sure I needed to finish fixing my computer. It was only going to take 20 minutes anyway!

3 hours later, I emerged from the cafe. It was the middle of the afternoon. Dan, who is currently living in Spain and no longer dating me and therefore has no obligation to help me, stayed up until 5am his time to walk me through the solution to my problem. I was now equipped with a reformatted USB drive and a brand new Linux bootable disc! I've
never used Linux before but how hard could it be? (is my foreshadowing getting annoying?)

I decided that the afternoon/early evening was still young. And I suddenly got a tickling in my brain. It was probably a thought but I couldn't be sure. I called up Aozora to see what she thought. I asked her if it was a completely weird idea to give CBB (the cute bagel boy) a valentine. I mean, the timing was quite convenient.

Let's digress for a minute (as per usual). See, Valentines Day is a crazy holiday here in Japan. Everyone knows that the holiday was created by the chocolate and card companies and the Japanese have embraced the idea with open arms. But as with everything in this country that came from the western world, they had to put some twist in it. Instead of men giving valentines to women consisting of but not limited to chocolate, candy, flowers, cards, balloons, lingerie, stuffed animals, a nice dinner out, and whatever else she might desire. I recall one year getting a huge teddy bear. The following year I was given a 60gig hard drive. Ahhhh those were good times.

BUT, here in Japan, it's the women that give men the valentines. It's not usually cards that say "Be my valentine" or "Some bunny loves you" with a cute picture of a rabbit. No no. Instead, the women go home and make chocolate from a kit. I can only imagine that it takes hours upon hours. They then wrap them all individually and give them out to the men in their lives. Particularly the ones they want to get with ;)

My mother tells me that this is similar to America and I shouldn't be making a big deal out of it. I mean, I was the one child in our family that made a big deal out of this Holiday every year. I was the one who had to buy some cute children’s valentines with sponge bob or the transformers on them and give them out to all my friends. It wasn't so
much that I was really into V-day or anything, I just really like giving people cute stuff!

Anyway, at the same time, it's not so bad that women give to men, which I was really originally hung up on, it's more so that some women do it out of obligation. In fact, if you go to Wikipedia, it actually tells you that there is a word for "The obligation of giving chocolate on Valentines Day". It's called 義理チョコ. I asked my friends and
they all agreed. It's totally a common word!!

Anyway, with that said, when I asked Aozora if it would be a good idea to give CBB a valentine, she practically jumped through the phone and demanded that I do it now and with a smile and cute skirt or she would personally kick my ass, in a loving way of course.

I still wasn't convinced. Yes, it's important to the Japanese but to me…the whole idea made me feel kind of silly.

I then called Monique and we made plans to hang out. I thought for sure she would put my mind straight and prove to me that it was a total joke but instead she actually thought it was a good idea. "See Nina, this is the reason why we're single. I won't do this sort of crap. I don't even like Japanese guys! But if you really think he's cute, go for it! You'll get him instantly!"

"ooook...so what do you know about this guy anyway?"

"Oh, the bagel guy? Yeah everyone knows him. In fact, every gaijin girl that goes in there flirts with him!"

Long gossipy conversation cut short, basically last year the bagel shop was the place to be if you were a JET. There was always the CBB but he also had an accomplice in crime aka CBG (cute bagel girl). Both people were big hits with the gaijin and everyone would always flirt with them. Recently, the bagel shop has lost its flare or so it seems and the girl has changed jobs for something bigger and better. Monique believes that they will never fire CBB because it is believed that gaijin will flock there just for him. Personally, I think it's the bagels but he's not exactly hard on the eyes either. Besides, why would they want to fire him anyway?!?!

Monique, who really knows the most gossip in the city, wasn't sure if he had dated any of the girls in JET. It would make sense if he had only because that would explain is good accent!

SO I went with her to the local foreign foods store. The last one. The only one. It consists mostly of foreign chocolate and face wash. *Napoleon Dynamite cut* Yeeeeesssssss! I then found the smallest most insignificant box of $3 chocolate I could find with a cute little card on it. I wrote my number and "call me" on it. When I got to the bagel place, he was not on duty. I was slightly relieved. Nicer to leave it and see what he does than watch him turn pink with shyness while I'm standing right there. Did I mention that he's really shy despite being a good conversationalist? I think he's an in the closet outgoing person, he just hasn't admitted it but everyone knows. It's obvious.

In a split second I drew a cute stick figure picture of myself with really curly hair and left if with his coworker. His manager actually came by and if he had been an American, he would have given me the wink and a gun. ACK dirty old man!!! But really, I was just another gaijin girl coming in to hit on CBB. *Sigh* I hate being unoriginal.

It was starting to get cold and dark and I really wanted to get back to fixing my computer. I took the train home and spent from about 6pm to 11pm working on my computer.

Progress made: I can play my music. I can not access the internet, I can not delete said file, I can not back up my files either. Weeeee