seriously...

I'm at a cozy Starbucks, enjoying my lunch break with a cup of hot coffee, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and a bit of blogging on the side.


It's a perfect December day: the piercing cold, heavy clouds, gray sky, and Christmas decorations and music everywhere! To be honest, I hate the cold. My body doesn't seem to know how to cope with crazy-low temperatures and has the tendency to shut down a bit during the winter. I've been trying to figure all this out for the many years I have had to suffer through the cold seasons, and I think I've finally figured out what's going on! My body is trying to go into hibernation, just like any other sensible mamel should! But since it's December, one of the bussiest months of the year, hibernation isn't anywhere close to being even an option to cope with cold. So I don't hibernate and struggle on. My body freaks out because it's not hibernating! My body starts shutting down certain functions as a result, and I start feeling and looking awful! I'm brilliant!!


Every year when winter rolls around, my neck and shoulders cramp up, my back starts hurting, my toes change from healthy pink to a dangerous grey-purple, my usually lucious lips crack and consequently are a bloody mess, the time that it takes to tumble out of bed is anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, and if you were to only look at my hands, you would think that they belonged to someone 30 years older! But despite all these symptoms of badness, if it weren't cold during December, something wouldn't seem right. To me, winter time is what it is because getting up in the morning and crawling out of bed is so difficult. Because I can see my breath. Because I get to wear my favorite winter boots. Because I have to sleep under layers of blankets to keep warm. Because when I come back from the bathroom around midnight, my bed is no longer warm, and finding sleep after that takes forever. Without these things, winter wouldn't be winter! It would be something entirely else, and I don't think I'll like it very much.


Speaking of winter, it's almost Christmas. Christmas is all about family, love and  the food!! Speaking of the food, I can't believe I'll be cooking Christmas dinner this year after I repeatedly let the family know that Boris and I would take little to no part in cooking for everybody this year! We were so determined not to, you should have heard us!


Over the phone with Boris:


Boris: Eiko, let's not cook Christmas dinner this year.


Me: Yeah, forget it! I'm not gunna be anywhere near that kitchen! Ugh! HATE my hair and clothes smelling like fried chicken! (HUGE pet-peeve) Hate my fingers smelling like garlic days after! Hate my finger nails being fucked up by my sloppy knife skills!


Boris: Let's just relax and let everybody else fuss and take care of stuff we do every year! I mean, I'll have work at Ikegami that day! I don't want to come back and cook dinner! I just want to spend time with you and relax! (Awww!) It's their turn anyway.


Me: Totally. I can't enjoy anything laid out on the table after slaving away in the kitchen, cutting, tasting, preparing, marinating and cooking all of it! I smell and look bad after a day in the kitchen, and I feel full. Can't even enjoy drinking when I'm like that! Dangerous sign! No ways, man! I'm not gunna cook! But who's gunna cook if we aren't?


Boris: Eiko, don't worry about that! If we won't, somebody will HAVE to! We're a smart family AND we're a big family. Somebody will figure something out eventually. I'd rather a whatever dinner, or even ordering pizza or eating out than cooking! Seriouslly, Eiko. This year, we're gunna be the ones enjoying the dinner while everybody else runs around fixing things up. I'm NOT.GOING.TO.COOK!!


Me: True. Why has it always been us anyway when there are so many of us?


Boris: I know, right? So many able-bodied Matsuokas! There's Yoko, there's Tom, there's the sisters-in-law minus, I guess, the pregnant one, there's Mom (Boris was very desperate), and there's well, ...Dad! (Desperate!) And Ai-chan and Akari-chan will whip up the deserts! Voilla!! Christmas dinner is served! Oh, and there's Yasu and Yuya! Oh, and there's Sam! Wow!


Me: OK, Boris, let's do this! We're going to retire! (for this year, anyway)


Boris: This is so awesome! We need to let the family know we've retired!


Me: OK! Let's post this on FB!


Boris: Seriously!


Me: I know, seriously!


Boris: OK, good.




And after all that and then some, where we are, planning and fussing over Christmas dinner. I'm going to need a box or two of fags!