How it started, a beautiful day of skiing I've been unpacking some significant trauma or maybe it is post-trauma response, whatever. Suffice to say 3 years ago this week I came within centimeters of deadly injury. Since then it's been pain, questioning of my willingness to survive, fears of living in constant debt and pain, and instead of a "new lease on life" which many assume that surviving accidents should have brought me, I have a healthy fear of "surviving" in today's fraught world. Don't panic, it's not a cry for help or indication of a crisis, but certainly a recognition that there are many ways we can go and long suffering ends will not be my favored way. That's us at the top After a full day without incident on the skis I am fortunate to have friends who cared enough to visit me Luckily travel insurance paid everything, so survival wasn't a curse. If it had not? Better that we don't dwell on that. Hospital Coffee and Yogu...
Kyushu Netchuya, Shinjuku in the Nomura Building The team in Shinjuku Tokyo, in Japanese custom, very hospitably invited StringGrrl out for an Authentic Kyushu izakaya experience. We walked from the office to a nearby shopping area to visit the restaurants in the lower levels (Why can't we have such nice things in the USA?). Izakaya are casual Japanese pubs or taverns that serve drinks and a variety of small plates, similar to experiences with Tapas in Spain, the work teams will leave the office for a drink and meal of several tastes before embarking on sometimes long commutes home. Kyushu Island is home to Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Oita, Saga, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa prefectures. It is the 3rd largest of the Japanese Islands and is the southernmost of the larger Japanese "mainland". Credited with being the "Birthplace of Ramen", where Tonkotsu Ramen was innovated as a novel new dish using Chinese Noodles in a Creamy Pork Bone broth. Hakata Gyoza,...