Winter coming reminds me that I’ve almost been back in the US for almost a full year. Wish I could lay out all the boarding passes and wine bottles (er, boxes) from the last 10 months as a sort of homage to a beautiful/hilarious/sometimes treacherous journey home.
Annnnnnnnnd New York is starting to feel like home again
A few fun things that happened while I wasn’t updating Tumblr:
I went to a divorce ceremony in Tokyo
I traveled around Western Honshu and write about it for the Fodor’s 20th edition Japan guide
I raised the ire of gaijin in Tokyo
ALSO
Japanese report on the “grandma scam” is available here:
http://cgi2.nhk.or.jp/nw9/recommen2010/index.cgi (イッツ・ミー”米でも振り込め詐欺” ”It’s me!” or the “grandma scam” in the US.)
Oh Fandango Community. Do you even need to ask?
When I was brand new to freelancing (and pretty new to New York), MSNBC.com asked me to write dispatches from the Fashion Week tents. I honestly thought, “I’ll be running around all over the place. Better wear layers and super comfortable shoes.”
I didn’t quite “get it”, you could say
3:30am at G. Page. Shipments of Japanese flowers are coming in for Valentine’s Day
Tenn. GOP lawmaker credits Hooters for success
After my Slate article on working at Tokyo Hooters, a lot of people seem to expect me to hate on the company. The truth is, I’m with Rep. Hurley. Waitressing is tough. Waitressing while basically wearing an orange spandex diaper can try the soul. And yet, most of the women I met during my (very brief) time on the job were cool, smart, hard-working hustlers.
Some of them were working three jobs to support themselves. Some lived with their parents and just wanted “exposure” or a little extra cash for blingy cell phone covers. Whatever. They all just got it done. I find that admirable.
(For what it’s worth, the management and trainers at Hooters were very respectful and considerate of employees.)
Now if only those crotch-creeping shorts didn’t cause PTSD…
NHK shoot in West Palm Beach, FL
