Ayumi stuff and card games
2006-12-13 - 8:18 p.m.

Did anybody watch that interview with Ayumi on CNN International last Friday? Didn't think so.

Anway, I did and it was great. She started out by answering the very first question all in English, which impressed the hell out of me. I know a little bit of Japanese and I think I have a pretty good handle on the pronunciation, but when I think about a Japanese person trying to learn English, I wonder how they ever do it. The English language is full of diphthongs, which are combinations of vowel sounds (like the vowel combination at the end of the word toy), but the Japanese language has no diphthongs so the whole concept is pretty incomprehensible for them.

Anyway, Ayumi did a great job with her English, even though she had a little trouble putting her thoughts into words at time. She mentioned that she's going to be touring Asia next year from March to June, which is a huge deal because she's only toured in Japan until now. The interviewer asked if she was considering coming to the US and she said no, not right now, but "if people will listen, I will go anywhere in the world." The interviewer said, "You mean the US?" and Ayumi said, "Yes, of course."

I would probably die of excitement if she came to the US and performed because I would HAVE to go see her. That would be so amazing.

During the interview they showed various clips from her concerts, videos and press conferences, and it was so cool because they started off showing some of her Startin' video and B and I had just been watching that video earlier in the evening. (I'd burned a DVD with all her latest videos on it.)

You can see Ayumi's Talk Asia interview at Y0uTube, if you're interested. Actually, you can see pretty much anything and everything of hers there. All her concerts, TV performances, commercials, interviews, etc., etc.

So my conversation with Mom was okay yesterday. We talked for about an hour and the conversation was pretty pleasant, though honestly I could feel that we were both just kind of doing it out of a feeling of obligation. She mentioned wanting to come visit us after the first of year, but then she also suggested that we meet over in G@tlinburg, which I know B doesn't want to do. That may be the last we'll hear about it, so we'll see what happens.

I did tell her about our plans to move and she was surprised, but didn't seem upset or anything. I think it's pretty clear that we've grown pretty far apart emotionally, so the physical distance won't make much difference. Now, if I could just get over the guilt I feel about our emotional distance...maybe some day.

B told me yesterday that the folks at his store are planning to bring desserts to our party, so I guess I don't really need to make that rum cake. I still want to make some kind of Christmas-y looking drinking, like I was thinking about with the Mid0ri, though. B also told me that his brother D broke up with his girlfriend, so he may be coming by himself. During the past couple years, they've broken up and gotten back together several times, so it's possible that they may be back together by then. Who knows.

I'm hoping that we can play some card games at this party. I love playing cards but unfortunately I like the kind of games that you need more than two people to play, so I don't often get the chance. My favorite game is 31, and I used to love to play Bullshit when I was a kid. Half the fun of that was getting to yell out "Bullshit!" during the game...but only when the parents weren't around. ;)

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