There's been a rash of confusing weather of late, which has made the hourly outdoor stair climb at work a grab bag of fun. But who cares? Weather's weather. Boring. What's not boring is my account of mopping under the fridge; I found stuff like dried prunes, cigarette butts, and congealed cheese-like substances. What would've been better: having cleaned them up and eliminated their silent but deadly spores, or having ignored them, thereby saving myself the disgust of confronting them head on? Save your breath: gagging silently, I succumbed to the murky depths and my hands smell like bleach to prove it.

What's also not boring is having finally signed up (in blood and money) for the Nagano Marathon. Start sending the running shoes, fibrous power-bars and fictitious milk kegs now! I'll need them all. UNICEF pending.

I discovered Fuchu over my weekend. It's a city east of Takao (but still west of everything else in Tokyo prefecture) and I truly enjoyed it during my brief visit. I have the option to move to that vicinity and I'm considering it. Since the upstart of mental deliberations, though, I've begun feeling sporadic twangs of Takao patriotism. A brief Takao Top Ten Takeaway Three:

10) Mountains like these 10 minutes from my door -->
9) Firemen and factory workers doing calisthenics at 8 am every morning. One daren't ask for better free entertainment!
8) Uniformed adult men playing baseball (with trophies at stake) on Sunday afternoons
6) Mountains, again. And rivers. And mountains.
3) Geriatric croquet tournaments on Saturday mornings (more excellent free entertainment)
2) Big dogs in sweaters everywhere (see, in the city one can't keep a big dog comfortably, so while there are many well-coiffed little dogs prancing around in the more populated precincts, only in the Takaoan countryside can the big dogs roam warm and free)
1) Always getting a seat on the special rapid

While I am weighing my options, please don't tell John Grisham I've gotten hold of his . . . template. He'd [verb] with [noun -- emotion] if he were to [verb] [preposition].