Gary, Where have you been?

I've been doing some intensive training for some volunteer work that I will be doing in Tokyo which is taking a lot of time. For those of you who are in the USA, ask me and I'll tell you what I'm doing. For people in Japan, it has to remain confidential. And I'm still trying to learn Japanese, which is a constant reminder of how difficult it is to learn a language at my advanced age. Anyhow, I've been really busy commuting to Tokyo and studying Japanese. So this blog will be short on my usual patter.

A few weeks ago, our neighbors from upstairs, the Hodges, called and said, "You have to come do karaoke with us and David's sister and her husband." Well, it was pretty late and we were already in our evening lounging clothes (Me in T shirt, underwear and socks. Marcia in elegant color coordinated pajamas.), but we decided to get dressed and give it a shot. Marcia has experienced karaoke in Japan but, I have not. Karaoke is very different in Japan from what I have experienced in the USA. In the USA, everyone is in a great big room and the person performing, sings to a large group. In Japan, you rent a private room for your group. So you don't sing to strangers, only the people in your group. So... you rent a room with a television screen and 2 microphones and a song book. I forgot to mention, included in the rental of the room is an unlimited supply of drinks. There's a phone in the room and when you need more drinks, you call and order. Great system! Well, we had a great time and here's what it looked like.


Kimberly and brother-in-law, David.


Kimberly and David, also known as "the Hodges".



Gary and David get romantic?


David and his wife, Shannon. (The other David's sister.)




And now for a couple of embarrassing pictures.................











Kimberly gets down!


Gary falls asleep?


Anyhow, a fun time was had by all!!!!!

Next blog coming soon......Japan celebrates Halloween.

Ja mata,

Gary