Some of you may notice in the next few weeks my output as a judge may drop a little because I am in Japan visiting my mother (she works as a school psychologist for the Department of Defense). So just for grins I thought I would post some of my adventures on-line as I search out real geishas and look at Godzilla country!

I made it here after what seemed like TWO DAYS of flying. I was one of five white people on board China Airlines the whole way (my mom booked my flight). The further we got from the US, the stranger the food got. They stopped giving us forks, and I almost ate an octopus because I thought it was a strawberry (it was that red). Thank God fruit and salad are universal. Also for some reason they like to give you hot salty water about every 2 hours. Don't know what that is for, but it woke me up.

I slept through most of it thanks to my Tylenol PM and a trusty travel pillow. Nobody next to me spoke good English, so conversation was not going to happen. Most of the passengers were Chinese, so even my rudimentary Japanese was not very useful! The only Chinese I know I learned from that Joss Wheedon show SERENITY, so all I know how to say are things like "shit" and "you are a hairy monkey". Not useful for making friends. Luckily they have movies - tons of them to chose from in-flight as you trek across the Pacific. I must have watched the Tim Burton Wonka movie three times. I kept falling asleep and waking up right when Violet chewed the gum and turned into a blueberry.

My mom's house is amazing - very huge multilevel affair right on a private beach that looks a lot like a scene out of LOST (only more civilized). You have to push buttons for everything though. Want hot water? Find the remote control. Want heat to come on? Find the remote control. Want to work the bathroom? Find the remote control.

The weather here is very California. Breezy and cool with a lot of sea smell. They think its Winter because it's in the upper 60s. They are all wearing coats and shaking. Okinawa is quite industrial. It shocked me how sturdy and not pretty most of the buildings are, but they get typhoons that are 5 times larger and more powerful than Katrina or Rita on a regular basis - so protection is more important than pretty.