fall arrives in the megalopolous

Well, one grey, rainy day is fine - a chance to laze about, watch movies, eat chocolate, read books and drink tea. But TWO seems excessive.

I guess that Fall has finally arrived in Tokyo. The humidity is gone, and it smells different. Actually, I love the smell of autumn in Tokyo. In Canada, I always associated a kind of decomposing-leaves smell with the season (not as bad as it sounds, really), but here it is an absolutely lovely aroma of coal-roasted sweet potatoes, sold by vendors all over the city. Delicious.

The TELL Charity auction went very well, we raised a little over 12 million yen, and the highest bid item was dinner for 12 hosted by the Canadian Ambassador, at his residence (Y700,000!!!). The coolest item was a hockey jersey signed by Wayne Gretzky (you know, the great one...). I had a few minutes of thinking how cool that would look in its frame on my dining room wall, but it went for Y490,000. I had to be satisfied trying to explain to my Japanese friends exactly who Gretzky is. Hockey is not so big here...

So, I think my job is secure for the near future at least. There were several items I almost bid on (like airfare & 5 days hotel in Whistler), but by the time I got my paddle halfway up, things were invariably out of my price range. Oh well...

And then this past weekend we went to the US Marine Corps Ball (our 4th in a row!). It was fun, and the special guest speaker was Aaahnold (I expected him to show up naked in a ball in the middle of the room, but no such luck). He gave his standard speech, but added an inspired "I may play an action hero in da moovies, but choo are the reeeal action heros" for the marines. Cute, no? I think the excitement of that may even eclipse the marine ball in Santo Domingo where we got to see someone get shot (no, not by a marine) on our way home...

Oh, the exciting life...