Sunday, August 29, 2010

Define Your Relationship !

Anda tau serial tv asal amerika berjudul "How I Met Your Mother" ? bagi anda yang belum tau. kasian deh lu.. hehe.. bagi yang udah tau saya ingin menceritakan bagian dari episodenya yang semalem saya liat dan mengingatkan saya pada suatu kisah nyata disekitar kehidupan saya saat ini hohoho....


Episode yang saya maksud adalah episode ke 1 pada season 5. Pada episode ini diceritakan tentang hubungan Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) dan Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders) dimana mereka mengalami suatu hubungan yang mereka sendiri tidak mengerti dimana tepat posisi status hubungan mereka berada, sepasang Boyfriend and Girlfriend?? atau just Friends..?? Dalam hubungan mereka, mereka telah melakukan hubungan sex (tidak patut dicontoh :P) selama musim panas, namun ketika mereka menyadari apa yang barusan mereka lakukan dan mencari tau apakah yang terjadi, mereka tetap tidak tau pasti disebut apakah status hubungan mereka tersebut.
Robin : "We should figure out what this is.."
Barney : "Yes we should, Or.. Or..."
(And they keep continuing their "unfigured relationship" :D)

Terlepas dari hubungan sex ala barat yang mereka lakukan, Barney dan Robin tidak seharusnya melanjutkan hubungan tersebut tanpa mencoba mendefiniskan apa yang mereka maksudkan dengan status hubungan mereka. Karena definisi adalah penting untuk menjelaskan segalanya agar menjadi jelas. Salah satu contoh kenapa definisi itu penting misalnya, ketika Robin diajak kencan oleh pria lain, maka Barney tidak punya hak untuk mencegah hal itu terjadi, dan tidak boleh cemburu dikarenakan diantara Barney dan Robin memang tidak ada hubungan yang jelas.

Ketika hubungan dekat yang sudah melewati batas dari sekedar teman biasa bahkan disebut sahabat maka, kenapa tidak dilanjutkan saja ke tingkat yang lebih jelas?! tentukan hubungan Anda jika Anda merasa itu yang Anda butuhkan, yaitu suatu hubungan yang jelas. Berbagai akibat dari tidak ada definisi yang jelas dalam suatu hubungan adalah pertama, si pria atau wanita terkadang akan merasa cemburu terhadap apa yang terjadi pada "teman" mereka itu namun mereka tidak dapat dapat mencegahnya. Akibat kedua, orang akan membicarakan Anda dari tiap waktu ke waktu. Memang tidak ada hak orang lain untuk mengurusi hubungan yang Anda jalani, tapi tidakkah Anda risih jika anda mengetahui bahwa setiap anda berduaan dengan "teman" anda itu saat melewati orang lain, orang lain itu sedang membicarakan hubungan Aada yang tidak jelas dan menduga-duga yang tidak-tidak. Ketiga, apa yang anda lakukan bukanlah hal yang sia-sia jika dilandasi atas sesuatu yang jelas. Anda tidak lagi menjalani hubungan yang hanya mendapatkan kesenangan sesaat. Ingat bahwa hubungan anda tersebut tidak bertahan selamanya, akan tiba kalanya anda akan merasa yang anda lakukan sia-sia dan dapat menyakiti hati anda sendiri dikemudian hari. Dan, masih banyak akibat dari hubungan yang tidak jelas tersebut.

Hubungan seperti ini biasa disebut HTS atau TTM. Jadi, apakah anda oke-oke saja dengan hal ini?? Define Your Rerlationship!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Kiyosato

We spent our summer holiday in the mountains. It was 15-20 degrees cooler, and was chilly in the evenings. I loved it and they had to drag me back to Tokyo.
Saturday's BBQ party

Birdseye of Miyakoda-san preparing the Yaki-niku

Fukui-san assists

The shrimp and squid add interesting color to the grill

Compai!
Left to right: Watanabe-san, his son Hajime, Miyakoda-san, Yoshiko-san, Aya, and Fukui-san

someone likes meat!

I think he doubled his weight at this one meal


Round 2

Hajime and Aya's mom enjoy discussing the Yomiuri Giants. Everyone else is a fan of the Hanshin Tigers, including both of Hajime's parents. He enjoyed discussing the team with a fellow fan, and I think Aya's mom enjoyed it as well.

Breakfast on Sunday after a game of tennis. I am always impressed with how colorful meals are. I guess that is largely due to all of the fresh fruits and vegetables we eat in the mountains.

Preparing for a round of putter golf

Just like real golf, only it is only greens. All of the roughs are OB and a 2 stroke penalty. Lots of fun.

Longest putt of the day goes to Aya

Aya tees off

Miyakoda-sans second shot from the rough

Fukui putting for birdie

Aya's mom steering her putt

nananananananananana
zazazazazazazazazazaza
(caddy shack)
Aya is prepared for a flood should it occur

To the victors go the spoils. The top 2 finishers won icecream from the bottom 2, and had to rub it in. Not quite sure how this pose came about, but sometimes you just have to go with it.

Reference for the photos below...
One our return from Putter Golf, the bridge over the deepest valley was closed and there was a rescue helicopter.

Apparently someone jumped off of the bridge, so they were lowering paramedics into the valley


A pretty blurry picture, but you don't have much time to react when someone is taping another's mouth shut.


Miyakoda-san demonstrating how he was able to break free of the tape

Fukui-san and Miyakoda-san dancing. I was lucky enough to be a wallflower this time.

Miyakoda-san's art wall at the mountain house

after dinner discussion

Hiking on tuesday
I think a free bowl of soup came with Aya's hat
(another Caddy Shack)

Andrew & Judy visit Tokyo

Andrew and Judy came to visit Tokyo from South Korea where they are both teaching. We got to spend friday night and saturday with them mostly eating, drinking, and generally trying to stay out of the heat as much as possible.
Friday: All of our culinary tours of Tokyo begin at Toriki



After Toriki we got a bit off track from where we intended to go, but did find a place to cool down and get a few beers. This place attracted us with their beer special in english. However, the part that said it was tomorrow was in Japanese. But everything happens for a reason...

The woman on the right is the "owner" (turns out her sister is the actual owner). She was about the meanest, funniest, strangest person I have ever met. She was very much taken by Andrew and I, and kept grabbing our butts and flirting with us - in Japanese - and then getting mad when we didn't respond to her advances and even madder that we couldn't speak Japanese. Made for a VERY entertaining evening, and a few bruises on the backside the next morning.

Saturday: Togoshi-Ginza. Posing in front of a government test of 'mist fans.' The theory is that these devices will cool prominent shopping streets during the heat of summer - GENIUS! We found them very effective, but wonder how many it would take to cover an entire street.


Stopping for a beer and a bit of AC. Cabbage is always a nice snack.

Powering up on a few Tai okonomi-yaki, and Tai-yaki. Basically, fish shaped (tai = red snapper) pancake with various fillings. Tai-yaki is custard or red bean filled. Tai okonomi-yaki has mayo, ham, ginger, cabbage, & vegetable sauce. Double Good! They also had a new curry flavored one, so each couple had to share one of each.

Bon Odori festival in Kugahara that night



Stopped for a drink and some light food at this really cool local sake bar. Aya and I have walked by here many times and I have always been intrigued by the pirate behind the bar. He more than lived up to expectations. He only serves 3 kinds of Sake, and chips chunks of ice from huge blocks for each drink. This place is not about quick service, but is about quality and tradition.

It is like a Japanese 'Cheers.' Everyone in the bar (all 8 of the other people that could fit) knew each other, and have been customers of "The Master" for over 20 years. This is the 3rd location of his bar, yet these people still come from across town 2-3 times a week to have a drink and see him. Great experience.

One last midnight snack of curry chicken on a skillet. In Japan there is no such thing as just grabbing a few drinks.