[light bulb]

I have a mind to do something romantic tomorrow. I'm staying at Shannon's vacant apartment in Nagano over the holiday, and it occurred to me when I was thinking what to do for the transition what a good idea it'd be to spend New Year's on top of the world. The problem is purely physical: the mountains close to Shannon's pad are big, but not alpine--those ones are on the other side of the city, about six miles away. They're big and kind of barren and partially snow-covered and intimidating enough that I'm excited by them and not scared away. But they're far away (and I'm without gloves).

Thankfully, Shannon has a bike. I just need to figure out which one it is, otherwise I'll be committing something of a felony. Also, I could go for some gloves, but God graced me with very Seussian fingers and I'm a bit of a physical anomaly on this island. Maybe I'll just wear socks on my hands...

ANYways. The idea occurred to me, like I said. I have a bad habit with following up on every idea I think is mildly amusing for the sake of having experienced something unique (I refer to my present situation on the cusp of Asia as formidable proof), so I imagine one way or the other I'll be climbing a mountain tomorrow. I've at least had the decency to decide not to spend the night on the mountain (though that would be QUITE AWESOME)--I'll just leave early tomorrow morning and return around dusk, and spend the new year at Zenkoji Temple, waiting for a chance to ring the bell. If I can still move my fingers enough to grasp the ringer.