When the Love Ends

konishiwa, friends,

there comes a time when even the deepest of sibling relationships goes sour. mine and rob's went south when, unsurprisingly, we went south.

here's an account of sunday.

we woke up at a reasonable time, around 10AM, and decided that we would go to the beach and slum around. around 10:30, however, senator tarkington called, and said he was coming over to do a suitcase swap (he's heading back to the states soon). while in the crib, he noted that he and his lady-friend tomomi were going to climb mt. tarumae, a short jaunt away. rob said, "we're going" and before i could say "boo," he was making plans to camp later before heading to hirafu to see nick and rika.

this is the mountain:

here is some information about the mountain:

"This mountain stands at 1,041 meters and is composed of three separate formations. The dome, formed after a major eruption in 1909, is uniquely shaped and is one of a kind in the world. Although a dome had existed prior to that eruption, it was quickly destroyed and replaced by the second dome. This phenomenon caused Mt. Tarumae to be nicknamed ﾒthe rejuvenated volcano.ﾓ The present dome is about 100 meters in height and 450 meters in diameter. It is popular among citizens as the ﾒmountain of their home town.ﾓ More than 50,000 hikers, including school children and citizens, crowd to the mountain annually. With Lake Shikotsu below, the Pacific Ocean and Tomakomai City in the distance, the top of the mountain offers a panoramic view of the magnificent nature of Hokkaido."

here is a list of emotions i went through while climbing this mountain, in the order in which they were experienced:

ineptitude

despair

hostility

rage

coming to terms with an inability to summit

summit and joy

rob, for all of his planning, neglected to get us breakfast or water. i hated him.

once we descended (okay, i'll admit that there was joy), we took off to an onsen, where i discovered my new favorite feature of an onsen: a waterfall with pulsating water to massage one's neck. it rocks.

we then headed to hirafu, where we stopped at jo-jos and satisfied my cheese craving in the form of yummy pizza and an avacado salad (with cheese). dillman, you would have been proud.

we settled in at the pimp apartment rented by kiwi nick and japanese rika, two lovely individuals. they were awesome in their hospitality. while "the boys" went off to play with their "band" we made a delicious dinner -- i found a new way to cook salmon! lots of good stuff.

slept in western style beds, which was odd after a week on a futon, but it was cool and comfy, so i slept like a baby, in preparation for the events of tuesday. stay tuned...

it sounds like both kipper and ben as well as cordelia gave the parents a run for their money, which is always a good thing. thanks to mama v for sharing all the news. i miss you all!

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