Konichiwa and the like

You'll be happy to know that my sarcasm has been recovered after an exhaustive search. I think I also might have found some of my wittiness out there with it. It has been a rough couple of weeks.

Onward and upward. On Thursday I will be going to Tokyo, Japan for a week for a Summit that my office (with the full blessing of the State Department) is hosting to discuss issues of public diplomacy. I have known that I'm going to this thing for about two months now, but only when I was at CVS today buying earplugs and Tylenol PM did the full weight of a 13 hour flight from Detroit (DTW what?!?!)-Narita really hit me. I. Am. Going. To. Japan. What the hell do I even know about Japan?

And the answer is not much: Saki, Harajuku girls, sushi, Hello Kitty, Hiroshima, Mr. Baseball, shrines, cherry blossoms, and Tokyo, the second most expensive city in the world (with Moscow at #1) pretty much rounds out my knowledge of this country. I have never even thought about traveling to Asia-- it was never one of those places that I aspired to go. But now that I have the opportunity to go, I'm starting to feel a little uneducated.

It's not like I have a lot of time to be out and about exploring, but isn't it my duty to immerse myself in another culture because I've been given the opportunity? Don't I owe it to the travel gods to go to a fish market and eat something that I didn't know was food? Or to bow when I meet someone? My coworker and I have have been practicing calling each other by "san."

"Libberash-san, will you email me your itinerary?"
"Sure, HDogg-san."

Sayonara fools. I'll catch you in August (!)

Oh The Shame!

Oh, god. This is unprecendented. I've lost my sarcasm. That's right, the quippy, jokey, biting wordplay that makes my world go round. I can't pinpoint exactly when it started but now I officially don't get it. You know it: that thing where people don't have to explain to you that they're kidding because you just inherently know. I NO LONGER GET IT!! THIS IS A PROBLEM!

Sarcasm is the currency of youth, so how am I going to function it without it? Who will I talk to? What shows can I watch? and most importantly, how in the H-E-L-L do I get it back? Basically, I should sit at home, alone, with my phone off watching Golden Girls reruns. What else is there to do?

This reminds me of that Sex and The City episode where Samantha loses her orgasm and doesn't get it back until she cries at Miranda's mother's funeral. I really hope that doesn't mean that someone has to die in order for me to find my sarcasm... See? I take everything literally!! Oh, this is bad. This is really bad.

Wanted: my sarcasm back. It's like my mojo, only more important.