Visa etc.

So today I went to Kobe to update my visa for the first time ever. It was way quicker than I thought it would be and I found the building right away, thanks to Luke's great directions. ("It's near the giant tetris piece.") The staff were really nice and helpful and put up with a few stupid questions that I had, which made me happy. Maybe it's just 'cause I'm an American, but I almost expect that public servants are going to be rude and unhelpful, so when they're not it's rather a pleasant surprise.

I had some free time afterward so I did what I always do: went straight down to Tokyo Random Walk and bought some books. (Sometimes I swear I think I'm supporting that place single-handedly.) Here's the rundown:

'The Bell Jar' by Slyvia Plath- I read some of her poetry when zi was in my wanna-be poet phase in highschool and quite liked it, but I never read the novel, so better late than never...

'Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories Vol. I' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle- Just good to have around I guess, and since mystery seems to be fast becoming another favorite genre of mine I thought it would be good to have some of the master...

'The Sandman: Book of Dreams' edited by Neil Gaiman- This one's kind of a gimme. I knew I had to have it the second I saw it. It's a book of short stories set in the Sandman universe by a whole bunch of great authors: Tad Williams, Susanna Clarke and (are you reading Mom?) Gene Wolfe...

'Liquor' by Poppy Z. Brite- Another gimme... I've loved Poppy since I first read her stuff back in highschool (did my senior paper comparing her and Charlotte Bronte in fact), but I haven't read anything of hers lately, so it should be a treat...

That's all for now since I've got a date to go to Karaoke with Non-chan, Kon-sama and a whole bunch of other people tonight, but I should be putting up that review of 'The Big Sleep' soon. I finished it a few days ago, but I haven't gotten around to writing it yet. The next review should probably take even longer though since right now I'm reading 'Elizabeth and Mary' which is a dual biography of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. It's fascinating stuff, but still a bit slow-going...

Goog Niter!

P.S. Today's image (as you've probably guessed) again has nothing what-so-ever to do with this post, but it's what came up on a Google Image search for 'Japan visa' so there you have it...