This morning, I had my first physical in several years. Yup, I'm probably hearing a lot of "tsk, tsk"right now, but hey, I'm not a huge fan of those. So sue me. But my parents' doctor was pretty cool about it....did all the standard parts of the examination, including the one with the rubber glove (it and I are having cocktails on Friday). Not surprisingly, the doc just told me that I need to lose about 15 kg. Yup, I have gained quite a bit since I got back from Japan...most likely due to the two Ribfests and the biweekly anime-and-foodie outings with The Anime King. Then, Dad and I drove a bit West where a neighbourhood medical centre took care of the X-ray that I'd requested for my left shoulder. Yup, it still aches. I'm hoping that it isn't more serious than tendonitis when the doc finds out in a few days. Still have to give my blood and urine samples tomorrow, so no brekkie for me.
Apparently, even the Koreans from back home rave about this place, so that was a fine incentive for us to try it out. And this time, it wasn't just The King and I. Another old friend of ours from way back, The Anime Knight, joined us. It's nice to have one more added into the conversational mix.
The menu is actually limited to just a handful of items. Myeongdong specializes in shabu shabu, and two-thirds of the menu was devoted to that. However, we did go for one of the few other a la carte items which were these huge dumplings. I mean, if they were frozen, they would be weapons. Luckily, piping hot, they were simply delicious instead. All that was needed was just a pinch of complementary kimchi and soy sauce, and they were good to go. We also had bowls of noodle soup which were spicy but the dumplings were the winners here.
Afterwards, the three of us went to one of our regular post-meal haunts, the Second Cup on Steeles. I treated for the drinks there. And it was another hour or hour and a half of reminiscing and computer talk.
The Anime Knight went back home afterwards, but The King and I went down into the basement as usual to view the various offerings. We continued with the rebooted "Yamato"saga. I have to say that although the story is along the same lines as the original 1974 presentation, the graphics are entertaining enough to keep me watching. We ran through the 4 episodes that came with his latest shipment, before we viewed the one-hour documentary on the onstage show with cast and crew when the episodes were actually shown at an Osaka movie theatre earlier in the year. Just saw that long line snake down the staircase. Heck, even Isao Sasaki, the singer of the iconic theme song, made a surprise appearance and performance. Probably not a dry eye in the place.
Then, it was an hour of appreciative listening to soundtrack stuff before heading out to a neighbourhood Thai joint for dinner before coming back to watch "Joshiraku"and the latest episode of "Smile Precure". "Joshiraku"is just one seemingly stream-of-consciousness Japanese screwball comedy anime spearheaded by five female rakugo performers that spares no sacred cows in Japan or beyond.
