1/22

The last day in Tokto. I woke up this morning with my jaw so sore I was sure in my blackout state the night before I had been punched in the face, probably by a girl. When I made my way to the sink I checked for bruising but saw nothing. When I brushed my teeth and my mouth was bleeding I investigated further. I had not been hit, but was in fact...teething. At 21 years old. I'd like to think that my dental hygiene is fairly good, I brush twice a day, floss on occasion, mouth wash most days. However, it has been some time since I actually attended a dentist appointment (which is ironic since my mom, sister and aunt all work for my uncle's dental practice). Apparently in the two years since my last dentist appointment (which was an emergency after an alcohol induced fall left me needing a root canal on my front tooth) I had sprouted a wisdom tooth. And today, facing a 13 hour plane ride, it decided to be as painful as possible. I was in pain, tempermental and surly. Honestly, I yearned for those chew toys they give two year olds.

But I had a plane to catch, and nothing was stopping me from reacquainting with myself with the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave (not to mention the Cheesy Gordita Crunch I had been craving since day 2). Jason and I took a taxi to the station where the airport bus left from to find Takagi, Jason and Alex and no one else. Our bus left in 4 mins, we had our tickets, but Takagi wanted us to wait for the others. We had seen this scene play out too many times, us waiting for the others to figure out how to use the train we have used 85 million times while we watch the train we are supposed to be in fly by us. Not today. Not with a date with America looming. So we threw up a peace sign to Takagi and boarded the bus. The rest of the day was uneventful, save me being unable to sleep on the plane and spending the majority of the time with my finger jammed to the back of my mouth trying to ease the pain of my growing tooth. It was one of those situations where I knew I looked like a jackass...but the pain was too much for me to care. After touching down we taxied around the runway for 30 minutes, because Tokyo hated us too much to have an easy flight, but alas I hit up the all-American Taco Bell for the delicious cruchueesy taste of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch and was happy to be home.

Final Count: Tokyo had taken me from too much money, my pride, my character apparently, of course my iPhone, most likely brought down a stellar GPA, made all my clothes smell like cigarettes and shattered any hope I had for yellow wife. But I did get some good memories and the stigma of this blog for the rest of my life, so I got that going for me.