Screw the magic kingdom

This, believe it or not, is Tokyo Disneyland.

Dude, the magic kingdom killed me. I am so unbelievably sick (for what must be the fourth time since I got to this cold, rainy little mudhole I live in) this past weekend in Tokyo. In Disneyland, no less. I ended up coming home early (I spent a whole whopping day and a half in Tokyo, most of that buried under a ton of blankets or else worshipping the porcelain god).

Some interesting math I discovered:
1-way bus ticket home from Tokyo: 7460 yen
estimated travel time: 7.5 hours
actual travel time: 7.5 hours

1-way shinkansen ticket home from Tokyo: 15000 yen
estimated travel time: 4.5 hours
actual travel time: 7.5 hours (departs Tokyo station)*

*Why the disparity? Well turns out actually getting to Tokyo station from where I was staying in Tokyo was an adventure in and of itself. Especially when sick. The Yamanote line never seemed to move so slow. Not to mention the god awful private line I had to take just to get to a station from which I could hop the Yamanote. I kid you not, this is what the train right before me looked like - at noon on a Saturday!!!

I was like, "riiiight....I'll just go ahead and wait for the next one." The next one was the same way.

It's not unusual to see jam packed trains like this on the weekday mornings, but on a Saturday afternoon?! I almost barfed all over some guy who kept jamming me in the stomach with his stupid bag.

Add to this the fact that I (in my fevered haze) got lost trying to get from the private line railway terminal to the JR Shibuya station (and in the process ended up on the 5th floor (ladies handbags and cosmetics) of some random department store, always a potential hazard when switching train stations in Tokyo and other big cities as they seemingly terminate in the most random of places. I am waiting one day to take the wrong exit out of a JR station in Osaka and end up in the kitchen of a ramen restaurant or something.) resulting in me just missed the previous shinkansen by the time I arrived and having to wait another hour, then being forced to endure a bone chilling 45 minute transfer in the middle of Japan somewhere (I was literally frozen to the core - silly me didn't bring a jacket) and you begin to see why it took so long.

Bullet train = fast.
Additional transport time required to get from place to place to utilize said train = not so fast.

Whatever.

One of my darling adult students made this for me for christmas. She gets A+++ !!

I got so unbelievably sick that I'm still sick now. I think it was a combination of catching a fever/cold while simultaneously getting wet and then whipping around in roller coasters at high speeds in the freezing cold without a jacket. Oh yes. And I got food poisoning from a fucking Micky Mouse shaped burger - seriously. I've been alternatively blacking out, coughing up a lung, limping to the toilet to toss my cookies, battling a vicious migraine and trying to find relief for an aching stomach and back. Someone suggested I see a doctor; personally, I think I need an autopsy.

Am I the only one who sees at least a slight resemblance to Gandalf?

Anyway, I took Monday and tomorrow off of work (went in today, though I desperately wish I hadn't) to recover. Still feeling ill so I'm off to go lie down now. I'll write more later.

Screw the magic kingdom. Death to Mickey. Fucking bastardly rat.

Now listening to: The increasingly unsteady sound of my pulse echoing loudly in my ears.
7:56 am