{"id":752,"date":"2025-01-26T12:55:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/?p=752"},"modified":"2025-01-26T12:55:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:55:56","slug":"winter-break-pt-ii-nye-the-bedrock-bug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tgc.kaatissensei.pizza\/?p=752","title":{"rendered":"Winter Break Pt. II – NYE\/The Bedrock Bug"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

December 28th 7pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C seemed tired, so we put her down for bed. As soon as she seems to be sleeping, she sits up and gets sick. Maybe it was just something she ate? We take her out, change sheets and pajamas, then put her back down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8:30pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repeat. Then repeat again every half an hour for the next few hours. At least J is OK…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J wakes up as we\u2019re changing C\u2019s stuff again. He gets sick. Running out of towels and sheets…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12:30 am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J again<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final count was J-2, C-11ish. At least it\u2019s just them…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 29th<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haha, you thought one of us was gonna get sick. Classic misdirect. J ended up with an on-and-off fever, and both of them got sick like once a day, which is fun when there\u2019s no doctors open. Luckily we have technology, and you can do a virtual appointment. We never found out exactly what it was, so we\u2019ll just call it the Bedrock bug because if anyone can catch a stone-age disease, it\u2019s kids who go to preschool (If you don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, go watch the Flintstones Christmas Carol you uncultured swine. Millennials always go on about the Muppet version, but I think the Flintstones one deserves more recognition than it gets). We just hoped it would go away before our trip to Legoland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 30th 10pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think I ate too many peanut butter balls. My tummy feels a little\u2026 oh. Needless to say, I was out of commission for NYE and broke my 20+ year streak of always staying up (I did still set my alarm for 11:59 because I had to).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Where are we gonna find another Ghost of Christmas past? And who could possibly squeeze into her dress?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My biggest disappointment in going to bed early was missing the new Run for the Money. Japan, unlike America, provides some quality NYE tv. American NYE programs are usually just B\/C-list actors who often aren\u2019t particularly entertaining getting drunk interspersed with musicians singing songs that most people are sick of by then (if I\u2019ve heard them at all). Japan historically had two main programs. The Red\/White Song Battle Kohaku Uta Gassen<\/em> and the No Laughing Game Waratteha Ikenai<\/em>. Uta Gassen<\/em> puts the most popular musicians of the year on two teams – female performers on the red team, male on the white team. In the case of groups, it depends on the vocalist. Then judges decide which team did better. I\u2019ve never watched it, largely for the same reasons I complained about the American concerts. I would usually watch the No Laughing contest where five comedians would spend a day in some place (some themes were school, police station, hospital, etc.) and be put in ridiculous situations to try and make them laugh. If they laughed, masked men would run into the room and spank them with huge paddles (spank seems a weird word choice here, but it\u2019s exactly what they did). They stopped doing it during the pandemic, and since then one of the main guys has been dealing with s.a. allegations, so I don\u2019t see it coming back (though I think he\u2019s still on TV).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new go-to is Tosochu – <\/em>Run for Money. Imagine Squid Game, but only tag, and less murder. I think one of the episodes is available on Netflix. Basically, 30-40 (I think) Japanese celebrities are released at a mall or theme park. Then a number of Hunters (tall guys in black suits and sunglasses) are released and chase down the celebrity \u201cfugitives.\u201d The longer a fugitive stays in the game, the more money they get (as long as they don\u2019t get caught). You only get the money if you last the whole time (a few hours) or if you can get to a special location and quit. A number of challenges are introduced throughout to mix it up and keep things interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The image of the hunters is so well known here that students will call me a hunter any time I wear sunglasses (for some reason, sunglasses aren\u2019t super common here). Last fall, the 3rd year JHS students at my school (so their last year together before they all go to different high schools) had a dodgeball tournament in their gym class. When it was finished, the male teachers came out wearing suits (it was still way too hot for suits) and sunglasses. They then played their own version where they tried to tag out all the 3rd years (so about 5 teachers, 300+ students). I had just been watching, but was wearing my sunglasses, so after a bit, I jumped in to join them. I got a decent number of kids out, but I\u2019ve never been one for running long distances. So I\u2019d rely on the other teachers (and a number of students who were made hunters) to help trap them.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The other image left out the best one: The long-haired Hunter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Anyway, for many people in Japan, it\u2019s a tradition to watch the first sunrise of the year. We were awake for it, but that would have required going outside. I felt much better the next day, though we had to delay our Legoland trip by a few days (always<\/strong> get flexible booking). Another tradition is to go to a shrine, though we\u2019ll probably do that in a week or so. At the shrine, people will pray and draw an omikuji<\/em>, which is like a detailed fortune. Like, super detailed. I\u2019m just gonna copy this part from Wikipedia:<\/p>\n\n\n\n