Stress and the City

It was another stressful week at work: my boss dropped a bombshell on me on Friday at 7pm - on the 23rd of this month, I have to present my strategic vision for the group for the next five years to the company president.

I have two problems with this:

One, I think it is really unfair to throw something like that out there just before the weekend. How do you put it out of your mind and relax and enjoy two days off work?

And two, I don't really have any more vision left in me. Two fairly major ideas of mine got implemented over the last year and I don't really have any more ideas to bring to the table. Plus more ideas just mean more work and I'm flat out at the minute.

Anyway, I'm not complaining - I know I'm lucky to be working, and, in any event, these things usually go fine in the end whether you worry a lot about them or not.

I think we might be going to a very swanky location at the top of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. The last time I was there was for a Chamber of Commerce event. The food was nothing spectacular, and the decor is a bit cheesy.






But everyone goes there for the view. It looks like something out of Blade Runner.



And you feel right on top of Tokyo Tower.



I have two main ways of dealing with stress. One is to pound the pavement. I walked out of the office on Friday and just started walking. I covered some ground, probably not a great idea in work shoes, to which my poor mangled feet can attest. The ginza nightime neon always lifts my mood. These pics were taken with the camera on my phone. To be quite honest, I don't really rate the camera, despite my great love for my phone overall. However, the light distortion comes out really well here.





And you might need to click on this one to get more of the detail, but you can see the Imperial Palace is an ancient island of dark in a sea of neon.






So, the other way I have of dealing with stress is to stuff my face. It is genetic - I come from a family of comfort-eaters. As my brother says, my parents are classic feeders. Japanese restaurants do desserts really well. Admittedly, the portions might be a bit small, but they are never too sickly sweet and they get the presentation just right every time.





I know fellow diners get a bit irked by me whippin' out the camera over meals, but how else can I do show-and-tell and check if my sister remembers the restaurant? Big sis, I'll give you a hint - it's in Marunouchi.

I got some comments about the whole moon / Fievel thing I was talking about last time. Don't any of you (except my siblings, of course) remember 'An American Tail' from when you were young? That ' Somewhere Out There' song was huge as I remember it.



Anyway, here are more of the moon pics.