Woke up at 11am because I thought that my girlfriend would be online. We hadn't set the next day we were going to chat so I didn't know if she'd be around. She didn't come online which isn't too suprising seeing as how busy she is these days with her school work. I wandered the internet for a while before going back to sleep for another two hours. Dragged myself from the bed again (just when I thought I was out, it pulls me back in) and headed out towards Asakusa. I wanted to pick up some more gifts and that area has a nice selection. Finally got there after some weird subway line changes, including one that required me to walk two blocks from one station to another to switch lines. Very odd.
Wandered around the stores, looking at merchandise and comparing prices. There was a film crew there following around a girl and a guy, the latter being in a wheelchair. They stopped into a few stores including one wig shop where the guy was put into a few wigs and they all had laughs. More annoying than anything else since a bunch of people would gather nearby to watch and make getting around even harder than it already was. Eventually they disappeared and the area returned to normal. Got a bunch of gifts for people, some random and some specific. That put a large dent into my funds for the day but I had gotten most of that I had intended to get so it was a worthy trip. Walked around a few of the side streets looking for a place to eat. On one street I noticed what looked like an old woman (hard to tell, she was looking down) who was clearly homeless sitting down and cleaning someone's shoes. What really stood out to me was the fact that she had a sign that said, in both English and Japanese "Please do not take a picture". That struck me as incredibly sad that, not only was she homeless but some people had in the past taken pictures of her doing what is probably her only source of income aside from begging. Damn near broke my heart.
Walked through a few more areas until I found a Saizeriya and stopped to have an early dinner. Aside from the food (which is good) the main reason for going to most of these places is for the endless drink bar. I usually pull out my history book and just relax and read a few pages while drinking all the melon soda I can handle. Took a look at my map and decided that I'd walk towards Ueno and from there go to Akihabara. Took me a little while to figure out exactly where I was but eventually I located myself on the map and found the best way to get to Ueno. As I got closer to Ueno I began to regret my decision to drink as much soda as I did. Had to pee very badly. Alas, I walked into a few arcades in Ueno but none of them had a restroom so I decided to grin and bear it until Akihabara. Didn't help that it was very cold outside and I was carrying a lot of extra weight due to all the gifts I got. By the time I finally got to Akiba I was in pretty bad shape. Finally got to use a restroom and warm up. Wandered from arcade to arcade mostly, playing some games. Discovered that HEY had completely redone their setup and finally reopened the fourth floor. They'd moved all of the large games (Gundam Card Builder, the Gundam Pod game, Euro Soccer Card Game) up there and put in more games that I hadn't seen before. They also have a plastic sheet up across where one of the walls used to be on the second floor. Interesting.
The rest of the evening was uneventful. Hung out and played some games until it was late, then took the train home. Took my shower and cleaned up my room a little bit. All the stuff I get seems to build up and I don't want things to get much worse lest the place look like a disaster area. Didn't fall asleep until after 3am once again.