Welcome, June!

 I lost a few days:  barfing at LAX while waiting for my Uber was not the greatest feeling in the world.  Yet the discovery that requesting a wheelchair had fringe benefits of being able to go through Customs without a wait!

That was the afternoon of 29 May.  It is now mid-morning on Sunday, 1 June.  I went bike riding this morning - first time in over 3 weeks - and it really did feel good!

I am now ready to start writing funny again.  On 17 May I did my first stand-up gig.  It will not be my last gig!  I was invited that night (but wisely turned down, not even anticipating that I'd be sick) to do three shows this week.   I'm not ready yet.

For the 17th, 8 jokes worked - and wow - does it feel good to hear the belly laughs!!!!!  Four are in need of work - timing?????   And 4 did not work at all and have to be replaced.

For those of you out there who, perchance, are reading this, perhaps you are old enough to remember Jack Benny and his violin......or Victor Borge at his piano........comedy in music from some accomplished musicians who figured out how to use their music to provoke laughter........Actually, the funniest moment of music comedy that I remember is comedian Danny Kaye conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Flight of the Bumble Bee, using, in lieu of a baton.....a fly swatter!

OK - time to review one day during the trip:  Tuesday, last week in Tokyo

1)  I went to Soup Stock across the street from the new XinOchanomizu JR station - same place, new building, new name as the location I frequented previously in my life.

2)  I went to the same barbershop I used to go to for both haircut and shave.  Haircut only this time - I was fourth in line (moving up in chairs!) with three women barbers....great haircut: 1,700 yen.

3)  In 2012, after going in a two week time frame, to all 12 NPB home stadiums (plus 2 countryside stadiums) and 'entered' the JapanBall Hall of Fame, with a plaque and picture at Cafe Roje in Ochanomizu.  I went there for lunch.....saw 'me' on the wall 13 years later......and had a tearful reminiscence with June and Coco, the proprietors.   Their great ginger-pork lunch is still great.....and unbelievably, still only 1,000 yen.

4)  Best buy in Japan:  eye glasses from Jins on the 7th floor of Yodobashi Camera, a 9 floor adult toy store that sells a whole lot more than cameras (including a 9th floor batting cage that I used to frequent).  When I first got to Tokyo, a week earlier, I went to Jins where a machine has replaced an optometrist and the whole cost of new prescription and eyeglasses cost $US 20!!! If you are there for a week, get your glasses first so you can pick them up before leaving.

5)  Jingu Stadium, home of the Yakult Swallows and a pleasant evening outdoors in a 24,000 capacity baseball stadium.   

6)  On the way home, we stopped at Wendy's for coke floats at ~$US2.25 per float

Bye the way, after my haircut but before going to Cafe Roje, I went to the fourth floor harmonica and accordion store in a building along the main road in Ochanomizu, a place I absolutely loved to go to before......and found what looks like a 12 key chromatic harmonica but definitely isn't!   It is a diatonic, 3 full octave harmonica that switches between keys C and G......but for the key of C, push that right side button in and it'll virtually bend the note for you.  I switched to a chromatic long ago because I simply could not bend.........this now gives me an opportunity to try some blues as well as the chromatic stuff that I've been doing well...........AND HOW TO INCORPORATE  THE HARMONICA AS MY COMIC SCHTICK WHILE LEARNING MY NEW DIATONIC IS WHAT I WANT TO DO OVER THE NEXT MONTH..........AND OF COURSE, I WILL WRITE ABOUT IT A MONTH FROM NOW (IT'S ON MY CALENDAR!)