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The steak I ordered had been laying on my table for at least ten minutes before I began to eat it. How had my day gotten to this, I wasn’t sure. I look around the restaurant and make a few observations:

1. Two tables to my left, I saw this guy who I always see sitting outside the local Starbucks on Thursday mornings (on my way to teach English as a part-time stint), wearing wooden clogs and a full suit. I was surprised to find him sitting with a group of four other young people (two guys, two girls) for a change (he usually sits alone). I don’t know what to make out of this guy; his head is always cleanly shaved, but he has a light beard going on at the same time. I NEVER heard him speak or make a sound. I assumed (and still assume) that he is some kind of thug for some secret crime syndicate. Based on the hushed conversation and how the mysterious five all maintained an unusually upright posture in their seats, my hypothesis of a secret crime syndicate being run from corporate coffee chains and family restaurants in quiet suburban Japanese college towns still stands.
2. One table to my left, two middle aged ladies spoke at a verbal velocity of 100+ words per second. Each of their exchanged sentences began with “In Japan” and each of their exchanged sentences ended with “it’s good for your health”. Due to the speed of their dialogue, all the words and ideas that came in between their “In Japan”s and “it’s good for your health”s seemed to be blurred and/or omitted. When I whispered to myself, “Japan is good for my heath?” as a way to reconcile this babbling going on two meters away from my left ear, they had already finished gulping their cups of espresso and headed out of the restaurant. Thank God.
3. To my right was the smoker’s section. It was literally a glass-enclosed chicken coop, with worshippers of Marlboro, Lucky Strike and whatever people smoke eating AND smoking AND talking at the same time; the epitome of human-functionality-multitasking. Needless to say, they looked ridiculous.
4. In front of me sat what I now believe was - and please excuse my personal coining - the ugliest couple I had ever seen. I don’t mean to sound creepy, but sometimes I feel happy to see a “nice” couple passing me by on streets, as they hold hands. In the cause of the couple at hand; they seemed to be happy together, but to the beholder, something was amiss. The girl was wearing a red cardigan and shirt, and a loose knee-high skirt, ridiculous crow-black stockings and Wizard of Oz-esque ruby red shoes. To the chair to her left was a pile comprised of a wool hat, big scarf, bags filled with newly bought clothes and an over-sized pursue. She also had on a huge pair of glasses, a moppy hairdo(n’t) and no make up on. Across her sat a dude I assumed to be her boyfriend, since they weren’t wearing wedding bands on the left ring-fingers. He had a failed mock-Beatles moppy hairdo(n’t), a huge pair of glasses to match his mate’s), and a clean shaved face. He was wearing a Nike jumper, a pair of jeans, and some squeaky-white New Balance shoes. He said nothing to her, but nodded and blinked a lot. I don’t know if they had their own sign-language or not, but I wouldn’t put it past them. The guy just had a small cup of coffee in front of him, while the girl had a glass of ice-tea and a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE bowl of ice-cream that she was happily gobbling down alone. Every once in a while, she’d spoon-feed the guy with mouse-sized bites of the ice-cream she hadn’t digested already. I think the reason I found them to be a very “off-center” couple was in the way their feet and legs were positioned; he had his legs open WIDE apart, while she tucked and crossed her feet under her own seat, her Wizard-of-Ozesque ruby red shoes removed. After they were done, the guy paid for his coffee and she paid for her ice-cream and ice-tea at the cashier.     By the way, crow-black stockings are just wrong.

Earlier today, I had gone on a five-hour trek up and down Mount Takao, in hope of seeing the Autumn-red of turning leaves. I also secretly hoped that some physical challenge would get me out of my proverbial emotional rut. After the hike, I did feel better, but soon felt bad again after having a stupid discussion with a person close to, that slightly offended me.  After a hot bath and a short walk, I feel much better again.