Roxanne Modafferi

February 11th is the day the government designated as a national holiday to celebrate the day Emperor Jimmu founded the country, in 1873ish. (Wiki: Publicly linking his rule with the mythical first emperor, Jimmu, and thus Amaterasu, the Meiji Emperor declared himself the one, true ruler of Japan….read more:[5] link to wikipedia )

SO the lucky ones had the day off from work, and people with service jobs, or unlucky business people with mean bosses, still had to work. Mondays are always my day off, and I don’t get a replacement day (called “Happy Monday” in Japan, where I can choose another day). However, my friend and former co-worker GRACE got the day off!

So we got together to play.

Well, first, I went to my gym at 9 AM, watched training, and wrote my book. Then, I met Grace at 11 in Kawasaki.
First, we went to Cinecitta, a kind of “Little Italy,” to fend off the Alien Invasion.

Then, we had lunch at this wonderful Chinese/Italian food buffet combo. (which is prompting me to start my diet together with Brittany, for moral support. lol) That was kind of fantastic. XD

I witnesses something amazing.
The Shumai Chinese dumplings were SO popular it was ridiculous. They were served in a tiny, fist-sized brown Chinese steamer thingie, like this:

But the spot I thought they might be was always empty. Okay. So once, I was getting food and I saw a chef coming with a huge platter, of maybe like 50. They stacked up on top of each other in like 4 columns.

THE SECOND he put them down, even before his hand left the tray, people SWARMED. One guy reached down and took like TEN. I was like, “HEY!!” People took not just one, but multiple ones! I was standing RIGHT THERE and I got the LAST ONE. Like, literally, I had to try and reach my hand in because I could see there would be a fight!

I got one! It was good! But the tray lasted literally five seconds. I couldn’t even get one for Grace! She never ended up trying one because you had to be right there at that exact moment. LOL

Then, we went to Village Vanguard and BATTLED FOR THE SAFETY OF HUMAN KINDdddddddd!

And got this nice-looking random customer dude to take our picture. Three times. XD I charmed him into it with my keigo and excessive dorkiness. Silly foreigners. Look, my club has a skull on it.

LOOK, I got shark socks! I love love love sharks! They were expensive (like 6 bucks) but I HAD TO HAVE THEM. ;__;

Then we wandered around the Lazona shopping mall, and went to the pet section. I wants hamster! But i can’t has it! ;_; Wants! My preccccious!!! I know I don’t have the time to play with it and take care of it. ;_;

THen I changed my hair style!

Not! It’s a wig! Hah I took a pic and tweeted it and fooled a few people. Then I sent it to my mom, and she wrote back from work, “It’s a wig, right?” Hahaha I had the same hair style for 10 years, and then when I finally changed it, I parted it down the center instead of the side, and braided the sides a bit. Then I didn’t deviate from THAT for another 5 years.

We sadly parted ways at like 4, after which I went to Gold’s Gym to PUMP IT UP and try and turn some of those Chinese dumplings into muscles. ;_; lol

Then, came home, dumped my stuff, grabbed my book stuff, and went back to Kawasaki and studied/ wrote in a cafe for a few hours until it closed.

That was my day. It was splendid. Except that I couldn’t train. ~_~
But my time will come. Now, I gotta write my book faster.

I never posted a review of 2012. I’m going to say something about each month.

January: Had a nice New Years visit with my family. Got Kids Coordinator additional training. Excelled at my kid’s day-care outservice. Got my fight offer to fight Hashi. Average month.

February: Accepted the fight offer. Promptly re-injured my knee. I was very active in my company’s union. I swam every day to lose weight to fight and keep my cardio good, because I couldn’t train at all on my knee. I had to hide it from my fans. I worked overtime a lot to try and forget it. Went to the UFC in Japan! That was fun. It was a hellish, stressful month.

March: I fought Hashi in Jewels and lost by decision. It was a poor performance, and I was depressed. I went into work on my days off to try and get my mind off it. Hellish month.

April: disillusioned with MMA. Alex came and stayed with me from Australia. That was fun. She gave me much needed counsel and advice. I hung out with friends a lot, and strengthened those relationships. I went to a sight-seeing place Kappa Bashi, trying to have some fun. Took a Japanese lesson. Visited Nikko. Hard month, but with a lot of fun, interesting times.

May: Goldenweek, the extended holiday in Japan! I started getting my hissatsu-waza a lot in class. I decided to join Groundslam. I got fish. I trained with Max, lifting weights. Got hermit crabs.

June: OFFICIALLY JOINED GROUNDSLAM!!!! <3 <3 I started teaching Katsumura-san English. I started hanging out with Brittany! I started getting regular treatment from an osteopathic therapist, which I thought would solve my troubles. Didn't. Just kept me functioning at bare minimum.

July: Enjoyed the Ayu Festival with Sakura. Lots of Union negotiation. Hung out with Brittany a lot.

August: My friend Tony visited Japan! we trained together and hung out together! We went to the ramen museum and stuff.

September: I did very well on my teacher’s performance evaluation, and I am so incredibly happy about it, I couldn’t stop dancing for weeks. Mom came to visit me!

October: Katsumura-san graduated a level up in our English lessons. I did the Niko Niko grappling tournament and volunteer work in Tohoku. I triangle-choked a man! Great month! I accepted the fight for Sugiyama. I started teaching Brittany Japanese.

November: I hurt my knee, then my ankle. I went to culture day activities with my friend Kozo, which was a lot of fun. I started teaching Omigawa-san English.

Had a thanksgiving party. Stressful month, other than Thanksgiving.

December: Hurt my neck, had to back out of my fight. Second worst week of my life- the first being, when I got food poisoning the night before going into the day of my fight in Sengoku against Akano, and had to pull out. Trouble in many aspects. Hell on earth. Then went to the US to visit family for Christmas. Best Christmas vacation ever! Heavenly.

January 2013: Best New Years visit! Heaven on earth.

Basically, this entire year was me battling injuries and trying to fill my schedule with new, enjoyable, fun experiences, trying to distract myself from them. Now that I reflect and see all my pictures, I realize that I had a lot of amazing experiences. I did so much and achieved a lot. It’s just that fighting is so important to me, that I feel so down that I can’t be where I want to be, and I’m suffering in different ways from it.

I had a really really hard time being my positive self. I was much more positive when I was winning, obviously, but I guess it’s easy to be like that when things are going well. It’s more a test of your character, and it strengthens you more to try and stay positive through the bad times. A lot of good things happened in 2012, but I have to say, overall, I wish things had been different. But I MUST look on the bright sides. I’m supposed to be the Happy Warrior, right? Work was oustanding. ^_^ My social life was great, i.e. I spent more time with friends since I couldn’t train as much.

So this year is off to a bad start, since I got back from vacation. I just saw a doctor about an injury and it doesn’t look good. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I think it’s serious. I have no words. All I can do is enjoy the moment… My New Years Resolutions were to publish my book, and get healthy and stay healthy. But I don’t know if I can do the second one…..

But the light of my life is my work as a teacher, and Groundslam. I’m so happy in both places.

On Tuesday, New Years day, I pretty much enjoyed hanging out with my aunt and uncle. First, they sang and played church mass (they’re pro singers and musicians) so I went to Luis’s Karate Doko (TCK) in NY. That was fun! I would have liked to try it out, but I was still injured, so I just watched. Very interesting to see different styles. They do point fighting, so their style of attacks kind of reflected that.

They had a kick-butt wall painting of Goku doing the kamehameha. *__*
(click to enlarge)

Then after lunch, I went shopping with my cousin Adele! It was such a simple thing, but so nice. Of course, I never get to do these things with her.

I saw this pic, and I dunno…it makes me a little sad. :/

Look at all these flavors of yoghurt in the supermarket! That’s INSANE!! When I left, there were like 5 fruits and that’s it! All of a sudden, there’s chocolate (Which isn’t too bad!) and I also had Boston Creme Pie?!?!?! WTH!?!? Fantastic! That’s it, I’m moving back to the States!! (just kidding)

I saw this in Macy’s on the back of a stroller, and it made me laugh. Hahaha Well, it’s obvious, but sometimes people do the stupidly obvious! So gotta have it!

Well, I left the US first thing on Wednesday (thanks for driving me, Adele) and arrived back in Japan on Thursday night. I have HORRIBLE horrible jet-lag. I woke up at 2 AM and was falling asleep suddenly on my feet all day!! I went to the hospital on Friday morning and the doctor said my neck has improved and I could practice lightly, as long as it doesn’t hurt. Then he said he doesn’t know what’s wrong with my knee…so now I’m worried he knows enough about my neck. -_-;

I worked all day on Saturday, and it was rough because of jet-lag. Never underestimate the power of
“the lag.” x__x;; Just wanted to dieeeeeeeeeeeeee all dayyyyy.

I went to training last night! And did kickboxing. x_x I had forgotten how much I dislike kickboxing with no grappling mixed in. *sigh* I get so embarrassed when I ask questions and then suddenly remember that he’d explained it to me in the past, or I can’t do a simple movement. I was very disappointed in my performance, and at the end, I started feeling dizzy and like disoriented. I was yawning and almost fell asleep doing a drill, so I had to stop. And my back was KILLING me. But super awesome dojo-team mate Taneichi-san is an osteopathic therapist, like Mihara-san, and fixed it! Like, fixed. Like, pain is gone. He’s magic.;_; <3333333 Thank youuuuuuuuuuuu

Thanks to BJ-san for the support, and ordering me home to rest. He made me feel like NOT a weakling, during the time I felt really down on myself.

Saturday.
I helped my aunt set up everything, and we chatted about everything. She showed me her new harp.
Then guests started coming! Dad’s best friends, my uncle’s side of the family, my first cousins! So happy! We enjoyed the meal very much, and opened gifts and everything. It was crazy fun.

On Sunday morning, I enjoyed a leisurely morning with my aunt. (I’d gone for a walk around the neighborhood, and then did the end of the “Insanity” work out routine with my cousin. I wanna do more! My knee hurts more now, though. ~_~ I was hoping the knee would be better by now. My neck is so much better, though… Anyway, then I went to 12 o’clock mass with my aunt, and we heard my uncle play the organ and sing. I got to sing Christmas carols! So happy! I hadn’t sung any all year!

Feasted on left-overs, and then met my cousins and husband/fiancé and went bowling in down town New York City!

I suck royally! Lol I got the lowest score ever because I forgot how to bowl straight. Hah Oh well!

We then ate at a nice little diner. I was so jetlagged, I was falling asleep in front of everyone. I’m sorry guys… it was really embarrassing.

Also, Sunday was Dedelis’ funeral, but I didn’t go…. I have no car, it’s far, and my flight leaves from Newark and the weather was iffy. :/ My mom said it was okay. Well, I made sure I visited him last year before he passed on. I’m just glad he’s at peace now. He deserves the rest, after his long, hard, life.

Monday, I hung out with my aunt and uncle most of the day. My uncle taught me how to play the cajon (did I spell that right? A box instrument) Both my aunt and uncle are professional musicians, so they have beautifully trained singing voices. In their music room, they have a piano, an organ, a guitar, a cajon, a harp, and I dunno what else. I went shopping with my cousin Adele, and then had a nice dinner at my aunt’s. we played cards and fought the WHOLE time about the rules. hahahah XD
My family members were like screaming at each other one second, and then laughing the next. ^_^;;;

Danced the Gangnam style to Psy, then watched the ball drop and made a lot of noise! So much fun!!

I had a very lovely Christmas dinner with my step-mother’s side of the family. I enjoyed talking to everyone and eating the delicious food. I had horrible jet-lag, though. I’ve been waking up at 2:30 AM everymorning. :/ And in the evening, if I sit down, I fall asleep, so I’ve been standing up. lol

I received very lovely presents from my family. Thank you very much. I’m so fortunate to be able to give and receive during the holidays.

The day after Christmas, I spent the day in Boston by myself (totally eating too much, lol).

Then I met my dear friend Q after her work ended, and we hung out!
GIRLS SLEEP OVER!!! <3 <3 <3
We played DDR and she taught me how to play the guitar!! Kind of! I can play the first part of "sakura," this very traditional Japanese song.

Q is very multi-talented. She crocheted me a scarf!

I had such a nice time. Went back to my Dad’s on Thursday, and ate delicious left over lasagna that my step mother cooked. She is a fabulous cook!!

Today (Friday) my step brother Chris, who is awesome, took me to his gym and I entered as a guest. I did the elliptical machine for 25 minutes, and then lifted back and chest. It was my first time lifting since I injured my neck. It didn’t feel bad when I lifted! I’m really happy about that.

My step mother took me out for a Chinese food lunch. How nice.

I’m having a really nice time. My Dad will be home in half an hour, and then we’re going to visit his side of the family! Whooohoo I get to see my cousins and aunt!