When you work 10-10 every weekday, then instead of spending the weekend lazily couchsurfing your own couch, you’ll find yourself trying to come up with something for those two days to live. At least that’s how it works for me.

Meeting university friends and doing stuff together is usually a great starting point for such plans. That’s how it went today as well. Though to be exact it involved much more improvisation than planning.

A few days ago I got a text from a friend saying that he’s coming to Tokyo and he’s gonna drop by today afternoon. So this morning I forced myself out of bed a little after 9 (though originally I intended to rise an hour earlier), and headed for the sports center to work out and jog. I was surprised to find out that my heel handled running much better after working out than without it. I added figuring out the reason for that to my to-do list.

I even had to clean up my room somewhat after that, because the dust kept making me sneeze my head off way too often. It turned out pretty nice, but I’ve got this nasty feeling that this state won’t last very long.

Then my friend arrived, we had a coffee at my place then, as he told me to come up with something to do, we headed for Akiba. I’ve never been to a proper maid cafe myself, so that was the first goal.

It was pretty much just as expected, eg nice. Though considering the prices I’m pretty impressed they have regulars (and many of said regulars are pretty scary neckbeards).

Next up in the improvisation list was the Oedo bathhouse on Odaiba, and (as a must-see even if you’re not employed where I am) the Gundam in front of Diver City. The Oedo Onsen wasn’t all that impressive. To be honest I’d expected something more majestic from Edo-era Japan, but instead got the general bathhouse recipe – and I’d say that the chain bathhouse in Hikone (極湯) offered the same if not more (and less of the crowd).

Then we had a few beers around Shinjuku west and called it a day. Chatted with some random folk at Memory Lane and had some Scottish beer from the Brewdog brand that tasted just like one of the Coedo lineup (maybe Kyara, which would make it an IPL). I also noticed how the bar we found filled up as soon as we sat down – my mom’s got this same effect on shops. More testing, more fun.