just landed

hellooo? you still awake?

mmm... looks bad, but it's even worse. haven't slept in about 32 hours now, except a quick nap on the plane. the flight was ok and smooth, nothing to complain about or to notice, but I always have problems with sleeping in flight. well, watched Cohen brothers' "Burn after reading", great funny movie with Clooney, Pitt and McDormand at full power. then, the rest of the movies was not so appealing, so I gave up browsing... just tried the first half hour of Braveheart, and Breakfast at Tiffany's: watching the start of old movies is often like a door to some nice memories.
it took me 3 hours to reach Komaba coming from the Narita airport, Tokyo is *huge*! but once there the very kind concierge, mr. Yamada, a thin old man who looks like a gangster character from a dark movie of the '50s, would not let me in until 3pm. Therefore, I babbled around looking for some lunch (or dinner? or breakfast? couldn't tell. can't tell what time is it for my brain or stomach, either). and found a very nice place, the "Oaks", where for just 700 Y (about 6 euro) you can have some delicious food in military sizes.
then settled in my new lab space at the IIS, 5th floor with a moderately nice view of the park. around 4pm (local), back to the Komaba Faculty lodging, to fight mr. Yamada the japanese concierge. Now am in a very nice setting (with not less than 12 LeCorbusier leather chairs in the lobby!), only to spend the rest of the afternoon skypeing with my sister. and before going to bed, I could still watch the 11th episode of "Tutti pazzi per amore" (Everybody's mad about love), an italian sit-com, which helped me making it to the night, trying to beat the jet-lag.

so, it was a pretty unsubstantial day, one of those time passages in which some life is wasted to adjust to new situations. maybe it's not a waste, after all.

highlight of the day, the following spot news from yesterday's Daily Telegraph:
Beauty contest for rival mistresses. A chinese businessman has reportedly held a beauty contest to decide which of his five mistresses to keep after becoming unable to afford them all because of the credit crisis. Named only as mr. Fan and said to be from Qingdao on the east coast, he invited the women, who had all been told of each other's existence, to dinner, according to a local newspaper. Aided by a friend, who worked for a model agency, and inspired by reality TV shows, he then laid on a competition for them. One woman was eliminated during a "looks round" and two more, who worked as clerical officers in mr Fan's company, during a speech round. The final round of the contest was reportedly a drinking competition. The story, which was also reported in the "Peninsula Metropolitan News", came to light after the first mistress to be eliminated took the other women and the businessman out for a drive - during which she drove over a cliff in an act of revenge. She was the only one who died in the car crash.