(This post is from maybe last year around April)
Today, dad got up at 10 after getting up briefly to open the blinds around 7. Seems he got a good 10 hours of sleep after being up for most of the day yesterday. He was really alert, commented on the weather (I can't remember exactly, but something like, what's going on--there was nearly a foot of snow this morning). He ate a big breakfast and then got sleepy. I asked him if he wanted to go to the Judo tournament and see Auntie Mamiyo, he said yes. But guess he got too sleepy bc he started making excuses, "you know there's a judo tournament. its a different organization"; I don't belong to that one, but they're coming to me" --something like that. It was cool that he remembered the tournament. I remember last year he wasn't too impressed; he didn't talk about it afterwards other than to complain that they're not doing it right--too much force. Anyway, we didn't want him to just sleep the day away, so Don and I got him up. Once he cleaned up he was ready to go out. We first went to the barber shop..sorry, Jody! We took advantage of the opportunity. He really enjoys the treatment and he got a really nice haircut. Then we went to the cemetary. He got out of the car and stood there to watch a group of people at another grave site (looked like they were having a party). He pointed the way to get to various places (harada, the japanese plot across the street, etc.) After that we went to Sage Market. He really got into shopping! He pushed a cart around and kept finding stuff to put in. Nearly all of it said, "hot and spicy". He's never wanted to buy so much before. I think we came home with about 10 things he picked out. We ran into Hideo and Kayoko. He always runs into someone he knows when we go there. Dad always has a twinkle in his eye when he sees someone he knows. But he didn't want to talk with them; he just looked away. They haven't seen Don in a long time so that was really nice for them to catch up. When we got home, dad had a really good appetite (for the stuff he just bought). But he made an odd dish with Asian noodles and ramune (like sprite), portobello mushroom, onion, peas. He was most happy about the takuan (pickles) and was chewing a long time and was very alert and content looking out the window (turned out to be a beautiful afternoon). After dinner, I found a show on tv called "too cute" featuring kittens. But the cable box wasn't working. He kept telling me just wait; it'll come on eventually. But I kept playing around for about 10 min. It must have worn him out because when I finally fixed it and showed him the kitten show, he was asleep! Once he starts winding down (esp. after meals it seems), it's hard to keep him awake. He was sleeping sitting up, so by 9pm i helped him to his bed. He was so tired he almost crawled in with all his clothes on. I hope he gets a solid nights rest. I wonder when he'll wake up?