Catch-up time!

Catch-up time!
Two weekends ago, I decided to explore my immediate area, on the good side of the tracks.  There was rumored to be a bathhouse very close to the station.  There was a bathhouse; it's just a thirty minute walk from the station and hid behind one of the multi-tier parking lots used to save space.

Given, it was the bathhouse's parking lot, but still, it made it much harder to actually find the place.  The view you see, by the way is from a pedestrian bridge nearby.   Now, for those of you who can't figure out why I was walking all the way out to a public bath when I have my own, perfectly good, bath in the hotel, let me explain a few things.  Japan loves baths.  A lot.  They also love hot springs, but there are none around here.  So, in places like this, public baths are created which mock some of the aspects of hot springs.  Some, like this one, import water from a famous spring and use that in some of the baths.  Others just have a large bath with very hot water in it.  In all cases, you take off your shoes, go into the office after putting your shoes into a cubby, buy a locker, then go to the locker room.  There's an area for bathing before you take your baths, since it's really disgusting to be dirty when you go into a bath; it's shared water.  Usually, soap and shampoo is supplied, but it's a good idea to bring your own just in case.  After, bath time! In this case, there were 9 different baths and a sauna to chose from; I picked everything.  The expectation is that you'll stay for several hours, which is not all that hard to do, really, with things like baths with bubbles using salted water, a sauna with TV (watching a rock star's commentary on the news with 15 naked old ladies....not awkward at all....), or individual baths meant to massage your back.  My favorite was the flower bath even though it was an odd opaque yellow color and the hottest of all the baths.  There was also one with water from...well, I'm blind without my glasses, so somewhere in Japan with mountains.  That leaves a lot of options open, but the water was very nice.  Most baths fit multiple people; the one with the flower water had over 20 people in it at one point of time, to give you an idea.  It's quite possibly the best way to relax in Japan, and the 3 and a half hours there were the best of my weekend.  Hence why I signed up to a 'tour' (read: trip) to a famous bath house (no; not Spa World; I could only wish) in a few weeks with the Navy tour thing.  I am a bit worried, since it's bathing suit friendly, but I assume I can lose all the clingy navy wives somewhere in the mile or so of baths...

By the bathhouse was a large bookstore. I was good, but I did find a few things that merited pictures:  

Coraline!  

And, just for Leslie....

The Twilight Series, complete with pictures from the movies.  Even the final books had movie pictures on them for no apparent reason.  Maybe they figured people wouldn't know what they were without random pictures of pretty actors.  Don't you also like how they split the book into two books to make them easier to carry and read on trains?  Also featured in the foreign books section were Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies, Percy Jackson, and, wait for it, Spongebob.  In the adult section.  Yea, Japan! 

All around the area are houses with gardens and I noticed something odd: Cacti.

It may be 'warm' over here, but it's not warm enough in my mind to have cacti growing outside in January.  I mean, it snowed this week and the snow's still here as it hasn't warmed up enough to melt it.  It was cold enough that I actually saw Fuji-sama from the library's window.  So I really have no clue how all these plants survive...I feel bad for this sad cactus; he doesn't look so well, unlike someone's garden, which looked like it belonged in Arizona.

Which brings me to a library update, naturally.  We are moving to a new cataloging system in a few months, at which point of time all the circulation procedures will change....I was supposed to write a manual on them but now I'll have to leave large gaps for the new processes of checking in and out things.  I can still write about photocopies, circulation rules, rules for new members, when to check the outside book drop, and all such others, but I won't be able to have the screenshots and system-specific directions I wanted unless I magically can stay beyond April.  Or I could hope the system goes up early.  We're also getting a color printer, which is great and exciting.  

In the realm of YA lit, I ordered a ton of new books, filling up a few gaps in the series we have, or at least, as much as the company we use for the loan service would let us.  I also used the new YALSA lists to get some new good stuff.  Then, for the younger ones, I continued to fix records!  I kinda hate Disney now, for refusing to list authors for most of their stuff.  Yes, Disney, I know that you own the rights to this, but I would like to know who wrote it, illustrated it, and published it.  Walt Disney is dead; I cannot list him.  At least the records will be clean when they move to the new system.  I also got to create a display for Black History Month, which was fun, and work more storyhour.  Far more kids showed up than were supposed to, but I became some kid's hero for finding his Sesame Street book about Leonardo the Horrible Monster.  And, later, I made myself five new friends by going through a book for them and explaining all the fish's names since I could read.  They were sooo...cute.  "And what's this fish's name?  He looks scary.  What's this fish's name?  And this one?  Are they the same fish or are they brother fish?...What's the name of this book?  That's an octopus!  And so's he, but he looks weird...Octopus taste good.  Will someone eat him?"  Their mom was in signing up for the family's card, so they took that book home, along with Angelina Ballerina, since that was the one little girl's favorite, according to her.  That exchange was well-worth the time lost for cataloging. 

Up next, Yokohama, mini-weiner dogs in sweaters, and street performers!