No Reservations
My last night in DC was spent at one of the types of the things I'd been trying to avoid my whole trip, a faux upscale hipsterfied restaurant happy hour, with my former co-worker/work wife Anovia. A faux upscale hipsterfied Japanese-Latino fusion restaurant at that (Masa 14). Anovia and I, along with Leslie, worked together downtown at McKinney & Associates, toiling away for our crazy ass boss. And when we weren't busy trying to convince any number of media outlets that everything we had to say was totally important, we were busy stuffing our faces with drinks and sushi at Cafe Asia around the corner.
Over $3 cocktails and relatively cheap edamame, we caught up on each other's lives. She's still working in communications, recently having left her position doing PR for the snowsports industry to join a new firm, has a new boytoy, and now lives in DC proper instead of in the suburbs. Y'all already know what I've been doing these past four years. She said it seemed like I calmed down since the last time she saw me. It was meant to be a compliment, but it actually served to remind me of one of the reasons why I didn't mind leaving America in the first place. Most people who know me know that I'm not "calm" at all...I'm actually kind of off the chain. A Black anime character is how one person described me not too long ago. But around other Americans I have to tone myself down and censor myself so people don't think I'm crazy, weird, eccentric, or whatever. In Japan I feel far more free to be myself.
Still, I was glad I got to see Anovia before I left and it made for a fitting conclusion to my long vacation. I'm convinced now more than ever that moving back to the US is what I need to do in 2013 even though staying in Okinawa forever would be the easier thing to do.