Today I woke up at 5 am in excruciating pain… I tried to sit up and it felt like my head weighed 500 lbs, then I heard a crunching noise in my neck and it felt like someone wedged an awl in between my vertebrae. So I rolled out of bed and crawled to my phone to text my manager what should I do? I stayed in bed until 8:30 to see if it would go away, but then when my alarm clock went off, it was just as painful as ever. So I crawled into some clothes and hobbled my way over to the hospital.

In Japan, hospitals are like doctor’s offices; you don’t only go there for emergencies. So there was a long wait there, and since I didn’t have an appointment it was even worse. I ended up waiting for 5 hours, missing breakfast, lunch, and then being late for work… but luckily there was nothing wrong with my neck. I thought I had slipped a disc (whatever that means) or something, but it just turned out to be the mother of all neck cricks. So I loaded up on painkillers and managed to grunt and starve my way through a day of kids’ classes (you know, lots of singing and dancing and games… perfect for when you can hardly move).

So that was my day. Wugh! On the plus side, I just discovered an amazing new taste combination: I brushed my teeth with mint paste, then flossed so there was just a bit of blood in the mix, rinsed completely, and then after my shower I had a small glass of apple juice, and rinsed thoroughly again (since I had already brushed), and now, my mouth tastes exactly like turkey pepperoni! It’s fantastic!

Now you too can enjoy pepperoni in countries where you can’t read the labels, or perhaps while on a no-pepperoni diet. Good luck, and good night!