Salt vs. Sugar

Today has been kind of a long day. We've had some hang-ups with the Korea plans, and this morning I played a not-so-humorous practical joke... on myself.

Last night was good; just a relaxing, chill night alone. I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve just stayed home and made dinner and simply relaxed. I was going to study Japanese for a while, but I ended up just listening to music, doing laundry, posting some pictures to old blog entries and catching up on some emails. It was actually perfect for a dreary, rainy day, when I couldn’t go running anyways.
So on the way home from work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up curry tablets (a mild apple & honey flavor!) and grab some essentials I am running low on, including sugar and flour (for my favorite, banana pancakes). Flour was not an issue, but when I got to the sugar section, I wasn’t sure which bag to grab. Ok, so there was a pink bag, which I bought last time, or the blue bag next to it. Pink or blue? They looked and felt the same, so I went with the blue. I know the kana (Japanese word) for sugar, but I didn’t look too closely (or it might have been in kanji?); I guess it didn’t matter that much. Sugar is sugar, anyways, right? Got home, put the groceries away, and poured the sugar into the almost-empty plastic container I keep it in. Groceries...check.
So I got up a little earlier this morning*, feeling a little more rested after my quiet evening, and decided to make breakfast. I made my toast and yogurt (yep, still eating American breakfasts – my apartment is like Little America) and poured myself a glass of ice coffee, with milk and sugar. I took everything into my bedroom on my little Japanese tray, where I read the news online while enjoying breakfast. I made it through most of the glass of coffee (thinking it tasted funny, but that I was just tired) before I hit the bottom of the glass, and realized it was basically pure SALT. At first I was just disgusted, but then that "just-gurgled-salt-water" nastiness kicked in, and I was actually sick. I tried to make it to the bathroom in time, but I wasn’t fast enough, and I missed my train because I was cleaning up the mess on the kitchen and bathroom floor.

Maybe this will be funny in retrospect, but it was just an extremely stupid mistake on my part. At least I have some motivation for studying more kanji now... starting with food... for whenever my appetite comes back!!!!!! Ick.

*The large, sliding door windows in my little tatami room face the east, and on most mornings, I watch the sunrise from my bed, as the sun comes up over the horizon. Lately, it has been coming up earlier (and waking me earlier if I am not already waiting for it). This morning I woke up to the warm rays covering my bed, sometime around 6:15 (before my alarm).