Wait? What? Its nearly Christmas??

Because of all the new job, apartment leak, identity theft, cat surgery and broken dishwasher brouhaha, I keep forgetting how close it is to Christmas.  As I walked into work for the penultimate time today (whoo-hoo!), I got a quick shot of the Festive Spirit with this fabulous display outside my office building.

Them's some big balls.

Christmas tree and blazing blue CA skies.
Still an odd combination!

You should see the size of the tree....

I am completely not ready for Christmas and, to be honest, it makes no sense at all to decorate, as my apartment is going to be ripped apart anyway to replace the flooring over the next couple of weeks so it'll just get in the way.  Also, because of the job thing, Mumsie is not going to be here for Christmas (sad face) so it wouldn't be the same without a Mumsie Under The Tree.  So this year's festivities are going to be very quiet, consisting of yours truly with a nice glass (or two) of champagne, some Dairy Milk and the Doctor Who Christmas special on the telly.  Perfect.  I'm sure there will be a few peeps around and about over the holidays, so i won't be completely on my own the whole time, so don't you worry - I'll be fine!  Given the exciting life changing event that's about to happen, I think one low-key Christmas is a very acceptable trade-off!

HOWEVER, there is the SF Santa Con this Saturday to look forward too!  Last year, Sarah Little and I whipped downtown San Francisco (and an Italian septuagenarian architect called Dante) into a festive frenzy with our fabulous outfits and Merry Demeanor.  This year, Lori and I will be looking to recreate the Christmas Crazy with - hopefully - slightly less rain and squelchiness this time!

http://sazzinthecity.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-on-santacon-oh-yes.html

In our new SITC segment called "Relocation News", its all starting to get fantastically, excitingly, terrifyingly real!  Yesterday, I received the formal offer letter from Takeda which I duly (and efficiently) signed - and I have to say first impressions are good.  Just look at how fancy the box is that the offer came in!  You gotta hand it to the Japanese - they sure know how to package stuff up beautifully!! (and - despite having worked in marketing and advertising for the last 10 years or so - I'm still a sucker for a nice package (steady! minds out of the gutter please, Sarah Little)).

My offer letter in its fancy-pants box!
(also happened to be the sound I was making as I signed the letter)

I even got a pen just for the occasion!!!

So thats that.  I'm also now getting contacted by the relocation folk, my schedule is filling up for next week for my trip to Chicago to do the HR stuff and meet some of the team and, just this evening, I finalized the dates for my first trip out to Japan!!  I'll be flying out Thurs Jan 2nd and staying for a couple of weeks, both for work and as a home-finding visit.  My team out in Japan has already organized a welcome dinner for me (with a heavy dollop of karoake on the side, no doubt!), so that's going to be a fabulous experience and introduction to the city!  I'll be coming back to Chicago Jan 20th for more meetings, then head back to SF/Chicago until my formal Japan work visa is ready, probably in mid-Feb.  I've got my Rosetta Stone language course ready to go, my Lonely Planet guide, a Tokyo city map plus a cookbook/guidebook about Izakayas, which are the Japanese version of pubs.   Random foodie fact for you - there are more restaurants per capita in Tokyo than any other city in the world!  More than New York!  Huzzah!  Bring it on!!

Anyway....I guess this all means that its really happening!!  Eek!!  So, buckle up, blog-watchers - its going to be one hellava ride over the next couple of months!!

Japan - i'm coming for ya!  Are you ready??