Last week I asked my cousin Nathan, currently living in Japan teaching English as part of the JET program, to do a favor for me. I asked if he could purchase the newest Matthew Sweet album which is only available in Japan. In return, he asked me to get him the 8 Mile DVD, not available in Japan until October.

We’ve both done our parts and both packages are en route. I think we’ll both be happier people for the trade.

Nathan has been busy this year taking lots of photos and movies with his new camera. A couple of weeks ago he sent me a CD with two movies. One was a collage of pictures and video intended to capture his daily life. Very cool. The whole thing was wonderfully edited and set to Tortoise’s TNT album (note to self: buy this CD!). The other video was just photos accompanied by R.E.M.’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)”. If I have space on Mostly Muppet I’ll try to post one or both of the videos. They’re awesome.

So now I’m sitting here waiting for my present to arrive. Getting mail, at least cool mail and not bills or junk mail, is always exciting. I think back to getting prizes in the mail from cereal box tops when I was a kid. Or even getting cards from relatives around the holidays or my birthday. I still get that feeling when I get things in the mail.

Sending a package internationally is a pain, though. I had to practically re-open the mailer and show the postal worker what was inside before she’d accept it. I filled out two separate forms verifying the contents of the package, the price of the item and both my address and Nathan’s. I understand these are tense times, but it’s a DVD for heaven’s sake!

I’m much calmer now that I know both gifts are on their way. I only wish I could sent myself over to Japan. Travel is the one regret that Jenn and I have. We don’t think we did enough of it before Jenn got pregnant. At least she’s been to Japan when her brother, Chris, was in the same program. Lucky duck.

My Japanese import CD and Nathan’s videos will just have to tide me over. Salam Pax.