Posted by CP on 7/30/2001, 1:50 am Okay, cut to the chase, right? The reason she stood out amongst all the superb sightings we had yesterday was this: each time she lit up a cigarette (at least two, but was there a third Jim or PH?), she did the no-hands, lips apart, clenched in the center of her teeth thing that just drives me up the wall when it is done by a stylish, nice looking lady. God how I love that! But get this: I am almost dead certain that this girl realized she had an audience. For my part, I don't get to go to a big city often, and especially with Jim and PH yesterday I wasn't too shy about looking at the women longer than I usually do. And like I said, PH was kind of leaning forward and must have been looking directly at her. (Weren't you PH?) She had her cigarettes, which were Salem Pianissimos I believe but couldn't see for sure because she had them in a soft case, and her lighter on the table. But even though her lighter was _right there_, she still kept that cigarette in her mouth, in her teeth with her lips opened fairly wide, for a good 10 seconds if not longer before finally picking up the lighter and lighting up. Before she lit up, it was almost as if she was smiling slightly with that all-white 100 between her teeth. And after she lit up, she continued to smoke in, what seemed to me anyway, a teasing kind of way. PH immediately said something like, "You know, I really like that kind of thing with the teeth before they light up, but Jim doesn't." And I said something like, "Yeah, I really like it too, and you don't see it very often, do you?" Another thing that made this girl unusual, and something I suspect PH has been in Japan long enough to pick up on, is that she was by herself but when she smoked she would look straight ahead. (And like I said, it always seemed like she was smiling just ever so slightly.) Most women by themselves in a public restaurant kind of place will have a book or be putting on makeup or constantly checking their cell phone for messages or something like that to keep them occupied. Especially if they are smokers, it seems. But this young lady wasn't like that; she looked straight ahead. I think she did check and adjust her makeup after her second cigarette, and check her cell phone, too. (Jim and PH, I probably have forgotten something or got something wrong, so please correct me if so. We had so many sightings yesterday my brain was a bit fried I'm afraid! Kind of like a computer circuit overheating!) Another thing she did that I liked: she would inhale in the regular way, but when she finished inhaling she would kind of slide the cigarette out of her lips about a centimeter or so before separating her lips and taking it the rest of the way out of her mouth. What about it Jim and PH? Especially, did either of you get the feeling, as I did, that she knew we were watching rather intently and wasn't shy about putting on a show for us? I forgot to mention that she lit up as soon as she sat down, before eating. I think she just couldn't wait to check our reaction. Sorry to take everybody's time reading this long post. But it was an excellent sighting IMHO.
As I posted about here before, yesterday I finally met PH, who has been living here in Japan since April, and Jim (SG), who is travelling through on his way back to England. We had a pleasant afternoon together in Hiroshima. I will (and I really hope they will also) post in more detail this week as I get time, but for starters there is one sighting I can't get out of my mind. We were sitting in a coffee shop, the fast-food, national chain type. I had the chair facing the wall. (PH had the "bad" seat at our first place, so I felt that it was my turn. I certainly wasn't going to make Jim sit there since it was his first time in Japan.) Okay, I 'm sitting facing the wall but a short time later a nice looking 24- or 25-ish lady comes in and sits at the next table, to my left and right next to Jim on his right. (Remember, he is sitting with his back to the wall, as is PH who is on Jim's left.) Okay, so we are placing bets on the percentage chance that she smokes. (PH, were you in the bathroom for this particular round of bets?) I took note of her fashion: mini-skirt, nicely styled hair and nicely colored (neither the style or color as gawdy as many young women like these days), tinted eyeglasses (which are all the rage in Japan right now for folks in their 20s especially) which she took off once she sat down, etc. I think Jim said 75% and I called his 75% and raised to 90%. This betting took place while she was at the counter to order, after reserving her seat next to our table with a bag or something. Okay, so she comes back with her food tray, and we are rewarded by the sight of an ashtray on it. I jokingly say to Jim, who had seen the same thing, "I'll make that 100%, and he grins. If PH was gone when we did the initial betting, I know for sure he wasn't gone when she lit up because he was kinda leaning forward so he could see it. Jim playingly was trying to block his view at first, but they settled into positions that allowed both of them to catch a glimpse. (Although I imagine PH had a better view most of the time simply because he had a "reason" to be looking over toward his right, since Jim was sitting to his right.)
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