A mid-week holiday

Yesterday was Labour Thanksgiving Day, yet another national holiday I don't understand. It has nothing to do with North American Thanksgiving, and it's in the middle of the week, meaning we all had to go back to work today.
Nevertheless, I made the best of it and had a great day, thanks to the planning of other folks.
First, I took the bus to the city with Maricar, who lives two stops north of me, and always turns up on the same train as me. And yes, bus; there was a derailment on the Tsuyama line on Sunday, because of a landslide of some sort, so trains have been replaced by buses for the time being.
I was in the city for a pot-luck Thanksgiving dinner organised by Rachel and Nicole. It was a fundraiser for the Baan Unrak orphanage in Thailand, which R and N are visiting over the Christmas break. As organisers and fundraisers, they both did a fantastic job. There was a good mix of JETs and Japanese, which is always good to see, as opposed to living in our isolated little gaijin bubble. My usual chocolate mousse was a success, as usual, and I also got myself a neat woven glasses pouch for giving a donation to the orphanage.
After the dinner, I headed to Wake with Jon and Annie for a birthday dinner for Boone and Tibor at the legendary Pizza King. It was a pretty massive gathering, considering the size of the restaurant. Amazingly, despite the huge Thanksgiving dinner that didn't start until 2-ish, I managed to eat almost a whole pizza. Then, to top off a great day, Britt drove me home. Result!

Big knives, cake, scary faces: Happy Birthday, Boone!

Ludo attempts to create an impromptu birthday cake with a candle and cake he just happened to have in his backpack. He's trying to make a little pool of wax on the wrapper with which to attach the candle.

Everyone watches Ludo's birthday cake-creating with great interest.

Happy Birthday, Tibor! Note that despite his efforts, Ludo's still holding the candle in place.