Bolstering the Ranks

I mentioned to a lot of people last week that I'd had a very long Sunday, not to say it was a bad long, just a busy long, one much more strung from one event to the next than any Sunday I ever participated in anywhere else.
A lot of this is my fault for attending 6 hours of church that day.
It's quite normal to hear complaints about the length of even a 3 hour block of Sacrament meeting and then instruction. I've grumbled quietly to myself on the topic more than once. It was not one of those days.
It's a slightly odd building as church buildings go, but when you're dealing with property in Shibuya, really just about anything is amazing. 6 floors of it, from basement on up. Everything feels less spread out, there's a efficiency to the space that really lends itself to a comforting, familiarizing atmosphere. As a space where you cannot remain isolated for long. My first thoughts were of the building I grew up meeting in, but even that was spacious comparatively. Not that it fit more people, or had more square footage, no, It's more a matter of the hallways and walkways. In this building, two people cannot pass without interfacing, for to do so would result in a collision. I'll spare all of you the play by play of the layout.
It was a buoyant experience. From the moment I gave an introduction to myself and mentioned why I've come to Japan I was met with encouragement. I'm particularly fond of the comment an older gentleman made on the spot. Translates roughly to 'Somebody help this man get a job!' I'm sure it's mostly to do with my own predilection, but I felt very comfortable, like with this simple and honest phrase I'd come somewhere that could be so much more than just a stop along a way. And that's how my time from 9am until a little after 4pm continued. Very relaxing... refreshing. I received an invitation to a get together that night and thought momentarily about it. Normally I'm quite reserved over such matters, I would hesitate to intrude on nearly any invitation, but for some reason, and I'm not certain why, I went for it, as troublesome as making it there in time would be. The meetup was in 2 hours. Now normally, that amount of time would allow for a lot to be done in it, but this... oh no, this is japan, and I am pedestrian! Taking the trains home would eat up about 35 minutes including the walk from the station. With a quick change of clothes and checking a map for where the station is I'd be meeting people... but I digress.. the real clinch in the situation was I had not eaten yet. At all. I estimated I had about 20 minutes for food. And with no instant food at home from poor planning on that part... okay, i had some very bad tasting great value curry noodle cups... they taste somewhat like eating salted styrofoam, not that I know that flavor intimately.. I'm severely tempted to be rid of them without eating. I digress again. I popped off to a local nagasaki-style shop, they've got a very good tasting fried rice, some excellent donburi (meat and veggies over rice) and some noodle dishes too, and I get a gyoza meal. I cram it down as fast as I can manage without making an utter mess. Even speed walking at all this and I still didn't manage to make the meeting location in time. Thank goodness for pay phones.
One more thing. someone may remember I had a picture of shibuya crossing on my desktop for a while, well here's my parting image. I attempted to get something similar with a 1 second exposure. Wow things wash out quick. I've got to figure more out about this camera. By the by, this was taken around 11pm. This doesn't really capture how busy the place was even then. I'll try again soon.