"Waiting to Exhale"

This is me squeezing myself through a *tiny*tiny*tiny* little hole in the middle of one of Todaiji temple's great pillars. The hole is the exact size of the nostril of the great Buddha (largest Buddha in the world, for those of you who hadn't gotten the memo) and whoever is able to crawl through, is said to be blessed with a great and healthy life.
When I was visiting, only uniformed pre-pubescent Japanese children dared attempt this challenge, but Mika just kept assuring me, "You can do it! I'm sure you will fit! I did this years ago too!"
Hmm... I'm built just slightly different that Mika, and she hadn't tried this since she was a kid. You gotta realize, "I got hips baby!" I must have been crazy to have tried (the uniformed kids SERIOUSLY got a laugh out of it! "Gaijin pero pero pero" was all I heard the whole time) But me and my luscious curves made it through in record time (mostly out of necessity - gotta inhale sooner or later!) But for what it's worth, I get to live happily, healthily, ever after.