So I'm packed, have tunes and books for the plane, and even remembered to shave my legs so I'm all set to go!! Just checking my e-mail and stuff and then I'm off to bed. Hopefully I've remembered everything, but if not, I can always buy it there. It is probably cheaper than here anyway... but that means I have to actually leave the hotel.

I was so excited last night that I couldn't sleep. Now of course, since I've had a shower tonight I'm wide awake again. I thought I'd be able to just crash. We'll be groggy tomorrow morning. Hiroshi is coming off night shift so he's all turned around time wise.

Anyway, won't have access until I get back probably, so you'll have to wait for my fun and adventures!

Two seriously hurt in roller coaster accident
Well this just sucks. I really wanted to go on that roller coaster!! Now I'm not so sure. Hiroshi hates roller coasters (why have all my boyfriends and now husband disliked roller coasters? That is just downright wrong) and I have been working on him for over a year to go here... better hide this article ;)

Oh, and I leave for Thailand in 28 hours! Yippee!!

Random before bed thoughts:
Went to Outback Steak House with Hiroshi for dinner last night. We each ordered a steak. Holy cats, 8oz is huge! I can't believe that is the standard portion size in North America. But at least we had left overs for tonight! Actually, that is another restaurant where I can eat semi-diet (Body for Life). It just means splitting an entree and staying away from the bread. That bread is awesome! Oh, and ordering sirloin instead of the prime rib which is to die for, but at 32 jaw dropping grams of fat in that 8oz it is definitely not diet food. Hiroshi was in awe at how big the potatos were. I haven't had baked potato in eons and boy did it taste great! I wish I had an oven to do them properly. My toaster oven eats up too much electricity. Hmm... might be worth it.

Got my haircut yesterday afternoon. The guy who did it was sweet. I always dread going to the hair salon because you have to worry about communicating and whether or not they will butcher your hair. Luckily I haven't had any bad cuts here - actually they are much better than what I have ever had in Canada. They thin out my hair without making it into a frizz ball which is a bloody miracle. The hairdresser was a cutie and despite not speaking English we communicated. He showed me how to style my hair and we even argued about how short to cut my bangs. LOL. I'll go back to him.

Today I lazed around in bed until almost 3. It was great. Then I just watched stupid TV and did a bit of reading and that's about it. I think I'm in vacation mode already! Speaking of which... only two more days until Thailand!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. I probably won't be able to sleep the night before!

Welcome to Engrish.com!
This site is cracking me up. Japan has a whole slew of weird phrases that attempt to be English. These are often hilarious. Normally referred to as Japlish, it is sometimes called Engrish (Japanese people have a hard time telling the difference between R and L).

Random before bed thoughts:
I'm sitting here eating nashi (Japanese pear) and trying to convince myself to go to bed. I want to stay up to watch "Ari my rub" aka "Ali my love" aka "Ali McBeal". I've become addicted. I used to hate that show. Donno why I like it so much now all of a sudden. Well, maybe cuz it is in English. The problem of course is that it is on at 2:30 am. I don't have to work till late morning tomorrow, but still, I should be sleeping.

Speaking of nashi, a miracle occurred last night. Hiroshi actually peeled, cored and sectioned one for me. He claims this was cooking - I laughed in his face and set him straight. It is a miracle because this is the man who can't seem to get a glass of water for himself. I don't mind too much, because he's been well trained in other areas - he's great at doing laundry, taking out the garbage, doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and folding and airing the futon. Yes, I realize that is most of the household chores - I told you he was well trained. It would be nice once and a while to have someone cook for me though. He has marriage induced amnesia however - he knew how to cook prior to getting married. Now he has conveniently forgotten. Anyway, I'm thrilled. First stop, bowl of fruit - destination gourmet meals.

I'm watching the pachinko program. Yes, I know I'm a sorry excuse for a human being. The pachinko show is a program that basically shows ppl playing pachinko (usually the host and one or two guests). You get to live for the gambling excitement without the financial investment or inhaling second hand smoke. Ok, I know that is just sad. I can't help it though. I love this show. Oh! Someone just won!!!

And just to keep the countdown going... only 5 more days... well, technically it is Friday now, so it is only 4 more days now!! Yippee!!

The Japan Times Online
Japan's population only grew by .17% last year. And it is getting older. The average household size is only 2.57. That's like 1/2 a kid per house. It'd be interesting to see what the number of kids per family ratio is.

Thru conversations with my students most of them have 1 or 2 kids, with 1 child being the majority. It is just too expensive to have kids. It's like a thousand bucks to send your kid to kindergarten for a year, which is crazy, cuz the teachers don't teach them anything anyway. That's why they all go to cram school... and pay more tuition for. Personally, if I were paying 10 grand for my kid to go to highschool, I'd be raising up a HUGE stink if they weren't learning anything. Hiroshi says that's cuz I'm a westerner. Japanese people don't complain. That's just silly.

Anyway, while the population is growing at a rate that is essentially zero, the number of people in metropolitan Tokyo, still outnumbers the population of Canada. Yes the entire country.

CBC News: Scales tip higher for heavier people
I found the latter half of this article more interesting than the first. Kraft is going to change the portion sizes of its snacks to make them healthier. Wow. Umm... the food is still crap. And if you are used to a certain size and it is decreased, wouldn't most people just eat two then? I really hope that the "change how they make snacks" includes a totally new ingredient list.

I saw elsewhere that Olean will now longer require the warning label... the one that says you'll probably be on the toilet a few hours later. Olean is made with sugar by the way. So, in the effort to avoid fat, you get sugar, which is just as bad. Apparently in testing, chips made with Olean didn't produce any noticeable effect compared with regular chips.

Today it misted as opposed to rained. Again, totally fine with me - much preferred to sweating to death. So now that it has rained for like 10 days straight, people are starting to worry about the rice crop (this is the rice ramble from yesterday which I am going to re-write). Japanese people have this thing about rice tasting different. Even within Japan there are different types; the stuff grown in the north being supposedly better and therefore more expensive. Now last time the rice crop failed, people freaked out... because rice grown in other countries doesn't taste good. Now, I do grant them the fact that rice has different tastes, but come on. It isn't worth paying $100 for a 5 lb bag. Rice is already the biggest ripoff on the planet here, costing about $15 for a 5 lb bag of the cheap no-name kind. That's just ridiculous.

So last time the rice crop failed, they got rice from southern Thailand, which is kinda silly, cuz apparently northern Thai rice is most similar to Japanese rice. So people forked over the C-note. Crazy. But then again, I'm pretty sure it was still during the bubble, when people doled money out like water.

In addition to the rice issue there is also the fruit/vegetable issue which is of more concern. It's expensive this year! No cheap melon which really sucks, cuz melon tastes good! Which is one of the reasons why I'm so looking forward to Thailand - cheap fruit galore! Yummy yum yum. Speaking of which, I leave in one week, and am getting more excited by the second.

Nothing much going on today. I had a great ramble about rice and the weather that proceeded on to Louis Vuitton, and then the LV site crashed my browser. I'm not putting up the link to the LV site because of that. Interesting fact - Japan, which has been in a recession for more than 10 years, accounts for more than 30% of LV's global sales... and sales are growing by around 20% a year. Everyone has a LV bag... well, everyone except me. I can't see forking over $500 for a wallet... which is the only thing from LV that I want. Nice red one with the embossed LV rather than the ugly brown with tan LV logo.

Hiroshi is in the dog house because he forgot our anniversary yesterday. He forgot last year too, so he's 2 for 2. I told him he had to buy me jewellery to make it up to me, to which he said "hunh????" and gave me this what are you talking about
look Maybe I'll whine and weedle that LV wallet out of him ;) That or a nice necklace from Thailand. I guess asking for both would be greedy?

SoundAmerica
Can't remember how a certain tv jingle goes? Check here :) So how did I find this? Well, for some reason the phrase "Go go gadget arm" was spoken from my lips tonight - don't know why, it just popped out! I then had to explain what a cool cartoon Inspector Gadget was to Hiroshi. Which prompted me to look for pics.... and maybe the theme song.

While I didn't find the Inspector Gadget theme, I did find a whole load of songs from Schoolhouse Rock... another 80s show of note. Last month my friend Cal and I were developing online content for a project at work, and in the heat of creative genius (or was that a brain fog induced breakdown?), the song Conjunction Junction came up. Low and behold, I have found the song for Cal's listening pleasure, and anyone else's. There is a whole slew of your favourite Schoolhouse Rock songs here: Schoolhouse Rock tunes Enjoy!

FlyLady
Since I'm on the cleaning vent, this is a great site/group for those of us who never have time to clean anything - you can get daily reminders via Yahoo! Groups. I love the "Where is your laundry?" one - mine is always in the washer/dryer getting smelly or wrinkled. Basically it breaks the house down into areas so you are never tackling all of it at once. Unlike what I am doing right now ;)

Didn't get up until 2 today. Haven't got much of anything done it seems. Have been on an extended break actually to watch a mystery on TV. Guess I need to get back to work! At least the laundry is going in full swing.

So here it is, quarter to four in the morning, and it is time for bed. So far in the mass cleaning: all dishes washed, cupboards and contents wiped down with the exception of the one above the sink, all shelves wiped, all items on the shelves wiped, expired items in cupboards/shelves thrown away, table wiped and cleared, floor washed, bathroom sink area cleaned, all towels in the house washed, area under kitchen sink reorganized. Phew! Now, I just have to finish that one cupboard, wipe off all my cosmetics and their shelving, clean the toilet and bathtub (might as well while I'm at it), vacuum the carpets, wipe down the desk, and tidy the bedroom.

As for the study, I'm afraid to go there... to many piles of junk. I mean, where do you begin? Last week I did some organizing and went thru papers and stuff and thru out 2 garbage bags of junk. There's lots more though. We'll see how energetic I am. To be fair both Hiroshi and I have a ton of junk in there, but the vast majority of it is his books. Wish I could read the kanji so some of them could just mysteriously disappear. I can't though, and don't want to throw away anything important. He likes to keep a lot of them as reference for his job. Of course I have never actually seen him reference anything, but that is another story, and I won't go there.

So tomorrow in addition to the cleaning, I'm hoping to go to the used book store and trade some books. Might go to the gym. I should go to the gym. I am at the point now though, where it has been so long, getting the momentum going is like pushing a 1 ton rock with a feather up hill. Of course if I don't go, I'll end up weighing 1 ton. *sigh* Also need to do some cooking for next week... and oh yeah, it is our anniversary. Card shopping and dinner. Man, I hope I have the super productive focus tomorrow. I'm usually content to laze in bed all day Sunday.

Oh, and only 9 more days till I'm on that jet plane to Phuket.

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire/Dorset | Sunbather killed by falling car
This is so weird it is kinda funny ... in that black humour kind of way.

Today was the bug bomb day. Hiroshi was freaking out about there still being beetles flying around occassionally. I mean, there are going to be until the babies die off. I figure that without food - we got rid of all the open things and everything else is tightly sealed - they won't live long. Well, he wanted to do a bug bomb. I, on the other hand, was not overly enamoured with this idea - I don't want to spray chemicals all over the place. But his bad moods every time he saw another bug convinced me to do it.

So we set the thing off, and went to Starbucks for a while. Then came back, opened the windows, turned on the fan and left again. I am now in the process of wiping everything down. Note "I". Hiroshi has been on an extended break after about 30 minutes of helping. I feel like I am doing spring cleaning. Everything is being washed. I don't want chemical residue all over the place. Of course in the process of wiping things down we have found a grand total of three, yes 3, bugs. Seems like a big ordeal, and a hell of a lot of house work on my part, for nothing. Is there a reward in this? No, a clean house doesn't count!

I have space! Today I splurged on a 120GB removable drive. This is a huge upgrade in space for me... I've been suffering with only 3GB! So I can now download a ton of mp3's for my camera/mp3 player, and there is also a ton of space for all the pics I want to take... which means you get to see lots of Japan pics in the photoblog.

The big news here is the power outages in North America. We're expecting them here, and a huge one happened over there. It will be interesting to see what actually caused them, and I hope that both sides stop being stupid with the "they did it" crap. I mean really. I wonder when the power goes out here if it will generate as much worldwide press. Maybe we'll blame it on the Koreans for fun.

Oh I forgot - ONLY 12 MORE DAYS TILL THAILAND!! Can you tell I'm excited? :D

Life is pretty dull and boring today. Not much new, so I'm stuck with resorting to the weather, which is rainy today. This is fine with me. Not only do I save money because I don't have to run the airconditioner, I'm cool. That makes me happy. I really could care less for summer here. Hot blistering sunny days are great when you're on vacation, but suck royally when you have to run all over the city in dress clothes.

Oh, I guess the not so fun thing is the cigarette beetles. Don't know how we got them, but they are flying around everywhere and are giving both of us the heebie-jeebies. Found their nest last night and I spent tonight wiping everything down in the area. They were still hiding in all kinds of stuff. They're little (like a few mm), light redish brown and fly. If you miss squashing them they zip away somewhere else ... and you have to wait until you see them again. Hopefully now that I've cleaned everything it will be ok. Knock on wood, at least I haven't seen a cockroach lately.

Random before bed thoughts:
Well it is now only 13 days until we are on a plane to Phuket!!!
Umm... do you think my bedtime is a bit late? There is the posting record from my blog as proof I'm staying up too late.
All of my friends and family who are popping over here - drop me a comment... let me know what you'd be interested in seeing either here or on the photoblog. Just click the 'ramble back' button :)

Newgrounds.com Presents: Ninja Burger: Delivery #1
For your amusement - cheezy ninja theme. Go to the link above, click on 'watch the movie'. Then, link to the site Ninja Burger Play games, come up with your own ninja name. Oh the amusing things on the web!

Yahoo! News - Tokyo Temple Ceremony Honors Pinball Machines

Well, that is just plain silly. Of course you can go to temple for good grades, luck in exams, good marriage prospects and anything else, so why not winning at pachinko?

I love the game. Ever since I quit smoking though, I can't stand to be inside a pachinko parlour. They are aweful... actually, just walking by the one near me is terrible because smoke wallows out the door and envelops passers-by on the sidewalk. I used to sit in that? Ick.

I figure if they installed pachinko machines on airplanes instead of crappy old movies, I'd have it made. I can sit and play it for hours on end. Of course it sucks your money up in about five seconds, so it is really only good if you are winning. You thought slots were bad - these things can take $60US in about 5 minutes.

I figure it is a good thing that there aren't any non-smoking pachinko parlours (and if you know of one, please don't tell me).

Today's pics are of baby Kai. He's my friend Yasu's son. Every time I see him, I want one of my own ... could that be why my husband is avoiding going over to their house to meet him? Maybe he knows he'll have to put up with the "I want a baby" whine for weeks afterwards. He gets it already, but it intensifies when I see cute newborns!

Went to fireworks tonight with half the population of Tokyo. Ok, it is only about 600,000 people that go and watch. It was nice, but I hate crowds and am short of both temper and patience when I am hot and sticky. We did find a place to view them from that was pretty good though. Some of the lower fireworks were blocked due to buildings, but otherwise it was great. Trying to come home was a nightmare. Basically there is one train line that goes by where we were... and when you try to crowd in half a million people onto one train line, well, it gets a bit backlogged. We even walked a couple kilometres to the next station, and it was jam packed to. But we eventually made it to a bar and sat around having a few drinks. Boy does beer taste great when you're hot and sweaty!

I think what I find most amusing is that every Japanese person thinks that there is something awe-inspiring about Japanese fireworks. Personally, I don't see any difference between them and the ones that I would see at Freedom Festival in Windsor (which I believe is the largest fireworks display in North America). Of course, when I tell them this, they are greatly disappointed. Maybe Freedom Festival has just spoiled me? Maybe I should be politely dishonest?

Of course, since I'm always on the lookout for good pics for my photoblog, I went crazy with the digital camera... is 70 pictures of fireworks too many? I was shocked that I had taken that many! And that is the number after deleting the blurry ones! I took a few other pics today as well. Hiroshi and I went out to lunch near Ginza, so afterwards we walked around. Got some pics of very cute kids playing with toy dogs. And a bunch of fish in the Sony Aquarium - which is a huge fish tank just outside their showroom building. This of course got me all excited, because in 16 days I am going to see those fish in the ocean! Can it really be only two weeks away before I am in Phuket???

I spent today fighting with my umbrella as the wind tried to sweep it away. Typhoon season has started. Actually, I'm sadly disappointed in typhoons. I'm sure if I lived in southern Japan which gets pummelled with them during the late summer, I'd have a different opinion, but typhoons are rather disappointing. Ever summer I get my hopes up to see the great power of nature, and all we get is a bit of wind and a bunch of rain.... along with stopped train lines. I think I expect amazing things because everyone tends to freak out whenever the weather forecast calls for one. Appointments get cancelled, people talk about leaving work early etc etc. I always thought this was because they were worried about being stranded when their train line stopped service, but apparently some ppl are actually worried about being swept away. I mean, granted, pushing and pulling your umbrella in a wild attempt to keep yourself somewhat dry is no picnic, but it doesn't seem dangerous. Sure there is a lot of rain, but I have never seen the streets flooded... the sewer systems seem to work great. Perhaps I'm just strange - I want to go outside and physically fight to stay upright against the wind. That would just be so much more fun than jumping in puddles. Me vs. nature. That I can deal with. It'd be fun. As it is, I'm just stuck with wishing they made raincoats here big enough to fit me so that I wouldn't have to worry about the umbrella... which is useless anyway because for some bizarre reason it rains sideways in Japan.

Traditional Thai Massage in Private Sala
My spa package! This is where I am looking at spending one afternoon with Hiroshi. It sounds divine. I start to relax just thinking about it!

Also spent some time reading the link from yesterday - Enjoy Tokyo. Great examples of cute Japanese English on that site. Lots of good information too. I was impressed. My personal favourite Japlish comment though is about the hot spring, where you can just put your "legs and feets" in the water. Love it!

Enjoy Tokyo - Omatsuri(Japanese traditional festival)
Ok, this link says that there are mikoshi only carried by women - but I have never seen it. I like this site just because it has cute English and talks about playing instead of praying (Japanese ppl have a hard time with 'r' and 'l').

Today's photo entry is mikoshi (click on the link on the side bar to get to my photoblog). Mikoshi are portable shrines that come out once a year, and are paraded around by men in happi coats and loin cloths. Happi coats are just traditional Japanese tops - like a wraparound coat. The loin cloths are more frequently replaced with pants now. Occassionally a woman will help with lifting the mikoshi. The things are quite heavy and basically everyone just bounces up and down and moves down the street. There are people who push on the side poles to keep it centered and make sure the group stays on course.

It is actually one of my ambitions in Japan to be a mikoshi lifter. Not only because it looks like a lot of fun, but because very few women do it, and I have never seen a foreigner do it. Basically community organizations appoint people to do it. I guess I have to find my local organization!

Just posted a few yukata pics on the photo page... and the infamous bum shot. For a culture of very shy individuals, I'm amazed that men will dance around in loin cloths at festival time. I'll be going to fireworks on the weekend, so I should get quite a few more shots - and will try to get some pics of what the obi looks like from the back. Tried to get pics of fugu today that were swimming round in the tank by the fugu restaurant, but they didn't turn out right - photos thru glass kinda deal. (Fugu is the fish that you can die from if it isn't cleaned properly).

Nothing exciting happened today - I was just working. Tried to find some inspiring pictures to take, but no luck. What else is new? Need to write up a couple reports, and then it is off to bed for me. The weekend can't get here soon enough. That's it. Oh, and it is only 20 days until I'm in Thailand!

The Japan Times Online

The above article is about a resurgence in popularity of the kimono and yukata in Japan. I actually find the modern adaptations quite interesting. Traditional kimono are beautiful, but basically are a royal pain to put on and walk in. Even the more casual yukata is no treat, being wrapped, folded and pinched into things. Geta and zori (traditional Japanese wooden sandals/shoes) wreak total havoc on your feet. I broke mine in for a week and I still had raw blisters after an evening out in them.

I've seen yukata tops which look a bit strange - especially when you still see little old ladies walking around sporting the real thing. I've also seen the yukata mini-skirt which was the adaptation a couple years ago to deal with the women who go in for the photo-negative panda look (don't ask - you don't want to know... ok if you really want to know go here Egg Magazine Cover for a peak at the cover of a magazine that appeals to that fashion group). I think the yukata top could probably become quite popular. It'd probably be somewhat comfortable too, if the obi wasn't a wrap around thing. If it was just part of the top it'd be great.

The Mangosteen Resort & Spa, Phuket, Thailand

This is the hotel I'm going to stay at in Thailand. Can't wait to see the view!! Looking forward to having a romantic dinner and watching the sunset over the ocean on our first night!

The good news of the day, is that all the crazy hours that I have been working lately will be "recompensated" (as my boss says) at a decent rate. My colleague and I were pretty sure we were going to get taken advantage of, but we actually got what we asked for. Maybe we should have asked for more???!! Of course the question now is, where do I spend all the dough!!??? Hiroshi, the ever responsible one, says I should save it. I on the other hand feel a new computer is in order. I mean, I'm still on Windows 98 for crying out loud! I'm thinking read/write CD-ROM, a huge drive (none of the 3 GB nonsense that I am currently suffering with), and well, I guess that's it. Gosh I'm easy to please. Of course then there is the Mac vs. PC issue. I have always owned a PC, but seeing as I want to get more into graphics and stuff perhaps the Mac is better. I guess it will all boil down to cost. Hiroshi, being the voice of reason, says I should just get a removable drive. I'll just bring him shopping with me - then he'll want half of the stuff too. Hehe.

My tickets to Thailand are in my hot little hands, albeit with the wrong spelling of Hiroshi's name. At least I can go to Thailand! ;-) Had to phone Aeroplan (on my penny) to get it fixed, and will now be making a visit to their office somewhere in Tokyo. I actually do know where their office is - so that makes life easier. Maybe I'll get some free stuff for the inconvenience. Ha! Somehow I doubt it.

Well, I am off to find out why my husband is singing at the top of his lungs. Love him to death, but his inability to hold a tune, while endearing at low volume, is rather irritating at the moment. I figure something must be up because he is not singing songs from the only band he ever listens to (Street Sliders) and is actually butchering a song I quite like.

Ok, I now have comments. That took a while. It took me back to the days I used to program in Pascal and C and other ancient PC languages. Haven't done any programming in years. Actually, it has mildly peaked my interest again, but I just plain old don't have time for that stuff. I should be studying Japaneses before I start studying computer languages. So, it is off to bed for me... where I should have been hours ago!

So Hiroshi and I took off to the show tonight to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding... which was released in North America months ago, but, welcome to Japan. A few laughs and an interesting story line for us - as we are an inter-racial couple. A lot of the Greek stereotypes really did ring true, but having lived in Japan for so long now, for some reason they are just interesting rather than amusing. Guess that comes with learning what it feels like to be in the minority. Hiroshi was like "what's up with the statues in front of the house". He obviously forgot about the lions and didn't draw a parallel. Last time we were in Canada he couldn't figure out what was up with all the stone lions in front of houses....

Picked up some chicken and steak this afternoon from Hanamasa which is a cheap meat store. I went to a different one today - mainly because it is about 10 feet from the station as opposed to 1 km away. Walking was not on my list of things to do today as it had to be about 35 degrees. Rainy season has ended, and summer hell has begun. Man I hate Tokyo in August. Anyway, Hanamasa has a rather unsavoury smell to it, and this branch was worse. So next time I'll take the walk. The smell of rotting things doesn't exactly inspire confidence in their products. I put up with the slightly off smell in the one I usually go to because it only costs about 500 yen for 2kg of chicken breasts, rather than the 500 yen per two breasts that you'd pay in the grocery store.

So back to the weather. As I mentioned, rainy season is finished. This year was the second longest rainy season on record I belive - which was fine with me. The thought of 5 + weeks of temperatures well over 30 degrees, and humidity levels around 150% (ok, slight exaggeration there), I am not a happy camper. Air conditioning is my friend and this year we have to conserve energy. TEPCO (electricity company) still only has 2 of 19 nuclear power plants operational. I mean, I'm glad they were forced to shut them down for maintenance, but they should have been doing regular maintenance before. No aircon = bitchy-chan, as my husband affectionately (?) calls me.

Added a bunch of pics onto my photoblog (link in sidebar). The sun was shining thru the curtains, and the shadow from the laundry holder was making interesting designs - so I got creative with the camera. Interesting, but I was hoping they'd come out a bit funkier. I thought they'd make a good desktop, but I think I'll have to play with them first.

I'm waffling again with what to do about blogging. My main problem of course being I don't want to pay for something that I can get for free. So here I am again, back on blogger... with a connection to fotopages for pics. Cuz fotopages won't let you do multiple posts in one day, and what to do if I feel like rambling off some nonsense?
So here I am... with the pages interlinked. Best of both worlds.