Camping photos can wait!

Ok, so my brother is getting married. I am meant to be in the wedding as a brides maid. I have pictures of my options for dresses... Erm... yeah, I'll post the four options and ask for feedback. Keeping in mind that I can fit into all of the dresses (am about a 4 or 6), so that is really not the issue. The issue is: which is the lesser of all evils!?!?


Dress 1


Dress 2

Dress 3



Dress 4

The dresses will be in cobalt (the color in the pictures). I like the color! It's really nice. Please help me choose a dress!! :-) Vote and give a reason if you feel so inclined. ;-)

5 bags of trash

That's how many bags of trash I threw away this morning. I had to make two trips to get it to the pick up place! And the sad thing?? That's not even close to getting rid of all the stuff that needs to get thrown out. BUT, I have a 50 pack of garbage bags and some time next week... I WILL be cleaning!

I would like to have an organized apartment before I start my new job next Friday. It may be an ambitious goal, but I think with a bit of help and organizing I can make a lot of progress. :-)

Wish me luck!

re-juvenated?

So... I decided that if I really wanted to rejuvenate my blog, I actually had to find a template that fit the title. I think the one that I chose fits quite well... what d'ya think?

Tuesday...

It's Tuesday. I lied. I have not gotten camping pictures up yet. One reason?? I didn't take as many as I would have liked Second reason?? I am lazy... or just easily distracted. There's a lot to do before I start a new job in a week. :-)

Today I turned up at my short, intensive course lesson this morning. To figure out the school (without notifying me) had changed the start time of the lesson. That's something I would have liked to know, if for no other reason than I could leave my house later! :-)

Luckily, the lessons went well and it all worked out.

I'm now trying to talk myself into doing some hard core cleaning this evening. There's a lot to do... and in preparation I bought a whole bunch of cleaning products! So this means I need to follow through, right? :-)

Ouch!

SO much for the keeping up the blog rhetoric... it's now Saturday... a week after I posted last. I've discovered the problem with me keeping up with my blog. When I get busy, I tend to neglect blogging. It's not that interesting things aren't happening. Nope. It's the fact that I'm too tired to do much else but watch the Daily Show when I get home at night! :-)

Well... a week in summary.

Last weekend, Shimon and I went on a great camping trip! It was just overnight, but it was exactly what I needed to recharge and relax. We did a bit of canoeing, had a campfire and enjoyed being out in nature and not in the city. It was great!

This week I've been teaching an intensive course at a girls junior high school. It's good money, but honestly I don't think the girls are getting much from it. They simply don't have the English level to do civics lessons in English (that's the course, Civics in English!). And for just one week, it's insufficient to say the least.

Today is the last day of the course. I've decided to not make a real lesson, instead I had them look up information about the Olympics (sports in particular) and we're going to play a round of Jeopardy instead. I think it will be a big success and then we can end on an up note! :-)

There will be some camping pics up soon... :-)

When you need to get out of the city...

It's time to go camping! That's right, I am going camping this weekend. And in the process of getting ready, I have realized how privileged I was to grow up in Alaska. Camping in Alaska is like second nature. I never had to think about what I needed to go camping because we always had everything or could go into town to buy any odds and ends that were needed.

In Japan, camping is so different! A) It's very expensive and B) it's trendy! Huh!?! I just don't get it really. Also, because only some people camp (unlike EVERYONE at home) it's not like you can call someone up and borrow camping stuff - nope - you've gotta buy it yourself!

However, the great thing about buying all new gear - BUYING ALL NEW GEAR!!! Haha. I had forgotten how fun it is to tinker around with lamps and camp chairs... all the stuff that makes camping so much fun!

This weekend's expedition will be the no frills adventure, but it will be fun all the same. It's been a really long time since I went camping. Even longer since I've been canoeing (I get to do both!!), so I'm really looking forward to it.

Viva la camping!! :-)

Spilled Milk

As a kid, I remember adults always saying, "it's no use crying over spilled milk." At that time in my life, it was usually because the milk was already running off the edges of the table and it was time to grab a towel and not a time to cry.

How about crying over a bad recipe? Or a bad pasta dish? I know it sounds idiotic, but last night I made a recipe that I'd never tried before and... it was tasteless and horrible! And I just cried. I used to be GOOD at cooking. And forget about cheesecake, that is where I am queen! ;-) (Or something like that...) Is it really possible to lose your touch? Really the only excuse I can give is that I followed the recipe.

I think I need to re-learn how to cook. I feel like I'm in a horrible position. I can't cook like this is the States ('cuz it isn't) and I can't cook a lots of Japanese foods because I need a taste-tester for that. Argh! Where to begin. Oh, by the way I have no oven. (They're expensive here.) Range (two burners), a fish grill (very handy) and a microwave!

Sigh, I'm not crying over spilled milk, but I am lamenting the hurdles to re-educating myself. I'm going to start grocery shopping regularly this week... If anyone has easy recipes that I should try (confidence-boosting recipes!)... throw them my way. :-)

Edith Wharton

So, about a week ago, I was lucky to find a book store that sells used English books. I picked up Corelli's Mandolin (I will never see the movie based on the book - would NEVER do the book justice!), a collection of Edith Wharton short stories, and Exodus (as recommended by a friend).

I have finished Corelli's Mandolin - WOW! It was amazing. I loved every minute of it. Each page was dense and I couldn't fly through it like other books, but that's something else I loved about it. I could relish it properly as I was reading it. Anyone who wants an excellent read, I highly recommend it.

I am now working my way through the Edith Wharton stories. A friend of mine was told she ought to read some Wharton, and when that friend had, she recommended that I read her as well. I haven't read anything more that the short stories, but they have been very good and I am looking forward to reading more Wharton in the future. :-)

I will also be frequenting the used English book shops more often - I got three books for less than the price of one on Amazon! :-)

I think I'm failing...

At this blog thing. But I have a decent excuse... my life, contrary to what people might think, is not all that exciting.

Today, I went to my internship. Then went to work. Then came home and ate dinner. Dinner was nice because the lady I had worked with made me a nice type of sushi (doesn't actually have fish in it, thus I could transport it home). I watched the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Talked to my guy. I've taken a shower and will be heading to bed soon.

And that folks, is a wrap! When I start my new job in September, teaching at a private girls' school... I think I may have a few more stories. In fact, if I don't I will be worried. Students in a school are always full of interesting ideosyncracies. Woot!

Tomorrow, I may have a story. I am going to the Immigration Bureau to begin the process of renewing my visa. I have a sponsor (YAY!!) and all the paperwork (minus two photobooth visa-sized pics that I intend to pick up on my way there) and want to get the process started. The Immigration Bureau is NOT a fun place to visit. It makes foreigners feel like it's literally a holding tank to separate them from mainstream Japanese society. ALL foreigners hate going there. That hatred is compounded by the fact that it's really out of the way. Also, if you go in the afternoon it means you WILL be waiting for quite awhile. So, I will aim to arrive around 9:00am, right when it opens.

Maybe there will be a good story tomorrow. More likely there will be a story of me being extremely cranky for the wasted time. :-D Either way, there will be a story to post!

Cleaning...

Until I turned in my thesis, I excused myself from large amounts of cleaning. Basically, my apartment was overtaken by papers and books and things that had to do with my thesis. Well, the thesis is in. The exam is over. I am just biding my time for graduation.

I have to admit, I still haven't cleaned my apartment! Ack! It is a big mess and will only get bigger if I don't start MAKING myself tackle it. Really it's all about trashing stuff I don't need and vacuuming. The rest is pretty ok, it's not like I have a whole lot of space. It shouldn't take too long to clean a REALLY small apartment. But with me, I guess it does. Blah! Oh, well.

Here's to motivation!! And to watching my cat run away when I bring out the vacuum. :-)

CHARGE!!!!!

In a rut!

I feel like I'm in a rut. I'm done with my thesis, so I have all sorts of free time, but I'm as a loss as to how to spend it. I guess that's what happens when a masters degree takes 4 years instead of 2. You forget how to spend free time because it's non-existent!

What should I do in my free time? I need some suggestions!

I would love to beginning running again. I'd also like a running buddy because I have the hardest time staying motivated if I am running alone. I get up good for about a week and then I slack off.

I'd love to do some volunteering. However, I have no idea how to go about finding a volunteer organization that would want me to help. I'm sure there are ones out there, but I don't know how to go about finding the best one. Japan does not have the same culture of volunteerism that we have in the US.

Here's to getting out of a rut!!!