April 7, 2015

Tuesday - Cloudy and cold

A good day.

I got up in time to watch my morning shows and did so this morning.  I also read Sunday’s paper, my blog, other people’s blogs and had breakfast. Oh, and I finished my Stephanie Plum novel. Whew!  

I took a shower this morning and then spent a bit of time on my computer.  I had lunch fairly early today.  Today I had a tortilla with smoked duck and cheese melted in the middle, then a piece of F’s yummy raisin bread with peanut butter.  

F took part of the afternoon off to go to the doctor.  He popped home to change and then went off.  I finished scanning my cards, stamped them and then biked off to the post office.  On the way out the door I was astonished to see that there were blossoms on the cherry trees and a lot more daffodils than last week.  When I returned from the post office I took some pictures and I’m sharing them with you!

I came back and started looking up how to cook some of our dinner foods.  I took the steaks out in plenty of time to bring up to room temperature and scrubbed some potatoes and sliced some mushrooms.  When F came home, I microwaved the potatoes for a few minutes then baked them for a bit longer.  I got the steaks on and then when they were cooked I did the mushrooms.  Everything came together fairly well and dinner was nice.  We also had some salad with it.  I really enjoyed it and I think F did too.

F did the dishes and then later on I made us some tea.  I tried one of my new ones,  Cerisier and it was lovely.  F even had a second cup and he never does that!

That’s about it for the evening.  I watched a Jason Statham movie and then Shallow Hal. I had seen half of it before, so this time I saw it from the beginning.  It is an odd film and I’m afraid that as I don’t like Jack Black, not one that I want to watch again in a hurry.  I like the Farrelly Brothers films generally, but I didn’t like Shallow Hal.  I did a bit of knitting.  My cowl is growing quite nicely.  

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get out of the apartment again.  Come back later and find out what happens.  Until tomorrow….

Books 2010 - November

I only finished one novel this month, on the same day that I saw the one movie of November. Interesting that!

• 19) Some Great Thing - Lawrence Hill (November 23, 2010)
  
  
  A Canadian first novel about Winnipeg race relations and the battle between French and English language speakers. This is an interesting novel, one that I would never have chosen for myself, but none the less, enjoyable.  It has a quirky Canadian humor about it and I found it good reading, although not compelling. I may have to check out this author's other books.
  
  

October 2010 Books

I finished 3 books in October. Two were detective novels with female detectives, the other was a romantic modern tale that, truthfully, left me cold. Fave of the month? U is for Undertow!

18) U is for Undertow - Sue Grafton (October 27, 2010)

My favourite female PI is back in Sue Grafton's Alphabet series. Kinsey Milhone, the detective with only one all-purpose dress is hired to find out if a young man's long repressed memory is true. What she finds is a mystery involving dead dogs, kidnapping and murder. Along the way there's a bit of family interaction as well. Will Kinsey become closer to her estranged family?

As always, a great read. It was hard to put this one down, and if you are a fan of Sue Grafton, absolutely worth reading!

17) Star Struck - Val McDermid (October 21, 2010)

A fun fast read about a private investigator who is hired to protect a female soap opera star in Manchester. There are parallels to Coronation Street of course, and the characters are interesting. It's not as good as her Wire in the Blood series, but it is enjoyable. Not a deep novel by any means.

16) The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (October 13, 2010)

I have been reading this book for more than a month. Not because it is particularily good, but because I've only been able to read it in small doses. I liked it while I was reading it, but to be honest, the ending left me cold. I thought it was a complete letdown. I saw the movie before I read the book and I liked the movie much more. Well written, but just not quite for me.

August 2010 Books

I only completed one book in August. I read a lot of newspapers and a few magazines as well though. The book was a good one. I loved it!

• 15) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (August 19, 2010)
  
  

  A cracking great read from Sweden. The story features a disgraced journalist, a computer hacker and an old old mystery. The characters don't seem to have a connection and then all of a sudden, they do. To say much more would be to spoil your fun when you read this. A great novel and a very nice translation too. A must read.

August 19, 2010

Thursday - Hot and sunny. Gorgeous day.

A good day. I got up at a little later than I should, but not so late that I’d miss anything interesting. I showered fairly soon and finished up my book. I finally finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I loved it. It had such interesting characters and a very exciting story line. There were many threads to begin with and I wasn’t sure how they were going to connect. Now I’ll have to get hold of the next book.

I did my internet work after my shower and drank a lot of iced tea today. I managed not to use the AC until the afternoon, which is a happy thing!

I cooked my lunch around 3 and then left for work a few minutes before 4. When I grabbed my bike I was surprised to see there were about 100 caterpillars all around the area. When I left the bike shelter there were even more. Yuck. Not my favourite things.

My school was really hot, but I got it cooled down to a reasonable range soon enough. I set up for my classes and then taught 3 classes tonight. They all went fairly well. I went way off script for the last class, but I think it was okay. We talked about words that haven’t quite made it into the dictionary yet. It was fun.

After classes I did paperwork, finished reading the paper and then I called F to come and get me. He did, and we went to Cocos for dinner. I didn’t want anything too heavy so I had the taco salad and some Buffalo chicken. It wasn’t authentic, it was more like kara-age covered in a spicy barbecue sauce, but was rather nice.

We went to the grocery store on the way home and I picked up some lemon, chicken, asparagus and fake cheese. The lemon, and chicken will become a lovely lemon-basil chicken I think and the asparagus will hopefully become a lovely stir-fry. I need something else though.

At home again I went over some possible tour options for F and I when we’re on holiday next month. He’s still mulling over the idea of extending our trip by a day. I told him that I didn’t mind, but he’d better hurry up and talk to the travel agent about it or we won’t be able to at all.

He went to bed a little while ago and I’m still up. Tomorrow I’m off work, but I’ll make up the marinade for the chicken early on and then I might go out for a bit. I sort of hate to waste the lovely weather on staying home.

That’s it for me. Night!

August 13, 2010

Friday - The dreaded Friday the 13th!
Sunny, cloudy, rainy, rinse and repeat.

A pretty good day today. I woke up this morning just before 8:30, used the washroom and on the way realised that hubby dearest hadn’t taken out our garbage this morning. How he’d managed to walk past two big pink bags of plastic garbage was beyond me, but he did! So, I quickly got dressed, grabbed my wallet and took it out to the gomi station. I’m quite lucky here, we don’t seem to have Garbage Gestapo in this area.

I came back in, washed my hands, and went back to bed for a few minutes until my alarm rang. There wasn’t any news on, so I spent a bit of time on my computer then took a nap. It went on a bit too long, so when I woke up I felt a little disoriented.

I got dressed and did a load of laundry. It was the load I didn’t do yesterday. How about that, I’m all done and I wasn’t quite down to one pair of pants for the coming week!

Around 2:45 in the afternoon, I got my backpack packed and I went out. I did something daft but something I really wanted to do. I went to see Predators again. Yep, it was the third time for me, but you know what? I enjoyed it even more this time. It was fun seeing it in a smaller theatre today too. There were a few more people there, all guys. I was the only female in the theatre. I don’t really enjoy seeing a film with Japanese people. They are just too darn quiet. I like to see movies with people who laugh or gasp or actually appear to be watching the same film I am. No matter…I still had a great time.

After I left the theatre I decided to go to S-Mall for tea. I had brought my book…The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am enjoying it thoroughly. So much so that I am taking my time with it. I had been afraid that the translation would be a bit fuzzy…I’ve read other Scandinavian lit translated and the characters all sound like Yoda, but this one is fine. (I got into a bit of trouble in Uni because I just couldn’t read a book because everyone talked Yoda-ian —that and the prof told us not to bother reading the first 30 pages or so of it. If it was worth reading the novel, surely the first 30 pages should be read too???)

At the mall I checked my phone, only to discover that F had phoned me 3 minutes before. I rang him back, told him I was at the mall and would he like to meet me there? He would. I went in, had my tea and read a few pages of my novel before he joined me.

After his tea, we had a quick zoom around the grocery store. We got a few things for dinner and life, then came home.

F changed, as did I, and he started his rice. After a bit I began to prep dinner. I made a big salad by combining a few things, then when it was a good time for him, I cooked the chicken. F also prepped some cucumbers for us to eat. We had a great dinner. We had fried chicken, salad, macaroni salad, cucumbers with miso too. F had rice on the side too. Very nice dinner really. F did dishes and then we relaxed for the evening.

It was quiet for a long time. I watched Top Gear tonight which was exceedingly silly, but enjoyable as always and then turned off the TV.

This Friday the thirteenth wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was rather a nice day.

Tomorrow I’m at work again. I have a few things to do and a long stretch between classes. I think I may have time for a little bit of reading. I hope so. Night!

July 2010 Books

I read 3 books in July and I enjoyed them all thoroughly. They were quite different, one was a classic English novel, another was a new detective with an interesting family and the last was from my favourite detective writer, Dick Francis. Have you read these? What did you think? Please comment below.

• 14) Silks - Dick Francis and Felix Francis (July 26, 2010)
  
  Dick Francis and son are back with an exciting tale of a widowed barrister who is also an amateur jockey. Another jockey is accused of murdering a jockey and hires Geoffrey Mason to defend him. He takes the case but is threatened and told to lose it. What happens after this leads to an exciting and suspenseful ride. Along the way we meet other victims of menace and the barrister begins to have feelings for a vet he meets along the way. Nice read.



• 13) The Spellman Files - Lisa Lutz (July 21, 2010)
  
  

  A very funny first novel about a family of Private Investigaters. The lead character, Isabel Spellman, has been through her wild side, and is now trying to live it down. However, she's given a cold case to investigate and it leads her on a merry chase. She is nearing the solution when a family member disappears.

  
  

  Isabel has an obsession with Get Smart and a way with boyfriends that means she'll be alone for a while. Her family is funny and interesting. A great debut, I'm looking forward to more from this character and the author.




• 12) Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons (July 3, 2010)
  
  

  Young Flora Poste, orphan, goes to live at Cold Comfort Farm. She immediately begins to change the lives of her distant cousins in many ways. She insinuates herself into the family and changes the members with her modern ways. A classic gem, and a really funny story. So glad I've finally read this. I loved it.

  
  

July 3, 2010

Saturday - Hot and sunny, a few showers in the afternoon.

A good day. I got up this morning and checked for news. There wasn't any, so I made the bed and showered. F came home from the doctor while I was drying off.

We went out for brunch to our usual Gusto and then I was dropped off at work. I had to run to get ready this morning and I actually didn't quite make it. I was washing my hands when my student arrived. Oops. Still, we had a really good lesson. My student is able to write good sentences, but I'm working on getting her to add in more description. She's not really sure why at this stage of the game. Maybe I can persuade her after a bit.

After class, they left and I saw F was outside waiting for me. I turned off the AC and a few other pieces of equipment, grabbed my bag and left. We went to my dentist's office. We made it in time, but strangely, I didn't really see my dentist. They wanted to check my bridge. I'm not completely happy with the way it's sitting. I'm not sure what I should expect realistically. It doesn't hurt, but I often feel that something is sticking to it. Anyway, the dentist's assistant or whomever she was checked my bite and said it was mostly okay, then asked if she could clean my teeth. Okay, whatever. So she did. However, she hit a sore spot on the top of my mouth with the toothbrush and I kind of freaked out. It was very painful. I've had it for a couple of days and I can't eat really hot food or really acidic food. She stopped at that point, put some antiseptic stuff on it and then sent me away! I get to go back in a couple more weeks. I think they're hoping I'll just get used to my bridge.

F took me out for coffee and a sweet at Mr. Donut and then I asked to be dropped off back at my school. I still had things to do before my next class.

I planned a couple of classes, did some paperwork and then read the newspaper from yesterday and today. I also had a couple of mugs of tea too. Yum.

My last class went well and I think we had a fun class. We did a lot of pronunciation and tongue twisters. The student seemed to be having a good time.

After work, I cleaned up, did dishes, prepped a couple more classes, did paperwork and then called F. He was on his way over. We went to Cocos for dinner tonight. We had a coupon for half price dessert and wanted to use that.

Cocos was busy tonight. We had to wait about 20 minutes to be seated. There were tables free, they just hadn't been cleared. F and I had almost the same thing tonight, beef hamburger. We just had different sauces and I had a salad. We had the special Tanabata mud pie and it was nice. F went to get a drink and I put my star from mud pie next to his star on his. When he came back, he didn't even notice. Grr. I had to actually point out the fact that the stars were touching!

We came home and I watched a couple of TV shows. I saw the latest 90210 to be broadcast here and later on, House. I really liked the House tonight. It was a more unusual episode, in that it was told from other people's perspectives.

AND, I also finished Cold Comfort Farm today. What a hoot. I really enjoyed it. It was old-fashioned, but also quite modern in its outlook. A wonderful little novel.

Gotta go. Have a good night.

June 2010 Books

Along with trying to run a business, read the newspaper everyday and catch up with a few magazines, I also managed to finish one long novel in June. I'm halfway through another novel, so will hopefully have more to report for July!

11) Brisingr - Christopher Paolini (June 18, 2010)
The story of Eragon picks up where the last novel left off. It's an exciting story and quite a good example of fantasy writing. I had problems with the use of "dove" as the past tense of dive, but apart from that it was enjoyable. It's the third novel in a series of four. Probably not worth picking up by itself, but if you've read the other novels it's an entertaining way to spend a few days.

June 18, 2010

Friday - Hot, humid and sunny.

I got up at about the right time this morning and stayed up. Yay me.

I took a few minutes and finished my book Brisingr finally. I've been reading that one for a few weeks. I have started, but just barely, Cold Comfort Farm so I hope to get stuck into it soon.

I had a very quiet day around the apartment. Nothing really exciting happened.

F came home and wanted his dinner soon, so we both did a bit. I had set the table before, but F made coffee while I got out the soup. We had bought cold kabocha soup, then some risotto (from a packet) and then some beef stirfry thing I got last night with some salad. It was all quite nice. F did the dishes afterwards.

He came through to the living room and grabbed the TV remote and turned it on. Now, I have this thing about him (and his mother always does this too), he turned on the TV and just watched whatever was on. There was no question to me to see if I wanted to watch anything, or was planning to watch something soon. Nope. Nada. It was some stupid talento show so I decided to go and read the newspaper in the bedroom and leave him to it. I didn't say anything, I really didn't. I don't know if I got a disgusted expression on my face or not...likely, but I didn't say anything. Anyway, he gets up, turns off the TV and then goes and gets dressed and leaves for a couple of hours. Whatever! He was probably parking somewhere in the car watching TV because his wife was mean to him.

I read the newspaper, and then came back to the living room. I did some computer work and then someone came home. He was talking to me, but only barely. Kind of getting the silent treatment for a bit.

Around midnight I asked him if he'd mind if I watched Top Gear. If he was bothered by it, I would have watched it tomorrow night. He said it was okay, then left and went to bed. Boo hoo. Anyway, Top Gear was fun. Kristen Scott Thomas was on tonight, and she wasn't as funny as some of the people, but the host has a big crush on her so it was fun. They also drove tractors which is quite scary. I've driven tractors when I was a teenager and I was always petrified that they'd tip over on me or something. My sister had that happen to her and it was lucky she wasn't hurt.

I have a long day tomorrow so I really should get myself off to bed soon. I'm back to the dentist in the afternoon and should get my bridge I think. I hope I'll be okay to teach afterwards. Wish me luck! Night.

May 22, 2010

Saturday - Sunny and warm.

An okay day. I tried to go to bed a little early last night, managed it, but it was still quite late by most people's reckoning. F's alarm went off at 6 am but he was in the shower. I hit the snooze button on his clock a couple of times, then woke up enough to turn it off. Hubby left for Fukushima a little later. I went back to sleep.

I got up around 9, showered and then took a short time on my computer then cooked my brunch. I had an omelette and sausages [Sorry...just had a brief interlude to dance at my computer when Dancing in the Street with Mick Jagger and David Bowie came on the telly], then I did the dishes and headed off to work. I made pretty good time, even though there was a bit of a detour due to some construction on the way.

I had a pretty good day at the school today. My first student was great as usual, my second didn't come, and my third student and I had a good class. I drank quite a bit of tea during the day, and even had some soup pasta in the later afternoon. I read today's paper and finally got stuck in a book. I started Brisingr today. I'd read the forward before, but today got almost up to a hundred pages. Yay me. Only 600 more to go!

After work I cleaned up, did paperwork and changed. I called F and he was already back. He came to get me. We came home for a few minutes then went back out for dinner. He wanted tonkatsu tonight, so that's what we had. It was very nice, but a little more expensive than I thought it would be.

When we came home, F changed and got ready for bed right away. Egads. Still, he was up early, didn't sleep that well last night and drove a very long way today. I tucked in him and then came back to the living room. I watched a few TV shows tonight. I tried the new version of 90210. I was totally lost and had no idea what was going on. Don't know if I'll bother again. I did get into the original, but only in Japan, never bothered in Canada! Later on, I watched House which I think I'd actually seen before and now I'm just waiting for Top Gear to come on.

I'm not sure what's going to be on our schedule tomorrow. I'm trying to get F to hook up his computer to the internet, and after that I'm not sure. I think part of it depends on the weather. Anyway, I have to run. I'll talk to you tomorrow night. Ciao!

April 2010 Books

These are the novels that I read this month. The number at the beginning refers to the number so far this year. Some old favourites this month.


10) Hot Money - Dick Francis (April 29, 2010)*
Malcolm Pembroke had 5 marriages and 9 children. His latest wife was recently murdered and someone made an attempt on his life. It was up to one of his children to find the murderer and protect his father. Ian takes on the difficult job and gets to know his father in a new way. A cracking great read!

9) "K" is for Killer - Sue Grafton (April 27, 2010)*
Kinsey Millhone is hired to discover the murderer of a beautiful young woman with a shady life. She searches for information and and looks at the seedy side of life. Vintage Grafton. Good stuff.


8) The Guy Not Taken - Jennifer Weiner (April 9, 2010)*
A book of short stories from a good writer. I think I read them before, but a re-read was fine. Some stories are better than others.


7) Certain Girls - Jennifer Weiner (April 5, 2010)
This novel is a sequel to Weiner's first novel, Good in Bed. It takes up when Joy is 13 years old and preparing for her bat mitzvah. Weiner uses two voices in this novel, Cannie, the mother and lead character from her earlier novel, and Joy, her hearing impaired daughter. They switch telling their stories every chapter. It makes it a very interesting way to follow the story as events that are low in importance to one character take on great meaning to the other.

Jennifer Weiner is generally considered a writer of "Chick Lit" but she is such a good writer, that it is unfair to label her as such. This is a very good book and the suspense builds and the novel is difficult to put down. I stayed up an hour later than I wanted to so I could finish the novel, and it was worth it!


6) The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman (April 4, 2010)
The wonderful Mrs. Pollifax takes on Bulgaria in her quest to aid the Underground, rescue a imprisoned American and deliver a package. Armed with her ability to read people, her sympathy and an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time, this unusual spy tale is a lot of fun. Very enjoyable, a fast read.

April 29, 2010

Thursday - Cloudy, rainy, then clearing to nice and sunny.

Today was a nice day. It started last night when I turned off my computer a little early, grabbed my book and finished it. I didn't get to bed until 4 am, but it was totally worth it to read Hot Money again. I love Dick Francis. So sad that he's gone now.

I got up at a semi reasonable time today and hubs was already in the kitchen of course. He had made himself some noodles so he wasn't starving! After my shower we decided to go out.

We went to a restaurant for lunch. F had steak and I had dadacha-mame gratin with a salad. It was very nice. I was expecting pasta, but it didn't have any, just the dadacha-mame with sauce and a couple of scallops. Yum.

We went to the Kokusai Mura today too. I wanted to put up a poster on their bulletin board. The English speaking lady that I know wasn't there today. We left the poster with some other ladies. I thought they said they would put it up, F told me later that they didn't say that. It ticks me off because I wouldn't have left the poster with them if I'd known that. He never tells me things. GAH.

RANT**(feel free to skip this paragraph)--Why is it that he will translate every single detail of every single menu that we order from, when he knows I can read them fairly well, BUT refuses to tell me what's going on when it's important to me??? When I ask him to stop translating menus for me he gets angry at me (?Why?). I've told him innumerous times that I will ask him for help with kanji or things I don't understand, but nope, has to translate menus for me. And he always starts with fish, which is almost NEVER my first choice. Or shellfish? I really dislike most shellfish and don't eat it since a horrible food poisoning incident 15 or more years ago. ARGH! **END RANT (maybe!)

Anyway, after that, we went to the new drugstore that has finally opened in that part of town. It was big. And new. And pretty much like all the other drugstores in Tsuruoka! When we were done there, we hit up Yamaya for some decaf coffee, tortillas, and a few other things. F was happy because he got a free fake beer. The lady offered me one too, but I turned it down without thinking of him. Oops. Sorry, I could have gotten one for you dear.

We came home for a bit after that. After a while F went to his house to change the tires on the car. When he came back we watched last night's Desperate Housewives which was fun and a little scary! Edie's husband is odd.

For dinner I suggested going to Kintaro sushi and that's where we went. It wasn't too crowded for a national holiday, which was a little surprising. We had a nice meal and then came home afterwards.

We watched ER and then F went to bed. I'm up late as usual. Sigh. I really should stop that, but it's quite hard at times. I'm not sure why I fight going to bed so much.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm off work again, while F has to go. He'll be off for a bit then with the holiday. I'm hoping things will go well.

Gotta go....night!

April 27, 2010

Tuesday - Cloudy and windy, a little rain at night.

A good day. I got up when I was supposed to this morning but the news wasn't on. I had a nice long nap on the couch instead. Sigh. Maybe I should go to bed earlier?

In the afternoon I watched the James Bond movie de jour and had fun doing that. I didn't do a lot until it was time to go to work. I made myself some scrambled eggs and then set off to work.

Originally I had planned to stop on the way, but I decided that the weather might change on me if I did go to the store, so kept on going. I'm rather glad I did as I did a bit of cleaning in my school, plus read the paper and some of my book. I'm presently reading Hot Money, which I got as a Bookmooch this week. I was lucky and someone in Japan had it as a giveaway. It's probably my favourite Dick Francis novel...about a man who married 5 times and one (or more) of his ex-wives or children is trying to kill him. Good stuff.

My student and I had a good class and then she left. When I was finishing up I had some tea and then called F to come and get me. I unplugged a few things at the school and turned off the water. It's a long vacation and if there was an earthquake or something I want to be able to say I took precautions.

F and I had a decent meal in Cocos tonight. I thought he was going to cook, but he didn't. He got home late and was tired. We each tried a new dish. Tonight I had the pork cutlet which was okay, but not as good as F's chicken. I also tried the "Canadian Poutine" but it wasn't any kind of poutine that I've ever had! There was no gravy on it. How can you call it poutine if it doesn't have gravy on it? This was fried potato wedges with melted cheese on it.

We came home and had a snuggle* before So You Think You Can Dance. Tonight's show was really good and we were both impressed by the dancers. When it was over, F took his bath and I watched most of Project Runway. I look forward to watching it all tomorrow. Yay!

And that was my day. I'm hoping to put in a few minutes of reading time before I go to bed. I really love this novel and I don't mind staying up a bit for it. Got to go. Night!

*Usual disclaimers apply.

April 9, 2010

Friday - Sunny and warmish. Lovely day.

Today started well, but I have no idea how it's going to end.

I was awoken before 9 this morning by someone ringing my doorbell. It turns out that it was the NTT person trying to collect the old phone book. But, I didn't answer the door so I really had no idea who it was. Honestly, before 9 am? Gah.

I had a quiet day around the apartment. I didn't watch anything except the news. I think I prefered it that way. There weren't any TV programs on at all that I wanted to watch. I did manage to finish my book of short stories, The Guy Not Taken. Jennifer Weiner's book. I'm pretty sure that I read it a few years ago, but I couldn't quite remember.

I went out in the afternoon. I had to mail off a couple of parcels. One to my friend in Canada I sent by EMS and one to a friend in Japan. It took a bit of time in the post office, but they weren't that busy.

Then I biked off to see if I could get my hair cut. I was lucky and I was able to have it done today. I have really short hair again, which will be nice for summer.

I went to the mall for a bit of a snoop. I bought a few things in the hundred yen shop and then went and had tea and a sandwich in Doutors. I was so hungry! I came home after I left the restaurant.

When I got home I was surprised to see that F was home already. Usually he phones me when he's off work, but he didn't tonight. We sat and talked for a bit and then went out for dinner. We had tonkatsu.

After dinner we sent off another parcel at a convenience store for a friend. It was full of books. Lovely books. We made a quick pass by my school to set the heater and then the grocery store to get milk. After that, home.

We watched this week's episode of Desperate Housewives and then F watched a bunch of bad tv, including baseball and boxing. He claimed to be looking for some place to go during Golden Week but wasn't having any luck. He was getting a bit irate, I was a bit annoyed that he was annoyed and so on. Not a great scenario.

Anyway, I think I had better try to make peace. It just might make things worse though, so wish me luck. Night...

April 5, 2010

Monday - Rainy in Sendai, clear in Tsuruoka.

Yesterday went swimmingly. I got up early, caught my bus without problems and arrived in Sendai in lots of time. I had a wonderful lunch with some ladies from my women's group and then showed one of them around a little.

I checked into my hotel and after a power snooze of 20 minutes, went out to see about my movie. I got to the theater and discovered I'd missed the last show already. Ack. I memorized the time for the early show for Monday and did some exploring. I found an Indian restaurant that I'd never gone to before so I marked it in my head and then went on. I did a little bit of shopping, but not much. I went back to the Indian restaurant and had a nice dinner. I had vegetable samosas, almond chicken curry and naan. The curry was amazing. After I left the building and went into the station for my Assam Black Tea Latte. It was really good. I sat in the Starbucks and just relaxed for a bit.

I walked back to the hotel and decided to spend the night in. I watched a little TV and also read the book that I'd brought from home. I ended up finishing it and even shedding a tear or two at the end. It was Certain Girls, the sequel to Good In Bed.

Today I slept until 9 am, then got up and had a few bread based things I'd bought yesterday for breakfast. In all honesty, I don't like the hotel's breakfast. I think it is overpriced and not varied enough. I'd rather buy something the night before and have it for breakfast, so I did. I showered and finished packing up my suitcase. My movie started at 11:30 and checkout was 11. I left my room.

I checked out and asked if I could leave my suitcase for 2-3 hours. The desk clerk said it was okay and offered me an umbrella when he heard I didn't have one. Yay! I hadn't realized but it was raining heavily outside. I walked to the theater and went to see The Hurt Locker. It was the first time for me to use this theater, but it was nice. It was very very small. It reminded me a little of The Princess Theater in Edmonton, but it was actually smaller than that.

I liked the movie, but I think I may need to see it again. I'm not sure if The Hurt Locker was as good as all the hype. It was good and I think it was really worth watching, but there was something missing for me.

After the film, I bought a new umbrella for myself and walked back to the hotel for my bag. I gave back the umbrella and took myself and my suitcase to the Aer building. I put it in a locker (but not a Hurt Locker), and went for lunch. The Thai restaurant's lunch special was finished, so I went to the pasta place and had carbonnara. It was very good, and very big. After that, I went shopping.

I didn't buy a lot, but I did buy Kris Allen's cd from American Idol and hemmed and hawed a bit about getting Allison's too. I didn't, thought I'd wait and see if I can hear some of it first. I got something for my best friend. Her birthday is next week so I'd better get it off to her soon. Sigh.

I was starting to run out of time, so I checked out the bookstore because I like to torture myself. I thought I might buy a magazine with lots of stories in it, but it turned out to be quite expensive. I didn't buy any books at all. Yay me.

I caught my bus and settled in for the ride. The only problem I had was the heater was really cranked up and it was cooking my leg. I ended up moving away from the window because I was just too hot.

When we got to Tsuruoka, F wasn't waiting for me. The bus was 6 minutes late. I was a bit surprised so I called him. He was at home and had fallen asleep. He picked me up a few minutes later and we went to Togashi for yakiniku. He wanted lots of food, but I didn't. I talked him down to a smaller combo and I think it was a good idea. Dinner was yummy.

After we ate, we made a quick stop via my school to set the heater, then came home. At home I caught up on my email and relaxed.

Tomorrow I'm back at work. I hope it goes well. Wish me luck eh! Talk to you all later. Night!

April 3, 2010

Saturday - Rainy.

Today was an okay day. F didn't get himself off to bed last night until I was on my way, so he didn't go to the doctor this morning. He was very tired in the morning. I got up, watched the US news, and took my shower.

We had a quite nice brunch in Gusto and then F dropped me off at my school. I got ready right away for my first class. I thought I'd left things pretty well on Thursday, but I had a lot of things to do.

My student came and we had a great class. She does very well. I had a bit of a problem though. I pronounce the word "garage" a little differently than most Canadians, a vestige of my childhood in Scotland. Unfortunately, I had to teach her that word and try to use the North American way. I kept getting confused. Hopefully she'll be able to pronounce it without being laughed at like I am!

After class I did paperwork and then set about a bit of redecoration. I usually put up a lot of fake flowers in my classroom, but hadn't changed them for a while. I did today. I put out some new tulips and also a few other springlike flowers. Yay. After that I did some lesson prep and also some reading. I read the newspaper for today and then I read most of The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax. When I was younger I read tons of Mrs. Pollifax books, but somehow, I think I may have missed this one. It was fun and well written. Why oh why can't I get my niece hooked on books like this instead of dreck like Twilight? Vampires versus middle aged spies? Hmm. Guess Mrs. Pollifax doesn't *sparkle*!

My second class today was more than 4 hours after my first one. I had originally thought that hubby would ask me to go out for coffee and I had hinted around it, but he said that he would do some of his work. Oh well. I drank Irish breakfast tea and counted myself fortunate to have the time to myself.

My second student and I had quite a good class too. We're working on countables and uncountables and I HATE teaching them. I get confused between British, Canadian and US English. However, we did have a good class and I think she's enjoying herself. She doesn't speak nearly enough however.

After she left and I turned on my phone, I got a note the F had tried to call me. Seems one of the ladies I'm meeting tomorrow was calling with a change of plans. I called her back and we got everything sorted. I finished up my paperwork, finished my novel (I only had 2 chapters left...couldn't just leave it hanging!) and then called F again.

He picked me up and we went to Cocos for dinner. We shared a pizza, had dessert (coupon) and a drink bar-salad set. It was okay. Not the greatest pizza ever, but fine. Then we came home.

At home we had a quiet evening. Hub watched some kickboxing thing (yuck) but when it finished I made him watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I think he likes it too though.

That's about it. I'm off to Sendai tomorrow to lunch with some AFWJ ladies and then perhaps see a movie or two. I'm looking forward to it if I'm honest. I'll miss blogging tomorrow night though. Check back Monday night to see how things go. I'll talk to you later. Night!

April 2, 2010

Friday - Clear in the daytime, rainy at night.

I had an okay day today. I got up this morning in time to watch the news. Hurray! I was up earlier than the news started. Woot. I had a quiet morning, except the doorbell rang again. This time it was a person holding a big box so I opened the door. A friend in the south part of Japan had sent me a box of hyuganatsu...a type of orange. Yay. She sent some last year too and they were great.

I watched a horror movie in the afternoon (only time to watch horror films in my opinion!) and then tried to get out of the house to get my hair cut. Failed miserably. Just couldn't get my butt in gear. I had a bit of lunch and then tried again. Finally got out of the apartment around 4 pm. Whew.

I biked off to S-Mall and had a snoop around. I visited my usual places. Bought a few things in the 100 yen shop, nothing in the dvd or book shop and again nothing in the clothing shop. Got a couple of things in the grocery store, then had a Royal Milk Tea at Doutors while I read my novel. I'm reading Jennifer Weiner's Certain Girls. It's a sequel to Good in Bed, and it's great so far.

I left the mall around 6 pm and it was still a little light out. Yes! So glad. I hate biking home in the dark. It was raining though, and that I wasn't so happy about. Made it safely though, so no problems.

F came home about an hour later and wanted to go out for dinner. Tonight he suggested a Japanese place that we haven't been in ages. The reason? He complains about it. Every. Single. Time. We. Go. There. And tonight he complained about it too. The soba isn't "real" soba. The reason I like it is we get to sit at tables not on the floor and I can look at the menu and choose what I want from the pictures. I don't have to rely on him translating it for me. For me, it was fine. It wasn't fine dining, but it was passable.

We came home via my school and had a quiet evening in. We tried some of the hyuganatsu. Mine was really sour, but F liked his. Watched the tail end of Sister Act 2. Sure glad I didn't see all of it!

Did a bit of planning for my trip, packed my suitcase too. I hope I remember everything. I'm only going for one night and Sendai is a big city so I'll probably be fine.

Anyway, I'm off now. I have an earlier start tomorrow. Wish me luck eh? Night!

Books 2010 - March Update

Here's the continuation of my list of books I've read this year. I finished 4 novels in March. Yay me.

5) Wicked - Gregory Maguire (March 31, 2010)
The supposed backstory to The Wizard of Oz is boring, meandering and a complete waste of time. It takes characters from the novel and takes out all of the fun from the original series and replaces it with yawn inducing tedium. There wasn't one likable character in this novel. There's a sequel to this book, but I won't be bothering. I'm not sure why I finished this book in fact.


4) The Private Patient - P.D. James (March 15, 2010)
P.D. James latest installment of the Adam Dalgliesh series is compelling reading. A reporter books into a private clinic to have plastic surgery but is murdered. Dalgliesh's Special Force is called in to find the murderer. This is quite a straightforward mystery. There isn't much intrigue between Adam and his superiors nor his subordinates as usual and there isn't as much darkness in the novel. It was an enjoyable and fairly fast read. Fans will like it, and it may make a few new fans along the way. Good stuff.


3) Uncertain Voyage - Dorothy Gilman (March 6, 2010)*
An American divorcee on holiday is asked to deliver a book by a man who is killed soon afterwards. She agrees, but faces obstacles on her way. Most of the obstacles are from her recent breakdown, but there are real evil people trying to stop her too. A very quick read. Not quite as enjoyable as Caravan, but worthy of a read.

2) Caravan - Dorothy Gilman (March 5, 2010)*?
A young American woman goes from being a carny to being a wife of a rich man in Africa. Along the way, she is widowed and then held captive by two different tribes. Her life is amazing and wonderful too. It's very easy to read and even though it seems a little too much after reading the book, is wholly engrossing at the time. A great book to have for holidays or fun times.

Of all of these, I think I enjoyed Caravan the most for its joie de vivre and readability, but The Private Patient was probably the best novel this month.

March 4, 2010

Thursday - Sunny in the a.m., rainy later on.

Today was a good day. I went to bed terribly late last night though, so although I did get up to see the news, I went back to bed afterwards. I slept for a while. When F came home from the doctor, he came in for some snuggle-time**. I got up around noon and he slept the afternoon away.

We had a late brunch at Moku-Moku and then I was dropped off at my school. I did some prep, some reading and then some waiting. Two of my students had cancelled their class today, so I had emailed the student in the other class asking if she'd like to reschedule to an earlier time. (Usually she does.) However, she didn't show up at the earlier time, so I realized she didn't get my email. F said I should have phoned her, but I didn't. I'm very phone-phobic. However, she did come at her usual time, so there wasn't any problem really. Our class was fun too.

After she left, I cleaned up, checked the set up for Saturday and did my paperwork. F called me a scant 20 minutes after my class ended, wanting to pick me up. I wasn't ready yet. I really don't want him to call me and I have told him that I will call HIM when I'm ready. Thing is, I get a little angry when he calls. He always breaks my concentration. Today I jumped about 6 inches when he called and I messed up my teaching record book, so I wasn't too happy.

However, when he picked me up, all was forgiven. He took me to an izakaya he had read about but we'd never gone to before. We had gyoza nabe, onion rings, some yakitori, and some sashimi. It was a bit expensive, but the food was great.

We came home and had a quiet evening in. F finally went to bed and I've spent ages on my computer, as is my wont.

At the moment I'm reading a really fun humdinger of a novel. It's one I got from a member of AFWJ and it is called Caravan. It's by Dorothy Gilman, the woman who wrote the Mrs. Pollifax novels. This one is about a girl who goes from America to the North of Africa, gets adopted by different tribes and....well I have to keep reading to find out what's going to happen. It's really fun and just what I need to take me out of the reading slump I've been in since January.

Anyway, that's it for me for tonight. Gotta go. Night!

**Usual disclaimers apply. All we did was snuggle. If anything else happened I wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place! This isn't THAT kind of blog!