August 10, 2019

Saturday - Thunderstorms in the AM, hot and sunny later on.

I woke up around 7 this morning, made a quick trip downstairs, then went back to bed and fell asleep again.  I woke up a couple more times as I had set my alarm.  F was a little late getting back, I think he arrived around 9:30 or so.  He wasn’t feeling well so came to bed for a nap for a while.

I got up around 10:30 or so. I had some breakfast and gave K a little something for breakfast too. Yay me.

I went back to sleep for a while. F wanted to go out around 2 pm. I said fine, got all dressed to go and then he threw a tantrum and only went to the grocery store to get food for his mother. Fine! He was really being an ass.  

Around 5 we did go out and got his mother a bento for tonight. When we came back to deliver it, I told F that I needed the washroom and would run upstairs and get something for the car (one of my new CD sets so I could put it in the car’s memory).  I did my stuff, grabbed the CDs and came down and waited for F. He was in the washroom for more than 15 minutes. I know he wasn’t feeling well, but I had a sneaking suspicion he was watching videos on his phone since that is what he does these days. 

Finally, we got on the way to Mikawa. When we arrived, we bought our movie tickets and then F just left me so that he could go and get some udon. Since that would make me sick, I decided to go downstairs.  The pasta place didn’t look fast tonight, so I went to Doutor for a sandwich. They weren’t busy when I came in, but right after me 2 women came in and ordered sandwiches. Then a few more people, etc. I waited at the counter for a while, but the woman said to sit down. Meanwhile, I am getting nervous about the length of time it is taking to make a sandwich. The time of my order on my receipt was 6:19 and it was delivered at 6:35.  The best part?  The two women who came in after me were given their sandwiches first.  When the woman brought my sandwich over she was apologetic, but I wasn’t having it.  I wolfed down my sandwich and then left the store to meet F. He was waiting in front of the cinema. I had the tickets!

We went to see The Lion King. They were playing a couple of shows in English at the cinema, and that was very much appreciated by me. I loved the way this new version looked, but it still isn’t one of my favourite Disney films.

After the movie, we came back to Tsuruoka and since we were both rather peckish, we stopped in at Kula Sushi.  I had a little sushi and too many fries and onion rings.  

We came back to the house. I took a shower almost immediately and F watched the news he said. He was in bed when I came back, and has been there ever since. 

I’m not sure what if anything we’ll get up to tomorrow. F never plans anything for our long weekends. I did suggest going to look at the waterfalls tomorrow night, but I won’t hold my breath!

Come back later if you have the need and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

End of an Era

For the past 7 or so years, I've been using these sheets to keep track of my coding for my other blog. I put the last tick in last night. And so, I think it is time to put an end to the daily update of my other blog. I'll continue to leave it open for things like my book and movie reviews, but I'll stop updating it on a daily basis.

End of an era indeed, for me.

December 31, 2008 - Wednesday - Happy New Year!

Snowy and cold.

Today was quite a good day. I didn't try to get up really early and as a result got up at a medium late time. Yay.

We went to a drugstore and then tried to find a place to have lunch. It was quite difficult. All the places we wanted to go to were closed for the holiday! We ended up having lunch at Gusto. It wasn't bad. Then, we tried to find French Bread, but couldn't find any.

Fumihiko then suggested going to karaoke. I thought it would be packed, but said okay. We went to a grocery store to get a few munchies and found some French Bread.

We went to the karaoke box and were able to get right in. It wasn't busy. We got free time, and basically stayed there for 4 hours. At one time, I think we were the only customers in the place! I tried something new for myself. I started at the "A" artists and went all the way to "Z" only singing one song by an artist whose name started with the letter of the alphabet. I only missed "X" because there were only 3 groups listed and I didn't know any of them.

When we finished we visited our local grocery store and then came home. Fumihiko made us some soba in soup and it was really yummy. Around midnight we had cheese fondue. They have this little thing in the grocery store, you microwave it and can dip in bread or fruit or veggies. Well, we used bread and it was delicious. Each of us had a glass of something and at midnight we toasted each other. Nice.

Fumihiko wanted to watch a movie, so I gave him a choice of Cool Runnings or Snow White. He picked Cool Runnings. It was quite fun. He asked me all kinds of crazy questions during the movie though. He's a bit like a 6 year old at times. I want to tell him to just Google everything, but I don't! If I know the answer I don't care, but usually I don't!

After the movie ended, we caught the very tail end of a Masaharu Fukuyama concert...one of my favourite Japanese singers doing my favourite song of his. Then, Fumihiko found The Bodyguard. I don't like the movie very much, but...it's in English so I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Anyway, our 2008 passed into 2009 peacefully and together. It was very nice. And so I hope my readers were able to spend the changing of the year with the people/person they love. Happy New Year!

How to Make Fake Poutine in Japan

Go to Gusto.

Order a plate of French Fries. Order a Cheese in Hamburg with demiglace sauce.

Cut Hamburger open, allowing cheese to ooze out. Dip French Fry in demi sauce. Dip coated French Fry in oozing cheese. Eat with eyes closed.

Repeat as wanted.

December 30, 2008 - Tuesday

Cold and snowy.

A very strange day. I went to bed early last night, slept well and got up to check if the news was on. It wasn't, so I went back to bed and slept longer.

Fumihiko and I didn't talk to each other for most of the day. He left the apartment a couple of times, but I stayed home. I had a massive headache and stayed away from my computer for much of the day.

We did finally start talking and went out to the grocery store around 10 ish tonight. There was quite a bit of snow outside. It was a big surprise as there wasn't snow a couple of hours before.

When we came home we watched a bit of music on TV then Fumihiko put on The Others and we watched that. It was a good choice. I know he loves the movie (and Nicole Kidman!)

Anyway, I'm tired so I think I'll finish this off now. Despite the headache, just having a day of quiet was really nice. Not sure what the morrow will bring, although I hope we'll go out for a bit.

I hope all my readers have a great New Years Eve. Happy New Year!

December 29, 2008 - Monday

Sunny and almost warm. Lots of snow melted.

I slept in this morning but before we went out, I put the ingredients together for dinner and threw them all in my slow cooker.

We had an okay lunch at Marumatsu, then went to my school. After a bit, Fumihiko left in a huff and I continued working. I washed the curtains, cleaned the toilet room, washed dishes, cleaned tables and put magnets on the back of the new calendar for the lobby. I also changed around a few of the Classroom English signs to make it easier for students to see them. I was quite busy.

Fumihiko picked me up and we came home. We had dinner which was quite nice. He made sauteed spinach with bacon, and it went nicely with the chicken breasts with veggies that I did.

We didn't have a good evening unfortunately. I'm not sure if it's because of hubby's back/neck problems or because of me, but we've spent part of the evening ignoring each other. I hope things get sorted out because I have the rest of the week to get through and I don't know if I'll make it.

I did take myself out for a walk around the block tonight, just to work off a bit of steam. It was nice to get out, but it was very very dark out there. Tsuruoka doesn't believe in street lights unfortunately.

That's it for me. Wish me luck for the morrow. Night.

December 28, 2008 - Sunday

Cold, snowy, windy.

A pretty good day. I slept late today. When I got up, I grabbed my newspaper and took it to the bedroom, got back in bed and read the paper. Ah, decadence! It was great.

When Fumihiko and I went out, we went to Jiro for brunch. It was good. We came home, grabbed our bedding and then the postal card about my package and headed out. We went to the post office first and even though they were officially closed, there were staff there helping people with their nengajo, so they got my parcel for me. (They were closing up their booth, so were done work too.) Service! Amazing. In Canada they'd probably have made me come back the next day.

Fumihiko and I went to the laundromat where we spent a couple of hours doing our bedding. It's nice to have it washed in hot water once in a while, plus this way we can get the mattress pad done. It's too big for my little washing machine at home. I finished reading my newspaper, then started writing my next movie column.

When we were done, we came home and made the bed. It looked very nice. Then, we relaxed for a while. We had dinner tonight at Moku-Moku and then bought a few groceries at the nearby store.

At home again, we watched Love Actually. It's such a good film. One of my favourites for Christmas. Now we're just vegging. I had to prep the garbage for Fumihiko to take out in the morning...last burnable garbage this year, and the heater ran out of kerosene so I filled the tank. Fumihiko offered, but he'd just finished his bath and I didn't want him getting a chill.

Tomorrow the plan is to go to my school and do a bit of a rework. I want to move the classroom English signs to places that are better for the students, and to clean the place. I hope to wash the curtains, and do a lot of vacuuming and dusting. I think Fumihiko is going to come with me, so I'm a bit trepidatious as we have such different methods of doing things. In any case, work should be done! Wish us luck!

Got to go. Night night.

December 27, 2008 - Saturday

Snowy and cold.

An okay day. We went out for soba for lunch today. Fumihiko had gone to the doctor early on. I got up and read my newspaper and watched the news I discovered a weird thing. They had edited the news. The forecaster said, "A couple of passings of note today..." and went on to talk about Harold Pinter. And then, the topic was changed. I think NHK may have edited out Eartha Kitt's obit. At least I assume it was NHK.

Lunch was fine, except it was a traditional type of soba shop so we sat on the floor. I don't like that! It was cold too.

After lunch we went to Musashi to get winter windshield wipers for Fumihiko's car. I got a bunch of things for my school and our apartment.

Fumihiko watched tv and I fell asleep on the couch. From about 6 pm on though he watched figure skating. Now, generally I like figure skating, but I was also getting hungry and wanted to have dinner. Basically I ended up having a snack at home and then we went out to Gusto. Fumihiko wasn't feeling well, poor thing. This is something new that's going on.

We picked up a few groceries at the store and came home. We didn't watch any TV. We'd had a bit of an argument about TV earlier.

A while ago Fumihiko went to bed, and I'm planning to go soon. I'm really tired and need a good night's sleep. I'm not really sure what we're going to do tomorrow so I need to be ready!

Night.

December 26, 2008 - Friday

Snowy and cold.

I woke up this morning to a world of white. Sigh. It was not nice. It was really cold in our apartment, so I didn't really feel like getting up, but I did! Yay.

I had a quiet day at home. I had planned to go out, but the weather was really horrible, so I didn't. I stayed home, did laundry and re-watched Once.

I had a nice lunch of leftovers and just enjoyed my day. I would have liked to go out for coffee, but it just wasn't possible.

Fumihiko came home a bit after 6. We relaxed for a while, then went out for dinner. I made him stop at another drugstore and what do you know? They had echinacea. It was their last box of it though. We picked up a few other things, then went on to the restaurant. We had yakiniku tonight and it was really good. Our table was near the door, which meant that everytime someone came in I got a cold draught.

We made a quick stop by my school to check that everything was okay, and then came home. At home we relaxed for a bit, and then at 11 pm watched last week's Grey's Anatomy. It was a good one tonight. (Yes, I did watch it before, but Fumihiko didn't, so....)

After midnight I played phone tag with my sister, then had a nice chat with her. It sounds like they had a nice Christmas and liked the presents that we sent over. Yay.

That's about it for me. I just had to go and put on warmer pyjamas as mine just weren't cutting it. I'm now bundled up in a sweatsuit for warmth. I think I'm going to end this and go and sit on the couch and read my book and then watch Sex and the City! Sounds like a great plan.

Night.

Oh, two deaths that I wanted to note, first of all Harold Pinter, a playwright and secondly, actress and singer Eartha Kitt. Eartha Kitt was one of my favourite singers. She had an amazing career, and lived a very interesting life. I will miss her.

December 25, 2008 - Thursday Christmas Day!

Rainy, snowy, with thunder and lightning.

Today was...a good day! Yay. It all started when I went to bed at 4:30 am. (Yes you read that right....4:30 am.) Just before I went to bed I heard the newspaper delivery guy drop something in our box. I checked it out and found a newspaper in English. A ha! That was what Fumihiko meant when he said that he didn't know if Santa would deliver my gift on time. Cool!

I went to bed, thanked hubby, who was slightly awake now, and then went to sleep. When I got up it was 9:30 and I watched the news. I did my regular morning stuff but added in a lot of net-surfing for recipes. I know it sounds crazy but I needed a recipe for mashed potatoes. I'd only ever made them from a box before!

During the day I did a bit of food prep. I peeled and quartered potatoes, made a salad dressing, washed the tomatoes, cut up the first chicken and put the carcass in the freezer. I also put the other things I'd need out where I could get them quickly. I re-watched The Holiday, which was on WOWOW today. I really liked it, but still didn't see Kate Winslett and Jack Black as a couple. Kate Winslett and Eli Wallach....no problem!

Fumihiko called me around 3 to say that he was on his way back to Shonai and would be able to pick up the chicken after work. Whew. The weather was so bad today that I didn't really want to have to make the trip by bicycle.

When Fumihiko came home, I made coffee, put on some Christmas tunes, and then we opened presents. Fumihiko was a little overwhelmed by the presents he got from my family! He got a lot of small ones from me too, so he had a lot of opening to do. He got ear muffs, gloves, a compass/altimeter/barometer thingy, a shirt, undies, chocolate, and a few packets of ramen. I got 2 DVDs; August Rush and Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd out of control, a shirt, some hand cream and 2 pairs of pyjamas. We both got toothbrushes from my sister's family (the battery kind) and some Kraft Dinner. I think that was for me! I had some when I was over in September, but it wasn't the kind I remembered, so my sister sent me the regular kind. Yay. I'm really tickled pink with the August Rush dvd as I didn't even know it was out yet, and hadn't requested it! Ditto the newspaper. I've really missed not reading the paper at work, so it's really nice to be able to have it again. It's mine for 6 months, and then we'll see how it goes.

After presents, it was cooking time. I started the potatoes, thought about starting the gravy, but decided to delegate it to Fumihiko, made up the Yorkshire pudding mix, preheated the oven and the muffin pan, and basically turned into Chef Stella! (Okay, no chef uses mixes, I know.) While the Yorkshire pudding was baking I did the potatoes. Somehow, everything came together at almost the right time, and we had a very nice meal. Hubby had never had Yorkshire pud before, and it's been years for me. It wasn't bad. The gravy was good, and while I sort of missed my Greek Salad of previous years, tonight's salad was good and not much fuss, so it was fine. We were stuffed after dinner. No room for dessert. Oh no!

I volunteered to wash up (it wasn't too bad as I'd been cleaning up after myself during the day) if Fumihiko worked on his nengajo. He said he was done, but just as I was nearly finished, found more people that he had to send to. I printed 3 more cards for him, he wrote them up.

Then, we ran out to the main post office to mail our nengajo. I volunteered to be the person who put them in the box. Luckily they marked one side in English for New Year Cards! Done.

We went by the grocery store to get something bubbly for tonight and it was terribly sad. Inside the store the manager was undecorating their tree. Sigh. Too soon. I told hubby I'm leaving mine up :-) for a bit anyway. We got some bagels too. A chicken bagel sounds good for lunch tomorrow doesn't it?

We had a quiet evening tonight. We each had a glass of wine and ate our Christmas Pudding. Yum. It's so good, but it's so rich. Probably a good thing I only eat it once a year!

That's it. It was quite a nice Christmas all in all.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'd like to get there before 3 am today if I can! Night.

December 24, 2008 - Wednesday

Sunny but cool in the afternoon, rainy at night.

I have a quandary. Do I write what's really in my head at the moment, or should I just do the regular blog post? Probably better to do the regular blog post.

Today was okay. I got up, watched the news and drank the worst coffee I've had in ages. Fumihiko's new buy may be cheap, but it's horrible. I hope we won't buy that again. Yuck. I tooled around on my computer for a while, then decided to go out.

I had a not very healthy lunch at McDonalds, then proceeded to the drugstore. I was looking for echinacea. They still didn't have it. I think they must be releasing new packaging or a new formula or something. I've checked 3 local drugstores and no one has it. (Sort of like the whole sunflower seeds thing too. They've totally disappeared from Aeon Jusco shelves.)

Finally I hit the new craft store and had a good poke around. I got some tea tree oil and a crochet hook there. It was a nice store, but when I asked for a membership card when I paid, they said something that I didn't understand and they didn't give it to me. Not too happy about that. Oh well, I don't have to go there again, do I?

Came home, had a quick shower and used a drop of tea tree oil on my head, very diluted in shampoo. The relief was great. The last few days, my head has been itching and hurting like crazy again. My best friend's theory is that it is caused by stress. Well, last year if you were with me then, I had horrible headaches for 2? 3? weeks straight at Christmastime. Coincidentally, that's now! From Saturday I'll have my husband underfoot for a whole week and let's just say I'm a tad nervous about the prospect.

When Fumihiko came home we chatted for a while and then we went out to get a few groceries for our dinner tomorrow. Came back home and had dinner. I fried a few French fries in the frypan (Good grief, what a tongue twister!), and had salad and cold chicken for dinner. It was nice. Afterwards, Fumihiko did dishes and while he did that, I printed more nengajo for myself. He turned on the TV and does what he always does, just watches what was on the screen. I asked him if he was going to watch something we both could watch. I'm frankly getting tired with the crap he's been subjecting me to lately. He said it was the news, I told him he could watch it then (It didn't look like news, but what do I know?) but he stormed off. I took over the telly and found Bridget Jones-Edge of Reason on so watched the end of that.

I worked on my nengajo and he came back finally. He worked on some of his nengajo, but I actually made him write the addresses on mine more!

I'm done my New Years Cards. I'm sure I'll have a few that I'll have to make later, but I've decided to drop people from my list if I haven't had any contact with them this year.

The movie Once was on at midnight so I had set up the vcr to tape it, but Fumihiko decided we should watch it. I watched some of it and it was good, but I'd like to re-watch it when I wasn't distracted.

And now, what's in my head.

Fumihiko is having major back problems at the moment. The weather isn't helping much, his pain medication isn't working well enough and his disposition isn't good. He's been a grumpy bear for the last few months and it's wearing me down. I don't have enough actual people that I can call on and talk with to get a breather from his moodiness. It's not just him that's moody...I'm not saying that this is all his fault. My stress level is rising, and I'm getting tired of bearing the brunt of his bad humour all the time. There is a glimmer of hope in the future, but the glimmer is also stressful so I'm not sure what's going to happen.

Anyway, on with the show. It's late, I'm tired and so I'm going to wish all my readers A Very Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays.

Christmas Music

A few entries ago I posted music by The Goodies, funny Christmas songs that I hadn't heard for years as my 45's (those were what we used before cds, you young'uns out there) were tragically disappeared by my Stepmonster.

For me, it's not really Christmas unless I hear these songs.

1) Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby & David Bowie
2) Do They Know it's Christmas - Band Aid (The original)
3) Christmas is All Around - Billy Mack (From Love Actually)


How about you? What are your ultimate "Get You in the Christmas Spirit" songs?

December 23, 2008 - Tuesday

Rainy and snowy. No snow on the ground yet though.

Today was an okay day. It wasn't great. It wasn't terrible.

I got up at my usual time to watch the news. Fumihiko was still in bed, and I watched the news on the couch by myself. After it was over, the documentary of the day was in Chinese, so I went back to bed. Sigh. It was a national holiday after all.

When I got up, Fumihiko came back from wherever he'd been (turns out it was a massage clinic) and he went back to bed! I stayed up, made then wrote nengajo, and watched a movie, The Truth about Cats and Dogs. I love that movie. I really do.

When he got up, he was hungry and so was I. I hadn't eaten all day. We went to Cocos for dinner. I had their pasta special. It had a nice bean/potato salad, plus strawberry shortcake for dessert. The pasta was spaghetti with ikura and cream sauce. It was good, but not as good as Grado's.

After dinner we did a little bit of shopping. We went to a drugstore, then to the grocery store. I was on the quest for feta cheese. Like our local store, this one only had the big jars of it. It's really too much for our salad, and too expensive besides. Sigh. We did buy a roast chicken at the store as it was half priced. I thought it would do for Christmas eve dinner, but Fumihiko really seemed to want it for tonight. He didn't have any though.

When we finished at the store we went by my school to write the addresses on my nengajo and to use my school's stamp on the back. Then, we came home.

We had a mostly quiet evening. I watched an episode of Heroes on my computer, Fumihiko watched...some horrible show in Japanese. At 11:15 we both watched Ugly Betty. Tonight was a good one, about Claire Meade's trial.

That was about it. It was a fairly quiet day. I still have to write a few nengajo, and I'll have to make more for Fumihiko I think. I'm thinking about buying a few more just in case we don't have enough.

Night night!

December 22, 2008 - Monday

A little cloudy, some flakes of snow.

Today was quite a good day for me. I got most of the things that I needed to finish done and a few of the things that I wanted to get done.

I couldn't watch news as it wasn't on, so I watched my weekend telly. I wrapped Fumihiko's presents while I was on the last show. Then, I had a late lunch. I basically had a bagel and half an avocado. Yum.

Then, for the first time in two years, I put up my Christmas tree. I didn't put up all of the balls and decorations, I didn't put up all of the lights, but, it looks nice and it makes me feel immeasurably more cheerful. Sometimes, good enough is good enough! I put the presents from Vanessa's family under the tree and the ones for Fumihiko from me, so it looks really Christmassy.

Fumihiko came home a little before 6 pm today and admired the tree. We went out for dinner to Kintaro Sushi then drove out to the Mall. At the mall, I taught Fumihiko the meaning of "mosey" as I suggested we mosey along the mall to spend a bit of time before our movie. We did try, but it's hard with my hubby. He likes to go straight to the place he's going. I'm the one who likes to mosey!

We went to see The Day the Earth Stood Still. It was okay. The effects were cool, but the plot was a bit daft. I haven't seen the original so I'm not sure of the original's story.

After the movie we came home and have basically spent a quiet evening at home. We didn't even turn on the TV. (Yay!)

That was my day. Tomorrow is a national holiday, so I'm not sure what we'll be doing exactly. We may stay home and write nengajo. We haven't done any yet. Wish us luck!

Night.

December 21, 2008 - Sunday

Rainy all day.

Today was okay. I slept in and then Fumihiko and I went out for lunch. We stopped off at the post office on the way to the restaurant. I was left a note in my mailbox to say there was a parcel for me. And was there ever! My sister's box was here. She didn't think it would arrive but it did. I haven't opened the box yet, because I still haven't put my tree up. That's one of my jobs for tomorrow!

We had lunch at Le Joli Chapeau, which is the Grand El Sun's restaurant. We both had chicken. It was very delicious, but very very small!

Fumihiko wanted to go to the mall and see a movie, and as I had no objections, I went too! We checked the times and decided to see Body of Lies. We had an hour to wait so we went to Seattle's Best for coffee and a chicken salad sandwich. Yum!

Body of Lies was quite interesting. It was very twisty and left you wondering who was doing what to whom, but not perfect. I thought the performances were very good, but the story was a bit Syriana-lite.

After the movie we went to Toda Books and had a poke around, we didn't buy much. Then, we went to Sakata and had dinner there. It was very good. Afterwards, we drove home. I was sleeping in the car. I tried not to, but couldn't help it. Sigh.

At home we had a quiet night. Fumihiko watched his usual horrible TV and crunched the loudest food he possibly could, so after a bit I put my headphones and watched Ask A Ninja podcasts. I was a bit behind. After Fumihiko went to bed, I turned to YouTube and looked for The Goodies. I found them! Below (on my blogspot account) I posted a couple of the songs. There aren't any videos, but you don't really need them.

And, before I go, I learned this really cool thing. There are three versions of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah on the British Charts right now. One of them will likely be the number one for Christmas, which is supposed to be very important. I just like the song. And Leonard Cohen.

I'm out of here. Night night!

The Goodies - Make a Daft Noise for Christmas

Okay, now we're getting into the right mood. If this song doesn't make you want to dance around your computer, I don't know what will.

Again, no fancy video, so you can turn up the speakers and get crazy!

The Goodies - Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me

There's no fancy video, but the tune is so catchy and funny. Listen to the words. Man, this brings back my warped childhood! I miss the Goodies!

December 20, 2008 - Saturday

Beautiful sunny and warm day.

An okay day. I got up early, watched news and then showered. I spent a bit of time on my computer and then Fumihiko and I left to have breakfast.

We went to a convenience store on my way to work, then had breakfast at Gusto. Don't have to do that again for a while. Yay.

My classes went quite well today. I did have one cancellation though. Well, actually she didn't cancel, she just didn't come. When I called her to see if she was going to come, she was in a University lecture. Oh dear. Missed a class. My other students had a good time. When my last student left after her class, I was so happy. Free for a couple of weeks. Yeah. Probably.

After I did dishes and paperwork, I called Fumihiko's cell phone. No answer, so I left a message. Five minutes later I texted him. Now, bear in mind that he knows I finish teaching at 6:50. My schedule is posted prominently in the living room. It was now 7:55. Shouldn't he be waiting for me to call? I think so. Finally at 8 pm I called our landline at the apartment. He was surprised to hear my voice, because he didn't know that I had called earlier. He was doing laundry. The thing that really bugs me is that if I hadn't called the apartment's telephone number, he wouldn't have come to pick me up.

We went to Mr Donuts so that I could get my Schedulin. I got a snazzy pink covered one. It isn't really professional enough to use for my school, so I'll keep this one for my busy (!) social life and get a refill for the one I use for my school.

We decided to go to Cocos for dinner, but when we got there, discovered that Fumihiko's card wasn't in the car. Sigh. We wouldn't get our discount. We decided to go home and get it, but when we were halfway there, I suggested just picking up some things from the grocery store's deli and taking it home. That's what we did. I'm glad actually.

At home we ate and watched The Matrix on TV. It was a bit silly watching it on TV as we have the DVD, but what the heck. We didn't watch much else tonight. After 2 I watched Annually Retentive, but I'm not sure if I like it yet. Parts are funny, but I don't know the British people on the show. Fumihiko also helped me out by helping me reserve my plane tickets for my trip to Tokyo in February. Yay him.

So, that's about it. I had a really good day, but it seems like it was long. I didn't sleep much last night, and it's late now, so I should be going. Night!

December 19, 2008 - Friday

Rainy in the morning, clearing later on.

A pretty good day. I got up this morning, but it was hard. It was really dark out, raining a lot. I watched the news and then got on with my day.

Around 12 I went out to the post office and then the convenience store. It was raining a little bit, but not too bad. I came home, ate a sandwich and watched some TV. I had lunch a little later and then I left for work.

When I left the apartment I was really surprised. It was gorgeous out. It was still a little cloudy, but the sun was out. It was chilly, but not cold. It was a lovely day for riding a bike.

At my school I got ready for the day. There was quite a lot to do, as I had to prepare the stamps for my class. When my student came, we had a fun class. I think he was happy that it wasn't a "study-study" class. He really enjoyed making a Christmas card.

After his class I set up for tomorrow. Unless anyone cancels, I'll have 4 lessons. I'll be busy! I sent Fumihiko a message and he came to get me. We came home, and he cooked dinner for us.

We had our cream stew tonight and it was really nice. It was better than the last time. I did the dishes as Fumihiko had cooked.

In the evening we just chilled out. We watched a silly movie, The Shooter with Mark Wahlberg, and after Grey's Anatomy, we we watched Training Day. It was incredibly violent. I didn't really like it that much. I think it's the sort of movie that you have to think about a lot. I don't live in the same world as the characters in the movie.

That's about it for my day. I had a good one. The pleasant bicycle ride to work was seriously one of the high points of my week. I can't tell you how often lately it has been raining or windy or just awful when I left for work.

Gotta go. Night!

December 18, 2008

Thursday - Rainy, with some thunder.


Today was a good day. I got up and did my usual stuff, with a twist. I took my shower before going on my computer. It was rather good for me I think.

I wrote a couple of cards for friends in Japan, but as the weather was really awful, didn't go to the post office to mail them. I may have to go tomorrow and do it, whether the weather is nice or not.

I really relaxed. I didn't do as much as I should have, but I wasn't too upset with myself. I watched a British drama in the afternoon, after catching a few minutes of Farenheit 451 on NHK. When it was time to make lunch, I didn't make an omelette, I made my version of okonmiyaki. I took the leftover veggies from the stirfry, fried them to heat them up, then poured two beaten eggs over them. It didn't solidify quite as much as the real thing, but I didn't mind. I made sure to cook the egg well. It was delicious.

It rained quite hard on my way to work tonight, so I wore my raincape and didn't stop anywhere. At one point there were about one hundred crows on the powerlines above me. It was a little scary. I had The Birds on my mind too, so I pedaled as fast as I could to get away! Just about a block from my school, the rain turned into torrents and I very nearly got soaked. Sigh. Still, mostly dry, I hung up my cape and coat in the bathroom.

I had two good classes tonight. We did a little bit of regular work, and a lot of Christmas stuff. In the first one, I taught them the vocabulary for Christmas, but we ran out of time to do any stamping. I'm quite sad about that as they would have enjoyed it. In my second one, I gave the student the option of doing a dictionary lesson or stamping. She chose the stamping. I think she enjoyed it too.

After class I had a lot of work to do. I had to clean all the stamps that were used, plus I had to put the ink pads away. It took a bit of time, but wasn't difficult. I was just starting to wash the dishes when Fumihiko called. He was home and was wondering if I was ready. I told him I wasn't quite, then, I realized that he said he just got home. Sigh. It was almost 10 pm. He'd been working late again. I told him to change and relax a little then he could come and pick me up.

He came to get me and my bicycle. He hadn't done any cooking of course, so we went to Grado for dinner. We both had Fettucini with salmon, shrimp and ikura. Ohh. Yum. It is soooo good. I had dessert with mine, Fumihiko had rice. He admitted later it was a mistake! Would you like some starch with your carbs? We had tea for the drink. I am having trouble staying asleep when I drink regular coffee. Tea has caffeine too of course, but it doesn't seem to keep me awake like coffee does.

We came home and had a fairly quiet evening. Fumihiko was tired, so he went to bed and is now sleeping. I haven't gone to bed early in ages, so I should get on that.

Got to go. Night night!