July 11, 2015

Saturday - Warm and sunny

Better…

I got up in the morning to an empty apartment.  F was out at his mother’s or the doctor or both.  I got dressed and checked my email and such.  When F came home he didn’t talk to me at all.  Sigh.  He put on the TV and the noise of the horrible TV shows he was watching drove me from the room.  I went back to the bedroom, closed the door and tried to read for a bit.  After a while I just went to sleep.  I hadn’t eaten, and didn’t have breakfast until the early afternoon.  F of course was chomping away on noodles, seemed like all afternoon.

I spent quite a bit of time in the bedroom.  I finished my book and came back out.  I talked a bit to him, but not a lot.  I asked if he’d picked up his new glasses…he hadn’t.  He disappeared for a while, I assume to his mother’s house and then came back.  While he was gone I had a small lunch out of some of the leftovers from last night.  

When he came back I asked again about his glasses so he decided to go and get them.  He asked me if I wanted to come too.  I went, I just needed to get out of the apartment.  We picked up the glasses and then went for dinner.  I had suggested Indian food but F wasn’t in the mood.  He had wanted to go for fish to a restaurant near City Hall.  We went there and it was good. I had a tuna and negi-tori don.  I liked it, F had kaizen-don, or a fish mixture.  We added on some tofu and some fried eggplant.

After our meal, F just brought us home.  I was a tad disappointed as it was a lovely night and I wanted to stay out for a while.  He offered to take me to the grocery store as usual….I hate our grocery store and don’t ever want to go there!

When we got home I decided to go for a walk.  I would have gone immediately, but I was dressed in all navy-blue, which isn’t a good walking outfit after dark!  I went in and changed into my walking outfit that I use during the week, plus a shell over it.  I grabbed my ID, a little change in case I needed a drink and my cellphone so I could be reached/and count my steps.  

I walked to the park, and then around the park once and then came home.  I would have done more, but the light in the park wasn’t very good and I was jumping at shadows.  There was also an empty car parked in the entrance way and I hadn’t seen anyone around.  Last night’s Rizzoli and Isles had a woman jogging in the park at the beginning.  She was murdered and I didn’t want to have that happen to me. I watch too much TV.

Still, it was nice to be outside and it was a lovely evening.  A little warm, but there was a light breeze too.  I came home and relaxed.  

At 11 I did a bit of crochet on the couch. I got 14 out of 16 squares done and decided that since they were so fast, I might as well do the other two as well.  F went to bed around this time, so I decided to just crochet and then bring my computer to the couch for blogging purposes.  Usually I sit at my desk, but tonight I’m lounging on my couch!

So, F and I are talking which is good.  I think I won’t be cooking much over the next couple of days though.  I have decided that I want to eat more salads anyway and that I can’t cook for him.  There’s no point in making a nice meal if he turns up his nose at it.  Tomorrow we have lunch plans, we’re going to meet up with my friend from the next city and another woman and her son that we haven’t met before.  I’m hoping that it all goes well.

Come back later and find out just how things go.  Until tomorrow….

November 30, 2011

Wednesday - rainy and colder

An okay day. I had a hard time getting up this morning as it was very dark. I can often wake up easier if the day is sunny, but it was dark in the morning because of the rain. I managed to get up and watched some of Grey’s Anatomy. I also caught Crocodile Dundee 2 today, or the last half of it, plus I watched a lot of TV from the weekend that I had taped. Yay for me.

In the afternoon I wrote up a postcard and I was going to mail it, but it was pouring outside so I didn’t. I just stayed home. However, I did get stuck into my Christmas Card writing and I wrote seven cards tonight. Yay me.

I did laundry today too, so I was quite busy. I did 3 loads and it is all hung up to dry.

F came home a little late tonight and was chatty for a change. That normally would be great, but I was trying to finish writing letters to go in the cards and it was distracting. He was also hungry so I had to stop and cook dinner for us. I needed dinner too, so I’m not sure why I was upset. I wasn’t really, just felt a bit stressed out, that’s all.

I cooked dinner and made double the couscous tonight. I want to have some for my lunch tomorrow. I really like that stuff! We had basil chicken, salad and couscous, plus a couple of small tomatoes.

F did dishes and I got back into my card writing. He had put on some horrible Japanese TV and finally around 9 I had enough and found that Harry Potter was on another station. We put that on instead and we were BOTH happy. Yay! Missed the first few minutes of Grey’s tonight, but no biggie. HP vs. McDreamy…I know who I would pick every time!

And that’s about it. I had a quiet day. Tomorrow I have an early lesson at the school and then I plan to decorate for Christmas. I hope my students won’t be too shocked when I leave the tree up after Christmas for a few days! Got to go. Night!

Postcrossing Cards - Incoming

November Wrap-Up

Beware what you wish for! Last time I said "hopefully I'll have more cards next week." I did! In fact, I have rather a lot of cards to post about now. I've received five cards since I last posted.

 

The first card, for the movie Madagascar comes from the Netherlands. I like that it is an old fashioned looking card. It looks rather like a vintage postcard for a holiday resort. I haven't seen the movie, but the card makes me want to see it now!

Working clockwise from the top, the next card is also for a film. It is a poster by Alfons Mucha and came to me from the Czech Republic. I knew that Mucha did advertising posters, I just didn't realise that he did film posters too.

The top right card came from Shanghai and shows The Bund in 1912. I love old photos of places, and this shows a famous area of Shanghai. The writer tells me that nowadays there are only tall buildings in this area.

Bottom right is a view of Vaasa, the sunniest city in Finland. The sender is a mother of three who works as a quality engineer and studies Italian on Monday evenings. A woman after my own heart, she writes that she lives in a big messy house!

The last postcard, bottom left, is from the US and shows a fort in Florida. Fort Matanzas is in St. Augustine and was to watch for enemy vessels approaching from the south and via the River. The sender of the card drives a ferry boat to the island where the fort is located.

So there you have it. Another five great cards. What will December bring? Can't wait to find out!

November 29, 2011

Tuesday - Warm and sunny

A busy day.

I didn’t want to get up today, but I did. I was very late getting to bed last night. As usual.

I checked email this morning. It was a bit difficult as my mouse has stopped working. I changed the batteries, so I’m not sure what is happening. I can move the cursor around, but I can’t click on anything. I’ve probably done something dumb but can’t get it to work. I’m stuck with the trackpad and clicker now. Oh well. It does work, just have to adjust to it.

I watched Crocodile Dundee this morning. What a blast from the past! When I was living in the times that film was made, I didn’t realise how sexist/homophobic it was. Still have to say that parts of the film made me laugh out loud.

I left for work just before 2 and made good time. My classroom was too hot as I’d set the heater on high yesterday and it wasn’t that cold today. Oh dear! Still, I got the place cooled down a bit as I got ready for my class.

Had a good day today. I had a new student start as my second class and things went quite well. We’re still looking into textbooks for her, so hopefully we’ll find something we can both live with soon. My third student cancelled again, so I used her time to catch up on my newspapers.

I called F at 8 and asked him to pick me up. We had dinner at Cocos and it was nice. We both felt like we ate too much afterwards though.

We bought groceries for dinner tomorrow night and then came home. I watched Criminal Minds, the other one tonight and it was a bit scary but good. I like some of the elements of the show, but I really miss the original Criminal Minds.

I also watched a concert/video show of Eurythmics which was cool. I still love Annie Lennox. She is so cool!

Anyway, that’s about it for me for tonight. I’m a bit tired so I might get to bed early for a change. Or not! Night.

November 28, 2011

Monday - Cloudy and grey.

An okay day.

I went to bed rather early last night. I was in bed around 1:30 and slept quite well. This morning I first woke up around 6:30 and was surprised it was so late. Usually I wake up earlier than that. I did get up around 10:30 for a while, then went back to bed. F did something similar. He wasn’t talking to me, I wasn’t talking to him.

Suddenly, around 2:30 or so, he asked me if I’d like to go for something to eat. It was out of the blue, since we hadn’t spoken in days. I accepted his offer, and things got decidedly nicer over the course of the day.

We had a nice lunch at Jiro, then F went to see a doctor. He’s had a headache since Saturday. I could have told him that it was tension related, but he wouldn’t really believe me. Anyway, off he went to get some medicine that wouldn’t work against all the other medicine that he takes.

I stayed home, watched a bit of telly. Just for Laughs was on, a Canadian gag show and it was pretty darn funny. It doesn’t have any spoken dialogue, so the show works for Japan. It was rather nice to see colourful Canadian money on TV instead of US money. F came home in the middle of it and he was soon laughing at it too.

We had a relaxing evening. Superman 2 was on, so I watched that (Kneel before Zod!) I miss Christopher Reeve. He was a much better actor than people give him credit for.

We had dinner at New York New York because we needed to go somewhere cheap! F had forgotten to get money out and I needed a few groceries afterwards. We had a nice dinner there, got our groceries and came home.

F wanted to watch one of the new movies that I got him for his birthday, so we did. It was Fly Away Home and I’m happy to say that he liked it…as did I. I’d seen it before, but not for ages. It is really a good movie about a family coming together after a tragedy.

And that was that. It was a much nicer day today than I’ve had for the last couple, so I’ll just leave it at that and get myself to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow. I have to go. Night!

November 27, 2011

Sunday - Clear…I think. I didn’t go out until late.

Another quiet day.

When I got up someone couldn’t be bothered to talk to me, so, childish though it is, I couldn’t be bothered to talk to him. We haven’t said one word to each other all day.

I got up, checked the computer. Did a few things, but then as he was in the bedroom, I sat on the couch and read some of my book. I napped too.

When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to speak to me, I had a bit of a snack in the kitchen. There isn’t much food in the house, so I was still hungry afterwards.

I went out for dinner to a restaurant fairly nearby. I took my book, and after my meal went to McDonald for an ice cream and more reading. I was really surprised how much I got read today.

I came home around 9:30. Same thing. No talking.

I finished my book. Lovely book. Careless in Red by Elizabeth George. It is one of her Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers novels, except they aren’t the ones in charge this time. It’s quite good. I had a sneaking suspicion who the murderer was and I was right. I wasn’t sure, but suspected the person!

Anyway, I have one more day of this nonsense before we both go back to work. I just hope that I can survive! Night.

November 26, 2011

Saturday - Sunny and warm. Lovely looking day!

Bad day.

Got up this morning to my alarms blaring away and my husband vacuuming the fan in the toilet room. The fan developed a scary noise last night and he decided to “fix” it. I asked him to get out of the toilet so I could use it and he threw a snit fit that has lasted the entire day. He retired back to his bed, while I took my shower.

I came out of the shower and watched a bit of TV. I relaxed and wondered if someone would smarten up. Well, unfortunately not, as he wasn’t there. He’d done a runner again while I was in the shower. I just didn’t notice.

He came back around 12, not talking to me and made himself some ramen. Lovely. I wanted to leave for lunch around 1. Anyway, I left at 1:00. I hadn’t been spoken to for the last hour and decided that I had to put myself first and get to work under my own power. I heard the apartment door open while I was getting my bike out and then as I was riding down the street I saw our car drive by me.

I went to the grocery store, picked up a bit of food and then headed over to my school. At my school I ate and got a lot of things done. I read the newspapers and prepped for my lessons. I got a call from my first student and she had to cancel. It was a good reason, but I was sorry that I wasn’t able to see her today.

My other student of the day came right on time and we had a good lesson. We learned about things in a shopping mall today. I had to explain that “fast food restaurant” is different from “hamburger shop”. I think she got it.

After my class, I did my paperwork, had a cup of tea and prepped for a class next week. Following that, there was nothing to it but to go home. I put on all the reflective gear I had and went home.

The door was barred.

I wasn’t talked to all night.

He took himself out for dinner after an hour or so.

I ate a tin of sardines and some crackers. He came home and sat on the couch until I was finished in the kitchen. He put on some crap Japanese programme which I interrupted around 11:00 pm to set up the VCR to tape my shows. I went to the washroom and he disappeared again.

So, it’s a little after 1pm, I have a screaming headache, my arm hurts and I have a big rash on it where I got the shot yesterday, so really not doing well here. In fact, I think I want to go to bed as soon as I can. Night.

November 25, 2011

Friday - Rainy, cold, with snow (that didn't stay)

Busy day!

This morning I got up around 9 am and got dressed. F was a bit impatient with me after a while, but he didn’t talk to me in the morning, try to wake me up or anything. He was just Mr. Cranky-pants. Why? He’d made an appointment for us to go to the doctor for a flu shot. He’s the person that tried to make the appointment for 9:00 am! As if! I’m in bed at that time and he knows it. I suggested 10 am and we were out the door at 9:52…arriving at the clinic a scant 15 minutes later. He was so upset, but no one at the clinic was. We got our shots and had to wait 30 minutes to see if we’d have any reaction. We didn’t. Yay.

We drove out to Sakata then, and had lunch at a Kappa-sushi. It was quite good, the restaurant wasn’t very crowded.

After lunch, we headed for the port area and I went to the Immigration Office. I made F stay in the car. All I wanted was a Re-Entry Permit and I thought that I could handle it myself. When F comes, we end up fighting, so I’d rather do it myself. It was a good call. The man in the office was younger and quite nice. He also knew a bit of English, so we got on rather well. Yay. I was out in about 10 minutes I think.

Since we didn’t have any plans for the afternoon we decided to do a little tourism in Sakata! We went to the famous Sankyo Soko warehouses. They are old rice warehouses. It was quite interesting actually. I enjoyed some of the craft work and also some of the tools they showed that were involved in rice-growing.

We came home via the mall for a drink and a little shopping.

In a couple of hours we went out for dinner to Aki, the local okonomiyaki place. We had rather a nice dinner there. It took a while, but we had a good meal. When we finished we went to my school to set the heater and then we came home.

We had a quiet night in basically. I watched The Good Wife and enjoyed it. It is quite a neat show really. Usually the more labyrinthine a plot gets, the less I like it, but this one is still working on me.

Anyway, that’s about it for me. We had a good day, even though it didn’t start all that well. Tomorrow I have a couple of classes in the late afternoon. I hope that they go well. I’ll report in tomorrow night too. Night!

November 24, 2011

Thursday - rainy and cold

A good day today. I got up this morning and after my shower I watched a little Project Runway. F was here, sitting up in the dark and cold. I have no idea why he doesn’t turn on the light or the heater…

After a nice lunch at Capri, F dropped me off at my school and I got busy. My student came on time and we had quite a good lesson. After class I cleaned up, and ran an errand! I came back to my school and read some of the newspapers that had piled up when I was away.

F came to pick me up and we tried to make a plan for the evening. I finally suggested a movie with dinner at the theatre’s restaurant. He thought it was fine. We came home to do a little bit of work for my school and then we went back to the theatre.
We had dinner and it was okay, then went to see Moneyball. I really liked it. Of course I’m a fan of both Brad Pitt and Aaron Sorkin (star and writer, respectively) so I was quite sure I’d like it.

We came home via the grocery store for a few munchies for F. We had a quiet evening in. I watched Drop Dead Diva and then a British comedy which I thought was very funny. I rounded out the evening with a couple of episodes of ER. Yay!

So… about the trip. The first day we just drove to Niigata and checked into our hotel. We did a little shopping and then had dinner in an izakaya. The whole thing was okay, except neither of us slept that well.

We got up for the hotel’s free breakfast (rice balls and potato salad if you can believe it) then checked out and after a bit more shopping for F we started on the road to Kanazawa. We were on the highway but had to get off. Apparently there was bad weather and they closed part of the highway. Where we were off the highway was bad too. We saw a bit of slush that turned into an icy snow type thing by the road. Yuck. Finally, we made it to our destination and checked into the hotel. The desk clerk ticked me off though, he asked for my passport. If he’d even glanced at my reservation form, he’d have seen that I have an address in Japan and I don’t need to show it. I didn’t have it with me anyway so I refused! Ha!

The hotel was very swank. Our room was small, but very comfortable. We set down our bags and then went out to find something for dinner. And that’s when it went wrong for a little. F of course wanted ramen for dinner and I didn’t. I would have been okay with a restaurant that served ramen as long as it had something for me. Breakfast was all carbs, lunch was (bad) soba and greasy tempura so I wanted a decent dinner. He whined and complained and basically acted like an idiot. We agreed to go and have a snack at a sandwich place, but after I ate my all vegetarian sandwich I started to feel quite sick. I felt feverish and finally told F that I’d go back to the hotel, give him my key and he could go and get what he’d like. I just wanted to go to bed. I bought a sandwich and some tea at a convenience store and then we went back to the hotel. I was in bed by 7:30 pm and I stayed there.

F came back around 9:30 after having his damned ramen and he went to bed too! I ended up waking up around midnight and having my sandwiches (which had protein—tuna, egg and maybe ham?), some tea and then went back to bed.

In the morning I felt much better. Hurray. We were both in good moods as we’d both slept well. We went for breakfast (included in our room charge) and ate very well.

We headed out for a bit of sightseeing. We had a bit of a problem with the bus we planned to take (it didn’t run during the week), but we visited a few places. We saw a Cultural Exchange Hall and saw some art, then walked over and saw the 21st Century Art Museum. That one was quite cool. There were a lot of interesting exhibits, including some that it was okay to photograph! I’ve never seen that before at a museum.

We walked over to the Kenrokuen Gardens and had a good wander around. They were lovely. It was a good time of year to go. It was so busy that you couldn’t see anything and it was still warm enough to walk around without a heavy jacket. We had our picture taken and also went into a historic house in the park. That was quite cool.

When the park closed, we left. I was going to suggest going for dinner near the park, but F paid for a taxi back to the hotel. He also suggested going to the Teppanyaki room on the 19th floor. Wow. He phoned and made a reservation for us. We were hungry as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast so went out and had a little keiten sushi first. Just a little.

Dinner was amazing. It was beautifully cooked in front of us and equally beautifully presented too. And it was so good! It was supposed to be F’s birthday dinner, but he paid for it. Expensive, but very nice.

We waddled back to our room and had a relaxing evening.

On the last day, we breakfasted and then I gave F his present. He got an Anne Murray Cd set and a double pack of movies. I gave him Fly Away Home and The Waterhorse. He likes movies about kids.

We visited a Stained Glass Museum on our way out of town. Except, it wasn’t really a museum in my opinion. It was a church! The cool thing for me was it had a trio of windows by William Morris. I’d read a book of his in University so I was quite thrilled. My theological knowledge was put to the test with some of the windows and was found sadly lacking.

After a trip to the mall for some souvenirs and lunch, we got on the road and headed for home. The rest you know!

And finally, I am going to go to bed. Night!

November 23, 2011

Wednesday - Sunny and clear all the way up Japan, rainy in Tsuruoka

We’re back! We got back around 8:30 pm tonight. F drove all the way up a little fast, but we made it. We had a great trip, saw a lot of things and really enjoyed ourselves in Kanazawa.

We got back tonight and I took F out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. Earlier in the day I had given him a DVD set and an Anne Murray cd set. We listened to it in the car and it was good.

I’m a little overwhelmed with emails and things to do since I’ve come back. I don’t really have time for a proper update, so I just wrote this and I’ll put in a few pictures. I must get some sleep. I have to work tomorrow. Night!

Night Scene in Niigata

Christmas decorations in Niigata. Not bad for a bunch of pop bottles!

November 19, 2011

Saturday - Rainy and cloudy all day

Today was a good day. I got up at a decent time, showered and then F came home. After a bit we went for dinner to the Daiichi Hotel. It was very nice. We both had lamb and enjoyed it, although there wasn’t very much of it.

After dinner, F dropped me off at my school and I got busy. I did a bit of cleaning and then took time off to read today’s paper.

My student came and we had a good lesson, for as long as it lasted! She left early as she had a function to attend after my lesson.

I got ready for my next appointment. I had a meeting with a potential student today. She is thinking about several options, but things went well.

I did a clean up after the meeting and then called F to pick me up. He did and we went to New York, New York for a quick and nice dinner. We both had the same kind of chicken and then different side dishes.

We came home and I have been subjecting F to my TV! He’s had Top Gear and then Project Runway forced on him. He does like Top Gear so that wasn’t so bad.

Anyway, that’s it for me. Tomorrow we’re on the road, and we’ll be back on Wednesday if all goes well. I’ll update you then. Night!

November 18, 2011

Friday - Sunny and clear. Gorgeous day!

I got up on time this morning, no problems really. I watched The Cape. Just don’t know about that show. I know it was cancelled and I think it deserved to be. It wasn’t that great.

I showered early and was dressed and back at my computer ready to watch the 12 something news programme when I heard the door lock go. F had come home to pick up his phone charger. He couldn’t call because his phone wasn’t charged up! He picked it up and then offered to take me out for lunch. I was surprised and happy, and even said yes.

We went to a Chinese restaurant fairly close to our apartment. F had ramen (of course) and I had fried rice in a stone bowl. It was good, if a little bit greasy. I didn’t think F had time to drive me home after so I offered to walk, but I got a ride home too. Yay.

I went home, watched Big Wednesday and then went to the post office. Big Wednesday was a famous surfing movie. The surfing was okay, but the surfers in that movie just seemed like self-satisfied jerks. Anyway, it was okay. I lost the plot halfway through and the surfing didn’t do much for me.

I took last night’s cards and two packages to the post office and sent them off. The guy at the post office kept trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what! That is so annoying. I should be in time for the Christmas mail, so no idea. I prefer the ladies that work there, they at least try to tell me something in English, but not him. Oh well. And who didn’t bother learning the language of the country she lives in? Yes, moi. Sigh. Not his fault then, right? Sort of. Oh all right. Not.

I visited a shop near our apartment that I visit when I want inexpensive household goods looking for possible presents. I found a t-shirt that I liked for my sister. I don’t know if she’ll like it, but it is quite nice. It didn’t even have wacky Japlish on it!

I came home and found a postcard to me in my mailbox. It was in an envelope and had no writing at all on it. I was a little disappointed, but the card itself is quite nice.

F came home a bit late tonight, but when he did we chatted for a bit before going out for dinner. He suggested Grado, our local Italian place and we went there. Dinner was great tonight! We had pork saute and also salmon in pastry. Very nice. We had taken some newspapers in for them again, so the chef made our dessert a little bigger than it should have been…yum.

After a quick trip to the drugstore, we came home and had a fairly quiet night. I packed my suitcase a bit and I worked on putting some songs in my computer tonight before stopping and watching The Good Wife. I worked on my shawl a bit too. I’ve finished the actual shawl now, but I’m doing a row of shells by the neck because the neckline is rather hard. It won’t be comfortable on the back of my neck.

F went to bed a while ago and I should go too. I have a busyish day tomorrow. I might go to the school a bit early and do a bit of a clean. I haven’t been there in a few days, so it probably needs it again. I have an afternoon class and then a meeting, so I’ll be a little busy.

I’ll most likely update tomorrow night, but I have to get to bed early tomorrow night, so I might not! If I don’t, I won’t be back for a few days. Please don’t miss me too much. Night!

Postcrossing - Outgoing

I had a request to post a some of the cards that I have sent out to people, so over the next few weeks I'll try and show my favourite sent cards and write a little about why I sent them.

An early card that I sent is this one. It is still one of the most popular cards that I have sent to anyone! This cat seems to be quite famous in Japan. Since I sent the card I have noticed this cat on calendars and other postcards. The receiver is in the US and she has cats so I thought she would like the card.

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I have to be honest about this card. I got it at a hundred yen shop. However, I'm pretty picky about the cards I buy there and I only try to buy ones that I really like. I like the contrast between the small dog and the big strawberries. This also went to a US postcrosser who likes roadside attractions. I hope she liked this card!

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This card went to person in the Netherlands. She had requested cards that show activities in the snow, or mountains. ( I think she has since changed her profile.) She was quite pleased with this picture of Mount Chokai, a nearby mountain and the ladies filling in the gaps in the rice fields.

I just saw Mt. Chokai this morning and there is snow on it again. Sigh.

Next time, I'll bring you a few more postcards that I sent. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Thanks!

Postcrossing Cards - Incoming

November, 2011

I have received two cards this week. They are rather nice.

The first one fits right into my movie obsession/Movie star postcard collection. He was a legend in Hollywood, although he was never one of my favourite stars. Presenting....

John Wayne. My father (and the sender's father) was a big John Wayne fan, so I often watched Wayne movies on TV.

The sender put some lovely stamps on this card and I am very much in love with the stamp of Katherine Hepburn. It's beautiful.

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Today I received another card. This one was from Taiwan. It's a beautiful card, but there's no message at all on it.

I believe it is a picture of the Alishan Forest Railway.

It was a little slower this week, hopefully I'll have more cards next week.

November 17, 2011

Thursday - Clear and sunny, colder

I got up a little late this morning. I was bone tired and it was really tough to get out of bed. Finally the deed was done and I watched a bit of TV while I checked computer things.

In the afternoon I got so sleepy that I took a nap on the couch. I thought I’d have a snooze for 10 minutes or so, I woke up an hour later. Yikes. And the thing was, I was out of it. I did feel much better afterwards though.

I finally got around to making myself lunch and I took some of last night’s leftover veggies, stir-fried them and then mixed them with some pasta. I had that for my lunch and it was really nice. Yum. It surprised me a bit that it was so good!

When F came home I asked him if he would take me to the camera shop “to get some pictures done.” A few minutes later, he comes out of the bedroom, proudly telling me that he put on his good suit’s pants as they went with his nice white shirt that he’d also put on. As I was standing around in my not washed for 2 days hair, old t-shirt and pants, I was wondering what the heck he was on about. Turns out, he thought we were going to have photos of us TAKEN, I meant have some snaps REPRINTED! I got a good chuckle out of that! I had asked him last night to take me to Kitamura tonight, so I thought he knew why!

We went to Kitamura, had the photos printed and then had dinner at Cocos. There was a little boy there, sitting at a table over the banquette from us, and he would stand up and look at me. After a while, I started winking at him. He’d disappear for a while. He would pop back up after a bit and got bold enough to smile at me and he blinked at me. He wasn’t able to wink yet. It was really sweet. Usually I don’t much like kids in restaurants, but he was funny.

We popped into the grocery store, but didn’t buy much. We are going away on Sunday morning so want to leave the fridge as empty as possible.

We came home and I watched 2 hours of F-type TV. Sports then talking heads and stuff I’m not interested in. I did get to watch Drop Dead Diva and then after it was a new comedy show that seemed to be a mix of UK and US humour. It was about a UK couple of TV producers that come to the US to do a US version of their TV show. In Britain the show’s star was played by Richard Griffiths, but in the US they wanted Matt LeBlanc to play his part. It was a bit odd, but seemed along the lines of Extras….that sort of funny but not funny. I’ll try to catch it next week too. It was called Episodes apparently.

Tonight I finally got stuck into my Christmas cards and got quite a few written. I’ll have to try and mail them out tomorrow. Yay for me.

And that’s about it. It was a good day for the most part. I’m really happy about the Christmas cards! Night.

November 16, 2011

Wednesday - Rainy and cold
Happy Birthday Vanessa!

Had a good day today. I got up early, re-watched last week’s Grey’s Anatomy, had lunch and then did a bit of Christmas wrapping too. I wrapped up a couple of presents and printed off my Christmas letter. I had to do a bit of work on that too. I was quite busy in other words!

F came home around his usual time and after he changed he got started on dinner. We were having shabu-shabu, so he prepped the veggies and sauces. Good for him. I have no idea what he needed. I offered to help, but he didn’t need any.

Dinner was great and we had a nice meal together. F actually talked to me which was a happy thing too. I did the dishes afterwards and then worked on my computer for a bit.

At 11:00 I made my way to the chesterfield to watch Grey’s Anatomy, the musical episode. It was really good. I didn’t expect it to be so dark, I’m not sure why, but it was. Still I enjoyed it. I taped it so that if F blabbed all through it I would be able to see it later. He wasn’t bad though. He kept quite quiet.

And that’s my day more or less. I got a new postcard in the mail, I’ll try and post it in a few days. I’m going to try and call my sister in a few minutes to wish her a happy birthday. I don’t talk to her that often, so I like to make the effort if I can. Have a good night! Bye.

November 15, 2011

Tuesday - rainy

I know mentally that it is already November, but somehow I feel rather like it is August and I have lots of time to get things ready for Christmas. I’m living in a dreamland!

I woke up a bit late this morning, got up and watched Criminal Minds - Suspect Behaviour, then showered and got on with my day. I had an early-ish lunch which was very nice. I had last night’s leftovers from dinner and they were just as nice for lunch.

I left and biked over to the school. It was raining a little, but the rain didn’t get bad until I was a few blocks from my school. I managed to get there without getting soaked. It was quite cold in my school though.

I worked on warming up my school and getting it ready for classes. It didn’t take too long. My student was a few minutes early today and we had a good class. Things went quite well.

After class I had a few things to do, so I did them. I waited for my next student, but sadly she called me a few minutes before her class was due to start. She has promised me to come on Saturday though. Fingers crossed that she does!

More paperwork and then I called F and asked him to pick me up. He did and we went to Coco Ichibanya, the curry restaurant. I had Butter Chicken curry and it was nice. The curry part was mild, but the tandori chicken in the curry was very hot. I’m still burping (pardon me!) a few hours later.

We bought a few groceries at the grocery store there and decided to make shabu-shabu tomorrow night. It was F’s idea, so I hope he still wants to do it tomorrow night. I suppose I can do things like clean and chop the veggies if I have time to help.

At 11:00 pm I watched the Criminal Minds (same show, different episode) with Forest Whitaker. I can’t make up my mind if I like the show or not. I like the actors, but I’d really like it to have a tad more happiness in the show. The other Criminal Minds has JJ (at least in the episodes that I watch) and Spencer Reid to add lightness, this one is so heavy. I know that Garcia is in this one at times, but there’s no fun banter going on. I heard it’s been cancelled anyway, but it’s still on here.

And that’s about it for me. Tomorrow I have a few things that I really hope to get done. I need to start printing out my Christmas letters, wrap up a couple of presents and send them and a few other things. Wish me luck. Night!

November 14, 2011

Monday - Cloudy with rain later on

A good day. I got up this morning, watched my TV shows, but something was different. I’m not sure what! I had some breakfast, did a spot of housework, had a short nap, worked on dinner and then ran out to the postbox to mail a letter. When I came home, I showered and then wrapped my hubby’s birthday present. Whew!

I really didn’t spend that much time on my computer today. Usually I don’t move from in front of it, but today I did. The reason? Well, last night, I had asked F if there was a night this week when he thought he’d get home early enough to see a movie at 6:00pm at the local theatre. He had said Monday. Okay, fine!

We decided not to eat out after, so I prepped the salad and the broccolini for later. I didn’t want to come home after 8:00 pm and have an hour or more prep to do.

F came home around 5:35, changed his clothes and we were over at the theatre in about 10 minutes! Yay us. We used one of my free movies and it was also Men’s Day, so F got in for cheap. We did have a snack from the concession stand, and then our usual popcorn and drink for the show. Wonder of wonders, F didn’t spill his popcorn.

We went to see Source Code, or as they say in Japan, Mission: 8 Minutes. It was okay. I quite enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say that it was the greatest movie ever, but it did set up some interesting situations and the movie didn’t get bogged down in a lot of scientific explanations.

After the film, we came home and I cooked dinner. It didn’t take long. F however, did take a long time to get to the table. He was registering a postcard, but I can’t sit down until he is in the kitchen as I block his way to his seat. We had chicken, couscous, salad and broccolini and it was all quite nice. I’m glad I did the early prep as dinner was on the table fairly fast.

The rest of the evening I’m afraid I paid F back for all the sports he subjected me to last night. I watched CSI: Miami (not as good as last week’s) and then Rizzoli and Isles. I quite like the latter one as it is nice to see a detective show with women that isn’t all boobs and car chases. Still, there’s something not quite there yet. I read on line that there are 3 seasons at least of it, so it might get better as it goes on.

And that was it. I did type up my Christmas Newsletter tonight and ran it past F. Because of the earthquake this year it’s not as full of joy and light as usual, but I hope it will be okay. Tomorrow I have a couple of classes at the school so I’ll be there most of the afternoon. Wish me luck! Night.

November 13, 2011

Sunday - cloudy then rainy

An okay day. I went to bed much too late this morning so I slept in quite late this afternoon too. My excuse is that if F hadn’t wanted me to sleep in, he would have made some plans or otherwise woken me up, right? That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

A little after I got up, we went to have a late brunch at Jiro. We both had the pork saute in garlic oil. That is so good. I really love it.

We drove to S-Mall and picked up my glasses. They were done. I was surprised when I tried them on at home that the store hadn’t cleaned them for me. Usually I get them back and they are sparkling, not today. We also picked up a few things in the grocery store, including a tiny box of Dare Fondant cookies. Yum!

We came home and watched a movie. It was rather an odd one today, but it was quite funny too. We watched Team America World Police. It was rude and crude and dumb and funny. F liked the digs at the leader of North Korea, I liked the digs at Michael Bay and the digs at America’s image.

After the movie, we watched some of the extras and then F started watching sports for hours. I was a bit irritated and by 9 pm I’d had enough and basically demanded that we go out for dinner. Most nice places were closed so we went to Kappa Sushi. I liked it tonight. We were seated right away and the sushi was fine, but F thought it wasn’t fresh.

We bought groceries and then came home again. F proceeded to watch more sports and then ask me questions about it. I wasn’t paying any attention whatsoever, so got a tad irritated.
Finally, he took his bath and has now gone to bed.

Tomorrow I don’t have any fixed plans, but I should work on getting my Christmas stuff ready for the relatives that I’m sending things to, and maybe work on my Holiday letter. Wish me luck, I’m not sure how that will go. Talk to you tomorrow. Night!