It's Better to Burn Out...

1. Do you play any sports on a regular basis? Which?
I do not. I used to be in a soccer club at my Japanese elementary school. A cool tough girl asked me to join with her. She was awesome. I was terrible. All the boys hated having me on their team. I tried to join the basketball team in JH but I would have been a bencher so I declined. All my kids did sports - Alex did soccer all through elementary and JH as well as swimming and gymnastics for a few years. Julian did a bit of soccer too but continued swimming for longer. He did 3 years of basketball in JH. Audrey swam too and did 5 or 6 years of tennis. Hubby (former PE teacher) believed all kids should do some kind of sport in JH to even out the growth spurt. After seeing my kids (esp. Julian and Audrey) slim up in JH from their sports I wish I had joined basketball even if I sucked. I gained a lot of weight in those years.

I used to love swimming, I enjoyed racket sports like tennis, badminton and ping-pong but we didn't really have any teams in our school. Nowadays, I just enjoy walks with my dog. I don't even run. I have a long lead for her at the park so she can run by herself LOL

2. What professional sports do you follow?
None. Hubby loves to watch soccer, but he watches in his room now. I used to enjoy watching the Toronto Blue Jays and the Olympics baseball and hockey when I was in my twenties, rooting for the Japanese and Canadian teams.

3. Do you get enough exercise?
I think so. I try to walk as much as I can and I do exercises and stretches in the mornings.

4. What sport would you like to learn?
None in particular.

5. Are there sports activities you used to participate in but stopped?
See above :) I did also do some tennis with hubby and the kids when they were small. That was really fun and I miss it.

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I finished watching Shameless and the next season of Manifest. I really enjoyed Shameless and the ending was really good. Manifest was great too.

Warrior Nun is out! And some other shows I am looking forward to as well. Gonna finish HTGAWM first. Two more seasons. I am enjoying it!

I have decided to adapt The Elves and the Shoemaker for our Christmas play. I need to get everything ready for the 27, when I need to give all participants their materials/parts. Hope we can start practicing next week in classes though if I can get the program set by then.

1. How many stars can you see in the sky at night where you live? (Not looking for an exact number here, just a general description.)
On a clear winter day maybe 50 to 100? The more you peer into the sky the more you can see.

2. What is your favorite constellation?
I don't know much about stars, unfortunately. The Big/Little Dippers are the easiest to find.

3. Are you able to see and identify any planets in the sky? Which ones?

Just Venus. The brightest star next to the moon, right?

4. Have you ever seen a satellite orbiting above the earth?
Just on TV.

5. Have you ever seen a rocket blasted off into space?
Again, just on TV.

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Not a very interesting set of questions this time around, unfortunately. I have no interest in space or constellations, I guess. Stars are beautiful and it was pretty awesome when I saw the Milky Way in the mountains of Yamagata, but I don't really have the patience to go searching for constellations - maybe because my eyes are so bad. I don't really like getting cricks in my neck either.

I finished watching GRIMM. Julian enjoyed quite a few eps with me. I then went ahead and cancelled the subscription to Hulu. I found they have no recommendation system, and very little choice of shows - here in Japan anyway. Netflix is better in the long term.

Audrey and Alex both seem to have had lots of fun on their respective trips. Audrey tells me she wants to go to Kyoto again and take more time to look around with friends and with me <3 Alex had to come home early because there was a danger that the flight would be cancelled due to the typhoon. He enjoyed the hotel and the time spent with 3 other friends.

As I think I mentioned before, Monday and Friday were national holidays and I had those two days off as well. They both went by really quickly. Tuesday and Friday I had choir practice. We are learning a particularly difficult piece of teen angst which is proving quite challenging. We will be having another practice on Sunday.

Another typhoon is going by and it's raining a lot. It's also getting quite cool. Hopefully the barbecue on the 2nd will be nice. After that I will be preparing for our Halloween event and Christmas Presentation. Time is going to go by so fast.

I'm still stressed out about the teacher situation so it's very hard to find something nice to talk about LOL That's the best I can do for now.

1) What's the weather like where you are right now?
Today was very sunny and hot. I stayed inside with the air con on. Saturday we had a typhoon go through. Not bad. It was a nice day in.

2) Has your weather been seasonally appropriate lately, or has it been unusual?
Well, our rainy season was unusually short. Other than that, it's been normal.

3) Have you noticed any trends in the weather near you over the past few years?
We haven't had snow in ages. I am starting to despair of ever getting any.

4) Are you worried about climate change?
Yes and No. I think the Japanese governments might be trying to make us paranoid recently though for some other reason. They talk about reducing garbage by taking away garbage cans in public places, but that's dumb because people are going to take the garbage home and throw it away there anyway. That is not an overall reduction. They have pressured stores into reducing the use of plastic bags by making people pay for them separately, but people are going to need some bags to throw away their garbage at home so they are going to buy them anyway. So, all they are doing is taxing the consumer more and more. If they would reduce the excess packaging on the products, I think it would be more effective way to reduce garbage.

5) Are you doing anything to combat climate change?
We reuse and recycle.

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1. What kind of bugs do you see outside this time of year?
I've seen some ladybugs and been bitten already by some mosquitos. It is still cool enough that they are not out in force though. That reminds me of a conversation about blood types I had with my daughter. She is yet to find out what blood type she is and we are always guessing. She thinks she is B and I think she is AB according to her personality. I'm B, hubby is AB, so another possibility is for her to be A... but if she is, she doesn't fit the profile.

2. What's your favorite food to eat outside?
Rice balls! Although I am not eating very much rice at the moment, they are the quickest easiest lunch.

3. How much rain is too much rain?
A week straight. It happened one fall due to typhoons, and I was quite depressed by the end of it.

4. What are you celebrating this month?
It's our wedding anniversary, so I suppose we will do something for that. It's also Father's Day this weekend! I need to remind my kids so they can get something for him.

5. What's your favorite color combination?
For the clothes I wear, I like the blue and white combo the best, I think. My favorite color is magenta so I like to combine it with black or white as well, but I don't have many clothes in magenta. My daughter's randosel (elementary school bag) was brown with pink embroidery. I liked that combination too.

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1. What is the last book you read and what book(s), if any, are you currently reading?
I read Sitting Pretty by Rebekah Taussig and Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley.

I am now reading Poor Miss Finch By Wilkie Collins. It is a story about a young blind woman, twin brothers who come in contact with her, as well as a woman - the narrator - who was hired to be her companion. I started reading this book because the author of Sitting Pretty recommended it as writing in the true manner of a disabled person rather than the romantic view, plus I had read the Moonstone by the same author and remember having liked it. I am enjoying his writing style immensely and have been grinning and laughing through it. The characters are so interesting and well described.

The other book I mentioned above - The Firekeeper's Daughter - I finished the day before. It was a murder mystery story about a (half) Native American girl and her community. I thought it was very unique but also that more people in such unique positions should write stories based in their unique community or situation. The story was very well written and I enjoyed her viewpoint - the author is also Native American so it is real and I felt safe believing her and finding interest in the culture etc., y'know?

2. How about moving pictures? Are you a fan of any TV show or movie right now?
I'm just doing rewatches at the moment - which is why I've turned to books.

3. What's your favorite genre, and why?
Fiction about someone(s) with some sort of super power or ability and/or is different, unique. I need humor and prefer a bit of romance as well.

4. If we were all evacuating the planet, and you could only bring 3 unique works of entertainment for posterity, which would you pick? Let's just assume that we've coordinated it so there are no repeats.
OK, this question is a bit difficult to decypher but if "works" means one single game/song/book etc., and that we could share them with others and read/use theirs as well, and as notte0 mentioned there is a possibility of no extra electricity...
1) Score for Sound of Music - musical entertainment, theatre entertainment... I am assuming others will bring other good musicals along.
2) Game - trump cards -so many games can be played!
3) Books - Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series
Ultimately, these are not important, though. As long as we have imaginations, we will have stories. As long as we have instruments (including voice) we will have music. As long as there is any kind of extra tools, wood or paper like substance, there can be new games and even instruments. I think a lot of writers of apocalyptic stories forget that - or at least place less importance on it.
5. Do you make new works as well (fannish or original both count)? Or is that not your skillset/interest?
I have written fanfiction for Supernatural and Lucifer: I enjoy writing and would like to write a series about my life. I've started but am still unsure of whether to make it fictional or not. I have also written some readers for kids - still waiting on my son to finish the drawings. I've made a couple of songs for my own enjoyment. I've made a couple of card and board games for class.


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Yesterday, I went to immigration to renew my residence card. I am a permanent resident, thanks to my dad, who applied for all of us before we left Japan when I went to college. I thought it would take the whole day so I took the day off from classes and asked another teacher to sub. I left home at around 9:20 after taking Hana for her walk. The first thing I did was get into a picture booth near the station and get my picture for the card. I then went straight to the office via train. It took around an hour in all because I had to ride a bus from the station. The bus was filled with people all going to the immigration office. There were a couple of women in front of me talking in English. One who was talking so I could hear her voice sounded French or Spanish. The other was Asian. Maybe a Japanese woman helping her friend. We all piled off at the stop.

Once I got to the office, I filled out the form and then picked a number - should have picked the number first. And, waited an hour and a half or so to be called. Once I was called, I gave in my form, passport and present residence card, and waited another 30 min or so. The worker had a question about my address, since we have our own condo address and also the address we live at. I explained, and I waited a few more minutes. Voila. My card was ready.

While I waited on the uncomfortable government office bench, I mostly read my book Poor Miss Finch mentioned above. There was a cute little girl with her dad that I watched for a little bit and imagined why her dad would be bringing her to an office, what sort of job he might have etc. They spoke English, and the girl didn't look half Japanese either, so he must be here on business. And there was a big screen TV that I watched for a few minutes as well. There is a long continuing show about boxed lunches made by various people all over Japan. They showed one young guy who works for a fish processing(?) company and has his own Youtube channel introducing interesting/rare fish. I laughed when the show commented he only had 34 subscribers :D but kudos to him for trying to increase interest in fish. Recent trend is straying away from traditional foods using fish. Young people often don't like fish at all, especially those where they have to pick the bones. Alex, my son, loves fish and often watches shows on Youtube - fishing and fish carving and the like. When he goes fishing, he always carves and cleans and cooks his own fish.

My business was finished at around 12:30, and I was starving, but I had no plans for what to do for lunch. I really hate going to a restaurant by myself for some reason and had a feeling that if I let myself, I would give up the challenge and go home directly. But thinking about my hunger and how it would increase as I put off eating, I stopped at Tachikawa station - the station closest to the immigration office, to find a restaurant that would hopefully have something I would be happy with eating. Remember, I am off rice and bread, mainly and get most of my nutrition from veges and meat/protein. So I needed a place that had a meat platter, or a big salad. There was one store that had meat platters, but they had an all-you-can-eat bread bar, which I thought might be too tempting. Then there was an Okinawa/Hawaiian style bar with taco rice bowls. I didn't know they were rice bowls at first. The salad and avocado on top looked perfect. I went in and found that the bar didn't have paper menues. They had QR codes to access the menue on your phone. A first time for me. As I checked the menue, I found that there was no salad and no meat platter either of course. I decided to ask if they could just give me the top of the taco rice bowl. They were very accomodating. The salad amount was not enough to satisfy me, though, and by this time it was 2 o'clock. Time for my after-lunch snack in my usual schedule. I had my snack with me so, as soon as I finished the "salad," I ate the pecan bars that I had brought, along with the coffee in my set menue.

Tachikawa is full of fashionable clothing stores and if I had the energy, I would have done some shopping. As it was, I was really tired and decided to go home. I did some grocery shopping at my own station before trudging home. When I got there, it was around 3 and I could have taught my classes myself, but I decided to have a rest instead. I lay down in my daughter's bed since hubby was listening to Youtube in our room, and slept. I taught one double class at 6:30 and then ate way too much dinner because of the unsatisfactory/stressful lunch. Also, my eyes had been bothering me since the day before. Something happened when I put my contacts in at that time, and my right eye had been smarting all day. I forced my contacts in that day as well, and by the end of the day it really pained me to take them out. I went to bed early because I was still tired and out of sorts.

Today, I came to work without my contacts in and am now huddled over my computer trying to see what I have written LOL I don't know how the classes are going to be. I have my contacts just in case and would put one or two in if I can't do it well enough without. Yeah, thinking about it, I will probably have to because I won't be able to see the numbers on my CD player. I really need to buy some glasses. I need someone to be my fashion advisor, but hubby can't find the time.

Anyway, gotta go and rest my eyes before class.

1. Do you like other people buying you clothes?
Hubby has pretty good taste, so I don't mind when he does sometimes, but it is better if we go together. Last summer, he bought me a dress that was "free size" which was not. I was losing weight so I used it as my incentive to get to my desired weight and now I can wear it. It is pretty and light material and very nice in the spring/summer/fall, but I would have never been able to wear it if I hadn't lost 15 kg.

2. Have you ever brought a present for someone that they hated/disliked?
I don't know. I don't have any rude friends that would tell me when they hated/disliked it.  I do try to get people things that they can use or they have already indicated they wanted. I bought a black sweater for hubby once that he didn't wear at all for a long time, but he often keeps clothes because he treasures them so I don't think it was because he disliked it. He wore it after a while and it looked very dashing. Every time he wears it I tell him so :)

3. What nicknames do you have/have had?
I don't really have any. My first name, Dawn, is too short. Wait... I think my New Zealander teacher calls me Dawny. I don't like it as a nickname, but he says it nicely so it's ok. I have many names - Dawn Marie Reiko so people can chose which one they like or even a combination. My Japanese friends called me Reiko-chan.

4. Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends?
I used to when I was young because I was an only child and played by myself a lot. I heard from my mom that I came in one day and told my mom I had been walking on the water with Jesus. Otherwise, my imaginary friends didn't really have any names, I don't think. They were the hand that moved my other doll while I played.

5. Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others?
(I think the proper English is influence on ...?)  Well... What is a good influence and what is a bad one? What is good and what is bad? Is it bad that I take a lot of time for myself and am not cleaning all the time? I have characteristics that are not necessarily thought of as good by a Japanese person, but is normal for a westerner.  I also think many Japanese people need to loosen up a bit, think more about their needs instead of always about others and how they are seen etc. If I can help people do that, then I consider myself a good influence.

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Another uneventful week has passed....

That's how I started this section of the post when I posted this at LJ yesterday. I have taken to using my picture storage there because it is unlimited, while this site's storage is practically nonexistent - way less than LJ's free accounts.

Anyway, I have been bummed by how boring my posts must be with nothing interesting. It is not that my life is not fulfilling and enjoyable. I love my job but at the end of the week, it is hard to remember what happened. It reminds me of those times I spent with my mom in the kitchen. She enjoyed having me help her with the dishes - she'd wash and I'd dry or vise versa, and she would ask me about my day. The only problem was, she wasn't really good at drawing stuff out of me. Her question was, "How was school?" or "How was your day?" and all I could think of to reply was, "fine." Sometimes, I'd be able to remember an anecdote after a bit of thinking, but I don't think that happened frequently. So, maybe when I am writing these posts nowadays, I am asking myself the same question and finding the same wall.

My life is predictable. I like it that way. Schedules are really important to me - sometimes I think I am borderline autistic in that sense, not that I understand autism very well, but that quality stands out to me. I also need a lot of me time, I think because stuff stresses me out. I don't get severe panic attacks or anything, but I need to know that I can have that time and someone upsetting that schedule suddenly is again very stressful.

That makes it sort of boring to write about unless I can find something within the routine that particularly impressed me. I am going to do my best from now on to try to keep such interesting tidbits from work or family life in my mind so that I have something interesting to record - for my own sake (so don't give me platitudes), and hopefully you can enjoy them too.

One thing that comes to mind that I couldn't include yesterday when I wrote the post was that dinner yesterday was very nice. Saturday has traditionally been a special time for us to get together as a family for dinner. I usually make something special that the kids can enjoy, and also give myself some wine. It is the end of the week for me. I only have Sundays off. Saturday is a very busy day because the kids don't have school and I have classes from 8:45 to until yesterday, 5:30, with 1 hour break for a quick lunch. I am exhausted by the end but also relieved and ready for some celebration. Recently this has been disrupted. First by Hubby being unhappy with me quitting drinking for around 6 months or so while I lost weight. He felt like he couldn't enjoy this dinner unless we drank sufficiently, together, and now often doesn't participate at all. He often goes to his mom's house to take care of her and goes to the gym, or goes out with someone else to drink. When he does participate, he drinks way too much and basically ends up finding a way to be unhappy with me and goes to his room to drink some more and it's awful. Then, Audrey had to add another class at cram school from 7:30 to 10:00, now that she is in her third year of junior high and preparing for high school exams. So, now she can't participate either. It sucks.

Yesterday, hubby again went to his mom's, which is better than the alternative, so I was fine with that. Audrey, on the other hand, didn't have cram school because the school was closed for golden week (I will explain that later). On her request, I went and got some steak. There wasn't enough at the store for that to be the main course though, with three hungry kids, so I also got some sweet potato and ingredients for taco salad and a broccoli basil salad. I baked the sweet potato in the oven - one small one for each of us, then we cut them lengthwise and put the taco salad ingredients on top. The kids loved it and told me someone could set up a shop with variations of it. Then, Julian told us about his visit to the museum. It was an exhibit about differences between the evolution of Pokemon and Dinosaurs. How pokemon change shapes and that is called evolution in Japanese but it is not actually so. They change as they grow up, but when they give birth, their children go back to being what their parents were before, while animal species actually changed shape and didn't go back etc.

Then I asked Alex about his walk with Hana. Then Audrey told us about something that happened to her at school. And we had a lovely time talking and eating. Afterwards, Alex and I watched Heike Monogatari - on Netflix and Amazon Prime here, but unfortunately not with English translation - until he decided to take a bath and go to bed. I then went on to start watching The Good Doctor on Netflix. I really really enjoy this show. All the cases so far are so emotionally engaging as are the challenges of Evan (I think his name was) as an autistic intern.

I am going to try to continue to write about some interesting or fun thing that happened by consciously trying to remember them! So here is the rest of the post on LJ.


I finished rewatching "Agents of Shield." I had forgotten some of the details from the later seasons, so it was good to be able to rewatch it again. I really enjoy that series. Yesterday, I watched a short series called "Heartstopper" on Netflix. It was adorable and made me wish for "fireworks" too and also made my heart ache badly.

Hana met some friends at the park that she used to play with all the time when she was younger. One, Ume, is 2 years older than her, the other, Kai, is over 10. Both parents/owners give Hana snacks when they come so she loves them. Ume, who is a Shiba inu, doesn't run much anymore but Kai, who is a small poodle, is very energetic and loves running after the ball. Hana is lazy so she doesn't run much either but is a bit more energetic than Ume. It was fun to watch them.

One of my Saturday classes needed to be moved back because the student had sports club activities on Sat. Now my day extends to 6:30. I'm bummed by that because now dinner preparation will be moved back, but on the plus side, I have an hour in between classes to have a snack and write or whatever.

Hubby is speaking to me again after a drunken outburst on Sunday that ended with me stopping him from getting in a fight with Alex who came in to support me.  Ayayai... I don't really want to think about it any more.

I am enjoying watching my basil and chive grow from seeds.  casey28 do you think I should I sparse the basil more?  I do not have a green thumb like you!  The chives I planted in the egg container were washed away in the rain because I forgot to make holes but some of those I planted in a regular planter have belatedly started poking their heads out and I am excited... but they are quite close to the edge so worried as well.

Some pictures...

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1. If you could spend 24 hours locked in a room with anyone, from any time in history (including present) or a fictional character, who would you choose?
Jesus. Yup.

First I thought my favorite fictional character, Dean, from Supernatural. I would have a lot to say to him. The fact that he changed my life, that he gives many people courage to keep on fighting, and have some hot steamy sex if he is agreeable.

But what if I could talk with The Man? AND have the chance to hear his answers? I thought God at first, but Jesus seems more sympathetic. I'd ask him about all the stuff in the Bible and otherwise, and see what is actually true and what is made up bullshit. Are there angels? Are you really an alien? Did you really rise from the dead? What is heaven and do people actually go there after death? Is my dad there? Is he watching over me or just at peace? I would ask about my personal problems and how I should deal with them, people around the world and their hidden agendas, ... so many things.

2. Is there any one question you consistently ask everyone important to you?
I guess, "how are you?"

3. If you had to choose one personally important question to never have the answer to, what would it be?
Does that mean I never want to have the answer to it? I guess... When I'm going to die or how. Unless knowing it will give me the opportunity and choice to change it.

4. If you could change one life-changing event in your life, would you?
Probably not. I love my kids and changing any life choice would have robbed me of them. Well... maybe I should have gotten an education degree in uni. If I had known I'd end up as a teacher, I would have. My son also opted out of getting his teaching certificate, and I am a bit worried he will regret it later.

5. Which household chore do you hate the most, and why?
Vacuuming and general room cleaning :P I put it off for ever. I don't know why. I like the clean house and it doesn't take THAT long to do. Maybe I am just scared it will lead to further cleaning and it actually will tire me out in the end.

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In other news, the cherry blossoms are coming along nicely in the parks. Hopefully they will be perfect for the picnic next Sunday.

We are getting new students, which is a BIG relief. We have had a very hard time keeping afloat the last few years. Hubby has used up all of his mom's savings to do so. Every year, at this time of year, kids quit and new kids apply because April is the start of the new year, but the numbers had just been going down. This year looks a bit more promising *crossing fingers* Hope to make up all the losses. I did have to write a difficult mail yesterday. I have a one student class and the space needs to be opened for some new students so I asked the parent if she could move to another class - or else pay for a private class. Her older sister is a one student class too, but it is at a later time and I don't mind doing it for a group price, but 4:30 is prime time and we can't afford it. If she quits because of it though... :( It was hard to write. I hope the mom doesn't take offense.

I have been binge watching the Agents of SHIELD, AGAIN. I love this show. I am a bit frustrated with Sky/Daisy who is supposed to be the compassionate one but who is so cruel to Raina after they are both turned. Raina is so misunderstood. Ward is the most interesting character of the show - most complex and mysterious. I love how the show shows later on how different he would have been in a different life. Also Fitz.

I tried to watch Wolverine because I had always wanted to, but I am disappointed. Maybe it is too old? It feels really fake and dumb. I really liked X MEN, but I wonder if I will feel the same about that if I rewatched it. It makes me hesitant to watch other Marvel movies I have missed.

What else? I have mostly had a quiet week, it being Spring Break. Audrey is finished with her second year of JH, Alex has got his graduation certificate and came home that day pleasantly drunk after going out with his friend from uni. Julian seems to be worried about his health in some way, and went to the doctor yesterday. He wouldn't tell me why though :P

I am planning to make lasagna tonight for our usual Saturday dinner.

Some pictures!( Read more... )