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.

No new questions last weekend, so here are some from the same week in 2020.

These questions were written by ahunter3.

1. Have you ever been in a hurricane or typhoon? Which one, when and where?

I've been in typhoons often. One that was memorable was in late elementary school - 5th or 6th grade, I think. It was pouring rain and my umbrella didn't make any difference on how wet I was getting because of the strong winds, so I just gave up, closed my umbrella and took a shower in the rain. It took about 10 minutes from the train station to my home and I put my umbrella down around half way there. I remember just abandoning myself to the rain because I was already as wet as I was ever going to be and it didn't matter. Mom got me a towel at the genkan (door) and hurried me to the shower where I peeled off my clothes. It must have been fall because I remember being cold when I got home, and the warmth of the shower was devine.

Typhoons are never destructive where I am living, and I've never been scared of them, but landslides do occur in mountainous areas and they are dangerous near flooding rivers.

2. Have you ever been near an erupting volcano? Which one, when and where?
No, and thank goodness. However, we always live with the possibility that some day Mt Fuji will erupt. We are not that close, but there will be air polution even here.

3. Are there tornadoes where you live? Has a tornado come near you?
No, and I have never experienced a tornado.

4. Have you experienced severe flooding? When and where?
No, thankfully. There has been flooding in the rivers not so far from us, but we have never been affected.

5. What is the most extreme weather you have ever experienced?

There was a typhoon a few years back which caused the flooding and landslides, and weather forcast had shops close early on Friday night. We closed our school that Saturday too. Everyone was holed up at home.

One year when Audrey was 4 or 5 (10 or so years ago) we had major snow here in Tokyo where the snow walls in the parking lots were higher than my daughter (1m). Summers can sometimes go over 40 degrees celcius here but I've experienced 50 in Thailand when we went on our Senior trip. I experienced an extremely cold winter in Vancouver while I was in uni, where temps went down to 15 below (30 - 40 with winds). My friend came to visit from Missouri and couldn't get back because the airport shut down. That doesn't happen often here in Tokyo either.

Compared to other places, though, the weather is mild.

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The other day, my son asked where the word cocktail comes from. We looked it up and found some interesting explanations. I think the beer dregs idea is most likely. If you're interested, here is a link to a page I looked at.

I am getting rather bored LOL I read Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series for three days straight and that was scary in how addictive it was. The writing itself was not special, but the plot and characters were quite engaging. After that I was scared of wasting days away and tiring my eyes out again and switched to The Blacklist. I've watched up to the end of S8 and am taking a break. I want to watch The Sandman, or Big Sky next. Maybe Big Sky since it's on Disney and I might forget it otherwise. I don't really open Disney regularly and was thinking of quitting the subscription so I've got to check it(Big Sky) out first.

Julian went to Kyoto this last weekend. There was some game festival. He went and stayed the night with a friend (a boy, and just a friend) and did some sightseeing before coming home the next day. He bought us some yatsuhashi, a popular gift from Kyoto. I've never been to Kyoto. It would be nice to go... but not in the summer because it is super hot there... one of these days.

Audrey is studying her buns off for highschool entrance exams in February. She needs to improve her school grades to even apply to the schools of her choice. Did I tell you about the grades here? Well it is a 5 grade system with 1 being the lowest (F) and 5 being the highest (A), but 1 is not quite the same as F because you can't really "fail" a class here. There are no do-overs either. Audrey's grades have finally, mostly, come up to a 3 - "average" - but she got a 2 for Math which she wasn't expecting, and she had expected a 4 for English, but got 3 for that, so she was quite disapointed. We went to talk with the teacher for our three party meeting (child, teacher, parent). The homeroom teacher is also her math teacher and he told us that her grade was barely a 2. Almost a 3. Only a few points below. Boo. It's her last year! Give her a BREAK! :((( As to the English, the teacher was new - just got back from maternity leave - and her grading system was a bit different from Audrey's previous teacher. Apparently, she adds up points for how many times the child raises his/her hand. (SERIOUSLY?!) This was new to Audrey and was not explained enough imo. We were disapointed with these two grades because now she will have to work doubly hard for her next semester because the GPA will be based on these two semesters (there are three semesters per year). But, now she knows and can raise her points easily with regard to raising her hand. *deep sigh*

The only subject she does well with is English(language, not literature), because of me obviously and not because she is good at studying the subject. But she is increasingly motivated to work hard now that her highschool entrance is on the line. I'm just hoping and praying while she goes off to cram school every day.

That's about it I guess. Time to have some coffee and chocolate muffins (made with nut butter - super yummy!) while I start on Big Sky.

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...

( See pics )

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... )