Learning New Things!

Can you read that? It says "Cream Prune Drop".
Maybe next time I'll have the guts to buy a bag. Ugh.

Today I went to Ranch 99 Market! It's a (ghetto, depending who you talk to) local? Asian grocery store, complete with lots of live seafood in the back. The fish were a bit too closely packed in the tanks, but I tried not to think about that. Killing fish, I have no problems with, but packing them in a tank kinda makes me nauseous.

I always thought they only had Chinese foods (I'm referring to junk foods) but they also had the coveted kinako pocky and the Harvest sesame crackers that I like so much. I squealed and clapped my hands and amused my buddy S who took me there. I introduced him to ramune and sweet tomato juice. Good times.

We also had pho across the street. Good, but I've had better. Once I start making money, I'll start trolling around for a favorite pho place. It'll be exciting. It's so great having an English menu again!

Sorry no real update yet. Tuesday I went back to LB for a hair appointment, Wednesday I sat around and cleaned a necklace (now the pearls aren't the same color as the earrings, drat.) and then went to try makeup at Sephora. Good-ness. That place was great. Everything was available for trying on, everything was clearly priced. Comforting contrast from the intimidating department store places. Not going there again, bleh. K (the bride) settled on a blush called orgasm, a lipstick called flirt, and an eyeshadow called champagne. Great. I envied her. Someday I'll have a steady income again, and I can buy myself natural makeup that I can toss in a bag and not use. :-P

Speech contest is almost over guys! Gambatte!

On to pictures!

Apparently the questionable kodomo (kids') beer has made it to the states. I'm surprised some family group isn't all up in arms about it. Oh wait, those kinds of people don't go to Ranch 99...

Happiness! Naked baby mayonaise!
(Actually, it's pretty good--very smooth.)

Even better! Pretz! And Salad Pretz! And Toppo!
Sorry, for those that don't know--these are some of my favorites.
If you look closely, you can even see those choco-mushroom cap things.

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Exit Camino Capistrano...

There's this one part on the 5 where the ocean just looks different. It's always fuzzy on the horizon. I'll spare the poetics, but it always makes my breath catch when I hit that point. There's a scent in the air, and no one can tell me what it is. I'm hoping it's a bush or a flower, but for all I know, it's a landfill. I always put the windows down to enjoy it. Sometimes I turn my music down.

And this weekend, I got to spend the night in a condo with a view of that ocean. That particular part of the ocean. There were sailboats and a tall ship, and I could see white caps, but just barely. (Not a good day for a 6-person motorboat fishing trip.) I could've just stared out the window all day and been perfectly content. I don't need the beach with that view. The water's cold here, I forgot about that.







The weeklong trip ended up looking like this:
SD to LB to SJ to Berk to SF to Berk to SJ to LB to DP to home. All in 10 days. Tomorrow, I think I'll reward myself with a trip to my favorite beach (Coronado, by the Hotel Del, but closer to the naval base)

My life is full of organizational emails these days. It's nice to be busy, but I miss telling people about stuff. I type faster and faster, thinking that I'll be able to write someone a long conversational letter when I'm done, but then I remember to do something else. I send emails from both addresses, much to the confusion of the recipients. I'll route it all through gmail someday, I promise.

Pictures and that phone review later.

And I got invited to another wedding! Hooray! That one's gonna be a good one.

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Now Then...

Well, now that I've told people (all three of you), I'm gonna leave you. Ha!

Schedule for the following week:
Sat. Bachelorette party in SF (bride V) up north (with lunch and bridal shop plans attached)
Sun. recovery brunch and dinner in Berk with friends
Mon-Tues. hang out with grandparents (SJ)
Wed-Sun. back south (LB) hang out with bride K, be useful

Well, there goes my streak of not leaving the house. It's funny, I'm being all asocial, like D. I always thought I was a social person, but I guess it's a lot easier when you don't have to drive the entire length of Honshu (give or take) to seek it out.

Real quick, a moment of respect for the sakaiatrist, who should finally be done with school by Monday. One more paper, I think.

I'll leave you with a new BBC moment:

Don't forget to read the caption.

I'll try to take lots of photos, and I promise to keep my nose clean. :-D

Upcoming: new cell phone review!

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Hi, I'm Hungry.

I guess I should finally share this with you guys, now that I'm not around to tell you about stuff in person. Maybe this'll be my new(est) photo blog. We'll see.

Tonight I made cookies. Look at how much work I put into them:



Yep, frozen, pre-shaped cookies. Back in high school, I at least remember there being a tub we had to scoop the dough out of. The cookies turned out pretty good, but I was good and only ate one. (Eating late at night keeps me up, and I certainly don't need that.)

And while I'm here, I'd like to remind you Japan-folks what real grocery stores are like:
(If you want to do a lesson about stuff like this, I take requests.)

The lunchmeat section.

The orange juice section.

Community Art.

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I feel creepy.

So, been looking at moving stuff, and I found an easy to digest blog documenting this guy's move from the midwest to Seattle with his new wife and blah and blah and buy a condo and rennovate the condo and lose some weight and get a divorce.

I had to blink for a second on that last one. It's not a really private blog, but there it was, bam.

That's when I felt guilty about reading this guy's blog. I'm just skimming through his life, looking for something interesting or useful, and I learn about his pets and then I get too much information. Does anyone else ever feel like that?

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Where is your purse?

At the same hanging-out I referenced last time, there was this crazy friendly guy who made some comment that no purses were on the floor. Two of us pointed to our purses in a pile by our shoes. His reply? "Oh, it's cuz you're not Mexican." He turned to the third girl, who is Mexican. "Yours isn't though, right?" "Nope," she responded.

Mystery! What does it all mean?

I googled, and found out the floor represents hell, "the ultimate bad luck" and that "Women should never set their purses on the floor if they want their money to last." (link, scroll down to the bottom) I learned something new and cultural at home! How exciting!

Currently I'm googling for tips on moving North, and I'm encountering a lot of documentation about the "[City] Chill." Dammit. I wonder if (the collective we) hate transplants that much? I despise the houses that were built on the ranch on the opposite hill from us, but I haven't met the people yet. I wonder.

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Oh no the internets!

At least I can still count on the BBC. Something something crappy internet privacy software!


I like to imagine an actual company hunched around a computer like that. And some expert with a clipboard claiming "the application is not doing what it says it does." And then the poor worried guy starts to cry. dum Dum DUMMMMM. Thanks BBC, we needed that stock photo for added drama.

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Not so okay with reality

Back on the west coast, day 9.

Reality blows when you're on your way back in.

Google tells me that the phrase "I don't want to be a lawyer" generates 3,900,000 results. Thank you, google.

An old acquaintance that I've never really talked to mentioned that I'd make a good lawyer. Even though that was probably a polite observation on my people skills (my other comments that night included "You look like an Irish Freddie Mercury!!!!"), I appreciated the comment. I still don't want to be a lawyer because I'm not disciplined enough for details, but I appreciated it. He's one of those weirdos that say things and it really sounds like they mean it. PS, thanks for the burger.

I'm trying to look for jobs and apartments and considering a big ol' move (Seattle?), and I feel like I'm really behind because everyone already has jobs or has at least been agonizing it for a month longer than me. In the past week, two people have casually mentioned that updating their resume was on their to do list that afternoon. My to do list today consisted of three things--shower, find some bins that could serve as makeshift drawers (still living in the family room), and do laundry. I started that list at 7pm. I gave up on the last one. What social commitments do I have these days? None, thank goodness.

I will be chipper when I damn well feel like it. Until then, let's all bask in my fretfulness.

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