so much to do tomorrow
September 16, 2005
I really want to buy a cell phone. People think I am insane without my own cell. My mom is actually using it, so she doesn’t let me use it sometimes, hahaha. It is just not convenient, and I wonder how the world worked before cell phones. Anyhow, I really need it to find a job!! I am sometimes superstisious and saw a tv program showing lucky and unlucky persons today (blood type things!) I have type AB, which is sort of rare in Japan. Once I was the only type AB person in my class in highschool, haha… The program said that type AB persons should do important shopping today….so I decided not to do today, haha…but I will tomorrow for sure.
I am going to have my hair cut at my friend’s husband’ place. This is going to be my first haircut since I came back, so I am pretty excited!! I will keep my hair long since I have gotten many compliments. Thanks to Marcia. She convinced me to keep my hair long whenever I said that I wanted to have my hair short again. I believed that long hair didn’t look good on me, but I changed my mind. I like it long now.
I need to revise my resume to bring it to the orientation at an English language school. It would be nice to have a job and a place to live in tokyo soon. Kaori is having a hard time accepting that I am moving again…it is not too far, and I am sure I come home often. She will have a place to stay in Tokyo, so it won’t be too bad, right? Many people around her are moving, so it is understandable.
I hang out with her today. We had a lunch and a long tea/coffee time and a dinner today. one whole day!! It was fun as usual. At DOux cafe, I ran into my ex-coworker who started working with me in the tv and radio stations at the same year! Apparently, several or more? of the same year co-workers (people who started working at the same company at the same time, we call it Doh-ki) get together once a while, and I am very excited to see them again, because it has been 6 years! They have been working there for 10 years now! I would be in the same situation if I didn’t quit the job. Shiho-chan, the owner of the cafe, told me that it has been a while since he came in last tiem, so it was a nice surprise for all of us. Yamanashi is not a big place, but what a surprise! We were exchanging our contact info, and he was like “I can’t belive that I am writing down these!” because I don’t have a cell phone, hahaha… He went back to work around 7 pm, and that reminded me of those days when I worked a lot. The cafe is an amazing place by itself, and on top of that, there are so much good energy flowing in and out. I am sure it is because Shiho-chan has a great energy and good intentions. I feel lucky to get to know her and this cafe.
Harper said that he really want to visit me in Japan! I am very excited!! I really hope he can. I hope that I will have my own place in tokyo by then, or I might be living in a weekly apartment until I find a decent place. Either way, I will be in tokyo for sure. I am visiting my friend, Aki, in tokyo on Monday, so I will ask her about living situation over there. My highschool friend, Kumi has been living in Tokyo for a long time, so she must know pretty good about it. I am excited about living in Tokyo. I am a little bit worried, but at the same time excited…good feelings..
I went to an Indian restaurant for dinner with Kaori. She was worried that the restaurant wouldn’t have anything that I can eat, but they did have several vege menues and fish/seafood menus, so i had potato and green pea curry with a Nan. delicious!! I love curry. The restaurant has been running a business for a long time, and the chefs are Indian…an excellent curry place!
it was a nice day indeed…
healthy body
September 9, 2005
Today is not bad, but Japanese summer is pretty brutal…yes..humid and hot..my mom got sick, and so did my grandpa. Poor my mom, she has been taking care of my grandparents /her parents since they both have alzheimer’s disease. I don’t have a job yet and having pretty much laid back days since I got back from the states, but there were a few days when I was exhausted by heat and passed out pretty early. I want a healthy body and everyone should have a health body too…
Last Sat right before my Kamakura trip, Yurie invited me and her friend, Sayuri for a nice dinner again! It was so much fun as usual, and we had healthy and yummy foods. Her famous!! lentil soup, babaganush (spell? those eggplant dish with tahini..yumm), framboise sourbet (homemade!!), and the salad which she made when she came to Chicago! The salad has sauteed shrimp, mixed dark greens, tomatos, avocado, pine nuts, and more and more with balsamic vinegrett. I brought fresh ginger from my parents’ farm and homemade miso and tofa (tofu desert that I had in Taiwan and love it since then). I bought a fresh soymilk for tofu making (not that one in a box which is processed and not able to be tofu) which comes with a NIGORI which makes soymilk solid. It turned out pretty good. I made sweet ginger sauce with fresh ginger and brown suger for the syrup. I love the warm soft sweet tofu with sweet ginger sauce. The night was really fun and they are amazing women whom I want to be like. beautiful, smart, and sweet—they both are health conscious! So am I!!
A few nights ago, my dad and I had a good conversation. I realized that I tend to overwork and warn myself out and abuse? myself until my body says no…I might not be physically weak, but I just stressed myselft out. I am getting better at it though. When I worked at tv and radio station, I was always overworked and exhausted. My health condition was not good all the time. When I traveled with Yurie to France, I always asked her to slow down and I always complained backpain or headache or whatever the pain I had. when she came to Chicago, she was surprised how strong I got, haha, you guys should know that I am getting strong!! I didn’t see drastic change except I don’t get sick as often as before. I used to hate when people don’t understand people like us who get sick all the time. How many times people told me this, “are you sick again? (with a face, you know what I am talking about)” I think that relaxation is a key…yoga, meditation, therapy, or whatever… and also how you take things or see the world plays an imporatnt role as far as stress relief goes.
To be honest, not getting scholarship for the phD program devastated me for a big time. I felt that I failed and my life became meaningless in a way, but I have good friends who supported me throughout my hardship, and I realized that my life was not so bad, haha… I do have great friends. well, I don’t have many friends, but a few good ones!!! I am talking about YOU!! Just one failure didn’t seem a big deal when I see my life with a different perspective. I think that I learned the balance is important in my life. It is still challenging and never ends, but I feel better now, probably because I have been resting for a while…haha…
Anyhow, I just wanted to say many thanks to my friends who support me all the time…
surprise!
September 2, 2005
Apparently, I was not ready for my friend’s wedding–what I should wear, how to get there, booking a train ticket and so on– I asked Kaori to help many things–bascically asking a lot of questions about a wedding here. I have been to a wedding a long time ago—10 years ago? OMG… But now I am old enough to know how to attend a Japanese wedding. I am very excited about it, because many people from Cornell College will be there, and Kamakura is a really cool place to visit, and of course I am very happy for Sayaka.
So I was hanging out with Kaori pretty much all day along after acupuncture this moring. I can’t believe that I got sort of lost while driving–too many new roads–on my way to her place (I drove on the other side–it is a secret!! don’t tell anyone–). I cooked lunch at her place and we ate it together. Since she is not fond of vegetables, especially carrot, I made—stir fried rice with mushroom, sesame lemon cole slaw, and sweet potato hash with tofu. She liked it! and we sort of ate too much to be productive afterward, hahaha… I suggested that we should be cafeinated to be able to be awake, so we went to DOux Cafe. I thanked Shiho, the owner of the cafe who mentioned me and my blog on her site, and asked her many questions about how she started this cafe. She showed us the pictures of progress from the office space to the cafe. She loves making everything out of scratch, and I was very impressed that she did most of the carpentry work. What is really amazed me is that she had a great taste on interior design and cafe menu. It is called talent, I believe. I love people who have great tastes.
At the cafe, Kaori showed me the mini-sketch book that she kept what she did in Chicago last year when she came to visit me. There are many amazing drawings of my friends, foods, buildings, and even a map of my apartment and very nice descriptions on it. She minimized maps and plans by photocopying and nicely pasted on the book. I really miss my friends in Chicago…. She drew Harper’s face, Matiss’ face, Marcia’s face, and druvis too. I was like…ohhh…
While I was doing that, two pretty ladies came in the cafe, and I glanced at them and turned back to where I was, and then…OMG I turned around again. Here they are! they were my coworkers from the tv and radio station where I used to work!! I haven’t seen them for a good 6 years! What a surprise! They looked the same and sounded the same as before. We promised to get together soon. I worked there only 3 1/2 years, but that was such an intensive part of my life, so it meant a lot to me. I liked this surprise! I felt bad that I lost in touch with them. Oh well, now I am catching it up, right?
After the cafe, we went to a Home depot-type place in order for Kaori to get pieces of wood. She is making a wooden box for her friend. I was browsing around, thinking about what kind of stuff that I need when I find an apartment for myself in Tokyo. Harper told me that he wouldn’t come visit me unless I move to Tokyo, hahaha. well, there is no club in my hometown for sure, but many cute girls…
Kaori gave me manicure and pedicure for the wedding. They are a combination of dark beige and gold polishes and very sparkly. She can do such a detailed work, which I am not good at… we are good at different things…
It was a fun day, and I realized that it had been over one week since I came back from Chicago. I feel better about being here and excited about getting a job and moving to Tokyo. Please come visit me, my friends those who don’t live in Tokyo. I will show you around!!!
super freash ginger
August 30, 2005
I started feeling sinus infention-ish, which I don’t like the most in terms of my health weakness. Of course, I have been doing netti pot (my mom thought I brought back my “favorite” water pitcher), but I picked a freash ginger root from my dad’s farm today and ate it just as raw. It was very tender and yummy! and helped decongest my sinus. I love ginger and I didn’t know my dad was making it. I helped planting echarlottes (spell? you know a little onion family root vegetable), which will be ready next Spring. My favorite from his farm beside ginger is sweet potato’s stems. It is like a skinny? green bean and tastes slightly sweet potato. yummy…
Tomorrow, I am going to have acupuncture with my mon and go get my eye lash permed with my friend. I know it sounds crazy, but it is pretty common here in Japan. I have been using a heated curler,but it got broken, so when my friend told me about the place (she liked their job—it’s important to know), I asked her to make a reservation for me. no more curler for me at least for a month.
I felt like I should move on as soon as possible, but I should recharge my energy and complete my thesis, which is not hard at all at this point (one more approval). So if people ask me what I am doing, I should say that I am taking a little break in my life. How does it sound?
I miss living in Chicago with my old (oh..) roommates and hanging out my friends in Chicago…
Of course, I love my friends here, but I want both…some day!
I have been very caffeinated since I moved back to Japan. A cup of green tea every meal and one or two cups of coffee everyday. I don’t know anyone who tries not to drink too much caffeine here, well I guess I know a few peope, but in general, I haven’t seen decaf coffee at any place yet. I haven’t been to Star Bucks yet. They have soy milk though.
Many people are health conscious and whatever the food tv shows introduced for health benefits instantly becomes popular. People drink vineger for health benefit (healthy blood stream and more), and special cooking oil which supposedly doesn’t turn into body fat too much is very popular, and many tv programs about health including diet are popular too. People try to loose weight in a healthy way, and family restaurant menu always indicates calories of each dish. Detox, raw food, fasting are popular too. I enjoy the tv shows about health, but loosing weight stuff doesn’t make me happy at all. I love eating and eating is fun! I care my health, but I won’t sacrifice my enjoyment of food. I want to be healthy, which is true, so I can be conscious about my body, but not too much.
Okay, I am getting sleepy….My parents eat out for lunch every Wed as my mom’s hardwork for taking care of my grandma who has Alzheimer’s disease. I am going to join them…exciting! Oops, see I can’t be on diet…
sweet dreams.
bitter cucumber
August 25, 2005
I cooked a bitter cucumber with tofu and an eggplant which my dad made. My mom complained that I didn’t put meat in it. They ate it any way. I bought Lavazza (spell? who cares?) coffee ground yesterday and am drinking it with soy milk. normal normal morning…haha..
I hang out with Harumi, a friend of mine from highschool. I call her Haru chan. We had a lunch together and talked many things, family stuff, jobs, people, usual stuff. She is doing fine, and I felt good after I talked to her. The life here is not easy for us, women in our 30s, but the life is going on. She text messaged Kumi, another friend of mine from highschool and we sent her a picture of me…I need hair cut. ..anyhow, Kumi suggested that I should rent a weekly apt and get a temporary job while looking for a job, perhaps, teaching. That sounds awesome to me, because I already started feeling that I need to move. Don’t give me wrong, I love my parents, but it has been a while since I moved out here, so I feel like I don’t belong here. I should really do that, instead of worrying so much. Well, I just moved, so I need to rest a little and see my friends.
Today, I am going to see Kaori. We went to college together here in my home town. Aparently, I forgot to tell her what day I was coming home. When I called her, she was surprised. Since I started this blog, we email less often. I assume that she knows what is going on my life, and she said she felt like emailing each other by reading my blog. That is a trick.
The typhoon wasn’t bad at all in my home town, minor powerout, that seems it. But some areas were partially washed away..ouch… It is going to be hot today, weather forecast says…100 degree/ 30 degree.
I am very glad to know that Harper loves a new job and doing well. It was a tough summer for him and for me as well as far as career goes. Now he is doing well, and I hope that my turn is coming soon.
Water here tastes good, which I just found out…haha.. Japanese eggplant is so tender and yummy. bitter cucumber is very bitter, yet somehow tasty.
back in a right track
August 8, 2005
I started working hard on my thesis! which makes me feel very good. Not working (at the restaurant) helps, actually. I am leaving to a road trip tomorrow, but I will bring my laptop with me and hopefull make a lot of progress on my thesis. Harper’s mon and his cousin are in town, and we are going to drive to Colorado, which I have never done before, so exciting.
I am feeling that I am running out of my time here in the States, but what can I do? right? I felt kind of down in the last few days—pmsing for sure. Once my menstration started, I feel better and productive. Now I am going to get Italian ice at Miko’s. I love Italian ice so much. If you live in Chicago and haven’t tried it yet, you should! It is very very yummy, I promise.
Now I feel excited about going back to Japan! I will get a job in Tokyo, and find cool places and people! I am scared, of course, but I think it’s going to be good for me.
what a nice night
July 28, 2005
Last night, I had my friends come over and we had a dinner in my backyard. Luca is leaving on Sat…sad…so I wanted to make Japanese food and hang out. It was nice outside, and I love my apartment’s backyard. Our land lords do great job making the building and gardens pretty. They came out while we were siting outside, and gave us yummy water melons. Super sweet…. They thought I was having my farewell party. not yet…but it’s coming so soon.
I wish I could have known Luca a long time ago, but I am so glad that I’ve got to get to know him better. I am going to visit him in Prague some day. I liked to hear how friendly people in his home town interact each other. It really sounds like a nice country.
Marcia, Josh, Careid, Paul, and Luca were the members last night. Some reasons, our conversation got very dirty in a funny way, probably because we saw a neighbor couple making out through their apartment’s window, which we could see very well. A good thing about the dirty conversation is that it started after eating. Otherwise, I would have lost my appetite for sure. It was funny though…
I made Goma ae (spinach salad with sesame seeds), Maguro no Misozuke (marinated Tuna with miso paste), Ume Soba (buck wheat noodles with Japanese pickled plum paste), and Agedashi tofu (breaded deep fried tofu in kombu and mushroom broth). Oh…vegan cheese cake! Thanks to tofuti cream cheese, it is easy and delicious! I tried to make something they can’t get from Japanese restaurants here. Josh was very curious about the ingredients, and that made me happy, because he paid great attention on my cooking. I love that…
After the dinner, I went to Danny’s with Luca, Josh, and Nate. I had a really tasty scotch with them. It was nice. I didn’t have much alcohol, but it made me sick later the night. I am recovered now though. I have an acupuncture appointment today before work. I am excited!
That was a fun night.
my day off
July 25, 2005
I had a hard time falling asleep because of the heat and I slept in the living room where the airconditioner is on. Harper and Mike came home around 7 am (they were partying), and I went back to my room and slept a lot… I love sleeping, although I felt as if I lost a half day by sleeping in…not good feeling…
Becca called me and we went to get a coffee from Peet’s and went to Ethionpean diamond and had a yummy lunch. What a nice lunch! Her baby was moving around in her belly! I am very excited about her having a baby soon. I am so happy for her.
I got to hang out with Harper and Mike, although they were sort of hang over after partying hard. We ate at Irazu and Marcia joined us. It was nice.
I went to Hopleaf with Marcia and her friends who are also my friends now! It was nice. Nice beers and nice company…
I had a great day off hanging out with my friends. It is super hot out and very exhausting, but I feel very good now (partically because I had two beers…., but definately my friends)
We were talking about how hurtful when you like someone, but someone is not ready or not interested in you as much as you are. It is true. It is painful, isn’t it? I think when I like someone very much in a romantic way? (I don’t know how to call it), I almost don’t care wheter he likes me or not (of course, I don’t want him to hate me). I want him to be happy… Oh well, of course, I do have ugly? feelings, but when I meet great people, and things didn’t work out as I wished or dreamed, I just simply want them to be happy. Of course, I want to be happy as well. Maybe, I am just getting old..haha… I am just so thankful that I can meet great people (girls and boys, it doesn’t matter)…I am talking about you! You guys… I feel like I should say this before I hesitate to do so….
I didn’t start this conversation, but it happened tonight and made me think about a lot of things. I just remember that when I had heartbreak, Matt lended me his book called “All about Love”, and I cried and cried… It was good because I felt like I let every sadness out from me. Oh I should buy the book before I go back to Japan.
Let’s not talk about relationship too much, especially now when I am leaving soon.
What am I going to do tomorrow?
can’t stop eating peach sorbet
July 22, 2005
I worked all day today….exhausted….I guess it was not too bad though. Yeah, it is Friday night, but I am not in the mood for going out. All I want to do is reading a book-War Trash, and drinking a cup of tea and listening to the Royal Tenembaums’ sound track. I think that working at Wabi on Friday made me not want to go out after work, because wabi on Friday is like a club–many many people and loud music. I am sure that I will miss it some day.
I love peach sorbet so much! Oh I love the Italian ice place, Miko’s. I went there for the first time the other day with Becca. I had Mango Italian ice. It was sooooo delicious! I want to go there again on this weekend…
I loved the movie, Happy Endings. I want to see it again. I felt like I missed something, you know when so many things happen and the movie doesn’t show them chronologically, it is easy to get confused, but in a good way, I mean very curious… That is how I felt.
Are you guys going to Lollapalooza? I am working both nights….which means that I won’t get to see Blonde Red Head…Ben Kweller…oh well…
My baby basils are growing tall now…
my weekend and michigan a half day trip
June 7, 2005
Sat & Sun:
Harper’s parents were in town on the weekend, and I’ve got to hang out with them on Sat and Sun. On Sat Harper was doing a contest thing all day long, so I hang out with his parents without him. We went to an architectural cruise trip which I had never done it. I always thought it was too touristy, but I am glad I did. It was actually very informative and fun. In the middle of the tour, a storm started and stopped when the tour was over.
In the evening, Harper, his parents, Matiss and I went to XO and had a great tapas dinner. It was delicious! Soft Shell crab with cilranto sauce was so good. Half shell oysters were amazing too. Tapas is fun. I like trying a little bit of everything.
I hang out with his parents on Sun too. When Harper’s mon and I went to bathroom, we were talking about Mackintosh in the elevator, because she just bought Mac mini. Right after she asked me if I have Tiger, a guy walked into the elevator, and I said to her “I had a panther, but I have a tiger now.” and he said, “as a pet?” We laughed and said as an operation system. It was hilarious.
Harper’s parents are always nice to me and really fun to hang out with. Harper is lucky to have cool parents. They want to come to Japan and I want them too.
Monday:
It was a fun day today. I went to acupuncture and felt very decongested on my sinus=heaven! After that, Marcia and I went to Victory’s banner to have lunch. It’s been a while since I hang out with her, so it was nice. She had to go to her parents’ house in Michigan today, so I went along. I used my i trip for the first time since I bought it yesterday. It worked well and very easy to handle it. I am happy that I got it.
Marcia took me Belle’s brewery and we had yummy sandwiches with yummy beers on the way to her parents’. I had a black bean burger with belle’s amber, and she had a fish sandwich with Belle’s white ale. After I picked up my food, I saw temphe ruben sandwich as a today’s special, so I ordered it to go (so greedy……). I came back home and had a bit of it (even greedier….) It is very good. I am picky about temphe, but this one is good.
I met Marcia’s parents not for the first time, but it has been a while. Their house is amazing! Many rooms with many bathrooms…fancy fancy. They were switching tv channels from Brazilian to Greek ones (her dad is Brazilian, her mom is greek) It was cute! It was a nice and short trip. We left here around 4:30 and came back 2:30. She took me a nice coffee shop where we got good coffee. The coffee shop was cool and there were many people even if it was late on Monday. A used book store is next door. It seemed a cool town…
I thought I was tired, but cannot fall asleep now…oh coffee…
I guess I will try to fall aleep now.
