Sunday, October 25, 2009
every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end
Up until now, I have not continued my weekly Grocery Titan and Grocery Saver posting. Part of it was due to the fact that I haven't been going grocery shopping every weekend and also to me not knowing what was a good price for something here in Japan. Now that I've gotten more used to cooking here and now knowing what is a good deal and what isn't, I can continue my Grocery Titan and Saver. This might be kind of neat insight for you (my dear one or two readers) into Japan.
(Oh, and now I can actually read my receipts, so that helps too!)
This week's Grocery Titan title goes to .... *drum roll* .... The 5 pack of apples, coming in at a stunning 495Yen (with today's exchange rate, that is $5.38). That's a kick in the crotch, but if I remember correctly, apples can be pretty expensive in the U.S. as well. Maybe not this expensive though...
This week's Grocery Saver title goes to .... *skips drum roll* .... the four pack of large shitake mushrooms for only 100Yen ($1.09). Mmm....
I bought a ton of fruit (bananas, oranges, apples) and veggies (spinach, mushrooms, carrots) this week, so here's to hoping I don't let them go to waste! Sometimes, I plan on eating at home and then somehow end up not. :/
I'm hoping to revive this blog before the end of the year is here. I need some place to put random thoughts, so I think this will be it. Not sure what to do with the LJ...Any ideas? I kind of wanted to keep it fandom (JE, HP, anime, etc) and photography based, but now I feel like it would be a hassle...We'll see. Still, any input would be appreciated!
0 CoMmEnTs
Friday, October 16, 2009
Today, I did something I am really proud of. I un-friended a guy on facebook because he is (to put it lightly) a douchebag. I had originally friended him because I met him at Chicago orientation and he seemed so scared and like he needed some cheering. Now he consistently tries to belittle me in comments on my status updates. So I deleted his comments AND un-friended him. It feels good to have a backbone. Life is too short for douchebags.
0 CoMmEnTs
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Today, I used a half hour during the day to go to go pay a couple of bills. Here in Assabu, things are done in an interesting way when it comes to paying bills. I receive bills for gas (for the two-burner stove top and water heater), oil (for the kerosene stove), water, electric and phone (local calls and international billed separately). Most of my bills I can pay at the bank (which opens at 10am and closes at 3pm). This is pretty convenient as this is where my monthly paycheck is deposited. Some bills, however, I still have to pay at the place that supplies the services/goods. I pay the gas bill at one of the local hardware stores and the oil bill gets paid somewhere I have yet to discover. Once I start using the kerosene stove for heat in the winter, I will find that out.
Anyhow, I usually wait until I have at least 2 bills to pay and then I take a half hour in the afternoon when I am at the office. It's a nice break and it helps me to not feel too tired just sitting.
Today, while I was walking to run these errands, I noticed (as I have so many times before) that I walk with everything in my left hand or over my left shoulder. My right hand remains empty, even if my left side is laden down with many things. I usually don't notice this, but on occasion it becomes really obvious. Those who are, or have been, in the Armed Forces can probably guess why I have this habit: it is so that my right hand is free to salute an officer or warrant officer at any time. Even not having been Active Army, but having been deployed for almost a third of my 8 years of service, I have developed and continued this habit. I wonder if any other fellow servicemen have this same habit?
I don't try to change this habit. There's really no reason to and I like to think that it helps even out the natural strength differential between my right (dominant) and left arms. Of course, that may just be a convenient excuse to cover the strange feeling of nostalgic pride I feel every time I notice it…
1 CoMmEnTs
Monday, June 15, 2009
one more robot learns to feel*
Ah....today is one of those "f*ck it" days where even the slightest discouragement makes me want to just say "f*ck it". I'm moody and I have a sneaking suspicion as to why. It feels like it wasn't that long ago that I was feeling this same way - it certainly doesn't feel like it has been 3 weeks. Suck. Also put into a bit of an irritable mood by the mere fact that it is Monday and I really don't feel like coming to work anymore. Only 11 work days left after today. Really will only work out to 10 because I'm sure my last day will be nothing but goofing around. Plus, if I am this distracted now, I can only imagine that coming to work will soon only be going through the motions and my mind and everything else will be, well, elsewhere.
In other, lighter news, This weekends Grocery Titan title goes to the SaraLee ovenroasted turkey breast that I bought at the deli counter totaling $4.98 for .57 lbs of goodness. Normally, I would scoff at paying so much for lunch meat, but don't really have sandwiches that often any more and figured it would be ok to splurge here and there. So that was it. If it weren't for that, the Grocery Titan would have been the sandwich bread rounds (8 pack) for $3.00 even.
As per usual, the bananas I bought came in as the Grocery Saver for the week. You just can't beat the nutrition in bananas at 53 cents a pound.
Guess that is about it. I'll quit boring you with the mundane details of my life and let you get on with the week. ;-P
*The Flaming Lips - One More Robot - Sympathy 3000-21Labels: grocery savers, grocery titans, grumpy, work
1 CoMmEnTs
Monday, June 08, 2009
i'm not that eager to make a mistake*
Have been going through a lot of stuff that has been either stuffed away in boxes or just laying around for months/years. I've stopped waffling around and decided to get rid of my "Ultimate Workout Log". I bought it in 2007 when I was motivated to actually be on some sort of exercise regimen. Now, I don't need to record my activity in a log because I have a pretty regular schedule that I adhere to because I enjoy it, rather than loathe it. I'm going to get rid of the workout log so I figured that one or two of my coworkers might be interested in having it. I wrote all of my entries in pencil, so they can easily be erased. As I was flipping through it to make sure there weren't any entries made in pen, I came across a note that I had written above the "By the Numbers" fact that was included on the page. The By the Numbers fact is: "50 mph: Top speed of a lion. 32 mph: Top speed of a giraffe. 30 mph: Top speed of a kangaroo. 27.9 mph: Top speed of a human. 25 mph: Top speed of an elephant." Above it, I wrote: "Why not something more important - like the top speed of an angry bear? I'd like to know my chances..." How apt that is, considering I'm moving to an area of Japan that has one of the largest populations of Japanese Brown Bears... Hopefully I will not find out firsthand.
This weekend was an expensive weekend. I went clothes shopping on Saturday with Nailz, so that really made the cost of the weekend go up. I mostly shopped at Marshalls for some business clothes for teaching. I got 6 items (one being a navy blue 2-piece skirt suit) for $113. The suit was the most expensive at $29. Everything else I got for $20 or under. Pretty good considering they are all nice items...
I also got rid of 3 grocery bags packed full of books. I sold some to Barnes & Noble for store credit and scored the new Mark Bittman food/cookbook and a manga. The books that Barnes & Noble didn't take (which was actually most of them...), I took to Half Price Books and got $50 cash. Fun times. I picked up three new CDs: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, JET - Get Born and one from a group called Hiroshima, album title is "East". The last album was very interesting. It's a group from Japan that mixed Jass, New Age and traditional Japanese sounds in the late 1980s. Very interesting. Something completely different from everything else I have. :)
Sunday, I went shopping at Target for a new purse (the strap on mine was about ready to break - and it did during that shopping trip). While there I picked up a cute, fake-leather tote for work in Japan. It has a spot for my laptop and looks like it will be fairly ideal for taking stuff too and from school in lieu of a briefcase. I also found the best thing since sliced bread.
Behold.If you read the review, it looks like I might need to save my receipt. But the idea of a reversible belt is pretty dang cool. I'm willing to give it a try because if it breaks, I can just take it back to Target.
In other (great) news, I have gotten in contact with my predecessor. She is British and seems absolutely lovely. She has already answered my major questions. Now I just need to pick her brain about the small stuff.
The work day cannot come to a close fast enough. Only a few more minutes, so...
*Bob Dylan - Things Have ChangedLabels: life, shopping, work
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Sunday, June 07, 2009
don't think me unkind, words are hard to find*So a couple of completely random things that have one thing in common: they have been both been found after having been lost.
The first thing I found earlier this week when exploring the pantry. I found a jar of something tomato based that my Mom had canned for me long ago. (I'm pretty sure that I've moved that jar of something from one apartment to the next without ever investigating it.) Opened it to find out what it was. I knew it had to be either salsa or pasta sauce. It was salsa, but it smelled funny, so I decided to taste it to see if it was good. It was and the reason it smelled funny was because it was loaded with Tabasco sauce. So have been using it up in recipes and on scrambled eggs on the weekends.
The other thing is that I came across my old CPU. When I say old, I mean 1998. Yes, it is only 11 years old, but that is almost a dinosaur in computer years. It is a Packard Bell Multimedia 730.
Stats:
- MII-266 MMX Enhanced processor
- 4.3 GB HDD
- 40 MB SyncDRAM
- 56 Kbps capable modem
- 24x Max variable speed CD-ROM Drive (notice it's not writeable)
It still (miraculously) works. I do get the occasional BSOD. Today, I fired it up to get all of the data off of it from college. I was hoping to hook up the external HD to migrate the data, but no dice. The old CPU wanted a driver for the HD. I had to resort to...*pauses for dramatic effect*...floppy disks. Luckily, I had all of the documents that were on the HD on a stack of floppies numbering 42 in total.
When I fired up the old PC, I had only plugged in the necessary items to get the data transfered. Then I noticed that the CD drive was doing something. It was playing a CD. I pushed the eject button but the drive door wouldn't open. I tried to pry the CD drawer open while pressing eject. Nothing. It occurred to me that the CD stuck in this drive might be my long lost Police CD that I had been on-and-off wracking my brain to figure out what had ever happened to it. I said to Nailz, "If this is my Police CD...*leaves out further vulgar statement*". Sadly, though the old PC only has a few ports on it, it took a few minutes to find the correct place to plug in speakers and then another minute or two to figure out how to make sound come out. There were four places to check for volume: the media player, the speakers themselves, the icon tray and on the old PC itself (right below the CD-ROM drive). Finally sound came out and I was greeted with the beginning beats of "Roxanne". I couldn't help but give out a surprised, "You bastard!!". For years I have been trying to figure out what had happened to that CD...
Ah...but now that 'tis found, I feel complete again. It must be hitsuzen, as The Police is perfect for the first real rainy day we've had all spring.
*The Police - De Do Do Do, De Da Da DaLabels: life, random
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
i don't know what more to ask for - i was given just one wish*
The month of May is coming to an emotionally bombastic conclusion. A lot has been happening. Last week was a super-stressful week at work due to last minute big project changes. I don't remember if I blogged it or not, but on the 14th, I told my boss about my impending move to Japan, so while that released a lot of built-up pressure, it also created a bit of collateral stress in relations with coworkers. All that stress made this past 3-day weekend feel really good. It was amazing how by Sunday night I was feeling something close to human again.
This week has been going quickly, thanks to Monday being a holiday. Yesterday, I received notification of my placement for the JET Program. I will be teaching in a small town called Assabu on the southern peninsula of Hokkaido (the northernmost island). I originally mistook the town to be Asabu, which is an area in Sapporo city (a bustling city of 1.8 million with 3 types of wonderful public transportation). I am still pretty excited, but I think it might take a while to get used to being the only foreigner there.
Because of finding out my placement, I didn't sleep a wink last night. (Did I mention they have one of the largest populations of Ezo Higuma (Japanese brown bears) there? They look a lot like grizzlies...) Tossed and turned all night and really didn't feel like getting up for work today. Got here and there's not much work to be had - yet.
Another happening is that, as of today, I am officially released from the Army. I have completed all 8 years of my contract. As of today, I am once again a civilian with all of the freedoms inherent in that role. I wrote about this event in my personal (aka paper) journal last night before going to bed and I went much more in depth. At this point, I wish I could rhapsodize about my service, but I just don't have the energy or concentration. There is more emotion connected with this ending than I anticipated. I had only anticipated joy at the end of my contract; now, I realize that it really is the end of a personal era and that comes with a mixed bag of emotions.
On a completely different note, this weekend is already jam packed with entertainment. Every once in a while I have one of those weekends where there is no time; the kind where I'll be out doing
stuff most of the weekend. The bad thing about that is that I have A LOT of stuff to start doing in preparation for my overseas departure... I really need to get my act together on that one.
Squirrely News of the Odd*Royksopp - What Else is There?Labels: JET program, life, work
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