On Mother Taiwan and her breast milk

Today was amusing. I had to pay yet another visit to Shinagawa Immigration bureau to pick up my extended visa for Japan.

One thing I wasn't expecting was running into a certain visa applicant again, and I just began laughing out loud every time I think about it.

Really I don't know this woman personally, but over our last 3 hours 'encounter' earlier this month, I feel like I know some major information that could identify this woman from miles away

The followings are what I know:

- She is from Taiwan

- She speaks heavily accented multiple languages: Mandarin, Japanese and English

- She has a young baby who is still drinking breast milk

- While she was taking care of her visa at the immigration bureau, someone she knows was baby-sitting her baby

- Said babysitter rang her not knowing where the breast milk was stored

- Mother Taiwan strived to explain to this baby-sitter where the milk is located, first in Japanese - no good. English - no good. And then she began to panic in Mandarin - this one particular segment I couldn't follow, as I do not understand a word of Mandarin.

- Mother Taiwan hung up the phone.

- 5 minutes later the phone rang again. This time it seemed to be a different person.

- And then the whole cycle repeated itself. Japanese - no good. English - seemed to be worse, and then she went back to Japanese, this time very slowly. And then she seemed to discover that the fundamental problem is the power of her voice, that it wasn't loud enough. So she began shouting instructions on where to find the breast milk that she had prepared, to the phone. Somebody seemed to get the message.

- 15 blissfully quiet minutes passed. And then her phone rang again. From her reaction I gathered that the babysitters still couldn't find the breast milk. And then she yelled at the phone, "It is on the top shelf of the little fridge in the bedroom! The ones in the kitchen fridge is not breast milk. Top shelf! No, that's in the kitchen! Top shelf of other fridge in the bedroom!"

- 5 minutes later, "No! I didn't lock the bedroom. What? Let me see."

- "I'm telling you the one in the kitchen is not breast milk. It is the one in the bedroom. The key is in the kitchen."

- After 1 hour of back and forth on the telephone, finally the phone didn't ring again. I was itching to ask her, "Did they finally find the breast milk?" Of course I didn't, because by then my turn was up.


Today as I was lining up to be called up for the visa, I ran into Mother Taiwan again. I wasn't paying attention, and truthfully I did not remember her face initially, but as I started standing and waiting, a cell phone rang. One woman picked up and started conversing rather loudly, and I couldn't help overhearing the conversation. After 1 minute, I recognized her voice, her accent, and the topic of importance, "The breast milk is on the top shelf of the little fridge in the bedroom! In the bedroom!"

Don't blame me for my disability to muffle my snort and giggles.

I wish... I WISH that she would buy a cooler where she could store her breast milk and put it on the kitchen table when she's asking someone to babysit. Or at least label the bottle somehow and put it in the kitchen's fridge. Poor baby, s/he must be really hungry while Mother Taiwan persisted in storing her breast milk on the top shelf of the little fridge in the bedroom. In the bedroom!

The Ultimate Depression

I am so depressed right now. So very depressed, it is beyond believe and recognition. And I take this as a very bitter lesson for putting some things to the very last minute. Yeah, I can be that stupid sometime.

I am talking about the upcoming Earth Celebration. Still 3 weeks away, I suddenly remembered that I haven't booked the three-day-pass for their Shiroyama concerts. I quickly called the ticketing office, and they gave me the unexpected news: The 3-day-passes are all sold out. Gone.

Unwilling to believe them, I called my teacher to see how his luck had been with the tickets. He explained to me that the reason why the tickets are all sold out was because they are selling the first 1,300 seats for the potential indoors concert. As we all know since the venue is outdoors, there is always a potential that it might rain, thus the 1,300 people ceiling for an indoors venue. DAMN! DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!
Still reluctant to believe the horror of it all, I went online and tried to buy the ticket from the website. Not getting any response from them within 15 minutes, I called another phone number for the ticketing service and spoke to a very pleasant woman who kindly explained to me what Sensei told me merely 15 minutes prior. I finally am able to accept the truth. She then fixed me for the first two-days concert and said that if the day is fine on August 19, she is quite certain that I will be able to get a ticket for that day, considering that will mean an additional 1,700 tickets. Yeah, OK, I agree that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But I am still furious at myself.

On the brighter side: I got accepted to join Miyake Taiko workshop on Sunday at 10 am. The Kodo service has organized a special arrangement so I will be able to make it in time for my taiko troupe's performance at 1:15 pm on Sunday.

But why am I still feeling so sad...

It's HERE!!!

I am - at this very second - holding in my hand: "HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS"!!!!!



I was so annoyed because I have to work today and therefore the Amazon people wouldn't be able to deliver this to my house, but.... I changed the delivery address to my office.
A bit iffy with this decision since usually Amazon doesn't deliver to offices on weekends or holidays, but I was holding my breath to good faith. Equipped with my staff's note to bring the package into the research facility (so I will not be getting any delay whatsoever), the very cool delivery person (he was wearing sunnies like Bono) came and said to me, "It's Harry Potter, isn't it?" Hahaha!!! Yes, sir!

Yeah, I am a freak.

I'm a bit mad right now

How could he do that to my dear Antonio Sanchez?

Oh, yeah, I am talking about my guitar teacher.

So, today I hailed to my 3rd guitar class. Teacher O said that my progress is impressive that I have sailed through some months worth of training in just a few classes. If only anyone would pay attention to the fact that I am not a beginner and gave me a placement test at the beginning, maybe we could save some precious time (and my money!).
This comment came with a price, though. Teacher O simply said that my guitar cannot keep up with me. That my Antonio Sanchez could not produce the sound that is meant to be produced.
In proving his point, he handed me his guitar and asked me to play a few songs with it. And... I am officially damned, because I get what he's saying.

But Antonio Sanchez is still a beautiful guitar. And the sound that it produces is also beautiful. Yes, maybe not as beautiful as Teacher O's guitar, but still beautiful.
If Teacher O is thinking that I'd ditch my beautiful guitar just because he said I should, then he must be living in some weird guitar planet and simply is out of his mind.

I'm sticking to Antonio Sanchez. If in 6 months time I feel pulled back by it, only then, we can reopen this guitar changing topic.

Hmmph! I'm a bit mad right now.

Typhoon, earthquake and survival

What a weekend!

Obviously there is no logical explanation on why on 3 day-weekend alone one country could be attacked with so many natural disasters.

I and my drumming friend O.Div went up North to visit my Japanese family in Niigata on Friday evening. We were welcomed with a cold evening and was awaken by the rattling sound of rain on the sun-roof the following morning. The big typhoon was broadcasted to have hit Okinawa and was moving up towards Kyoto and Tokyo and eventually to the northern coast. The typhoon did not create many problems for Niigata area, except for the ongoing 24 hours of rain and wind.

Sunday was only mildly raining, and around 4 pm the coast was declared clear, so we ventured the Niigata Jazz Street festival. Some old friend's jazz band was performing at one of the hot spot at the festival, so we had to go and check it out.
We went up to one of Niigata skyscraper "Next 21" building to get a bird's eye view. We made it in time during the sunset and caught a very interesting mother nature phenomenon. the coast line was clear and blue but the black cloud was looming above the coast, with snippets of red from the sun there. The rest of the evening was pretty much uneventful. We sent away O.Div with the last shinkansen back to Tokyo and I was just hanging out with the family and chatted the evening away for the rest of the evening.

Monday came with me staring at the blue sky under the sun-roof. Yes! Finally a beautiful day!
I buzzed around getting ready and packed things and was about to undress and jump into the shower when I heard a loud noise. BANG!
Seconds later I heard my 10 yo little sister screamed from the attic. I opened the bathroom door to see what's going on and she pelted into the bathroom and clung to me, shaking. Or at least I thought that she was shaking. Moments later I realized that it wasn't her. The ground was shaking and the entire house was rocking along with it! Okasan* screamed for my little sister's name and ordered us to go the 1st floor. There we all opened all windows and ran quickly outside, together with the dog. The earth was still moving for about 10 minutes or so, and all our neighbors were out on the street - making sure that we're a significant distant away from walls and buildings.

After that, all was quiet.

Our house is located quite close to the coast of Niigata sea and we were wondering if we're going to be tsunami prone. Thankfully, our area was OK. We heard sirens coming from the coastline and some helicopters approaching as well. Otosan** turned on the TV and immediately we saw that the epicenter was indeed in Niigata prefecture, off the Chuetsu coast. The city that suffered the most is Kashiwazaki. It was 6.8 RM (Richter scale) in Kashiwazaki and was 5 RM in Niigata city. No wonder the shake was quite large and lasted a while.
The rest of the day we were still getting some after shake.
We spent a few minutes getting some emergency bags ready, as well as sleeping bags, and have all our shoes in order, just in case we need to bolt to the door in moments notice.

As of 10:30 am, all transportation systems leaving Niigata was suspended indefinitely.



For my part, I was stranded the entire day in Niigata. This is such a bad news since I had to attend 3 meetings the following day in Tokyo. Having all my my stuff packed, my eyes and ears were glued to the TV broadcast. The aim was clear: once we get news that the shinkansen service resumed its operation, Otosan would start the car and we'd be at the train station within 15 minutes.
Which was what happened at 6:15 pm. We rushed to the station, I made my way to the ticket gate and there was an announcement that the service had been re-suspended because one of the tunnels collapsed. No one could guarantee when the train will resume its service.
Fortunately the bus services had re-opened, the land authority had redirected the bus to avoid the damaged area. So, I thought, well... I guess I better line up for the 5 hours bus ride to Tokyo. Right, I wasn't the only one who needed to be back in Tokyo. All buses were fully booked, I couldn't even get a seat to go to the neighboring prefecture.
Otosan then rushed me to Niigata airport to catch the last plane out at 8:30 pm. Another failure -the plane was full.
Then we rushed back again to Niigata bus center and got me a ticket for the first bus out towards Kanto region. I was enlisted for 7:50 am bus towards Takasaki (Gunma prefecture), where I can get a train connection to Tokyo.

After one day of exhausting drama I decided to go to bed early, with my clothes on and bag on the ready - just in case there is another quake. At 5 am Okasan woke me up to say that the news has broadcasted that the shinkansen service has returned to service. And at 6:03 am I was well on my way back to Tokyo.

There are many things that I am grateful for Japan. Their swiftness in dealing with natural disaster is one of them.

p.s.
Thanks so much for the phone calls and messages. I am well and safe back in Tokyo. My loved ones in Niigata are all safe, too.


*Okasan = Mother
**Otosan = Father

An early birthday present!

Oh, I'm so excited!!!

I know my birthday is not until next month, but I've decided on an early birthday present for myself. Yep!
I signed myself up for a guitar class!

So... I picked up the beloved instrument back late last month. Since then, whenever I'm home, I rarely find myself without Mister Antonio Sanchez in my hands. Got myself some music books, equipped with the tablatures. As an ambitious objective, I set myself up to master "Cavatina" for a small gig scheduled in September.

A month has passed and I have gone as far as 2 pages in Cavatina (the entire music is about 7 pages), and I'm nowhere near smooth in playing the parts. Looking around Youtube, the darned Xuefei Yang and Ana Vidovic sure made it look so simple and easy. I wonder how many years of training they went through to be able to spread 4 fingers across 5 frets, with different emphasis, on all different strings, too!

Again I came into the realization that I am not much of a self-teaching kind of pupil. I never was one. And doubtful I will ever be one.

So, off I went to Niibori Music School last night to see what they need me do to be able to start my education (other than money, of course).

I walked into the small classroom with 3 advanced students looking at me in their utmost bemused expression. Yeah, picture this: after finally locating their classroom in Yoyogi, I decided to rush over to the class that very evening.
I had shot them an e-mail on Monday afternoon, but they have not got back to me with a visitation schedule. I had only two nights free this week to investigate this further, one was Monday night, and the other was Tuesday night. I figured, why don't I just poke my nose in, worst case scenario would be when they turn me down until a visitation schedule is set. With that in mind, I decided to just go with the best intention to get there before 8 PM.
I cycled over with my giant gym bag in tow, unshowered, all sweaty and my hair was in complete disarray. The elevator was stuck in one of the floor and with 10 minutes to spare, I made a split second decision to run upstairs to the 5th floor where the class is located. While huff-n-puff-ing, I found the class and walked right into a class of 3 advanced guitarists. I mean, literally, right into the MIDDLE of it all. I bet they never had such a comical interruption.
Heck, how was I supposed to know if the classroom is also the reception area.

Putting that aside, and pausing the class for the 10 minutes I was there, Ogiwara-sensei went through the curriculum and explained how I could just easily ease into the system. And to my pleasant surprise: all classes will be one-on-one basis, unless I request otherwise. Heck! This is GREAT. Much better than my group class with YAMAHA years ago.

So, my trial class will be on Saturday and if I like it, I can start as early as next week.

I'm sooooooo excited!!! Can you tell?

The sad life of my two-wheelers

It is truly not a good day for my two-wheelers.

I was going to work today with all of my stuff in tow. In my agenda today: office, doctor and finally the gym. So I had quite a bit of stuff to carry in one go. Got to my bicycle, and I suddenly remember that I had an almost flat tire last night. Thought to pump some air into it, only to see that both my tires are now flat.
%$#%#'&$#'$('!!!
I had only 30 minutes to spare, so if I had to tend to this situation, I was obviously going to be late for work. So, I ran upstairs to collect my scooter key.

I haven't ridden my scooter in what seemed like 3 months. Ever since the weather picked up, I had always opted Mr. Spalding the bike to Pino the scooter.
After the long abandonment, of course Pino just refused to ignite. Yeah, I know, I should've at least attempted to start the engine every now and then as my brother the mechanic always preaches me to. Heck, what can you do? If you forget, you forget, see what I mean?

Finally after stubbornly kicking start the little machine, Pino choked the engine to life. Yay! I can finally be on my way!

Nope, something didn't seem quite right.

I could not open the damn little trunk. What is wrong now?? As I looked closely, I saw that the key-hole is jammed. What the #$&*!! I cannot believe this, I simply CANNOT believe this! Some loser tried to steal my scooter's little trunk! S/he obviously didn't succeed, the only damage s/he did was jamming the key-hole, and when s/he finally got into the trunk, they could only find my rain-gear.
This is just bloody annoying, now I cannot lock my trunk, which means that I have to carry all the stuff I have with me everywhere.

Bloody annoying. Especially because I can't bring the scooter to the locksmith until next weekend.

A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G!!

One fine day...

Another one fine day. It is at the moment 27C. Hellllooooo? It is Summer already now. Global warming at its peak, yeah. Yesterday it was 16C, and today it is 27C, and tomorrow is forecasted to be 17C. Global warming is the only explanation...

Today and tomorrow I am taking a couple of days off. Why, of course because I have 8 days worth taking altogether, and if I don't take them it will expire in a month time. So, I just simply think it is stupid not to use my comp days.

Unable to score an appointment with the dentist, the morning suddenly became available. Since my hamstrings are still sore, I decided to go to the gym rather than going to the park to jog. Besides, it is 27C, chances of fainting under the sun at 10 AM is quite high.
There was this aerobic class that I've been wanting to join, and it will be in an air-conditioned room.
The gym I'm commuting to is a chain that is available in different corners of Tokyo (and Japan). For convenience reasons (less people, closer to work, timely studio classes), I've been going to the one in Omotesando. Today, however, looking at the schedule the gym's HQ in Harajuku has a better class at 10:30 AM.
Got there at 10:20, running amok to the elevator to get to the class on time, only to be very puzzled to see the elevator's arrangement has changed. In fact, EVERYTHING have changed on that building. It seems now they are ruling all floors of the fancy glass building, except for 1st and 2nd floor, which is occupied by a stubborn boutique. Funny what 4 months renewal project did.

Back to the elevator... I honestly think their elevator arrangement is very stupid. They have two elevators, but only 1 that is functional to bring the gym members to the reception which is (now) on the 4th floor. For some oblivious reason, the elevator was stuck on one floor and never came down. Having waited 5 minutes, I grew restless, shouldn't there be stairs or something? Of course there is no other way, you have to be on that darned elevator.

Finally, the elevator came, and brought us up to the new reception floor, which is on the 4th floor. Now all lockers and showers and cross training machines are on the 4th floor. I became very confused... Did the studio move? If it didn't then how are we supposed to go to the 3rd floor? If it did, then where, there was no clear sign where everything was.
Asked the helpful lady, and she pointed a labyrinth like passage way to bring me to yet another elevator. "You need to go to the 3rd floor with an elevator, but hurry the class is starting like now."
The elevator came 2 minutes after they repaired it (some reconstruction was going on as I was waiting for it). Honestly, didn't anybody think of putting a flight of stairs to connect 3rd floor and 4th floor, to save anybody's anxiety and sanity? It is afterall a GYM. Taking a flight of stairs will give an extra workout, and that's good, no?
Oh well, the renewal is actually a good thing, though. The gym has become more spacious and you have more machines to use.

After the gym, I took a bike ride around Yoyogi and just going in and out of the small streets. The trees are now so lush and green, and it's blissfully empty, what big contrast to the Golden Week time where thousands of people seemed to choose my neighborhood as a hangout place and that's just bloody annoying.

Home again, now, after the refreshing shower I'm now going to eat some... grapefruits. Might cool me down a little. It is still May, so I don't allow myself to turn on the AC just yet.

Hmmmn, 2 more hours until I have to get ready to go to Carlos' thing. This will be good, I think this is his first time to have a concert at NHK Hall. So tonight, he's going to have the first concert for his new exploration of Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea)'s tunes. This album is called "Melodies Inspired by the movie: Gedo Senki". The album itself goes quite quickly, 10 songs, altogether only about 35 minutes. So for the remaining 1 hour, I am curious whether Carlos is going to showcase the entire soundtrack (which is not from the album), or he's going to do his own thing - considering the fact that the rest of his band are here, too. I hope for the latter. We shall see.

Okie dokes... off for my grapefruits now!

Dusk gives me the creeps...

For the record: I hate dusk. Especially on a clear day. To be fair, though, I love watching the sunset, but I do hate dusk. I hate dusk as much as I hate mayonnaise. It always feels so creepy when the day suddenly becomes dark and grey and somber. It feels like there is an evil waiting to come up and jump right at you.

Today has been an odd day. For a mixture of reasons, I am feeling very blue and lonely. And this odd feeling has been creeping into me since Thursday. It's really odd. And when the sunlight is gone, it keeps on getting heavier and heavier, suffocating.

I am blaming all this to the fact that I finish watching 24 season 5. There is nothing thrilling enough since then to watch after that.

Today, in attempt to terminate my bluesiness, I have done the following:

1. Tend to a friend's SOS call at 8:30 am about a brand new laptop which died after being spilled with wine

2. Rang my gleeful parents to have a bit of a chat and scored a curry recipe from mum. Couldn't help myself but laugh at darling daddy's indiosyncratic remarks, but a phone call had to end at some point...

3. Cooked the curried beef that mum advised on

4. Still blue, I started cooking a banana cake

5. Turned the TV on and tried to watch CSI: New York... Man, that show is nothing like CSI: Las Vegas. Gary Sinise's part as Detective Mac Taylor seems to be too somber. In fact the entire thing feels very somber. But maybe I should stop comparing him with William Petersen's Gil Grissom. I could stand 3 episodes and started scanning for other channels.

6. Found something on "Super Drama" Channel! They are having this ER galore screening since last week, I noticed. They broadcast 10 episodes a day, between noon to 9 PM.

....

After 3 episodes... I still feel blue.

7. So I picked up my flute and started playing this song that sensei came up with for the collabotation piece for our annual performance in Sado island this Summer. After an hour, I started to lose some oxygen and became lightheaded, so I had to stop.

8. I put on my running shoes for a jog, only to realize that I pulled my hamstrings yesterday and it feels very painful to go on jogging with it. So I walked around and explored around instead.

9. Now it's 7:15 pm, on a Saturday night. Just sent an e-mail to a friend that I'm not up for a night out. It's really strange, but I'm feeling very asocial right now...
So, what's next...

VOILA!
I think I finally found something that might take my mind off this bluesiness. I just switched on my work laptop. Yeah, that's what I'll do, getting a head start on that report that's due on May 11.

Jeezh, this is getting a little pathetic. I was sick of work before the Golden Week, and then I come running back to it because of the Golden Week.

I'm telling you, it's all the dusk.

My fourth...

...iPod, that is.
Without any intention to do so, I had to pick up my 4th iPod last night.

A true Mac convert, I have been very loyally following every new movements Apple comes up with.

At work, I use a PowerBook G4 15", zero complain. The performance is great, the look is sleek, the capacity is applaudable. I am into my 3rd year of using it and it still outdoes my colleague's other platform-based computers.

At home, I use a black MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo 13", except with a battery drainage incident that occurred in January, zero complain. Granted it is still less than 1 year since I bought Tony Mac, I sure hope that I don't have any complains yet.

And the ever-growing peripheral collection at my house is slowly turning it into a Apple Store look a like.

And I carry my iPod everywhere... or at least on the days that it's working.


... my iPod sad stories

I bought my 60 GB Photo iPod a couple of years ago. Back then, the 60 GB iPod Photo was the IT thing to have. It's got the color display, it has photo slide shows, it's definitely the thing to have.
The shop dude told me that I could keep 20,000 songs in it (at the moment I have uploaded only 4,000 songs) and although a little bulky compared to the now ultra-slim iPod Video, I am completely happy with the purchase.

Until September 2007 when it suddenly exploded.
I kid you not, it really exploded. *PHUFF* like that.
In the middle of pedaling over to DiviDong's apartment for drinks, I was listening to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder's "Just good friends". They went, "We've got a problem here, I....." then suddenly the song stopped playing. I reached over to my iPod to replay it only to realize the machine was HOT. It was burning, and it was making a very funny buzzing noise. "Weird!" I thought. I couldn't turn it off and it kept on making that buzzing noise, until suddenly it went *PHUFF*.

This then generated a subsequent trip to Shibuya's Apple Store. The Genius Bar dude checked my warranty and then asked me to sign a few forms and then gave me a new one, the exact same model.

The iPod was OK for a couple of weeks until suddenly the dream machine only piped the sound to my left earphone. Initially I thought the earphone was the problem, so I bought a new one. And then the new one also still had the same problem, so then I thought that maybe my right ear is having a problem. Nah.
What bothered me was because the problem occurred 2 weeks after the iPod got replaced, surely there was something wrong with how I operate the iPod. But then, it was really puzzling, I mean... how hard is it to operate an iPod, you know what I mean?
Later that day, I discovered that the earphone jack was having some contact problem. So my solution was to tape a scotch tape to hold the connection. But this also didn't solve the problem since the taping got lose every time I went jogging with my iPod on.

So, I went back to the Apple Store. They took some measures to it and discovered (and apologized profusely) that the earphone jack was not in a prime condition. Hellooooo?!
They gave me another new one.

Now, that was back in October. Since then I've been using it, with only some minor problems. Namely, it froze every now and then or it skipped songs and stuff. Until last Friday, I was listening to Carlos Nuñez's Polka de Karnoëd.

It felt like a déjà vu .

The song stopped in the middle of the first verse.

The buzzing started.

The buzzing continued for some time, and then...

It exploded.

Again.

*PHUFF*.

Again.

I had always thought that maybe the machine didn't like my Michael Jackson songs, but when this happened to my cherished Carlos Nuñez's collection (I have nearly 100 songs by him and I play 32 of the works at least 1,000 times already), I realized that maybe whatever is wrong is in the iPod Photo 60 GB series, not in the songs. There must be a bug or something that gave problems ONLY to this particular series.

Last night I brought the fated iPod to the Apple Store, again. And they did the one thing they know best: gave me yet another replacement.
When I brought my concerns up to them, they refuse to believe my suspicion. Although agreeing that for one person to have gone through 4 iPod changes in less than 2 years is plenty, they can't offer anything beyond this service.

Maybe the 4th is the charmed one. I only hope if anything is going to happen to this 4th one that it should happen before September 1, 2007 - that's when my warranty expires. Amen.

Rosemary Bush V

I have this thing with rosemary, I use them a lot for cooking. They smell nice and they look great as a plant.
However, I have very little luck with them.

Why, you say?

In Tokyo, buying a few sprigs of rosemary is pretty costly. The cheapest would be 198 Yen (almost 2 USD) for 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary. That applies to all cooking herbs. Now imagine you want to cook a grilled herb chicken and the recipe called for a few sprigs of rosemary, bay leaves, parsley, sweet basil and fennel. We are looking at spending close to 10 USD on the herbs alone! That is just stupid spending. I mean, that's almost making you think that cooking at home holds no meaning.
So, the notorious Naked Chef suggested fellow cooks who cook at home a lot to start a small herb garden. He made it sound, oh, so easy.
Thus, I joined his footstep. I made my way to the plant store and bought a collection of herbs: rosemary, basil, parsley and Japanese aojiso.
They grew happily all throughout Summer to Fall, and Tari the chef is ever so happy because the herbs are free, all was joyful except the ever unsuccessful rosemary bush.

My first rosemary bush died because of over-watering.

So I bought another plant, it also died because of too little water.

And then the third one suddenly died because even though the water amount was perfect - it was exposed too much to the sun.

Finally, determined to have a rosemary bush, I bought a book on urban herb gardening and I followed the instructions to the letter. And disregarded the plant store-man's "WHAT? it died... AGAIN?" while persisted in consulting what the best treatment should be for a rosemary bush. I'm sorry to say that after 3 months... it died. Again.

Broken hearted, I've decided that rosemary and I just don't mix. Everyday on my way to work, I pass this bridal shop which has a giant bush of rosemary in front of their store, also Esperia my favorite Italian restaurant, has two giant bushes in front of the restaurant... and I'd shake my head while thinking... I'll just pick a few sprigs when I'm going to use it.
But yesterday, the inevitable happened. I passed the plant store by my house and saw that they have started potting the rosemary bush and they are for sale. I stopped my bicycle and walked in and bought two small pots of it.

OK... this is a big leap.
Always a city girl, I have absolutely no idea what to do when it comes to plants. Truthfully, I'm not much into gardening. If people have green thumbs, then I would be having red and yellow thumbs, no green tint anywhere in my thumb.
This is my fifth rosemary bush. I am going to see how long I can keep them alive this time.

Rosemary Bush Baby, I would not, should not, could not give up on you. Please stay with me...

Another visa story...

Just for fun I decided to renew my tourist visa to the United States. You know, just in case I want to jump into a plane and visit my kin there. I have been out of the multiple entry visa for nearly a year, so it's time to make a new one.

My first stop was here. The US embassy in Tokyo make a good check list on what documents you need and suggested you to make an appointment prior to coming to meet the consulate officer. In a nutshell the steps that need to be taken are as follows:

1. Prepare your documents, take photos, make copies, fill in the electronic form and finally make an appointment for an interview. For Tokyo you can usually get yourself an appointment within 1 day, everything done best electronically.

A tip from an insider: the US consulate officers prefer pictures with no teeth showing. I think this is the most ridiculous tip ever, but better safe than sorry. Smile, but no teeth. It might also help if you take black and white picture if your hair is blue.

2. Go and actually attend your interview. The embassy gate will open at 8 AM, but the line is long and the security system is a bit like those in an airport. Don't bring liquid or electronics. If you do, the guard will keep your stuff for you in a booth like thing, with numbers and all. Oh, and don't forget to pick them all up after you're done.

...my story

My interview was stated to be at 8:15 am. I got up at 6 am, took a shower, got ready and pedaled over to my office, leaving my house at 7 am. I then discard my bike at the office and then hailed a cab, which brought me over to the embassy gate at 7:40 am. There were 4 other people before me, so I was number 5 in line.
The gate opened and I was finally inside the consulate's waiting room at 8:12 AM.

I waited. 8:45 am.

I waited some more. 9:00 am.

I waited and waited. 9:15 am.

By then there were at least 30 other Japanese people who were being called, and since I was number 5 in line, I knew for a fact that they arrived WAY after I did. Then I began to worry that they must have cancelled my application somehow.
So I was annoyed at 9:20 am, since:
a) my name was still not called upon, and
b) since I already paid the said JPY 11,600 fee (supposed to be the equivalent of US$100).

Finally my name was called at 9:25 am.

The interview was another story. For the first time in my visa application history, I met with an American officer who insisted to speak to me in Japanese. Yes, Japanese, Nihongo.
He asked me 4 questions. How long I've been in my job; what my company does; what service my company provides; why I'm thinking to visit the US. And then he declared my visa application approved. YEAH!
The entire interview took 2 to 3 minutes.

So the entire process is basically pretty simple. I have heard that visa officers are making things difficult to applicants to get their visa approved, but fortunately I have never encountered such problems. In my life I've applied for the US visitor visa 3 times and I've always been approved. I hope my visa luck will never change.
Now let's see if I can win a ticket lottery that will take me back to the US.

ps. I got home just now to find my passport with my new B1/B2 visa in it. 5 YEARS, BABY!! (multiple entry, too!) YEAH!!!

New Years Resolutions

So... I've lived long enough to see New Year's resolution came and went unnoticed. I have come up with a resolution for year 2007, but I need to be sure that I can find somewhere in my little mind to stick to my willpower which sometime is just not visible anywhere.

The following are some case studies from the past couple of years.

Resolutions for 2004

1) To be spontaneous
2) To pick up a new musical instrument

All who knows me are sometime frustrated with how extremely organized I can get. I plan and research everything to the very last detail, to ensure that I have all the information I need and might need in hand. You know, just in case. And I usually take advantage of all the information to make it 100% useful.
Back then, I was working my full time job during the week and every Sundays I hosted shows at the Tokyo Sesame Place with Big Bird, Elmo and the likes. In a week I only had 1 weekend day. I had to plan my Sundays a month in advance, because I only get 1 Sunday free. The Sundays I work with Sesame Street I had to leave my house at 6.15 AM and I will return home at 7 PM at the earliest or 9:30 PM if I had to host birthday parties at the park.
Because of this, for almost two years, I lived on a schedule. The only available day I had for personal life is on Saturdays. Therefore to be able to utilize a Saturday to the max, I had to plan ahead of time and make sure I can pack as many things or see as many friends as I could in that slot.
Anyways... after sometime I got so depressed. Relaxing shouldn't be this hard. So, I decided to take charge and be more spontaneous. So I stopped planning. I stopped looking at my diary and confirm with friends 4 days ahead of time max.
This approach didn't work. One thing I didn't take into account was that to be spontaneous with your friends require your friends to be as spontaneous as you are. While I deliberately stopped planning ahead, the other people didn't need to. So with the action = reaction theory, I realized that it wasn't working. Besides... I'm a planner, it is bothering me when I can't anticipate what's going to happen.

At the end of my 2nd year contract, March 31st 2004, regardless how much I loved being with the kids, performing, singing and dancing - the pay didn't foot the monthly bills. It was a hobby job. And sometime grownups have to make smart decision. I quit the MC job and freelanced whenever they have big shows that required an English speaking MC for the off-site shows. It was a big decision, saddening, but ever since then I was finally able to have a quality life.

This then left me with a new window to pick up a new musical instrument. I picked up taiko drumming... and hey! the rest is history. Still doing it, still loving it.

Resolutions for 2005 and 2006

1) To have one night off every week
2) To pick up a new hobby or pick up a new musical instrument

The first one had been rather successful. While not 100%, at least in 75% of my weeks in 2005 and 2006, I was able to have 1 night off every week.
For item number 2, in 2005 I was sticking to my taiko drumming life and was shopping around for new hobbies. This became much more challenging than I thought it could. I've instruments-hopped so much in my life that I couldn't think of any new instruments to pick up. And thinking of a new hobby actually pained me. I had so much going on hobby-wise that it was draining me.
So, in aggregate, I came down to this

2005: sticking to taiko drumming and returning to classical guitar.

2006: I ditched my acoustic band, sticked to taiko drumming and classical guitar and latter in the year I began studying fue (Japanese flute).
New/old hobby: I joined an all-female futsal team

Finally... Resolutions for 2007

Oh, I'm scared. I have 3 things in my list

1) To have one night off every week
2) To pick up a new or return to a previously studied musical instrument (maybe returning to a piano again. It's been 10 years...)
3) To go back in shape: more committed to my weekly sport schedule (never skip anymore of that weekly futsal/soccer training, cycle everyday to work, to make full use of that darned gym membership, go jogging a lot more)

Well, I'm trying to be realistic. I just don't know how I can do so many things at once with an increasingly busy schedule at work and a pile of books waiting to be read at home. Oh dear... What have I got myself into?

A friendly farewell the characters threw for me to say goodbye after 2 years of togetherness