Dartboard

It’s 9:03 a.m., I’m at my desk and I think I’ll need to start thinking of my time at work in units. Every 30 minutes makes up a unit and then I can spent 2 units writing on the blog, 3 units reading, 1 unit thinking about my next meal, 2 units emailing people back home. It makes the time go by much faster and I really feel like I’ve accomplished something at the end of the day. (Have you seen that movie? It’s a good one.)

My mom called this morning. It was a pleasant surprise. She’s called about 3 times in the last three weeks—which is about the same number of times she called me in the entire first year I was in Japan—so I’m suspicious! She and George leased a house in Michigan. They’ll be moving in around next month, I think. It’s a cute little place, but I guess it’s even smaller than the apartment they had before. Well, she always wanted to be a minimalist!

Have I raved enough about my dental cleaning? It was my first in about a year and a half and BOY, do I feel clean! I keep rubbing my tongue over my smooth molars!

I remember when I was a kid they used to clean your teeth like this—until they were completely smooth. As I got older I noticed even after the cleaning my teeth felt a little rough. Once I even went back to the dentist and said, “My teeth aren’t clean! They don’t feel smooth!” They hygienist waved me away staying it was the “texture” of my teeth and they were as clean as they needed to be. Texture! Humph! Japanese dentists can remove the “texture” (i.e. PLAQUE!) from my teeth so I’ll be sure to visit him twice this year!! Besides, I never got a gum massage at the office back home!

Masaharu is reading me children’s books in Japanese. I picked three out from the library with him last Saturday. One of the books I choose is about teeth. I’ve learned all sorts of tooth vocabulary such as “cavity,” “molar,” and “Hi, Friend! Please check my mouth for cavities and then I’ll check yours.” It’s a fun book. Another book I got is about a depressed little girl. I thought it was about a little boy and his dog in an earthquake, but apparently that’s just the first page—the catalyst for depression. And we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl—I pictured it as a “him” and Masaharu pictured it as a “her” but the pictures are ambiguous. We’re going through this book really slowly, looking up words or phrases so I can read and understand all of it eventually, but it’s slow going. I want to understand the story!

I mentioned I’m reading HP and the Goblet of Fire. I really like HP books but I’m not all bent out of shape about reading them immediately after they come out. I just want to read them before I see the corresponding movie. I know the Goblet movie is out and will be in Japan soon (if it’s not already) so that’s why I started now. And it may have something to do with all this spare time I’ve recently found myself with.

Today I’m getting a new phone. My apartment phone has been broken for about a month but it didn’t really ring much before that either so I didn’t really notice. (Sorry if you’ve been calling me, I didn’t know!) I make and receive most calls on my cell phone anyway. Masaharu and I are going shopping together after school. We have all sorts of errands to run. I want to look into getting a new keitai (cell phone) too. I want an English-to-Japanese dictionary in my phone! It’s invaluable! Then we want to find him a new pair of glasses.

Tonight we’re going to light fireworks at the beach if the weather’s okay. He found a stash of unused fireworks in his house, although we don’t know how old they are or if they’ll work properly. I haven’t set off fireworks in ages though! It should be fun.

Oh! I mentioned before that I’ve run out of space on my server and have to start removing pictures from old posts. I wanted to keep everything up, but—it’s not as if anyone reads the really old ones anyway. So, there are a scattering of posts with broken links out there. Sorry folks.

Well, more posting of pictures from hitch-hiking and climbing Fuji-san to come!
Love, Sierra

Pictures from our last weekend on Goto before leaving for Fuji-san, when we just ran a bunch of errands around town. Steven wanted to see the fire station as he just passed the test to enter the Portland Fire Academy.

The Good Morning Bakery van.

This is where I bought my dehumidifier (and where I met Masaharu!). He helped me choose the best dehumidifier for my needs! =)

Steven and I made Rice Krispy Treats! Yum—it had been a long time since I had any!