So, 2011 is upon us. What are YOU going to do this year? Got your New Year's Resolutions all figured out?
Here's a suggestion from The Universe. It's one that I'll be following because it makes a lot more sense than doing it the "traditional way". After all, how many resolutions have we seen fall to the wayside in our life, eh?
1. Give thanks that life is... just as it is (and that it's been... just as it's been). Because of it, you're now "READY."
2. Define what you want in terms of the end result. Don't worry about the hows, or even the course. KNOW that what you want is ALREADY yours in spirit, by divine LAW, just focus on the certainty of this ownership, understand it, claim it, and "it will be on earth, as it is in heaven (spirit)."
3. LET THE UNIVERSE show you the way via your impulses and instincts that appear as you take inspired action. Don't worry that your first steps seem silly or futile. And if you don't know what to do, do anything! Go! Get busy! Do not insist on intermediary successes, only upon the end result.
4. Know that 2011 already IS your year.
Are you ready?
Let's Jump!
I'll be there to hold your hand if you need it, OK?
I love you!
Happy New Year.
Cam
I left work an hour early today to use up a bit of my overtime, as I didn't have that much to do. When I got home I took a detour to the drugstore in my neighbourhood and asked them if they could fill the prescription I got from the doctor the other day for the pain in my lower back.
Little did I realize it would be this huge!
As the pharmacist gave it to me I burst out laughing, and promised her I would blog this baby.
I have to say, I have never, in my life, received a prescription this Ginormous.
And I thought I would share these "shippu" or plasters, with you.
*laughing*
I love you!
Cam
Cam
P.S. Here is a GREAT creative commons Copyright (free for download, use, and distribution) Christmas music album from "Frozen Christmas". Grab it if you like, and throw it onto your music players for the festive seasons! (It is what I used for my latest video).
I have a question regarding the UPS courier service, and I would like to hear from anyone who has used their services.
To Americans: How do you rate UPS as a courier service in the USA?
To non-Americans: How do you rate UPS as a courier service in YOUR neck of the woods?
Here in Japan, as a delivery service, I have to say, UPS is strange. Let me give you a bit of background.
UPS delivers directly to Japan, but they also have contracts with a variety of overseas postal services so that whenever stuff is delivered by... say... um... Lichtenstein Post Express (like EMS) to Japan, UPS picks it up here and delivers it. When cheese is sent from Italy, it is sent using Poste Italiane express service (similar to our EMS), but it arrives at my door as UPS.
That, in itself, is not a problem at all. BUT, here is where it gets weird:
UPS only delivers up to 4pm (16:00) on weekdays.
They will not deliver on weekends and they will not deliver on holidays.
I have run into this problem in the past, because I am not home on weekdays. So we worked out an agreement that they would call me and ask when they should deliver so that I don't keep getting missed. How nice of them. Really. I appreciate that rather than getting delivery notices left, and being unable to reschedule deliver for a time when I can be here.
Since UPS only delivers during "regular working hours", and I am not an at-home housewife, I can never get their packages when the UPS truck comes. When that happens for a few times, they then transfer the parcels to either the post office, or to a Japanese courier (KuroNeko Yamato) for delivery outside their regular hours.
BUT, the catch is that in order for them to transfer the packages, they need an extra day or two. Here is an example of where that can cause a problem.
If UPS leaves the delivery notice on a Friday, since they do not work on weekends, I need to call them on Monday, and ask them to transfer it to kuroneko because I won't be home when they try again on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday during their regular business hours.
The transfer will take an extra two days for that to happen. When I come home from work two days later I will get a delivery notice from Kuroneko saying I wasn't home, on Wednesday or Thursday. So I will call Kuroneko the next morning, ask them to delivery it either that night late (skip the gym, or bath, or whatever and come straight home), OR, ask them to hold it until Saturday to deliver it in the morning.
In that example it takes a week after the first attempt from UPS to get the parcel in my hands.
Here is a real live example:
I was busy in meetings from 9am to 18:00 last night. I went to the rest room, and came back to find that UPS had called my keitai to ask me when to deliver. That call came at 18:10. I called back at 18:17 but the phones were shut down for the weekend. Drat. Missed them.
I came home last night and there was a delivery notice from them in my post box saying that the 12kg of cheese I ordered through Sox in italy had arrived. They came at 10:07 in the monring. The notice said that it would be transferred to Kuroneko for delivery since the next attempt (today) onThursday, is a holiday.
I called the number that called me last night (it was a keitai number), but alas, they are closed for business.
I called Kuroneko and gave them the delivery number to see if they knew when they could deliver the cheese to me. They said that the 12 digit number from UPS gives them an error in the system and suggested I call a 24 hour 365 day of the week free dial number FOR UPS that they provided. Kuroneko said that UPS would be able to track that number and solve the issue for me. OK.
So I dialed. An answering machine came on and said that they were closed for business today and would continue again tomorrow, Friday. Today is a national holiday (Emperor's birthday).
Tomorrow if delivery is attempted, I won't be here as I have to go to the Canadian Embassy to apply for a new passport (we have to apply for a new-one, not reapply, so it's a real pain in the ass to be Canadian when you want a new passport as you have to supply all the original documentation that you provided five years ago, and 10 years ago, and 15 years ago, etc.). In the afternoon, I have to go to the hospital to get some tests done because of the pain in my ab muscle, and the ensuing back pain that I have staved off for 10 years due to gym workouts that I haven't been able to do for the past three weeks due to pain in my ab muscle.
So, tomorrow there will be another delivery attempt notice left, and finally next week I should be able to get it IF I can get home early enough, as they don't deliver on holidays. From the 30th to the 3rd are holidays, and UPS won't deliver. Which means, if I miss the chance, my 12 kg of cheese will be sitting in the UPS warehouse for two weeks or more, undeliverable.
Lovely service, don't you think?
I'm not pissed, or angry, or venting or anything like that. I'm just trying to explain the bizarre way this courier operates in this country. For businesses that function during regular work hours, I'm sure the service is just fine. But when UPS tries to deliver to the homes of people who work, it becomes a logistics nightmare. That seems so very strange to me, since a courier service is based entirely on SERVICE. That is what makes or breaks couriers.
Advice to everyone: if you are sending any packages to Japan, to friends you know, my advice is to either avoid the transfer to UPS if you can, or to contact the person in advance and let them know you want to send a package, and ask them if you should send it to their work office instead of their home.
I can hardly wait to get my next 12kg of cheese because the last 6kg is gone gone gone!
Merry Christmas!
I love you!
Cam
Lobsta gangsta!
And on sale from 17,000 yen to 9,000 yen! What a steal (for a j-gangsta wannabe)!
I love you!
Cam
Last night after work, I was late.
I needed to leave the office about 18:00 to make it in time for a gathering (of 8) from the gym for a party that "Kyaron-Ojisan" had set up.
I didn't make it.
We have a big presentation with an overseas company next week Monday through Wednesday all day, each day and my job is to put the presentation together; however, one of the big bosses didn't do his job so I had to keep pushing, and waiting, and collecting data myself. Finally at 19:00 I got what I needed, printed out presentations for Monday morning, and left the office around 19:20.
I arrived at Funabashi station (different line, same direction) about 19:55 and emailed "Kyaron-ojisan" to let him know I had arrived (I told him about 18:00 I wouldn't make it in time for everyone to hold hands and walk to the restaurant together).
While I was waiting for him to come and get me (I didn't know where the restaurant - Chinese - was located) I found a little booth set up in the middle of the station milling grounds, selling ...
wooden cutting boards!
Yes, they looked lovely, and were expensive, and hand-made, but not something I really needed.
However (#2)...
Next to that booth was a little "Hakodate (Hokkaido) Christmas" Booth. As I needed to kill some time, I looked around at the decorations. Chinese of course, but what isn't these days, right?
Then the Santa caught my eye! Two of them, actually, standing side by side. On was all decked out in red with an ornate (plastic) staff, while the other was garbed entirely in white with a star-studded (plastic) staff. I chose the white one, and finagled my way down from 5,000 yen, to 2,000. Good deal!
Then I thought that since I only have a little christmas tree this year for Christmas (see photo below), I should also get myself a wreath to hang outside the door to my abode. So I did. And this wreath I haggled down 50% to about 1,500yen. Good deal!
The owner of the little booth wrapped them up for me, and put White Santa in a jumbo Christmas bag. As I carried it to and from the restaurant, everyone (and I DO mean everyone) was staring at this huge colourful bag I had tossed over my shoulder like a giant Christmas sack that Santa might carry (see photo below).
...
And that. is. that.
Have a Merry Christmas.
I love you!
Cam
P.S This is my Christmas this year. There are two wonderful parcels for me from my parents, and two for Mayu. Thanks Mom & Dad! I love you!! The Diesel bag is my Christmas present to Mayu.
My thoughts of jailbreaking my kindle were almost moot in point tonight. Let me tell you why.
On the train home from Kobuchizawa tonight I ate my dinner and finished reading a free novel that I had downloaded to my kindle. When the train arrived at Shinjuku, I packed up, and left. I walked up the stairs, and over to my train line which is deep down under ground. The train was delayed as there had been some trouble further down the line in the opposite direction. I decided that I would pull out my kindle and read it on the way home as I had a 40 minute ride back.
But it wasn't in my bag!
I had left my black kindle on the black train seat!!!
I dashed all the way back to the other train platform which is hard to do in Shinjuku station due to the sheer volume of people passing through (one million per day) as anyone who has ever been here will understand, went to the lost and found and found my kindle! The stationmasters were just entering it into the computer.
I filled out a form, kissed my kindle hello, and walked back to my station, relieved not to have lost my kindle. The funny thing is that I wasn't thinking terrible panicky thoughts; I was thinking, "what a great opportunity to buy a different device!" But I did worry about the possibility of people buying books as it is linked to my credit card. That thought did cross my mind briefly, but it wasn't a big worry. I also realized that I am not really "attached" to the thing as the potential loss didn't make me break out into a panic sweat at all, and I was quite lucid and calm in my mind as I dashed back.
I made it home on the extremely packed train, feeling sorry for all the shorter women who were getting their faces mashed into the backs, arms and chests of sweaty, stinky businessmen while I had the entire upper section of the compartment free for my own use. I held my kindle against the ceiling of the train and read it all the way home ("Einstein's Theory of Relativity" <-- which made me fall asleep on the other train while sitting down and reading).
I haven't been in a train that jam packed since our last major typhoon that shut down some connecting lines and filled up my line with commuters this past winter.
Kindle almost broke free!
Have a great weekend.
I love you!
Cam
Nobody ever planned on a short-lived TV series having such a lasting impact
on society, but it has. And this is true whether you like Star Trek or
not. It doesn't matter that the show's medical devices looked like scavenged
pieces of plastic the Desilu studio prop department glued together on a low
budget. Star Trek is part of our collective mythology. And in the
endless loop of life imitating art, many of the futuristic technologies
introduced on the show are now a reality. That's why we decided to compare some
of today's medical breakthroughs with those envisioned by science fiction TV
writers, producers and actors more than 40 years ago.
So, for our list of four ways real life medicine is catching up with Star
Trek, here are the ground rules for all the hardcore Trekkers out there. We
are sticking to The Original Series, where the gadgets, the technology, the
basic assumptions of how the future might look are in their most primordial
state. Each medical device or medicine was more of an idea, a basic concept of
what things should do rather than anything that got too bogged down in actual
science. As the later spinoffs got rolling, real science often got in the way of
simply telling the story. Ultimately, the in-depth scientific explanations of
the later series will likely turn out to be wrong, while The Original Series
will forever retain a colored-plastic purity.
But enough of all that. Here's our Top 4 list.
1. Hypospray - The hypospray was a
needle-free device that could subcutaneously inject drugs via forced air.
2. Medical Tricorder - There are many
types of tricorders, but the one used by medical personnel can diagnose diseases
and collect other vital information about a patient. And it can do all this
noninvasively, from a distance from the patient.
3. Sickbay Vital Signs Monitor - There
is a screen hanging above each bed in sickbay displaying various vital
signs, and McCoy will not let you leave sickbay until those needles fall within
acceptable parameters.
4. Venus drug - The illegal Venus Drug
makes plain-looking women beautiful.
Here's a great spam I got at the office with a zip file that is sure to have a virus attached. I can see how some people who have parked their brains for a moment, might open this email attachment, thinking (or rather with lack of thinking) that they have a parcel waiting for them to claim. Normally I just delete; but this time, I scrolled down a bit to read the "disclaimer" that seems to be typical of business email these days. And I laughed. This disclaimer comes highly recommended. Take a look and let me know what you think!
Have a great day.
Cam
P.S. Maybe the title should have been "FedEx Used Abe!"
-----Original Message-----
From: FedEx Delivery Service [fake email address]
Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 10:35 AM
To: [me @ work]
Subject: FedEx Delivery Problem NR.S.1106576
Good afternoon.
The company could not deliver your package to your address.
The package was returned to FedEx office.
Information about your package is attached to the letter.
Look through the information about your package thoroughly.
Thank you.
FedEx Express
Services.
**************** disclaimer starts here ****************
Whether this letter was ever replied to is uncertain, though improbable.No doubt it led to conferences during the meeting of the Legislature, early in the year 1855, when the senatorial question came on for decision. It has been suggested that Lincoln made dishonorable concessions of principle to get the votes of Lovejoy and his friends. The statement is too absurd to merit serious contradiction. The real fact is that Mr. Giddings, then in Congress, wrote to Lovejoy and others to support Lincoln. Various causes delayed the event, but finally, on February 8, 1855, the Legislature went into joint ballot. A number of candidates were put in nomination, but the contest narrowed itself down to three. Abraham Lincoln was supported by the Whigs and Free-soilers; James Shields by the Douglas-Democrats.
Well, it took an entire month for Belgian customs to decide to release the futon I sent to Chris over in Europe. It was a nightmare. They got it three days after I shipped it. For those of you know the Japan EMS, it is FAST. And very reliable. The problem is you don't know what happens once it hits the other country's postal system.
And this was one of the nightmare times.
All the documentation was with it, but the customs people wanted extra info, and needed to send Chris a letter, but they never did! It took them three weeks and much calling and yelling for Chris to finally get the letter. Chris and I have been emailing back and forth for weeks, as it both has had us very worried.
Well the futon arrived yesterday, and ... we are both very relieved!
Here is the email from Chris that just arrived:
Hey Cam,
I can happily announce that I finally picked up the futon yesterday evening. I was so excited to finally have it here and I was worried about the condition of it due to the fact that the box looked like it was opened, so I unpacked yesterday evening. Unfortunately I couldn't make any photos nor video of the unpacking because our video camera was gone and it was really late. But I will make a video as promissed and I will show the futon in full glory.
I'm really happy about the kake and shiki buton. I was worried about the thickness of the shikibuton but you where right this sleeps soooooooooooooo good, It's unbelievable. The kakebuton is nice and fluffy and really hot but light weight at the same time. I love it compared to my old bedding.
I'm not sure about the covers, the color and the fact that the cover for the kakebuton hasn't got a funnt hole in it like is showed in my pictures, but they will do for now and I will probably get some white ones with a hole in the kakebuton cover in the future.
But otherwise I'm really really really happy with this set, and I still can't believe that you did this for me and that a month ago I was only walking around with the idea and now I can touch this idea in reality here in my own room.
Thank you and your helpers from the bottom of my heart,
Chris
P.S. I will post a video as soon as I know how that works on YouTube(sorry there are still younger people that aren't computer nerds haha) but you will get that.
I love Globalized Love!
Cam
As I passed by other people wrapped up in their late autumn clothing, mumbling at the "cold", or sucking air through their teeth as Japanese are wont to do when it gets - correction - when they get cold, I pondered the difference between Japanese and non-Japanese bodies with respect to temperature. While everyone in my office complains of the cold, I am either too hot, or thinking that it is finally cooling down into a nice autumn. I commute in my work shirt while everyone else has their parkas, their UGG boots, their wool scarfs wrapped around them. The men have their three piece suits on (the ones with the thick wool vests) and are wearing the UniQlo Heat Tech under garments to keep them warm.
At the end of the platform, waiting in the wind were a mother and daughter couple who were quite friendly. We smiled at each other and said good evening. As we were getting on the train, the daughter said to me, in English, "Hi." It wasn't a "Japanese" "hi", it was the "hi" of a bilingual person. It turned out that they were sitting across the aisle and one back from me so we could engage in some nice conversation for a goodly portion of the ride home.
They looked different.. kind of like "island people" if you know what I mean. Or artists. And artists they are!
It all started off with the daughter asking me if I am an English teacher, and if I'm working in Kobuchizawa. That story went on for a while, and you all know the answer to that question, so I won't bother you with repeating it. Instead, let me tell you about these two lovely women I was blessed with the opportunity to talk to on Monday night...
I think that the daughter is roughly my age, maybe a little bit younger, based upon her history... She left Japan at 19, backpacked around the world for two years, then settled down in Columbia for seven years. Next she moved to New York, got married, had a child and lived there for seven years. Now she has been living in Bali for the past seven years. She makes jewellery and sells to Japan and the USA. She travels between Bali, Japan and the USA for work. Her husband lives in the USA and she is still very happily married. She said to me with a twinkle in her eye, that "the key to a long, happy marriage is to NOT live together." I laughed.
Honoka is her name. Honoka was wearing beautiful loooong dangling earrings (chains about a foot long) that seemed so exotic and gorgeous. I didn't compliment her, but I wanted to. I loved that earring. She also had on jeans, black shoes, a black leather jacket. And she was cold.
I asked what they were doing up in Kobuchizawa, and was told that there is a very nice art gallery with a display that was worth seeing. Which piqued my curiosity... Jewellery? No. Urushi.
Nikki, her mother, had the dark tan of an island dweller, with baggy linen pants, a central americana patchwork jacket, long greying hair tied up and a smile to melt the ice around any heart. Nikki has lived for several years with her daughter in Bali as well, and she is also an artist: urushi, or lacquerware. She is "divorced, with a partner", and she too, like Honoka is beautiful. And Nikki was cold.
So they were curious about me, and I about them. As I soon discovered, Honoka knew very little about Japan; after all she left the country at 19 and what 19 year old in any country knows anything about their own history or geography? She left as a child of Japan, and became a "child of the world".
Even though Honoka lived around the equator in Columbia for seven years, and now Bali for seven years, she agrees that Japan (especially Tokyo - and here I had more to say), is extremely hot, even for Asia! She feels that she "cannot breathe in the heat of Tokyo" whenever she comes back her for work. And Bali is hot as well, but, in her opinion not nearly as oppressive as Japan/Tokyo. I don't find Tokyo that hot (except for my office), as I lived in Fukui which has higher humidity making the heat more oppressive there.
The talking continued about my life here for 20 years, her life away for 20 years, how Nikki feels it is difficult for parents when their children live so far away for 20 years, and more lovely conversation.
As we were arriving at Shinjuku Station, I asked Honoka when she would be going back to Bali. She told me that it wouldn't be until January because she had to go to the USA, and then Columbia. I asked her if she was going to visit friends in Columbia... and her reply is what started this entire post!
"No, I'm going to Columbia to dig for emeralds. As I said, I make jewellery, out of emeralds, and then sell them to the USA and Japan."
"What? You are going to physically DIG the emeralds out of the rock?!?"
*BIG SMILE* "Yes, of course."
"With one of those floppy hats, a bandana, and a pick axe?!?"
*LAUGHING* "Yes!"
"Wow...."
And here I thought all along that Honoka "made jewellery" in Bali and "sold" it to Japan and the USA... There are a lot of Japanese who "retire" from Japanese life, go to the islands and live a relaxed life "making jewellery". You can see a lot of them around the world.
Honoka is not one of those jewellery artists, it seems.
Honoka digs emeralds.
With her own bare hands.
And then sculpts them into gems and jewellery.
I had a wonderful two hour ride home with two absolutely wonderful, beautiful, creative, friendly people. I am so glad I met them. It would be nice to one day cross paths with them again, I think.
Good luck digging out a lot of emeralds, Honoka! And my your creativity flow endless!
Now THAT was a great ride home!
I love you!
Cam
P.S. That's some of Honoka's work at the top of this post, and Nikki's halfway down. Gorgeous!
