Lindzy: “I’m tired.”
Ashleigh: “Why, did you have a tough day?”
Lindz: “Nah… well I guess I exercised a lot…”
Ashleigh: “Exercised?”
Lindz: “Yah, went for a run…”
Ashleigh: “Were you being chased?”
Music: see link at the end of the post 😉
Recently my little buddy Lili Dose asked me why I stopped eating fish (again… I go back and forth on this one… it’s so damn good! It’s so damn hard to say no to a delicious Unagi Sushi or a grilled Baramundi or a fresh shrimp!). While I was travelling around S.E. Asia I stopped after reading Collapse by Jared Diamond (i know, i know, for those of you who know me, you’re probably all like, ‘Get over the man!’. I can’t!!!!).
You’ve got to read the book. Anyways! So I read the book, and I decide to go back to being a pure vegetarian. Aaaa… i feel so good about myself… untill i smell the delicious smells of sushi downtown Brisbane that people are lining up for for miles during their lunch break. Also, untill Ashleigh sends me a link
http://www.ted.com/talks/sylvia_earle_s_ted_prize_wish_to_protect_our_oceans.html
of a talk by Sylvia Earle. I thought it was a really good talk, BUT, she didn’t really offer the normal person any solutions! Babong! Also, it was kind of like everything you ever read about when learning about the state of our fisheries…. sad, but you’re kind of left with this, “Oh crap, the world is going to shit, and i have to watch it happen.” feeling. (By the way, I’m sure this woman has tonnes on how to save the oceans! Not just this!)
Ash also said something about, ‘now you’ll never want to eat fish again.’ Sure, maybe I won’t and maybe a few others won’t, but lots of people will. Millions of people will! So, I remembered my fave ol’ man, and that he mentioned something about sustainable fisheries (he likes to be unbiased… ❤ J.D). A few googles later (i ❤ the internet) and I found what he mentioned in his book (and i’m sure others have advocated for):
Yay! Guilt free maki rolls!!!
Check it out! Also, you can get MSC approved fish at Loblaws and Whole foods in Canada. The more we support organizations like this, the more people will use them, the better the world will be… one person at a time.
On a side note, there is also a Forestry Stewardship Council of Canada… save our oceans and forests at the same time.
Peace! (^-^)v
oh yah… and for fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggkQ6JPew2E
Music: The Cool Kids
As most of you know (do you? have I mentioned this before?), I am staying with Natalie’s mother and step father in Brisbane. They are a wonderful pair, and have been together for 9 years this March 16th. They are also getting married March 16th! This March 16th! Monday! I’m going! To a wedding!
Yay! I have mixed feelings about weddings, which I won’t get into at the moment, but one reason I am pleasantly pleased about this one, is that they are calling it a Commitment Ceremony, which just about brought tears to my eyes. Also, Lachlan (Sharon’s second child from her first marriage) is walking Sharon down the isle. Tear!!
Anyways, when I first moved here, preparations for the big day were under way. Unfortunately, Sharon came home one day dissapointed. Her dress was not as she wanted it.
Leah and I both “commoned” and “it’s probably gorgeous’d” untill she put the dress on for us.
“Coommmooon, it’s … it’s … it’s nice!”
“Yah! I mean, with some jewelery and … you’re wearing lots of jewelery right?”
“And hair, and makeup and some nice shoes….”
This was quickly going downhill.
I’m not one for bullshitting, I tell the truth and say what I think if you ask my opinion (opinion askers beware!!!). I stopped myself and thought for a moment, cause I learnt that after a few foot-in-mouth incidents. I went in carefully…
“Is this what you asked for?”
“No.”
“Did you ask her to fix it.”
“She won’t. She said that this is how it’s going to be.”
Alright, I see we have a case of the “I’m too afraid to put my foot down and tell someone exactly what I want, even if it’s my wedding dress and MY wedding”. Memories of Nat in China having a bad hairstylist experience comes back to me and I realize the lack of putting ones foot down runs in the family.
“Well, it’s really a nice dress…. But these things here… and the lack of anything here… and…” I offer constructive critcism.
I inform them that for co-op in high school, I worked at a Bridal shop, putting finishing touches (like beading and lace and sequins) on wedding dresses and could add something to this dress to spice it up. (If you are wondering why the co-op job, it’s because I used to want to be a fashion designer… untill I realized how much of my life would then have to be dedicated to sewing…).
Anyways, I took the task on, Sharon and I went to their local craft and houseware department store and bought enough beads and sequins to … well.. to bead a wedding dress. For the last week, before work and after work I have been slaving away at this damn dress.
At first I was excited about it, I started googling wedding dress images to inspire me, started secretly designing my own future wedding dress (not that i’ll ever get married and therefore won’t ever get a wedding dress… but Vera Wang… if you’re ever giving away anything for free…) and had fun beading while bawling my eyes out to the movie Love Actually (which I’ve seen/cried to 100 times).
I’m over the fun now… my eyes are sick of squinting at these tiny beads, my fingers are sick of getting poked with pins, I also have my moms habit of putting extra pins in my mouth, so my tongue and lips are also sick of the poking. My back is aching from constantly crouching over this thing, and I’m tired of untangling the stupid invisible thread!!!
But I must finish! It is Thursday, and the wedding is Monday, and I work everyday until then and Natalie is coming home, and I think Sharon is secretly stressing that it isn’t done yet. No worries! My moto: Go Big, or Go Home… the dress WILL get done and it will be gorgeous!
So, last night I’m beading away and I start watching talks on Ted Talks and I come across this one: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mena_trott_tours_her_blog_world.html
She talks about blogging and I’ll let you check it out yourself, but basically, she speaks about the importance of blogs. Sure there are the political blogs, the news blogs, the people doing kind things blogs and the gossip blogs… but what about the regular, everyday life of everyday normal people blogs (coughcough… 😀 )? Are they boring? Are they narcissistic?
NO! They are wonderful! This talk by Mena Trott made me look at blogging in a different light. Imagine everyone could blog?! Imagine everyone had one?! Every one of your friends and family members? Wouldn’t it be great for a person like me, to go to their grandfathers blog and see what he was doing or what he looked like back in 1945 or something?! My mother’s father passed away of alzeihmers when I was about nine years old… Imagine if I could just go on the internet and learn about him (cause I can’t really get to know him now…) any day, any time! My father’s mother, my Nanny, one of my favourite people in the whole world, also has alzheimers… I have great memories of her and of our time together… but it would be amazing to have a whole diary of her life that I can just click a few buttons to get to when I am missing her.
I used to think blogs were cheesy… the only reason I got one, was because it was my first time moving far far away from home and all my friends and family, and i wanted them to have an easy way see what I was up too, without having to email 100s of people every week (yes, I have 100s of friends… 😉 ). I’m glad I see blogs differently now and I hope you do to after reading this, and checking out the link. Do your kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren a favour and start a blog today :D.
I received an email this morning that left me no choice but to blog about. As some of you may know, my mother and my aunt have been here in Japan, visiting their darling girl (more blogs re: moms visit to Japan coming soon). It was our last night together, and we’d just finished a day at the sumo wrestling games in Tokyo (ooobviously). We went out for dinner to a cute little hole in the wall italian restaurant somewhere in the middle of Tokyo, near Ueno. We were having a little difficulty with the menu,and the waiter was having a little difficulty explaining the italian menu to us.
Seeing that we were clearly at risk of ordering beef tongue or escargot, a woman sitting next to us with her daughter offered to help us out. She translated some menu items to ensure that we ordered a delicious dinner. Afterwards the five of us (my mom, aunt and I with her and her daughter) got to chit chatting about the usual questions that natives ask foreigners and foreigners ask natives and so on. I’ve had this conversation a million times, but they’re always refreshing. The duo were super cute, confident beautiful women who had travelled much and worked at places like health food stores. The daughter was engaged to be married so we talked about that as well.
When I pulled out my phone, Tomomi was delighted to see my ‘Tofu’ kai tei (cell phone) charm. “Oh! I love tofu!” Me too!!! I found my picture of all my tofus on my phone just to show her how much I did in fact love tofu. She then pulled out her cell phone to show me her picture of all her Tofus. …Only in Japan.
Anyways, needless to say it was a delightful dinner. We exchanged emails and seperated at the completion of our meals. My mom and my Aunt were also super pleased. They both agreed that this was a most excellent final memory of their trip, leaving them with a great impression of Japan and the Japanese people.
Today I got my first email from Tomomi. It talked about how happy she was that we all met and what a great time her and her mother had had at dinner. She also thanked me because her mother loves English conversation and it cheered her up. The reason her mother was down was that, her husband, Tomomi’s father, had died three months ago of cancer on that day, and they had just returned from visiting his grave. Tomomi informed me that her mother cries everyday, but that our meeting really cheered her up.
um. Holy Chicken Soup for the soul. That day was also Mothers day. Go universe.
I have a senior student, he’s pretty high level, but he hardly tries in class. He loves to answer my questions with ‘so-so’, ‘I don’t remember’ and ‘I don’t know’. He never pisses me off too much, cause he knows when to stop. When it is open question time, he also likes to annoy me by asking simple questions. Every week I have to add a “you can’t ask this question” to the list. They mostly include “When is your birthday” “How old are you.” “How are you.” and “When did you come to Japan?” He is a great kid though and I enjoy our relaxed classes.
This week was review of the last three lessons, which embarrasingly enough included the dreaded topic of relationships. It was also our last class of the year. In April, another girl would be joining his class. For his last class/review I decided to just do what he likes to do, card game. We were playing a card game where, depending on which card you had, you had to take a vocabulary card from a certain unit. Kazuya was of course being himself and asking silly easy questions.
“Are you a police officer?” Kazuya asks.
“UUugghh, Kazuya, really?? No, I am not a police officer.”
“Are you–
“Kazuya, you know I’m not an interior designer!”
“Is it your dream to be an Interior designer?”
“No. Why? Is it yours?”
“No.”
Kazuya then got a round of cards that dealt with personal characteristics.
“Why are you intelligent?”
“That’s an easy question Kaz.” He just shrugs his shoulders. “Man, I don’t know, cause I went to school and I read a lot of books.”
“Why are you honest?”
“What?! Because I don’t like liars.”
I can tell he’s enjoying being a little brat and seeing me get annoyed with his simple questions. He then pulls up a card that I read and says handsome/beautiful.
“Why are you beautiful?” He looks impressed with himself until half a moment later when his eyes show that he has realized what he has just asked. I feel my face turn a bright shade of red. This can go down in the books as the first time a student has made me blush. He looks straight at me to show that this question hasn’t fazed him. He caves to the embarrassement of the situation when he looks down a few seconds later.
“Uhhhh…uuuuhh…uh.” The tic-tocking of the clock becomes noticeably loud. “Uhh… because I wear make-up.”
He nods in all seriousness and says “Ok.” as if to say “Glad we dealt with that question…cause, you know it was a real question, and I don’t even care.”
He gets a little cocky when I ask him after the card game is done:”Alright Kaz, what do you want to do for the last 15 minutes of our last class alone together? More cards, or a board game?”
“I don’t know. How about you?”
the word on the street 