A Smashing Good Time
...written on 06.04.04, @ 1:43 a.m.
This is a week old, but I gotta catch up sometime . . .
Wed May 26, 2004
Went to bed at 9 pm last night and woke up at 3 am. Didn't sleep much after that.
My trip to the States was quick. I didn't get to see my mom, only saw my Dad and Elaine for a few hours, but I did get up to Ohio to see my bro, his family and some old friends of mine. I hadn't seen these folks in about 5 years and there is a tremendous amount of growing that's done between a 3 month old and a 5 year old and a 10 year old and a 15 year old. The old folks (above 30) were pretty much the same, and I enjoyed my time with them, but I really had a blast with my 5 year old nephew, Jordan. He's the baby in the tub on my People page. Hmm, must post a new pic of him soon.
Sunday I went to Nagoya for a presentation on how to teach phonics to children. I am always one for educating myself further and I went early so I could do some quality window shopping.
I went shopping with Min the other day. He took me to a bunch of furniture/home stores. I got some good ideas. You see, at the end of the month I am moving into Min's old apartment and I am scouting out new decor items. The landlords let me help guide them to an acceptable new flooring choice and I may even have a say in the selection of the sliding door paper motif. This apartment is a wee bit bigger than mine in some aspects and smaller in others.
For example, the bathtub is literally HALF the size of my current one, but no mind as I rarely take baths on my own, preferring instead to shower. Thus, I will put up a shower curtain to conceal the bathtub.
The kitchen seems smaller, but there is a window over the sink that allows me to look out into the neighborhood. In fact, the biggest selling point of the place is all the windows and the attached studio room that Min built after he moved in.
There are glass doors all around the rooms. I like the idea of a very open space, so I may take some of these doors down to achieve such an effect. Min says the electric bills may be high if I do it that way, but we'll see. I will take pictures once all is in place. A new English teacher will be moving into my current apartment, so it will be nice to have a friend close by.
Monday Min and I went to Fukui. He had a job to do there and I went shopping for about 3 hours until he was done. When we got back together, he was tired and wanted to sit down, so we went to see the movie "Troy" and per usual, Min slept (but only for an hour and a half or so).
After that we headed to the ocean to catch the sunset.
This morning was "aluminum can & glass" recycling day. I missed last month's collection day, so I lugged a large garbage bag full of cans out to the collection spot. A little old lady was hunched over a pile of cans smashing them with her feet. I thought maybe they were her own, but when I went up with my big bag, she took it from me.
Oh Buddha! I thought, that poor woman is going to stomp all those cans on my behalf. I ran home and found my can crusher which is operated by human foot power and I went back to help the old lady.
She beamed at me as I showed her the metal crushing contraption and said something to me and then started to give each can a one-stomp and slid it over my way, wherein I put the semi-deflated can in the crusher and provided the finishing blow.
Talk about Step-Aerobics! That little old lady was stomping like mad, which meant I had to do the same to keep up. I could "feel the burn" in my thighs as I shifted my weight from foot to foot to crush the cans.
After we were finished the old lady thanked me and begged my pardon for my having to help. I told her it was my pleasure and I headed back home mentally resolved never again to miss another collection day and to pre-smash all of my aluminum throw-aways.