Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
new pix
This is me with my 3 year old niece.
This is with my mom and twin brother.
The obligatory picture of the first grade boy.
milli & his bro
So the day, while I was washing the breakfast dishes, I was thinking,'Why didn't the real Milli Vanilli come out? Who are the real Milli Vanilli? Why did they let those guys be thought of as MV?'
Burning questions. I checked on the internet (I love wikipedia!)
Turns out MV was 4 guys and they didn't say anything cause they were getting paid not to. I feel bad for the singers and the models. One of the duo committed suicide/od'd. The producer did a pretty shitty thing, I think. The models became the biggest joke for years. I can't imagine explaining to the singers that they aren't good looking enough to be in the videos of their songs...
I don't even like MV!
Burning questions. I checked on the internet (I love wikipedia!)
Turns out MV was 4 guys and they didn't say anything cause they were getting paid not to. I feel bad for the singers and the models. One of the duo committed suicide/od'd. The producer did a pretty shitty thing, I think. The models became the biggest joke for years. I can't imagine explaining to the singers that they aren't good looking enough to be in the videos of their songs...
I don't even like MV!
Sunday, August 09, 2009
what to say
Lately I've read a lot of news in English about Japan and the Japanese government. And I've been feeling like things are getting tighter and stricter for foreigners. I have been extremely disappointed lately. I think it all started with the fingerprinting a couple of years ago. Then it was having our alien cards copied and sent in at our place of employment...our alien cards with all of our information on it-passport number, visa, address, nationality, etc. No word on how they will dispose of the information when they don't need it.
Then there was the passing of the bill/law lately-the one that says we have to report all of our changes at the immigration office, which could previously be done in our local city office. All of our changes means address, change of job, anything. It has to be done within a certain time frame or we can be penalized, like a $200 fine. I'm going to have to take time off work for that now. Oh, and not to mention that this has changed from the Ministry of Immigration to the Ministry of Justice for some unknown reason. Oh, and the bonus is that if someone thinks you haven't been behaving like you are married to your spouse (whatever that might mean!) in the last 6 months, they can cancel your spouse visa. Great, eh?
And now this
which says that unless you have national health insurance and pension, you can't get your visa renewed. If you read the article, you'll see that some people have been here for ages and weren't told about health insurance or don't want pension because when they leave Japan they can only get 3 years paid back to them. If they want to join national health insurance now, they have to back pay their insurance since they came here...ridiculous, really.
Then there was the passing of the bill/law lately-the one that says we have to report all of our changes at the immigration office, which could previously be done in our local city office. All of our changes means address, change of job, anything. It has to be done within a certain time frame or we can be penalized, like a $200 fine. I'm going to have to take time off work for that now. Oh, and not to mention that this has changed from the Ministry of Immigration to the Ministry of Justice for some unknown reason. Oh, and the bonus is that if someone thinks you haven't been behaving like you are married to your spouse (whatever that might mean!) in the last 6 months, they can cancel your spouse visa. Great, eh?
And now this
which says that unless you have national health insurance and pension, you can't get your visa renewed. If you read the article, you'll see that some people have been here for ages and weren't told about health insurance or don't want pension because when they leave Japan they can only get 3 years paid back to them. If they want to join national health insurance now, they have to back pay their insurance since they came here...ridiculous, really.
Friday, July 31, 2009
more pix
did I mention that a big, ugly apartment building is being built directly behind this house?
and that my view of Fuji-san will soon be gone?
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and that my view of Fuji-san will soon be gone?
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I'm still here, just not feeling very bloggedy. I just finished looking around at all of the other blogs that I haven't seen for awhile. They look great! Makes me think I should do something with mine, but I can't really be bothered.
So I haven't written for a number of reasons, including computer problems, which I think have been fixed now.
The main reason was because in general my life went to a whole new level of sucking, and it's just not fun to read that or very motivating to write about.
Things are better now, and I had a trip back to the Mother Country. Alone. I went for a little over a week. It was the first time since I had been away from the boy for so long. Of course I missed him but it was soooo good! I got to see so many of my relatives! I think it was just what I needed.
I think I will post some pictures.
Happy Birthday!!
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-PIGdSgsbKvNvBYR_rUkYVeT5BfTf08XeJwTogD6fen8fxxqv1NEXgPzajcTiN85L6MVPiGW23goP_o7T8hTlTKqAn_qYiQbmbXJe5mvFyjSBGCXxf9nh5mqE1047GwvTZtpEw/s1600-h/DSCF4127.JPG">
doing homework-reading aloud
So I haven't written for a number of reasons, including computer problems, which I think have been fixed now.
The main reason was because in general my life went to a whole new level of sucking, and it's just not fun to read that or very motivating to write about.
Things are better now, and I had a trip back to the Mother Country. Alone. I went for a little over a week. It was the first time since I had been away from the boy for so long. Of course I missed him but it was soooo good! I got to see so many of my relatives! I think it was just what I needed.
I think I will post some pictures.
Happy Birthday!!
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-PIGdSgsbKvNvBYR_rUkYVeT5BfTf08XeJwTogD6fen8fxxqv1NEXgPzajcTiN85L6MVPiGW23goP_o7T8hTlTKqAn_qYiQbmbXJe5mvFyjSBGCXxf9nh5mqE1047GwvTZtpEw/s1600-h/DSCF4127.JPG">
doing homework-reading aloud
Friday, January 23, 2009
my latest preoccupuation
Making whole wheat sourdough bread.
I get so sick of the white bread here, and I am happy to eat some bread with some nutients in it, and I found this recipe in one of my magazines. Yay!
The only thing is it takes a long, long time to rise. But if you have lots of time, it's a great recipe.
You start with flour, water and a wee little bit of yeast. At first, you have to let it rise for about 12 hours or so. Then add more flour and water, I think, and put it in the fridge for about 3 days. Then add more flour and water again, and back into the fridge for another 3 days. After that, you have your starter dough. Take half of it out and let it rise for at least 12 hours. It looks like this.
Then add whole wheat flour and salt, knead and put into an oiled bowl for a couple of hours to let it rise.
After rising.
Make whatever shape you want,
and let it rise for another hour and a half before finally getting to cook them.
After that I usually add sesame seeds and then they are ready to go.
Done
I get so sick of the white bread here, and I am happy to eat some bread with some nutients in it, and I found this recipe in one of my magazines. Yay!
The only thing is it takes a long, long time to rise. But if you have lots of time, it's a great recipe.
You start with flour, water and a wee little bit of yeast. At first, you have to let it rise for about 12 hours or so. Then add more flour and water, I think, and put it in the fridge for about 3 days. Then add more flour and water again, and back into the fridge for another 3 days. After that, you have your starter dough. Take half of it out and let it rise for at least 12 hours. It looks like this.
Then add whole wheat flour and salt, knead and put into an oiled bowl for a couple of hours to let it rise.
After rising.
Make whatever shape you want,
and let it rise for another hour and a half before finally getting to cook them.
After that I usually add sesame seeds and then they are ready to go.
Done
Monday, January 12, 2009
new digs
At least for one resident of this house....
and he's got a nifty torii, too
I was feeling so sorry for him stuck in his little tank with nothing in it, so finally last Nov? I went and bought him a new house. with plants, and a torii.
Then for a while he worried me cause he stopped moving about as much, even when it came time to eat. (He used to make sucking noises at us when he wanted to eat!) But I think it's due to the water being colder and therefore he doesn't move as much and also due to the fact that he ate most of the plants I bought for him! Greedy bugger.
and he's got a nifty torii, too
I was feeling so sorry for him stuck in his little tank with nothing in it, so finally last Nov? I went and bought him a new house. with plants, and a torii.
Then for a while he worried me cause he stopped moving about as much, even when it came time to eat. (He used to make sucking noises at us when he wanted to eat!) But I think it's due to the water being colder and therefore he doesn't move as much and also due to the fact that he ate most of the plants I bought for him! Greedy bugger.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
I'm baaaack!
Of course holidays are really busy here, especially New Years as it is the most important holiday of the year. We have to clean the house as much as we can, basically do a once a year big clean up. Like all the windows have to be done, the bath room has to be de-molded, we change lots of things (the foil under the gas range we use for cooking, for example) Anyway, the list goes on and on. Needless to say I spent days doing this. And I didn't even do a lot compared to my mother-in-law who did stuff while I was at work. It was nice to get done, although there's still more for me to do. ;P
But we had Christmas. The boy, bless his innocent little heart, believes in Santa. This year was the first year we left cookies and milk for Santa.
Luckily the cookies were still there when the boy came bounding down the stairs at 12:30 am, excited that Christmas morning was here, until it was explained to him that Santa hadn't come yet...to which he happily asked if that means he gets to meet Santa. :)
He also wrote a letter to Santa to say thank you and to let him know that he could take the letter with him.
Unfortunately Mommy didn't really understand that he meant Santa could take the letter, she thought it meant that Santa could take the cookies and milk, and so left the letter, resulting in tears the next morning.:(
But that was soon remedied by opening the stockings...
and then I carried on the tradition that my parents started with me-everyone had to get dressed and eat breakfast before opening presents (no waiting until 8:00 yet)
It was pretty good.
But we had Christmas. The boy, bless his innocent little heart, believes in Santa. This year was the first year we left cookies and milk for Santa.
Luckily the cookies were still there when the boy came bounding down the stairs at 12:30 am, excited that Christmas morning was here, until it was explained to him that Santa hadn't come yet...to which he happily asked if that means he gets to meet Santa. :)
He also wrote a letter to Santa to say thank you and to let him know that he could take the letter with him.
Unfortunately Mommy didn't really understand that he meant Santa could take the letter, she thought it meant that Santa could take the cookies and milk, and so left the letter, resulting in tears the next morning.:(
But that was soon remedied by opening the stockings...
and then I carried on the tradition that my parents started with me-everyone had to get dressed and eat breakfast before opening presents (no waiting until 8:00 yet)
It was pretty good.
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