Blade Runner fans, you know the rest.
We are here: well and safe and sound. The girls are also here, and well and safe and mostly sound. Yesterday, S. had to be taken to the Dr. because of a puffy red eye, which it turns out was slightly scratched somehow - possibly she scratched it in her sleep. We are grateful that eyes heal so quickly. She'll go back for a checkup tomorrow, but today she was the "Pirate Princess" with a patch over the eye.
She was so happy to see me when I picked her up from daycare that she was "almost going to POP!" Daughter number 1 was also thrilled to see me, and gave a running jump into a hug that nearly broke me, followed immediately by her running off to play with a friend. It's all right. I'll get over it.
There is SO MUCH to tell about the trip. I suppose it's best done in installments, and best done after more than the 3 or 4 hours of sleep I've had in the last 2 days. Let's see - it's now 2:30pm in Tokyo Thursday, and we got up to leave around 7:30am in Tokyo Wednesday. I slept about 30 minutes on the plane, about 20 minutes in the airporter, and about 3 hours since I got home. Time for a full night's sleep!
Great to be home. Wonderful to be away, mind you, but great to be home.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Oct. 20, 2004
Dateline Tokyo.
The 23rd typhoon of the season has pretty much passed through the city. The southern parts of Japan, where we will visit next, were hit fairly hard. Here in the city, it just rained on us the whooe time we were sight seeing yesterday, and then while we safely had dinner at the hotel restaurant, the worst of it passed through.
This morning it is raining but not socked in. We'll have a few hours of sight seeing and then I'll be off to another meeting followed by a trade show visit followed by dinner. Tuesday afternoon and evening and even part of the night was business meetings and dinner with the other company's CEO and Manager too. We're learning a lot about how they do business, and more importantly, they're learning a lot about how we run our company. The CEO and Director of Business Developement (our outside sales manager) are really showing me how it's done.
The hotel we are staying at is the one used for the film "Lost in Translations." If you've seen the movie, you know what this place is like. And it's not just a movie star that gets treated royally here. Everyone does.
I want to write more - there's a lot to write! But I have only a little time to see more sights before business, and I don't want to lose that chance. So this is all for now.
The 23rd typhoon of the season has pretty much passed through the city. The southern parts of Japan, where we will visit next, were hit fairly hard. Here in the city, it just rained on us the whooe time we were sight seeing yesterday, and then while we safely had dinner at the hotel restaurant, the worst of it passed through.
This morning it is raining but not socked in. We'll have a few hours of sight seeing and then I'll be off to another meeting followed by a trade show visit followed by dinner. Tuesday afternoon and evening and even part of the night was business meetings and dinner with the other company's CEO and Manager too. We're learning a lot about how they do business, and more importantly, they're learning a lot about how we run our company. The CEO and Director of Business Developement (our outside sales manager) are really showing me how it's done.
The hotel we are staying at is the one used for the film "Lost in Translations." If you've seen the movie, you know what this place is like. And it's not just a movie star that gets treated royally here. Everyone does.
I want to write more - there's a lot to write! But I have only a little time to see more sights before business, and I don't want to lose that chance. So this is all for now.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Pre-Trip Count Down: 36 hours
I'm 36 hours away from getting on the airporter and going to Japan.
My to-do list is long - but finite. My energy is low but steady - amazing, especially since I've had 5 hrs sleep per night for the last 4 or 5 nights, now. I've lost count. It's a little like having a baby in the house, but instead of losing shut eye for the sake of a crying newborn, I'm up at all hours to appease my own sense of needing to be prepared for a journey.
When we go on long car trips, my husband packs flares and spare gasoline and whatever manly tools he thinks one might need in the event of a problem. I don't think in those concrete terms, but really, I do same thing before a big trip in terms of mental preparation.
One of the symptoms of the difference between us, though, is that he seems unconcerned by what is being left behind. He doesn't worry about letters to teachers, permission slips and paperwork that needs to be put in order, while I can't be bothered to think about how much air is in the tires or what the turbulence might be like over the Pacific.
I've cleaned out most of the drawers and closets in the house. I still need to complete the list of contact names and numbers, the how-to-use the funky dishwasher instructions, to clean out the dog's pen, pay the bills, yadda yadda yadda. There are a few business details still to sort out too: a list the contacts we'll be meeting and their titles (I have their cards from previous trips), a map out their offices and facilities and the trade show we'll be visiting.
The young woman who is watching our kids (with help from her fiance) will have copious lists of instructions and directions. I warned her about this, and she was actually grateful. (Or at least, she said she was.) With her last gig like this, the parents went to Jamaica for a week, and she ended up having to rely on the 4 year old (the oldest of the 3 kids she was watching) to tell her where Mommy kept everything.
Anyway, I'll probably be up until midnight again, but maybe in some twisted way, that's good. I think I'm getting used to the change in the time zone. Right now it's noon in Tokyo.
I will do what I can to post to this blog while traveling. Maybe I'll even figure out a way to post pictures.
But I guess know about as much Japanese as I'm going to know by Sunday.
My to-do list is long - but finite. My energy is low but steady - amazing, especially since I've had 5 hrs sleep per night for the last 4 or 5 nights, now. I've lost count. It's a little like having a baby in the house, but instead of losing shut eye for the sake of a crying newborn, I'm up at all hours to appease my own sense of needing to be prepared for a journey.
When we go on long car trips, my husband packs flares and spare gasoline and whatever manly tools he thinks one might need in the event of a problem. I don't think in those concrete terms, but really, I do same thing before a big trip in terms of mental preparation.
One of the symptoms of the difference between us, though, is that he seems unconcerned by what is being left behind. He doesn't worry about letters to teachers, permission slips and paperwork that needs to be put in order, while I can't be bothered to think about how much air is in the tires or what the turbulence might be like over the Pacific.
I've cleaned out most of the drawers and closets in the house. I still need to complete the list of contact names and numbers, the how-to-use the funky dishwasher instructions, to clean out the dog's pen, pay the bills, yadda yadda yadda. There are a few business details still to sort out too: a list the contacts we'll be meeting and their titles (I have their cards from previous trips), a map out their offices and facilities and the trade show we'll be visiting.
The young woman who is watching our kids (with help from her fiance) will have copious lists of instructions and directions. I warned her about this, and she was actually grateful. (Or at least, she said she was.) With her last gig like this, the parents went to Jamaica for a week, and she ended up having to rely on the 4 year old (the oldest of the 3 kids she was watching) to tell her where Mommy kept everything.
Anyway, I'll probably be up until midnight again, but maybe in some twisted way, that's good. I think I'm getting used to the change in the time zone. Right now it's noon in Tokyo.
I will do what I can to post to this blog while traveling. Maybe I'll even figure out a way to post pictures.
But I guess know about as much Japanese as I'm going to know by Sunday.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Some lessons are repeated
Here's what I'd like to do: sit in front of a movie and vegetate for about thirty minutes and then go to bed and get almost full night's sleep.
Here's what I'm going to do: put on a mud face mask, write something for tomorrow's workshop, make the girls' lunches, do the dishes, drink more water, check my Japan trip to-do list, and then maybe fold laundry while watching a few more minutes of Lost in Translation. I've seen it once, but watching it feels like more trip preparation, so I can be entertained and feel like I'm accomplishing something at the same time.
Sick, isn't it?
At least - as my mom pointed out tonight - at least I can laugh at myself about it. "When are you going to learn?" she asked. Apparently not yet.
But please note that I WILL relax on my trip.
Here's what I'm going to do: put on a mud face mask, write something for tomorrow's workshop, make the girls' lunches, do the dishes, drink more water, check my Japan trip to-do list, and then maybe fold laundry while watching a few more minutes of Lost in Translation. I've seen it once, but watching it feels like more trip preparation, so I can be entertained and feel like I'm accomplishing something at the same time.
Sick, isn't it?
At least - as my mom pointed out tonight - at least I can laugh at myself about it. "When are you going to learn?" she asked. Apparently not yet.
But please note that I WILL relax on my trip.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Ships and the Sea
We spent the day on the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien today. We left before sunrise to make it to Pier 45 on time. There was a horribly nerve-wracking hour or so, while I tried to figure out if I was supposed to bring tickets and/or whether they would let us onboard without them, and while D's sister broke the speed of sound getting from her home to the ship before it left.
But we made it, we were all onboard when the tugboats started doing their work, and it was a long but enjoyable day. They served good food, there was a big band playing all day, and we saw the Snowbirds do their stuff. I'm still rocking from being on sea from 8 to 4:30, but it could also be that I'm swaying with exhaustion.
We had dinner out (my request) and after the kids got to bed, I went through a drawer of my grandmother's papers to pull out letters from the kids. I've been doing that for hours now.
A funny thing happened, too. Before I got to the drawer of things, I was cleaning up one of the ubiquitous piles of paper on the office floor, and I found an offer to join or contribute to the Nature Conservancy. Well, I do sometimes send checks to various causes and non-profit organizations. But every once in a while, you just have to release yourself of the false sense of obligation brought on by unsolicited mailing. And I said to D., "I'm not going to give to these guys right now," and I threw away the paper. (Ah! Liberation!)
Forty-five minutes later, going through my grandmother's things, I found an envelope from the Nature Conservancy asking her to renew her membership. She'd hung on to the request (for who knows how long), and when she died, it went with all her other paperwork to me.
Yeah, okay. But she died over 8 years ago.
So I threw it out on her behalf.
I think we all feel better. Except maybe the Nature Conservancy. But they'll get over it. Heck, they not only have the domain www.nature.org, but they got a plug in my blog. Twice, if you think about it.
To bed. Tomorrow will be another big day, followed by only big days until we leave for Japan. It's the last big push to get myself and my family ready for our 10 day adventure apart, the last few days during which I can organize my things, clean the house, pack, and find a cure for cancer.
Makes me tired just thinking about it. I've done my duty for the day. I've written. To bed.
But we made it, we were all onboard when the tugboats started doing their work, and it was a long but enjoyable day. They served good food, there was a big band playing all day, and we saw the Snowbirds do their stuff. I'm still rocking from being on sea from 8 to 4:30, but it could also be that I'm swaying with exhaustion.
We had dinner out (my request) and after the kids got to bed, I went through a drawer of my grandmother's papers to pull out letters from the kids. I've been doing that for hours now.
A funny thing happened, too. Before I got to the drawer of things, I was cleaning up one of the ubiquitous piles of paper on the office floor, and I found an offer to join or contribute to the Nature Conservancy. Well, I do sometimes send checks to various causes and non-profit organizations. But every once in a while, you just have to release yourself of the false sense of obligation brought on by unsolicited mailing. And I said to D., "I'm not going to give to these guys right now," and I threw away the paper. (Ah! Liberation!)
Forty-five minutes later, going through my grandmother's things, I found an envelope from the Nature Conservancy asking her to renew her membership. She'd hung on to the request (for who knows how long), and when she died, it went with all her other paperwork to me.
Yeah, okay. But she died over 8 years ago.
So I threw it out on her behalf.
I think we all feel better. Except maybe the Nature Conservancy. But they'll get over it. Heck, they not only have the domain www.nature.org, but they got a plug in my blog. Twice, if you think about it.
To bed. Tomorrow will be another big day, followed by only big days until we leave for Japan. It's the last big push to get myself and my family ready for our 10 day adventure apart, the last few days during which I can organize my things, clean the house, pack, and find a cure for cancer.
Makes me tired just thinking about it. I've done my duty for the day. I've written. To bed.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Choices
I have made an enlightened decision. I won't be able to complete my grandmother's transcription AND sleep between now and my trip (let alone before the 13th), so I'm going to set it aside and complete it for Christmas.
I'm on page 45, which represents about one and a half of five or six tapes. It takes me about an hour to transcribe about 5 minutes of speaking, because I'm doing it verbatim, and keep pausing and rewinding to get every "but...uh.." and cut off or mumbled sentence she said. So I think there are about 270 minutes more to go. That's nearly 24 hours, realistically. It can't happen as quickly as I'd like.
I can be proud of what I've done so far, and send out a note to my family in time for her birthday, maybe with a picture and excerpt and an announcement that more will come. I have a great shot of her and two friends in front of a little plane they flew in in the 1920's. That should do. I don't want to send just some of the transcript. I'll back up the tapes, back up the file, and put it all in our fire safe.
And then I can focus on other things.
The older I get, the better I can think through things and prioritize, but I'm still fighting this weird idea I have that I can and should do everything I think I can and should do.
Right now I can and should go to bed, but see, now, that's an example of a reasonable goal.
I'm on page 45, which represents about one and a half of five or six tapes. It takes me about an hour to transcribe about 5 minutes of speaking, because I'm doing it verbatim, and keep pausing and rewinding to get every "but...uh.." and cut off or mumbled sentence she said. So I think there are about 270 minutes more to go. That's nearly 24 hours, realistically. It can't happen as quickly as I'd like.
I can be proud of what I've done so far, and send out a note to my family in time for her birthday, maybe with a picture and excerpt and an announcement that more will come. I have a great shot of her and two friends in front of a little plane they flew in in the 1920's. That should do. I don't want to send just some of the transcript. I'll back up the tapes, back up the file, and put it all in our fire safe.
And then I can focus on other things.
The older I get, the better I can think through things and prioritize, but I'm still fighting this weird idea I have that I can and should do everything I think I can and should do.
Right now I can and should go to bed, but see, now, that's an example of a reasonable goal.
Monday, October 04, 2004
16 tons of concrete
Hello Gentle Readers. I am here, and all is well.
R's 10th birthday party was a quiet affair, with dinner out and a sleepover with two of her friends. She invited the sweetest, most polite girls in her class, which made my job easy. One of the girls is diabetic, and so we had to stay on top of checking her blood and dosing out the insulin after consulting with her mom every few hours. It was educational, because I now understand carbs and blood sugar in a whole new way, but also educational to see that a 9 year old girl can jab herself in the stomach with a needle and just say a quiet, "Ow" when she's done. It's all about attitude; how we handle hardships, how we get through this life.
We had about 16 tons of concrete poured in our front yard today. That's right: 33,000+ pounds have gone into the making of a courtyard just outside the front door. D. was very worried thinking about it last night, and I don't blame him. That's a lot of material to deal with if something goes wrong. Which it didn't. We'll have a walkway to the front door cured in another week or so instead of the rebar and dobie obstacle course we'd had. (I tried and tried to find a visual for a dobie but I couldn't!) It feels like things are getting done in a timely manner, but that's probably because I'm not the one doing all the hard work & I'm not as aware as D. is of what must still be done.
I'm working on poems to send to the contest, and I think I have 2 or 3 candidates so far, but they'll need more work. I love the process of working on poetry so much.
Tonight is D's night out. I got the girls to bed before 9pm and am still awake a half hour later - unheard of for a Monday night! I'm trying to talk myself into doing a few more things before bed so I can sleep well all night instead of my usual Monday night routine: collapse into bed, set the alarm for 10pm, hit the snooze button for two hours, get up and work for an hour or two, go back to bed. That's just so wrong in so many ways.
The pet rat is keeping me company. We named her Beatrice. I suppose if I'd had a male too I would have named him Dante, but it somehow seems appropriate that Beatrice is here and Dante is somewhere else, distant from her.
R's 10th birthday party was a quiet affair, with dinner out and a sleepover with two of her friends. She invited the sweetest, most polite girls in her class, which made my job easy. One of the girls is diabetic, and so we had to stay on top of checking her blood and dosing out the insulin after consulting with her mom every few hours. It was educational, because I now understand carbs and blood sugar in a whole new way, but also educational to see that a 9 year old girl can jab herself in the stomach with a needle and just say a quiet, "Ow" when she's done. It's all about attitude; how we handle hardships, how we get through this life.
We had about 16 tons of concrete poured in our front yard today. That's right: 33,000+ pounds have gone into the making of a courtyard just outside the front door. D. was very worried thinking about it last night, and I don't blame him. That's a lot of material to deal with if something goes wrong. Which it didn't. We'll have a walkway to the front door cured in another week or so instead of the rebar and dobie obstacle course we'd had. (I tried and tried to find a visual for a dobie but I couldn't!) It feels like things are getting done in a timely manner, but that's probably because I'm not the one doing all the hard work & I'm not as aware as D. is of what must still be done.
I'm working on poems to send to the contest, and I think I have 2 or 3 candidates so far, but they'll need more work. I love the process of working on poetry so much.
Tonight is D's night out. I got the girls to bed before 9pm and am still awake a half hour later - unheard of for a Monday night! I'm trying to talk myself into doing a few more things before bed so I can sleep well all night instead of my usual Monday night routine: collapse into bed, set the alarm for 10pm, hit the snooze button for two hours, get up and work for an hour or two, go back to bed. That's just so wrong in so many ways.
The pet rat is keeping me company. We named her Beatrice. I suppose if I'd had a male too I would have named him Dante, but it somehow seems appropriate that Beatrice is here and Dante is somewhere else, distant from her.
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