Patience

Posted on October 19, 2010

Today I am thankful and glad about my patience and endurance (at least I have some). I needed to wind some yarn for my test knitting project, and one of the skeins was all tangled up. It took me 3 hours to untangle it. I am all so exhausted. And I was supposed to go to bed early today.
… I hate Amy (just for the day. Amy is the owner of the Madelinetosh yarn, an indie-becoming-mainstream yarn brand).

Sorry, thus, no picture.

I didn’t post anything yesterday, although I did write a post. It was just not of a public-viewing quality…

Categories: Uncategorized

Kat (Knitting)

Posted on October 17, 2010

Pattern Name: Kat by Kim Hargreaves

Yarn: Zara Kid, Charcoal, 2.4 skeins

Needles: US 5 (3.75mm) & US 7 (4.5mm)

Details here

I had this hat on my queue for a while, so I am very happy to be able to finally finish it. Instead of Rowan Kid Classic, I used Zara Kid. Unlike Kid Classic, the yarn I used had more substance to it, very tightly spun, and the knitted fabric feels much heavier than the original. So the hat is a little too big for my head. But it’s ok I guess.

I also took a photo of the bolero I finished a while ago. (My hair color is new!)

Details here, if you are a knitter.

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 8. Craft

Mom’s Cooking

Posted on October 17, 2010

Today I am thankful for my mother’s cooking.

I went back home for a day and had dinner with my mom.

We had:

Soup with vegitable, mashroom, and minced fish ball.

Rice cooked with chestnut.

A small side dish with seaweed, raddish sprout, and tiny white fish called shirasu.

Sesami tofu with miso sauce.

Cooked fish with ginger, sweat and salty sause.

Gosh, the photo looks like an old cookbook photo from the 70s…

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary, Meri is Grateful

Friends and Family Weekend

Posted on October 17, 2010

Japanese follows. 日本語は下に

Today I am thankful for everyone around me.

I saw in many emails and on Facebook that this past weekend seemed to have been a “Friend and Family Weekend” in the States. I am not sure if that was ture, but that was exactly what my weekend had been.

On Friday, I met a very good friend of mine whom I haven’t seen for about half a year. He is much older than myself, but one of the older friends who I see very regularly. We had both been busy and had gone through a lot individually, so I fell out of touch. It was a great catch-up dinner. (And the food was great, too.)

The restaurant he chose was very coincidendally housed in an old, classical-looking building, which I had been eyeing for my potential restaurant location (in case I should open a restaurant myself… which I don’t have any plan so far… but just in case). The 2-story building had been so under-utilized that I was wondering why nobody would buy it and convert it into something fancy. Well, someone had the same idea, obviously. It’s just…. now it’s pink.

On Saturday afternoon, there was my high school reunion. I am not going to count the years after graduation. Who cares?

I was so reluctant to go, but my best friend literally dragged me to there. Thank you!

My reluctance was derived from two reasons, in afterthought:

(1) My college reunion was so not fun. People had changed so much, and I only saw very snobbish people flashing their gold, or very humble people who were about to fade into the background. I wasn’t sure where I belonged.

(2) My self, my identity, my character was so unestablished back in high school. It’s almost like, people who knew me back then knew me before I was born. Does that makes sense?

I did not know who I was back then, what I wanted to do, what I liked. The only thing hasn’t change was I spoke English back then, I speak English now. People remember me by that, how funny.

(Oh, and there was the third reason… (3) I am not married.)

But I realized my mistake when I went there.

My high school friends, 150 people who came yesterday (out of 450), still feel like my buddies who I grew up with. We all became who we were, fighting, joking, studying, agonizing over ourselves, together.

Out high school was rather special that, due to the education system in Japan, we belonged to the top several percentile in terms of the achievement level, which means we all came from the similar family background. But it’s a public school in the suburb so that there was no son and daughter of super-riches. We were all so naive in a good sense, and we all had to study hard to get on with our lives (no family advantage).

My first year classmates used to be especially close. And it still feels to me that they are my brothers and sisters.

… Anyway, after I recuited several single/DINKS girls as my dinner-mates, I went to visit my sister’s family.

My baby niece had grown so much since the last time I saw her!

As you can see, it was truly a Friends and Family Weekend for me.

日本語で書くのが面倒になっちゃったのですが。

この週末はわたしの周りの人たち総てに感謝する週末でした。

何故か先週から「Friends and Family Weekend Special」という広告メールを色々な会社から受け取り、アメリカではどうもそんな週末があるらしい、と薄々感じていたところでしたが、今振り返ってみると、まさに私の週末にピッタリのタイトルでした。

金曜日は古い友人とディナー、土曜日は高校の同窓会、そのあと妹の家に泊まりに行って、お喋りいっぱいの週末を過ごしました。

高校の同窓会は本当に面倒だな〜と乗り気ではなかったのですが、親友に無理矢理連れられ、陰のように寄り添って辿り着いたところ、実際はとても楽しかった！大学の同窓会があまりにも詰まらなかったのと、高校当時の記憶が余りなくて実感がなかったのもあったのですが、行ってみたら記憶が蘇ってきました。ああ、一緒に大人になった仲間なんだな〜、と妙に感動してしまいました。

妹の家では妹夫婦とお喋りし、赤ちゃんと遊び、犬と戯れ睡眠を妨害され、でも犬も可愛く、とても楽しかったです。

どうみても日本語が少なくて済みません。。。英語が出来る方はぜひ、詳細は英語の方で。

Categories: **ENGLISH**, **日本語**, 2. Diary, Meri is Grateful

Aroma

Posted on October 15, 2010

Speaking of aroma, in the time when “aroma-therapy” and various types of herbal essence is so popular, the smell of coffee relaxes me the most.

Today I am thankful that our office is full of wonderful aroma of coffee.

After our team moved down to an executive floor (I’m not an executive, just working for one), there was a coffee machine installed, which is such a privilege in our company. The company doesn’t even provide a water fountain, except for this floor. So, before, I was reluctant to be working on the floor full of C*Os and their secretaries, but now I am totally happy.

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary, Meri is Grateful

Japanese

Posted on October 14, 2010

Japanese follows. 日本語は下に。

Whenever I have Japanese meals, I am grateful for being a Japanese.

Last Monday, I decided to have quick-fix Japanese food for dinner everyday. The same menu every day, the menu a normal Japanese person would eat for breakfast. But I don’t have time to fix food in the morning and just have a toast.

The menu is:
White rice + miso soup (instant, but you can’t tell the difference anyway) + natto with a bunch of things (the 2nd photo is only a part of them).

Natto is fermented soybeans, a very popular food in Japan. It’s a love-it or hate-it food, often an acquired taste, because of its smell. I used to dislike it when I was very little. But it’s an ultimate health food.

The other day I watched on news that natto can keep your skin and organs healthy and helps you live longer (they did an experiment on mouse), but you have to eat a pack a day for at least 2 months to see the difference.
So I am thinking, perhaps I should try that too. So far, I am not at all tired of the same menu.

BTW, my brain-racking work yesterday paid off by my boss’s “that’s what I was talking about!” Yes, sort of… But I felt totally rewarded so I am very happy today.

和食を食べるときが「日本人で良かった」と思う瞬間。（唯一？）

この間テレビで納豆が身体に良いというのを改めてやっていて、最近体調が安定して好きなものが食べられるようになってきたので、納豆を食べ始めました。朝は時間がないから、夜。納豆に野菜を沢山と卵、すりごま、鰹節、小女子などを入れて、あとはご飯とみそ汁（これはインスタント。。）。あと、大好きなのは胡麻豆腐。
納豆は身体には良いそうですが消化には悪いので、体調を見ながら続けようと思います。毎日でも全然飽きない！

テレビに出ていた大学の先生が「最低２ヶ月くらい食べないと効果が出ない」と言っていたので、ハードルが高いですが、まあ無理せずに気の赴くままやってみよう。

なんで気にするかと言えば、ここ３〜４年体調が悪かったせいで髪の毛などがとても傷んだからです。入院して３ヶ月絶食したときには、その間生えた部分の髪の色が全く抜けてしまっていたので、髪の毛ってスゴく健康状態が出るものだと実感しました。

頑張ろう。

昨日残業して作った提案が上手くいって上司が満足げだったので、今日はわたしも満足げに早々にオフィスを後にしました。たまには頭を振り絞るのもいいものだ。

Categories: **ENGLISH**, **日本語**, 2. Diary, Meri is Grateful

Commuting

Posted on October 13, 2010

I worked 12 hours today, and I didn’t spend time on reading blogs. So I am truly sincerely thankful that the public transportation in my town is so great. My trains came in no time and took me home straight away.

My colleagues vacationed in different places, and they all came back with their “subway” experiences. I am sorry for French people, but the metro in Paris was voted as #1 for “the worst subway experience ever.” (Although I do love to look at it in movies, such as “Paris, je t’aime”, the metro episode is my favorite.)

A while ago, there was a documentary on TV, featuring those people in Tokyo Metro companies who maintain subway time-tables/diagrams. There are professional people who passionately improve the diagrams so that the trains won’t be 30 seconds late (or 10 seconds).
We hear announcements on trains like, “we are sorry that this train is a minute late.” Which is funny sometimes.
Some people may say that’s a waste of time, but I wouldn’t mind paying extra for the trains to be always on time. Subway stations are often air-conditioned, and still the fare is probably cheaper than NYC or London (depending on the exchange rate, but generally).

(((In case you are wondering, the photo is of a subway station. Some stations have walls/doors between the platforms and the trains, so that people won’t fall…)))

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary, Meri is Grateful

Give me a break

Posted on October 12, 2010

Honestly, I am not in a thankful mode today. A normal person would reward oneself with a booze or a piece of tartlet, or even a good long bath, but I am doing neither to go to bed early (need to get up early tomorrow).

Today I am disappointed by lack of direction and will from my superiors. I am disappointed that some indispensable colleagues left our company (some time ago, I only found out today). Just realized today that, I am caught up in a situation where several issues have to be solved all at once in order to make sense. It’s impossible, of course. Which means, perhaps, our approach has been wrong all along.
Moreover, I am disappointed in myself, for, while I still believe our goal is rightly set, I didn’t spend much time arguing about the approach.

So I am thankful that today is almost over, and tomorrow is a whole new day, and I still have got a few new ideas to try.

If you can visualize it in your brain, that means it’s achievable. I can visualize the end-game. Why do we get stuck so often?

I wish my sister’s dogs are with me tonight.

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary, Meri is Grateful

Igo Festival

Posted on October 11, 2010

I am thankful that, on a gorgeous day like today, I had a reason to stay outside all day, enjoying nice breeze and fun big crowd.

As announced a few days ago (in Japanese), a group of young Igo (Go) players in Tokyo, called Igo Amigo, hosted an annual festival at the Roppongi Hills arena. The group was started by a professional Igo players and amateur Igo freaks several years ago, in the purpose of enlightening young generation with the world of Igo.

Today, I participated as a volunteer.

A professional Igo player teaching a quick introductory workshop

Approx. 4,000 people came to play / watch

Igo is a board game invented in China 4K years ago, but became more popular in Japan afterwards. Many history figures are known to have played Igo. It uses black and white marbles, pretty “zen-ish”, and has a traditional japanese feeling to it. The game is much more complex that, unlike Chess, even the strongest computer program still cannot beat experienced non-professional players.

Anyway.

I am also grateful for my colleagues who introduced me to the group, and who teaches me Igo every week.
Thank you so very much.

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary

Inspiration

Posted on October 10, 2010

Today I am thankful for my neighborhood, which is full of inspiration. I found so many cute knits – poncho, dress, jacket – in this year’s style. I wanted to record everything I saw, especially how they were knitted, but I was too shy. I love this cape in below picture!

Categories: **ENGLISH**, 2. Diary