everything makes me feel guilty

Even my blog. I keep feeling like I should be blogging more, keeping everyone (is there an everyone reading this? I feel so much like I am shouting into a deep well when I write this) more up to date on the exciting, thrilling, amazing...

uhhh... Well, I did give Sam a bloody nose this week, probably the most excitement for a while. So I get to feel guilty about that as well (will I get reported to the authorities for writing this? Are there people surfing the net looking for admissions to child abuse?). Actually, it wasn't my fault, I finally got to blame the dog for something (since she doesn't destroy things or fart, she has so far proven useless in that realm). I was tickling Sam, and Fox came up behind me and licked my bare foot... BAM! my knee, Sam's nose, and you know how the rest of that story goes...

Other excitement: I have come to the end of my first "solo" TELL (www.telljp.com ) volunteer training. Solo, in that I got to be the only boss. It went well, I think, and the thing that I learned (according to Helen, it didn't happen right away - thanks) was that I can be in control (not that I am a CONTROL FREAK...) and be flexible at the same time. The hard part was being out to work 2 nights a week... So, I am feeling accomplished at the moment, although the work isn't quite over, and the next one starts in 2 months, which means the prep work starts... now....

And Steve and Sam brought me flowers at the celebratory lunch afterwards. I live with such sweet men... I should really be nicer to them. Now I can feel guilty about that, too.

Now, off to dinner. And no doubt further guilt. About something.

fall arrives in the megalopolous

Well, one grey, rainy day is fine - a chance to laze about, watch movies, eat chocolate, read books and drink tea. But TWO seems excessive.

I guess that Fall has finally arrived in Tokyo. The humidity is gone, and it smells different. Actually, I love the smell of autumn in Tokyo. In Canada, I always associated a kind of decomposing-leaves smell with the season (not as bad as it sounds, really), but here it is an absolutely lovely aroma of coal-roasted sweet potatoes, sold by vendors all over the city. Delicious.

The TELL Charity auction went very well, we raised a little over 12 million yen, and the highest bid item was dinner for 12 hosted by the Canadian Ambassador, at his residence (Y700,000!!!). The coolest item was a hockey jersey signed by Wayne Gretzky (you know, the great one...). I had a few minutes of thinking how cool that would look in its frame on my dining room wall, but it went for Y490,000. I had to be satisfied trying to explain to my Japanese friends exactly who Gretzky is. Hockey is not so big here...

So, I think my job is secure for the near future at least. There were several items I almost bid on (like airfare & 5 days hotel in Whistler), but by the time I got my paddle halfway up, things were invariably out of my price range. Oh well...

And then this past weekend we went to the US Marine Corps Ball (our 4th in a row!). It was fun, and the special guest speaker was Aaahnold (I expected him to show up naked in a ball in the middle of the room, but no such luck). He gave his standard speech, but added an inspired "I may play an action hero in da moovies, but choo are the reeeal action heros" for the marines. Cute, no? I think the excitement of that may even eclipse the marine ball in Santo Domingo where we got to see someone get shot (no, not by a marine) on our way home...

Oh, the exciting life...

blog the second and things I'm not understanding

Well, I have figured out how to enable ANYONE to post comments here, not just those who are registered with the site (thanks, Sarah!), so comment away...

Big night here in Tokyo (at least for me and my little NGO), as we are having our biggest annual fundraiser - a charity auction at the Canadian Embassy. If you're in Tokyo with a spare Y10,000 in your pocket, buy a ticket and come along - free food & wine! I've suggested that we would make the most money if we auctioned off a Canadian Citizenship (think of all the tickets we'd sell at the US Embassy today!), but no go...

Anyway, I'll be dressing up and encouraging people to pay as much as possible for well, anything... Maybe I'll smuggle in my camera & take photos of the better lots (like the charcoal room freshener shaped like a scottie dog...)

Trends I'm not getting in Tokyo: facial piercings on trendy folk. You know (or maybe not, if you don't live here) the super-fashionable youth here - pigeon-toed deeply-tanned bleached-bolde short-skirted 21-year-old fashionistas (and whatever the male version of that is) are getting cheeks, chins, eyebrows peirced. Now, I'm not against peircing at all, but it seems to me that short-lived trends shouln't leave scars... And it kind of short-circuits the, ummm, je ne sais quois of peircing when EVERYONE does it! oh well... guess I'm getting old...

Still working on the photo thing (well, not really - not till we get a new computer, but soon!).