stuff and more stuff

so, here is how I am wasting time today:

http://www.eyezmaze.com/grow/cube/index.html

Terribly addictive, but once you figure it out, it's finished. And the music is annoying, but you can turn that off.

Had a lovely conversation last night over dinner with Sam about social responsibility and the nature of money. I'm not sure he will eschew society and go live communally like his grandparents did, but at least he understands why they did it. And now that he knows how evil oil is, maybe he will turn off the lights from time to time. But probably not.

We've finally put in our official "wish list" for our next posting, and it looks like this:

1. Havana
2. Vienna
3. Prague
4. Santiago de Chile
5. Bucharest

So, there it is. Now, we just wait... All of them look interesting to me, and exciting, so really - it's all good.

Vamos a ver...

my bank really really really cares about me

Below is the text of an email we received from our bank - while I appreciate their attention and customer care, I think that issues surrounding my bladder shouldn't really come up in this context.

Hi,

As per your instructions your investment account has been closed and the funds have been deposited to your account and the bi-weekly contributions cancelled. I am also in the process of finding out if we have a 24 hour number for our overseas clients - I was under the impression that the number I provided was 24 hours. I apologize for any incontinence caused.

Should you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you

Irene

And, I think she should apologize again for causing me to pee my pants from laughing when I read this.

really, it was the dog...

I finally found a picture of the Tokyo anti-smoking campaign poster that I love so much. Words (as so many of you know) really can't describe the brilliance of this particular concept.

I won't start smoking, but I am going to be much more responsible with my farts from now on.

Sam's latest effort

The Rusty Old Knife

By Sam Chapman

Once upon a time there was a very small man. He lived in a wooden cabin in the woods. His most prized possession was a rusty old knife (he was very poor). One night at midnight he heard a noise in the kitchen so he went down to investigate. He didn’t see anyone so he went back up to bed.

At the top of the stairs he saw a figure. It had a black, long, scraggly beard, an eye-patch over one eye and the small man’s rusty old knife. The oddest thing was that he was slightly transparent. The very small man was so scared he fell down the stairs. The ghost glided down after him.

“GET OUT! eiiaiioo…” wailed the ghost. The ghost advanced on the very small man. “LEAVE NOW! eiiaiioo…” screamed the ghost.

The ghost had the very small man cornered now. “OUT! eiiaiioo…” hollered the ghost.

Then the very small man saw a vase of roses. “Ghosts hate roses” he thought, so he threw a rose at the ghost. The rose hit him in the face.

“eeiiiaaiiioooo…” shouted the ghost, and he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The rusty old knife clattered to the floor.

The End

sorry, sorry

Every time I sit down to write a post, I realize that I am just too busy. I still am, but have 15 minutes before I head off to work...

Oh, and once I log on, my mind goes blank. I think that this is what several friends of mine refer to as "blog block". It's not that I don't have anything to write, but rather that there is so much going on, I just don't know where to start.

One of the things that I've been thinking about lately - as various friends of mine go through ending relationships, or stay in relationships that I have various judgements about - is what exactly do we/I mean when we talk about "love"? What does "I love him" actually mean? It's certainly been a good place to start conversations with all sorts of people - my friends, my mom, Steve, myself... I'm not getting to any real conclusions, but it has been, for me, an interesting and revealing question.

Sam remains Sam - getting off of the bus during the first week of school saying "back from the salt mines..." Although he actually likes school, I believe.

We had an amusing trip out to Costco the other day - what else do you do on labour day, but stock up on soft toilet paper and bagels? The horn on our charming (but currently somewhat embarrassing) BMW convertable seems to have a loose wire somewhere, so for the entire drive out and drive back we were intermittently honking at everyone... Which would have been fine in the DR, but NO-ONE in Tokyo ever uses their horn. Particularly when paying their toll at the toll booth... So now, there are a whole batch of Tokyo-ites who think that there is some weird gaijin horn-honking habit. Oh well... I like to do what I can to further the cause of cross-cultural (mis)understanding.