I knew he was struggling against the cancer, but I didn't know it had already won....so sad to hear.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Unsatisfying
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Looking Back
This weekend has been a walk down memory lane...
When we were still in the States, I started on a project to convert my journals (that I have kept since 1981) to electronic versions before the spiral binders all completely fall apart. I got quite a bit done during that time, in between school, volunteering for Google and maintaining our household. Then of course we moved to another country and projects were put on hold (yes, there are more than just one).
It has been nagging me for a long time but I just haven't be able to convince myself that I have the time to deal with it, so I haven't. But I have decided that none of these projects are going to get done if I don't make time for them and it is just a matter of managing my time into little bits...doesn't matter if I get them all done in one sitting, I just need to take little bites out of them until they are done.
So, for some reason, yesterday (Saturday here), I decided to at least figure out where I was with the journal project and get it organized. I went through them all (I brought them this time around so I could continue this project, last time I left them in storage) and figured out exactly where I was. Turns out, I am in the middle of 1985.
So I grabbed the one I was working on and the next one and decided to get to work. Now converting them to electronic copy entails actually typing them all in to my computer (spelling and grammar errors included). This is actually time consuming for several reasons, mostly though, it is due to the fact that a lot of it is in pencil and hard to read so I have to actually go over things before I can start typing.
Okay, so I told myself as a goal for the weekend, I wanted to get the two notebooks done (the one I was already in and the next one). I worked on it last night while watching a movie and then this morning while watching a movie.
The funny thing is that during this time in my life, I was REALLY into Prince....loved the 1999 album and the Purple Rain albums...and listened to them constantly. So you know what comes on the movie channel as I am finishing up the second notebook this afternoon? PURPLE RAIN!!! Wow, what a flashback...nothing takes you back like music can.
One thing that really struck me is that (at least at this point in my writing), I dont't really talk about what I am doing or listening to or watching at the movies...I am purely focused on crushes, and friends....I guess at that age, nothing else much matters. In most of the journals, I don't even have the year listed so I had to figure out some if on my own yesterday. I guess you also don't think that 25 years down the road, you will be reading what you wrote when you were in highschool.
I wish now that I had written more about what was going on around me, what music I was listening too (I only know about Prince because I remember it), what movies I was watching, where we were living, what my sister was doing (besides annoying me)...I will start paying more attention to what I write in my journal currently so that I do cover some of those things....it seems like otherwise it is just the ramblings of my mind rather than an actual account of my life at that time. Although now that I blog my everyday activities, I guess it might be okay for my journal to just be the ramblings....who knows.
I also noticed that I can spend several notebooks in one month because I was writing it in several times a day depending on what was going on in my life at the time. But as an adult, I have smaller handwriting and I don't write as frequently, so one notebook (I have switched to bound Mead notebooks) lasts me at least a year if not longer. I guess I have other outlets for my feelings and thoughts and that is part of it as well.
It is so funny to read my journals and realize what a teenager I was and how every thing that happened was so important and life or death. I was convinced that whomever I had a crush on at the moment was forever (which we all know is not the case) and that my life would never be right if Mom and Dad didn't let me do something, or my friends at school didn't like what I said or wore that day. It is amazing how small your world is when you are a kid and how easy life really is even though you don't realize it at the moment.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Little League World Series
When we were still in the States, I started on a project to convert my journals (that I have kept since 1981) to electronic versions before the spiral binders all completely fall apart. I got quite a bit done during that time, in between school, volunteering for Google and maintaining our household. Then of course we moved to another country and projects were put on hold (yes, there are more than just one).
It has been nagging me for a long time but I just haven't be able to convince myself that I have the time to deal with it, so I haven't. But I have decided that none of these projects are going to get done if I don't make time for them and it is just a matter of managing my time into little bits...doesn't matter if I get them all done in one sitting, I just need to take little bites out of them until they are done.
So, for some reason, yesterday (Saturday here), I decided to at least figure out where I was with the journal project and get it organized. I went through them all (I brought them this time around so I could continue this project, last time I left them in storage) and figured out exactly where I was. Turns out, I am in the middle of 1985.
So I grabbed the one I was working on and the next one and decided to get to work. Now converting them to electronic copy entails actually typing them all in to my computer (spelling and grammar errors included). This is actually time consuming for several reasons, mostly though, it is due to the fact that a lot of it is in pencil and hard to read so I have to actually go over things before I can start typing.
Okay, so I told myself as a goal for the weekend, I wanted to get the two notebooks done (the one I was already in and the next one). I worked on it last night while watching a movie and then this morning while watching a movie.
The funny thing is that during this time in my life, I was REALLY into Prince....loved the 1999 album and the Purple Rain albums...and listened to them constantly. So you know what comes on the movie channel as I am finishing up the second notebook this afternoon? PURPLE RAIN!!! Wow, what a flashback...nothing takes you back like music can.
One thing that really struck me is that (at least at this point in my writing), I dont't really talk about what I am doing or listening to or watching at the movies...I am purely focused on crushes, and friends....I guess at that age, nothing else much matters. In most of the journals, I don't even have the year listed so I had to figure out some if on my own yesterday. I guess you also don't think that 25 years down the road, you will be reading what you wrote when you were in highschool.
I wish now that I had written more about what was going on around me, what music I was listening too (I only know about Prince because I remember it), what movies I was watching, where we were living, what my sister was doing (besides annoying me)...I will start paying more attention to what I write in my journal currently so that I do cover some of those things....it seems like otherwise it is just the ramblings of my mind rather than an actual account of my life at that time. Although now that I blog my everyday activities, I guess it might be okay for my journal to just be the ramblings....who knows.
I also noticed that I can spend several notebooks in one month because I was writing it in several times a day depending on what was going on in my life at the time. But as an adult, I have smaller handwriting and I don't write as frequently, so one notebook (I have switched to bound Mead notebooks) lasts me at least a year if not longer. I guess I have other outlets for my feelings and thoughts and that is part of it as well.
It is so funny to read my journals and realize what a teenager I was and how every thing that happened was so important and life or death. I was convinced that whomever I had a crush on at the moment was forever (which we all know is not the case) and that my life would never be right if Mom and Dad didn't let me do something, or my friends at school didn't like what I said or wore that day. It is amazing how small your world is when you are a kid and how easy life really is even though you don't realize it at the moment.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Little League World Series
Friday, August 21, 2009
Making A Cup Of Coffee
I have fallen in love with the one serving coffee filter you can find here....it makes coffee for me so quick, with less work, and definitely less mess...
First I turn on the hot water pot, this one is from Taiwan and makes a pot of hot water in the time it takes me to brush my teeth. It is great for tea, the French press, cups of soup, or my individual coffee filters.
This is the individual pouch...I get 30 of these in a bag for about 10 bucks.
This is what the filter looks like when out of the bag. It has directions for opening printed on the side of the filter.
You open the filter by tearing along the line...making sure to knock all the grounds to the bottom first.
Fold the side handles out and then pop the back piece in to make a little hook.
You fit the now open filter pack on the top of your cup with the side handles and the little back handle.
You pour the hot water in, and let it drain. You have to do this several times to get the cup full but it still only takes a few minutes total.
It is actually handy to use the wrapper as a holder for the spent coffee filter.
And finally, my finished cup (waiting of course for a teaspoon of sugar and some milk).
I hope that someday when we live back in the US, I will be able to find these somewhere...they do not taste like instant coffee, but like freshly brewed drip coffee and the hard thing about getting addicted to something from a new place is that you might not find them later on when you live somewhere else.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Rolling, rolling, rolling
First I turn on the hot water pot, this one is from Taiwan and makes a pot of hot water in the time it takes me to brush my teeth. It is great for tea, the French press, cups of soup, or my individual coffee filters.
This is the individual pouch...I get 30 of these in a bag for about 10 bucks.
This is what the filter looks like when out of the bag. It has directions for opening printed on the side of the filter.
You open the filter by tearing along the line...making sure to knock all the grounds to the bottom first.
Fold the side handles out and then pop the back piece in to make a little hook.
You fit the now open filter pack on the top of your cup with the side handles and the little back handle.
You pour the hot water in, and let it drain. You have to do this several times to get the cup full but it still only takes a few minutes total.
It is actually handy to use the wrapper as a holder for the spent coffee filter.
And finally, my finished cup (waiting of course for a teaspoon of sugar and some milk).I hope that someday when we live back in the US, I will be able to find these somewhere...they do not taste like instant coffee, but like freshly brewed drip coffee and the hard thing about getting addicted to something from a new place is that you might not find them later on when you live somewhere else.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Rolling, rolling, rolling
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Round 1
Yesterday was my first time at Round 1...an indoor play area for adults and kids alike. We had a girls night there and I thought it was a great opportunity for me to find out if it was the kind of place I would want to go to more than once and perhaps even bring the better half and some friends to.I HAD A BLAST...and we only saw a portion of the place. It has 7 floors total. The top one is an open air area that allows for playing team sports against/with other people. Then the 5-7th floors are part of the Spo-cha which is a "pay an entrance fee and play all you want during the time limit" kind of place. It has arcade games, athletic games you play against a computer, roller skating, pocket bike racing, massage chairs, food, karaoke, and tons of other things to do.
I managed to do the following in the short time I was there last night:
-played a few rounds of computer golf (just one hole each time)...it was kind of like the instructors driving simulator you see at golf stores
-played a game of tennis against the computer, which I am determined to do better at next time
-kicked boxed this computer bag that yells out numbers in Japanese and you have to hit the right number to score...Heather beat my score
-watched a pocket bike race
-sat in an awesome massage chair
-checked out the karaoke room (although we didn't karaoke while we were there)
-rode a bull and practically got thrown off it...note to self..don't wear shorts on the bull
-kicked a soccer ball against a computer (need to have shoes on for this one next time)
-shot an air gun at targets
-tried to get a prize out of an arcade game but didn't
Floors 1-4 have bowling, an arcade, darts, karaoke, relaxation and food for individual prices. We paid for 90 minutes in the Spo-cha part and it was a ton of fun...and in the summer, this was a great way to spend some time in the AC too...of course, we went on a Tuesday night so it wasn't super busy but I bet the weekend nights and days are crazy.
You can get membership for 500 yen a year (about 5 bucks) and that gets you 200 yen off the Spocha each time you go and discounts of the other paid floors if you chose to do them.
I looked for a website for the company but I don't see one. I can't wait to go again...I need to practice up on some of the stuff so I can give J a run for his money...heehee...
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One Year Ago on In My Words...Astronomy Picture of the Day
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
NASA - The Perseids are Coming
It is that time of the year again. This brings back wonderful memories of long hours spent staring at the night sky with my parents in our backyard when I as a kid.
The August meteor showers were always so beautiful and a great reason to just sit back, relax and watch the stars (not that we don't have a good reason to do that everyday).
So I am thinking that perhaps between 9pm and 11pm tonight (Wednesday for me), I might give it a go and see if I can see any of the "Earthgrazers" as well. Since we have had some cloudy skies the last few nights and it is supposed to be the same tonight we might not get a decent "full showing" but I can keep my fingers crossed that I might get a few. I know the moon will be bright and beautiful later on, and that might interfere with early morning viewing (since it seems to be coming up rather late at night), but from 9pm to 11pm, (if I can find a dark spot) might just be worth it.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Back On Island
The August meteor showers were always so beautiful and a great reason to just sit back, relax and watch the stars (not that we don't have a good reason to do that everyday).
So I am thinking that perhaps between 9pm and 11pm tonight (Wednesday for me), I might give it a go and see if I can see any of the "Earthgrazers" as well. Since we have had some cloudy skies the last few nights and it is supposed to be the same tonight we might not get a decent "full showing" but I can keep my fingers crossed that I might get a few. I know the moon will be bright and beautiful later on, and that might interfere with early morning viewing (since it seems to be coming up rather late at night), but from 9pm to 11pm, (if I can find a dark spot) might just be worth it.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Back On Island
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Typhoon pummels China, forcing nearly 1M to flee - Yahoo! News
It is always amazing to me to read the destruction that these storms cause other places. I guess we are just built for the storms here because we really do not have much damage other than trees even in the strongest of storms.
I have only lost power on one occassion and that was a super typhoon (cat 5) in all of the typhoons I have been in. I guess the smaller villages and low lying areas are what get hit the most in these other countries. We are pretty urban here but I know that some of our smaller islands that only have bamboo and nipa huts do suffer.
It is so sad to see that something I get excited about experiencing is so detrimental to so many others...
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Led Zeppelin
I have only lost power on one occassion and that was a super typhoon (cat 5) in all of the typhoons I have been in. I guess the smaller villages and low lying areas are what get hit the most in these other countries. We are pretty urban here but I know that some of our smaller islands that only have bamboo and nipa huts do suffer.
It is so sad to see that something I get excited about experiencing is so detrimental to so many others...
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Led Zeppelin
Friday, August 07, 2009
Goodbye Typhoon
Today was the last of the wind from the typhoon that almost was...I shouldn't say that since Taiwan is being pounded by it right now, but it almost was for us.
We did get some decent rain and wind from it but no mayhem or disaster...and of course, no days off...in fact I volunteered one day at the giftstore and the weather kept customers away but was not bad enough for me to close early and head home...haha.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be another storm out there on the horizon. I probably should get some of my yardwork done (why is it so hard for me to get out and do yardwork these days?) before we do get another, but I have so many other "projects" calling my name...
Oh well, on to the next storm we go and hopefully some opportunities for photos and video will present themselves.
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EIGHT Years Ago on In My Words...Seawall
We did get some decent rain and wind from it but no mayhem or disaster...and of course, no days off...in fact I volunteered one day at the giftstore and the weather kept customers away but was not bad enough for me to close early and head home...haha.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be another storm out there on the horizon. I probably should get some of my yardwork done (why is it so hard for me to get out and do yardwork these days?) before we do get another, but I have so many other "projects" calling my name...
Oh well, on to the next storm we go and hopefully some opportunities for photos and video will present themselves.
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EIGHT Years Ago on In My Words...Seawall
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Typhoon Morakot Update
Typhoon Morakot is not going to come close enough for us to worry too much at this point, but we are still getting some nice wind and rain from it. You can see from this satellite image why we are getting weather even though we are out of the target zone. Our island is the one right on the center line above the storm. Taiwan is the one to the left in the path of the storm.I have heard reports of objects flying around, so I recommend stowing anything that is light just to be safe. I put away a few things last night that were loose in our backyard.
From this other picture, you can see that this storm that everyone thought was going to stay small is supposed to get up to Cat 4 strength later today....if this were to turn and hit us, we would be in for some great weather for sure. I need to get down to the seawall today sometime, because I am sure the surfers are out in this for sure.______________________
Four Years Ago on In My Words...Microsoft BS
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Typhoon Morakot
Well, it is cranking up a bit and will be a Cat 2 storm as it passes us but it is not going to pass us as close as it was going to yesterday. It will only be within 130 miles of us at 3pm on Thursday but it will be gusting up to 126 mph near the center.I guess I will keep watching it to determine if I am going to put everything away or just the light stuff. Right now on the radar pictures, the storm is not very defined...kind of just looks like a spray of clouds rather than a definite hurricane...I guess we will see what the day holds...the reading I am posting here is from 3am this morning so we should get an update at 9am.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Back On Island
TS Morakot
So we have this little tropical storm sitting out there churning up. Right now it is not forecasted to be higher than Cat 1 by the time it hits us, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will ramp up a bit and give us a good storm.If you look at this picture, where the last little marker is, is where we are...so we are looking at Thursday night/Friday morning right now. I am trying not to get too excited about it, although I did send out a word of caution and advice to some of my friends here that haven't been in a decent storm yet...just to be on the safe side.
I will see how things go tomorrow before I start getting too busy with strapping stuff down and the like...I have cargo straps for anything I plan to leave outside and then we have a garage area for protection for the car. I don't really have a lot outside right now...and the teak table and chairs are pretty heavy but I usually collapse them and strap them together to be safe...last thing I need is for a chair to get smashed through one of my wall-sized plate glass windows.
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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Now You See It, Now You Don't
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