Planning On Prozac

Wow.

Time is slipping by like sand through my fingers.

The summer is almost over but it feels like, here, it never really even got started. We have spent most of the summer preparing for the move...or should I say, series of moves.

Dillon moved permanently, on Tuesday, the 27th, back home to Indiana with my parents. He will begin school there and probably finish out the sememster before moving again, to DC.

Noodle and I are joining him in the next 2 weeks to enroll her in school and wait for Tater to finish up his job here and return to the states as well.

.....It occurs to me here, that I haven't been very forthcoming with our plans for the near future, so here it is, in the nutshell.....

We must leave Japan in November.

Tater's new job will be in DC. But not until April. From January to March he must be in Norfolk. That leaves the kids and I in a state of limbo from November until January at the earliest, April at the latest.

So we decided to send them home to start school in Indiana. Dillon in July, so he can start football practice. Noodle and I in August, in time for her to get over jet-lag before the first day of school. Hopefully, I will come back out here at the end of October for about 3 weeks to pack up the house and say goodbye for real, and then Tater and I will head, separately, to San Diego to pick up our car and drive it across the country.

If all goes according to plan, we will buy a house in DC in early December, the kids and I will move in, and he will go to Norfolk until March...

If all goes according to plan.

So now I have just over 2 weeks to organize my life for the next 5-9 months, during which we will be living out of our suitcases. Think it can be done? Without my needing Prozac?

Annie, Day One Through Three

So my Girlfriend, Annie, made it up from Okinawa last Saturday. Tater and I drove up to Yokota to pick her up and since, we've been running all around the Kanto Plain.

Yesterday, we went to Kamakura to see the temples and Big Buddha down there. Annie needed some new pictures, and I think we got some really nice ones. We ended up walking 7 miles and were all beat last night.

Monday we went to Yokohama and shopped all around Landmark Tower and Queen's Plaza. She got new pictures of the Giant Ferris wheel and the really old ship (forget the name...).

Sunday was about 90 degrees, so we tried to make it a relax day and go to the pool, but after we got all ready and lotioned-up and headed out, we turned the corner from my street and ran headlong into the nastiest, blackest, scariest cloud we'd ever seen. But ever the optimist, despite the meager sprinkles on the windshield, we forged on and decided to eat some lunch first at Taco Bell. 'Cause SURELY that nasty black cloud wasn't coming our way... While in the Food Court, the sprinkles turned to torrents...cold torrents, which we had to sprint through to get back to the car. Then the torrents turned into pea-sized hail, which then turned into marble-sized hail by the time we got home. And the temperature was 69 degrees.

Two hours later, the sun came out, the temperature rose, and people were headed back to the pool. But not us. We had whipped up a batch of Margaritas and started cooking dinner, and heading out to the pool just didn't seem prudent any more. Regardless, we had fun anyway. Noodle, not-so-much, since she didn't have the added boost of a Margarita...

Boogers and Fillings and Flights, Oh MY!

A special entry (when I should be cooking and cleaning for Happy Hour tonight) for my Girlfriend, Bronwyn...

So. A couple of weeks ago, I got a summer cold. (Which, by the way, is an oxymoron.*) It has morphed into a sinus infection, and I have the same slime that was on Ghostbusters colonizing in my head. (Ewww.)

**Another oxymoron: Miraclesuit. If you're so big that you need a "miracle", then maybe a swimsuit's not the answer.

I'm just sayin'.

And. Yesterday I was goofing off all day long and never really ate anything, until I did a drive-by on a tube of Pringles. I ate one. ONE. And broke a cusp off a back molar. It was 4:10pm. Dental closes at 4pm. The duty dentist didn't want to deal with it and asked me to call back at 7:15 this morning. Having not eaten anything all day, I was hungry, and cranky and needed a margarita. But with all the cold involved in frozen beverages, I didn't think that was a good idea and went and got take-out mashed potatoes from Smokey's. (Again, Ewww.)

Anyway. Fastforward to 7:15am They tried to make me an appointment for NEXT MONDAY at 10:15am. OR, if I didn't like that option, I could just come into the Dental Clinic and wait around until someone cancelled an appointment and they would work me in. Well, I was starving, and bitchy, and kept saying things like, "So you want me to come in there now, and sit around until what? 10:30? 2:30? maybe 3:30? until maybe someone cancels an appointment , and then maybe someone can see me?" Do you know what her reply was?

"Well, surely someone can see you, and if not, it's no problem to take you after hours at 4."

"After hours! I tried that yesterday! They wouldn't see me!" She asked me if I knew why.

She must have sensed I was near the breaking point and suggested that I wait at home and they would call me if someone cancelled their appointment. (FYI: I live 3 (THREE) minutes away from the clinic.)

Sold! They called at 9:20, I was back home at 10:20. They made it one massive filling and I'll have to have it crowned when we get back stateside.

My girlfriend, Annie, who lives on Okinawa, has been trying to catch a MAC (civilian translation: free) flight up here for the last 2 days. She has been to her Air Terminal 3 times so far, and I'm as-I-type waiting for a call from her telling me whether or not she got on the most recent one. There's one more tomorrow morning.

Keep your fingers crossed...

Three Weeks of Summer Break Gone...

Good Lord, I haven't felt like writing lately. I don't know why. I love writing. Maybe it's the heat. Or the kids always being home - or with me, at least, wherever we are. Maybe the long hours of daylight. My favorite time to write was after dinner but before Tater came home. With summer here, that is all out of whack! We're part vampire here, so we're up all hours of the night, and then sleeping in until 9 or so. We should get a handle on that.

Since school got out, here's what we've been doing:

Brownies went to Disney Sea: It was OK – don’t need to go back.

Went to a Chopin piano concert with Hiroko: Nice, but lots of yawning.

Noodle & I went to a Brownie Family end of the year picnic: Tater had a situation at work.

Saw Harry Potter: A bit disappointing.

Went to dinner at a little Italian restaurant to celebrate the girls in the club with June Birthdays: Yum.

Friday night had dinner here: Fun but I didn't like the new salad I made.

Saturday Noodle & I went to Enoshima Aquarium with Hiroko: Fun.

Sunday Noodle & I took an MWR tour to Tokyo Summerland with Rachelle & Torrey: Fun but overcast and not-so-hot.

...and Today, we ran around Machida shopping and eating at T.G.I.Friday's: Gap & Cajun Chicken Salad. Yum.

We've been a tad busy, but not really, compred to if we had school to attend. The rainy season has been very mild so when we haven't been doing that grocery-list of activites above, we've been at the pool. It did rain one day. I spent the entire day, from morning till dinner, organizing my recipes. I need more rainy days. For photos, files, closets...we'll pack out in October. I need to be organized.

I have something on my mind, but can't articulate it now. I need time to think. Until then, please keep my best friend, Jen, in your prayers. She has hit a rough patch.

Saturday Schizophrenia

After Rain and Gray Skies for several days, we woke up to Sunshine this morning! (The more and more I ponder my love of sunshine, the more I understand my adoration of Southern California.) I puttered and laundered until the sun reached my backyard and then took my book and basked, like a lizard, in the full glory of the sun. Until I got too hot. (And I didn't want to put on my bikini, due to my extra 15 pounds and my crazy-ass neighbors - separate, but equally annoying issues.) Then the clouds rolled back in, and we are again in the midst of the Kanto Plain Rainy Season. ICK.

From October to May I read NO (yes, NONE, ZERO, ZILCH) books. I was busy. A horrible, horrible atrocity, I know. But since April I have happily read...7? 8?...or so books. I rekindled the frenzy with"The Lovely Bones" and "The Tao of Pooh", then I had to read "Glorious Appearing" because it came out. I took a useless, sexy novel to Hawaii (so useless, that I don't even remember the name or plot!), and finished it there, then read "Summer Sisters" by Judy Blume on the plane ride back, then read "Angels and Demons" and "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown in quick succession, and then devoured the "Three Sisters Trilogy" (more sex and sizzle) by Nora Roberts. I am making up, all at once, my winter-reading dry-spell. My only problem now, is trying to decide if I should read "Anna Karenina", which I have been trying to read now for 4 years, because Oprah has chosen it for her most recent selection, and I could probably scam off her notes, or read "The Dogs of Babel" (Carolyn Parkhurst), which I picked up in the bookstore because it looked interesting, or "The Rapture of Canaan" (Sheri Reynolds), simply because I haven't read it yet. OH, the indecision!!!

An on a separate, but equally schizophrenic note, I have sound blaring at me from every corner of my house tonight. D and Matt are 8 feet away, in the playroom, playing X-Box, which is howling and screaming in game-language; Tater is in the living room watching Crime TV, which I CANNOT believe I'm not also watching, because, lets face it, I'm a Crime Junkie; and I'm at the Mac typing an entry and listening to my music library -right now playing Michelle Branch, singing "Sweet Misery"- how apropos. Noodle and Twist are up in my bedroom watching "Ice Age", which I can't hear, but neither can I go up there to escape the chaos...

Maybe another glass of Shiraz...

Disney Sea

I have been majorly distracted by the last few weeks of the school year. We have had Parties, and Field Trips, and Ballet, (Oh MY!)...Talent Shows, and Finals, and Meetings...English Classes, Bridging Ceremonies, and Dinners. Oh, and Mac and Tater caught a nasty Fever-Chills-Sore Throat Virus last week (she almost missed the last 4 days of school, but dragged herself up just in the nick of time for the Last-Day-Bowling-and-Pizza-For-Lunch Party. Whew!)

The last day of school was to be today, but thanks to President Bush, we're all at home (for the rainy season began last week) playing X-Box, watching reruns of "Friends", channel surfing, and computer-tinkering.

So. Now. Noodle is a 4th Grader and a Junior Girl Scout, and Dillon is a Sophomore, [and I am just another year older...].

Us Girls topped off the End Of The School-Year Chaos with a trip to Disney Sea yesterday, compliments of the Brownies. We had a GREAT time, and the rain actually held off for the day. Rachelle, Torrey, Noodle and I hung out all day together, riding the "Indiana Jones" Ride 4 times, and the "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" Ride 4 times as well. We ate lunch in Ariel's Grotto, saw the Mystic Something-Or-Other Rainforest show (which looked a lot like the Broadway production of "The Lion King", but a lot wetter), rode the Carousel, bought stupid souvenirs, ate Strawberry Popcorn (but passed up the Cappuccino Corn), did the Japanese version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (no thanks), and a few other not-so-memorable rides.

At the end of the day, we were exhausted but happy. And thankful we had the two best friends a girl could ask for to spend it with us.

Boys Are Gross. Pass It On.

Mackenzie's and 4 of her friends from dance class entered the school talent show. There might be nothing cuter than 5 third-graders, sparkly from head to toe, dancing in sync to Madonna...

They are dancing their Jazz Dance from The Recital last month. Despite issues with their music (which wouldn't play, due to the CD being an MP3 recording), lack of costumes, stage positioning, and missing dancers, they gave it their all and made it past the audition. There really wasn't any doubt - they were the only group that showed up with any discernable talent and organization.

Yay!

So they decided to practice here yesterday. Five little girls, in my front yard, CD player blaring with Madonna singing "Hollywood", shakin' their booties and rockin' out to the beat. As time wore on, I noticed a fair amount of little boys moseyin' back and forth past my house. They finally found another boy home next door, and just parked their bikes and skateboards and pretended not to watch the Solid Gold Dancers In Miniature. It's the first time I had noticed Little Boy Testosterone giving attention to My Little Girl.

Freaky.

And I wish it to stop right here and now. Can I forbid adolescence?

Margarita Monday

Sometimes I just love our life here in Oz.

Yesterday, the Kittyhawk came home, and 2 of our Dets with it. Of course, MWR planned a big To-Do for the Kittyhawk guys (even though they have only been gone 10?...12? weeks, but that's a WHOLE other rant...) and since we weren't included, we had to make our own welcome home party (for our guys who were gone 4 months...).

ANYWAY!!!, so Ang, Candi, Jen and I showed up at the squadron for the celebration (cake, cookies, sodas, speeches...), which lasted all of 45 minutes before everyone wandered back off to work, and we were left standing there, on a perfectly good Monday afternoon, with nothing to clelebrate. So we did what any truly "Fun Girl" would do...

We went back to Angie's house, raided her freezer of her Happy Hour Food, whipped up a batch of Margaritas, moved the picnic table into prime "baby viewing location", proclaimed it "Margarita Monday", and set to chatting amongst ourselves. The kids ran wild, Ang fed them corn dogs and Pizza Puffs, and at 8pm, 3 pitchers later, we decided that maybe someone should take charge and round up the troops for bed on a school night.

Happy Tequila Tuesday!!!

Anne Frank Educates Another Generation

Mackenzie watched The Diary of Anne Frank yesterday. This is one of my all-time favorite books and such a powerful movie. I have read the book no less than 10 times, and seen several different versions of the movie, yet it never fails to create an ache in my heart. The cruelty and inhumanity baffle me to an extent that I cannot comprehend, and each time I relive it in either print or on the screen, I end up sobbing. Not only for the for the millions who died, but for the millions who were defeated and demoralized. What a travesty that anyone should say that The Holocaust didn't happen. I find myself weeping for Anne, that she survived 9 months in concentration camps, only to die of typhus 2 weeks before Bergen-Belsen was liberated.

Then it occured to me. Had she not died, and her diary not been published, how many people around the globe whould have been ignorant to the horrors of Nazi Germany. Her diary, published in 1947, is one of the most widely read books today, read by both children and adults. Maybe she had a greater purpose in life. I stop short of saying that her suffering was meant to be, but I did say a prayer last night and thank God for the adolescent girl whose death would enlighten millions.

Let It Pour, Let It Pour, Let It Pour...

Oh, where to start????

...the monster ache in my mouth/jaw/head after having a broken filling fixed...

...the fact that the only American grocery store within 20 miles can't bother to keep in stock a quarter of my shopping list but DOES have 15 different kinds of Filipino sausage...

...or the fact that Dillon was hanging out with four other 9th graders yesterday who were busted for drinking during the lunch hour - one to the point of passing out...

So much strife, SO little rum.

Has anyone seen my Tylenol-3?

Hawaii Rocks!

Ok. I'm back!

Hawaii was awesome!!

Here's the proof.
We just hung out for 7 days with long lost (well, 6 months lost, anyway) friends and drank Lava Flows* for sustenance.

The wedding was beautiful, and we were so happy to see our friends Neil and Mai get hitched.

*Lava Flow: The best drink in the world, consisting, basically, of a Pina Colada with strawberry syrup swirled in. Mmmmmmm. No reason for breakfast, lunch, or dinner if you have copious amounts of Lava Flows!

Off to Hawaii

I can't play right now..... I'm going to Hawaii in 6 hours. See you when I get back!!

Finding a Sparkle In All the Muck

Ok. Taking deep, cleansing breaths...

I'm feeling much more at peace today. I'm still horribly frustrated by the insanity of the past weekend, but am coming to terms with the fact that there is nothing I can do about it. Toxic people will come and go and it's my new mission in life to ignore and avoid them.

I have made a new friend here that I enjoy being around. Her name is Candi. (Sort of.) Though there is a 12 year difference in our ages, each time we are together we unearth, like the little sparkles that make me so happy, another similarity between us. We crack ourselves up, laughing at us, and in my book, anyone who can laugh at herself is a keeper. I know I must like her, because I've talked to her almost every day for the last couple of weeks. And that is NOT like me. I am overjoyed at the thought of spending my last months in Japan with her, but saddened at the thought of leaving her in a few months. I know what it is to watch special friends leave and either having to find new ones or go without. It makes me want to revert to my old protection mechanism of refusing to get close to anyone during my last months at a duty station. But this time I'm smarter than that. I know that by pushing her away, I would be missing out on a truly special person. And who needs THAT?

I will enjoy and cherish our budding sisterhood.

Spring

Well, it's the time of year that I am continuously going AWOL. Happens every Spring and Fall.

My friends and family on the other side of the world stop hearing from me for extended periods. In the Fall it happens after school resumes - projects that were put off all summer long are picked back up, the thermometer falls below 100 and we slowly creep back outside to enjoy the last hurrah of Summer...

But in the Spring...In the Spring it's the weather. It's been gorgeous here for the last couple of weeks. For a moment in Time each Spring and Fall, Tokyo feels like San Diego - blue skies, a warm breeze, birds chirping, and the whine of a lawnmower off in the distance. That is my idea of Heaven. Before the typhoons rage, the humidity cuts out oxygen, and the legions of mosquitoes appear, families are playing at the park, couples are riding bikes, Moms are walking babies, runners are lurking around every corner.

This is the Time of Year to enjoy just Being.

Short and Boring

Went to the gym today, for the 2nd day in a row, and I realized it had been a month since I had been there. But I did walk a lot when my mom was here - I should have been tracking those miles...oh, well, too late now. Live and learn.

My throat is killing me, and my neck and ears are starting to hurt. Allergies? Or strep. I'm starting to get nervous. It really hurts. But my eyes have been scratchy for about a week now. The pollen is REALLY flying about out there. My car even has a green haze over it.

My house is still a mess. The weather has been beautiful and I simply don't want to stay in and clean. Any day now, the rainy season will start, and we won't be outside much at all. So for now, it's play outside and do the bare minimum. Later I can deep clean.

Time for bed.