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Friday, May 29, 2009

The best snack ever (inconsequential information)

The best snack in the world: Jagariko!!! I like to eat these when I am travelling because they are a snitchy food that you can eat with one hand, touch with little fingertips, and savor with a heartful of loooove. I have nothing but love for them.
When I was in this tiny little train station on my way to Shiojiri a couple weeks ago, I had to wait for a good 40 minutes for the next train to come, and it was raining and I was tired and so I went to the tiny little kiosk to cheer myself up with some Jagarikos.
That's the next great thing about them, is you can get them anywhere!!! Work!!!
Anyway, there were these nuns standing there eating their own Jagarikos, and they were so godly and sweet that (kind of like some FGAs you know...) they were trying to make eye contact and probably would've tried to start talking to me if I'd looked at all inviting. But I was just interested in being Japanesey-mousey and getting my Jagarikos and having private quiet time on the bench. So basically I bought my Jagas, barely opened the package before my computer that I'd tentatively leaned against my leg starts slowly slipping down to the ground, and in one fell swoop I reach to save it and my ENTIRE cup of Jagas spills onto the ground. The ENTIRE...brand new...whole collection of Jaga sticks.
At this point the nuns look more or less sympathetic and start to offer their own Jagarikos, but I try to be really cool and brush it off like as if it doesn't really matter to me that I spilled my entire cup on the floor. "Yah, I'm fine. If they didn't want to be eaten...it's their loss."
Man. That sucked. All the way on the train I wanted Jagarikos.
And then Nao bought them for me. And I ate them, and was glad.
And...yeah. Basically I like Jagarikos.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Be

It's funny how things come and go. How laundry gets washed and then all too quickly recycled into a pile of dirty. How just a second ago you had "plenty of time" to meet a deadline, and now you're wondering why you put it off for so long. How you used to be better at something than someone, and now you stare at them through a half-open window and realize that they've suddenly become better than you by a mile, and, once again, the tortoise has overtaken the hare. How a schedule chock-full of agendas can be so exciting and fulfilling in the anticipation, and then gone and left you feeling a little tired and empty when it's all in the past. How one day, you have a little bit of childish anticipation about liking someone, and the next thing you know you're trying to forget that you ever admitted to yourself that you might. How you love something you've made one second and hate it the next. How you have the best intentions to get up and bludgeon all your tasks for the day with a force of dilligence your keyboard has never known, but end up getting knocked down by something invisible and puny and stay in bed watching youtube videos. How you can sit and write a silly blog-post thinking you have plenty of time before your train, and then...finish your blog post, pick up a bag, stuff it with some implements, and go and do your thing and wonder why you spent so much time on that stupid blog post. How something can be the future and then the past in one split second.
Be careful, self. Be what you mean to be.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Here I Am

Nagano is not as cold as I expected it to be. Even being rainy and cloudy, I seem to be a great deal warmer than the actual Alps Home residents. I'm the only one who's not dying to turn the heater on in my room, and I was walking around in shorts today. This is very odd, because I'm usually colder than everyone else. Maybe I'm all hot and bothered by something. Must ponder.
On my way here I had a series of small heart-attacks. We got some botched instructions for where I could get picked up, and we ended up passing our stop on the expressway by a great deal, and had to get off the kousoku in order to drop me off at a train station so I could double back. This was only a small heart-attack because it started looking like, "Florence, we might as well just take you home because of all the trouble this is becoming." But I made it, and I am here, and I am happy.
Today was rest day for me and the young Alps boys. Last night my room had a bunch of chips, umeshu, and boys in it, and that was quite exciting.
This picture is for you. "Slat wo nomimashou!" "Slat wa amaiiiii!" Yay!

Saturday, May 02, 2009

A quiet remark in the night

I'm getting wiped from the Internet like a booger from a dirty nose these next few weeks. I'm going to go down to Gifu and do some hardcore bi'nness until the 7th, take a break at Shiojiri, and then head off to help staff an OC camp. Call me if you miss me, yeah?
I think being away from home for a bit will be a good breather for me; it'll help me get back on my feet and figure out where I want to go from here. There are some things in my life that have built up and crashed down, and I wanna know what the Florence that I want to be is going to do about all of that (what Jesus wants me to do about all of that).
I also want you to know that letting go isn't very easy. No, not easy at all. But that's just another one of the things that you already knew, isn't it.
Goodnight, sleepy sweets.

Friday, May 01, 2009

A thought about productivity

I realize that I most often feel most like updating my blog during the first half of the day. I rarely ever update at night...or if I do, all you get is something short (and most likely depressing). The beginning half of the day is most inspired--the most productive!
WHY then, does my body always want to sleep all morning? What a waste of my most golden hours!
Does it not make sense to sleep earlier at night...and wake up bright and hoppity?
Someone TELL me it makes sense. COMMAND me!!! Ahhhhhh