The 2010 Adventure - Japan

The 2010 Adventure started in Tokyo. Like all big cities Tokyo is busy, noisy and has poor air quality, but if you can get past that it is ok.

The streets are busy with short (to me) people weaving their way between each other to reach their destinations. The buildings are covered with advertisements in ever increasing multitudes of colors which have a garish and childlike look to them.

The pavements are tidy and litter free, save for the businessmen in black or gray suits chain smoking their way through their lunch breaks.


We visited Ueno Park and enjoyed walking around for an hour looking at the trees, monuments, lake, shrines, fountains, views and locals.

There were few homeless people visible during the day but many locals out for a stroll or mediation....


We stayed in Narita, a small town outside Tokyo, which is about an hour and a half closer to the airport than Tokyo. It has two train stations about 300m apart which made travel into Tokyo very convenient and lots of restaurants, including Macdonalds.

On the night we arrived we were too exhausted to look for food so stopped in at McDees for dinner. The polite young girl behind the counter seemed surprised at the amount of cheeseburgers we were buying. Her numerous confirmations about our order made more sense when we opened the burgers to discover that we had accidentally ordered double cheeseburgers.

Would I go back to Tokyo? No.
Why? It just didn't really appeal to me. Smoking is permitted everywhere and that made most places smell bad and made me sneeze. And it had a really busy feel to it and I found that stressful.

Not getting what you didn't want

There is nothing more frustrating that not getting what you want....... except maybe not getting what you didn't want but expected to get.

It is sort of like being annoyed at someone else more than you really should because they did something that really annoys you when you do it. Confused yet?

Recently I reluctantly tried to obtain something.

I didn't really want it. I didn't need it. I didn't enjoy many different aspects of it. But everyone thought I would get it and I decided that trying to get it would at least leave the option open to me if I decided that I wanted it.

So I tried to get it. And while I was waiting to find out if I had, I decided that I definitely didn't want it. I decided that once I was offered it I would turn it down graciously. Say "Thanks but no thanks" and explain that the disadvantages of the thing were more than it was worth to me.

But I didn't get it. Someone else did. Someone I know, like and respect. Someone who will appreciate it much more than me.

But because everyone expected that I would get it, and expected that I would want to get it, they are disappointed for me.

And although I am disappointed that I didn't get to say"Thanks but no thanks", overall I am more relieved than disappointed. The disadvantages are still too sharp in my focus.

But all is not sunshine and lollypops, there are some parts of the thing that I really loved. I grieve for the loss of them.

It has been such a wonderful opportunity to be gracious and classy. There is nothing like being in a bad situation to allow you to show who you really are. I am the woman who can congratulate the person who got what she expected to. I am the woman who can accept the outcome that I didn't expect.

The interpretation of my upbeat attitude to the outcome tells me so much about the people around me. Those who assume I am putting on a brave face are correct though they probably don't realise that I am cheerfully hiding the childish tantrum I want to throw for not getting the outcome I expected, even though in the end I got the outcome I wanted. Those who tell me that there will be others in the future and not to worry about this particular one are right but probably don't realise how far into the future that might be. Those who tell me why I should have got it renew my confidence in my skills and myself. Those who show absolute shock and surprise inflate my ego. And those who say nothing, say most of all. I will remember them.

But like a clever Hollywood play write once said, when God closes a door he always opens a window. I wonder what this one will be like......

The honey-moon is over baby

I am taking a break from uni this semester.

I have been studying for two years now and we need some time apart. I need some time out, to invigorate my soul so I can love it even more.....

(if that make no sense to you please watch this link)

I am hoping that six months should do it and that next semester I will be back and ready to go. Time will tell.

Birthday China

I was give these lovely Royal Albert pieces called Poppyland by a good friend for my last birthday. They are divine to drink from, beautifully soft and fine, and came with plates just the perfect size to combine tea with toast.

Christmas China

My sister in law gave me this beautiful cup and saucer for Christmas. Isn't it lovely?

New napery

Apart from antique china my next favorite collectable is napery. I have a small collection of tablecloths and place-mats. Some of these are family heirlooms that have been passed down from my grandma and others I have purchased on trips overseas.

Many years ago when I went to Scotland with my Mum and Grandma, my Grandma was kind enough to buy me half a dozen lavender place-mats with thistles on them and matching coasters. In my more recent vist to Scotland I found them again and bought another 4 of each so I now have a set of ten.

A couple of years ago I went crazy in Hong Kong and bought a massive red linen Christmas tablecloth with matching napkins, as well as a dozen red linen Christmas place mats with matching napkins. I have used both sets but in retrospect it was sort of silly to buy things that I can really only use once a year ( or twice if I have Christmas in July). Having said that though, Christmas is one time I consistently want to set the table up nicely so at least they do get used.

I also bought a couple of white patterned hexagonal place-mats in Biot (a small hill top town in the South of France). These are beautiful and I adore looking at them but because they are white I am too afraid they will get damaged to use them. I think I have used them twice, which is a pity because they are just so beautiful.

On my most recent trip to Europe I bought at the Provencal markets in Bedoin (near Avignon) a large creamy-beige linen tablecloth with pictures of roosters on it. I know that sounds hideous, but it looks really classy. I am hoping that the color and the pattern will mean that I am not so reluctant to use it as the white place-mats described above.

I also bought a quilted bedspread in the traditional Boutis style (though probably made in China) in Provence at a small town near Avignon called Vaison-La-Romaine. It is white and beige and beautiful. It looks similar to this one but without the floral pattern.

Sleep update

Well I am very pleased to report that I managed to stay awake until 6 pm last night. And I slept until 7 am this morning which is a quite respectable hour to wake.

I hope this portends that I have successfully readjusted to the Aussie time zone and will have no issues from here on in (note positive thinking).

Today I have the joyous task of washing all the clothes we took overseas and everything I left in the washing hamper before we left. Oh joy.

To sleep or not to sleep

Currently my cognitive function is at an all time low, so I thought I should blog something. Maybe that will get it working a bit better; or at the very least it will keep me awake.

My synapses can't fire well just right now because I am tired. So so tired. I haven't slept properly since Saturday night when I has in Copenhagen. Since then I have flown to Tokyo, had 12 hours in the airport there and then flown home. Long haul flights are really the pits. They sap all the joy out of traveling overseas, luckily they don't last forever and the travel memories soon overload the negative flight ones.

Anyway back to the sleeping, I really want to sleep right now, right this instant. I want to walk into my bedroom pull down the covers on my clean freshly made bed and collapse into it. But I know that if I let myself sleep now I won't sleep tonight and it will just take me longer to get over the jet lag. I have only moderate jet lag right now, it feels like I am on a boat, the world is rocking just a bit. It isn't unpleasant but it probably isn't really good either.

Hopefully I can hold out til at least later this afternoon....

Shopping while tired

There are a lot of reasons not to shop when you are tired. The primary one being that you will buy significantly more groceries than you actually need. And in my case those extra groceries usually have little nutritional value.

Yesterday I went shopping my husband and brother for dinner. We wanted some salads, bread and meat. I also had the bright idea of buying some trail mix to take on a walk we were going to do today. We found the dried fruit without any problems but I could not find the nuts. Because we were in an unfamiliar supermarket I suggested we spread out and each take a different isle.  Husband and brother both dutifully walked down their isles looking at the shelves but with no success. After checking the rest of the supermarket I went back to those isles and what do you think I found? - nuts.

It was then that I realised that neither husband nor brother actually knew what they were looking for.  Both were tired and hungry which apparently made them blindly obedient. And once we all worked out what had happened the tired shopping trip also made us all hysterical with laughter.

Sorry about that, my blogging finger was broken

Well it has been a while since I last blogged anything. This is not because I don't have anything to blog about but rather that there has been soon many things happening lately that I haven't had any time to do more than read other people's posts.

Juggling work and study with social commitments is very tricky. I need a personal assistant.

Traveling for work is crappy. I need a clone.

Planning a holiday to Europe is wonderful but time consuming. I need a travel agent.

Trying to find time to exercise is difficult. I need a personal trainer.

Sadly I think I will have to "make do" with my cleaning fairy and less sleep.