blodeuedd

You know you're properly on holidays when you can roll out of bed at 11 after having cuddled with your cat for half an hour, not get dressed, take your time putting your futon out to air and a load of laundry in the machine, cuddle your cat some more, then sit down to a nutritious, delicious breakfast of orange juice and chocolate chip cookies. ^_________^

This week was a little bit hectic, but now I'm going to relax with a vengeance! What have I been up to?

Last Sunday I met up with Tiffany and Hannah and we went to Yokohama to join Becca for karaoke and food. There was lots of fun, lots of singing, and then there was T.G.I.Friday's and their Salad Portions of Doom. I mean, really. The half-size salad is an entire meal!

Jamie and Lindsay came over to work on their cosplay outfits. I can't wait to see the finished results! They also served as guinea pigs for my baking experiment. :D

There was tenimyu, which I already wrote about, and for which I sewed myself a little blue dress that I'm rather proud of.

I made trifle for the first and second times in my life (because Christmas is just not the same without trifle!), which included my first attempts at making sponge cake and custard. Final results are in, and have been pronounced "Oishii~~~~!" by the majority of my test subjects. This has given me confidence in my little oven, so I may just have to start baking again. Though I hear from more than one person that it's impossible to bake a decent pie in one of those things, which is sad, because I love pie. More importantly, I love pie crust, and I can make a damn good one, all tender and flaky and mmmm... *drool*

Christmas was lovely: I had a Skype date with my family, and the S-K clan was over as usual, so I got to see everyone and watch them open their gifts from Japan. My brothers were just as amused at their t-shirts as I knew they'd be (one of them I'd bought for the label alone: "Famous Crap"), my parents liked my story about the little Taiwanese village where I bought their tea (that place had the best soup ever, and I'm not kidding -- whatever kind of fresh noodles in beef-broth you've eaten, those ones were 2498734 times more heavenly), and everyone thought the 100 yen shop candies/notepads/random doodads were hilarious.

I went to brunch with K, and we really should have made a reservation, because Sweets Paradise is apparently where every single teenaged girl in Tokyo goes for lunch. The Kichijouji branch is tiny, and when we gave our name, we were told it would be an hour wait, so we went shopping. I got the boots I'd been eyeing since September (I love them, and they are a gift from my coworkers, paid for by the gift cards they gave me in thanks for making their Halloween costumes), then we went back to fight through the throng of giggling, hyper girls. The waiter (he was one of only three guys I saw there, another being kitchen staff and the last on a date with his girlfriend) spotted us right away, since we stuck out quite a bit, what with not being Japanese teenaged girls, and we were quickly led over to our table. The sweets buffet was fun (white chocolate fountain!), fine but not excellent -- pretty good deal for Y1480, though -- but their trifle has got nothing on mine. It didn't even have custard! D:

Then I went out to Kurihama to join Becca and Mari for turkey devouring. I got to show Mari the miracle of kir, we watched Frogs, I fluffed the stuffing (not quite as dirty as it sounds, really!), we ate lots of turkey and trifle, then went out for karaoke.

Yesterday K and I had planned a day of hard-core relaxation. I biked over to her place, getting a little lost on the way because it was my first time going past Mitaka station. But the sun was out, and I can never really get lost when it's sunny, because I always know which direction I'm going in. The wind also slowed me down, and I actually got some windburn on my cheeks, it was that strong. The way back was easier (downhill, no ridiculously strong winds) and took me 25 minutes.

K had given me good directions to find her apartment, but she neglected to mention one thing: a few blocks away from her place, there is a building called "Phil Collins". O_O Seriously! I just about died laughing when I saw that. I told her she should just have told me she lives near Phil Collins, and I would have found it! XD

So we spent the day watching movies (reviews up today, I PROMISE!), knitting (I finished one of my legwarmers) and eating (cookies and cheetos and roast and trifle and we baked four dozen more cookies because obviously we weren't getting enough calories in!). We also took her dogs to the park and because K lives on the 4th floor of her building, I saw a sight I'd never seen in Tokyo before: Mt. Fuji! The light was gorgeous, and I got some lovely pictures of the mountain and also of the dogs running around and playing.

All in all, a lovely way to kick off my holidays!

Happy Things of Today:

My mum cracks me up, she's so cute. I sent her an email yesterday, asking for some recipes and I just got a partial reply, because she's at work and can't check her cookbook. Here's what she sent (don't worry if you don't understand French, the important part is the little onion!): ( Apple & Curry Soup )

She also sent me a preview of the chicken recipe I asked for, and it involves "before" and "after" clipart of the chicken... XD

It's a damn good recipe, though. Let me know if you want a translation. Or maybe I should invite people over and feed them; this chilly weather is making me feel all domestic and stuff. O_O

ETA: Oh, and just so you know, "appareil bzzt-bzzt" is TOTALLY STANDARD FRENCH. Our standard of French. XDDD

Unfortunately, there was no cool dancing and no Wade Robson involved, but I received the notice that G is filing for divorce.

ELIZABETH THE SECOND, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Ooh, it sounds so formal! Grant me my divorce, Lizzy! XD

The rest of the document isn't very interesting, apart from the fact that we "commenced cohabitation" in May of 2005, not August, as G apparently wrote. *shrug*

So, yeah. That's the first step, now I need to have someone witness me signing an affidavit, so I need to find an English-speaking lawyer/notary/someone. I could go to the Embassy, but that would mean taking time off work, since the consular service is only open until 2 or something.

Yesterday I took M-P shopping for a yukata, and we ended up all the way in Asakusa, but not before I caved and got myself the cute, clover-patterned one I'd been eyeing for the past few weeks (please see icon for details). I figured that though I already had two yukatas, going to three different fireworks displays this summer totally justified the purchase of a third.

When we got home, I found a surprise in my mailbox. My family sent me an adorable birthday card (and timed it so I'd get it before my departure, because I'll be gone the day of), but it got wet somewhere along the way and much of the ink ran. I've managed to make out nearly everything except for a couple of words from my father. His message is on the top right. Any guesses?






B1's message (bottom right, the one with the horrible handwriting) made me giggle: "I got you a lifetime subscription to the tennis club near our hotel in Osaka (breakfast Viking available upon request). Like that you can practice all year round and eventually awe us with your prowess."

You can count on it! :D

Taken from tayles:

You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you *should* already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers, putting yours in their place, then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out :)

1. First Name: Marie-Adèle, but I often go by Adèle here because it's easier.

2. Age: 26. I'll be 27 in August, and I'm kind of looking forward to it because for some reason, I always prefer to be an odd-numbered age.

3. Location: Tokyo, Japan

4. Occupation: English teacher by day (in an English-language preschool), French teacher by night! (private lessons/tutoring) :D

5. Partner?: A soon-to-be-ex-husband with whom I haven't been living since February of last year.

6. Kids: None but those I teach. I suppose I'd like to have some one day, provided I find the right partner, but I don't think I'll be heartbroken if the stars never align just right.

7. Brothers/Sisters: Two younger brothers. B1 is 24 and still lives with our parents. He works for some sort of shady (just kidding!) go-between business that sources contracts for companies that don't have the time/know-how to find them on their own. He likes karate, playing Rock Band with his friends, Radiohead, calling me all sorts of weird names just to make me laugh, and now, Prince of Tennis. B2 is 21, a rock/jazz guitarist, and currently lives in Montreal with his girlfriend, but he's relocating to Toronto this summer in the hopes of pursuing a career in music. He likes music (obviously), designer clothes, In the Mood for Love, and dreaming about the day when he'll have enough money to come and visit his incredibly cool older sister.

8. Pets: I've always been a cat person and was ecstatic when my family took in two kittens in 1990. Stanley still lives with my parents, but we had to have Fluffy put to sleep in 2005, as she was very sick. The soon-to-be-ex-husband's two cats, Buji and Bujiong, are going back to Canada with him, but they'll always be my love-love kitty and my Jiong-jiong. My very own furball, Tabitha, will be living with me in my new apartment. She's a silver and black American shorthair and the most adorable thing you'll ever see.

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life: At the moment, the only really big thing going on is my move on Saturday. Other than that, my Prince of Tennis obsession has been going strong ever since it started in January, and shows no signs of abating anytime soon. After that, I guess I should list M-P's visit in August and our trip to Taiwan. Can't wait!

10. Where and for what did you go to school for?: I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa in 2001, with a B.A. in General Arts (languages and literature).

11. Parents?: My mother is a manager/supervisor/programme director at a language school in Ottawa that teaches French and English to unilingual civil servants; she started there as a French teacher. She likes crosswords, wine, music (especially jazz or classical but anything goes, including Metallica -- but only their album S&M), and going to dollar stores/hyaku-en shops with me or with her sister. My father works for the House of Commons and though I can't remember his official title, he's a senior editor of some sort, taking care of the indexing of transcripts from parliamentary sessions. He's also been an archaeologist and an English teacher, among other things. He likes BBC adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, calling me unfilial because I moved halfway around the world and so am not there to play Scrabble with him on a regular basis, Indian food, and reading.

12. Who are some of your closest friends?: M-P and A-L are the sisters I never had -- can you believe we've know each other for over half our lives?! Anna already has a sister, so she doesn't need another one, but she's my favourite duck in the whole wide world.

And now, further news on the Converting My Brother To PoT Front.

Before we left for Nara on Monday morning, we went to Denden Town, Osaka's answer to Akihabara. Just like the rest of Osaka as compared to Tokyo, it's grottier and seedier than Akiba, but I'll write about that in more detail on travelpod. Anyway, after getting lost, backtracking, and finally finding our way to the electronics district, we stumbled upon Animate, and wasn't I a very pleased PoT-enabling sister when B1 said we should go look to see if they had the stuff I wanted (i.e. Golden Pair anything). When he followed me through Animate in Tokyo, I'm fairly sure he was just humouring me, but this time I think he really was interested in seeing how many useless products you can stick a chibi Inui on. As we were examining the merchandise, he let out a snort and pointed out something (a notebook? I forget).

B1: Why is Tezuka grabbing at his crotch?! D:
Me: *choking on my laughter* Um... maybe's he's just shielding it? (He was pictured next to Echizen, though... *snerk*)
B1: No, he's clearly grabbing it! This is supposed to be a kid's show!
Me: Uh, yeah... XD

Since B1's been practicing karate for nigh fourteen years, he's picked up some Japanese, mainly names for positions and katas, as well as numbers. But because he never watched all that much anime with me, back when I did nothing else (it was B2 whom I led down the merry road of Fushigi Yuugi and Rurouni Kenshin obsessions), he isn't familiar with some common expressions, such as "sugoi" -- and in PoT, it seems that every second line is someone exclaiming "Sugoi!" Since B1 thinks Horio is so funny, he's latched onto "Sugoi! Tuisto saabu!" as his new favourite phrase.

Despite the heavy rain, Nara was teeming with middle school students on class trips; as you can imagine, there was a whole lot of "Sugoi!"ing and "Sugeee!"ing going on, especially around the giant Buddha, and B1 felt it necessary to turn to me with a grin each time he heard that word, adding "Tuisto saabu!"

This evening we watched 10 episodes*, and my brother got to experience Mizuki in all his glory. While I was busy pointing frantically at the screen and incoherently screeching, "Who the hell would wear that?!?!" at Mizuki's Purple Shirt of Doom in episode 40, B1 merely blinked at Mizuki saying to Yuuta, "I'll keep you company all night long," and commented, "So, you want to know who I think is gay?"

XD

Of course, the Golden Pair hasn't gotten very touchy-feely yet, but he did raise an eyebrow at their "let's high-five each other and keep our palms together for 5 seconds!" pose.

B1: What's that good move?
Me: It's their special hand-holding move! :D

Tomorrow night, we face off against Yamabuki. At this rate, dare I hope we'll be able to make it through the Hyoutei arc before he leaves? He's already planning on burning the series to take with him so he can watch it at home, but it's so much more educational with me providing colour commentary, isn't it? Not that I'm really letting loose, though I have been pointing out characters and telling him to "remember this guy!" because when I first watched the series, I missed quite a few things. For example, I didn't at all remember seeing Shishido lose to Tachibana the first time 'round. In fact, I don't think I remembered anything about the Hyoutei boys, except for their pink-soled shoes, until Seigaku actually started playing against them.

* Ah, this brings me back to the good old days of M-P, A-L and I spending entire weekends watching anime together... I miss you girls!

Sewing on, sewing on... Still haven't hemmed the pants, but I'm nearly done another skirt! Oh, stop looking so surprised. In a few minutes I'm going to sit down with it to put the zipper in and finish turning in the waistband. I also made two pillowcases this weekend. Engrish pillowcases, for my brother who loves Engrish just as much as I do.

Speaking of my youngest brother, it was his birthday yesterday. He turned 20. O_O I spoke to him this morning but forgot to tell him that for me, he'll always be Petit Tarzan Amour who'd shriek with laughter when I'd lie on the floor on my back with my legs raised and he'd prop himself on my feet, so he could "fly". Then I'd try to grab his hands above my head and dip him down to kiss me without him squirming and falling on my face. We had our little ritual dialogue for this, too:

Him: Petit Tarzan Amour!
Me: Qu'est-ce que tu veux, Petit Tarzan Amour?
Him: Rien! *self-satisfied giggling*

I can't for the life of me remember how that got started. Now that I think about it, it's also odd that we did that in French, but maybe it's because he was only 2 or 3 years old and we hadn't settled on which language to use together yet. My brothers and I always speak English amongst ourselves and have for as long as I can remember, except for little exchanges like that one or when we played together with francophone friends.