Guns, Ice Skates, and Lunches

A day late... better than a year late, right? :)

My Saturday started very early, and ended late, and as a result I completely forgot about making a blog post.  Which is probably for the best, as it would've been sleepy rambles last night.

I was invited to go shooting (as in, with guns) in the desert a couple of hours north of me by a friend of mine, whose husband came up with an automatic game system, of sorts.  I can't say much about it, as it's a currently un-patented, but he has an app that lets the targets move in pre-programmed patterns and then it's simply point and shoot at the one that's currently up.   The group they invited up were all beta-testers, helping him with finding issues with either the software or the mechanical part of it.

They had a bit of a competition set up for who could shoot all the targets in a row the fastest.  I didn't participate in that; it's been about four years since I used a gun and I'm very much out of practice of hitting my target (plus they were pretty small, but I don't really feel like that's an excuse.  I think I could've hit them well enough a few years back).  Despite that, though, it was fun.  I pretty much just used small pistols and a revolver - which was quite fun to use.  I also shot a gun that's similar to what the army uses, which I've never been near before.  Very little kickback, and very light.

Afterwards (for a very different change of pace), I went about half-way home to an ice rink that's open for a ten-hour stretch for public skating on Saturday afternoons.  I've never seen a rink with hours like that.  It was a small place, but very nice.  It's been about a year since I went skating at all, but for all that I haven't forgotten anything.  Like riding a bike :).  It took me a couple of rounds around the rink to get used to it, and then I skated for about two hours.  All the dancing has certainly helped my endurance and leg muscle strength, because I'd be very sore today otherwise.  As it is, I actually slept in a bit this morning.

Also, it being Administrators Week (who decides these things, anyway?), the attorneys took out all the non-attorney staff for lunch.  It was very nice; although I've worked in the admin profession for three and a half years (three different places), this is the first time I've received acknowledgement for it.

Ups and Downs, and Dancing

It's kind of funny how things go.  I started this week with my debit card number being stolen (how does that even work?), so I had to have my card canceled for the first time since I got it, about twelve years ago.  And of course, since banks are open only during business hours, I had to go to a branch with Saturday hours, which meant a week without my card.  That, of course, wouldn't have been too much of a problem, as long as I was careful to make sure I had extra cash on hand at all times, except that I opened my door to head to work on Friday and discovered a wasp building a nest less than a foot from my front door.  I was leaving for work early, which meant that I had the time to make some phone calls and find a company that would take care of them (because if there's one, there's more) for a reasonable cost and no later than Saturday.

I was getting to work early, however, because I was going to a dance that night and wanted to have time to get dressed.  Still, I left work at a reasonable time.  And then, naturally, someone parked a beaten-up car in front of my driveway.  I can park on the street in my neighborhood, fortunately, so I waited to call the police to find out what could be done until I got home from the dance (which resulted in being on hold for half an hour with the department of transportation at 10:30-11:00 at night).

Everything finally got sorted out, though, and the dance was awesome.  I really enjoy this dance club I found.  It feels a bit odd, at first, being one of the only people at their events who's under 50, but that seems to be a bit of how ballroom dancing is viewed - something for older people.  Most of their events are informal, with a bit of a lesson before opening up the floor to general dancing, but this one was semi-formal, with a fancy dinner at a fancy hotel.  So everyone was dressed up fancy, and even when I wasn't dancing, it was fun to watch them.  Plus, some of the dancers there were really good, and they're amazing to watch.

One of the most difficult pieces when learning how to dance is that the instructors keep telling people to go to dances, even if they're still beginners, and this group is very friendly for that.  At the dance last night, they had men there specifically to dance with women (there's always more women then men, no matter what the age of a group is), and they were all very good teachers.  I learned quite a bit.  And I won a door prize (I never win those!) for a private lesson, which'll actually end up covering the cost of attending the dance.

It's also why my post is late, as, after wearing myself out dancing, I woke up early to deal with the wasps, and then went dancing again this afternoon at my usual lessons.  So I'm beat. :)

Library Ruminations

It occurred to me recently that although I work right across the street from a public library, I hadn't yet gone and checked it out (it's been nine and a half months - time really flies!).  I went online and discovered that if i went in in person to fill out the application, there would be a fifteen day delay before I received a card and could borrow anything, but there wouldn't be any delay if I went online and filled the exact same application.  I have no idea how works logically.

I filled it out online, and then realized afterwards that I would have to show them an ID that had my current address on it.  Fun fact: when you're moving around from place to place every couple of years and don't actually own your own place (or have some sort of long-term lease), your driver's license will not have your current address.  There's also no point in hand-writing your current address, because I don't know when or where I'll move next.  I ended up showing the librarian the address on my personal checks (which only just happened to have been recently ordered, and as such had my current address on them).

I hadn't planned on borrowing anything; I was just going to see what type of books they had.  Naturally, half an hour later, I walked out with an audio recording of  'The Cat Who Went Bananas' by Lilian Jackson Braun.  They're mystery stories mixed with 'day in the life', and fairly relaxed.

I've thought about turning Glimpses (https://goo.gl/YzhABm, or the side bar) into audio version, with myself as the narrator, but it's been awhile (years, actually) since I listened to an audio book.  I looked into what it would cost to pay someone else, and at a minimum, $100.  I can't really justify that for a small collection of short stories.  But doing it myself should be fun, even if it takes a long time.

Belated Japan Trip Tale

Current Camp Nanowrimo Word Count: 1706

I can't believe all this time has passed and I completely forgot to talk about my trip to Japan.

So, background - my sister married a marine officer, and he's been stationed in Okinawa for the last couple of years.  Okinawa is actually in the tropics, so I planned the trip to be in October (of last year) in an attempt to enjoy cooler weather and less bugs (especially the bugs that come up through the toilets.  I don't think I could ever live permanently in a tropical area).

I'd wanted to go for awhile, but what finally motivated me to go ahead and buy the airplane tickets was the two of them adopting a Japanese baby boy :), born in December 2015.  He's the first child of my siblings and I (:D!!).  His name is Kai Jason.  They wanted him to have a Japanese name that wouldn't sound too out of place in America, but they also wanted him to have an ordinary English middle name in case he preferred to go by that when he got older.  Kai means 'Ocean' in Japanese, at least in the kanji they picked for the name.  Their language is fascinating - a word can have different meanings depending on how it's written.  (More on their language some other time - I'm working on learning their simplest alphabet hiragana).  His nickname is 'Bam-bam', so I'm sure that gives everyone a good idea of his personality.  He's also big for his age - he's pretty much worn clothes that are for a child one or two months older than him since he was about a week old.

They're also in the process of adopting a second child, a baby girl named Mika Jeanette.  This adoption process ought to go pretty easy comparatively, considering that the Japanese courts already decided to give one of their children to foreigners.  Getting America to recognize the adoptions is also a bit of a convoluted process, because the Japanese and Americans don't have pre-set legal agreements to do so, which I suspect is largely because the two countries have very different viewpoints on adoption (it's shameful to adopt, to be adopted, or to be put up for adoption in Japan (but the courts don't charge for it), whereas in America, adopting is viewed as something wonderful (though our legal system charges tens of thousands to do it)).  They're temporarily locked onto Japan until they finish going through both procedures, so we have to visit them :).

On to the main topic - Okinawa.

It's beautiful.  Despite the late time in the year - October - it's very hot, very muggy, and there's an almost constant wetness in the air - not really rain, but something close to it.  It rains a lot, though, year round.  As a result, everything is very green.

In the cities, most of the residential buildings are grey cement, which looks very odd at first to us from America, where houses are practically every other color but grey.  We did see random painted walls (as in, three of the four walls were grey, and one was red), and pretty much all of the stores were colorful.  They let plants grow almost everywhere over the buildings.  Apparently this is because they're very big on nature, but, practically speaking, due to the jungle-like environment, it'd be a losing battle to try to fight the plants.

And the cars.  It takes a bit to get used to, at first.  They're all tiny.  You know those Smart cars that look so silly in America?  They don't there.  All the cars are small (some are longer, for families larger than four (rare), and those stick out).  We also saw a handful of Hummers, which apparently tend to belong to gangs, and my, did those look silly there.  Their roads and lanes are small.  What's odd was seeing signs and such in Japanese, and then seeing 'FORD' and 'TOYOTA' written out in English.

I'll admit to being a total wimp about eating raw meat, but there's plenty to eat besides that.  We had quite a bit of ramen, I'm in total love with tamagoyaki (an omelette made by rolling layer of fried egg together), curry.... yeah.  I could list that for a long time.  An odd one is red bean buns, which is a dessert.  Japanese 'sweets' aren't sweet by American standards, at all.  These are plain buns with a red bean mash in the middle of them.  Yep, a vegetable used as a sweet.

I really wanted to buy a kimono while I was there, there was a sale (which was the only way I could afford one.  I had no idea they were so expensive).  What I ended up getting is a furisode style, which is a kimono with very long sleeves, which signify that I'm an adult and single.  The kimono itself is very long (one size fits all, and held up with a single belt that the top part of the kimono covers.  An obi (basically a wide fabric belt), covers the rolled over fabric, and they usually (not always) have a bow that's attached in the back.  They're quite difficult to put on by yourself, so I know I'm not wearing it quite perfectly (though I didn't get a slip (basically a second, thin, kimono that goes underneath and only shows at the color), which would've complicated the dressing process to the point of impossible for someone who didn't grow up in the culture).

(Front)

(Back)

Ready, Set...

Camp Nanowrimo officially started!

My project's called 'For Want of a Narrator', and (as I think I've mentioned previously) since it's a project that I worked on last year in Camp Nanowrimo, I have a word goal of only 5000 words per day.  Which, in 30 days, is only 167 words per day (if I write everyday).  In theory, it'll be enough to finish the story.

Here's the synopsis:

An epic tale of good versus evil, an evil overlord, a brave hero, minions and fair ladies - interrupted by the abrupt disappearance of the narrator. What are the characters to do, except to pick up the story-telling themselves?

It's meant to be an absurd funny story, and, though I don't particularly do humor too well, I think it works.  If you've read 'Glimpses', you know I can do absurd, so I feel pretty confident for that part of it.  Admittedly, I've never had someone else read what I've written so far, but since I can make myself laugh with what I've got, there's a chance I can make a reader laugh (similar logic to me writing horror.  If I can't at least get a shiver when reading a piece of horror I've written, it's not going to scare anybody else.).  I'm even playing around with putting some romance in, though only as an aside, applying the "Write what you know" theory, and, well, I don't know romance.

(No, that's not necessarily a bad thing.)

The 'epic tale' is a bit on the cliche side, and it's meant to be.  The only 'twist' is that the main characters step out of the story narration and discuss what scenes they're going to do, whether they should re-do a scene, and whether a scene should be ignored, all while staying in their prescribed alignments of good or evil.  Because, hey, whether the evil overlord is in his castle or outside of the story narration, he's still an evil overlord.

I really like these characters, and I think there's a lot of potential with the story, but I suppose only time will

See you in a week!  (With, hopefully, a word count of at least 1,334)


Word Count:184