5 March 2005

So, my friend Michiko gave me some German chocolate cake the other day, and it made me start wondering, what do Germans call that cake? I mean, like, to them is it just "chocolate cake"? And then I started wondering, if German chocolate cake is just "chocolate cake" to them, then what do they call OUR chocolate cake?!? You know? 

Fortunately, I have a German-speaking Swiss guy right here (my friend Manuel), and Michiko had also given HIM some of that great cake -- so I axed him.

Unfortunately, he said they never heard of calling anything "German" chocolate cake. Like, to him, it was just some good chocolate cake with some cool icing with coconut in it. 

So that blew that theory.

. . .

E-mail is so dangerous, do you know that? It's so easy, at 3:30am, completely zapped and tired, to just fire off some quick message and not even think about what you're saying, and then only LATER do you realize you are a total goof and you shouldn't have said that at ALL, and you start to imagine what that probably sounded like when they read it and you wonder if you should send another message to like CLARIFY what you meant and just generally do "damage control" but you know if you do that then you'll REALLY sound stupid so you just sit there and you wait to see how they respond but you know it's probably not going to be GOOD but then again you have that little sliver of HOPE, right, that tiny DREAM that they will totally understand and they'll feel the same way YOU do, and AGREE with you or whatever, and then it will all be cool, but until that time that you actually SEE the response from them, it is just totally killing your guts and you feel terrible and you think the world is going to end or something, and you even start thinking things like "oh, wow, maybe their e-mail has messed up and THAT's why they haven't responded" --  but then you snap back to your own version of reality and the knot comes back to your fat gut, that realization that THEY SAW IT, DUDE, but they totally freaked out because you said the wrong thing, the wrong way, at the wrong time; and you remember back to that moment when you typed that message, and you maybe don't even remember everything you said, exactly, but you remember the gist of it, and you remember that VERY MOMENT your finger was paused over that "send" button, and you thought, "maybe I shouldn't send this" (and THAT was probably GOD talking to you, mister!!), but you remember -- and wow, it's like a flash of memory you still FEEL! -- but you remember in that SECOND when you thought, "nah, life is too short to NOT say it!" and your finger hit that button with the abandon of someone jumping off a cliff, into your own little "great unknown" -- but then here you are, hours later -- long, horrible hours later! -- and there is that SILENCE, right, that empty inbox on the screen, MOCKING you with its lack of new messages which would at least make the world spin again... 

And dude, that SILENCE is just deafening... you know?

So I was thinking about that, just now, and I was thinking how the Bible talks about the TONGUE being so deadly and dangerous, and how we can tame wild animals who want to EAT us, but we can't tame our dang TONGUES, you know? Always saying rash things that cause all kinds of trouble for us and everyone ELSE in our little worlds... and once you SAY it, you can't take it back, dig? 

And whatever, it just struck me that e-mail is the new tongue. Or... something like that.... 

. . .

I'm TOTALLY busy these days, way behind on everything -- but send me an e-mail and let me know what's up... 

7 March 2005

. . .

Oh, hey -- I forgot to mention that I actually got to eat PIZZA the other night! I mean the REAL DEAL, from Pizza Hut, no less. 

What happened was, we was doin' our thing over at Nobu's school -- you know, Nobumichi -- the Nobunator! -- we were there because we're making a CD just now, see? So we went there to do the recording, since we literally had NO WHERE ELSE TO GO where we could sing and scream and make all the noise it takes to record us all singing and banging on bongos and stuff... 

Anyway, so we get there and decide to order pizza. Benica, bless her heart, was willing to call the place for us, which it's a good thing she did, because she was talking to that guy for like 20 minutes -- I'm not joking, she was talking to the guy at Pizza Hut, placing our order, for like 20 minutes! We all laughed, and Manuel said, "THAT's why I can't order pizza on the phone!" -- I think he and I have unknowingly shared The Impossible Dream, that of being able to order pizza and have it delivered to you -- but he had tried it once before without success, and NOW, watching Benica have what must have been a philosophical discussion about pizza (why ELSE did it take so long?), I think he was voicing what I was feeling: "I'm NEVER gonna be able to do that!" (and dude, he speaks a LOT of Japanese, too)...

But the MAIN thing I want to share about our pizza adventure is the cost. Take a guess. 

We got two large pizzas, an order of fried potato wedges, four apple pie-type desserts, and four drinks. Guess how much that cost. Think HIGH, obviously -- and scroll down a few lines when you are ready to see it... 

It cost $88...

17 March 2005

The weather. 

First, it's snowing on Sunday. Then by yesterday, it was spring -- and I mean, you know how we say, "Spring has sprung," but yesterday it just about exploded all over the place. Considering that in HK the only smells you get are "smog" or "the neighbors' cooking," yesterday was-- for ME -- like a return to a world I'd almost forgotten... Dude, it's SPRING up in here. Trust me (and my nostrils, if that's not too graphic a thought for you). 

But then, by last night, it was pretty cool again. Now today, it's rain all day, and tonight fairly warm and wet, if breezy. 

I've been (typically) busy these last few weeks. We are still working on our recordings, of course -- finished the "live" recordings last Friday night, and now we are in the "mixing" stages on those songs (not much "mixing" involved, just trying to fix some things and throw a little reverb on there). Then we are also still working on the "studio" recordings. We need to get all of Manuel's parts FINISHED before he leaves Japan for good in early April. But all that stuff takes me SO much time... 

Then the English classes continue, with varying degrees of success. The only reason I say, "with varying degrees" is these kids' classes. Man. Not easy. Not pleasant, actually. But I keep trying, and who knows? Maybe they will actually learn something, despite just sitting there not paying attention or even remotely trying. I mean, really -- who knows, you know?

Then we continue to prepare for Easter. I've been meeting for a couple of weeks with Fernando-san, from Sri Lanka, who will be baptized on Easter -- today we talked about the Cumberland church and where it started and how we do gubment and the Confession of Faith and all that. I'm surely no expert but it's good for me to have to talk about it once in a while -- helps me clarify what I think, ha ha... 

And the Saturday Night Fellowship (SNF) at Denen Church continues -- this week we finish my "Ten Commandments" series -- yes, THOSE old things (no Charlton Heston included in this series, though). This week we wrap it up with the old "don't go coveting" commandment. I normally try to make a game that fits with the topic, but the difficulty in making a "coveting" game is second only to the difficulty of making an "adultery" game -- I mean, seriously, how do you make a game about adultery?!? That sixth graders can play, you know?!?? 

And then -- and here's the "big" one -- on Sunday I have to get my preachin' on up at Sagamino Church. I don't get "nervous" about speaking, but in this case, I do feel a bit uptight. As I write this it's late Thursday night and I still just haven't gotten the message to "flow" yet... I mean, it usually just comes right out for me, but this time I feel all stifled or something. So that's making me feel a bit more pressure than normal, I think.

Still studying Japanese -- go figger -- and still trying to get this stupid apartment in some kind of decent shape. I still -- dude, STILL -- have piles of things on the floor from when I first moved in here. But today I finally threw out the ton of cardboard that has been sitting here (boxes from the move) and slowly but surely the piles are getting picked apart as their component parts find their way to a proper place.

Anyway, that's my general update. Bottom line: "Busy, gonna get busier." 

. . .

Sunday night is Nobu's birthday party -- he's the big "one oh" (10) Saturday, but the party's on Sunday night. I bought him a gift, but now that I think about it, it's pretty lame, and I don't think he'll like it at all. His big thing has always been the Gundam/Transformer type robots -- but now he's supposedly into "Lego" -- so I tried to get him a Lego guy that looked fairly robotic. Combine the two, get it?

Well, so that was my PLAN, anyway -- right? And I enlisted my friend to go with me, 'cause I figured she would know where to go to find this stuff. I mean, I have been to Toys R Us here, and it's GREAT -- but it's not anywhere NEAR a train station, that I can tell. So that was out of the question -- no way for me to get there. 

Okay, so I meet up with my friend in Yokohama, and she takes me right up the stairs into the toy shop -- fast, dude. But it's not really a toy SHOP so much as a toy DEPARTMENT, dig, so they only have a few things. Okay, nevermind, the main thing that is BLOWING MY MIND, right off the bat, is that the Lego stuff is priced about equal to GOLD. 

At first I thought my mental currency converter must be messed up, right? Because SURELY they aren't honestly charging $20 for two tiny little lego people, are they? I mean, no play set, no blocks to put together -- just two tiny little lego GUYS, that's all. I think they came with little helmets or something. But $20?!?! 

Okay, nevermind, I get over the sticker shock (most of their Lego stuff costs $50 and up), and finally see that they do in fact have some of these robot-type things, Lego brand proudly on the box, for about $13. So I decide to go for that.

Now, which one to get? They have like 5 different characters to choose from, and I get my friend to help me choose. I'm like, "Okay, imagine you are 10 years old, which one do you want?" -- and she's like, "Well, what color does he like?" -- and in my mental notebook I quickly wrote, "Don't ask a 30-year-old girl what a 10-year-old guy wants"... I mean, not being a jerk, she was TOTALLY helpful; but I just mean, something about the way she said that made me realize I still have a LOT more 10-year-old guy in ME than she'll EVER have in HER... 

So, trying to get her on the same page as me, I told her, "Okay, the thing is, this kid is a pastor's son -- BUT, I know if it were ME, I would want the one that looked the coolest and the TOUGHEST." So we then went about eliminating the characters on whether they were cool or not. For instance, Guy #1 has a dog on his shield -- I mean, I'm sure it's supposed to be a WOLF or something equally menacing, but it just didn't work, yo -- it just looked like a stupid DOG. Another guy looked pretty cool, but he had some kind of gold embroidery stuff all over this chest -- didn't look all that MANLY, if you catch my drift. Then another guy had an eagle on his shield, but his dainty little helmet looked like something a girl would wear (no offense). 

Anyway, it only took like 10 seconds to realize the COOLEST guy was the one who was supposed to be the EVIL guy. Why is that? Why do the EVIL guys always look the coolest?!?? I'm serious -- there's gotta be something in that... 

But yeah, so I chose the evil guy, because he's all BLACK, and his shield has a SCORPION on it, and his eyes are RED -- I mean, that's COOL, right? He's GOTTA be tough if his eyes are BLOOD RED, you know? 

SO, we talked it over, and she agreed it was the best one (in a very Japanese "I-will-say-whatever-YOU-say" way, I was disappointed to notice)... 

Okay, so we go to pay for it, and she jumps in and says, "Present-oh desu!" to the guy, and so he's like, "High! Present-oh!" and he starts to gift wrap it. I thought that was the coolest thing -- I would never have imagined it, actually. I mean he took the tag off, wrapped it all up, and it was ready for "birthday party giving" in like 30 seconds. So that was COOL, I was so totally glad she was with me to help me on that point. 

But the funny thing -- and this is why I'm even bothering to tell all this garbage -- the funny thing is, after all that time, and all that discussion of which character was the COOLEST and the TOUGHEST one to get, and which one was the most KILLER-looking... and after choosing the one in BLACK with the SCORPION and the BLOOD RED EYES -- after all that, the guy wraps the box in wrapping paper covered in ROSES!! Seriously, like some kind of crazy antique roses or something. But that's not all -- THEN, he puts it in a little carry-bag -- again, COVERED IN ROSES... I later asked my friend, "Why didn't he just spray a little PERFUME on there?" -- 'cause frankly that's about the only other thing I could think of that he could do to make it MORE girly...  

So whatever -- I'm confident enough to walk around urban Japan carrying a rose-covered box in a rose-covered bag for all to see. But what the heck is poor NOBU gonna think?!? In front of his other 10-year-old friends?!? Like, am I gonna become some sort of sad legend with those guys? "Hey, here comes old Glenn with his girly box for ya, Nobu," they'll say... "Wonder if he's gonna give ya a BARBIE this year," they'll say... And they'll punch Nobu in the arm and he'll say, "Cut it out, guys!" -- but secretly he'll wish dumb old Glenn would get lost and never come to his party again... Especially if he's always got those dumb old ROSES on the box... 

So I think my gift is doomed from the start. I'll let you know... 

. . .

Now, I am terribly curious to know something. The bread that I eat here has possibly the rubbery-est crust I have ever set my crooked teeth upon. What I want to know is, is that just Japanese bread? Or is it the particular BRAND that I buy? Or is it because I usually heat the bread in the microwave first? 

I hope it's the microwave thing -- like, maybe there's a "Microwavical Breadcrust Principle" that comes into play, whereby all bread crusts which are bombarded with microwaves become similar to car tires in their consistency... 

At any rate, it's driving me crazy. Almost driving me SO crazy that I have actually considered -- and this is entirely "pansy-esque" -- but I have actually considered buying the crustless bread. 

"Glenn -- why not just cut the crusts off the bread you normally buy?" -- and I answer you, in the voice of Nigel Tufnel (Spinal Tap): 

"But this bread is crustless..." 

. . .

I saw this interesting photo on Yahoo! News about Chinese safari parks promising to stop the "live feeding shows" where they give big game some kind of domestic animals (esp. horses, cows, etc) to tear apart in a bloody display while visitors watch. Of course, they pointed out, the promise is only to stop feeding the lions live horses WHEN THE PARK IS OPEN...  

"Feeding when the park is not open is permitted... Parks are allowed to continue to sell small birds for visitors to feed the wild beasts."

And just to bring the idea home, they had this comforting photo which you can show your 5-year-old if you want them to have nightmares about Bessie getting torn apart while the tai tai's talk about where they bought their fake Gucci handbags:

And one last comment -- notice the quality of the vehicle in the above photo -- that just about sums up how safe I would feel going into a Chinese safari park where hungry lions are 5 feet away from the truck... 

20 March 2005

So, I did me preachin' this mornin' -- you know, the "Hail Mary" and the "Hallelujah" and the Holy Ghost, all that... It seemed to go fine, which you should note is NOT exactly a "ringing endorsement" of the affair. But anyway, we got through it, and I'm making all light of it, but of course I take (took) it VERY seriously, and in all honesty I pray God's will was done, and his word was heard. 

They asked me to include a so-called "children's sermon" rather at the "last minute" -- well, it was actually on Wednesday when Satoh told me, so I'm not being totally genuine when I say it was the "last minute"... But anyway, the difficulty, on this occasion, was that the assigned text was "the burial of Jesus" -- you know, where Joseph of Arimathea comes and asks Pilate for Jesus' body and buries it in a tomb. 

Now stop right there, folks. I want you to consider -- this is supposed to be the "children's sermon" and THIS is my text?!? The BURIAL of Jesus?!?!?

Okay, so whatever -- Satoh gave me a "hint-oh" (Janglish for "hint") and I ended up telling the story of a friend of mine, a missionary I knew in Taiwan, who got stranded in Korea -- he didn't know a single soul, and was in trouble, in fact, and felt completely abandoned and all alone. Then (he said), as night fell, just outside the window he saw a cross (atop a church) light up. (Please note that I made a cute sound, "Pop!" to signify the cross lighting up). Then he saw another cross light up. And another. ("Pop! Pop!") And as night fell over Seoul, he said he saw maybe 10 or 15 churches light up their crosses all across the city -- and suddenly he felt at peace, and knew that even though he knew NO ONE in Korea, he was in fact SURROUNDED by his brothers and sisters -- and he felt comforted. 

Okay, and I tried to tie that in with the idea that the situation was similar after Jesus died -- everyone had run away, they all had deserted him in fear, and now he's dead -- it seemed all was lost and there was not a friend to be found -- but WAIT, God had a powerful person already in place to help! 

"And the moral, obviously, is that whenever we feel down or out, or lonely, or feel like there's no one near who can help us, HOLD TIGHT, because God is with us, and at any minute, POP!, he may send us a friend to help"...

I thought that was fairly good, considering what I had to work with, right?

Well, so there was a visitor in church today, and after the service, she asked me if I thought doing a children's sermon was difficult. 

Hmmm... It sounded like a set-up, so I rather tensed up a bit at that... 

"I don't know, I guess it's difficult," said I -- and I smiled profusely while my culture-deficient brain tried to figure out what she was getting at... But turns out there was no need for me to guess -- she spelled it out quite frankly: "You can't just do a children's sermon the same way you do the normal sermon -- you have to be more... well, more CHARMING..."

Now, being Japanese, of COURSE she didn't say it QUITE so bluntly -- she deflected the "blame" away from me, and all -- but she ALMOST said it that bluntly, and it was so TOTALLY clear what she meant. And yes, I lived in HK for 3 years, where everyone tells you exactly what they think the moment the thought enters their head, whether you like it or not -- so I can take "blunt" -- but after almost 6 months in Japan, where everyone is always thinking of what others will feel first, I wasn't expecting to hear that sort of blunt criticism straight to my face. 

So, yeah, I laughed, and after about 20 seconds I realized she was totally right, and I probably should have dumped that "assigned" text and just used something else. Something with clowns... 

The moral of the story: Live and learn, Grenn-san... Live and learn...  

. . .

Now, imagine you live in a country where the culture teaches you shouldn't really express your emotions much. And imagine that the really important things -- the matters of the heart -- are particularly "suspect" if spoken aloud. 

And imagine you're American, and imagine you're friends with someone, and there are a few matters of the alleged heart which need to be brought into the open, dig? Not for any reason other than that sometimes things just need to be said (you think)... 

But, like, if the other person doesn't / won't / CAN'T say those things, do they really feel them? And how in the WORLD are you supposed to know one way or the other?!? 

It's sort of the "tree falling in a forest with no one to hear" trick, see? But with the HEART...

It's a tough one, and I wish you'd let me know the answers, Magic 8-Ball...

22 March 2005

Sunday night we had the so-called "Fiesta De Nobu" -- you remember Nobu, right? Nobumichi? The NOBUNATER?!?!

It was quite an affair -- I'm not sure Sagamino Church sees that kind of blow-out very often. 

Anyway, here are some photos (click for larger version):

Nobu with pizza

Photo of a man taking a photo of a man taking a photo. . .

The Girls

Tabito!

By the way, my gift for Nobu WAS acceptable, it seems, despite the abundance of FLOWERS on the wrapping paper (see post above for 17 March). 

It turns out that just the day before they had gone to Toys R Us and he had said, "I want THAT one" -- or at least that's what they told me... Even hearing them say that, I still had my suspicions whether it was "cool" or not, but towards the end of the night, I noticed he was sitting over in the kitchen, just holding the box and looking longingly at it -- I will take that as a good sign! 

. . .

It's springtime here, and the Sakura-Watching Season is fast approaching. You know sakura, right? It means "cherry blossoms" and you need to know, if you don't already know, that everyone KNOWS that sakura season is the most beautiful of all times to be in Japan. 

I caught my first "full bloom" the other day:

It's just gonna get much BETTER, so I'll do my best to keep my camera batteries charged and ready!

. . .

Many of you know, but some of you do not... My father is having hip replacement surgery on Tuesday the 22nd. If you are the praying type, then I would LOVE to ask you to offer up a few good ones over that. We all know that this kind of surgery is fairly routine these days -- but it doesn't keep a guy from worrying a bit now, does it?

Anyway, THANKS for that...

23 March 2005

Got the news that all went well with my dad -- he was in and out of that surgery in 45 minutes -- they must have that stuff down like the pit crews at Indy, you know? 

But I'm so relieved to hear that. Assuming all goes well, he'll be in the hospital until Friday or Saturday, I think they said -- then a long recovery at home. He ain't no spring chicken, I might point out -- so it may take a while for him to get back on his feet.

. . .

Now, for ME, I woke up today feeling great while I was sitting in bed -- but by the time I got up (after reading and devotional and doing some phone text messages), I was feeling HORRIBLE. I don't know WHAT has caused this funk to set up camp up in da house, but dude -- it's still with me at 10:30 at night... and it's terrible. 

No, wait -- I think I do know what caused it. You see, yesterday I literally ate NOTHING all day. But one of my pre-school students brought some "snacks" to English class -- I found out later he meant them to be for the class -- doh! -- but I missed all that subtlety. So after class, I saw he had forgotten the box -- but they assured me, "Oh, no, maybe it was for the class -- so just take it for yourself."

Okay -- so it was a box of donuts from Mr. Donut -- and when I realized that, I was like, "I'm gonna put a HURTIN' up on Mr. Donut, suckah!" -- you know? -- I mean, like, "Mr. Donut, you better step OFF, 'cause you goin' DOWN, fool!!"

Yeah. So you know the "donut holes"? It was four small boxes of about 4 "holes" each -- perfect for snack size. So last night, after I got home from my classes and worship team rehearsal, I FINALLY had a bite to eat -- a sandwich and some Ritz crackers (dude, them's some GOOD crackers!) -- and to top it off, I had me one of those boxes of "holes" for dessert. 

But I'm not kidding -- the MINUTE I wiped my hand on my shirt after the last "hole" (I'm joking, Mom! I don't wipe my hands on my shirts! I really wiped my hand on my JEANS)... but as SOON as I was finished eating those suckahs, I was like, "OOooooooooohhhh! Something ain't right!" -- and sure enough, this morning's funk eventually ensued, as you by now well know. 

Anyway.

I hate being sick. HATE... IT.... But I've been sick a LOT since I got here -- do you mind praying about that? Those of you who are so inclined, I mean. I just have been totally TOO sick these last 6 months -- not just with Mr. Donut Funk, I mean much more SERIOUS funk, too -- and I have TOO MUCH to do, there's so much I want to be accomplishing -- but at this rate I'm not getting anywhere. So yes, please pray for that -- that I will be HEALTHY and free from those distractions so I can get busy at the tasks at hand. 

THANKS.

. . .

OH -- and I heard from my friend Gigi that her mom was in a sort-of plane crash the other day -- it was an Air France flight from Paris -- they were halfway to New York when the captain announced a "severe malfunction with the landing gear"... whereby they had to return to Paris... whereby everyone assumed they were DEAD (with about 2 hours to THINK about it, too)... whereby they "crash-landed" with the landing gear sending out billowing clouds of black smoke... whereby the plane caught fire... whereby everyone had to jump out the emergency doors and slide down the inflatable slides...

She made it okay, no problems, and is back in New Albany now. I'm so thankful (as is Gigi, as is her mom). Thanks to GOD for that!

27 March 2005

  
Happy Easter!

Wow, this has been one great day. Seriously -- a great day in the life of me.

Let me spell it out for you: 

First, as of today, the 27th of March, 2005, I have lived in Japan exactly 6 months. Actually, that doesn't mean diddly, but it feels like some kind of milestone, you know? Six months -- it has totally FLOWN by. 

Second, it's Easter, and we had a GREAT time at church this morning. The kids colored eggs, we did a music "special" from the International Fellowship worship team, we had THREE baptisms... Then after church a MONSTROUS turkey dinner -- yes, I said TURKEY. Dude -- I missed it for Thanksgiving. I missed it for Christmas. Wait, what am I talking about? -- I've missed it for over three years! But man, I ate some big old hunks of turkey flesh today, I assure you. It was PERFECT. 

Third, I found out U of L is in the Final Four. Now, didn't I tell you I thought this might be the year?!? DIDN'T I?!??! You KNOW I said it. I haven't watched a single game, but something in my gut just said, "Man, I think this might be the year"... They've got a good team, but not so good that people would EXPECT them to be there. They got Pitino -- he obviously knows how to get teams to the Final Four... And whatever -- at the start of the conference tournament I just started telling everyone (well, you know who you are) that I really thought THIS might be the year. So you can BET I'll stay tuned to see how THAT all turns out. 

Fourth, after church today, my friend Manuel came over and in about three hours we were able to record the vocals for FIVE songs (for our CD). We had a lot of fun, and not only that, we went to my favorite restaurant at Sagamino Station and had that seafood pasta we both think is so great. 

(Actually, that seafood pasta ought to be it's own "bullet" -- so yeah, make that "fifth" on the list of great things today).

In fact, the ONLY downer for the day is that after dinner, I basically had to say goodbye to Manuel for the last time... 

Don't miss that. He is finally leaving Japan and returning to Switzerland this coming Saturday. Returning to his family, his girlfriend... returning HOME... and I'm happy for him, getting to go home -- he knows that Japan is not the place for him, and he's got a girl waiting back there, and who knows WHAT adventures he's gonna end up having...

But at the same time, these last few hours since we parted it's finally started to sink in that we really did say goodbye. Like, "GOODBYE" goodbye, you know? Like, the old "we may never see each other again in this life" goodbye, dig? I mean, all this time leading up to his departure, everyone knew the "goodbyes" were coming... but I think I always thought we'd have some "last meeting" or whatever -- and it only really dawned on me at the last second that, oh, this WAS our last meeting -- if that makes sense... 

And I truly had a GREAT day today -- but saying goodbye like that just hurts my heart -- and I already feel so lonely without him to laugh and sing with. We've had so much fun these last six months...

. . .

Well, I got some photos today that I want to share with you, so while I won't make any promises, I'll TRY to get them posted up here tomorrow... 

29 March 2005

I'm a day or two late, but I did finally get my Easter photos up -- you can see them HERE.

I realized this afternoon I'm way behind on getting photos posted -- I still have stuff from CHRISTMAS that I haven't posted! -- but geez, not sure when I'll get caught up on that... anyway, someday...

Meanwhile, I woke up today feeling sick again -- this time with some kind of cold and/or congestion thing happening. I'm totally getting sick of being sick. As soon as one thing wraps up and I get two or three days feeling good, here comes something else that just totally knocks me over. I literally slept until 1pm today -- that means I slept for something like 14 hours. I'm okay -- don't let me give you the wrong idea -- I'm totally FINE -- Satoh took me to the drug store to get some Tylenol, etc. -- but geez, this is just wearing me out. I surely pray I can get a few solid weeks of feeling good soon -- it would be the first time this YEAR... 

Meanwhile, the latest report from my family says my dad is back home after his hip replacement surgery -- he's not feeling so good, still running a fever -- but we're thankful he's "mostly" okay and on his way to recovering. He'll be back on that pogo stick before you know it... 

Meanwhile, my excitement continues to build over U of L being in the Final Four. Of course, people here have never even HEARD of the Final Four, so no one cares. For those of you who don't remember, I was THERE the last time they went (in Dallas, '86)... (Wait -- was that NINETEEN YEARS AGO?!?!? Holy Medicare, Batman -- I suddenly feel geriatric)... 

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get ready (mentally and physically) for our big SNF Spring Camp coming up this Thursday:

We're taking a group from Denen CP Church (our Saturday Night Fellowship kids) as well as some from Sagamino CP Church up to Manazuru, where Haga-san has a "summer" home. It should be great fun, as long as I can get to feeling better. 

31 March 2005

Just want to let you know I'll be "gone" for a few days and totally offline -- so anyone who needs to contact me, please be patient, I will be back in touch with the world sometime late on Saturday, 2 April. 

Take care, and pray for us as we head to our Spring Camp... We need safety for our travels, and of course let us all be healthy and well during our time relaxing and having fun near the sea...