TILS

Who said you can only post about things you love on a Thursday? Why not Saturday? There is so much more to love about a Saturday anyways (especially since my days off are Sunday - Monday and thus Saturday is the last day of my work week and an easier commute to boot).

So here goes, a few things I'm loving this Saturday.

- electric blankets - snuggling into a warm bed in an unheated room at night is the best feeling ever
- making a big decision about my next (professional) step and knowing it is right for me
- being supported in that decision by coworkers, bosses, and best of all, U
- (almost!!) finishing a big project at work and knowing (and having my coworkers and boss appreciate) that while it was a first time attempt for me and isn't perfect by far, it is a useful an important contribution and one that would not have happened at all had I not been there
- making a warming winter dinner largely from my own creation (cabbage gratin - yummmmm!) and having U literally scrape out the bowl to get the last drop!

What did KMU do to you?

At work yesterday I spent the day checking the output of automatic recognition software and came to two conclusions.

1) The developer wanted to keep users on their feet. I got through four articles yesterday and one was almost perfect, one the software read horizontally from left-right (which would be fine except that the original text was vertical top-bottom!), one was read top-bottom but ignoring section breaks meaning that the first line of each section was one sentence and separating them out became a tedious process of cutting and pasting, and the fourth just misread every fifth character.

2) Based on my highly academic (heh!) analysis of the misread characters, I deduced that the developer was (a) male and (b) had been in a S&M relationship with a woman with the initials KMU. The relationship ended so badly that the software developer forswore the opposite sex and immersed himself in his work. He couldn't quite forget how mercilessly the mysterious KMU had been, however, and worked her and his pent-up negativity into his programs so that, when confronted with an article on the beginnings of higher education for women in Japan, his program failed to recognize the character for woman (女) properly even once. The compound 女子 (joshi, girl) mostly became KMU but elsewhere the character was replaced by the character for stand (立) or even bug (虫).

The moral of the story? Be careful of women with the initials KMU, avoid crossing software developers, and, most importantly, spending six hours by yourself editing articles captured by character recognition software can do funny things to your mind...

Somedays are Tuesdays

It seems as though Lulu and others have given up on "Somedays ate Tuesdays" posts, but I never was very good at keeping up with the popular kids, so here goes...

Somedays I am frustrated and bored with work and despair of improving or ever having a "career" as opposed just doing a job. But most days recently I have been loving work. I've been editing the proofs for the book (a Japanese translation of a collection of essays in English) we are publishing in the new year. It turns out that being anal has its positives too, and means that I enjoy and am actually pretty good at editing, even in Japanese! I'm not looking for or catching grammatical errors but have been checking for overall consistency (use of Arabic versus Chinese numbers, etc).

Somedays I regret that we won't be going back to Canada for Christmas this year. I'm going to miss seeing family and friends, the Christmasy atmosphere, buying clothes that fit at the Boxing day sales (this year I have to work Boxing day!!)... Most days, however, I'm excited about all the new traditions we will be creating and the Christmasy things we've been up to - like going to see the Tokyo International Players' production of "A Kabuki Christmas Carol" - which was actually really really good and U enjoyed it too!

Somedays I get to have a good nap during my morning commute. Most days recently, however, I've had the elbow of a puffy-coated old guy (never the same guy) in my side. I've discovered I really dislike being touched on my side. It isn't that I'm ticklish, but somehow it just seems way too intimate a place for a random stranger to be in contact with me. Since it happens all too often I should be used to it, but apparently not!

Somedays I go home after work and U and I have dinner together. We've been enjoying the cold weather and having plenty of nabe, stews, curry, etc. Most days this week, however, between end-of-year parties (Mon and Fri for me, Thurs for him) and his students suddenly realizing the year is coming to an end and they don't have the experiment results they need and thus wanting to stay late (Tues, and perhaps Wed too) one of us is late and we're eating on our own.

Somedays are Tuesdays

I was holding off posting this as I was going to link to Lulu, but she doesn't appear to be doing a Somedays... Post today so...


Most days for the past two months have been all about work - either the major project nearing completion at my day job or the largesse gallery translation contract I've been working on in my "off" hours. Since I sent off the last major section on Saturday (actually a good number of hours into Sunday), however, hopefully the work-life balance should improve!

Most days I have a morning coffee when I get to work - I drink it as I read through my email inbox and get started in the day's projects. Somedays, however, given the late nights spent working on the translation, I've needed another coffee in the afternoon, or even a "health drink." Unfortunately there have been too many of those "somedays" recently and my body has gotten used to the second dose of caffeine. That means caffeine withdrawal headaches that hit around 4 pm every afternoon. I'm trying to bear through them as I know from the past I can ween myself off, but it sure hasn't been making the evening commute much fun.

Most days the view out of my window at work is crows playing on the roof of the building next door, or perhaps a cleaning or drinks delivery truck. Somedays, however, I see people walking by and they do a double take at the white face looking out the window at them. Or, like today, a lost would-be visitor raps at the window and asks to be let in...!

Somedays U and I eat dinner together, but most days recently U has been kept at work late and had to drive his boss home, meaning he comes home nearly two hours later than normal and we have dinner separately. This too should change soon, however, as U's boss' house renovations (clogging up the driveway and meaning he has to leave his car at work) are set to end this week. In the meantime, however, I'm enjoying the yummy sweets he sent U home with yesterday nicer than the usual I went somewhere gift - sort of a peace offering I think!

Most days I no longer mind my long commute but somedays, like yesterday, when the line was stopped for a while and theb PACKED due to an "accident," I still wish I lived closer to work.

Most days recently I haven't written anything on my blog, but here's to hoping that now, somedays will be different!

Translation Tunnel

Sent the first part of the mega translation off on Monday night and began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or so I thought...

Then U came home last night and demanded I edit his paper (his boss knows about me and, in a completely unrelated decision said there wasn't enough in the budget to cover sending the article to a professional scientific editor).

And then I got an email from the art gallery with their "questions" on my translation and the reminder they'd be sending the next step of the translation next week...

And of course, work at the museum is busy as we rush to pull together all the little ends of a major project due all too soon...

So much for the end of the tunnel... If you haven't heard from me in a few weeks send in the rescue team with plenty of chocolate!

Friday???

Friday? Already? Where the he'll did that come from?!

Not quite the weekend yet, as I'm working Tues-Sat as part of work's energy saving measures (all departments are joining the museum and closing on Mondays so we don't run seven days a week anymore). Buuuut!! One more day of work and then I'm off for a week! I decided to take time off while U has his summer vacation, so we're going to go away for a few days and then will spend a bit of time relaxing at home together... Hold on, nope, scratch that... We'll be going away for a few days and then will spend the rest of the time working on non work work (a translation contract for me and non-work related articles for publication for U).

No rest for the wicked, as they say!

Wheeee!

I've been a bit of a mess recently, what with the heat and humidity melting my brain and leaving me with absolutely zero motivation and work being mind-numbing - a week spent mostly editing the English papers to be presented by coworkers at various international conferences over the next month or so. One of the papers was a slightly edited version of am online translation program translation so varies between almost making sense to being a random jumble of words. It would have been easier if I had been allowed to translate it myself from the start but.... myargh... Ah well.

And then I have a contract translation for an art gallery hanging over my head and demanding to be worked on every waking moment. Not that it is getting done, but...

All this editing and translating has me getting antsy to actually write something myself... Now if the heat would let up so that I was able to string together a few coherent thoughts!

Friday is the new Thursday

TGIF and TILT all in one!

As I took the train to work yesterday morning I was dreading my day. Thursdays are my least favourite workday for a range of reasons, all made worse by frustration over my current project in that department - difficult and terribly tedious translations from bad photocopies of bad photocopies of 150 year-old hand written originals in a range of European languages (mostly French but also some English, Italian, and Dutch thrown in) Since I have no Italian or Dutch abilities and no dictionaries either, this is obviously a frustrating exercise.

The workday lived up to my expectations and I was both in a foul mood and struggling with a faint but annoying headache by the end of it. I wanted to cancel my haircut and go straight home but my bangs were on my eyes and I was looking generally shaggy so I set off. No sooner had I left the museum that I got a phone call from a friend. My advisor was having a dinner party at his place, could I join them. I was not feeling sociable, but agreed. A relaxing haircut (rather shorter than I had been anticipating but loving it!) later I was feeling much refreshed - the hairdresser-induced light headed bouncy-ness put a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

The ume-shu (bought especially for me by my advisor), fresh salmon nabe (hot pot), and crisp green apples replaced my light head with a very full (and VERY satisfied) stomach while spending a couple of hours with my advisor and friends cleared me of the last vestiges of my foul mood and reminded me of the importance of good friends!

(the four salmon steaks, two organic apples, and special chestnut desert (kuri mushi yokan) I was sent home with ensure that Thursday's loving will continue through the weekend!)

Lists - and a TILT list too...

I’m a list maker. I make lists regularly and religiously. Shopping lists, to do lists, just about any kind of list. It helps me remember what I need to do for the short term and long term. Often times just writing it down is all I need to do, but I love the feeling of crossing things off my list and the satisfaction of having accomplished something.

So recently as I’ve been reading different blogs and seeing people’s “101 things in 1001 days” lists I figured that sounded like the perfect thing for me. I started the other day, jotting down a few things I wanted to do, and the more I thought about it the more things I started to add.

Then two things happened.

Number 1 – I realized that my list seemed pretty familiar to me. I took a look at the long-term to do list I have and realized why – the two were almost exactly the same. The only thing different was that my long-term goals list does not have a deadline.

and

Number 2 – I had a conversation with one of my bosses at work. She’s an amazing woman and has been incredibly supportive of me since I started at the museum. She values my skills highly and is very honest and frank with me, something I appreciate deeply. In our conversation she asked me point blank what I want to do and then started poking holes in my response – holes that I already knew were there but was ignoring for various reasons. She didn’t leave it at that, however, as she had an alternate idea, a different path to lead to where I had said I want to go. Her suggestion was one I had long dismissed, but the more we talked about it and the more I thought about it the more sense it made. It is much more likely to lead me to where I want to be, is just as interesting and challenging and rewarding – if not more. It really should have occurred to me sooner, but it didn’t and her suggesting it – and more importantly my realization/reaction to it completely and utterly threw me for a loop. I felt like I had been walking down a path in an underground tunnel, with my eyes ahead on what appeared to be the goal when suddenly a light came on out of nowhere and there was another tunnel that I hadn’t realized was there, but was less damp and narrow and dark…

I’m still only just wrapping my head around the new idea and what that would mean for the next few years of my life, but it made me realize that planning two plus years ahead isn’t necessarily something that makes sense for me right now. Since I already have a long-term to do list I don’t see why giving myself the pressure of a limited (if long) time frame to complete it in. Instead I’m going to regularly reevaluate my long term goals, making sure that I am chipping away at them while also adding or subtracting things as seems fit.

After all I am very very happy with where I am right now, but I couldn’t have imagined it 4 years ago as I was putting together the paperwork for my scholarship application, or 5 years ago as my year in India was ending!




Oh, and as for another list – here’s a few things I’m loving this Thursday:

- U – okay okay okay, so that’s a given I suppose, but he’s been amazing recently. He listened to my (likely rather incoherent) recounting of my conversation with my boss, and was immediately supportive of the idea, just as he had been of the idea it had replaced. He was quick to point out the benefits he saw and allay the fears that I had. He is incredibly supportive of me and my dreams, pushing me even more than I do myself.

- uneventful commuting – I am SO going to jinx myself with this, but after accidents/weather delays/etc screwed up my commute multiple days every week for a few weeks, and I wrote a post complaining about it, I’ve had a good couple of weeks of problem-free commutes. Sure, I still have to get pretty friendly with the other commuters, but I have have had room to breath and no elbows digging into me – all very good things!

- summer food – last week a co-worker and I went for hiyashi chuka (chilled Chinese noodles – chilled yellow ramen noodles topped with julienned omelet, cucumber, mushroom, pork, and a few other toppings with either a soy sauce or sesame based dressing poured over top. While I’m not really a big ramen fan, I’ve surprised myself with my love of hiyashi chuka (I think its all the “stuff” on top) and it is a great summer meal! I’ve also made myself a few salads for dinner recently and love playing around with ingredients – cheese and Caesar dressing or dried cranberries and cashews with balsamic vinaigrette or calamari with a spicy dressing or tofu and sesame dressing or caramelized purple onions and pine nuts or... By mixing up the dressings and toppings I can stick with the same leaves (leaf lettuce or romaine or spinach or…) and basic veggies for a couple nights and finish them up without feeling that I’ve eaten the same thing three nights in a row!

Things I love Thursday

Here's a few things I'm loving this week

- a 30% raise! Yup... I got a raise at work, and a pretty significant one at that. It came somewhat out of the blue and is rather hush-hush but I'm VERY grateful. Tthe extra money is obviously welcome (and should make possible actually paying U back reasonably soon for my share of the flights we booked for our summer vacation!) but perhaps even more gratifying is knowing the museum values me and my skills

- having a weekend! Part of the changes at work has meant I now work Mon-Fri instead of Tues-Sat. Having a whole weekend to share with U is important and I'm hopefull that I'll be able to get more done now - as in seeing friends, going to museums (usually closed on Mondays) and maybe even going camping!!

- actually going to see a movie for the first time in YEARS and and AND having caramel popcorn! (I fell in love with movie theatre caramel corn in India but haven't had it since. mmm!)

- summer travel plans! U and I have booked our flights to Indonesia! A good friend and her husband are there for the year and while neither U nor I can take much time off we're both excited for a week in the tropics - jungles and temples and relaxing with friends by the pool - YAY!

but, the number one thing I'm loving this week is
- having had the chance to meet U's grandma. I know it meant a lot to her as well as both U and I.

Things I love Thursday

- spring cleaning - I've been going through bookshelves/cupboards and chucking and reorganizing things. I love feeling more organized (although I'm not so happy with the pile of haven't-decided-what-to-do-with-it-but-don't-want-it-on-the-shelves that is currently taking up half of my floor space...)

- home-made yogurt for breakfast - my second batch of yogurt was even better than the first - more solid and less gloopy. In general it is less sour or strong tasting than store-bought yogurt. I've been loving having it for breakfast with fruit and a little caramel sauce... yum!

- translating for a tour at the museum - while I find translating guided tours at the museum very frustrating as it takes twice as long and leaves me wishing they'd just let me do the tour myself (I spent two summers as an undergrad working as a tour guide in the Canadian Rockies and I enjoy giving tours, trying to figure out what information to share with the particular group, how to keep them interested, etc...) I love having the opportunity to share the museum with visitors. It had been a couple of years since my last tour-translation, and I was very happy to be reminded of the improvement in my Japanese as I got through it with only one minor problem when I didn't know how to translate a Japanese version of a Chinese name.

- feeling valued at the museum - my days are currently divided between two departments. A different department asked me to do a couple of different projects recently and then the other day requested a full day on a regular basis. While this won't change my hours or salary and most of the work will be straight English translation and proofreading, I am excited about learning more about how this department works. I also just generally love feeling useful!

Things I love Thursday

With today being the first day after a string of holidays, the museum was closed today so I had the day off. I was looking forward to sleeping in, and had a long list of things I was planning to get accomplished, and was really looking forward to actually watching a playoff hockey game in real-time. I woke up this morning with a pounding headache, however, and barely made it through two periods of the hockey game (Vancouver was down and ended up loosing) before having to crawl back into bed in the hopes that a short nap would help the tylenol do its work. That ended up being the story of my day - try and do something, then need to curl up for a nap until the pain in my head subsided enough for me to get up and do something, only to need to crawl back to bed again.

So not really a great day for a Things I love Thursday, but still, here goes...

- the new shawl I've started knitting - I cast on last night (and then ripped it out and cast on again when I realized I had done so with the wrong needles... ugh) and after doing a few rows I decided that the pattern just wasn't working with the yarn. So I hit Ravelry, found the perfect pattern and started learning how to knit entrelac - a type of pattern that looks crazy confusing as you have little squares going in every direction, but once you get the hang of is very straightforward. I love the way it is working, as the yarn is variegated and instead of spreading the colour out into long long stripes and mixing it all together, the little squares mean that the colour is in blocks, and it looks incredible. Since the shawl is for me, I'm even more excited about it!

- my coworkers - one of the best things about my job at the museum is the other part-time people I work with. They are fun and we tease each other a lot. A new girl has just started and seeing the workplace through her eyes has been a reminder of just how much I like my coworkers (as was how lonely it was being the only one there on Tuesday!)

- my virtual support network - posting the other day about how nervous I was about meeting U's family, and having family and friends, as well as virtual friends I've never met, there to reassure me and give me advice.

- cooking experiments - since I'm allergic to tomatoes I tend to make a cream/cheese sauce for pasta. It is one of my quick meals, normally I'll cheat with a package sauce that I augment with fresh veggies and perhaps some meat as well. One of the things I did accomplish today was to make up a big pot of home-made sauce. I didn't have a recipe, just experimented and ended up with a delicious spinach cream (with skim milk) sauce with three kinds of mushrooms and onions and pork. I'm looking forward to being able to freeze it and have quick home-made meals.

- having a microwave! U was given one by a friend/collegue who recently got married. U had agreed to take it, figuring we could use it when we move in together (yup, watch this space...) but in the meantime suggested that I have it at my place as he doesn't have a kitchen. I still haven't gotten used to having it, and so am not using it all that much, but I love being able to easily warm up the milk for my morning latte!

Things I love Thursday

This week is going to be a short list, not because there aren't other things I love this week, but... well, maybe you'll be able to figure it out...

- work "hanami" - despite the rain keeping us from being outside enjoying the beautiful late-blooming sakura at its peak, a small group did show up for the museum hanami party this evening. Despite planning to leave early after having a quick bite to eat I ended up finding myself helping up with the clean-up...

Grrrr... - or trying to feel the love on a Thursday

Today was not a day full of things I love, but I suppose writing a list is even more important on days like today - a day that started late when I slept through my alarm and then took a dive when I discovered sauce as I bit into the "meat and mayo" sandwich I had bought in a dash through the station conbini. Sauce... with tomatoes in it... which is not good seeing as I'm allergic to tomatoes. But I knew I wouldn't have enough time to buy anything else to eat and still get to work on time, and trying to do a morning of work (not to mention my morning commute along one of the most crowded train lines in Tokyo) on an empty stomach was not an option. So I ate the sandwich. By lunchtime my stomach was very very unhappy. Ugh. Oooooh, and then there was the old lady taking up the entire bagging counter of the grocery store as she not only bagged her groceries but also simultaneously removed all extraneous packaging (this is Japan, there is always LOTS of extraneous packaging) - As I waited for a clear spot of counter to put my groceries in my fabric eco-bag I watched in disgusted awe as she removed raw chicken chunks from their styrofoam tray and used the plastic wrap cover to wrap it all up (all this using her bare hands, though she did wipe them on the wet cloth set out - note to self never use the wet cloth to wet my fingers when I try to open a plastic bag... ugh, shudder!)

Ummm... right... so... things I love this Thursday...

- working full time - I LOVE being at the museum on a regular basis. Once a week just wasn't enough, I never felt like I knew what was going on. I also felt like it took forever to get any one project done. I currently have five projects on my hands (two different translations, one mindless, one artistic-ish, and one organizational) and three of them are almost finished. There is another project I will be starting with one of the curators on Saturday, a chance to try and put some of what I wrote about in my thesis into practice by revamping the English-language pamphlets (ie create a couple of brand new ones). I'm REALLY excited about this project as the curator I'll be collaborating with has made it clear that I will not just be translating, that we will be working TOGETHER to create the pamphlets, and that she wants my help on redesigning the Japanese ones too, as well as creating a bunch for kids (in Japanese). Very very exciting.

- bento-making - since I'm at the museum 5 days a week and not just one I decided I needed to start taking my lunch at least 3 days a week. I pulled out my bento box from the back of the cupboard and have been enjoying picking up little extras - like pickled plums and tsukemono, as well as re-usable plastic mini-cups for separating various types of lunch goodies. I'm nowhere near to making animals or cutesy anything out of my food, but I love having healthy and mostly home-made lunches!

- travel planning - U and I have decided to take a short trip over Golden Week. Museums don't close for holidays, so I had to be a bit imaginative when scheduling (yay lets work Tues-Sun, then have Monday off and do it all over again!) we do have 4 days to adventure off. After Umebossy posted about her "number" I got to thinking about mine, and realized there are only 9 prefectures I HAVEN'T been to: Akita, Yamagata, Niigata, Toyama, Fukui, Mie, Tottori, Oita, and Okinawa. With GW looming soon and only 4 days to travel we can't go very far but we've decided to head up to Niigata and maybe even check out Sado Island!


There, that wasn't so bad... and now I'm actually in a good mood!

Just Another Manic... Wednesday?!

Lots going on but can't seem to actually put it into coherent sentences... perhaps trying to get more than four hours of sleep a night on a regular basis would help?

1 ) Final final final preparations are underway at the museum for the special exhibit that opens to much fanfare on Saturday. I've been involved with planning and translation for the exhibition, but not the actual layout so I have little clue as to what it will actually look like and am rather excited. We have a full day of festivities planned for invited guests on the day of opening, particularly meetings with a large number of museum professionals and experts from around Japan as well as the US, Europe, and China. These are aimed to get feedback on the exhibit but also to provide the first step in the process of redoing our regular exhibition. I'm particularly excited as professional simultaneous translation has been hired (for both English and Chinese) so I can actually enjoy listening to the discussions!

2) Ever since I moved into my apartment in the fall I've been jokingly complaining to friends that I could hear the snores of one of my neighbours. Nobody believed me. Over the past few days two different people have not only believed me, but said they could too! (one said it had been a major reason for her decision to move!) I feel vindicated and somewhat relieved to know that I'm not just imagining things.

3) I am guiltily relieved by the frequency of classes being cancelled. It has seemed that just about every week one of my classes is cancelled - often because the professor has other committments that take precedence - like university administrative meetings. Yup. Apparently administrative meetings trump classes, I think that tells you just about everything you need to know about universities in Japan!

4) Four. Yes, four. That is about how much sleep I've had both of the past nights. I'm working on a presentation on non-profit organizational law in the US, to which I'm adding the comparison of Canada. The text is in Japanese and I'm quite convinced that if it were in English it wouldn't make much more sense. If I was ever in any doubt, neither economics nor law are fields my brain seems capable of comprehending (at least when said subjects overlap and are in Japanese and my brain is sleep-deprived).

5) With the rainy season just around the corner fears over the new flu epidemic seem to be disappearing here. This hasn't stopped the museum from putting bottles of hand sanitizer at both the staff and pubic entrances to the building. All those entering the museum are encouraged to use the hand sanitizer so as to stop the spread of the disease.

6) Any suggestions for uses of eggs that don't require an oven? My mind isn't going much beyond omeletes, scrambled, and Japanese rolled egg. Although a friend did suggest doing soft boiled eggs for and adding them to a salad. Any and all suggestions are welcome as I have 14 eggs sitting in the fridge - leftovers from a brunch party at my place this past weekend (we had pancakes but never got around to making the scrambled eggs).

Flower Arrangement

I've been at the museum for the past two days, helping set up the upcoming special exhibit. It has been a lot of fun and has given me the opportunity to work on something different from my usual translation and editing. The museum is currently preparing two different special exhibits, one of the cover art for the magazine/journal published by the foundation, and one of dolls recently donated to the museum. The exhibits are completely unrelated and being held in different spaces, but the same curator is in charge and much of the preparation is going on together.

I spent most of yesterday scoring, cutting, and folding plastic sheets to make protective covers for some of the nearly 150 magazines to be displayed. The actual work was repetitive and somewhat dull, but we worked in the special exhibit space where the dolls were being set up, so I enjoyed watching the curator responsible for the exhibit as she ran about, the doll specialists as they arranged the dolls, and the exhibit professionals as they worked on exhibit cases/made stands/pinned labels/any of the other million little tasks that go into putting together an exhibit.

I spent most of today attaching branches of fake plum flowers to three wooden screens. Two of the screens will block off a doorway that won't be used, and the other screen will be placed in the main lobby, holding pamphlets and enticing visitors upstairs to the exhibit. The curator in charge of the exhibit gave me free reign to arrange the flowers, saying it was up to me how they were displayed. The exhibit specialist (who had built the screens) kept an eye on me as I started. When I finished the first screen he complimented me generously, saying I had a good eye. He and the curator chatted a bit, admiring the work, and she assured him that I was the one to give this type of work to. I was pretty happy to catch that comment. As the only English-speaker at the museum I know I have a valuable skill set, but it sure is nice to be useful for something besides my English ability! As a good friend remarked, I'm anal about this kind of thing, which I guess is a good thing?!

My screens:



When I left today the exhibit guys were using brightly coloured material to cover the bottoms of cases and as bunting from the ceiling. The curator was also plotting to make a wreath of fake plum blossoms to adorn the large stone bust in the lobby... There is also a small discount offered to visitors who wear pink (the favourite colour of the women who donated the dolls). It should be an amusing change for the face of the museum which can be rather serious most of the time!

A Newfie Scarf for a Newbie

Last spring a new girl joined the part-time curatorial staff at the museum. While the curatorial staff is predominantly female, I had been the only part-time girl pretty much since I started, so I was glad to have her join the team. She is bubbly and outgoing, making friends immediately and fitting in with everybody from her first day.

Quite soon after she started she saw a scarf I had made for somebody else at the museum and, despite the fact that we didn't know each other very well, she asked me if I'd maker her one. I was rather surprised but I agreed. It took me a few months before I finally felt able to pick the right wool for her scarf, but when I did I knew it was perfect - a chunky Noro in a bright bright bright pink mixed with various other colours. I partnered the wool with a similarly textured black and had a vague idea of what I wanted to make, but I didn't have the exact pattern until my wonderful cousin (once removed) sent me a gorgeous pair of hand-knit mitts. With only one false start I had modified the mitt pattern into a scarf, and the chunky yarn knit up really quickly.




I think it suits her free-spiritedness pretty well. She seems to like it too - she squealed when she opened it and then proceeded to wear it for the entire day as she was working in the object storage space - which is climate controlled and rather chilly!


(She was concerned about how freakishly large her hands look in the photo but after doing hand size comparisons it turns out it isn't just the camera adding ten pounds - her hands ARE freakishly large!!)

Wordless Wednesday - Cleaning

We've been put to work cleaning the special exhibit space at the museum - good exhausting fun.

Three Years

It has been three years three years since I moved to Japan.

Three years since I uncurled myself from the fetal position and convinced myself that no matter how scared I was, I couldn't let down my friends and family and even some strangers as well. All of whom seemed to believe that one rather crazy Canadian girl could actually work in a Japanese museum. I was pretty convinced I couldn't, but there were too many people to let down and besides, hiding in the basement of my dad's house didn't seem like a very good long-term plan.

Three years since I left my family and friends and stepped onto a plane. I had only just gotten back from a year in India, but there I was leaving again.

Three years since I stepped off of the plane in Tokyo. A city I had visited before but had never lived in. A mega-city home to 5796 people per km². Of those 12,790,000 people, I knew only 5.

Three years since I walked into the museum for the fist time. I've written about it before, but on that first day when I went in to meet with the director, my stomach was in knots and I was a nervous wreck.

The past three years have seen a lot of changes. I've lived in three different places (hopefully making that four in the not too distant future), had six different jobs/part-time jobs (a few of which I'm still doing), and, most importantly, met and befriended a number of those nearly 13 million people. I've learned a few things about what makes me happy. I've been given the support and confidence to believe in and reach for my dreams. (Don't worry, I've had some not so rosy memories too, but I'm trying to ignore those right now...!)

I don't know where the next three years will take me, but if the last three are anything to go by, I'm excited - bring it on!

Knitting Paper

One of the things I've really been enjoying about knitting is making presents for friends, random gifts that aren't tied to a particular event or day, a just-because gift, to let the person know I appreciate them. Blogging about my knitting has also become a way of recognizing that person, giving me a chance to talk about what they mean to me. I really like that.

I've now made scarves for a number of people I work with, with one big exception. This particular woman was my first friend at the museum, she was the one who listened to my sob story when the English teaching company I had been working for went belly up (no, not Nova, this was nearly 3 years ago). She was the one who suggested and then arranged for me to work full-time at the museum for a few months. She has heart of gold and a kooky sense of humour.

The fact that I had yet to make her a scarf was due to the fact that another co-worker and I decided to pick out the yarn together, and the outing kept getting delayed. We finally managed to go yarn shopping and found a funky wool/rayon/paper mixture in gorgeous reds and orange-y reds. We looked at a lot of different yarn but this one struck us both as perfect. Finally, at long last, I am happy to report that someone very important to me has a Sarah original.

I wanted to make something simple and yet elegant, dressy and yet fun. Kinda like the recipient herself.

see how it even matches her watch?!

Simple Minds...

What do these pictures have in common?




Well, I was editing a friend's English translation last night. The translation in question is for a Japanese museum/botanical garden, and one of the special exhibits was described as:

Traditional Japanese Morning Glories
Be amazed by mutant Japanese morning glories from the Edo Period.

Mutant morning glories?! (snort!) I read the line and I couldn't help but burst into laughter. It still has me giggling over 24 hours later. Mutant morning glories?! (snort!) My youngest cousin was big into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I can still hear the TV show's theme song in my mind. Just imagine - Mutant Ninja Morning Glories!! (snort!) The image in my head is as clear as if I had seen it somewhere - a bright blue morning glory face with a slender green body, decked out with a face mask and martial arts weapons, looking menacing. Mutant morning glories... (bwahahahahaha!!!)


Yes, simple minds, simple pleasures...
(oh, and once I explained why I was laughing so hard I had tears pouring down my face, my friend found it just as amusing as I did, although he was quite possibly laughig AT me...)