On April 1st, I decided to test my willpower and strength to overcome the grip chocolate and sweets had over me. My goal: a 10 day juice fast. No chocolate. No sweets. No food. Just juice.

Guess what? I did it! I warned my housemates that I’d most likely turn into Ms. Grumpy Pants, but surprisingly I was cool as a cucumber and managed to live life fully, without food. I had a few setbacks, but I didn’t eat.

I primarily drank two juices, a green colored juice and an orange colored juice. Kagome and Itoen were my bottled favorites, but I usually made fresh juice with my juicer using carrots, grapefruit, cabbage, spinach, strawberries and melon.

Juicing allows the body to rapidly absorb nutrients, minerals and enzymes, since these elements are uncooked and raw. Fasting allows the body to release toxins and impurities that have built up.

It was a wonderful experience and from now on, I hope to incorporate regular juice fasts into my diet.

Machida Garden is having a Takoyaki Party on Saturday, April 28th and a BBQ on Sunday, April 29th to celebrate the upcoming Golden Week holidays.

Pics and posts to come!

What’s with the rain? I bought a shiny blue bike in anticipation of the lovely spring weather, and though it’s been a pleasure to ride around the city, some days it’s left huddled at home as I hoof it to the station in the rain. Of course, not all rains are created equal, and there are some I power through for the sake of biking. A few tips on dealing with wet weather:

1) Dry off your bike before you ride. The seat, obviously, but check the brakes too, and make sure the gears are rolling along smoothly.
2) Mind the road. It’s slippery when wet, and it can take you (not to mention other bikes and cars around you) longer to slow down and come to a stop than usual. Be extra cautious.
3) Pack the proper gear. Uniqlo has affordable water-resistant pants and parkas, but you don’t want anything with a hood that’s going to obscure your peripheral vision. Be content with your head getting wet.
4) Be bright. It gets dark when it rains, duh, so you need to stand out all the more. I can’t speak highly enough of my completely gaudy, bright yellow, glow-in-the-dark (and water proof) jacket. There’s no way someone could miss me in that thing. And of course, have the proper reflectors and lights on your bike, though keep in mind battery-operated lights may be succeptable to water.
5) Accept your fate. You’re going to get wet. But you’re riding your bike around one of the coolest cities in the world, so it’ll be worth it.

Be safe!

( i think it was April 18 )

play Othello!

★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★

he said he not mind playing on the email. and said want to play.

but end up, he actually never play it before  ~.~

★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★

later, IKU chan saw us and came join us. she is interesting.

saying over there was girl dinner and all 20s and they were talking about love and she said she not interested. haha!!!!

she said she is 上手。

she seriously came to check out hkb! haha.

she said she knew him and he said he knew her cause they met in kitchen before and they were praising each other’s cooking when i told IKU hkb is good at cooking, too.

and IKU said, hkb should go to the cooking lesson cause and he sure would be モテる！！！hahahahaha!

★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★

first she saw me and hkb play.

then later i make her play with hkb and i am the advisor of him since he is still beginner.

then hkb insisted i played with IKU.

★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★

and when IKU was talking to him, he replied like she is 姉さん！

はいって、ますますって！ so funny!

he even called IKU 姉さん!

★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★★　★

when i suggested it is bed time, we packed and IKU helped us to put the BIG Othello back to the shelf, and hkb followed me back to upstairs.

when parted, i saw he had a smile on his face. how cute ~ ★

( i think it was April 15 )

try to tell him to meet me in study room …

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

he does not know where so i told him to meet me at 自動販売機。

(and i was SOOO surprised, he welcomed me with a HUGE smile, i really did not expect that, さすが my hk fellow, i beg he must be very happy to have a real buddy here)

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

end up later in Theatre room, …

go inside and saw MASA playing instrument! how ccool. then when he finished we went in to check the place out. cannot believe hkb never been there before! he told me.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

then outside of Theatre room, in the corridor, …

then being seen by K, and then … ~.~  (he dressed in such beautiful casual suit and … nice waxing … how come before i have never seen it, that hurts… SIGH. life sucks, isn’t it? don’t know why when i see him like this, just made me immediately 胡思亂想, it hurts so much just to imagine the reason behind his dressing well …)

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

then, later end up in smoking room, …

and a bunge of people came.

first TARO, then TAKE, then, CRA and NAO!

yes, 偶然に all boys ね。

TARO just had to keep saying chinese! hahaha! so funny! his name is 吉野。and i kept telling hkb to speak mandarin to TARO.

then CRA came, and started talking about my tax, since i sent him email about asking his US friend about turbotax ><

then NAO came, and looking for convenient cigarette, that is the FUNNY part. we ALL have NO cigar! me and hkb went there to talk, CRA went there cause he thought i would be there and so he went in to answer my mail, NAO 多分 hear my voice and thought we had cigar to offer so went in to try his luck.

so when NAO asked if we had cigar and we said NONE, and he asked funnily “why are we all here?” HAHAHAHAHA!!!! and each of us explained WHY, that is super hilarious!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

tonight, me and hkb kept talking, and was all good.

i told him i was from US and he was very surprised and smiled big!

and he also heard me speaking ENG to CRA and he seemed a little impressed …

and later when NAO asked me about the tax thing and i had to tell NAO i am a US citizen and NAO was SUPER surprised … and he immediately added “that must be tough …”   ~~~   so happy he understand.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

so in ONE night, hkb saw ALL the Japanese that can speak mandarin and met almost all my male friends.   ~   A M A Z I N G

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

and later when i back to my room, hkb said want to learn ENG from me.

for someone that lived in US for so long, of course we ourselves do not see what so interesting about being an American citizen, but i guess because i am an Asian so people gets to be surprised sometimes.

funny, yes i only met this little friend 3 times.

and the 2nd and 3rd time he seemed happy.

(should be April 8)

1st time i met him, miyamura 紹介してくれたんだ。。。優しいミラム。even though there is 1 厳しい person said ミラム seemed to have no life of his own, but ミラム’s 気持ち i cannot say i don’t understand. he experienced so much pain and can still have this nice character i think he is 偉い。

oops, main topic, he was cooking so i went to kitchen to meet him. miyamu introduced. and we talked while he was cooking, but hkb kept 振り返って, even though i told him he does not have to わざわざ、turn his head all the time just to talk to me! 母語だから！向こうの顔を見なくても大丈夫！

so we talked about his name, about what he usually does every day, about his school and friends, … etc. like no secrets.

the most impressive thing is, when we walked together to go back upstairs, right before the door in the lounge, suddenly Masashi called me and tried to talk to me (he was telling me he would be practicing violin and cello and see if i want to join, but i planned to go 溝の口 buy things so i turned him down) and it took a little while, but hkb so kind and he waited, even though his hand full of the food he just cooked! … how nice.

sometimes, things can be really out of perspectives.

sometimes, things can also turn out to be something you never thought it would …

思ったより違うだって、そういうこと。

若者との縁、全員の香港の友達が帰国してから、きっと終わったと思ってたけれど、結局まだまだ、終わらない。。。

recently, i finally met the other ONLY hk person that lives here in Tama. Gosh he is 未成年 。。。when miyamu told me his age, i was like … 友達になれません, will he understand my words? 。。。と思ってしまった。。。

でも、一応会いたい。珍しいだから、たまに、本当に広東語を喋りたい。

会って、i realized he looked different than his facebook photo, haha! so funny!

then, after i met him the 2nd time, the 3rd time, it gets better and better. and he also seems happy hanging around with me!

だって、after the first time we met, he already messaged me, 不思議って 。。。不可思議的感覺,  he said.

雖然我並沒有超級覺得不可思議,  but i do like spending time with him.

and the MOST important thing is, he gave me what i have been looking for ALL ALONG, 家族ってというか, someone who can message back and forth with me everyday and can let me say whatever i want even though those are very very small daily things >< … no matter what time of the day, and can feel sort of the same way as i do but not just repeating what i said.

and his returning mail is SOOO fast, LOVE IT!  really makes me feel like i am not alone in the world.

he said something very funny, even though we met only 2 times sounds like we have already known each other for 2 years. (that reminds me what bill said about his wife and …)

and there is 1 thing he said that really surprised me, he mentioned, “because you cannot get much 親情, that is why you always feel so in need of 感情 from other non-blood-related people.”

he is very correct, despite of his age.

March 24th- “Mom, if my eye doesn’t get better by Friday, I’ll see a doctor.”

March 30th- “Take these eye drops and antibiotic. Come back in a week” says the ophthalmologist.

April 1st- “Mom, I saw the doctor on Friday, and he said I needed surgery…April Fools!!”

April 6th- “You may need surgery” says the ophthalmologist.

April 13th- “You need surgery” says the ophthalmologist.

That’s how it all started. As of today, April 13th, I am scheduled to have surgery on my eyelid on May 7th, which was the same day I was supposed to spend the last day of my four day vacation in Thailand, which I have now canceled and subsequently lost approximately $300 due to cancellation fees.

Some say bad timing. But really?

Fortunately, I have two types of health insurance which will cover all of my medical expenses. The day of my surgery is my day off, so I will not lose too much time off work. Best part, the infection in my eye is not cancer- reason enough to celebrate!

Despite the weekly trips to the doctor, seeing my eye get worse then better then worse again and even canceling my long awaited vacation to Thailand, I feel so happy and grateful that I get to experience all of this- without fear! So when life throws you lemons, make a delicious pitcher of lemonade and drink it slowly and delicately savoring every drop.

Kinomiya Shrine in Atami, a few hours south of Tokyo, is home to a 2,000 year old camphor tree. It must be doing something right to live so long, so the Japanese have built up a shrine around it where people can go to pray for good health and long life.

I went to ask for a little help, myself, when I was in Atami last month. Did it work? Give me 100 years and I’ll get back to you.