On the way to expanding my gang crew on the road...

That's right. I had a temp permit driving test in the morning. Well, this time, I tried my hardest to "relax" before driving, and I thankfully passed it! Woo hoo! I did not get the heart ache, so I was super happy! Yay!

Then I was allowed to write the written test (to officially get my temp permit) finally! I scored the second highest (sorry I wasn't the highest. boo) and got my temp permit today! :)

So after that, I went on the road to practice driving for 2 hours, which was full of FUN :) So today's driving experience finally gave me a reason to gain much confidence in my driving. Thanks to those of you who cheered me up on this mission. I thought of you while taking the test, and I think that all the energy that I got from yous helped me loads :) thanks!!!!

phew. I feel I am going to have a good nite's sleep tonite. I am going to wake up early tomorrow to go to the gym before going to school tomorrow, so I am going to end my blog here this time. Hope you are blessed with great energy in your life :) Massive Huggle Attack! :)

Driving Lesson after 5 Days of not driving.

I went to school today after 5 days of not driving.

My 50 minutes lesson went well. I practiced lots at the zig zac section of the school driving route (crank). I did all right, and my teacher said that I need to relax and be less nervous,cause my driving is just *fine*!! lol

So I think I need to smoke some weed before my test tomorrow, but alas, I am not a pot head, so I do not own any glass with me. haha~ (never was into the whole smoking thing anyway).

Well, it was still 1pm when I came home, so I designed and created a few earrings taking advantage of the early afternoon spare time. So if any of you were interested, please view my accessory page.

By the way, I was listening to "Wicked is the music" by Crazy Penis and Jeremy Ellis Interview by Ange while making the earrings. That sort of explains the nature of the created designs
and names :) I was happy with my creativity though :)

I have my driving lesson test (again) tomorrow morning. I truly hope that the weather will be great and I will not get too nervous taking the test though. Wish me good luck :) Peace

If you are in Chicago, Come check out DJ Ish @ Sonotheque tonite! Apr 16- 2005!!

Taking it Easy/Full Version of Lemon Gas

I was supposed to go to the driver's license school for a 1hr lesson today, but since I will have to wait 1 more day for the temp permit driving test on Monday (no test on Sundays), I decided to re-schedulemy lesson for Monday and taking the test on Tuesday.

Plus, I felt super tired when I woke up, so I felt that I would not be able to take the lesson with full attention, which will be a great waste of money, now that 1 hr lesson costs me extra 50 dollars. Rightttt. 50 dollars for a 1 hr lesson (to be exact, 50 minutes). How nice of them to charge me 10 dollars for every 10 minutes of driving in the silly school driving circuit. Sigh. And it costs another 50 dollars whenever I re-take the test. So I am already asked to spend 200 dollars on top of the initial bill (over 2300 dollars for the freaking programthat does not allow me to practice driving much).

Anyway, enough rants here. Let's talk of SPRING again :)

I woke up to a thoughtful email from a very thoughtful and FUNKY friend of mine, who cheered me up on my current situation by sending me an encouraging visual message. It was very thoughtful of her, and reading the message surely brought me a sense of comfort. Also, I got to see a funny clip sent by her, which was very funny to see. Just something that I truly needed. So here, I want to share with you too. hehe

In the morning after preparing breakfast for my family, I was told from my grandma how pretty the front garden looked now that all the tulips are blooming. I took a photo of it so here it is:

Here is a photo of cherry bloosom tree (although not the best shot) in my neighborhood:

Here is a photo of cherry bloosom tree (different kind) in the garden by the ponds:

ThenI noticed how a migrating bird couple decided to rest in one of the ponds at my house.

So cute eh? Apparently, they come to our pond every year to lay eggs.

My dad told me that the stupid crow (the mother of my dad's pet) ate the egg of a migrating bird mama laste year, so that was also why he decided to keep her own baby in a cage as a revenge (wheee). Recently, the mother of my dad's pet makes frequent visits, eating the food
that we feed the baby pet. LOL My dad said that he will eventually catch the mother crow and take both the mother and the pet somewhere really REALLY far away from our house, so that they will never come back to our neighborhood. LOL Right, my dad has this tendency to revenge animals, which I do not think is the most positive attitude to have. He has brought a mischevious cat that ate some carps that we keep in the pond (for restaurant business) to somewhere far away too.

Changeof subject here. Today was Saturday. What it means is that I get to see my favorite tv commercial when I watch this particular tv show.

So I prepared myself to capture the commercial in the digi-cam. Here is the full version of: Lemon Gas where a little girl raps with agas service person. LOL

By the way, this is an example of my obento box that I bring to my driver's license school. You may think that it is not that much, but that isbecause I eat a ton of chocolate, cookies and senbe (rice crackers).

Gotta cut back on the junk food though, now that I wonder if the sweet bingeactually has some impact on my heart.

I gotta work tomorrow, so I shall get some rest now. Hope to catch up on some mails with my friends. Sorry :( if you were wondering whata lazy bum I am..will get back to you soon!!!!!!!!!! :D

P.S. Currently chilling listening to "the wickedis music" by Crazy Penis. Thanks so much, Dawn!!!

l be a long serious blog update today....

Wow, it has been super busy that I do not know where to start catching up on my blog entry. LOL

Well, let's start with my driver's license school story.

I have failed my driving test to get a temp permit TWICE.

That's right. You heard it RIGHT. I am such a LOSER.

I do not know what's wrong with me, cause I can drive with no problem at all when I practice. But when it comes to a test, I can't. Well, here is my serious confession to those who are reading my blog: I appear to get a panic attack of some sort where I feel such sharp pain over my chest (especially pain on my heart) frequently whenever I feel stressed/nervous/pressured and fearful.

I have not had this kind of symptom for the past few months, but the chest pain has gotten quite frequent to the point that I have decided to see a doctor as soon as my schedule allows me to do so.

I wonder if this is a part of PTSD. I also fear myself for having "angina pectoris" -a heart disease where the heart gets tightened due to a lack of oxygen due to a hardcore exercises/stress. Some of you who know me well may know me for loving going for a long run. Ironically I do not get the chest pain during/after the long run. But I definitely do get the pain when I feel tensed/pressured/nervous/stressed. I was doing okay with the PTSD in the past few months, so I am scared as hell to imagine how I will have to continue dealing with such a thing as this...

Well, to be honest, I think I am under a great stress right now.

I will need to freaking return to Canada next month, but I have no CLUE where to return, what sort of job to get (or will be given to me), and very concerned with my needs to return N. America.

While I am occupied with this pressure to make a decision, my mom has not been doing well at all for the past 2 weeks or so that her attitude/mood have affected all of us in the family. The great influence has been on my father, who has always tried so hard to keep good mental status of my mom. But recently, my dad was also told from a doctor how he is having a problem with his heart. So he is freaking out with his own health issue as well.

But my mom does not understand how her mood affects everyone in the house negatively, so she continues to be moody/grumpy. This of course makes my dad very irritated, and affects both myself and my grand mother. I am able to keep a sense of peace and calm attitude if I am alone, but I am not enjoying the environment where there are full of sighs and complaints. Fu*k, do something about it, if you have the guts to complain, you think right? Well, we are in a situation where good communication can not be obtained due to my mom's mental health. So all of us continue to be affected by it.

I have much more things to say, but I am freaking so angry at people (including me) that takes things for granted. I am taking a peaceful life environment for granted, so when a situation like this arises, I feel upset. I want to keep a sense of peace within me, but if I feel such pain over my heart, it is difficult to keep peaceful mental attitude. Anyway, I really REALLY need to have a alone time, so I am going to upstairs in my room to rest a little. I will have to work during the weekend, and will have no time to study for my driver's license temp permit written exam, so I need to make time for that too. Okay. Thank my life. Thank my ability to think. and Thank for the little break I got. (I am pissed off, as you maybe able to tell, but gotta keep positive attitude and strength within me, for god's sake!)

I am thankful for what I have though :) hehe

P. S. my work assignment to instruct a new employee training for an engineering company went well. I am very relieved that that is over now. phew. It was cool and very wonderful seeing my former co-workers at the university though. Lucky me :)

Long Day @ School/Pan & James Special

I did not have to go to the driver's license school from in the morning today , so I did my yoga in the morning and took care of some personal needs (ironing shirts and such)...I made my obento (dinner box) and left the house at noon to catch the shuttle bus to the school.

I had 1 last driving lesson, which I needed to pass to take the first stage examination on coming Monday. Well, I passed it, so I could applied for the exam today, and was asked to attend a "6 hr", I say it again..."6 HOUR" lecture afterwords. Phew, I came home at 8:30pm after the long arse lecture, but surprisingly, I am not so tired...Well, so what is waiting for me next is the first stage driving exam, and if I passed it, I will write the written test. If I pass both physical driving and written tests, I will get my temp permit on Monday!! and will start my driving practice on the official road. haha!

So it seems all is going well. :) So I am pleased with myself. I do not have any driving lesson nor lecture tomorrow, but I think of wakingup early to take the written test practice. Will see... :)

I have FINALLY uploaded some files of Pan & James for you guys.

This time, Pan & James travelled to Okinawa, which is the southern part of Japan (very warm and has tropical weather), and their assignment was to buy one Japanese vegetable (goya) and pack of brown sugar for Oba-chan (auntie). Please note: the first two video clips may require you to have the Windows Media Player. But the rest may not. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause..The best is to watch themusing the Internet Explorer..

	Introduction of Pan & James's trip to Okinawa. Pan meets up with the zoo keeper, Mr. Shimura, who takes him to Okinawa.
	Apparently, Mr. Shimura took Pan to somewhere else 3 months ago. Do you think Pan will remember Mr. Shimura after 3 months of notseeing him?? They will explore the city Okinawa together.
	Pan & James go for their shopping mission. 8'45" in length, but worth watching, cause they are super cute :) Check outPan shows off his Okinawa style dance :)
	Pan hates big animals like cow. His partner, James all of a sudden runs away from Pan towards this huge cow. Now, find out what Panwould do in a situation like this...
	Pan's chimpanzee nature is revealed when he gets on the bus. Check out his kind attitude, allowing eldery to sit on his seat too :)
	After a long day's shopping mission, Pan gets quite tired and takes a break, but remains tired. James surprisingly offers Pan a ride! but do you know how??!!

And here is me with the lip stick that Dawn gave me :) I think it looks great on me :)

Thanks very much, Dawn!!

P.S.
Do you people like my earrings?? ;) ;)

Hmmmm-Day off from school

Since started attending my driver's license school, I have been quite busy. But finally I was able to take a day off today! Also, I came home early in the afternoon yesterday, so I spent over 8 hrs yesterday to complete the manual for the lecture that I am going to give in less than a week for new employee training of a known engineering company. When I accepted the assignment, I was not sure if I would be able to meet the needs/expectations from the HR of the company, but now that I know what I will be covering in the training, I feel positive about it :) yay! Thanks to a great help from my friend, I was able to submit the final draft to the university this early afternoon. So I chilled looking at the garden enjoying the great weather for a bit.

In my last comment, I made a note re: the crow that my dad is keeping as a pet... Haha, today, the pet had 2 visitors in the afternoon! I think it was its parent and sibling. When I tried to take a photo of it, one of them flied away, so my photo only show 1 visitor, but here it is:

I really REALLY hope that the number of visitors will stay low though. I mean, I do not want to see millions of crows visiting the pet around my house, you know? lol

My family and I went to the moon light temple to make a visit on gravestones of my ancestors in the afternoon, and then I went to the gym to work out. But gowd, my allergy reaction to the pollens (hey fever) was quite aweful today. I kept sneezing, and my throat got very sore. I hope that my symptoms will get better....

Feeling VERY SPRING right now :)

Not so long ago, I received an Easter cerebration package from my respected friend full of yummy chocolates and boxes of my favorite refreshment, TEA! etc (THAANK YOU x2!!). I then received a few CDs made by my sweet friend Ange, which widen my music collection :) (THAANK YOU x2!!)

It is very wonderfully thoughtful of them, and I was feeling very warm inside as of recently. Then wow, I received this package from my new friend, Dawn today, full of great cosmetic stuff and GREAT MUSIC (LOADS of CDs)!!

I was overwhelmed with her thoughtfulness, so I had to take a photo! (Sorry, I ate most of the chocolates..haha~)

I, hereby, would like to express my immense appreciation to her. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!! I tried the lip balm on my dried lips (change of season makes my skin get dry) after opening the package. It's wonderful!! and I can't wait until tomorrow morning to put my make up on :) haha It's great being a girl. I feel wonderful having able to explore human beauty thru a lot of things: make up, working out, choosing an outfit and earrings of the day, taking a candle light bath listening to great music...I also appreciate the great weather as of today (can you believe that today's temperature rose up to 25 degrees? although we had freaking SNOW on MONDAY??), seeing the color of pink and green (blooming cherry bloosom tree) here and there... :) I feel lucky having able to exercise under great weather, feeling the warm wind and sun light on my body..and letting the music take me on a great mind-journey now that the weather has gotten quite warm....

Oh, more reasons to feel HAPPY: one of my fav artists, Dylan Drazen has his new deephouse mix available online. It's been a while since he put a deephouse mix, so this is very exciting to me. I also received such great news: my best friend is given a DJ gig at Sonotheque in 3 weeks!!! He will be performing along with Anthony Nicholson. :D woo hoo~! I so wish I will get to see him perform live..but my spirit will definitely be there, my Friend. You go Boy!! Ganbatte-ne!! :)

As for me, I am doing well. I am to be honest a little tired that I think of going to bed in a few minutes as the clock turns 22:00. But I want to make a note how I had a great conversation with my grandma talking about my thoughts on near future move (away from Japan) and hearing stories of WW2 (how she survived it) tonite. We both shed some tears while talking, and I felt so blessed having my own grandmother healthy and able to share some precious stories with me. I hope I will be able to take sometime to write down some of her stories, so that the stories will be left behind and pass onto newer generations to remind all of us how lucky we are to have all that we have...

Okay, gotta sleep. Oh, another thing. My dad is keeping a crow as a pet since 1 year ago or so (according to my mom). This crow was captured with my dad's hope to teach it how to speak Japanese, and to this date, I have not heard a single word that sounds like Japanese (it speaks differently based on his mood though..lol).

Anyway, the crow is kept in a cage, and we feed some food and water (its favorite is fries), right? Well, the other day, my dad all of a sudden came to the living room, where I was doing some work, and he was like: "Kumi, come quickly! but stay quiet." I followed him and watched towards the direction he was pointing at. Surprisingly, the parent of the crow was having a visit on its baby. LOL Apparently, the parent makes frequent visit, checking up on how its baby is doing and all..but it was my first time seeing the crow family having a tearful union with each other..lol So I thought it was cool.. Okay. bye :)