Dear Yahoo! Music,
I do not think that it is fair that you only allow me 5 skips per hour when you are playing an hour's worth of completely shit music. Gwen Stefani yodeling (WTF? When did that happen?!), Kanye West (don't get me started on Kanye), Mariah Carey (no explination necessary), etc should come with FREE skips.
Thank You,
Skip-less in Japan
I really hate it when I'm innocently walking down the street and my tit flops up and smacks me in the eye. I'm sure the girls from Dead or Alive X2 hate it, too. You may not want to watch this at work, BTW...
The guys (girls?) who created the "Dead or Alive" series have really overdone it just a bit this time. The DOA series has always been a bit...how you say...jiggly, but this is completely over the top. I felt like I was watching softcore porn just during that preview video!
I love how (towards the end) there is a girl in a schoolgirl uniform (oh shock) just strolling (not walking, not running, not jumping, STROLLING) down the beach and her boobs look like she's braless in jazzercise. This will certainly speak to a certain Japanese demographic- the 10 to 81 crowd.
Show it to your husbands. They'll thank me later. ;)
Maybe Crl+Alt+Del said it best:
Well, Seamus went to the doctor yesterday for his 15-month checkup. Everything is fine- great, even, except his walking. Since he isn't "walking well", his new doctor, Dr. Leonard, is "concerned" (as she put it). She wants us to come back in two weeks (our appt is actually ON Halloween) and assess the situation from there. If he's walking well by then, yay; if he's not, we're going to start going to physical therapy a couple of times a week. I freaked out at the idea all afternoon yesterday, but this morning I felt a lot better about it. That feeling lasted precisely 10 minutes
My mother-in-law called yesterday while we were at the doctor, so I wrote her back yesterday evening and told her all about what's going on in our lives- Mike didn't go to Korea, Seamus' doctor's appt, etc. I opened up her reply this morning right after I woke up and read all about how the Army is weird because they keep flip-flopping on Mike going to Korea (duh) and HER COMPARING MY CHILD'S WALKING PROBLEMS TO FORREST GUMP!!
I cannot believe she actually compared my child to Forrest Gump and joked that they were going to put his little legs in braces! As if this situation wasn't upsetting and worrisome enough, she has to go and make light of it. To me, this IS a big deal. I worry that there's something wrong with his legs and his muscles and she has the audacity to compare him to a (fictional) handicapped character! Arghhhhhhhhh.
I'm back in Japan now. It's about time, huh? I've been home for a week now. Man, I missed being home. The jetlag is finally starting to wear off and I'm starting to feel a bit more human. Luckily, Mike was off for 4 days after I got back, so he took care of Seamus while I got to rest.
Our neighbors, Melinda and whatever-her-husband's-name-is, have 2 dogs. Two VERY LARGE dogs. I don't mind dogs, but I hate when people just have dogs as an accessory. As in: "Hi, we're not going to spend any time with the dog or take care of it, but we like telling people we have a dog". They feed and water the dogs like they should, but they never take the dogs out for walks and they leave them tethered in the back yard all day while they work. Because their tethers are too long, they end up pooping in MY yard. I've spoken to Melinda about it time and again, telling her I have a toddler and I'd like to take him outside to play, but I shouldn't have to clean up poop to do that BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A DOG! She usually just nods and cleans it up. Mike had just spoken to her about it again the day before I got back. Today I had enough and finally called housing to report her. They came out and inspected it and when they went to speak to her, she told them that Mike leaves cigarette butts all over the place. So, housing came over and gave ME a citation (but not my neighbor). When I asked why, they said that "cigarette butts are worse than dog poop". Excuse me? I went outside to see just how many butts were on the ground, and there were 5, maybe 10 butts. There were more piles of poop than that! I'm so pissed.
Quick, tell me what half of $400 is...
Mike's birthday was on Friday. He's 26 now- he's so old. :p I can only call him old now because we're the same age for 5 months of the year, so for the other 7 I get to call him an old man. Over the previous weekend, Mike's grandmother asked me if there was anything he had been wanting. I told her, yes, but it was a very expensive XBox 360.
"What do you call 'expensive'?"
"$400 expensive"
"Oh, that is expensive (duh). Would he be able to get it if we paid half?"
So, I worked out the details with her- Mike was going to pull out the money for the entire XBox out of our checking account and they were going to make their checks out to me instead of me depositing the checks and such. So, instead of me pulling out spending money from our checking account, I would just be using the $200 they were giving Mike as the bulk of my spending money. Follow me? Good.
This past weekend, my mother and I (and Seamus) went to see our relatives in Alabama. We stayed with my aunt, but I also saw Mike's mom and grandma. I did my mother-of-their-grandchild-and-wife-to-the-only-boy duties and spent an afternoon (that I could have been shopping) going out to eat Mexican food (which I had the night before) and sitting in a dusty used bookstore waiting for my mother-in-law to get finished in- those things always give me migraines, plus I was left smelling like dusty book for my dinner with my best friend. Mike's mom wore one of those "WWJD" bracelets (which means "What Would Jesus Do", in case you lived under a rock in the late 90's) and it made me laugh because I didn't even know those things still existed. They gave me their cards for him (with the checks sealed in them), but I didn't open them until we stopped to eat dinner the next day on our way home.
Remember when I asked you how much half of $400 was? You probably said $200 didn't you? Wrong. It's $115. A check for $40 and a check for $75. Lovely. Just plain freakin' lovely. Not only that, they made the checks out to him, not me. Luckily, I brought my POA with me that we just got re-done before I left Japan, so that's not going to be a big issue.
Buuuut, the story gets better. Mike's mom forgot to even sign her card and Mike's grandma wrote in his card (and I quote), "We love you but we don't understand why you won't talk to us. Love, Mammaw" Happy birthday! Hope you wanted an all-expense paid trip to guilt! Why should we shoulder all the costs of trans-Pacific telephone calls? I certainly don't see their number popping up on our caller ID. Mike's mom has a good job. There's just no excuse. I don't even want to tell him about this- he'd just get pissed and worry about me and Seamus not having much money, but at the same time, he should know. *sigh* What would Jesus do? Slap my in-laws across the face. That's what Jesus would do.
I miss my husband. I've been without him through training, wars, deployments, moving, and everything else and it has never bothered me that Mike and I were seperated. I mean, sure, I missed him, but I always knew I was going to see him again in X amount of days/months. I always carried on and did what had to be done- pick yourself up by your bootstraps and carry on, etc. Yet, I'm here, visiting family in the states for a finite amount of time and you would think I am never going to see him again. The 29th can't get here fast enough. Why did I think I wanted to go home so badly?
At least we're in the home stretch of living in Japan. We've lived there too long. Two years would have been a great tour, but three is too long. It's like a vacation that just won't end. Nine-ish more months and we're out of there. I hate to say that I can't wait. Japan has been an experience, but it's time for it to end. I'm not miserable, not yet, but I am getting anxious to leave. I know too many people who have been worn down until there's nothing left from an overseas tour of misery. Okinawa hasn't gotten me yet, and for that I'm grateful. I'll always think of you fondly when I'm at a local teppinyaki resturant, Okinawa. Save some rice for me and I'll save a sweet tea for you. You never did know how cold tea was supposed to taste.
I cannot believe how long it has been since I've written in here. After my last entry (on August 24), my family took a trip down to Disney World. While I would have thought that Disney would have joined the ranks of the La Quinta and had free high-speed internet...no. They wanted $9.95/day for internet service. Uh, no. I don't think so.
When we got back, my parents moved from their cute little rental house to the McMansion they've been building. The move was supposed to be "seamless" (ie: internet, cable, phone, etc should have been in place when we got here), but that never happens. We just finally got phone service on Tuesday and we got cable internet and TV yesterday. Let me tell you, having my parents gone to work from 8-5 every day with just me, Baby Seamus, and contractors around (with NO entertainment) does not a happy Shanna make. I was ready to kill myself. On top of all that, my brother and his witch of a wife were moving into my parents rental house as they moved out, and made things that much harder for everyone. At least it's over. We're in, we're unpacked (mostly thanks to me being so incredibly bored), and we're settled. I swear my mom brought me here now on purpose. "Ohhh, let's tell Shanna to come for a visit now! She's good at moving!"
Oh yes, and in the middle of moving, my brother thought it would be a good idea to give my dad tickets for all of us to last Saturday's Auburn game (vs. Washington State). ALL of us. Including me and baby Seamus. The game went well (we won), but Seamus didn't even last until halftime. He and I left in the second quarter and went and sat in the car. He napped and I listened to the game, read a book, and happily wasted all my parent's gas on air conditioning. I actually enjoyed just sitting in the car and chilling, I wasn't in the mood for a football game.
Today Seamus had a "Kindermusic" class. The lady who runs it is a friend of my mom's and my mom was hell-bound and determined that Seamus was going to go and he was going to LOVE IT. We went. It wasd OK. Seamus didn't seem all OMGIMPRESSED with it. I could have just as easily done without it and I think Seamus feels the same way. My mom went on and on and on and on about how it promotes lanuage development and all this mess and (it has to be said) I was more than a little amused when my 14-month-old knew more words than the oldest child there (who was 16 months). Speaking of which, have I mentioned that Chatty McPants STILL ISN'T WALKING?!? I swear, we're going to be carrying him to all of his college courses. He'll be pre-med by then, just so you know. Dr. Seamus is going to be an alligator for Halloween. Honestly, whern he has it on, it looks like some dinosaur-alligator hybrid, but he's still the cutest dinogator ever.
My trip here is probably going to extended by a few days. Not because I'm having (OMG) the best time ever, but because Mike is going to school in Korea for a month (HE FINALLY GOT PROMOTED!!!!!!!). He's supposed to be leaving tmw. If something happens and he doesn't go, I'll return to Okinawa as planned on the 24th of September, but if he does go, I'm going to be returning to Okinawa at the end of October- no reason in going home to just sit there alone, right?. We'll see. I'm kinda hoping Mike doesn't end up going and that we can go home as planned because I really, really miss him. I'm not the mushy-gushy- OMGICANTLIVEWITHOUTYOU type, but right now I could really do with a "family nap time". *sigh*
Well, I'm not Shanna to my son, anyway. While my mom always refers to me as "Mama" around Seamus, Mike's mom always calls me "Shanna", no matter what. It's fine, I've never even thought about it, until he called me "HANNA" today! I guess he picked it up while we were staying with Mike's mom and grandma from Saturady until today (Wednesday). He was calling for me from his room here at my parent's house and I kept thinking "What in the hell is he saying?" and when I realized, I was horrified. My mom heard him and cracked up, but I was just shocked. We'll be breaking that habit very, very quickly. I didn't spend my 4th of July in labor to be called Shanna.
I made a white cotton shrug a few weeks ago. It turned out great (beautiful and perfect, in fact), but making the thing was a HUGE pain in the ass. I swore I'd NEVER make another one. I even told Mike that I wasn't going to to tell my mom that I made mine just so she wouldn't ask me to make her one.
Well, today in the mail, I got my "Make Something Striped" kit from Irish Baby Knits. Go on, drool. It's gorgeous. It just screams FALL! with it's chocolate, cinnamon, pumpkin, maize, and grass. Yum. Anyway, my mom asked what I was going to make with it and I mentioned that I might make a pair of longies and a hat or something like that for Seamus. She implied that I wasn't adept enough at crochet to tackle something like that. I guess she had never really seen anything besides a blanket or a scarf that I have crocheted before since I picked it up in college and I got married right after that. Maybe.
Anyway, to prove her wrong, I pulled out my shrug and said "I made this. You think I can't tackle a simple pair of pants and a baby hat?" My brain should have gone: DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER! But, no, there I was, "Blah blah blah, look what I can do! You're wrong!" Next thing I know, my mom has decided we're going to the store when she gets off work to get some yarn so I can make one for her. *sigh* I'll never learn.
Yay! I'm here! The flight was uneventful, but my luggage is another story. Somehow, some stupid Marine slipped a machete in his bag and got it through security at the Air Force Base in Japan (they don't really check bags on military flights). In flight, it pierced his bag and when Airport security saw it, they placed ALL our luggage on high alert. Half the luggage had gone through already, but the other half was being searched one bag at a time. I had all 3 of our bags, but we waited and waited and waited for our stroller. Finally it came through (over an hour later- imagine how happy Seamus was after a 12 hour flight and then that). Anway, thenwe got our luggage, went though customs, and got to our next flight. What was supposed to be a 4 hour layover turned into a 30 minute wait. They took my stroller at the gate and never saw it again. Seriously. We flew from Seattle to Atlanta then on to Panama City and our stroller was MIA from the baggage carousel. Delta says it was probably left in Atlanta instead of moved to our Panama City flight. Delta also says that if they can't find it after 5 days, I get a new stroller. Until then, I'm just screwed. So irritating. I liked that stroller, too. My SIL says that they probably just can't find it. I have a feeling someone probably saw it going 'round and 'round on the carosel and thought "Gee, what a nice stroller! I'm really sick of carrying my baby, I think I'll just grab it." Bastards.
I drove my parent's brand-spanking-new Toyota Prius Hybrid (it's SO new, the milage is still under 1K miles). It's an odd little car. I like it a lot, but (a) it looks like a jellybean and (b) I just can't get used to the engine cutting off at stoplights. You also don't use a key to start it. It has two of the remote clicky things and you have to have one on you to start it. You can have it in your purse or whatever, it just has to be nearby. You hit a buttoin to start it. The button says "power" on it and looks a lot like a computer power button. Weird.
I went to Wal*Mart today. BY MYSELF (well, Seamus was there, too). I spent $90 before I knew what I was doing. LOL. I bought a Snugli to carry Seamus around in because of the whole stroller incident, but it turns out he's too big for it. I bought a cute denim Levi skirt, but it's a funny length on me, so it's going back, too. I did manage to buy what I intended to get, though. I bought a razor, some contact solution, and some of those freeze-dried fruit snacks for Seamus. I also got yarn (OMGSHOCK), a sippy cup, and some pajamas, which I didn't intend to buy. Oops. They look super-comfy, though. :p
