I am getting married this year and I want to GLOW so am thinking of something more heavy duty than facials.  There are so many options that I can’t get my head around them all. 

I want to hear what real people experience rather than go to the doctor and let them sell me on their most expensive treatment etc. 

Plus I just got back from a snow holiday and my skin is super dry from being pounded by the freezing wind and snow.

The signs were in Japanese and English. They speak neither, so as we walked through the quasi-empty museum, I translated the information boards to them.

This one older Japanese man, I noticed kept staring at us. I ignored him and we continued on our tour.

Out of the blue, I see him come up behind us, really close. He walks behind both of them, comes and stands directly beside me and starts screaming and cursing at me in Japanese. He was so close to me, I had to take 2 steps back to get a stance because I thought he was going to attack me. He was so loud and soo angry.

The other elderly couple there turned to see the commotion, and the lady ran to inform the desk.

This man wouldn’t let up, so I asked him what the hell his problem was. He just kept going.

My husband got so angry, he started yelling back at him. The man walks away a few feet, turns and starts yelling and calling me names in Japanese. I was so angry, I started shaking and turned and yelled:

ANATA BAKA! A-NA-TA! Pointing my finger at him.

He stood, shocked. He looked like he was going to hit me.

Now, this has never happened to us before. Although we don’t speak well Japanese, we are usually always well-received everywhere we go. We are both very respectful. We weren’t loud. We didn’t show any disrespect. The other couple were walking through the museum talking, as well, so I knew it wasn’t because of that. The only explication I could get from this is that the guy hates foreigners and he’s not man enough to stand up to a man, so he came at me.

I swear, if I was sure that the police would actually be on MY side, the foreigner, for self-defense, I would’ve slapped him, to get him away from me. But I’ve been told that no matter what, the police will always side with the Japanese here, so I didn’t. I think that’s why I was shaking so much.

The lady who was there with her husband, came back and smiled at us and said it was okay. And showed us the other half of the exhibit. And the admission lady came and asked me some questions in English, which I think was her way of trying to say: it’s okay. you are welcome here.

But anyway: What a son-of-a-*#+"*!

Okay, it’s off my chest now. phew

I also put myself on Freecycle - http://my.freecycle.org/

I am trying to send a lettery to a Literary Agency in New York and I must include a SASE.

I went to the Post Office today (this has happened before, but chose to feign ignorance and try again ) and had everything in hand.

I asked for a stamp for an envelope going to USA and then asked for another one, with the right postage, for an envelope addressed back to me.

And according to them, it’s not possible. From what I could understand, they said it can only be a stamp from the US to Japan. They can’t mail an envelope from the US, with a Japanese stamp, even if the amount of money is covered.

Does anyone know if this is true? And if so, does anyone have any other ideas on how I can send an SASE in my package?

I was actually considering sending everything to my sister in Canada and just have her mail the letter to the USA and then just include the postage stamp for Japan, but if the Post Office was right, then that won’t work either, because the stamp would be Canadian, not American.

I am thinking about going to Scotland for about two weeks in early July this year.  I will meet up with my mother in Glasgow sometime around July 1st or 2nd and stay for a couple of weeks.  My mother is flying in from Toronto and her return ticket will cost around CDN$1000. 

If I fly from Tokyo to Glasgow at the beginning of July, can anyone give me a ballpark figure of how much the ticket will cost?  Do you think it will be more or less than 100,000 yen, roughly, given the time of year?

Also, can I get a direct flight to Glasgow, or will I have to go through London or another city? 

Any advice you can offer will be helpful.  I will also ask my travel agent, but they never seem to be able to give any answers about flights that are more than 3 months in the future.  (If anyone has any recommendations of travel agents who are willing to consider a more “distant” future, please let me know!)

Thank you for your help,
Shaney—in search of her Scottish roots

An acquaintance also told me that if you see the shelters, you will notice that the pets there at any given time are of the same breed, reflecting pet trends here and the way in which dogs are so often perceived to be status symbols or fashion rather than living creatures.  Right now apparently it is toy poodles that have lost their novelty and are being discarded in droves.

I’ve also heard that the way that the government puts animals down is incredibly archaic.  They simply put a bunch of dogs and cats into a large box and use gas.  It is unbelievable.

I think that many people here do actually love animals and want to help but either 1. have no idea what is going on behind the scenes 2. don’t know how to help.
Any thoughts?

I have had high temperature daily (about 38C, highest of 38.2C) from Sept 3rd (so about 16 days).  Not all the time, but it goes up every day, out of the blue, several times a day.  I get very hot, my face turns red, and I can feel it.

Usually about 3pm, but several times a day, and when it goes up I feel rather drained, like a squeezed lemon.  And a bit tired.

I went to a hospital today for the first time.  They did blood tests, and told me there were perfect.  The doctor thought it might be menopausal symptoms, and gave me a week worth of anteizai (which I will not take).

If you were me, would you go to a different doctor and ask for other tests?  (which ones in particular).  Or is it okay like that?

I am 37, have a book about menopause at home which I have not read in detail but it said somewhere that some women get it at the age of 28.  I started having night sweats (not so much now) at the age of 34.

Thanks for any advice.  I would hate to have some sort of cancer hidden away, so I would do more tests if I have to.

One thing that may or may not have anything to do with it is I got very emotional in my head when I started writing my recent book (on Sept 3).  I wrote and published it in 6 days.  I didn’t plan the book, it sort of jumped into my head, and I sort of womited it from my head onto paper.  Not sure if writing makes people sick though…

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