Three day weekend again!

Well, not really. I'm just taking leave on Monday.

What you can find out about people on the internet is amazing! I was looking for a recipe on how to make Kalua pork when I decided to look up a former roommate instead. I was able to contact two of my former roommates just by doing a search on one of the search engines.

It is now Saturday again and March is just around the corner and I still haven't finished my resume. Work's been busy especially with an inspection we are having in just a few more weeks. Tonight is our talent show. I froze during last night's rehearsals. People don't realize how bad of a stage fright I get... but they finally saw it last night. I don't know what it is about being on stage when the spotlight is on me. I can handle it as long as I'm not there for me...weird... but I decided that the only way to beat or manage stage fright is to face it and deal with it...So I signed up a friend to sing with me. She's an awesome singer.

Starting a new office isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. But our new office does have over 58.2 years worth of experience together (Point 2 is me). But I do have experience outside which makes it refreshing. The three colleagues I work with have extensive background in the career field I'm in, and they know the ins and outs. It's awesome working with them!

Last weekend was a blast! I didn't realize how much I packed my Saturday until I had several people helping me clean my house! I wasn't even here. I also had help in getting my car fixed for free. As hard as they tried in replacing my disc brakes, and tires, the head gasket decided to give up. I guess that's what happens when you decide to buy a cheap car that's over 20 years old here in Japan. Or perhaps it was because I pushed it to the limit.

I was invited by two of our missionaries to visit a member in their area that was two hours away. I figured this would be a wonderful opportunity to see more of Japan since I practically live in Little America up here. Once we reached our designated meeting spot, a parking lot close to Joice (a mall-grocery store), my car started to smoke. We went to our appointment and the couple we visited (Chiba family) decided to drive with us back to take us to their son since we were picking up a sofa from him. When all of a sudden, cars behind me stopped and I realized I was flying on cloud nine, well not exactly. The steam emitting from my car was enough to make it look like we were about to explode. Not knowing anything about cars, I parked my car in the nearest parking lot and screamed at the missionaries to "go, go, go, and run!" That was a pretty sight. I realized then that my car was dead. Chiba-san went to get a local gas attendant boy but I knew it wasn't going to make it back home.

The Chiba family took us back home. It was late but they didn't mind. It was a 4 hour round trip for both of them. After dropping off the missionarie in their apartment in Hachinohe (30 minutes south of Misawa) they took me home. All I could say was "Hai, Hai" not knowing enough Japanese. But they didn't care. It was a good conversation we had. Words are not the only means of communicating...

The following morning two of my friends drove me back to where I had planned on burying my car. We were prepared to tow it. It worked well and later that afternoon I took it to the shop and after a couple of hours working on it, I realized my car had flatlined. Overall, it was a perfect weekend.

Tomorrow, I go to Tokyo to attend a conference...