bday boy

today was N.'s 40th birthday, so i called him. it's funny, after months of non-communication, he's recently started calling me. it's been really nice. i missed talking to him, and we'd so far averaged 45-minute conversations, so we'd got a lot covered. so i called him to wish him a happy day, which made him happy. ;)

caught in traffic

i was crossing town for a lesson. just one lesson with, i assumed (and was correct) only 1 student. one lesson of 1h10mns. it normally takes 50 mns to get there, and then back, too. normally, i do have at least 2 lessons back to back, so it's just about worth the transportation time.

anyway, i'd left 5 minutes early but there were roadworks, so my tram was late. i was connecting to a direct bus, but as i wouldn't make the bus from it's original stop, i walked over to the next one. as i got there, a fire engine pulled up. 5 minutes later, they'd closed the road. my bus was just behind that line. i walked over to it, hoping to be able to get on and hoping the bus would eventually find another way. but i couldn't get on and it was seemingly content to stay there. i couldn't see any point in trying to catch the following bus, so i headed back to the tram stop to find another way of getting there (which included the tram and another bus). i was seriously questioning this move, however, as i'd already wasted 25 mns on this. i could still make the lesson on time but wouldn't have time to have lunch. but an hour and a half trip for a 1h10 lesson seemed a bit much. on the other hand, i couldn't quite justify not going to a lesson just because i wasn't too hot on the travel time. so i went, and i made it on time, and then went back to the school.

Venus & Mars

why is it that women spend hours agonising over what men have said to them, analysing every word to figure out if there was a hidden meaning, when men don't even think about what they're saying and seem to take everything at face value? i find it grossly unfair. it's even worse cos i know there generally is no other meaning intended and i think i've done a pretty good job of ignoring any possible double entendre, but then something will happen - or rather, someone will say something - and despite my efforts to stay calm and collected and not try to dissect everything, i still end up wondering about it.

Independent Love Song

i was rummaging through my CDs when i came across this song from my university days. i used to play it again and again and again (and guess what i've been doing for the last half hour?). i just found the original clip on youtube and suddenly, a lot of things are a lot clearer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElkqPNvMj6w&feature=related

weekend in the mountains

this was the weekend of clashes - 3 months ago, i was invited to L.'s birthday celebration. at the time, i thought she was overdoing it and perhaps a month's notice would have been enough. but lo and behold if i didn't get another invitation for a wedding on the very same weekend, just 2 weeks later!

i didn't go to the wedding in Paris but drove up to the Alps for the weekend in a chalet. the one and a half drive became 3 hours long as i couldn't take the motorway and then got stuck in traffic in Vevey. despite the delay, turned out we made it pretty much at the same time as most of the others. by the time we got settled in it was 5pm, so way too late to do much. then again, there wasn't any snow anyway, so it didn't really matter. after a walk through the village, we started preparing dinner - raclette (the famous molten cheese!). and once we managed to set the table for all 25 of us, we got started. yummy.

the next day, most of us headed to the thermal baths after a leisurely breakfast. the weather was gorgeous, as was the view of the mountains, but for some reason, all the bubbles made my back hurt again. weird. anyway, an hour was more than enough for me and at the appointed time, i met up with D., whom i was driving back to Geneva. seen as we were now on that side of the lake, we drove back that way, which turned out to be much shorter. typical. then again, we didn't get stuck in traffic.

shiatsu

as my physiotherapist clearly hasn't managed to solve the shoulder issues that i've had on and off in the last 3 years, i decided it was time to take measures. shiatsu was back on the menu. i hadn't done any since leaving Japan, but it had always had an effect on me.

after much searching, i finally found someone that seemed like they'd know what they were doing, and although it was a little different from what they'd done to me in Japan - the approach was more holistic and long-term, as in one session won't heal me - i felt better. on my way home, i felt my breathing change and a sort of liberating pins and needle effect in my hand. also, the underlying pain seemed to have disappeared. a couple of days later, i went to the gym, and it felt like i was using different muscles in one arm, the one he'd worked so much on (and which was very painful!). the right side of my back then seemed to realign itself in some way. it's probably just that he worked on that side more than the other and thus the other side is probably still all in knots. but still, more changes than the physiotherapy, so that's good.

Black Swan

i'd been told it was depressing. i wouldn't say that. the main character is definitely disturbed, but other than that, i thought it was really good. Nathalie Portman definitely earned her Oscar. and of course, once home, i put Swan Lake on the stereo...

the eruptions

this isn't exactly new, but Sakurajima is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan. even when i lived there (as in, no more than 5km from it), it would spew ash out on a regular basis, although nothing like what it's been doing since i left. apparently, it was really active last year - more than 1,000 'incidents', whatever that means - and it also erupted on Friday (see link below). at the same time, a dormant volcano in nearby Kirishima has erupted about 10 times since the beginning of the year, and the government is apparently considering an evacuation plan. so right now, out of all my friends, it seems that those who live the furthest from the earthquake epicentre might be the ones who are most at risk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGBq6Z-qFxo

the quake

about a minute before i left for work, i heard the breaking news on the Japan quake that had apparently just happened. when i got to work, i tried to get more information, but the 8 o'clock news obviously came on as my lesson started, so no luck there. at 9.30, i got just a little more information, the tsunami warning, but then i had to leave and the rest of the day was mad, with me running around from a cover lesson at the other end of town to the school to a workshop. my colleague showed be pictures of the disaster, but i had so much work to do, i didn't really have time to think about it. only when i got home in the evening did i get to see the full extent of the disaster... i was speechless for the good 25 mns they went on about it in the news. i found it annoying how they kept getting it wrong in terms of names - Sendai is not Tokyo, but they were saying x image showed the situation in Tokyo when the NHK images had a clear name at the top (although i admit that for them, it's probably all the same), so it was all a bit confusing. i finally got the real information on the net, after which i still emailed all my friends to check they were ok. which luckily, they seem to be. there's only one i haven't got news about, but i'm somehow convinced the others would have said if they hadn't heard back from her.

arghhhhhh!

my father is unbelievable. we're currently having a huge disagreement about his choices in life but in the end, i said fine, do what you want to do, it's your life after all. i also said that i still completely disagreed and would have nothing more to do with the specific situation. but of course, that's not good enough. no, he has to send us (my sister's of the same opinion as me) emails where he explains - again and again - the situation and why can't i see it his way? why can't he just be grateful that i've stopped fighting it? in January, he got my aunt to call me and try to change my mind! like she didn't have anything better to do. when she, presumably, said she'd have no part in it, he sent us yet another email, which prompted a 5-page response, which i seriously intend to be my very last email on the topic. it said everything there was to say - really everything, including facts previously unknown to him - with a very final 'this is the last time i communicate on this issue and any further attempt to discuss this will bring dire consequences such as me not talking to you again' clause. did he take the hint? no! he got some other friends to send us an email about it, which i stopped reading the minute i realised what it was about.

and now my back is acting up and i can't get hold of the shiatsu guy so god knows how i'll manage to drive into town tonight.

buses

when we moved here over 30 years ago, there was only one bus line that made its way through this town and stopped here. as far as i know, it took them many years to go all the way up to the next big town, 10kms up. and more years to make that part more regular. and then, all in one go, we not only got bigger buses and a better timetable, but we also got a second bus line, going straight to the airport (finally!). that was 15 months ago, and we just got our 3rd bus line. yep. this one goes mostly through France and only barely makes its way to Switzerland at the end of the line, but still. it's impressive.

road rage

some drivers are unbelievable! the once a week i drive in town during rush hour, people go crazy. for example, the light is green but if i move forward and the queue in front of me doesn't move, i'll block traffic coming the other ways. so i stay put. but of course, the person right behind me would rather be the traffic stopper and honks, flashes lights or goes through a series of rude gestures that are meant to make me feel bad. and it's just annoying. and when i see that the light up ahead is turning red, i don't see the need to go the speed limit for a hundred metres and while i realise it's annoying if it's a long stretch, come on, a hundred yards isn't going to kill anyone! but no, it would make much much sense to drive 60kph for those one hundred metres and be at the red light sooner, cos that's really going to change something...

another example: someone realises they're in the wrong lane, so puts on the indicator to move but people won't let them pass and make as much noise as possible if the person manages to inch their car into the right lane. or when the road is narrow at one point so there's priority from one direction. as there wasn't anyone coming from said direction, a friend of mine started driving through, but as she got halfway, this car that had apparently sped down the other way got really angry that it had to wait for my friend to go through! and again, the rude gestures and honking.

i really think a lot of people just need to realise that it's not all about being the fastest or getting there first, but getting there safely.