happy almost christmas!
so, about a week ago, i made one preparation for going home for xmas. if i'm going home, why not bring some money with me? so i went to my bank and pulled out money. figuring, instead of mailing it home, i'll take it home. so i went to the ATM and pulled out most of what was in my account, leaving what should be way more than enough to cover any bills that get automatically paid in the week or so left before pay day deposits this month's pay. i pulled out 400,000 yen. in one draw. at the ATM. that's equivalent to roughly $4800. in one draw. at the ATM. not the teller. this was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me in japan. all someone need to get ALL my money is my bank card and my PIN. so, understand my sudden increase in paranoia.
then, on the plane, somewhere between tokyo and chicago, about 2 minutes after i got back to my seat from the bathroom, one of the flight attendants came up and asked me, "what's your last name?" uh, "wokhirunv" sez me (yeah, like i'm gonna tell the internet what my last name is). i used a confused tone, wondering why she was asking me. and she hands me my wallet in reply and, pointing about two seats ahead of me, says that lady found it in the bathroom. omigod, thinks me. i checked its contents and nothing was missing. near the end off the flight, i fished out from my backpack in the overhead compartment the wallet that had the smaller US bills. i pulled out from that wallet a $20 and offered it to this lady that was so honest. she refused. i insisted. she told me to donate it. not 2 minutes later, there's a PA announcement. some of the flight attendants are members of unicef and will be coming down the aisles to take donations. perfect. immediate donation to pay for this kind lady returning my wallet.
and that was my japanese wallet, too. getting my japanese id replaced would not have been fun. losing the 8000 or so yen in there wouldn't have been a huge deal to me. (a loss, yeah, but nothing compared to the next bit.) losing the $1000 in there would have been a real downer to say the least. and a big enforcer to my never carry all your money in one spot. the $4800 i was carrying was spread into 4 different spots. mug me, you have a really good day, and i still have a good chunk of my money.
so, other than that, i had safe and uneventful flights. i nearly missed my connection, tho. i was sitting at the gate i was supposed to be at, waiting for them to start loading. they announced that those flying to (my city) on flight (my flight), this is the final boarding call. you have 9 minutes to get to gate (not where i'm at). himiny! *grab my stuff and start running.* following the signs led me on a 6 minute chase for my gate and my plane. i made it. i complained that they could've made a few more announcements about the gate change before the final boarding call. all my stuff fit in the remaining space in the overhead compartments.
i went to church with dad. met a bunch of nice people. apparently, they weren't sure if i was coming. i told dad last time i was in town that i would go to church with him, cuz he wanted me to go so badly. i talked a bunch with this one girl about japan (which was the primary reason he wanted me to go). she's really excited about japan. then, dad and i went to lunch. a new mexican food place that doesn't have sopapillas. may as well be in tokyo. thhey'd at least blend in there. they'd have better food than that mexican restaurant i ate at, too. and people wouldn't expect sopas.
i got home to my poor mother, who was hit by a car last week. she was crossing the crosswalk in front of walmart and this idiot who "didn't see" her clipped her heel with his front passenger tire. in a well lit parking lot. broke her heel and some bones in her foot. if this absolutely had to happen, the timing couldn't have been better. here comes the daughter, home to help her out. she drives a stick, so she'll be using my automatic. she wraps up her foot and cast in plastic really well to take a shower. only, something went wrong this morning, and her cast got soaked. she was due to go in on tuesday to get it replaced with the regular cast, but in light of soaked wrappings, they had her go in to get it replaced today. personally, i think she got it soaked on purpose. she was complaining about how heavy that compression cast was, so she sabotaged it to get it off a day early. she keeps insisting that she didn't do it on purpose, but did have a hopeful afterthought that they might.
got my new computer. it's huge! i'm glad i didn't go to the 14 inch laptop. it would be even huger. during the first start up, you're supposed to read the user agreement. i actually looked thru it all. thus, i learned that the sticker that advertises which OS you're running validates the OS. how stupid is that? another stupid thing: i tried to get mom's wifi working today. it seems to have succeeded. it must have. my ipod accesses it just fine. my mini laptop is currently using it. but my new biggie laptop won't.
of all reasons, it won't let me enter all the digits of the password. wtf?
so, i can't download mozilla. but if i can't access the internet, making me use explorer to surf the net isn't a big deal. i also can't download itunes. which means it's pointless to put my music on there. i doubt i can fully install the antivirus software i finally bought. (now i have TWO computers. i'm quite lucky that my one computer hasn't fallen ill or dead by virus yet. i don't want to put TWO computers at risk.) i dunno, something tells me that installation of antivirus software requires an internet connection. could have something to do with the fact that people who don't use the net rarely, if ever, get computer viruses.
i'll call the computer tech support and see how that goes. tomorrow's got a lot of things planned already. i dunno if i'm gonna be able to squeeze in going out to a wifi access point to download stuff. although, the public library's wifi can still be accessed when the library's closed, as long as you're close enough to the building...
oh, and i thought i broke my cell phone today. it fell from my belt to the ground. i checked to make sure it's still working, and it told me to insert sim card. i played with inserting the sim card, and it didn't work. so i went in to the store to see if maybe i didn't have to buy a new phone right now. while explaining my problem to the gal there, i saw "open" and an arrow on the bit that holds the card. so i pressed the card down and pushed it in the direction opposite the arrow, and it worked. so, i DON'T have to buy a new phone. which is good. i want a new one, but i don't want to get it until i move back to the states. no point having the latest if i'm not gonna be using it for 8 months. may as well get the latest in 8 months. but, thee cool thing is: i CAN buy a new phone right now. i love having money!
so, i think that's all the news.
i shall now return you to your regularly scheduled life.
merry christmas!
then, on the plane, somewhere between tokyo and chicago, about 2 minutes after i got back to my seat from the bathroom, one of the flight attendants came up and asked me, "what's your last name?" uh, "wokhirunv" sez me (yeah, like i'm gonna tell the internet what my last name is). i used a confused tone, wondering why she was asking me. and she hands me my wallet in reply and, pointing about two seats ahead of me, says that lady found it in the bathroom. omigod, thinks me. i checked its contents and nothing was missing. near the end off the flight, i fished out from my backpack in the overhead compartment the wallet that had the smaller US bills. i pulled out from that wallet a $20 and offered it to this lady that was so honest. she refused. i insisted. she told me to donate it. not 2 minutes later, there's a PA announcement. some of the flight attendants are members of unicef and will be coming down the aisles to take donations. perfect. immediate donation to pay for this kind lady returning my wallet.
and that was my japanese wallet, too. getting my japanese id replaced would not have been fun. losing the 8000 or so yen in there wouldn't have been a huge deal to me. (a loss, yeah, but nothing compared to the next bit.) losing the $1000 in there would have been a real downer to say the least. and a big enforcer to my never carry all your money in one spot. the $4800 i was carrying was spread into 4 different spots. mug me, you have a really good day, and i still have a good chunk of my money.
so, other than that, i had safe and uneventful flights. i nearly missed my connection, tho. i was sitting at the gate i was supposed to be at, waiting for them to start loading. they announced that those flying to (my city) on flight (my flight), this is the final boarding call. you have 9 minutes to get to gate (not where i'm at). himiny! *grab my stuff and start running.* following the signs led me on a 6 minute chase for my gate and my plane. i made it. i complained that they could've made a few more announcements about the gate change before the final boarding call. all my stuff fit in the remaining space in the overhead compartments.
i went to church with dad. met a bunch of nice people. apparently, they weren't sure if i was coming. i told dad last time i was in town that i would go to church with him, cuz he wanted me to go so badly. i talked a bunch with this one girl about japan (which was the primary reason he wanted me to go). she's really excited about japan. then, dad and i went to lunch. a new mexican food place that doesn't have sopapillas. may as well be in tokyo. thhey'd at least blend in there. they'd have better food than that mexican restaurant i ate at, too. and people wouldn't expect sopas.
i got home to my poor mother, who was hit by a car last week. she was crossing the crosswalk in front of walmart and this idiot who "didn't see" her clipped her heel with his front passenger tire. in a well lit parking lot. broke her heel and some bones in her foot. if this absolutely had to happen, the timing couldn't have been better. here comes the daughter, home to help her out. she drives a stick, so she'll be using my automatic. she wraps up her foot and cast in plastic really well to take a shower. only, something went wrong this morning, and her cast got soaked. she was due to go in on tuesday to get it replaced with the regular cast, but in light of soaked wrappings, they had her go in to get it replaced today. personally, i think she got it soaked on purpose. she was complaining about how heavy that compression cast was, so she sabotaged it to get it off a day early. she keeps insisting that she didn't do it on purpose, but did have a hopeful afterthought that they might.
got my new computer. it's huge! i'm glad i didn't go to the 14 inch laptop. it would be even huger. during the first start up, you're supposed to read the user agreement. i actually looked thru it all. thus, i learned that the sticker that advertises which OS you're running validates the OS. how stupid is that? another stupid thing: i tried to get mom's wifi working today. it seems to have succeeded. it must have. my ipod accesses it just fine. my mini laptop is currently using it. but my new biggie laptop won't.
of all reasons, it won't let me enter all the digits of the password. wtf?
so, i can't download mozilla. but if i can't access the internet, making me use explorer to surf the net isn't a big deal. i also can't download itunes. which means it's pointless to put my music on there. i doubt i can fully install the antivirus software i finally bought. (now i have TWO computers. i'm quite lucky that my one computer hasn't fallen ill or dead by virus yet. i don't want to put TWO computers at risk.) i dunno, something tells me that installation of antivirus software requires an internet connection. could have something to do with the fact that people who don't use the net rarely, if ever, get computer viruses.
i'll call the computer tech support and see how that goes. tomorrow's got a lot of things planned already. i dunno if i'm gonna be able to squeeze in going out to a wifi access point to download stuff. although, the public library's wifi can still be accessed when the library's closed, as long as you're close enough to the building...
oh, and i thought i broke my cell phone today. it fell from my belt to the ground. i checked to make sure it's still working, and it told me to insert sim card. i played with inserting the sim card, and it didn't work. so i went in to the store to see if maybe i didn't have to buy a new phone right now. while explaining my problem to the gal there, i saw "open" and an arrow on the bit that holds the card. so i pressed the card down and pushed it in the direction opposite the arrow, and it worked. so, i DON'T have to buy a new phone. which is good. i want a new one, but i don't want to get it until i move back to the states. no point having the latest if i'm not gonna be using it for 8 months. may as well get the latest in 8 months. but, thee cool thing is: i CAN buy a new phone right now. i love having money!
so, i think that's all the news.
i shall now return you to your regularly scheduled life.
merry christmas!