2015-03-28, UNBELIEVABLE!!!

2015-03-28
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
What a day...  I started out with high hopes and in good spirits because it was supposed to be a warm day.  I needed to go to Viva City to buy my phone and sign up for internet.  I decided to get a smart phone since I could use it to Skype, get maps, as a dictionary, learn kanji (Chinese characters), and occassionally send you pictures.  If you remember I went and talked to someone about it last week.  I waited a week to go back so both the young woman who helped me with phone questions and the young man who helped me with internet questions would be there to finish the job and get their commissions.  First I arrived too early.  No problem, I needed some things in the mall and I enjoyed a mixed strawberry and grape soft ice cream cone.  I found the woman who would help me with the phone, and we started to fill out the paperwork when she realized I needed a 'cash card' (debit card) from the bank.  I don't have that yet (it takes about a week for it to come.)  So instead she said I could use my bank book and Japanese stamp (they don't usually sign official documents they use a stamp).  They were in my bag yesterday but I took them out before I left this morning for safe keeping.  So home I went and then back again.  We started the paperwork again and it went smoothly (or so we thought) but it would take a couple of hours to connect the phone!  So I left to go to my Japanese class which isn't far from home, and stopped at Hamazushi (a conveyor belt sushi place) for some 'fast food'.  Another dissapointment.  It's not bad... but it's not great.  The rice had too much vinegar and there was too much rice to fish so I couldn't taste the fish as well as I should have been able to - I really miss SushiRou!  After my two hour class (which was very enjoyable) I went back a 3rd time!!!  I had to wait as Tanakasan was helping someone else and as I was waiting the young man who would be doing the internet sign up happened to pass by so I went to his desk and signed up for internet in my apartment.  But it will take 6 weeks to 2 months for me to actually HAVE internet in my apt.!!!!  I went back to the phone department and didn't have to wait too long but the first thing out of her mouth was an apology!!!  I needed a 3rd form of ID , not an ID exactly because I had my passport, but a cash card, or a bill from a utility company or something like that.  I had a US credit card with me but she didn't think that would work.  So that would mean I'd have to go home and bring something back AGAIN, and then go back tomorrow to retrieve the phone since getting a connection would still take a couple of hours!!!!!  UNBELIEVABLE!  At that point I was almost ready to cry.  I had really been looking forward to being able to call my mom or sons first thing in the morning... and I really didn't want to go back again - twice and waste tomorrow in the same way I wasted today!  I can't go to far or explore too much before work and we don't often have a weekend with good weather (although tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy) so I would like to go to the castle area or the lake tomorrow...  Viva City is in the opposite direction of both of those places.  I told her I wouldn't be back again tonight - I wasn't about to do that ride in the dark and besides putting on the bike light makes the bike harder to peddle since it's like a brake on the tire (the movement of the tire makes the light come on).  Just as I was getting up to leave she asked if my US credit card worked in Japan (which it does) and she suggested we try it.  It worked.  One yeah.  But I still left feeling down, still not being able to talk to anyone, afraid my mom will worry since I said I'd call, and knowing  that I have to go south AGAIN tomorrow, and down and up a highway underpass that I really don't like, before I head back past my house to the castle area in the north...  and I have NO confidence that something else won't come up.  I will also have to fully charge the phone before I use it (by which time it will be too late to call anyone), etc. so I'm still not happy.  I pretty much spent the whole day (10am - 6pm) trying to get this done.  The only upside is that the 9 miles of bike riding should have worked off the ice cream cones' calories and hopefully strengthened my thigh muscles.
I decided to stop and get some beef on the way home.  I really want to try Omi beef (sort of like Kobe beef I think - very fatty and very delicious) but the store I stopped at only had big packages (well not big packages, meat is sold by the gram here, but with all the fat in the meat the packages held enough for a few people and since it's quite expensive I didn't want to splure that much).  So I got some regular thinly sliced beef and sauteed it with scallions and ate it Korean style wrapped in lettuce and spinach leaves.  It was good but didn't lift my spirits.  I had also picked up a melon flavored cocktail in a can (cocktails in cans are very popular here) which was called 'Strong' meaning it has a higher alchohal content.  But even though I love melon soda, I didn't like the drink.  And my legs hurt.  I should probably soak in the tub after all that riding but I don't know if I have the energy to get up and turn it on!
Okay, I'm going to keep going and let it all out!  Do any of you remember the children's book 'Alexander and the No Good Very Bad Day'?  I did get up and turn on the bath but it was set to the shower so my socks got soaked.  My knuckles and fingertips are so dry they are peeling (from the heaters and the cold? ) my nails are all breaking (really short) so I think I'll switch back to milk (I've been drinking soy milk), while waiting for the tub to fill I hurt my fingers opening some clasp containers I froze some food in, and I have black and blue marks all over my legs and fingers ?? but I don't remember bumping into that many things!
Sorry for all the complaints.  I needed to vent...  Hope you all had a better day than I did.
Next day.  Still complaining.  For some reason I wake up everyday at 6:40 no matter what time I go to sleep.  I don't know if it's the sun coming in or something is waking me...  I needed to do a wash since I didn't have time yesterday (when I could have dried it outside), and my washer continued to give me a lot of trouble.  I had to keep pressing the button to fill it with water, and keep pushing the lid for it to spin.  I'll have to see if someone can look at it.  Anyway, I woke up to an overcast day with a 70% chance of rain, and unlike California, if there's a 30 - 40% chance of rain or above, we get rain.  I looked into taking a bus but I would get there at 11 and not be able to leave until 2 so that wouldn't do.  Instead Iput on my plastic pants and headed back to the store in a light drizzle.  I arrived at 10:30, the appointed time, only to be greeted by... guess what?!  'Sorry, something else was wrong and it's not ready yet.'  For some reason she had to take my credit card again.  But then she said it would be ready in 1 hour and I told her I would wait (while wandering the mall).  I returned and AMAZING!!!FINALLY!!!! it was done.  I asked a few basic questions, had her put it into English mode (although all the company info is still in Japanese) and I left in a much heavier rain, with no plans to return.  Since it's a rainy day and I don't want to go riding around, I've been playing around with the phone since I got home.
I am not looking forward to work tomorrow, and it will be a 6 day work week.  During most months we have at least one weekend workday due to an event or test.  This month we have two.  The entrance ceremony for the new school year's kindergarten class is this Saturday and on the 25th we will put on 3 separate Easter parties (different age groups).  On the 26th we start a long (8 day) vacation so that won't be too bad.  Hopefully this mood will lift soon.