Category: daily drivel
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temblor
Another temblor hit us at suppertime tonight that made the water in our glasses slop back and forth a bit and rocked us gently in our chairs, just enough to make B get up and head for the doorway. Turned out it was a 5.0 centered about a hundred miles north of here and twenty… Read.
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winter brief
I’ve gone to more mandatory formations in the ten weeks or so that I’ve been here than I ever went to in the last ten years in the service. They brief us on everything here; today, we got briefed on winter: It gets really, really cold in winter. Don’t get frostbite. And we get so… Read.
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Tina
B’s mom called in the afternoon to tell her that Tina had passed away. [10/20/14: Tina was my sister-in-law, Tina Marshall, married to B’s brother Greg. Tina and Greg were especially good to us, lending us their guest room for a week when we were between assignments.] Read.
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birthday boy
Phone call in the morning from Joan, to wish Sean a happy birthday; she caught him just as he was heading out the door for school, good timing. Then I forgot to wish him a happy birthday myself, big dummy. Barb and I picked up a pair of speakers for his stereo set as we… Read.
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first earthquake
Experienced my first earthquake tonight, though “earthquake” is a pretty strong word for the two or three gentle shakes we got. Must’ve been about a 0.8 on the Richter. I was sitting on the sofa, Tim was on one of the overstuffed chairs; we were watching television. About halfway through the program I got the… Read.
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so desu ne
Sunday, our lazy day. When I wasn’t taking a bike ride or working on a project with Timmy, I spent my free time working out the tougher parts of the Sunday crossword. Sumo season has begun. I can’t say why we’re interested in it as much as we are, other than because it’s so very… Read.
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Shimoda Salmon
Picture a shallow pool filled with about 200 salmon, big ones, about ten-pounders. A siren sounds, and about a hundred people jump into the water and try to catch the salmon with their hands. That’s the Shimoda Salmon Festival, our latest cross-cultural experience. Shimoda’s just a little way from here, so we figured if we… Read.
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earworm poison
Remember how I’ve complained for years that my brain, against all reason, has squandered valuable memory neurons, or whatever they’re called, storing all the words and melody to the theme song from Gilligan’s Island? Well, guess what? I’m finally putting it to some good use. Who hasn’t had a noxious pop tune stuck in their… Read.
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sickos
We’re all a bunch of sickos today. (Razzes from the peanut gallery.) I mean we’ve all got whatever hacking crud is going around. So far all I’ve got is the scratchy throat, but Tim stayed home from school today, and B’s been kind of dragging herself around the house. So far only Sean seems to… Read.
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coin hoard
I’m still busting open boxes from the move. Today I opened up my coin collection to put the albums in a book case, and ended up playing with them all night. The idea of playing with coins probably escapes most people, but here’s what I get from it: For a couple years now I’ve had… Read.
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