Check It Out!!

Look at this! I parallel parked. It was actually more impressive than it looks in the picture. When I parked there was a car behind me and I am taking the picture right in front of a lamppost, so it was quite a tight squeeze. I had my friend, Dionna, there to boost my confidence. Sweet! If you click on the picture it will become larger and you can take a gander at my side mirrors. Yes, they are folded inward. Most cars here have a button that makes the mirrors fold in and back out. If you press the lock button on my remote three times in quick sucession, they automatically turn inward! I discovered it by accident thanks to OCD and started to think I had bought a Transformer. It does come in quite handy when parking on roads like this one.

Why am I parked in an alley...er...two way road that includes parking? Dionna and I went to Cocoks. It was her first time and I was ready to go again because my nails weren't cut as short as I would have liked last time. It was later (4:30) and the parking lot was full, so we had to find alternate parking. You have to be very careful where you park. Since space is limited, parking is almost always designated for a particular business or housing area. It is well labeled, but all in Japanese. Occasionally, there are pictures or insignia that help you quickly determine what belongs to whom. However, most of the time you have to look at the Japanese writing and play one of those match-the-pattern I.Q test games to figure out its correlating business. If you park in a spot where you are not a patron, forget about a simple parking ticket. You don't get off that easy! The owner of the offended business can legally present you with a bill for the amount of revenue you cost him/her by preventing paying customers from parking. It can get really steep in a hurry. So, here are the results of today's visit to Cocok's where I could relax because I was legally parked. I thought about getting a design with the Olympic rings, but the nails last about 6 weeks (when you ask for short nails) and the Olympics will be well over. Dionna and I are going to make this our treat for sticking to a workout schedule. We are doing Power Yoga on Saturdays together and then working out during the week on our own. Right now, I have to go to the gym in the evening (the girls moved to morning swim lessons this session, no lap swimming at that time), but that will change in a few weeks. The girls start school at the ungodly hour of 7:30 AM. That's the tardy bell people! They have to be on campus around 7:15 AM for morning check in hoopla, etc. They are out of school at 1:45 PM. Who thought of this twisted schedule (and this was my first choice school for a student teaching assignment..why...why)? There is no other elementary that has those hours.. they all start an hour later... like normal humans. Anyway, I plan on helping the girls get ready for school, slapping on a baseball hat and gym clothes, dropping the kids off, and proceeding to the gym without a drop of makeup. That way I get my workout in and there is an excuse to not look put together. It is time to really embarrass the kids.

P.S. Today I saw a stray dog actually use the crosswalk correctly in heavy traffic. This is the second time I have witnessed this phenomenon. Even Japanese dogs are smart.