Between Random Planets

The Work of Many Generations

I'm often behind the camera and hot-glued to the keyboard.  Happily I can share a couple of fun things with you today, and one of them is this latest photo with my wonderful sister-in-law, Jenn.

The other thing I'd like to share is Jenn's new blog Our Big Happy Family.  Cyberspace needs more hands to share more stories.  Jenn and I are fortunate enough to share the same lyrical last name of DiDonato (hence our "Sista D" greetings to each other) and the same love for a good, unusual, profound, heartfelt or downright wacky story.

Right on, Sista D....and Write On!

Time Travel and Delusions of Grandeur

Being typical, home-based, non-corporate bloggers we don't expect to change a million hearts and minds about a topic (well, not yet anyway -- insert evil laugh *here*).  Your contributors at Between Random Planets are lucky enough, however, to have computer savvy Moms who will still read whatever we write, just because we wrote it.

In case you're stuck with Armed Forces Network, here's our favorite little Sonic Drive-In Ode to Mom (and an ode to the sprinkling of other Best Pals who still check in to see how we like our shakes).

Daylight Savings Time
By the time I wake up tomorrow, we magically gain an hour.  I haven't done this in quite some time, as Japan gave up on this little time-saver in 1951 after discovering that it wasn't their cup of green tea.  I found it odd living in Japan this past year and trying to figure out what time it really was in Boise.  An hour can make all the difference in the world when dialing out -- interrupting cocktail hour is much more fun than interrupting someone's REM sleep.

I'm actually a little thrilled to be back in the land of time travel.  I might even stay up 'til 2:00 a.m. instead of changing the clocks before going to bed so I can feel like the Great and Powerful Oz (with slightly better fashion sense, hopefully).  I'll take five seconds of feeling grand, even if it is delusional.

Okay, if I'm lucky enough to be at a 24-hour Sonic and I finish my last milkshake at 2:00 a.m., when we "fall back" gaining an hour -- does that mean my last shake never really existed and I can, without guilt or calories, order another one?

The Future of our Biosphere

Rich and I often take turns stressing about the monumental stuff in life.  Which is really kind of nice, considering that this usually leaves one of us to help cushion the blow for the other one when life gets a little too hard.

While I was out doing the zillionth monumentally mind-numbing moving-related thing that needed doing, he was home -- busily building a bold new blog.

The Future of Our Biosphere is a fun and amazingly informational place where Rich will be occasionally sharing new information about the ordinary things we humans can do to make our world a better place to live.

He often gets me in the habit of thinking "outside the box"....a huge celebratory toast to his brave new blog, a great big playground with few boundaries and lots of neat ideas! 

"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit.  We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."
~Aristotle

Fabulous Dress!

Gareth: "Scarlotta! Fabulous dress!  The ecclesiastical purple and the pagan orange symbolizing the mystical symbiosis in marriage between the heathen and Christian traditions?"

Scarlett: (clearly taken off guard)  "....um, yeah!  That's right!"
~Four Weddings and a Funeral

Welcome to the mystical symbiosis of traditions here at Between Random Planets.  As my good pal (dream on, girl) David Bowie says, "it's time to face the strain....ch-ch-changes".  Our upcoming move has led us to rework some minor magic on our site, and we've chosen the opposing yet complementary yin/yang forces of the "ecclesiastical purple and pagan orange" for a little warmup.  It also happens to be the colors inherent in some of the most romantic, visually stunning sunsets we've seen lately here in Yokohama -- and sunsets in all their various forms have been on our minds a lot these days.

No matter where we wander, we will still culturally explore the insane, the inane, the urbane, the profane, and -- quite possibly -- even cellophane if we find it at least marginally interesting enough for print.

Like Scarlett's dress in Four Weddings and a Funeral, we might have forgotten to zip up the backside before leaving the house so this template is definitely a work in progress.  If we wander about with our underclothes showing I'm sure someone will let us know. 

Meanwhile, enjoy all your sunsets while  you can.  We'll be enjoying them right there with you -- even if we're in another part of the world.

Don't Leave Home Without It.

Ever.  Leaving home without my electronic translator falls under the top 10 dumbest things I could do in Japan.  Yet I frequently forget to put it in my backpack.  Yesterday was the exception.

We don't have the luxury of Fry's Electronics, Best Buy or Radio Shack around every corner here in Yokohama.  So one of my greatest fears is losing a necessary cable to an electronic device, then deciding whether it's worth the standard 2-12 week wait for an online order through our military postal service.  Our MP3 player turned up short one USB cable, and I decided to brave the psychedelic Electronics section of our local Yamada department store in order to retrieve one.

Packaging for various electronic devices and cables still astounds me, even in my own language.  So picture what it's like trying to find a non-standard USB connector in a foreign country where electronic variety...lots of it....is the norm, never the exception.  Clutching my translator in one hand (with the single translated word "cable" typed in) and my MP3 player in the other I was sent from one floor to another (and back again) for my comical cardio workout.

Sometimes logic doesn't really help.  I finally gave up on the sales assist and just stood in the middle of the aisle wondering "where would I be if I were a USB cable"?  And, bam!  The whole array of 120 USB cables magically appeared right behind me.  And right behind the first guy I asked.  So I snuck around him and managed to start my cable inspection, but not before he saw me and started to profusely bow and apologize for sending me on a two-floor quest. 

This is new to me.  Having to shoo a salesguy away for being too nice isn't something we often experience in the states.  I briefly contemplated typing in the "go away kid, you're bothering me" equivalent in my translator, but settled for a big smile and a wave of whichever USB cable I managed to grab nearby in order to convince him that I was all set.  This, of course, wasn't the one I wanted, but it bought me time to find my dream cable.  This took all of 3 minutes. Well... 3 minutes, 4 saleclerks and a few escalator laps -- but I finally purchased the holy grail of USB cables for 530 yen. 

A fine experience, complete with an electronic victory, for about 5 bucks.  Score one for the American Housecat.

Wanted: Adventurous Kanto Plainers.....

...not Kanto Complainers.  I did post awhile back on ISP's, marginally unhappy transplants to our Kanto Plain.  We need more focus, however, on their polar opposites.  These hearty spouses are more like the Kanto Plain Adventurer's Club -- always willing to tackle a new challenge and meet a new face. 

Through the magic of the internet, I met another fellow adventuress in the comments section of my "Snow What?" post.  Naoko contacted me, and is looking for more American culinary help, as many of our base-bound ladies arrange cooking classes for Japanese locals.  Aime had a wildly successful cooking class this month at her home, and she's redefining the art form of culinary-networking.   The Nicki's Kitchen section of The Japan Years blog is a wonderful resource as well.

So readers in this area, this is how we network.  Naoko's information is in the comments section of our blog.  Naoko, I'll also pass on your information to Aime, who does cooking classes, and Nicki, who is a wonderful cook.  My specialty is Italian, and will do a "cameo" class every so often due to my busy work schedule. We are truly a world-wide web.  Good luck, and buon appetito!

Typepadus Interruptus

Typepad is temporarily experiencing some uploading and network problems, all will be resolved by the weekend.  It's been a huge online drama.  I've republished our most current posts, comments are intact.  I might not have figured this out on my own for another 24 hours....so thanks, Mom for the heads up, and thank heavens that you print out every post....just in case.  You are my editor extraordinaire.