Lint

So our Japanese washer and dryer are a bit confusing at times. I saw the lint thingy a while ago, and I wanted to take it out, but I didn't know how and I thought if I pulled on it I might break it. Not to mention the fact that I generally do not take the lint out anyway. Not sure why really.... it's just something I didn't do all that often (and that drives Brian crazy). Anywho, so my friend Melody's family is visiting and of course they figured it out while doing there laundry one night.... I wasn't even at home. Pretty funny... that's about 5 months of lint backed up in there.... although I do try to avoid doing laundry at all cost :)

The True Story...

Ok Ok, so I didn't quite tell the real story of how I crashed on my bike... I was hoping to get some good reactions and comments, but apparently no one cares... I really wanted a good reaction from my mom, but apparently she does not read my blog?? Thanks mom. 

So the real story is that there was a red light and to go around the cars stopped at it, I was going to hop up on the curb. The curb was only about two inches high, but I guess I went at it a little too side on cause my tire did not like the curb and I went splat onto the ground. Although while I was falling my bike hit this little pole and so the bike went towards the road while I landed on the sidewalk. No near death experience... sorry to disappoint :) But things are healing just fine, and I do love the nice scabs.

On to other news. Brian and I will be leaving town Sunday night on our way to visit our cousin Curtie and his family who live on Shikoku island (south of us) in Japan. It is quite difficult for Brian to get time off of work, so we are very glad to be able to go :) It will be really cool to visit a new area of Japan and see some countryside here. And, I have only met one of Curt's four kids and I don't think I have seen him in about 4-5 years so it will be a great redhead reunion! Any other redheads out there are welcome to come! So you can look forward to seeing some cool new pictures and hear of new adventures soon!

I Crashed

So, it happened... I crashed on my bike. It was quite exciting really. I was going full speed down this huge hill ( and I must ad that I always go super fast down this hill and always think to myself, "If I crashed now it would really suck...") when all of a sudden a car pulled out in front of me and I had to swerve right (I should have swerved the other way.... going right here is into traffic) So I swerved right and lost control and went sliding across the pavement while luckily the oncoming traffic stopped. My bike made it safely to the sidewalk, but I was still half in the road. I crawled and pulled my lifeless body to the sidewalk for safety. People don't honk much here and they also don't help much if you are hurting. So I gathered my thoughts, checked myself for broken bones (but there was only broken skin) looked over the bike (which was fine aside from the chain coming off the track) and hopped back on to be on my way to work. Just like that, I was ok.

My knee was pretty bloody. It dripped all down my leg by the time I got to base... as you can see
Yes that is a flap of skin among the blood there... Good times.
All cleaned up! Doesn't look so bad after being cleaned up, but I did take these pics with my phone so it really didn't do it justice. I raided the first aid kit at work and wrapped it up all nice. I kinda regretted it the next day though (today) when I had to rip it off as it was all stuck to it. Ouch! Although... it turns out Brian is quite brilliant and he suggested I take it off in the shower after soaking it for a bit. A much less painful way to go :)

Weird Bridge

So we saw this weird bridge on our way to the airport with Melody's family. It made me think of high school in Geometry when we all made our own bridges out of Popsicle sticks.... remember that mom? I am sure you still have mine somewhere... anyway this is kinda sorta Tokyo area, and yes I was driving, but it was totally safe! It's not the greatest video, but there was this huge red part that went over it and all these cords were attaching the red thing to the bridge... very interesting.

Happy Easter!

Happy late Easter everyone... so Brian had to work over the weekend so we did not celebrate on Easter. Our friend Melody is staying with us for a few weeks (a friend from Brooks who has been living in Tokyo for the last two years, but is moving back to the states soon...). Anywho, her family came in on Monday to visit so we picked them up at the airport and then we all celebrated together Monday night. We didn't get home from the airport until 6:30 or so, so I called Brian to ask him to start the potatoes... and he did. Good job Brian :) Apparently the poor guy has never made mashed potatoes before :)

Our House

This is a video of our house. I rushed through it so that it would not be too long to upload. I have had many requests for this.... sorry it took so long :)

Driving in Japan

So... I drove around Japan quite a bit this week. First on Monday I drove with my friend Melody up to  Tokyo to pick up her stuff. She is going to be staying with us for the next month before she moves back to the states. It is nice having an extra person in the house, but both brian and I have been really busy lately. Not to mention the fact that as I write this she is locked outside the house and is likely sitting in front of it freezing to death (cause she gets cold WAY too easy) and thinking Brian is on his way. What she doesn't know is that he is still taking pictures at an event and will be coming home with me when I get off work at 10pm. So yay for her.... hope she stays warm. Sorry Melody! Wish we'd remembered to send you home with keys! 

Anyway, so back to my driving story. Monday was not so bad. We got there super fast, but took the extra extra long route home... not sure how it happened but I know most of it had to do with the side roads we took instead of the toll roads. On Thursday though, I went riding (which was awesome!). I drive about 1 1/2 hrs to go ride. Well, some say it takes two hours, but with the route I took and the speed I drove I got there in 1hr 15min.... yay for me. 

Now don't worry mom, I know that sounds like I must have been driving fast and well, let's face it, I was. BUT I was still going slow compared to others. First of all let me just say that the Japanese tailgate like it's a sport, and it seems they do it with no reason. So with that I was a bit confused when I was being tailgated for a while by this truck (which, though I say truck a Japanese truck is really small so no big deal), so this truck is tailgating me and I wanted to get over cause I was in the fast lane, but there was  this car next to me and then the sign (in English) said to slow down cause we were approaching a toll gate. So I am not sure what to do, if I speed up I  could pass the car, but I may blast through the toll gate, or I could slow down, and possibly piss this guy off even more, but then I could get over.... so as I am pondering what to do I am slowing down (opting for what I thought was the better decision), but to my dismay the guy  next to me was also slowing down (on top of the fact that he was in the slow lane), and then I look in my rearview mirror to see this guy literally ON MY BUMPER. I swear he had to have been pushing me! And then as I look he waves his arm frantically like he has a dying person in the back of his car and me being in his way is killing him! So of course this drama led me to panic, I gassed it and got over ASAP only to realize that the toll road was far enough ahead that it was not a problem and that this man was only in a rush because he had a "I don't need to stop at the toll gate" pass.

SHEESH! I think he lost 60 seconds, but it must have been his life on the line... I even have a "I am a new driver" sticker on my car. He should have had more patience with me. So what did I learn? Asian drivers are NOT asian drivers in asia! Americans are the "asian" drivers of Asia. Does that make sense? Hope so, cause I am not going to explain it any  more than that!