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March 15th. Headphones repair. I made charumela for my breakfast.
I gave Miya-O her medicine. Afterwards, she relaxed by the bathroom window. It was warm there in the mornings.
My son was about to throw away his headphones because the orange plastic part had cracked. I took them, glued the part back together, and reinforced it by wrapping it with cotton thread. It still works perfectly fine. That yellow tin is a very famous tea from Ireland.
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March 14th. "An Essential Handbook for Visiting Stone Buddha Statues." Yesterday, I received a lot of negi. So, I made soup with them for my breakfast.
I went for a walk in the afternoon. I went to the library and looked at a collection of Monet's paintings. I borrowed "An Essential Handbook for Visiting Stone Buddha Statues."I wanted to buy this book because it looked useful, but it's out of print. I can't find it used either.
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March 13th. A French Army surplus aluminum pot. I made two servings of sauce yakisoba with lots of vegetables, one for my breakfast, other for my evening meal.
I made vegetable soup soba for my lunch.
I made a stir-fry of daikon radish and bonito flakes seasoned with soy sauce for my evening meal. I also ate kakiage (vegetable tempura) and sauce yakisoba.
I baked graham bread in my electric automatic bread maker. I set the timer so it would be ready at 5 o'clock.
I'm selling an aluminum pot, a French Army surplus item that I used to use for outdoor cooking, on Yahoo! Auctions. I won't be using it outdoors anymore. Its shape makes it inconvenient for indoor use.
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March 12th. Sakai Police Station. I received two lettuces from my cousin Mori san yesterday.
I had five inari sushi that I bought at Torisen yesterday, lettuce, vegetable soup, and café au lait for my breakfast.
I went to Sakai Police Station to renew my driver's license a little after 10 AM. A new building for the traffic division had been constructed. I received a numbered ticket indicating my place and waited. When it was my turn and I started the process on the online terminal, my daypack fell off the table. The thermos bottle that was in my daypack's side pocket fell upside down onto the floor with force. The lid came off and the café au lait spilled everywhere. Two young female police officers cleaned it up. I felt terribly sorry. There was nothing I could do but say I was sorry. I probably said it about 12 times.
Since I had already taken the senior citizen's course, all I needed to do was have my eyesight checked and my photo taken. It needed one hour.
In the afternoon, I went to iias in Tsukuba. Walking from one end to the other and back was about 600m. Since it has three floors, I walked up and down each floor once, so I walked 1800m in total. There was an exhibit of old Macintosh computers on the second floor. It brought back memories. If I had known more about computers back in 1980, I probably would have bought a Mac.
I ate nigiri sushi that I bought at Torisen for my evening meal.
Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I last went to a sushi restaurant. To put it bluntly, you can get pretty much the same taste from Torisen's packaged sushi. Compared to when I was a child, it's become so much easier to enjoy nigiri sushi. Of course, there's a huge difference in taste, and the beauty and atmosphere are vastly different. However, I doubt the difference justifies the cost difference.
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March 11th. The cultural, historical, and tourist information center Shuroku. I made a soup with pumpkin, vegetables, and soba for my breakfast.
I went to visit my cousin who is battling an illness. I had been a while since I'd seen him.
Shuroku is next to Torisen. This former sake brewery has now been renovated into a complex that includes a multipurpose hall and a cultural, historical, and tourist information center. I'd never really looked inside before, so I decided to explore.
There was a glassblowing workshop. Craftsman was working. A sake brewery had been converted into a hall. There was a group doing jazz dance.
I took a few photos. The structure of the sake brewery could be used as a background for something. Next time, I'll try bringing a subject to photograph.
I had squid tempura, kakiage, and norimaki sushi that I bought at Torisen for my evening meal.
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March 10th. It was snow. I made cheese toast and chicken meatballs and tofu vegetable soup for my breakfast. I also had cafe au lait.
It started snowing this morning, but thankfully it stopped in the afternoon.
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March 9th. Ironing. I made two servings of sauce yakisoba with lots of vegetables, one for my breakfast, other for my evening meal.
I made a hot sandwich with ham, cheese, cabbage, tomato, and carrots for my lunch.
I ironed my shirts today for the first time in a while. I don't use fabric softener when I do my laundry, so that's probably why my clothes get so wrinkled.
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March 8th. Arugula and atsuage. I added a raw egg to the leftover sauce yakisoba from yesterday, heated it up, and ate it for my breakfast. I also had granola yogurt, sliced tomatoes, coleslaw salad, café au lait.
I made grilled atsuage, fried rice with pickled mustard greens , and coleslaw salad for my evening meal. Several flowers have bloomed on the potted arugula plant. I picked the flowers and placed them on top of the atsuage, and it looked a little prettier photogenic. So, I set up some lights and took pictures of atsage.
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March 7th. Tuna collar. I made two servings of sauce yakisoba with lots of vegetables, one for my breakfast, other for my lunch.
Today, while cleaning my room, I put some unwanted items up for auction on Yahoo! Auctions.
I made a braised pork spare rib rice bowl for my lunch.
I ate grilled tuna collar that I bought in Torisen for my evening meal. I grilled it again over low heat, squeeze some lemon juice over it, and ate it. It was half price, so it was 290 yen, but it was delicious.
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March 6th. I continued working on e-tax today. I had leftover potato and vegetable soup from yesterday for my breakfast.
I continued working on e-tax today. Yesterday, I apparently made a mistake entering the financial statements, resulting in no refund of withholding tax despite my office being in the red (loss). Ah, after reviewing it several times, I finally realized my mistake and as a result, my withholding tax will be fully refunded.
In the afternoon, I went to Costco to buy groceries, and I also bought some groceries at Torisen. I made spaghetti with clams and vegetables I bought at Torisen for my evening meal.
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March 5th. e-tax. The wind has been strong all day today.
I broken one egg when I move eggs from paper package to my refrigerator. IS cocked and had it for my breakfast with a toast, tomato, soup, and cafe au lait.
I spent the whole day today filing my income tax return. I create financial statements using accounting software on my computer. Then I transfer that information to the free e-tax tax return form provided online by the National Tax Agency and process it. There is also a way to file online directly from the accounting software on my computer, but that requires an annual software update fee of 40,000 yen. That's what I used to do before e-tax came along.
My wife also seems to be filed her tax return using e-tax online in Ueda.
Miyao is good at getting in the way of my work. Well, she is cute though.
I made soup with chicken meatballs, potato, and vegetables for my evening meal. I also had tofu, sliced tomatoes.
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March 4th. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Yesterday, I received two yomogi(mugwort) mochi filled with an anko(bean paste) from my younger brother. His neighborhood made them and gave him. I had one of them for my breakfast. I also had boiled spinach with mayonnaise, vegetable soup, the leftover sandwich, and cafe au lait.
Yomogi mochi is a seasonal delight made of mochi dough kneaded with fresh mugwort leaves and stuffed with anko (sweet bean paste). Making these at home is a cherished springtime tradition in Japan. The combination of the aroma of mugwort, the sweetness of the bean paste, and the texture of the mochi is absolutely delicious, and it's one of my favorite foods that makes you feel like spring is here.
The arugula I planted in a pot has bloomed. I'll use it as a condiment. I made a cream stew with salmon, carrots, onions, and potatoes. I had it for my lunch and my evening meal.
Last night, I felt dizzy and spinning when I turned over in my bed. For a moment, I thought I was bleeding from my brain. Whow! My life is over. But I was so sleepy, I went back to sleep.
Then I woke up in the morning. When I tried to get up, I felt like I was spinning around for a few seconds. However I didn't have any other symptoms - headache, nausea, or motor dysfunction - I was convinced I had BPPV. BPPV stands for Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.(良性突発性頭位めまい症)
Benign: Not a serious, life-threatening condition.
Paroxysmal: Occurs suddenly and subsides after a short time.
Positional: Triggered by changing head position.
Vertigo: Rotational vertigo, in which you or your surroundings seem to be spinning around.
BPPV occurs when "ear stones" (otoconia), break loose from the Rankeinou（utricle） and move into the Sanhankikan（semicircular canals）. This make the false signals to the brain that you are spinning.
So, you can avoid this dizziness by moving your head slowly. It will go away after about three days.
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March 3rd. Two Katudon bentos.I made Chicken Ramen with lots of vegetables. You can't see the noodles, but it's Chicken Ramen. Chicken Ramen is a convenient dish that turns into ramen after 3 minutes of adding hot water. In my case, I use the broth from boiling lots of vegetables instead of hot water. I had it for my breakfast. I also had grilled atsuage.
I went to Mizukaido Toyota at 9:30 and had my FJ's annual inspection done. I had made an appointment a month in advance.
While the work was being done, I enjyoied the coffee they sarved and edited my picture diary on my laptop I had brought with me.
It was raining today, so I avoided going out far. I bought two Katudon bentos at Iwamoto Bento Shop. One for me and the other for my younger brother.
So, for my lunch, I had Katudon bento and vegetable soup.I
Recently, Mia-O has breakfast, gets her medicine, and then sleeps here until around 3pm. Almost every day.
The image on the right shows the W-KOMURA UNIAUTO f=28mm 1:3.5 combined with a custom bellows I made the other day. It's more compact than the original bellows.
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March 2nd. The potted arugula has bloomed. I had a rice bowl with braised pork spare ribs, boiled spinach and a raw egg for my breakfast. I also had sliced tomatoes, vegetable soup and cafe au lait..
I made a hot sandwich with ham, cheese, cucumber and Nara zuke. As usual, I left it on the kitchen windowsill to dry.
I had hot sandwiches, boiled spinach, grilled Atsuage, and vegetable Harusame soup for my evening meal.
The potted arugula has bloomed. Spring will soon be here.
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March 1st. Production of dedicated bellows. I made and had braised Hakusai beef tendon stew, sliced tomatoes, apples, anko mochi, for my breakfast. I also had homemade onion bread, and cafe au lait. The beef tendon stew is ready-made, but it is high in salt, so I add Hakusai and double the amount, eating it over two days.This is one way I control my salt intake.
I had inari sushi, tofu, tomato, cucumber, and Hakusai soup for my evening meal.
I made a bellows specifically for the Sankyo Koki W-KOMURA UNIAUTO f=28mm 1:3.5, which I modified last month. The original was an Asahi Pentax bellows unit. I cut off the unnecessary parts. I shortened the rod by 40mm. I added one more screw to tighten the rod. And I shaved off any parts that interfered with the camera cage frame, and then painted it with matte black heat-resistant paint. I then baked it at 150°C for 10 minutes. It's easier to use and looks cooler.
Tatsuya Kimura releases this page. Since Mon 05 Oct 1998. All Rights Reserved.