It's Pretty Ok » Smile and Nod

Now you see it, now you don’t

Lisa — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:49:46 +0000

It looks like some of you we’re trying to find my post that I took down (“I can’t handle dumb people”). It was a little pointed which was not my intention, so, I fixed it.

I Can’t handle Dumb People.

No really. I cant handle it. Im feeling a little ranty today and based on your [genuinely] nice comments (and thanks for those BTW), it would seem to me you want! to hear! all about it!

More aptly put, Im bothered by uninformed people who think they are informed. Folks….before you spout off something- should we should make sure its factually accurate? “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt,” (Lincoln). Why WHY are we still debating things that are incorrect, factually wrong, not accurate, faulty, not in agreement with the truth, false, erroneous, (do I need to keep going)? There is a distinction between your opinion (which you are entitled to, however misguided it might be) and the factual reality of the situation.

Por ejemplo, from doing a little research on the interwebs, it seems like many of the reasons people are wanting this healthcare reform voted down is based on false pretenses. If you think our broken system is good, you’re happy with it and especially if you’re happy with all the ballooning health care costs of all the overweight people (hey- I just read we’re up from 66% to 68% overweight people–see ya bye TWO THIRDS–we’re shooting for THREE QUARTERS of the population to be overweight– lets keep up the good work!) that’ll be tacked on to your tab of your private insurance and you have a COMPELLING, SOUND, LOGICAL REASON to feel that way- let me hear it. Im interested. I WELCOME intellectual conversations. Im also willing to admit when I don’t know the answer or even if I’m wrong. So really, tell me. But do your homework.

But for the love of ALL THAT IS HOLY. If you are just regurgitating some bull you just heard without having some actual KNOWLEDGE or UNDERSTANDING of what the hell it is you are saying then stop. No, just “shut shut….no just shut your mouth” (Step Brothers).

Because the problem is that in today’s world any individual can have their own platform to spout off non-sense and then even less informed/educated people actually believe it. That is scary.

Flea Market

Lisa — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:01:12 +0000

The flea market is really deserving of its own post. We seem to end up going every few months mostly to offload kids clothes that have been out grown but lately I’ve been trying to pare down the amount of ’stuff’ we have in our lives. Of course if we had a basement or a garage (imagine!) I’d probably be less inclined to pitch and sort.

There are two types of flea marketers over here: 1) The Professional flea marketer and 2) your average run-of-the-mill family who is either moving or just looking to get rid of the overflow in their lives. If you are a professional you are generally a vietnam-era retired military male. And generally you are fairly out of touch with what is ‘in’ and subsequently have a large pile, of what amounts to trash, spilling out from your trunk. And by trash I mean old light fixtures, a crapped out shop vac, a lone captains chair from a fishing boat, perhaps some old records etc. And over the course of the flea market you sell a few items (which boggles the mind) but you aren’t raking in a huge profit. Im fairly sure that a large portion of what the professionals come to sell is stuff they find on the curb on trash day and then go try and pawn it off to the Japanese.

The gates open for “set up” one hour before the flea market starts. The problem is that its not a very efficient set-up and it took us 45 minutes just to get through the line and I HATE when we dont have time to set up. There are a few flea market trolls that come right up to your car as you pull up. No exaggeration- yesterday as I opened our trunk a lady came up and started unloading bags out of the back pawing through them. She started pulling out baby clothes and asking how much and I told her everything was $3. She scoffed at that and I reminded her that the gates hadn’t opened yet and we haven’t even unloaded…..$3 take it or leave it. She took it.

The flea markets are a big deal for the Japanese because they can get American goods (which they like) and brands for a fraction of what they would pay. The scene on the other side of the fence reminds me of what the US Embassy in Vietnam looked like at the end of the war….faces pressed up against the fence, clogs of people…..and then when the gates open all hell breaks loose. Im surprised no one has ever been trampled because they sprint through the gates the way people do on Black Friday at Wal-Mart. Its insane. Im guessing flea markets in the US are not like this Bethtastic?

When we went this weekend it was mostly clothes that we got rid of. And I used to make my pricing all complicated (onesies are one price, dresses another, a complete outfit another etc.) and now it was just 200Y per item and in the long run it would all even out. And usually the “professional” flea market shoppers wear me down by standing in my face haggling over and over and over until I finally just give in. Not this time. It was 200Y per item or I just took the stack from them and threw it back in the pile. Take that.

I’m also HIGHLY amused by the things the Japanese find interesting. I’m mildly embarrassed to admit that I took Nathan’s old underpants. NOW WAIT- in my defense he had never had ANY ACCIDENTS in them. Some of them were just extras that I kept at his school in the event a change was needed. It was also my plan to just throw them away but I lumped them in the pile anyway. And the Japanese grabbed them right up. I didn’t charge people for them if they were buying other things (they were “dozo’s”) and the one lady who bought just one pair– I only charged 10 cents. Coffee mugs were a big deal, stuffed animals, any type of electronic, pens, an ugly cloth bag I’d gotten for free, half used bottles of perfume…..look, before you judge me understand that it PAINS me to be wasteful. I HATE throwing things away so if some nice Japanese lady wants the second half of my bottle of perfume, thats better than the landfill getting it.

All totaled we made about $360….we plan to use that to buy a patio set. An overpriced patio set at the BX that, in Okinawa, is just going to get all rusted out from the salty air in about two weeks anyway. And then we’ll take that to the flea market and the cycle will just continue….

If You’ve Lived in Japan

Lisa — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:16:47 +0000

I know, you’re thinking I never post and here I am going on a 3rd post about the dog. I promise this is the last one, and this one is really only intended for those of you who have lived here because I’m not sure anyone else can appreciate this in quite the same way. We opted to have Sandy cremated which was, I don’t know….a bit traumatic? on an already emotionally charged day (the place wasn’t open when we called so we had to sit and wait and wait with our deceased dog in the sterile vet exam room….crying, waiting, more waiting. The vet tech told us we could just leave Sandy there “for up to two weeks” (sob harder at the thought of Sandy sitting in a fridge (?) for two weeks). When the place finally opened the vet tech (she was Japanese) informed us we had to take her there. And, I dont know– I wasn’t envisioning like a doggie hearse or anything but I was all “we have to put our dead dog in our car and drive her there? Ourselves? That’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever heard….” (sob, sniff, cry). So, I left and PC did the hard part on his own. He told me they offered him a box to put her in. What kind of box? Like a special “pet box” or is it like an empty cardboard box that was once used for Frosted Flakes? And when PC said that, both of us had this image of sort of stuffing her in there to fit. You know- like that part in the movie Overboard where Goldie Hawn is cooking a chicken and trying to stuff its feet into the pot with the lid but it just wont fit? Oh, gawd I know all this is so morbid and maybe even borderline crude but you know, we’re trying to find some small humor in the situation.

Anyway, despite our horror at having to drive our deceased dog to the cremation place, it was all handled very nicely and we had “Sandy” back the next morning and she’s been sitting on the washing machine since. We’re waiting for a nice sunny day to go spread her ashes at the beach.

Now, the part where you current and prior Japan dwellers come in. Obviously you know how well the Japanese do things- you know the extra touches they put on things and that elegance usually comes from ‘understated’. So it should be no surprise that Sandy’s ashes were put in a pretty pink satin bag with her name and the date. It should also come as LESS of a surprise that said pink satin bag was then put inside THIS shopping bag:
What kind of work are you doing now? Something lost in translation? Does someone interpret this different than I do?