Run for the Cure 2009

Today was a great day. It was a day for Run for the Cure. I have never been a runner, and I always said that I hated running, yet somehow this was my 3rd year participating.

One of the reason I managed to continute participating is because this is for a great cause-breast cancer awareness and fundraising. I always felt strongly about raising money for the cure and research-not because I am a heroine, but just because breast cancer is just way too close to me. I know too many people who are affected by this desease, I simply could not feel like this was somebody else's business.

Another reason I participate is because it's not an official "run", and you can "walk" if you want to...and it's only 5K.*shrug* You start at 9am, and in most cases you are finished by 10am. You can go home and enjoy the rest of the day! Since I "hated" running, this was ideal.

Our team this year was called "Awesome Mommies"-that's the mom's group I belong to here in Victoria- and one of the members, Shelley suggested we form a team and run!

We had 15 members in the team. We did great with fundraising-we raised over $3800!! However, we NEVER met as a team to practice the run. You know, we are pretty awesome mommies, but we are also busy mommies...and we never had a chance to meet once.

So we were to practice the run "on our own" whenever we had time....well, I didn't practice AT ALL. Yup. Nada. I know I'm repeating myself but I hated running. And the wearher was kinda yucky. And my son was cranky. Yup. All kinds of excuses.

The day before the run, I was getting nervous and tried to go for a run with my mommy friend Kate. We texted back and forth-her son was napping, and then my son was napping, and she had errands to run and I had to go to the mall. There, our time was gone like that. Kate's fine, as she does Bootcamp. She's fit. But not me. I was starting to get uneasy.

In addition, my husband I went to a party that night. *gasp* It was a friend's 40th birthday and we could not miss that. I was the DD so I didn't drink, but still, by the time we got home it was 11pm and I was exhausted.

So, since I was so not at all prepared to run, I could have easily settled for walking. In fact, many moms in the team were going to walk. But something inside me was telling me that I should "try" running. At least try it....

As some of you know, I'm an avid tweeter, and I met tons of awesome people there. Recently I met(well, online) lots of great moms from Yummy Mummy Club. Most of them are in Ontario, but we chat almost every day-I'm starting to feel like I really know these moms. There are several runners in YMC-I enjoyed reading Candace's blog about how she did in the 15K run, and I always admired Kelli's "I'm off for a run!" Tweets. I was wishing I was a runner just like them...hahaha.

Just few days ago, I discovered Jill's blog and read her profile and it just hit me. (Her profile is on the right hand side) I always thought I hated running, but...do I really know I hate it for sure?
Have I really given running a chance? I really liked the last sentence in her profile-"Instead of running away, I run." I got to confess, you inspired me to do this Jill.

I know several avid runners(like Tori-You have to read her post here on why she is running the Royal Victoria Marathon) and I know this is ONLY 5K....my brother in law and his wife are triathlete for god's sake. For them what I'm doing is a baby walk I'm sure. But it was important for me I run.

So I did. I ran with Shelley. Wasn't sure if I could talk and run at the same time, but we managed. Last two times on the course, it felt like forever to see the "2K" sign. Today, before I know it, we were at 3K sign. There is a very gentle slope on the way back, and to me it always felt like "heartbreak hill"-but today it was okay.
And just like that, Shelley and I finished. We were slow runners-no doubt about that-but we didn't stop once.

I was amazed at myself and felt so inspired! That is an amazing feeling.

I wan to thank all the runners who inspired me-Kelli, Jill, Candace, Tori, and Shelley. I think I will start running again. Not running away, I run. :)

Victoria Twestival

Last night was Victoria's first Twestival-a fundraising event for Power To Be which provides outdoor recreation programs to disadvantaged children and their families. Great cause.

In case you don't know this already, I spend ALOT of time online. I work from home, so whenever I have time I'm on Twitter, chatting with other people. I have circle of tweeple I became pretty close to, some don't even live in my city.

Having online friends used to suggest you didn't have many friends in real life. But now it's so accessible, REGULAR people communicate and make friends online too.

Still, I was feeling a bit shy about this Twestival-there have been bunch of Tweetups happening in Victoria in the last few months but I haven't been able to go to any of them. My hubby is away a lot for business, and having two kids(one is a baby)-you know, things happen.

So I asked my super outgoing friend Cathy to come along with me. Great thing about her is even if she doesn't do Twitter(I'm plotting to bring her into this world soon), when I asked her if she wanted to come to this Twitter event...she said SURE! I love open minded people.

I've got tickets for me and Cathy and we were all set-until unfortunately she had to cancel due to a mandatory meeting she had to attend...boo..

Now I was left with an extra ticket. What to do? Of course, I tweeted about it! Several people ReTweeted(RT) for me, and voila! I had a date for the night. This guy named Jason. We didn't know(follow) each other, but he's in Victoria, he is a movie critic. Cool. So I started following him.
(Of course, on Twitter...not literally...I don't have time to stalk people anyway)

I was a bit nervous to go to the event alone...but I'm a big girl, I can handle it. I left my kids with my hubby and off I went.

When I got there close to 8pm, there were lots of people mingling and music playing. Didn't recognize anybody at first, I went to line up for the bar(ya, I needed a drink!). Out came this gorgeous lady in black, she stopped me and said "Are you Yukari?!" That was @Jody_Nodes. She had this sassy wig and fabulous dress and accesories. She recently wrote a book about how to build your own website. Her friendlyness calmed me down and I was ready to mingle!

I chatted with @freshleafdesign-she makes this fantastic corsets for pillows-you have to see it-and it was great to finally meet @FootButterGuy. He owns Rockey Mountain Soap Company here in Victoria. I had some questions about "natural" body products shops and he answered my questions brilliantly. Thank you.

Met whole bunch of other interesting people-all the people I tweet with all the time, but it was so nice to actually meet and talk-there's no 140 letters limit here!!

Had an interesting conversation with @jordan_keats. Twitter is so great to get lots of info-but as a busy mom-and you know what, not just me, EVERYBODY is busy-sometimes I suffer from information overload-blogs to read, let alone writing your own, news to catch up, video you must watch, PSA to RT, etc etc...it is hard, if you want to promote something on Twitter, as it kinda gets buried in all the other people's posts. I do my best and "favourite" certain posts and TRY to get to them later, but sometimes that doesn't even happen. So how to reach people? Good question. We agreed how not to self-promo too much and instead giving-(we mutually follow @unmarketing so his name came up:) )is one of the ways.

I've been reading Malcom Gladwell. Right now I'm reading "Blnk"-so my brain is in "Gladwell mode"-it almost makes me wonder if there's a difference between blogs that get read and those not get read... there must be. Unfortunately I don't know the difference.

Anyhow, it was really great to finally meet everybody, and I would love to do this again!
Thank you so much for all the organizers who worked so hard on this event.

Souvenir

I'm packing for our family trip to Ontario. Nothing too exciting, just visiting husby's family there. It's not a big city like T.O. so we won't be doing much. But the kids will be looked after by the grandparents so I am hoping to spend lots of quality time with myself, oh, and with my husband. ;)
Anyhow, I am wondering if there's any good small gift I can take to the family back east-like something you can only get in Victoria, or in BC...something light,easy to pack, and says "Thanks for having us from Victoria BC! :)" you know?

In Japan it's called OMIYAGE(Souvenir) and it's a big part of Japanese culture.
When you go away, you are practically expected to buy souvenirs for everybody.

When my mom came to visit from Japan last year, she spent half the time here looking for OMIYAGE for her neighbors, friends, and even for classmates in her Chinese Language Class(about 15 of them!).
She said lots of her classmates were older than her, thus have more money and they travels often-to China, Taiwan, Korea etc... and every time they bring souvenir back to the classmates. So my mom now HAS TO bring something back from Canada. Oh the pressure!

We went to many souvenir stores on Government Street, but getting 15-20 key chains that says "Victoria, BC" was obviously not ideal. Who wants them anyway?
I personally think that whenever possible, a souvenir should be something consumable.
Only exception for me was the time a friend got me a little Eiffel tower key chain from Paris(I've never been to Paris but I know for sure there are million little shops that sell Eiffel Tower key chains but this is just so pretty to look at don't you think?-NOT a plastic orca that says "Victoria, BC")

My mom agreed to this and she started looking at maple syrup. But again, those things are so heavy. Then she found maple cookies.
I said, "I actually know some Japanese friends who buy this stuff every time they go back to Japan as these are so popular"... It's true. Except she buys them at grocery stores. Anyway, my mom liked the idea and we decided to get cookies.

After looking at the shelf for a while, my mom goes "So, how many cookies are in this package?"
Me: (Look at the label) "It says 24."
Mom: "Is it individually wrapped?"
Me: "Um...no. When you open, you will see 24 cookies lying in the bag"
Mom: "......."
Mom: "Isn't there a such thing like OMIYAGE cookie box set here?"

In Japan, we tend to over-wrap things. Everything comes in an individual packaging, and then in a box or a bag, and then when you buy it, store clerk will warp it neatly with another wrapping paper, puts a bow on it, and then put it in a store bag. It's a huge waste of material and it's ridiculous. But the only time I appreciate it is when you are looking for OMIYAGE.

For example, let's say you live and work in Tokyo, but you go on a little trip to Nagasaki(that's where I'm from)...while you are there, enjoying the time, you decide you need to buy some souvenirs for your colleagues. After all, they are still working, covering your job while you are on vacation. You don't want to spend too much money, but you want to show them your appreciation. This is when OPMIYAGE box set comes in handy.

In this case you are in Nagasaki-a place the A-bomb was dropped, but it's also known for Loquat
(Japanese plum-it's delicious by the way). So, every souvenir shop has many different kind of sweets using the fruit. Loquat jelly, Loquat candy, Loquat cookies, you name it.

And the best thing is, most of them come in a pack of 12 or 24, all individually wrapped, and in a box. So when you come home, you just take the box to your office, and leave the box open in the coffee room with a note saying "I had a great time in Nagasaki. Here's a little something I got there. Please take one. " Everyone in the office will enjoy the taste of Nagasaki Loquat-at their desk or at the comfort of their own home-since it's wrapped you can take it home you see- and everybody think of you as a thoughtful person. It's a win-win situation.

Sure, you can buy a bag of cookies at local grocery store and take it back home as souvenir, but it just doesn't show that you CARE, does it?

It is going to make all the Japanese tourists so happy if Tourism Victoria decides to promote this idea. Souvenir companies should start making OMIYAGE packs.

By the way, Vancouver's Japanese-run souvenir shops already have these. It's not a new idea at all. It's just here in Victoria, something so simple can come to us so slowly.....

Only exception will be Chocolates like Rogers, as they come in a box. But then, some Japanese people find North American chocolate too rich and sweet. (I have no problem with it-hand me the box)

Well. Enough about Japanese OMIYAGE. I am looking for an equivalent in Victoria BC.

I just wish places like...Murchie's/Pure Vanilla/Patisserie Danielle etc etc would make boxed cookies and baked goods. Things like Cream Puffs and Danishes will be squished and won't taste good after a long flight. Cookies or maybe muffins might work. Something delish you can only get in Victoria BC! Wouldn't it make a great souvenir?

The Cats of Mirikitani

I belong to a group called Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society-VNCS. The group consists of mostly 2nd generation Japanese Canadians, but there are some first generations, and Canadians, and Japanese, like me.

Thursday night was apparently their 1st "Movie Night"-I became a member fairly recently, so I did not know this was their first time. Anyhow, I posted the info on my Mixi(Japanese SNS) but nobody seemed too interested. So, I went by myself.

We watched two movies. First one was very short documentary on Akebono cherry blossom tree in Vancouver's Oppenheimer Park. The tree was planted by first generation Japanese settlers in Vancouver area.

Second one was "The Cats of Mirikitani" another documentary on Jimmy Mirikitani, a homeless artist in NYC. Filmmaker Linda Hattendorf befriends him, and after the 911 she finds him still drawing on the street, and invites him into her aprtment to live.

Jimmy is 80 year old Japanese American-he keeps saying "Born in Sacramento, California" which means that he is an American. He is an artist, and throughout the film we can see many many pictures done by him.

Through Linda's questions to Jimmy through the camera, we learn little by little about him.

At first I thought this was just a "hey, let's get to know this homeless guy" kinda film. Well, I don't know there's any other movie like that, but, I didn't really EXPECT to find out a lot of exciting/important details about this Jimmy guy. I know this sounds completely rude, but at first I thought he is one of those cheerful, but a little looney street people.

I'm happy to say that I was wrong, and we learn that he was in a internment camp during the war. He has almost phogoraphic memory of where he lived and he draws pictures of the camp again and again.

I don't want to give away too much details of the film as I think you should really watch it, but Linda tries to help him get a social security number and she starts sort of a research as to what happened to Jimmy's identity and his family. Then we learn a lot about this artist.

I'm a bit embarrased but I cried watching this-considering the night's crowd was consisted of many 1st and 2nd gereneration Japanese I am sure many did too. Jimmy talk about how terrible it is to be sent to the camp and lose his family. He also talks about friends who died there...

I am not a Canadian Japanese, I wasn't born here. I'm Japanese and came to Canada merely 10 years ago and sometimes it's considered a long time. But I'm ashamed to say I know almost nothing about the
history of the first generation Japanese people who came to Vancouver area. And this film made me realize that.

I highly recommend this film.

http://www.thecatsofmirikitani.com/

Trying to simplify..

I'm sure many people are like me, having too many accounts everywhere..
Trying to simplify my online life.

Linked my blog to Twitter. This is the blog I want to keep it relatively private.
My "Diary" is on Mixi where I write about daily life, kids etc.
I also have a work blog where I write about mainly in ESL stuff and sometimes events in Victoria.

This one is going to be my outlet for everything in my head.

Listening to music on shuffle on my ipod...earlier it was Yasuyuki Okamura, Kenji Ozawa, now Red Hot Chilli Peppers. :)

Wish I was in FL like Ryotama ;)

メール返信の際のRe;

別に文句を言ってるわけじゃないし、やっている本人に気を悪くさせるつもりもないので、ここにこっそり（笑)書くけど、最近仲の良い友達で、メールを出すと必ずRe;ではなく、件名なしの新規メールで返事をくれる人が二人も居る。何故???

もしかしてそうやって返信するのが実はマナーなのかしら?と気になって調べてみたけど、逆で、
もともとの件名にRe;をつけて(普通に、届いたメールに『返信』するとなる状態で）返事を書くのが
相手にもはっきりどのメールに対しての返信か分かるので親切、ということになっていた。つまりは私がいつもやっている方法だ。

自分に対してメールが届いて、それに返信する場合、わざわざ新規メールを作成して、あて先を選んで、、、とやるより、「返信」ボタンを一度クリックするほうがよっぽど早いと思うのだけど、何故そっちの方法を選ぶ人がいるのか、皆目見当がつかない。

本屋大賞2009

本屋大賞が発表された。受賞作はノミネート作品の中で唯一私が読んだことのあった
湊かなえさんの「告白」。

別のところにも書いたけど、宮部みゆきの「模倣犯」を何故か思い出させる、読み出したら一気に最後まで読ませる勢いのある作品で、今回の受賞は最もだと思った。

他のノミネート作品を読んでいないのが残念だけど、これからぼちぼちと集めて読んで行こうと思う。

ちょうど、読みたい本も溜まってきているので、そろそろ某サイトにて注文しようかと思っているところだけど、今週バンクーバーに行くので、ブック○フを覗いてみて、そこで見つけられたらラッキー、と思っているのだが。