Diverse Family

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Modern Families – If one of your late ancestors were to come back from the dead and join you for dinner, what things about your family would this person find the most shocking?

For me, this is a difficult question to answer. I imagined us sitting around the dinner table, and my first thought would be that he/she would be surprised that our family is mixed from several different races and nationalities. But then it got me thinking that no, there’s probably a good chance that one of my ancestors would not think that is shocking. One thing about my family is that so many of us have moved around the world and/or married outside our races/nationalities. We really are a diverse family (and I think it’s wonderful)! I have to believe that this is in our blood. I know (from Facebook) that a lot of my high school friends still live in our hometown and are quite content there. But of my immediate family, none of us live in the same town we grew up in. My father was born and raised in Hawai’i, and my mom was born and raised in Jamaica. They raised my brothers and I in Torrance, California but only my parents still live there.

My grandparents also are travelers. They ended up living in countries that are different from where they were born. How far back this goes, I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes back many generations. But perhaps this is common? I’m not sure, but I do know that for myself I can’t imagine not wanting to live in different places during my life. In fact, I am looking forward to moving again when the kids are on their own!

This post was prompted by The Daily Post from WordPress.

Sushi Memo Pads

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Sushi Memo Pads
Sushi Memo Pads

I really like these Sushi Memo Pads. They look so cool! The problem is that I wouldn’t want to use them because the proportion of fish to rice would get messed up. I think I’d just keep them on my desk and stare at them all day! Speaking of my desk, I have way too many things cluttering it up. The main thing is bills and junk mail. I usually have a stack of papers about 3-5 inches tall that need to be filed away.

I usually sort them into stacks, then once in a blue moon will scan them all in as PDF’s to my computer, which then gets backed up. It’s a nice system, but I should scan them more often. The bottleneck is that it is a little bit of a bother to scan using my flatbed scanner. We do have a Dell 1235CN color copier/printer which has an auto feed tray and I think it can scan to PDF but, I need to figure it out again. I think I have scanned to PDF before, but I had to copy them to a USB stick, then put them on the computer. I think that is more process than using my Epson 4490 flatbed scanner.

So, as nice as these sushi memo pads are, I want to declutter the desk first before I make any additions. Maybe after decluttering, I won’t want to add anything to it and can save some money by not buying the sushi memo pads. Maybe I will just create a desktop background? I wonder if that will satisfy me!

Gudetama (ぐでたま)

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I just discovered the brilliant “Gudetama” (Lazy Egg) and he has become my new favorite character! He’s so lazy and kawaisou… I love it. I know what I am spending my money on when I visit Japan this summer. I thought the Sanrio character “Kirimi-chan” was okay, but there wasn’t anything really special about her. Sure, she’s a salmon filet, but I get the feeling she’s trying too hard. Perhaps it’s the pressure from Sanrio. I’m sure they can be pretty demanding, so I have to give her the benefit of the doubt. She’s probably a good kid. But Gudetama has a genuine personality that I don’t think Sanrio can pretty-up, no matter how much marketing they throw at it. It’s probably his down-to-earth qualities and sincerity that strike a chord with me; his lifestyle is one that I can really identify with. I want live my life like Gudetama!

Gudetama - The Lazy Egg
Gudetama – The Lazy Egg

Follow Gudetama (if you have the energy) on Twitter at @gudetama_sanrio

Kaiju Party

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Kaiju Shirt
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 24mm, f/3.2, 1/60 sec, ISO1600
 Kaiju Shirt

This past weekend we hosted our 3rd Kaiju party at our house. The usual suspects arrived at about 7pm, and we immediately started in on the beer and wine. Mikey wore his Kaiju t-shirt and provided the movies and expert commentary. He also brought over toys which included Baragon (the monster from the first movie on the list) and a Maser Cannon, which makes its first appearance in the second movie we watched. The toys are always a nice touch! It’s really cool that Mikey gives us some history to each movie, and what to watch for and also some cool bits of trivia about the movie production, actors, etc. And the toys!

Baragon vs. Maser Cannon
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 24mm, f/3.5, 1/60 sec, ISO1600
 Baragon vs. Maser Cannon

The movies we watched were “Frankenstein vs. Baragon” and “War of the Gargantuas”. Both of them were really wacky, silly, but cool too. There were lots of really stylish convertibles and also both movies starred Kumi Mizuno, who is gorgeous and always wearing some cool outfits. It was interesting that the second movie was sort of a sequel to the first one, but not really. Lots of the plot was carried over, and the main characters in both movies were a trio of scientists, one gaijin (white), a woman, and a third Japanese scientist. Only Mizuno starred in both movies, but all the characters’ names were different. It was weird, and didn’t make much sense, but just made it all the more interesting. The monsters in the second movie were related to Frankenstein from the first, and I am sure there are plenty of theories on how the monsters were connected. I preferred the first movie because Frankenstein was really funny-looking, and the other monster “Baragon” was really cool and had some nice jumping moves.

Toy Maser Cannon fights the Gargantua
Photo info: SONY SLT-A77V, 16mm, f/3.5, 1/60 sec, ISO1600
 Toy Maser Cannon fights the Gargantua

Hanging out with the Kaiju gang and watching more monster movies was so fun and I’m really looking forward to Kaiju 4! I’m pretty sure Mikey will bring over a Gamera movie or two, plus some neat toys. It’s bound to be another good time!