Cherry Blossom, Part II

Tired of cherry blossoms yet?  Oh good, because here are a few more:

 

 

These are from just a few hours ago...the cherry blossom or sakura, is truly ephemeral.  The blossoms appear almost overnight and won't last more than a few days, depending on weather.  It's important to get out and appreciate them while you can.  The Japanese actually have a term, hanami, for the "sport" of viewing sakura and there are many, many places in Japan where people flock to see sakura in breathtaking settings.

 

I'll settle for CFAY, since I'm still single parenting and the Japanese school children are on spring holiday, so the crush would be intense anywhere we would go.  If you saw my last post, you know I had to bribe the kids with ice cream for a two hour trip down to Miurakaigan to view the blossoms a couple of weekends ago.

 

It's been a busy couple of weeks.  I had a new class start up, just the other half of my US history course, America from 1865.  It's astounding to me how much difference the professor makes, you know?  The professor for the first half was so uninvolved and just going through the motions and the class was very dull.  This prof is very energetic and uses the online technology to the max, posting films of himself giving mini-lectures and linking to sites that we can visit that will enhance our knowledge of the subject matter.  He's awesome.  Still a lot of accountants taking history, if you know what I mean...it's a requisite course for all grads.  A lot of people woefully uneducated about our country's history.  It hurts my brain a little.

 

Josiah wrapped up basketball today.  I'm glad that's over.  It's a commitment twice a week and games on Saturday.  We are so lucky to have a great community of volunteers at Yokosuka who are willing to step up and coach.  Josiah's coaches were both named Calvin and they were very kind about the fact that Josiah is...how shall we say?...in need of a little more practice.  He was so into it last season at the YMCA in Norfolk, this year he wasn't as interested, but he did go to every practice and every game and cheered on his teammates.  For effort, I give him a B+.  There's one kid on his team who is like a 9-year-old Michael Jordan, for real...dribbling all fancy and making 3-pointers.  His dad is kind of an asshole though...right in front of the team after a game, he made this loud comment about how "lucky they all were to have Anthony because no one else on the team can play, he always has to carry the team".

 

Uh...say what?  I hate that sports has to be that way, you know?  They're 9 and 10-year-olds, let's just let them play and have a good time, OK?  Secretly, in my dark heart, I started being a little happy every time Anthony fancy-dribbled and hot-shotted down the court and missed his lay up.  So...I guess I'm probably not THAT much better than Anthony's dad, except I keep it to myself.  Well, and the 15 readers of Minnesota is Heaven, right?  Don't tell Anthony's dad, OK?

 

What else is happening?  Annika is good.  She's having her first sleepover tonight.  We have two sets of twins here in the 6 block and my friend Carie and I are switching girls for boys tonight (she's got the boy/girl combo).  Josiah will go cram 10 hours of DS time in with his buddy Edward and Daphne will come here to hang out with Annika, who cleaned her room and is now scrubbing her filthy little self in the shower.  The weather has been nice, so the kids are outside from about 2:15 until 5:30-6:00 now.  When Josiah turns 10 next month (close enough to April, work with me), he will go in a holy Navy rite of passage to get his first military ID.  Once he has ID, he can pretty much run loose on the base and buy things anywhere an ID is required, like the commissary.

 

What?  We're out of lettuce.  Josiah, here's $2, go get me lettuce.  BRING ME THE CHANGE.  Right, Jan? 

 

William is still home...and that's pretty much OK.  His beloved Miss Sara is done babysitting and he now goes to see Miss Cierra (confusing I know, Sara and Cierra) a couple of times a week so I can go to the multitude of social events that I am required by law to attend.  I'm trying hard not to complain about the social events, really...I just think that I maybe said "yes" to a few too many things.  I'm going to have to decide what I really want to expend energy on in Yokosuka.  I always sort of dread going to each event, but I always end up having a great time...it's hard to say no, especially when it's flattering to be asked,  you know?  People want me to be there, people expect me to be there, if I'm not there, it's talked about.  I like it and yet, I loathe feeling obligated sometimes.

 

I wore pantyhose THREE times last week.  I have decided that my upper limit for pantyhose wearing is now two times.  I will attend no more than two events that require pantyhose.  Period.  Both events requiring pantyhose are already booked for next week, so I'm good.  Sigh.

 

Yokosuka is quite an adventure, I tell you...!