Read & Reading

The book was really great.  It's about how anomalies occur, whether it's a good outlier or a bad outlier. Major part of the book is dedicated to how some people out-perform most of us.  Gladwell spends most of the pages describing that outliers occur from dedication, timing, cultural background, social values, upbringings - rather than the inherit IQ that the people possess.

It's very interesting that:
(1) He felt the urge to explain how black people and white/asian people are born the same
(2) Also he felt the urge to explain why Asian kids do better at maths in school - that it is because of their cultural background, not because they are smarter.
(3) The book gave me some insights in Korean culture.  I work with our korean office, and I often have difficulties understanding the reasons for their actions.

It also made me realize that the former CEO of my company must have been a real genius - he must have IQ200 or something.



Amazon wanted me to read this for the past several years, and I finally picked it up last month.
It was such a great read.
The book is about a future community where people have very regulated simple lives, that their actions and families and everything are decided by the pre-determined community rules.  But nobody thinks it strange, because that's how things were done for generations and generations.  Memories from the past, sense of colors, joy, love, and feeling of attachments are all contained in one selected person, called Receiver (receiver of memories).  When a boy was selected to become the next Receiver, the old receiver became the Giver.

The book reminded me to cherish my experiences and memories, whether they are good or bad, happiness or agony, because the memories make me who I am.  Without them, we are all empty.
It's a simple, short, but wonderful book.



My ex-boss recommended me this book, it's about the 2008 financial crisis.  Then I realized that the author is the guy who wrote Money Ball.
I just started to read, but it looks great so far.



One of my colleagues recommended and lend me this book.  Heard that the movie was similarly great, so I am very much looking forward to it.  Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan!

It seems one non-fiction and one novel at a time works perfectly for me.

Oh, and I am still reading Life is a Verb.  Wonderful book.

****

I am still struggling finding someone who would go to the Harry Potter movie with me.  Of course, there is a Meetup group for movie lovers, and I am planning to join in case there is no one else.

But it is hard for me to understand why so few people have read that book around me.  Yes, of course, I am the strange one, always.

I love fairly tales and kids adventure stories, as much as I love histories and reportage.  I am all about believing what I cannot see by my physical eyes.  I believe in ghosts and fairies and dusts (you know what I mean if you have read the Philip Pullman books) and the unknown world underground.  Those things truly fascinates me.

Sometimes people tell me that I have to grow up and face the reality.  That instead I should think about the practical things, like money and pension and housing and marriage and kids (oh, I don't mean to say that I don't care about these things).  When that happens, I mumble in a small voice so that they cannot hear me... "what has become of you?"

Tart with Pears and Raspberries

I am going to be quick today.  Didn't do much except for experimenting with my blog design, cooking, and baking.  My original intention was to make a berry tart, but a basket of pears was on sale yesterday, so I decided to go for some pears.

It turned out that those pears were just one step from going bad.  They were way too soft and I had to cut out a lot of parts.

Sorry for the bad pictures.  When I finished, it was after 7PM.

Today, I want to quickly explain a very easy way to make tart crusts.  It only takes a few minutes, believe me.
First, measure flour with your food processor on top of a measure.

 Then, mix flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.

 Thirdly, chop up butter into small dices.  Put them on top of the floor, and bring it into a fridge or a freezer.  Chill for 20 minutes or so (while you do other things such as, in my case, knitting).

 You take the bowl out of your freezer, then add an egg york, mix.  You don't need an egg york, instead, you can just add small amount of chilled water.

This time, I used an egg, plus 2 large spoons of water.  Mix more.
That's it!

Take the dough out on a chopping board, spread it into a circle.
After putting it onto a tart dish, put it back to a freezer for 30 min.
Finally, bake it for 25 min in pre-heated 180 C oven. (about 370 F?)

Find more detailed explanation here (Link to Smitten Kitchen).

I sort of followed Smitten Kitchen recipe for the filling (90%).  For the crust and fruits, I did more or less my own thing.

Deep Autumn Red

I woke up in a very bright room this morning.  The bright sun was cheerful from early in the morning.  Since today was a "movie in the morning" Saturday, I got up right away.  Feeling the energy in the air, I started photographing everything.

今日は起きた瞬間から部屋が明るくて、空気が光とエネルギーに満ちていて、パッと飛び起きてから写真を撮り始めました。先週買ったお花、バラがしおれてしまったので、ダリアと菊のようなお花を買い足しました。深い赤が気分、何故かって、これを編んでいるので。

Remember I bought a bouquet last week?  The orange rose started to fade, so I added a few new flowers to the vase.  Dahlia, and a few others which name I don't know.  Deep reds felt right for me yesterday at the florist.

Because, I am knitting this.

Had a quick breakfast with milk tea and a toast.  On top of it is the apple jam I made a few weeks ago.  Taste magical without even a sprinkle of sugar.

This is the blue pullover I spent more than a year to knit.  Only because I get so distracted all the time.
編み終わったセーターはこれです。今日初めて着てお出かけしました。

My friend and I went to watch Eclipse.  It was a little embarrassing and so, it made things all the more exciting.  How often do we get to feel embarrassed these days?  I don't, at all.  So we fully enjoyed it.  And I love Jacob.

En route to my favorite cafe, there is a tiny, sweet, fascinating hatter.  I think someone bought a couple of hats earlier today, because the window looked a bit empty.

近所のお気に入りの帽子屋さんをのぞいてから、カフェへ。帽子は買わず、我慢。最近沢山編んでいるのが溜まってきたので。

I go to this cafe quite often these days.  Because... see the lamps?
最近このカフェに良く行きます。
ご飯もおいしいし、それに、このランプ。。。ステキ過ぎ。

My treasure hunt this morning.

I have a bunch of "keeper" issues of magazines in my cabinet.  They are for example, an American Vogue in which Kate Branchet dressed up in variety of gorgeous couture dresses.  Or, Elle Decor magazine featuring Le Corbusier designed houses, the actual houses in which people live.  Or, UK edition of Vogue Living with rooms in such beautiful green colors that I want to stare at for hours.

Below, an out-of-print Japanese fashion magazine is one of them.  This is from 3 years ago, but it's still my favorite.

今日本棚から発掘した宝物は、雑誌。
わたしは子供の頃からお気に入りの号を溜めておく癖があって、絵を描くときはまるで儀式のように、まず雑誌を片っ端からめくるのが決まりでした。数時間、ときには何日かそうしていると段々イメージが出来てきます。
いま溜めてある雑誌はたとえば、ケイトブランシェットがゴージャスなドレスを着た特集が載っている米国版Vogue、ル・コルビュジエの住宅が載っているエル・デコ、ロンドンで買ったUK版のVogue Livingなど。
ファッション雑誌では、なぜか廃刊になったVingtaineが１冊。素敵な写真満載で、捨てられない。

I was looking for this issue to get some inspiration for my next knitting project.  Then I found below.  My favorite Japanese actor, full color in 4 pages.  It's funny that I didn't have a slightest interest in this article nor in him 3 years ago when I first saw this article.  Nor the 2nd, 3rd..... times.  But I like him now :)

後ろまで捲ったら、当時新作映画が公開されたばかりの堺雅人さんが。この号は何度も何度も見ているけど、今まで全く興味を惹かれなかったということを面白いと思う。

In the article, for the cliche question "what type of girls do you like?", he answered that he is attracted to someone's words, then her voice, then her face.  Perhaps he is just saying, guys are not made that way, but for me, it's true.  Beautiful male voice (and I don't care about female voice).
お決まりの、「どんなタイプの女性が好きですか？」という質問に、「言葉、声、顔の順に惹かれます」との答え。まあ、どこまで本気かは分からないけど、私の場合はそうだなあ、とこれを読んで思いました。男性の深い声が好き。低い、とも違う。
普段普通の声の男性が風邪を引いてハスキーになったりすると、妙にドキドキしたりします。我ながら情けない感じです。
（堺さんは声はあまりステキではないですが、別にリアルな人物ではないので、まあ。）
今の一番のお気に入りは、KCRWでMorning Becomes Eclecticという番組を担当しているJason BentleyというDJです。

I must confess, my heart beat often speeds up when someone catches cold and his voice gets lower and huskier.  I know, it's so lame.

(This particular actor, he doesn't have that great voice.  But he is not a real person for me, so that's ok.)

Melting...

Brian McKnight's old album, U Turn, renting.

My first McKnight experience was this radio program, New Ground, hosted by Chris Douridas on KCRW several years ago, when the album first came out. Just listen. If it won't melt you, what are you made of? Me, becoming all ice cream listening to this archive recording now. Even after countless times I listen to it long time ago.

CD is good, but it cannot beat the live recording at the studio.

冒険

体調が良いのをいいことに、冬は出来るだけ寒いところに行きたいな、と雪を想っては空を見上げる今宵。フィンランド、とも考えたけれど折角なら北欧は夏に行きたいし、やはりこれは行ってしまおうか、北海道。

以前テレビで見て以来、オホーツク海が見える駅、というのにとても憧れています。わたしは寂しい景色が好きなのです。寒いところの山の景色も、海の景色も、崖の景色も好き。
たとえば、こういうところ。

ちなみに最初の２枚はスコットランドで、３枚目はスウェーデン。３枚目の写真は実は私の部屋に飾ってある幅２mの写真と似た感じです。

ただ、最近２週間休んだばかりで流石にまた長期海外に行く訳には行かないし、それで今回は北海道にしようかと。本当は流氷が見たいけれど、そんなことを言っていると一生行けなそうだし、行けるときに行くべきかという気がしてきました。

とりあえず釧路まで飛行機で行って、釧網本線にのって網走まで行くというイメージなのですが、無謀かな？

函館も小樽も行ってみたいけれど、ちょっと観光地っぽすぎる気もします。

アドバイス、あれば是非教えてください。

それから、温かいダウンのコートを１週間貸してくれる方あれば、感激（笑）。男物でも構いません。

こういうのも好き。写真はすべてCorbisより。

追伸：ちなみに、こんな物好きな旅に興味がある人＆ありそうな人がいたら、是非紹介してください！旅は道連れで。編物好きなら尚良し（笑）。

Lists

My accomplishments today:
(1) Finished watching all of Grey's Anatomy 6th season DVD - despite my DVD player broken down along the way.
(2) Finished a blue sweater which I had been working on for more than a year.
(3) My apartment is becoming less of a mess.  I only have to do something about the books now.

今日やりとげたこと
(1) Grey's Anatomyをシーズン６まで見終わったこと。途中でDVDプレーヤーが壊れたけど、なんとか頑張った。でもImport DVDがもうコンピューターでしか見られないのがショック。
(2) １年以上前から編んでいた青いセーターを編み終わった
(3) 部屋が段々片付いてきて、あとは本をなんとかするだけになった。友達に「図書館に寄付したら」と薦められる。良いかもしれない。図書館から本を何冊も貰ったから、恩返しをいつかしなきゃ。

風邪を引いてしまって、体調が下り坂です。でも今週もあと２日。頑張ります。これ以上悪くはならないぞ。
I am catching cold, my condition is sliding down, my hands are cold, my back and neck hurts.  But I've got to hang in there, 2 more days to go this week, and I have to be better before next Saturday so that I can go watch a movie with my friend.

My decision today:
(1) I need to start writing more.  And I have to find another place to write than this blog, otherwise nobody will come back to check out this place.
(2) I will get a large stainless bowl for baking.  I decided to become a semi-professional baker.
(3) I will start my own Life List. Kelly, thank you for the inspiration.

今日の決意：
(1) もっと沢山文章を書くこと。ブログに書くと大変なので、750 Wordsというサイトを試してみようかと。
(2) 大きくて深いステンレスのボールを買うこと、今持っているのは小さすぎるから。パンやお菓子をもっと沢山焼こうと決めました。フレンチは作れないかもしれないけど、生地を捏ねたりするのは得意だから。スコーンとか、高校のときはクロテッドクリームを買うことが出来なかったけど、今は近所のスーパーに売っているし。
(3) Life Listを始めること。

My Munich

Sorry but this post is going to be very long.  Please skip if you don't feel like it.
そしてごめんなさい、No Japanese.


A friend of mine is in Munich, and he posted his whereabouts on Facebook. So I wrote a brief comment about my last trip to the city.

By writing that single short sentence, it felt like I had lost a jewel of my memories.  The jewel that had given me warmth over the years, that had been pulling me like a magnet to go back there.

But it does not make sense.  Sharing some memories does not degrade them.  Maybe I feel that way because I am reading the book "Giver".

So, Munich.

At that time I was a junior editor of landscape and urban design topics for an architectural magazine, and I traveled to Europe many times.

Most trips were organized around meetings with local contact persons, who were academics, architects, or editors themselves, and they often showed me around the city and new projects on sites.

My contact in Munich was an editor-in-chief for an European landscape architecture magazine.  He spent almost 2 full days giving me updates and showing me around. 

We were looking at urban parks and open spaces, so places we toured were sites under development outside the city, etc., places you would never go if you were sightseeing.  I am still an urban designer at heart (in my dreams), and this is the kind of trip I crave for.  I love seeing places while people are still building them. 

I remember walking around an outskirt of the city, around a pre-construction site, along asparagus fields.  The surrounding was golden and green, and the sky was so wide open.  There were really nothing there, we looked rather stupid to come all the way, walking 25 minutes from the last bus stop.  Then we took a new train to see an office park in the evening, which was lit beautifully, very modern, and very quiet.  On to the Olympics park, the famous white pavilions were lit dreamily in the blue moment.

We also visited a new, very modern designed cemetery.  It's one of the places I had seen many times in Landscape Architecture books, so I was pretty excited to see it in person.  When we went into a small wooden church, he told me then that he had lost his girlfriend from cancer, a partner he had lived with for 20 years, just 2 years before.  He was in his late 40s, while I was still 25 just fresh out of grad school, and I didn't know how to comfort him.

On the next day, he showed me around the city.  Through the plaza, the church, the shopping center designed by HdeM.  Towards late in the evening, we passed through one of the parks in Munich.  Not the English Garden, but a smaller urban park.  It was a fresh, comfortable, early summer night.  Suddenly we heard some exotic music floating in the air.  A pavilion in the dark park was lit by red lights, surrounded by flower beds, and there, a group of people were dancing tango.  The scene was so surreal.  Dark park, red lights, music, and people dancing.  It's one of the images that I treasure.

Before we said good night, the last stop was an outdoor ice cream parlor/cafe on a paved street.  I had a cup of strawberry ice cream, but he just had some coffee and watched me eating mine.  He looked so happy and content, a little bit floaty from a few glasses of wine.

I am glad that I wrote about it today, or the memory may go astray forever.

********

I still have lots and lots of images in my head, and I just don't know how to get them out and not waste them.  Sometimes I wish I were a movie director, then I can use those images for memorable scenes.  I wonder how everyone deal with their images... it sometimes gets too much to handle or to contain.  What do you do for yours?

November

Japanese Follows. 日本語は下に。

I found this book on Kelly's blog (her suggested reading list), bought it, and later found out that Retta's book club selected it for November.  This book is my November, I am going to read one chapter per day.

The author lost her father in law for cancer, only after 37 days of diagnosis.  That's when she thought about how to live each day more consciously, fully, and more memorably.

Chapter 1 was about "Write to Remember".

The chapter writes:
" We are all only one step away from losing the stories of our lives.  I write to remember. .... It is also a strategy for learning.  And for determining who and what we are -- and who and what we yearn to be. "

And we are supposed to write a lot while going through this book.

So, here comes My Munich.

９月にSAWで出会ったカンザスのケリーが「おすすめの本」として挙げていたLife Is a Verbという本。購入してみたら、別な友達が「丁度１１月に読書会で読むところ」と。わたしも１１月に毎日１章ずつ読もうと思っています。

著者は義理の父親をガンと診断された３７日後に亡くし、人生をより意識的に、豊かに、覚醒して生きるためにはどうしたら良いかを考えるようになりました。この本は３７つの「動詞」を通して毎日を考え直し、文章を書くことによって自分を見つめ直すといったような内容です。

最初の章で語られていたのは、アルツハイマーで亡くした叔母の記憶と、「記憶しておくために文章を書く」ということ。

「わたしたちは皆、人生のストーリーを永遠に失う一歩手前にいます。わたしは記憶のために書きます。また一方で、学ぶためにも書きます。そして、自分が誰なのか、何を目指しているのかを発見するためにも。」

本を読みながら、折々に文章を書くことがアドバイスされています。
なので、今月は時々長い文章になるかもしれません。暇な時にはお付き合いください。

なので、今日思い出したことを文章にしてみました。次のポストで。

Thank you October

I realized today was the Halloween after I put a pumpkin pie in the oven.  And I also realized that I forgot to put a cup of heavy cream in the filling...  Ta da! A pumpkin pie from the scratch. 

オーブンに入れてから、今日がハローウィンだと気がついた。オーブンに入れてから生クリームを入れ忘れたことに気づいた。。。でも我ながらホッペが落ちる美味しさ！

お菓子作りの記憶と高校の記憶は同じところに格納されていて、片一方が刺激されて蘇ってきたらもう一方も蘇ってきた感じがします。とはいえ、土台もフィリングも混ぜて焼くだけなので、なんのテクニックも要らないのですが。強いて言えば、固いカボチャの皮を剥く根気？

こういう重いタルトは冷やしたほうが美味しい。冷蔵庫に保管して今週は楽しめます。レシピはクックパッドで見つけました。

I think my memories of high school years and my knowledge and experience in baking were stored in the same area in my brain.  Meeting a roomful of high school classmates brought me back "baking" too.

Today I bought a bouquet of flowers in the neighborhood (my favorite florist!) to celebrate the end of October.  I won't have to blog every day from tomorrow.  And I stayed very healthy.

Looking back, I got hospitalized twice in October, got sick in October and was hospitalized in December once.  It seems that I always become over-the-top excited in October and November that I tend to sacrifice my body.

When the air is cold, night sky high, and when telepathy can fly far and beyond, there are so many things to distract me and excite me, that I can hardly sleep at night.  It's probably from the nature of animals, that we get high before the hibernation.

近所のお気に入りのお花屋さんで、１０月の終わりを祝うためのブーケを買いました。アンティークローズのような色のカーネーションや、シックなオレンジのバラ、買わなかったけど、秋色の深い橙の日本の菊（でもアナスタシアというそう）など、いつも珍しい花があるお店です。

１０月が終わったのでもうブログを毎日書かなくてもいいし、それに健康に乗り切れました。いつも１０月になると嬉しくてはしゃぎ過ぎるらしく、１０月に入院したのが２回、１０月末から体調を崩して１２月に入院したのが１回。

空気がひんやり、夜空が高く、遠くまでテレパシーが飛んで行きそうな季節になると、やりたいことが山のように出てきて夜も眠れません。これって、動物の習性のような気がする。冬ごもりの準備に大忙し、みたいな。

Hooray!

I am done!  Finished this cardigan in 3 weeks, and I am very happy :)

Pattern: Hooray by veera, test knitting so the pattern has not been published yet

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK, Denim, 4.5 skeins (about 1,025 yards)

Needles: 4.5mm and 4mm, US 6 & 7, circulars and DPNs

Mods: 

(1) I did I-cord BO all around the front, and the cuffs. 

 Coincidentally, other test-knitter Larisa has done the same, I did not realize until later.

(2) Added 3 stitches under arms.

The buttons are temporary.  I am looking for gold buttons, instead of silver.

So, I am happily went back to my previous almost-finishing project.  Now I am binding off the edges, and, for the first time, using "crocheted BO" technique.  It's interesting, easy, and quite fun.

The color is hard to capture.  It's actually russet red / brown and beautiful.

Favorite Movies of All Time

I have been meaning to write about my all-time favorite films.  It is so hard, you all know it.  I have no idea if these are my favorites, or if I want to watch them again.  I really don't know.
ずっとお気に入りの映画について書こうと思っていたのですが、選べない。。。トップ１０なんて無理でした。ここに選んだのも本当に好きなのか分からないし、もう一度見たいかも分からない。

Goodwill Hunting グットウィル・ハンティング
What a great script.

l'Insoutenable légèreté de l'être　存在の耐えられない軽さ
I watched it just once.  I only remember the very last shot of the film.  But it was great.

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg シェルブールの雨傘
Jacque Demy is one of my favorite film director.  I love all his other films.

Superman I スーパーマンI
If you know me then you know how much I am in love with Superman.  Both old and new ones.

Pretty in Pink プリティ・イン・ピンク
This is a film from when we were all girly and dreamy.  You just can't miss this film.

Back to the future バック・トゥ・ザ・フューチャー
Who needs an explanation?  We all were in love with M.J.Fox... at least I was, when I was 11.  Madly in love.

Dead Man Walking デッド・マン・ウォーキング
Luokala Lokki (Seagul Diner?) かもめ食堂
A Japanese film.  It's about a Japanese woman who opened a diner in Finland. If you can find it somewhere, I highly recommend it.

Holiday ホリデイ
Love the houses, love the script, love the great actors.

You've Got Mail ユー・ガット・メール
I probably have watched this film more than any other films out there.

Before Sunset ビフォア・サンセット
I love everything about this one, too.

Infernal Affairs インフェナル・アフェアーズ
The original HK version is 10 times better than the Decaprio one.  Although I admire him and Martin Scorsese.

The Sliding Door スライディング・ドア
Neverland ネバーランド

007 Series
Especially non-Connery ones. sorry, but I LOVE him when he is over 50 years old.

Footloose フットルース

You may have noticed by now, the list is in no particular order.
If I am to add a few more, they would be: Pulp Fiction (John Travolta, yey!), Un Homme et Une Femme, Gangs of New York (Daniel Del Lewis is one of my heroes) and Seven Years in Tibet.  Or Audrey Hepburn films (all of them, except Always.  I hate Richard Dreyfuss.).

Actually Seven Years in Tibet and Joe Black could go into my top 15.

Celine

I love this new collection from Celine.
The photo is from Sartorialist blog, but I could not find a link to this particular post, so I slurped the picture from his site. Please go back a page or two to see his other photos from the Celine collection.

(c) Sartorialist blog

Kindle

Today I am thankful for my Kindle.  I didn't really use it today, but anyway.  I have been showing it off around all month, so I am also thankful for people who displayed excitements for me even when they couldn't care less.

But honestly, I am quite fascinated by it.  I haven't named it yet, though.  You know, my computer has a name.  I always choose black color for all my gadgets, so the names are usually male names.  This time, my Kindle is white, but why do you want to call your Kindle "Jane"?  It's got to be men's name.  Copernicus, maybe?

I have a tendency to feel incredibly attached to my things, like mobile phone.  It is always hard to let an old one go.  My iPhone 3G is 2+ years old, with an old camera and all, but I just don't have a heart to see him off and get a 4G.  It is just so cruel.

In case you are wondering, my mac is Alain, and my iPhone is Arsene.   How can you part with your Arsene Lupin?




On a last note, I love her singing, and I also completed a cardigan today.

今日は９月に買った新しいキンドルに感謝。そして、見せびらかす度に私の興奮に付き合ってくれた皆さんに。

Friday burger girls' night out

A bunch of us went out for a new burger shop in Kagurazaka called Martini Burger.  They have martini and burgers, NY style. (and cheese cake, and all that.)

The burger was really really good.  We all ate in like one breath.
I also had this chocolate soda, which is, according to the menu, a NY specialty.  It's kind of sour and chocolate, hard to say which.  It's not too bad, but not so great either.  I've been to NY many times but not once I have seen this.

A friend of my colleague was wearing this cool T-shirt.  I love it and I really want one for myself!  She kindly let me take a picture :)

Today I am thankful for the wonderful evening, plus for those very unique people in our office who gave us so much to talk about!

Blackbird

I skipped a day.  I feel defeated.

Yesterday, I heard on a radio (KCRW-music) Paul McCartney talking about the song "blackbird".  He said it was not about just anyone, but he meant it to be for black people. (I don't even know what is the politically correct term now... I personally think black is cool, much cooler than yellow.) Then he played the song in the studio.  The whole thing was from their 2002 archive.
Thank you, it was great.

The day started out weird.
An old man on the train told me to turn off my mobile because "they say so on stickers on the wall."  I looked up, there, on the wall behind the priority seats, there are stickers saying "turn off your mobile in this area".
If you go to other countries, people are eating, chatting, doing whatever they want on trains.  In Japan, you have to be quiet, cannot annoy others, cannot eat nor drink, and you are not allowed to talk on the phone.  They also demand you to turn off your mobile, which is, think about it, completely unrealistic and illogical.

I remember 10 years ago that they were asking us to switch off for those people with heart pace makers.  I get that.  Then I realized, they don't ask me to switch off my mobile in any hospitals these days.  I googled it, and found out that based on the Government's annual research, you have to put your mobile within 1cm of a heart pace maker to affect in any way. Come on, 1cm!

So of course, I wrote an email to the railway company to give me "the logical reason why they demand us to switch off."

****

In the afternoon, the metal thing covering my tooth came off, so I had to go to the dentist.

When I came home, the apartment elevator was out of order and under maintenance.  In my building, you can come down through exterior stairs, but you can't go in from outside.  So the elevator is the only way up.  I had to make a call and wait for 15 minutes at the entrance, empty stomached, when it was pouring outside, cold.

But then it was not a bad day.  Just so weird that everything happens in one day.

Regaining, restoring, repacking

今日は比較的近くに住んでいる高校時代のクラスメートが私の職場まで来てくれて、一緒にランチを食べました。とても楽しかった！もう殆ど忘れていた記憶が、最近色々と蘇ってきて、なんだか自分の抜け落ちていた部分が修復されているような、そんな感覚です。
クリーニングから冬物がど〜んと戻ってきて、クローゼットが満杯になりました。持っていたことを忘れた服ばかり、似たような服を持っていることを忘れてまたスカートを買ってしまいました。

Today, one of my old high school classmates came by to my office's neighborhood, and we had a great lunch together.  I have been seeing a lot of friends from high school these days, and the long-lost memories started to submerge from somewhere.  It's kind of like restoring an old painting - my memories and my self have been restored and I am seeing a clearer picture now.  For this, I am grateful today.

My winter clothes all came back from a dry cleaner in a bulk, and my closet is completely packed now.  The other day I bought another skirt, for I had forgotten about the other similar-looking one.

Above is a desert for lunch, matcha ice cream with red bean curd, 

on top of Japanese -style crispy waffle.  Yum!

A very ordinary great day

Today I am thankful for:
(1) Malcolm Gladwell - Outlier is awesome!
(2) My job - there is always something new.  I love learning and trying new things.
(3) My friend with whom I had dinner - it is fun talking to someone of your age, who has similar job issues and perspectives.
(4) That Amazon delivered me Grey's Anatomy season 5, and I just found out that Kevin McKidd is in it!!

NPS

突然仕事の話で失礼します。

顧客の視点に立ったサービス、という話題になるとき、自分の会社で必ず出てくるのがＮＰＳ（ネット・プロモーター・スコア）。何をやるにも「どうやって効果を測るのか？」という質問を避けて通れないカルチャー（弊害もある）なので仕方がないのですが、結構これが難しい。

ネットを色々検索してみても「ＮＰＳとはなにか？」といった記事は山のように出てきますが、具体的な実施例はほとんどありません。真剣に取り組んでいる人が日本にいるのでしょうか？（いや、いないらしい）

何が難しいって、質問（Q:あなたはこのブランド・商品を友人や家族にどの程度勧めたいですか？）を日本語にするとどうも意図が伝わらないらしく、とんちんかんな答えばかりが帰ってきてデータが当てにならないということです。 他の国では余り問題にならないらしいのですが。
参考になる議論がないか、色々と探索中です。

Today I am thankful for a day off.  I've had a terrible headache yesterday and this morning, and I took a sick leave. 

I just stayed home and watched Grey's Anatomy, season 4, which I bought a year ago but haven't watched.

I am also thankful for the series, that watching it makes my life look a lot better, less of a mess.

(It also helps me get used to the natural speaking speed at the same time.  Kills two birds with one shot.  I also have to add that Meredith and Derek came together at the end of the season 4, so I can sleep happily tonight.)

Photos from yesterday.  Look at the alan sweater dress!  

I can totally knit this.  Lovely.

There had been an opening of a film festival in my neighborhood, and I didn't know about it, watched it on the news in the evening.
Anyway, the Armani boutique has these fantastic dresses on their window now.  It's my 8-year-old-ish dream to one day wear that kind of dress for an occasion.  Just once.  I love the blue one.

 At a book store, the craft and architecture sections are on my regular route.  I found two new books by my favorite architect, but didn't buy them because my piles of books are growing and growing.

Among Japanese architects, Hiroshi Naito is one of my favorites.  He is a good educator and a good person too.  These books, his interviews with other architects and designers, should be really a great read.

Sick

Perhaps because of the weather, or perhaps I caught cold, I am not sure, but I am feeling sick today.
I will post more tomorrow.