The Week in Pictures!

This week was another busy week for us. It involved a heap of translations, dog-sitting for 3 days, putting together some shelving that arrived and a lot of cleaning and organizing in between. We have this 40cm deep alcove just as you walk in to the living room, and it was kind of dead space, so I decided to get a tall shelving unit to fit in the space and found this one, which matches the dark wood furniture of the living/dining room. It took ages to put the bloody thing together, but in the end I am very happy with it. The only thing I want to change is to cover the randomly-placed boxes with a lovely dark wrapping paper or something as they look pretty cheap and nasty as they are and stand out too much for my liking. Still have a few pigeon holes to fill down the bottom and a photo needs to go in the silver photo frame, but we are getting there...

For the longest time I have wanted to get rid of the old chest of draws in the bathroom and get built-ins. After looking in to it a little, I found out it was going to cost an absolute arm and a leg to have a cupboard built in the bathroom to fit this small alcove that measures 45cm wide and 35cm deep. It didnt seem worth it, so I got online and found a cupboard that was exactly those dimensions and went right up to the ceiling. I just couldnt justify paying that much when I know that my brother-in-law or dad could have built me a cupboard in a day for a small outlay.

The photo below is nothing to do with this week, but is something very special to me. It is tiny peice of artwork that I bought in Vienna when we were there on our honeymoon. It is a lovely little hand painted ceramic piece in a beautiful little wooden frame. I was told that it was created 80 years ago by an Austrian artist named Winter. I saw it in the window of an art studio gallery in Vienna and fell in love with it instantly. I didnt care that it was 280 Euro, something in the vicinity of $400 dollars at the time we were in Europe, and to be honest I didnt even bother calculating the exchange rate cos I was so in love with it and just had to have it. I am so glad I bought it, because I look at it every day and it brings a smile to my face. It sure is a very special little keepsake of mine.

The picture below is Mark. Mr. Nemo's parent's dog. They went away for 3 days during this week, and we were charged with looking after Mark. He was originally going to stay at their place and we would just go down to give him dinner, let him out to the toilet, and take him for walks each day, but he started to fret and wouldnt eat his dinner and wouldnt move from the front door waiting for Otosan and Okasan to come home. It was so sad to see him like that, so we ended up bringing him up to our place for 2 days. He stayed the night and slept on a towel at the end of our bed. I had to get up at 5:30am three mornings to take him out for walks, but all in all he was a very good boy and a pleasure to look after.

And the picture below is the shepard's pie I made this afternoon to take to Okasan's for dinner tonight. We usually have dinner with her one night on the weekend and I mailed her this morning asking if we wanted to do dinner tonight. She agreed and said she would make a dish and I would make a dish and take it down. It is nice having dinners with her, as Otosan works late and I think she gets a bit lonely at home all day everyday with just little Mark to keep her company. He isnt much of a conversationalist, so no wonder she loves it when we come to visit or just pop in.

My Mr. is So Cute!

This last week, there has been an ad on TV for a new TV... a Toshiba I think. The ad shows the latest model which turns itself on when someone walks in front of it and then turns itself off again when there is no one watching. The Mr. commented every time the ad came on...I didn't think much of it, and just thought that the electrical engineer in him was impressed with this new function. Then last night before I went to bed, Mr. Nemo was working on some gadget and soldering things on to a green circuit board. He was so engrossed in what he was doing, and when I asked what he was doing he just smiled and said, "you'll see!"... I went to bed and left him in his element.
When I got up early this morning and walked into the living room and passed our TV, I heard the familiar click of the TV turning on. And as soon as I heard it, I knew exactly what he had been doing. I literally laughed out loud to myself when I realized. He had redesigned the TV's main circuit so that our TV would turn itself on and off depending on whether there was someone in front of it. Don't ask me how he did this!!! All I know is that my Mr. is a genius and it is these crazy little things that he does that make me love him even more. I know that I am probably the only one that thinks that this is so CUTE, but hey I am his wife so its ok.

Loving the Front Veranda Garden!

This is the "veranda garden" that I put together over the weekend on our little front veranda off the main bedroom. Now that the veranda looks so lovely and the weather is getting so gorgeous, when I am home I make a point of opening up all the curtains and letting the color and light come dancing in!!! Sure does make you feel good and also motivates me to clean and keep things tidy. Please ignore the old washing machine, which I am using as a makeshift flower pot stand till I get around to arranging for it to be dumped!!!

Bullets Points After a Busy Week...

A summary of the week gone by...
-Last week the Nuthouse was crazy busy and I translated two thirds of my monthly (part-time) quota in that one week last week. The good news is according to my contact they will need to pay me some overtime for the extra hours.
-Mr. Nemo got so fed up with the living room TV switching itself off every 30 mins, that he pulled it apart and did some of his engineer magic and fixed it as good as new! Hence, no new TV shopping for us on the weekend. I am so very proud of my Otakki hubby, a little disspointed that we dont get to buy a new TV just yet, but mostly relieved that we dont have the unexpected expense this month.
-Spent most of Friday and Sunday working on the academic paper translation. Need to send the draft off this Wednesday, but all looking good on that front.
-Booked a hair cut for Wednesday this week, which I am looking forward to. It has been about 7 weeks since my last cut, and it grows so quickly when it is short.
-Went to lunch last Thursday with former co-worker and potenital new client for Moji Magic and she gave me all these reference materials on the hotel for me to prepare for the jobs she plans to send me! So, although no specific job requests are in yet, looks like a good potenital new buisness lead.
-Also, ex-boss from Hiroshima days sent me the link to her current workplace and asked me to read up in preparation for the work she will be sending me. Lots of new clients on the way!!
-Mr. Nemo got over his tonsilitus from last week, only to come down with a cold this past weekend. Poor luv, he just cant seem to shake off all these illnesses.
-Spend all day Sunday doing the cleaning at home. Even got to all three verandas, dumped a heap of stuff, and planted some lovely flowers in pots on the front veranda. That's one more thing to tick off on my 101 list!
-Feeling very organized as I even managed to cook dinner for the MIL on Sunday night, organize for the Large (Sodai Gomi)rubbish to be picked up next weekend, and did a solid 5 hours of translation work all on Sunday.
-In the Nuthouse Monday / Wednesday this week, and hoping things will settle down a bit.
-And that is about it. Hope to be able to post a proper post mid-week, when the first draft of paper gets sent out!

Blossoms and stuff...

We had a full weekend which included dinner with friends, Richard and Haruyo, on Saturday night, and Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) on Sunday, lunch out, a drive and some shopping. I spent Saturday morning pulling the house in order, and my friend Brenda arrived on Saturday evening around 5pm. I raced off to the station to pick her up and then we headed out to dinner soon after. Poor Mr. Nemo wasn't well enough to join us for dinner, but he suggested the outing on Sunday. It was a relief to see him out of bed and although he isn't 100% yet, he was well enough to venture out. On Sunday, we went to Kiyosumi Gardens in Koto Ward. It was lovely and tranquil, and had one lovely cherry blossom tree in bloom. The park next to it, was in full bloom and had herds of people so it was nice to be able to admire it from a distance, and still get to see some cherry blossoms in Kiyosumi Gardens without the crowds. These are some photos I took on my mobile.


Brenda leaves today and I headed off to the Nuthouse this morning after saying our goodbyes. The Nuthouse is crazy busy at the moment, and so is Moji Magic. Over the weekend, I also bought my book keeping and tax return software which I need to install and set up during the coming week. Also, I have to send off the first half of the academic paper translation (about 7000 words) by next Monday so I am guessing this coming weekend will be spent partly on Moji Magic jobs.
Over the weekend, our living room TV has been on the blink, and the Mr. says that it is the thingamy-jigs blah blah blah that is broken and the cause of the problem, and he is unable to fix it. He has already picked out the new TV that he recommends we buy! I suspect he just wants a new tv! But seeing as my severance pay gets transferred into my account tomorrow, I think I will buy the one he is recommending. I think we will probably be spending part of next weekend at Yodobashi Camera, picking out the new TV and me looking at new laptops again!
All in all, we are set for another busy week ahead. I have a lunch appointment on Thursday with the communications director of a leading high-end foreign hotel chain here in Tokyo, and she wants to talk about working together with Moji Magic as she has been having trouble finding a good translator. I used to work with her, so she knows the quality of my work, and when I mailed her last week to tell her I had gone part-freelance she wrote back straight away and said my timing couldn't be better. I hope this eventuates into some steady work. But, even if it doesn't, it will be lovely to catch up with my old coworker.
My friend in Hiroshima and his wife are due to have their baby any day now, and I mailed them this morning and no reply (they usually reply straight back) so I suspect she may be in labor as I type this. Sending happy vibes her way from Tokyo and looking forward to hearing some good news soon!

Miserable Mr. Nemo

Since yesterday morning, my Mr. has been as sick as a dog with a high fever, sore throat, no appetite, and just plain miserable. He has literally been sleeping all day and night, and only gets up to take his medicine and go to the bathroom. I have been running to the convenience store to pick up lots of orange juice, fruit jelly, and his favourite purin sweets, and he has been getting lots of liquids, and taking his meds, but he doesn't seem to have improved much, the poor luv. His fever has gone down at least, but he is still quite ill. When he is sick, he is such a baby, and absolutely miserable. A real old grumpy bum. He grunts and groans, and moaps about, and no matter what I do it doesn't seem to help or relieve him. I have been going in to the bedroom every couple of hours or so and taking him drinks, and more cold packs and washcloths, a change of clean pajamas, and he just groans at me. At least he took of his sweaty jamas, and put some nice clean ones on. I hate to see him so sick like that, and it is rough knowing that I cant do much to help him feel better. He went to the doctors yesterday and got some antibiotics and other meds. I hope he starts feeling better soon. We have a friend coming to stay for the weekend from Saturday to Monday, and the house is in a bit of a state, seeing as I have been busy with Moji Magic and the Nuthouse this last week. I hope I can pull it together before she arrives on Saturday night. It will be another busy weekend for us, so I hope Mr. Nemo starts to feel better soon.

A Dream Come True!

Today is like a dream come true. Ever since I was about 12 years old, I dreamed of being a Japanaese translator and always saw myself being my own boss and running my own freelance business. Well, April 1 2009 is the day that this dream came true. It is the day I submitted all my papers for registering as a sole trader. The day my freelance business cards arrived by courier, and the day that my website went live! It is so exciting! Beyond words! It is a dream come true for me! And everything is going just as it should and I planned.
My biz cards turned out great. Most biz card makers and printers require that data be submitted in Adobe Illustrator files, and seeing as I dont have AI, I was having trouble finding somewhere that would accept the data in another format. I found this site called Ibos and they have this nifty tool that allows you to design and create the data with their web-based tool. It only costs 1500 yen or so for 100 cards, and you can pay an extra 530 yen to have them express couriered to your door. The quality is amazing too, and you have a lot of freedom with your design.

So, here is my biz card. I blotted out my address and phone numbers just in case, but anyone who follows the link to my website can find out my name, numbers, etc, anyway. Speaking of links to the website, it went live today and I am really happy with it. I am not a techy person, and am really proud of myself for making my own site. I think it looks rahter professional for a homemade job. What do you think?
Check out Moji Magic Translations here.
I love the logo my friend Noriko designed for me. She has included the MM from Moji Magic and has made it into a friendly smiley face which she says will communicate my "client-friendly, approachable personality!" These are her words, BTW.
Also, this morning, I went and joined the local Aoiro Shinkoku Kai, which is an organization that offers support for local business operaters to help them with their book keeping and tax returns. You pay a monthly fee of 1500 yen (about 15 dollars), but you can go in anytime and ask them questions about your bookkeeping, how to claim expenses, how to write up your tax, submit tax-related forms, etc. The woman there was so helpful and I feel so much more confident that I can do this. The system is double entry bookkeeping, and acocunting has never been one of my things, so I am glad to have such a wonderful service at hand for a reasonable fee.

Sunday, our 1st wedding anniversary, was wonderful. We went out to lunch at a lovely hotel in Shiodome, and ate way too much! Mr. Nemo bought me some flowers, and in the afternoon we went down to have a late afternoon tea with his mum. It was a very romantic and beautiful day. I couldnt have asked for anything more. Here is a pic of the lovely flowers Mr. Nemo bought me.

So, with our perfect anniversary, and the launch of Moji Magic, I am on cloud nine! Everything is going just how it should be, and I am so happy.