I had a fun day today. I went to check out the Cherry Blossom festival in Japantown, and ended up watching 1) taiko drumming 2) japanese court dances 3) a demonstration in Ikebana the art of japanese floral arrangement and 4) a martial arts demonstrations from two dojos.

We had many japanese neighbours on our block, so I grew up with japanese culture. Our next door neighbour always gave up japanese sweets (they're not very sweet) on New Years day, and other japanese holidays. On Boy's Day May 5, they call it Children's Day in Japan now, our japanese neighbours flew carp/koi fish streamers from bamboo poles. I always thought if I had a son, I would celebrate Boy's Day and fly carp/koi fish for him. As a child, I always loved the carp fish flying on May 5.

Girl's Day is March 3, and on that day our japanese neighbor always gave me a handmade japanse doll.

We also had a japanese television station in Hawaii with subtitles, and I sometimes watched the shows. I still remember some of their tv movies I saw growing up, which were mostly about the effects of the nuclear bomb on the families of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One show that I remember was about how all the children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sent into the mountains before the nuclear bomb attack, and came home afterwards to find out they had only one parent or were orphans.

In the movie, one of the children now grown up remembered vividly what her life was like before the bomb attack and how happy and rich it was, and how depressing and impoverished her life was afterwards. Her dad was so shell shocked, he never talked about what happened or her mother's death either. He just worked very hard to take care of the both of them. It was such a sad, sad show.

You don't see shows on American TV, where they dwell so much years later on the effects of war on our country. Maybe with 9/11 they will, but I wonder if they will show it on TV all the time like they used to in Japan.

I'm too young to remember, but I wonder if they has tv shows about what life was like after World War 2 and the Vietnam War in America. But then America was not attacked in those wars.

I love japanese food as well, even more so than chinese food, only because I grew up eating japanese food more than I ate chinese food.

The japanese culture is so full of contradictions. On the hand, much of japanese culture is so refined, ordered and delicate like Ikebana, the tea ceremony, japanese court dances and bonsai. But then there's the wild and tribal stuff, like sumo wrestling, which is so fun to watch, and taiko drumming. On the one hand, you have the big noisy cities like Tokyo, and on the other hand, you have the buddhist temples and giant peaceful buddha statue at Kamakura.

I've never been to Japan, and I'd love to go. Everybody I know that's gone says it's just an amazing place. Perhaps my next vacation will be to Japan. I wonder how much this trip will set me back.

I signed the lease today on my new one bedroom apartment with the ocean viws.

Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! I'm scared.

Experts say moving is one of life's biggest traumatic events. I've been in my place for almost 8 years. I've been happy here for the most part, except for probably the last two years. Things just became progressively worse over the two years, and then circumstances lined up which made living here intolerable as well as impractical. I probably wouldn't have moved had it not been for the noisy neighbour upstairs and my needing to work at home.

I can see myself at the end of my life musing that the path and journey I took to get to my new apartment was fated to be. I was ready to make the change, but change is hard so life got in the way and forced me.

I know I am moving to a roomier and quieter place. I have parking, which is just unbelievable. Most apartments in SF don't come with parking, or landlords charge you extra for it. My parking was included as part of the rent. I am on the top floor of a two-story, four apartment building, so there are no apartments on either side of me and no need to worry about noisy neighbors except for the person below me. The place is carpeted, but I'm putting my own carpet in anway just to block noises coming from below my apartment.

I met my new neighbour who lives across the hall from me. He seemed a nice older man. He was wearing a puka shell necklace, which he told me he got as a present from a friend in Hawaii. Just seeing the puka shell necklace and hearing Hawaii mentioned made me think maybe this was a good sign that I had found a good place to live. I hope so.

I added a new link under Sites to See. I found The Moonlit Road site a long time ago by chance. Here's what the first page says, "Ghost stories and strange folktales of the American South, told by the region's most celebrated storytellers."

You can either read the stories or listen to them with Real Audio. If you like ghost stories and oral storytelling, you'll love this site. On the site right now is a story called "A Mother's Love" from North Georgia. It's a good story and very eerie!

It's probably sick jokesters, but still this is so not funny - Envelopes containing a white powder were opened Tuesday at three Alameda County law enforcement agencies, prompting hazardous material teams to respond in each instance.