Many of you Virgos anticipate a thrilling (perhaps glamorous) change in your career during the next few months
               -- said my horoscope for the Spring Equinox weekend of 20-21 March. 

Still no plane ticket to jet me off to that glamorous change ... another 'aha' moment -- as soon as that plane ticket is issued I will have, in my hand, proof I am leaving Japan after 34 years. So no plane ticket, no proof; the chaos in the apartment can be chalked up to nonstop partying, right....

Sent in my ad for Kansai Time Out classifieds -- Sayonara Sale category; I am, as subscriber #360, the longest still-subscribing subscriber to Kansai Time Out. Another piece of the jigsaw of identity bites the dust: my subscription ended with the March issue and I'll be in the Sayonara Sale part of the April one.

The buddy system has a lot going for it, since this blog now exists outside my dreams-and-wishes
life because of my Blog Buddy, Richard. We told each other how we wanted to do a blog, but it wasn't until Richard made a deal with me to have ours up at a certain time that I did it. Now to find a Moving Prep
Buddy, somebody who would make deals with me to finish things and who would do some of the awful stuff, like phone calls, for me. Some people have a buddy system where one does the awful chores for the other, the chores we don't mind doing for someone else but put off if we have to do them ourselves. Like, somebody to find the telephone line broker shop in Kobe. Like somebody to talk to the Pension People. Like somebody to take care of the garage sale.

When you send in your change-of-address upon knowing you're leaving, do most of them as soon as you can since it takes months for our automated society to change a magazine subscription address. But don't change your airline frequent flyer address because if you decide to use some of those miles to to home on, the airline will send the ticket to your new address! And don't change the bank and credit card addresses until you receive the penultimate statement. 

You have to give up your Japanese-based credit card when you leave, so good-bye Gold Citibank credit card with NWA miles attached, worse luck. The real bad news is that if you charge your airline ticket on the card you will NOT be covered during your trip with all the good insurance, etc. a Visa card charge gives you since your card will have been cancelled.                     <***>

          --Rachel's work desk, facing Mom's living space, with my bed (beige duvet) seen on the right, against the bathroom wall.
Rachel and I will be the caregiving team for Mom.

           --Life among the moose in Eagle River.  A long way from opening my mouth for a sip of champagne at the 
Apres le champagne bar!.

   I wanted my grandmother's trees. It would take some effort and it would cost a lot, sure, but by transplanting those trees I'd be able to save something precious, right? It doesn't seem like that much effort when you consider that those trees might go on growing there at our new house until my grandchildren's generation. On the other hand, if you dig down to the roots and chop them down and get rid of them, that's the end of it.
~ There is no Lid on the Sea

     Thanks,     Richard