National Infertility Month

My best friend asked me to write about all the CRAZY crap I have seen in Texas so far. However, I feel I have to touch this subject. So... if one more person gives me advice, tells me I won't understand until, or offers their condolences... well, I might just snap! I have the world's best husband, honestly-wouldn't still be walking upright like a human if he wasn't my backbone! However, with all the support in the world, infertility is the devil. I see crack whores get pregnant and have babies. Yeah, the babies probably have long-term problems, but do you know what I wouldn't give to have a BABY? No matter what the problems? I am quite frustrated tonight. Not sure why... I love children. My nieces and nephew are awesome. My friends have awesome kids. I even love kids I have worked with (whether through gymnastics or Japanese students), but tonight I am insanely frustrated. I want a baby. I want a baby with MY husband. No surrogate. Just the two of us. I hate that we can't have that. People tell me "at least you can travel." FUCK YOU! What I wouldn't give to have a baby. I would give my left arm AND leg... you have no idea what this feels like. I try not to be jealous or envious of my friends and family when they share their good news. I don't want to be Debbie Downer. I just want people to be more respectful. Don't bitch about your blessings. Realize that morning sickness is something I would cherish. Heartburn is something I would be ecstatic about. Some little kicking the shit out of my ribs would be the most cherished thing in the world to me. So stop bitching. You have something that so many women DREAM about and can't have. So SHUT UP and enjoy every waking pain that comes your way! If you have a healthy baby, count your blessing and say a prayer for those of us that can't. And with that, I will get off my soapbox and quit with my pity party.

Back in the swing of things!

Wowsers! Haven't blogged in a LONG time. Over a year. I am so bad. Now that I am settled in my new house in Texas (not all put away, but settled) I need to get back in the groove of writing. So, as my first post back in the states, I need to make a list of things I need to write about. For starters, Seoul, South Korea for my birthday. Also, the journey back to "the America." I also ran in a Disney Half Marathon, moved to Texas, bought a new vehicle, have been running like a mad person - mostly mad when trying to not scream like a little girl at the rattlers down here, and have been making new friends. LOTS to discuss... but I will start that tomorrow! Haha! Goodnight moon.

The BIG Earthshake 2011 in Misawa, Japan

Life in Japan got interesting really fast on Friday, March 11th a little after 2:30 in the afternoon. A 9.0 earthquake rocked the east coast of Honshu island, the largest and main island of Japan. The epicenter was closest to Sendai, which is about 3 hours south of where I live in Misawa. Needless to say, the earth was really moving! After living in the ring of fire for the last 6 years, I was hesitant to get up since I was sitting on the couch eating my lunch. However, the shaking kept going and growing! I grabbed the tortoise and dogs and went outside. I had to lean on the fence because the swaying was really making it hard to stand. Everything was moving pretty violently outside too. The cars at the dealership next door were literally bouncing around the parking lot!! Once the shaking seemed to stop we made our way back inside, as it was VERY cold out. We discovered the power had gone out, so I pulled out the iphone and tried to call Scott to let him know we were okay. Phone lines were down as well. So, I got on facebook since 3G was still up and running! I put out a post that I was ok, but then I started looking on Twitter for news updates. I learned about the tsunami warning and kept up to date on what was going on. I hated that I had no way to talk to Scott. Aftershocks started almost immediately and some were REALLY large. Scott was finally home around 4:30 and let us know how things on base were fairing. We figured power wouldn't be on for a while so we pulled out the candles and flashlights. By now we started hearing reports on the tsunami and all of the devastation it caused around Sendai and Fukushima. Not to mention the smaller coastal towns, many that we have visited and loved, were completely wiped out. Reports of 18,000 missing. Coastal trains were swept out to sea. Whole families gone. Wow. The people and country that we have grown to love, the place we have called home for over 3 years is just wiped out.

So, to deal with the power outage and freezing cold we bundled up with friends and bunkered down in the house. Saturday morning we made our way to base to get a few supplies - needed water for the dogs! We had enough for us, but we can't leave the boys without water!!! Anywho, we picked up a few things and socialized with others - really helped deal with what was going on! Plus it was good to see everyone and know they were okay! Our iphone 3G service went down late Friday night, so we had no form of communication at this point. It was really hard to not have a way to call home and let my mom know I was alive and safe. Oh, and the aftershocks were still really coming in and strong at this point. We heard from base leadership about what was going on with power, phones, water, gas, and basically what the emergency plan was! We were very glad to hear that all Honshu bases had 100% active duty and family member accountability. That meant all of our friends were safe, whether we had heard from them or not. Our mamasan stopped by to make sure we were fairing well, she is so sweet and we love her so much! The Japanese have really taught us how to stay calm in the face of a crisis, we ended up just spending time with our friends and neighbors to stay warm and keep the mood light. Power was eventually restored on Sunday around noon. Base didn't have power yet, but they were working hard to get everyone back up and running. Out in town we were lucky with electric, and we got on the phone right away to call the folks. Our friends called home after us! We were finally able to get online and see some of the videos of what had happened. It was so scary! Towns 15 mins south of us were just flooded by the wave, boats were scattered across the pier! The images really hit hard, being in the dark also meant the reports were just speculation... seeing the devastation made it real. And we found out our own Misawa port had been pretty messed up too. Luckily, no body in Misawa was killed or injured. The urge to help spiked, we were ready to go into action. Well, Melanie J. and I were at least!

So, Misawa Air Base proved there are still good hearted Americans. The donation collection and volunteer cleanups kicked off ASAP. US AID and Foreign Search and Rescue Teams showed up from around the world and the save the day spirit spread. Of course there were the annoying woo is me complainers, we will never be free of those. Good word came when we found out they would be doing a voluntary departure for those family members who felt unsafe here. I completely agree that the people who had traumatized children or anyone with medical conditions needed to get out, plus it would help with supply issues... but people were going a little overboard with the "I wants"... I want money, per diem, rental cars, hotels, etc... GO HOME AND QUIT COMPLAINING! The departure process was insane! Very crazy with psycho people running around and not knowing what they were doing. We were in no real danger, but they acted like the sky was falling. Made me laugh. Quite a few of my good friends left, and I felt bad for them since they had to deal with the crazies :) I opted not to go. My carbon footprint is very small. I can't bring the dogs back to Japan after the departure ends due to the quarantine issues. And I can help. The whole not having a job situation means I have time to donate to very strenuous and demanding manual labor. So, my life over the last two weeks has been very up and down, not to mention side to side with all the quakes! I have been getting a great workout and it has been emotionally healing to get my hands busy cleaning up with my Japanese friends.

I love this country. I love these people. I wish I could take the pain and devastation away. I am glad I am here to experience first hand how awesome the Japanese are, no looting, no violence. The people have helped each other, shared what little they have to make sure everyone has something! The world should take notes, in the face of complete disaster - THIS IS HOW YOU BEHAVE! So, before I get off my soapbox - please help Japan. Send what you can, donate what you can. ShelterBox and Japanese Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support are two of my favorite groups that were boots on ground within 24 hours.

CRAP!

My luck is just the worst... WORST! So, my car has just gone kaput. It is now sitting, cold and alone, in a parking lot on base. Not sure what is wrong yet, but I am sure it will be super expensive...

Deployment is almost over!

He should have been home by now, but alas, Kim Jong Il is psycho - who knew? haha! We hope that he will be home within the week. Believe me, I am ready! I don't care about anything but getting him home. We are hoping we don't have to attend the holiday party for his command, but I am afraid someone already bought us tickets and we are going to be forced to go, BOO! Oh well, at least I have lost 20 lbs. since Scott left, YAY ME! I can now run a half marathon without dying. I am getting in great shape and I feel much better. I did not scrapbook or learn to cook new dishes, but I worked out and walked the dogs. That is more than meeting my goals as far as I am concerned. Oh, and I did make it to the Hirosaki Chrysanthemum Festival, it was really pretty! All in all, I accomplished what I wanted. Scott and I were both miserable throughout this deployment, but we made it through. Just praying he is home in a couple days so I don't regret saying we made it :)

Progress on my Deployment Goals

So, just a quick progress update on how the goals are coming along!

1. I have lost weight. Not enough yet, but about 5-6 lbs. so far! Swimming, running, biking, belly dancing and more are helping.

2. Have walked the dogs all but two days since Scott left. I blame the insane hangover and the torrential downpour for those two days. However, very proud that we have been out and walked more than 2 miles almost every single day!

3. Scrapbooking... a little let down on this one. I did get two more pages done in one album!!! I will have to buckle down on this one a little more.

4. Culinary wiz - I have learned one dish. Just one. However, it is delicious and I want to make it ALL the time. So, I have to stop making it and learn a few more.

5. See Japan - does going to the Beef and Garlic Festival again count? Haha! I have been so busy with Navy Ball and such that I just haven't been out. I hope to get up to Hakkoda for the changing of the leaves in the next couple of weeks. Not sure when they will change. Also hoping to get to Hirosaki for the Chrysanthemum festival later this month or in early November.

That's the quick update... yay for still being on track! Oh, and I have a couple new friends in the house. They are Darrell Allejandro, the Chinese 5 Color Hot Pepper Plant that is pictured on this page, his brother Darrell Herman, the green and white fern thing, and Darrell Penelope the green and pink fern thing... Scott wanted to name them all Darrell for the Bob Newhart Show characters. The middle names are the ones I wanted to use originally. Yes, he whined when I said no at first! Big baby.

Takko Machi Beef and Garlic Festival!

This year's trip to the Beef and Garlic Festival was fantastic! First of all, we did not get lost for 2 hours. YAY! Second, we got there in time to get the rotisserie beef. Yes, they rotisserie a half-side of beef. AND IT IS SO DELICIOUS! Don't get me wrong, I love steak on a stick, as the picture indicates, but the sliced, rotisserie beef was more scrumptious than I can describe in words. The yakiniku garlic sauce they had for it was pretty amazing as well. Third, they are now serving fried oreos in Takko! And what is better than fried oreos you say? Fried oreos with whipped cream on top of course! And last, but not least, I was surrounded by great friends. Miyuki, Karin, Kari, and Bailey are all wonderful ladies and it was so fun to stuff ourselves together in Takko!

So, in order to not feel so guilty about eating this giant smorgesborg of food I ran well over a marathon throughout the week. Well on my way to getting back in shape. Now that we have the whole not guilty about eating thing out of the way, here are some of the yummy treats we enjoyed: rotisserie beef with garlic yakiniku sauce, fried garlic on a stick, steak on a stick, garlic fries, a chocolate/vanilla soft serve ice cream, chocolate covered banana with sprinkles on a stick, and of course fried oreos! Wowsers! Had I not been so stuffed, I would have totally gone back for seconds. Oh, and sweet, little Karin let us have some of her cotton candy on the way home too!

We also stopped at the Nambu Town farmer's market to get some fresh fruit and veggies on the way home. The whole market smelled like grapes. The most wonderful scented grapes EVER! So Bailey bought some plums, those were great! I picked up some amazing looking corn on the cob, can't wait to make those! I also bought a pepper plant, hope I don't kill it :) Oh, and Miyuki bought some of those yummy smelling grapes - they were good! Kari bought some apple juice and some pears, hopefully she brings me a pear when I make the corn and we can swap, cause they looked goooooood!

Of course I needed to stick to my goal of walking the dogs at least two miles, so when we returned home Miyuki and Karin helped me take the boys on a 3 mile adventure. Brewster and Darby were really excited to have other people around. All in all, it was a good Saturday. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Scott were home.

Navy Ball is this coming Friday. It is going to be a long week of running, swimming, P90X, and dieting. My new dress is beautiful, now if I can shrink my boobs enough to fit into it :( If not, I have a back up from a couple years back. The new one is so pretty and looks so great, except for the smooshed boobs part. Surely there will be lots to post about in the next week.