Return to normalcy

Well maybe……….

The last few days have been amazing to say the least. It is amazing to me how quickly one can get sucked backed into all the stuff that you thought you had left behind. It seems that every time I turn around I am spending money!

Utilities need deposits-“Do you have a letter from your past utility?” ,”No”, ” 300 dollar deposit please”.

Need a new drivers license? Here ya go-30 dollars please. ( Don’t even ask what it is taking to get the S.O. an Alabama drivers license. Japanese Drivers License? Sorry, here is a book-you can take the written and drivers test next week).

Which is just as well because the S.O. and I have to have a long heart to heart about the way she drives. The concept of “scan” and “drive defensively” is apparently lost on her. ” I do one thing at a time”. ” Not on an interstate going 55 mph you don’t!”

What is that you say?  Your final pay from Japan is all screwed up? And you find out about on a Friday night before a 3 day weekend because you had to wait all day for the cable guy to hook up your internet? So sorry call back Tuesday………….

And the pieste de la resistance? I now have a new car-with an associated car payment. I am an idiot.

Deep inside the little voice that screams at you, ” You are making a big mistake!” is working overtime.

However for the weeks investment we are in our place. We have temporary furniture until the shipment arrives. We have wheels. I have been in touch with my new employer and that all seems on track to start and hopefully begin offsetting this non stop financial hemorrhaging. Tuesday though is going to find me using new levels of profanity with one of Cleveland’s cadre of civil servants.

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“This is a dangerous country. Everything is so big here””The S.O.

Well yes darling that is true. And it applies to more than serving portions at dinner. 🙂

Suffice it to say, her introduction to the world of Bubba and Larry has been something of a shock to her nervous system. Never one to suffer well the serving class, it has begun to bother her immensely that folks do not simply jump to because she says “Sumimasen”. In particular her disgust with the staff of the DMV made itself readily apparent. As well as the idea of tipping in a restaurant still drives her up the wall. It has not helped that I need to attend to my personal issues and do not have a lot of time to devote to her whining. She is getting over it slowly, but her down mood is not doing a lot for my morale ( or libido……….which it would be nice if she would console me a bit).

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She was out of her mind the first night because we thought we had lost the cat. We came home and he was no where to be found. The cat was way up on top of the cabinets in our apartment. No fool he-enjoying watching us run around in fear- he did not utter so much as a whimper. We finally found him quite by accident when I saw out of the corner of my eye a swish of his tail. That would have been all I needed was for the cat to get lost. Thank goodness it’s a first story apartment. She could not have thrown herself out of the window…….

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My new place of employ invited us out the the baseball game-even though I do not start till later this week. Shopping Mall USA has a AA team here, and I had not been to a minor league game in years. The S.O. is not much of a baseball fan, even though here brother played in high school. She enjoyed it though-although she was more than a little surprised at the amount of beer the folks in the stands consumed around us. The Stars lost a close one-by not converting with the bases loaded in the 8th.

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So the adventure continues. I need to get a desk and I can improve my blogging frequency. I am sitting on the floor typing this on my laptop. My knees hurt so I need to stop for now. When the shipment gets here-things should get better. More to follow-please stay tuned.