Oops......

Well, I haven't been to the gym for a while. Two months actually. The time went by so quickly. First, I went away for Christmas. When I came back, I was sore from skiing and then visitors arrived. Then they left and the next day, another visitor arrived. Then she left and Wayne and I madly tried to make the apartment more user-friendly. Then I started school. A number of times I planned to go to the gym, but it was so cold riding on my bike that I thought I'd go home and wait for Wayne to get back with the car. By the time he got home, I was warm and settled in the apartment that I really didn't want to go out again. Then I got sick. Then I had more visitors. Then I got sick again.

Finally yesterday, I was ready to go back. Ready and eager. As I hadn't been to the gym for two months, I hadn't paid my January or February fees. I knew I'd have to pay both and was prepared for that.

Well, I arrived and the staff scanned my card. I got a shy look from the receptionist who asked me to wait. She ran and got someone. That women then looked at the computer and got someone else. They disappeared into a room together. I was asked to wait some more. The first women shyly said "So you haven't been here for a while....?". I agreed.

The second women came back to tell me the news. My membership had been cancelled! As I had been so slack and not been for two months, they cancelled my membership, ok, as I hadn't PAID for two months, they cancelled my membership. Bugger! I was told that I could sign up again, but would need to fill in all of the forms once more. Mmm.... problem there... I can't read Japanese and last time Natsuki helped me sign up. I asked if they had my old forms on file, which they did, so luckily I was able to just copy everything off them.

As with most things in Japan, it took time, but finally, I was once more a member, with a new card and everything. The funny thing is, it ended up costing me much less, about 10,000 yen (about $100) to have my membership cancelled and renewed than what I was going to pay for those two months.

I also have a private shoe locker at the gym which I pay for. In Japan, gyms will only allow you to wear "indoor shoes" and I was sick of carrying them to work and then to the gym each time I went. I told the receptionist that I also needed to pay for it. She asked me if I wanted to have my locker from the same day my new membership started (this coming Friday). I told her that actually, my shoes were still in there. She gave me a cute, sly smile and said "We'll start it from Friday" then in a whisper - "Don't worry, your shoes are still in there".

I now can't wait to get back to the gym this Friday. The weather is warming up and I'm feeling the need to get moving again and to work off that winter insulation I've been growing ;)

Happy Valentine's Day

Quote for the day from the hard copy of Japanzine, also found on-line here.

"News in Brief....

Husband Unaware He's Been Receiving Giri-Choco from Wife for
23 Years"

Hehehe..... you'll get it if you've ever lived here during Valentines Day....

For those of you who haven't, giri means obligation and well, choco is short for chocolate. Unlike the romantic intentions of Valentine's Day in other countries, in Japan, chocolate is given not only to a loved one, but also co-workers, teachers and friends or to anyone you feel obliged to. On this day, chocolate is usually only given by females to males. The girls and women receive gifts on White Day, which is March 14th.

I scored a nice little chocolate stash today, mostly homemade from students.

Here's a video for one of my favourite Japanese chocolate snacks, Pocky. I thought it was fitting for today.

Tired now...

What a night and what a morning! I think I've now done all I can. I've changed passwords twice (the second time after clearing out spyware), done three spyware scans, cancelled credit cards, increased the security on my internet banking, reported the issue and rung suppliers about the credit card issues.

Luckily the person never got any money from me, BUT I had to pay Paypal extra fees because of all this! Not happy about that at all!

It's quite ironic actually, as yesterday I gave myself a "sorting out my life" day. I figured out where every single cent I owned was. I sorted out Superannuation and checked on where the money was being invested, I checked investment account balances. The lot! So if there was ever a day when I was going to notice someone trying to take ten Euro from me, it was yesterday.

I'm quite worn out by all of this now. I'm picking up my parents in about 8 hours and still have to get out futons, finish cleaning the kitchen, do some remaining business stuff, but really all I want to do is eat McDonalds (I can't believe how much of a comfort food it has become since I've been in Japan), have a good stiff glass of vodka (none in the house right now, but the sake is looking tempting) and go to sleep. I can tell you though, I'm going to watch my accounts like a hawk now!

**** And the winner is.....
Mel! (the other Mel) - with a total of 670 critical objects. I don't feel so bad now.

Hopefully all accounts should be back up and running in a week.

195

195. 195. 195!

That's how many "Critical Objects" were found on my computer! Damn the stupid Microsoft Defender for not picking up a single one!

I feel violated (by someone hacking into my account - not by the spyware). I'm upset, I feel physically ill and I've had little sleep. I feel stupid for not having better protection on my computer. I feel stupid for trusting the protection I had. And I feel angry.

I'm also feel so glad that I have a wonderful husband who didn't get angry when I woke him up in the middle of the night asking how I check for spyware on my computer. He didn't get angry and he could tell me what to do straight away. He understood when I came to bed half an hour later upset and wide awake and sat up with me while I went over all my "What ifs". He's such a wonderful boy.

I know highly recommend everyone to download the free software through Google - AdAware. Do a scan on your computer. Check who's watching. Don't let these bastards get to you.

Bad case of the "what if"s

Since my last post I have just changed all my passwords and tried to get to sleep. Tried. As I was finally drifting off I thought, "What if the suspect email I got and clicked on the link managed to somehow install spyware on my computer. What if the minimal amount they tried to take from one account was a way of getting me to freak out and change my passwords. What if when I just changed all my passwords, they have been watching and now have not one but ALL of my passwords! What if!!!"

I now have two spyware scans running and in the last few minutes, they've already found 75 "Critical Objects"!! You're not paranoid if someone really is watching! I have firewalls, I have the bloody useless Windows Defender, I have virus protection and yet I have now 94 Critical Objects! That's 19 more found in the time it took me to write two sentences!

I really want to sleep now, but too scared that someone is watching.....

Bastards!

You think it'll never happen to you.... Well I always did... I was careful with passwords, careful where I access my accounts on-line, but it has happened. Someone is trying to get into a number of my accounts!

I was first barred from my eBay account the other day as someone had tried to use my credit card details so that card was cancelled. Today, I got an email that almost looked legit from Paypal asking for all my details. Almost. I had a good look at it and picked the mistake and reported it. Now my account has restricted access because in the last hour someone has tried to withdraw money from it! Bastards!

I now have to go through everything, change access details, the lot! What a pain. I'm just glad that three financial institutions I use have picked this up quickly. But someone has tried to hack into three of my accounts!!!

Scary! Very scary!

** Update
Not only a bastard, but maybe a complete idiot! Whoever has hacked into my account has tried to purchase credit for a phone account, so I have their phone number!

I'd like your opinion... do I call the number? Wayne says I shouldn't (he's worried about legal implications), but I'm pretty fired up and annoyed right now.. I'm thinking I should...

Yummmmm...

One great thing about visitors is the care packages!

The fabulous Christine brough with her; Darrell Lea Chocolate Bullets, flat bread and..... HOT CROSS BUNS! Ahh... I love Hot Cross Buns! Wayne and I just had some for breakfast with a lovely hot cup of "Cha Cha Chai" from T-licious.

I may have a cold, but I'm in food heaven!

Cold

Argh! I have a cold. I hate colds. I hate that feeling that your head is going to explode.

What I'd like to know, is why do I always get a cold when I have visitors? I caught up with the fabulous Christine and Aiden from Australia on Friday night. That morning, I woke up with a cold. Everyone was having a great time, martinis were flowing but I had to stick to mango juice and half-way through the night, I was ready to put on my pajamas and go to bed. It sucks!

I blame it partly on Wayne. I have my very own "Baikin Man" in my home. He almost never got sick back home in Australia, but is often catching colds here. Without fail, he gets one just before we have visitors arrive, then gives it to me in time for the day they arrive. Everytime! It has been suggested to me that it is me being stressed before visitors arrive that makes Wayne so stressed that he gets sick.... I think there could be some truth in that....

Last time my dad came to visit, he got a cold, passed it onto me and while I was trying to recover from it, he ended up in hospital with what the doctors were saying was "Menier's Disease". The doctors insisted that Wayne must have been incredibly stressed and wanted to know what he'd been doing the week before. Wayne told them that he'd been a little busy as my father had come to visit. The doctors sighed and said "well that makes sense, you were stressed because of your father-in-law's visit", gave him a knowing smile and then checked him into the hospital.

My parent's arrive for another visit this Wednesday.

I found this video, that shows how I feel at the moment....

Say What?

On Saturday, Wayne and I finally got a day to spend together. It has been ages since we've had free day just to be with each other, which is not good when we haven't even been married a year yet.

Our lives have become so busy. We both work full time, Wayne has almost two hours of commuting time to work every day, I teach three extra private classes, we both try to study Japanese (life would be easier here if at least one of us could communicate easily in Japanese), I try to get to the gym (I'm continuing to pile on weight which isn't good for either my health or my happiness), I have two businesses, we both have a number of blogs, Wayne trains in Iaido twice a week and then we try to catch up with friends on the weekend who are mostly an hour's drive away. To add to that, we've had a number of visitors and will continue to have more in the next few months. There hasn't been much time or energy left to put into "us". Wayne, who usually isn't one to complain actually said to me the other day "I want my wife back". I can tell you, the tears streamed after that!

So anyway, on Saturday, I had to pick up some paper for my card business in Australia, so Wayne and I decided to go for a drive together for the day. It was really nice. We stopped into Mino to get the paper and then headed towards Gifu city. There we went to a lovely shrine that was tucked into the bottom of a mountain. I always find the serenity of shrines food for the soul. We then went to the castle at the top of the mountain. It was a replica filled with museum pieces. Wayne was very happy as there were many different things to kill people with. Sometimes it concerns me how much my mild-mannered husband loves weapons. Returning home, we took a leisurely trip through a town I used to work in.

On our travels, we had a good giggle at a sign we saw. It said;

Pachinko

Slot

G-Site

I am happy if you play it easily

Why Translating Software Doesn't Work...

As I said in a recent post, I've been drowning in marking. Thankfully, I'm getting towards the bottom of the pile. I also mentioned that Jason is getting really good at writing the kanji for "translating software" to remind the students NOT to use it. Here's an example of a student's work that used the software;

I break a top in many case and brust into laughter and I write it and am character ized by a style of special signs such as a letter. (onomatopoeia.) movement, line, a concernation line, and comics are the general term of a style to express information for creation mainly on a picture and a letter. It can point at comics work as entertainment in a narrow sence.

Junk mail

I just got a new phone today. I was very excited about it. After being in the country for about 10 months, I finally have a phone with email. For those of you not in Japan, if I want to send a message from my phone here, to a friend's phone who isn't on the same network, I need to use email.

As I said I WAS very excited.

It seems that my phone email address I chose was way to easy.. so for the last few hours my phone has been buzzing with numerous junk mail messages! I've had four offers to buy cheap viagra in four hours!

I have been trying to work out how to change my address, but so far have had no luck! Help! I really don't need any viagra!

*Mmm just had a thought, I wonder if the mention of "viagra" in this post is going to change the advertisement at the top of my page to an offer for cheap viagra... hope not....

Not sure what sauce to use?

If you're having trouble deciding what sauce to use on your dinner tonight, maybe this video will help. Then again, maybe it won't but it's still good for a laugh.




Bonus points to anyone that can pick the really bad pun.....

Super Robot Anime

I'm currently sitting at my desk at school drowning under a pile of marking. We've given our Ko1 (high school first grade) students the task of preparing a presentation. While the actual class is a breeze to teach, there is so much checking of work to do afterwards. The correcting of garbled English and the boredom of hearing about the same baseball and soccer players is quite draining. Jason, who teaches Ko1 with me, is getting great at writing the kanji for "translating software" 翻訳, reminding students NOT to use it.

Every now and then though, a gem comes along and revives me. This is an introduction that came from a student;

I like Super Robot anime very much. It is the anime where active robots appear as heroes. Oh, who says "Gundam" now? What a fool man! Super Robot anime has a power that the other cartoons don't have. The power is called "Nekketsu" in Japanese. The power gives me the vigour to live every day. So I like it very much. Why don't you watch it?

I just love the "What a fool man!" and the fact that the robots' power gives him vigour to live. This kid is a classic otaku. He's really sweet, puts so much energy and expression into his presentations and is very passionate about his robots.

Hello Kitty Trivia

Do you know how tall Kitty-chan (Hello Kitty) is? She's five apples tall.

Do you know how much Kitty-chan weighs? The same as three apples.

How cute is that!

This is just one of the useful pieces of information I've been learning in my high school classes at the moment.

*In answer to your question Jason, I'd say you'd be able 18 dried mangoes tall (full mangoes, on their side if you want to be precise) ps I thought the text colour would go well with your shirt from yesterday ;)