Signs and portents

Dad has arrived - although I didn't see him until dinner time.

This week Hitomi and Rina prepared the guest apartment for his arrival since I seem to have had a heavy workload as well as fit several personal appointments into my seemingly overcrowded schedules this week. I had a hospital appointment, which went pretty well I might add. I went to get my hair done and Hitomi and I attended the first night or 'Gala night' of the Jazz festival being held at the international forum in Chiyoda-ku on Friday night. Despite the name I use I am not really a true jazz fan and neither is Hitomi. But she had been given these tickets for free and so it seemed such a waste not to use them. It was quite a pleasant evening really and we enjoyed the occasion. I liked what I heard so much that I may even have a look in the Jazz section of the CD store next week and treat myself!

On Saturday morning, Hitomi and I shared an early breakfast and then I rushed off to meet my work colleague Riko. I picked her up from outside the 7-11store in Takanawa close to where she lives and we made our way down to Kawasaki.
I usually like to check out locations before the day we have to attend them but as I've already said, I have had a really full itinerary these last few days and the best I could do at such short notice was to take a print off from Google maps of where I was supposed to be. In the blink of an eye or in our case, in between printing the maps and us physically looking for the location, streets change, buildings change and the labyrinth in which we live seems to change every week or at least before the map updates!
I decided to kill two birds with one stone and get some morning coffee and directions. I pushed at the door of a coffee shop that boasted a sign on the front declaring that they were open "24 hours a day" but it was closed for 'staff training!'
How much training does someone need to serve coffee?
I phoned Yoshi because she was supposed to be here as well. Anyone would imagine it is quite easy locating a high multi level car park even in a strange part of the city especially when assisted with our Google map print outs!
All the buildings here are tall!

"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind, a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the sign post up ahead, your next stop...The Twilight Zone!"
Yoshi answered her phone and we told her where we were. She said we were just three blocks away!
Armed with expert instructions we arrived on level eleven of the car park, parked and walked up to the twelfth level. The whole level has recently been renovated and before it is assigned back to parking cars, its been acquired by the Bunka Fashion College for a pretty big photo shoot to showcase their top students works in the street fashion genre. The location is so urban that it will create a very metropolitan and 'in your face' public ambiance to set the mood just right.
Today was simply getting the interviews, an in-depth look and feel behind the scenes as an introduction to the main article that will cover the events held each evening this week. I didn't feel guilty once about interrupting their preparations.
I shall miss all this once November arrives.

I managed to get home by five by which time my father and the girls, Kazumi and Kyomi, had arrived and already settled in. After a long shower getting rid of the 'urban feel' we had dinner together in the restaurant downstairs. Normally Hiro can't sit still for long without running off to check something or other. When dad sits at the table though he won't get up at all! I like this apparent enforced calming of his seemingly hyper-activity or the application of super glue on his chair! But if you look at his eyes, they are darting everywhere and he quickly gives the waitresses her instructions to pass on to the staff!
Dad and Hitomi talked about golf and they both feel that they are somewhat accomplished in the sport. Personally I'm quite happy if I can hit the ball with the stick club, never mind try to drop the ball into holes strategically placed along manicured lawns.
The 'nineteenth hole' seems to be the place I'm most interested in!
Suffice to say, Dad now has a date with Hitomi on the golf course.
The girls and I were discussing home made face packs to keep your facial skin looking great even when you don't want to spend a lot of money on cosmetic products.
So girls (and boys, this can make your skin look pretty good too!) all you need to keep your face looking great is a mixing bowl, a blender and a bathroom far from the madding crowd and other tormenting voices.
From the supermarket you buy honey, Avocado, cucumber and bananas.

For normal skin blend about 50 -60 grams of cabbage with some water and apply this mixture directly to your face. This will tighten pores and help prevent wrinkles. Try not to remain smelling like a cabbage! Wash your face after it has dried! Kyomi also says that you can achieve better results by beating an egg and applying this to your skin but it's very messy. Again wash off the remains after it has dried.
For oily skin you blend a cucumber and apply. This will make your face feel fresh and tight.
For dry skin mix up two over ripe bananas with a dash of honey into a paste and apply this to your face. Again wash it off when it dries - this is a fantastic moisturizer - and yes, I've tried this one!

If you have acne then mixing a 50-50 ration of water and baking powder (baking soda, cream of tartar and cornstarch) which is a gentle way of ex-foliating and removing dead skin cells. Then take half a lemon and squeeze the juice into boiling water. Leave this to cool and then add that to some cool but freshly boiled milk and apply to your face.
At bedtime you can rub your face with a slice of lemon and sleep. Overnight this will put your skin balance back to normal and make your skin wonderfully soft.
While you're waiting for it to dry do read this cosmetic site: It has some great tips.

Hitomi & I spent the latter part of the evening up in the Mars and it seems the rumors were true. No Kuri and no Azami and all the gossipers are naturally talking all about them since they are not around to defend themselves.
I thought about phoning them but I really felt that this would not be a good idea!
They've been together almost as long as Hitomi and I have. This is a bad sign!

For a good sign, I hope you like my new 'favicon'!
I used this image as the basis for it, I also used the text in this image to add to the photo-shopped image I used in my "inside Jazz" image for a previous post.
I don't like the standard blogger icon of a white 'B' on an orange background.
So I went to this site to make my own and also have them host it! I registered and made my own icon (they also have some already made in a gallery that you could use) and they host it for me. I then just copy the few lines of code that they give me into my page html and this is the result! So now when you're on my page you get to see 'JAZZ' as the favicon.
Cool huh?
It also appears in bookmarks and on 'tabs' for those of you who use tabbed browsers!

I think it adds a certain touch or as the French say, "je ne sais quoi!"
What do you think?

PS: You have one week left in which to contact me with a Google-mail account if you want to continue reading me once I go private next Saturday.