Someone banged on the door.  Callie was all excited.  She loves strangers.  I peeked through the blinds to make sure that it was not some 6-foot-5 Godzilla ready to attack.  It was a middle aged lady.  I opened the door.

Her:  Do you have a cage?

Me:  Uh…  I think so.

Her:  Can I take a look at it?

Me:  Excuse me.  Why?

Her:  Didn’t you list it on the paper?  I am here to see it.

Me:  I don’t think I did.

Her:  Didn’t I just talk to you about the cage?

Me:  I don’t think you did.

Her:  Is this xxTH place?

Me:  Yes.

Her:  Didn’t you give me the address and directions on the phone?  I put it in my gadget and it took me here.

Me:  I don’t think I did.  How about this?  What is the address, the full address, you were looking for?

Her:  Hang on!

She ran to her car.  My heart began to race.  It was pounding in my ears.  Oh, please.  Don’t let her get a gun.  I am not ready to kick the bucket yet.

Her:  Here it is.  Isn’t this your address?

Me:  Close, but no.  We are 09, but you are looking for 17.

Her:  Huh?

Me:  Look.  (I pointed to the plate that showed our house number.)  Ours is 09, but it is 17 on your paper.

Her:  Huh? 

Me:  Well, I think 17 is in our development, but I don’t know which house it is.

Her:  Huh?

Yesterday was the smart ass recording.  And now this.  No wonder the piece of paper I got from the fortune cookie tonight while we were eating at the Panda Express was, “Reward yourself with something you deserve.”  Indeed!

I had to call the XXX hospital to make a payment over the phone for Matt because the bill has not been paid by the insurance company of the at fault party from a car accident two months ago.  At 4:45 PM, I called and was put in a queue…

The music was not too bad.  And then, a lady’s voice, from recording, interrupted the music.  Let’s call her Natasha.

Natasha:  Did you know that your account number is right on the billing statement?

Duh!!!  Was she serious?  The music played again.

Natasha:  Did you know that you can pay over the phone or via the mail?

This is not at all what I could ever prepare myself for.  Am I not already on the phone and waiting to give them the money?  The music continued.

Natasha:  Did you know that we printed information on both sides of the billing statement?

No, Natasha.  I did not know.  Both sides?  Shocking.  And then, another woman’s voice, still from recording, interrupted.  Let’s call her Zelda.

Zelda:  We are experiencing extremely high volume of calls.  Please continue to hold.  Thank you.

Natasha:  Did you know that you can now pay by credit or debit card?

Zelda:  We are experiencing extremely high volume of calls.  Please continue to hold.  Thank you.

Natasha:  Did you know that we listed the office hours on your billing statement?

FIONA:  Our office is currently closed.  Our office hours are …  Please call again during our office hours.  Thank you.

Click.

Kathy, Matt and I were waiting to be seated at a restaurant.  We were talking about nothing in particular while one woman just kept staring at Kathy.  Finally, Kathy saw her and they both screamed each other’s name and hugged each other like sisters separated at birth.  Matt and I were left alone since Kathy was deeply engaged with the woman and her family.  We walked over towards the desert section.

Matt:  “What do you think about the deserts?”

Me:  “Hmm…  Nothing speaks to me, which is good.”

Matt:  “Ha!  Everything speaks to me.  They are all screaming, ‘Matt, eat me, eat me.’”

We turned around and found that Kathy was done talking with her friends.  They were being seated.  Kathy sat down on the bench and told us who they were and what they did for a living.

Kathy:  “(Whispering)  THEY are filthy rich.  Just filthy rich.  Unbelievable.  But you know, I don’t want that kind of stress.  Not worth it.”

Me:  “I don’t mind.  Stress me out.  I want that kind of stress.”

Imagine Miss Meow Meow will be forever grateful and in debt to me because I can buy her not just one but three Cat Cocoons at $330 each. 

Matt will forever be my slave when I buy him this spectacular Milk Bottle Lamp for just $1600.  (The dog and the baby are not included.)

Thanks, Mom, for making this trip to Japan the best ever.

Day 2:  January 30, 2008

It was a beautiful morning as we were eating breakfast and looking out of the window.  We were excited about today’s itinerary.  It was all about snow today.  A perfect day to freeze our butts off.  First, we were heading to the Shirakaba Lake for the Crystal Festival.  And then, we would go to a ski resort for some sledding fun.  After lunch, it would be a three-hour bus ride to the Shinhotaka Ropeway.  There, we could ride the cable car to a stop at 7073 feet of the Hotakadake mountain.

Once we got to the Shirakaba Lake, we were disappointed.  The Crystal Festival was cancelled because there wasn’t enough snow and it wasn’t cold enough.  Thanks to the global warming.  Supposedly, the Crystal Festival each year drew thousands and thousands of people to see the work of art and wonder of ice.  The craftsman turned ice into beautiful sculpture.

We wandered through the gallery and saw the paper-cutting art exhibit.  We were not allowed to take photographs.  The artwork was unlike anything I had seen before.  It was breathtaking.

After we took some pictures outside of the gallery, we continued our journey.

The slide show below captured where we went on our second day in Japan.  Click on the picture to move onto the next one, or it will change every 10 seconds.
If you prefer, here is the complete list of the pictures.