Only In Japan

First of all, I'll share the picture from our balcony this morning at 7:45. 10 minutes after Craig opened his eyes and realized he didn't set the alarm to get Mia up for school since he's on leave. So the mad dash to get Mia to the bus stop at 8:05 was.... let's just say interesting. But the sunrise was purty.

Mia has gotten very creative and swirly. This is her new way of writing her name.
I am thinking the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I love to do lettering. And she's seen it before, so I'm all for fostering her amazing creativity!


Now - in the "Only in Japan" category... cell phone charms. Cell phones out here will NOT sell if there isn't a little space to attach a charm. I'm told the reason the iPhone was delayed here was because they had to make them with a place to loop the charm into. I believe it - EVERYONE here has jingly charms hanging from their phone! Well, I am not one to conform, but at the local photo/camera shop in town, they make charms where you can put a picture of your own on the face. There's a kid with a karate outfit, a panda bear - and this. A kimono-clad girl. Perfect for Mia's mug:
She's decked out with a bun, kimono, even little thongs. And you can't tell from the picture, but the face is contoured - the nose actually protrudes out a little bit. (If I had a macro lens, I'd show you - maybe one day soon). Here's the back:
Yeah, I sprang for it - and you know you want one now.

Lastly, Craig summoned me to try a demo driving game he downloaded on the PS3 this morning. It comes out for PS3 in January. I like driving games, and this one is really great. So I sat down and he told me what button did what - and as I began to drive - FAST - he was chuckling.

"What?"

"Well, I asked you to come try it because I wanted to see if you'd do the same thing," he says, as I swerve into a head-on collision with another car.

"What?!?"

"Drive on the left side."

"Oh. Shut up." And try as I might, I was huggin' that left. But I got lots of points for near misses.