Down to the Wire

My last dog, Fanam, lying on Mom's bed.
I cleaned out the photos on my phone and found this picture.
He was such a good dog and we sometimes find
memories like this around the house.

These past two days have pretty much been me doing the mundane things in life. Sure there was a lot of laundry doing and dish washing, but there was also a good deal of out-and-about-the-town chores that would have made a language textbook proud. You know the chapters in every foreign language book entitles "Going to the Bank" or "Let's Mail a Letter" so that students can learn vocabulary and customs for how to do those activities in a target culture. Well, while doing all my chores I thought, "If only I had a camera crew with me, I could be creating videos for a textbook dialogue." I think about these things on slow days, especially without an mp3 player to drown out my mind. With that said, I have heard from the company in Japan that I'm trying to work for; they said that it will be 2-3 weeks to get the official and final word from their offices. I hope that they approve of my application!

Tonight I have a going-away meeting with my family tonight. Of course, I want the chance just to see them before I leave, but as a joke, the other day I posted the following on Facebook:

Few of you know that it has been my secret wish to travel to Canada and embark on a special release project. Certain members of my family are specially invited to Grandma's house this Saturday to help me with the final stage of this project. If you have any Canadian coins (either large or small) or Canadian bills, please attempt to hand them off to one of the aforementioned guests so that I may collect these currencies and trek to Canada to release them into their natural habitat: a Tim Horton's tip jar. Thank you ahead of time for your cooperation.

Think about it: Canadian money is so unloved in America (much like our own pennies). They don't work in American machines, you can't use them in the stores (in theory), so they just sit there in you pocket, purse, or drawer. No purpose. However, in Canada, those same coins could buy a cup of coffee, be donated to help a good cause, or just travel around and circulate in society as free as a Canadian goose! That is why I would like to see the Canadian coins that I have rescued and collected since my last trip  there to have a chance to once again be readopted in their homeland! A rehabilitation project of sorts.

Time to pack and finalize my travel plans now, though. Getting close to take off time and I don't want to forget a thing! I lost my passport in all the moving stuff yesterday, but it is found now, thankfully!! I'll write more later!