For the Criminally Inane

 Okay, okay. I watched it. I did. And I enjoyed it! In case you've been living under a rock these past few months and don't know, K-Pop Demon Hunters is a Netflix animated movie about...K-pop stars (Korean pop singers) who also save us from demons who are breaking through from the other side. It was actually a lot of fun. My daughter told me about it at the beginning of summer, but since I don't have a Netflix account, I had to wait until she came to visit and we watched it on her account. What I liked about it It was actually refreshing to watch something so fun without a "message" attached. The girls were relatable. sure they dressed up in their pop clothes but we have lots of scenes with them wearing comfy clothes when in their down time. The characters are relatable. They're actually like real people, not artificial people.  The demons were HOT. Popcorn is coming out of my eyes right now. Can you have a crush on a cartoon? I love it that the characters we...

 I would travel to Japan just to eat the food. What we call Japanese food here or even supermarket sushi just can't compare to the majesty of authentic Japanese food. Here are a couple of things I noticed while eating in Japan. I've heard rumors you can't leave your plate empty. I don't know if this is true. If so, I'd guess it's left over from WW2 when wasting food was ungrateful. They might give you long looks if you don't finish, but you won't get berated. Don't put bags on the floors. Japanese restaurants even small ones will have a place for your bag. Most of the time, we found bins by our tables to put our shopping treasures in. But this one, teeny tiny yakiniku place had a hook to hang a bag or a few bags from.  Use the wet towels to clean your hands before eating. Even in the cheapest ekiben shop, they'll give you a wet towel to wipe your hands with. You've been on public transportation every day. Use the wet towel to wash your hands....

  I am crowdfunding Book 2 in the Stitchbinding Chronicles. If you don't know about Crowdfunding READ HERE  to get details on what crowdfunding means. About the book: If you like hot assassins, secret lairs, and people being unjustly imprisoned, join me for the next installment of the Stitchbinding Chronicles. Lineya heads to the Krashe mountains to learn the secrets of Woolworsting. But Oakum sends an assassin to make sure she never returns. But while she's there, she must find out the mystery behind why people are disappearing from Krashe.  You can sign up for the pre-launch so that you'll be notified on launch day Nov 12, `2025. Join the party! 

I feel like writing a blog is passé now that we have social media but I do like the long form of storytelling that I just miss from short form social media. I don't do it often because I feel like it takes away from my precious writing time, especially during the summer when I want to spend the last few rays of summer sunshine with my kids at home. But I also love telling stories. Especially funny ones. And this is a story I think you'll enjoy. Once upon a time, Rob and I got engaged, about 1000 years ago. We were dirt poor. I had about $200 in the bank and we got married on love and hope. But I had attended a church meeting where they gave out those fake plastic, but they look metallic, rings as part of a lesson. It looked real, complete with little carvings on it. You could only tell it was plastic by the weight (it was light) and the little slit in the circumference. Well, I went to a local jewelers to buy Rob a ring (he has since lost this little relic) and I asked him his ...

 Shopping in Japan is a beautiful experience! I love how they make everything beautiful and appealing. Here are a differences of shopping in Japan than in USA. The first thing is that if you are trying clothes on, they will ask you to remove your shoes in the dressing room. They may also have a facial cover for you to put on so that your makeup or sweat won't get on the item. They are very polite about this, so please remember to do it. Often the item you are trying on isn't the item you will purchase. They have "try on" items and then in the back, they have the same items already wrapped and ready for purchase. I actually like this since you won't take home an item of clothing that has been tried on a thousand times by other shoppers and I kinda wish we'd do that too. It also makes their sales floor less crowded since they only have displays out, not their inventory. Maybe it's also Inventory Loss protection, but I kind of doubt it. It just looks really n...

So you want to go to Japan... First off, if you're going, congrats! It's a cool very unique country with strong ties to culture and tradition and yet they fully embrace technology too. This will focus on Tokyo. I can do one for Osaka later if you wish. The flight: We flew ZipAir which is a new cheaper flight over to Japan. We flew LAX to Narita airport. 11 hours or so. Zipair is cheap but you'll have to pay extras including checked luggage and meals. You can bring your own food and I highly suggest it. If you order something from them, you'll need to retain your boarding pass so they can confirm your seat. So keep that handy or in a pocket. We pre-paid and reserved a ticket on the train going into town. You'll still have to find the ticket office to get your assigned seating. It took us an hour to get into Tokyo proper from Narita. Jet lag: Because Japan's time zone is so different, I would suggest going to sleep at 11pm local time. That was one piece of travel ...