Sharper Image
My friend in Tokyo and his wife came to Los Angeles for their vacation and we invited them to my house.
Soon after the clock told it was midnight, they told us to go back to the hotel and when we all went out form the door to get on my car, a strange creature was waiting for us on the fence of our house.
It was a big rat and naturally our wives screamed. But I thought “Wait a minute, a rat can not be this big”. It was as
big as a cat or a puppy. The animal was just keep on sitting there and would not move.
My friend showed his interest, because he majored biology in the famous national university, but since he was an
insect specialist, or more precisely, a bee specialist, he could not tell what it was.
But his academic passion made him look at the animal closely. It would not run away even his face was only ten
inches away.
He finally held its tail. “Gees, nobody but you would hold the tail of an unidentified animal, my friend.” Then it lost its body balance and fell to the ground, and slowly went into the bush.
It surely was not a rat. Rat should be far more active and defensive. I had never seen such a slow moving, easy going, and defenseless wild animal.
A week later, we received a fax from him. He found out that was “Opossum”. A copy of animal encyclopedia followed. It said “Opossums in North America are slow moving and defenseless”
I hope NY Opossums are little sharper.
↑↑↑↑ こいつをクリックしてくれるとけっこう嬉しいです (b4)
Soon after the clock told it was midnight, they told us to go back to the hotel and when we all went out form the door to get on my car, a strange creature was waiting for us on the fence of our house.
It was a big rat and naturally our wives screamed. But I thought “Wait a minute, a rat can not be this big”. It was as
big as a cat or a puppy. The animal was just keep on sitting there and would not move.
My friend showed his interest, because he majored biology in the famous national university, but since he was an
insect specialist, or more precisely, a bee specialist, he could not tell what it was.
But his academic passion made him look at the animal closely. It would not run away even his face was only ten
inches away.
He finally held its tail. “Gees, nobody but you would hold the tail of an unidentified animal, my friend.” Then it lost its body balance and fell to the ground, and slowly went into the bush.
It surely was not a rat. Rat should be far more active and defensive. I had never seen such a slow moving, easy going, and defenseless wild animal.
A week later, we received a fax from him. He found out that was “Opossum”. A copy of animal encyclopedia followed. It said “Opossums in North America are slow moving and defenseless”
I hope NY Opossums are little sharper.
↑↑↑↑ こいつをクリックしてくれるとけっこう嬉しいです (b4)
ルンのケーキ屋さん日記（１５）
ルンのケーキ屋さん日記 第１５話それから1ヶ月経ちました。ルンのお店がついにできました。
茶色い木をつなぎあわせた入口を入ると右側にテーブルと椅子、左側にカウンターがあり、その下には透明のガラスケースがありケーキがたくさん、並べられるようになっていました。
そして奥のキッチンに行くとそこにはとても大きな焼き釜がすえつけてありました。これだったら今までの５倍ぐらいの数を一度に焼くことができます。
「わーい！わーい！」
ルンは嬉しくなって床をころげまわりました、気がついたら犬のポンタも一緒にころげまわっていました。クンとモモちゃんとミミちゃんもやってきました。４人と１匹でゆかをころげまわりました。
ごろごろごろごろ、、、
ふと、ルンがテーブルの上に目をやると一冊のま新しいノートが置いてありました。きれいな花もようででふちどられたとてもきれいなノートでした。
その横にはメモが置いてありました。
『ルン、新しい日記帳だよ、お母さんより』
「やったー、お母さんからこんなきれいな日記帳もらっちゃった！」
そしてルンはできたばかりのケーキ屋さんの主人として最初のページを書き始めました
（第一部 おわり）
That's YOUR problem !
One day, my wife came home with an angry face. She was shopping at Japanese grocery stores on Sawtelle Blvd., Los Angeles.
She got a parking violation ticket there. According to her, she got a ticket because the parking time was “almost”
expired.
When she return to her car about 3 minutes before the meter would show “Time Expired” sign, a parking enforcement officer was writing something beside her car.
As she opened the door, the officer handed a ticket to her and my wife said “No no! Time has not expired yet” but the officer said “I have already issued the violation ticket, it’s too late and you are almost violated. If you ate 90% of your lunch, that’s what we call you are finishing with your lunch, Same thing here, I suggest you to come back to your car at least 5 minutes before the expiration time, in a future”
Off course my wife opposed but the officer said “How many times should I tell you that it has been issued already! I
am not authorized to revoke the violation ticket which was already issued!”
Knowing what happened to her, I was also so angry. What kind of idiots City of Los Angeles hires? I’ve never heard of “almost expired” parking violation. Do you say “Happy new year” on December 30, because the year is almost done? Or do you burry a person alive, because he’s almost dead?
And you are not authorized to revoke the violation ticket which was already issued? Then, what do you say if I take
your wallet and say “I thought it’s my wallet but I am not authorized to give the things once taken by me back to
you” ? Or what do you say, if I call you to say “I took your 3 year old daughter home, because I thought she was my
daughter, but I am not authorized to release any person who already entered into my house”
Off course we went to the court. It was not a matter of money, but the justice. But there was no evidence to prove the fact. So, we ended up paying $15 as a fine.
More than a year later, we received a bill from the court with the description "unpaid violation fine".
We paid already. More than a year ago. But since I had already trashed more than one year old cancelled checks, I
asked the bank to send their microfilm copy of the check. Then I took it to the court and the judge said “ It’s too
small to read”
I said “ Sure it’s small, but I think it’s not too small to read” and the judge said
“ I am 53 years old! I am not as young as you are! I JUST CAN’T READ”
Then I went back to the court on the next day, bringing the cancelled $15 check which was paid for another parking
violation few months ago. Off course the date did not match.
The same judge took a look at the check and declared “ The Bill is now cancelled”
I became little wiser to live in LA, by then
↑↑↑↑ こいつをクリックしてくれるとけっこう嬉しいです (b4)