Friday Five Double 17-March-2023

thefridayfive 

1. Will you be doing anything special for St. Patrick’s Day or is it just another day for you?
Another one of those "I know about it but it's just another day for me" type of deal.

2. What is your ancestry and do you do anything special to celebrate it?
Well, admittedly I don't know much beyond my Dad being Austrian and his family in Austria and I faintly remember hearing a story where Opa (grandpa) and Oma (grandma) were from 2 different villages (forgot the names of the villages) that was separated by a train track and that they met in the middle of the train track and that's how they got together, or something like that. I think the "meeting in the middle of the train track" was just for cinematic value though, but anyway, I can't ask to clarify now. I think it was one of my Onkels (one of those that spoke English) that told me that.

If I don't know much beyond my Dad being Austrian, then I know even less about Mom's side of the family, despite living with them in the same town. I know Avô (grandpa) is actually Portuguese (but not sure if born in Macau or Portugal) and that he was (I think) somewhat of a racist (looked down on the Chinese, didn't even allow us to speak Chinese at home with him), and Avó (grandma) was mixed, or we think she's mixed because either her mom or her grandma was apparently an orphan and didn't know of her ancestry or something like that. I'm not going to ask Mom about that because she hates talking about the past. Ancestry studies also isn't a thing over here, so I'll just leave it at that.

Oh, we don't do anything much in terms of celebrations. We do have an Austrian menu for dinner on 26 October that consists of either leberknödelsuppe or griessknockerlsuppe (liver dumpling or semolina dumpling soup), wiener schnitzel, and apfelstrudel. Nothing much of the Portuguese.... I guess we still follow the family's Christmas celebrations on Christmas Day (as opposed to Christmas Eve seemingly everywhere else).

3. If you found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, how much of it would you spend on play and how much would you tuck away for another rainy day?
Not so much "play" but more like, maybe get my own apartment and the rest in savings and investment.

4. Have you ever traveled to the home of your ancestors, providing you don’t already live there?
As a kid, we used to go to Austria and Portugal every 3 years (Mom had a government job so had paid holidays for the family every 3 years) and I used to hate it. In Portugal we were always just stuck in that apartment in a residential neighbourhood outside of Lisbon. In Austria we were always stuck in that little village that nobody spoke English and there was nothing to do. It wasn't even one of those idyllic mountain places.

However, I have also made trips with friends to visit Austria and Portugal, and we travelled around the country and that was mighty fun. I also visited family both times (my cousin on my Mom's side of the family is also based in Macau, but apparently at the time that I went to Portugal with my friends, she also went to Portugal with her family, so we met up for an afternoon and dinner LOL, being that my friends also knew her already). Oh, as of now, I don't have family (that I know of) that is residing in Portugal. They are all in Macau.

For my trip in Austria I visited my Onkel that had a disability and couldn't walk, so he was like always calling us on Skype. I spent a whole afternoon with him practically talking turkey*** and my cousin that actually lives in the same town with this Onkel (not her Dad) said "oh, I wouldn't have the patience to talk with him all afternoon." Well. In truth, it was a wasted afternoon, but hey, I don't get to see him often, he's also lonely because none of his brothers in town visit him, my Dad talks to him on Skype. And a couple years after my visit, he passed away. I was glad to have visited him anyway.

*** Apparently the meaning of "talk turkey" has changed. My understanding of "talk turkey" is to converse in different languages so one doesn't understand the other. But I just checked it now and apparently it means talking business...? Anyway, in Cantonese there is a pretty succinct saying, 雞同鴨講 "chicken conversing with duck" in case anyone is interested in knowing LOL

5. Have there been any surprises in your family tree?
I guess the, not surprise, but anomaly in the family tree is my family exactly. The Austrians in general back in the day, are pretty conservative and don't like to explore the world and would just stick to their village or whatnot. Seems it was only my Dad that ventured out. So his family is where the anomaly is? I still remember every time when we visited and brought them food or confectionary, Opa and Oma would receive them with thanks, but never eat them (they don't like to try new stuff). I have a faint memory of them bringing out a cake rather proudly from our last visit (i.e. 3 years ago) and Mom just told them to throw it out.

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1. Which of your actions of this past week would you care to undo?
Let me think. None really.

2. When did you last physically erase something?
I'm planning to clean up the sides of my white sneakers a bit later, so I suppose, later this afternoon?

3. When have you been glad about canceled plans?
Haha, just last week the teacher for our ceramics class asked to reschedule for that day. I wouldn't have minded if I had to go to the class, but it being rescheduled was also a nice feeling LOL.

4. When you’re on your way out the door but have to turn around and come back for something, what’s usually the reason?
It's usually my glasses. My eye sight is pretty good. My short-sighted values are actually very low, 50 or so only, but it's my astigmatism (100 on one eye and 150 on the other) that gives me issues. So when it's day time, when I don't have my glasses, I don't really notice I have no glasses. But come nighttime when it's dark and there's lights, or when I'm sitting in front of a computer, then I notice I have no glasses on. There were many times that I was on my way to work and half way there I notice I don't have my glasses (usually at the traffic lights)... it's come to a point where I put a spare pair of glasses in the office LOL.

But I think it's time I go get a new prescription as it feels like even my current glasses are sometimes not helping much.

5. What do you do when you really want to remember to do something later today or tomorrow?
Reminders on my phone.

Ready, Set, Go!

 Budget airline woes, LOL.

Online check in was live for my flight tomorrow to Tokyo. It's a budget airline so I didn't pre-buy a specific seat. But I thought it would be like other airlines, that upon online check in, I can choose specific "free area" seats, and that since I bought 2 tickets together, that even if it's auto-seating we would be seated together.

Noooooppppeeee. We were separated, and we each were assigned to a window seat. I got miffed, so decided to pay for the seat. And since I'm paying for a seat, I'm not going to pay for any normal seat. I paid for the up front "sweet seats". I chose row 3. We each on the aisle seat next to each other. Seems like nobody chose those seats. Goooood. Row 3 was a strategy as well. The likelihood of Chinese or Japanese choosing Row 4 seats is lower. (Four sounds like death LOL). So chance of being kicked behind is lower. Since it's a redeye flight, I plan to sleep all the way.

The exit row seats were available to choose, but I figured, exit row seats are bestowed upon, not paid for, and besides, I was upgraded to an exit row seat once. Yes, excellent leg room. But I also did not want to part with my handbag, which, there was no seat in front of me to put my bag underneath it, so had to part with it and it went up to the compartment. I did not like it.

I'm counting on my friend who promised she would take care of the cash, since she has a Japanese Yen account. I took all my leftover JPYs and my Boss had some coins lying around on his desk for 3 years, so I took them. (I told him I was taking them. He was fine. It was less than JPY 2000 anyway). Besides, even if cash is king in Japan, I can still use my credit card in the city, and my Suica should have some cash in it too (unless it goes out of order).

I was going to take my old point-and-shoot Canon, but then as I was looking for something else, I found my "newer than the point-and-shoot, older-than-my-out-of-order-panasonic" Canon DSLR, so decided I would be taking that. The default zoom lens that came with the camera when I bought it is dead (auto focus went wonky), though I do have a spare prime lens (50mm or 55mm, I forgot)... but I think I may go buy a new basic zoom lens in Japan (just a regular 18-55mm). The camera body (EOS 1000D) is also old and parts of the soft plasticy parts (the USB slot cover) is crumbling... argh should I buy a brand new camera then? Again, abstain!

And that's that! I'll miss the puppies probably by the second morning, find out I packed clothes that are too warm (the temperatures look cold, but I don't know). Which. I guess I better go pack now.