#discoversomethingneweveryday

Day 44 @ #中里太郎右衛門 🙀🙀🙀😸😸😸😸✌️✌️✌️scroll to see more photos! I'm trying to correct this flaw of just seeing the mistake I made... so far... hummm.......... 🤣🤣🤣 I am really loving the results of these lotus theme work. If you enlarge the photo, you see the blue touches the white glaze from place to place. At first I'm not fond of it. But then I was told that if it wasn't so then there will be gaps as it is a runny glaze. Then I begin to see the beauty of it. 😆😆 The colour turned out great, not too thick of thick. And the glaze didn't run too much but it did run a bit. The shape is good. The hold of it great too, weight is balanced. Lip is not too thick or thin, it will be nice to drink from. The base is trimmed nicely, beautiful circle, the foot is not too fat or thin, not too small or too big. It's not going to scratch the table. The inside has nice pattern too. Scroll to the last page to see. You are probably thinking who would consider all this about a cup?! "A ceramist!" #Japan #第十四代 #唐津焼 #茶碗 #karatsu #唐津燒 #茶道 #matcha #chawan #pottery #ceramic #ceramics #ceramist #australianartist #IsabellaWang #陶 #器皿 #woodfiring #柴燒 #陶器 #陶磁器 #國寶 #discoversomethingneweveryday

up until recently, I had never heard of a "David's Tea" and I sure wasn't a fan of loose leaf tea. I just thought it was weird, and I didn't like the thought of tea leaves everywhere and it was just going to be a mess and...oh man was I ever wrong. at christmas, our city got our very fist David's tea in the mall. it was super exciting for a lot of people and I just didn't know why. my friend got me some as a present and I was willing to give it a try. I may or may not had about six cups of tea that day. regardless, I was now hooked on this new way of drinking tea. when I actually managed to build up the courage to walk into one of these stores, it was very intimidating. there were tins of tea everywhere. and I didn't actually know that you could buy a cup of hot tea while you were right at the store (even better!) so, I think the staff working could tell it was my first time in there because I was just fascinated by everything. I left the store in a daze and a teal paper bag contained my new favourite tea. the next time I went in there, I discovered that I actually needed something to put the tea leaves in, otherwise it would just be a disaster. I went and got a professional steeper and some more tea (because what else is new). it was at this point I discovered that having a David's tea so close to my school was going to be a very dangerous thing. i've declared every Thursday to be "David's tea" day. yesterday I may or may not have bought tea-infused chocolate. one of the greatest things about the store is that you don't ever have to look at the same thing twice. there is always a new tea, smell, or something else wonderful going on in there. they also give me free tea samples when i'm in the store, which is never a bad thing. so...the moral of the story is...I can be bribed with tea. also, if i'm ever lost in the mall, you should just look for me at a David's tea. you discover something new everyday.

so, two weeks ago I had my ninetieth birthday. which basically means that I am now of legal drinking age (I live in Canada). we went up to my aunt's house for my birthday and spent time with my dad's side of the family, since it was also thanksgiving and my cousin's birthday (my family really likes to combine events). right when my parents were going to give me my birthday present, my had had one condition: I was going to take my first shot with him. now, I have never, ever taken a shot before. first thing wrong with that? I say "take a shot" apparently it's "have a shot". and after this incident I don't think I will ever take a shot again (oh - there we go again). so my dad gets two shot glasses and some sort of alcohol. he then just decides to drink it right away and expects me to do the same (did I mention that a) my grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, mother, and brother are all watching me? and b) that I have NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING?) I think at this point I just said "hey, how hard can it be, you just have to drink it and be done. boy, was I wrong about that one. I just kind of stood there and went "oh, okay, this is happening" before proceeding to put it up to my mouth and drink it. only when I started drinking it I started to freak out because I was supposed to drink it all at once and I guess my head didn't like that. so by the time I figured out that it wasn't all going to happen in one sip, I pulled it away and the contents of the cup went absolutely everywhere. my hair, my face, my dress, the cardigan I was wearing, my shoes, the floor. everywhere. after I was done coughing and just realizing the fact there was alcohol all over me, I looked up to find the very unique facial expressions of my family members. my cousins and brother were laughing hysterically, my grandparents were laughing, my aunt and mother looked concerned (thankfully someone did) and my uncle and dad are just in disbelief that something like that could actually happen. once I got all cleaned up (and I just had to shower there was so much in my hair) I came back downstairs to face the wrath of my crazy family. yeah, I think they're going to be holding that one against me for a while. great first shot experience, don't you think? you only get one of those, and oh man did I make a good mark. you discover something new everyday.

going into this, you have to believe that I have no idea what is going to happen throughout the course of this blog post. (I guess we'll see). I don't know what it is about car washes, I just seem to have a complete and irrational fear for all of them. from the time I drive up to the door to the time the dryers are finishing the back tires, I am either a) a rambling mess b) screaming or c) crying. yeah. those are really the only three options here. the reason i'm finally blogging about this now is because for the first time when I was driving, I went through the car wash tonight (I'm usually just in the passenger seat). In the process of entering my pin number wrong twice and then realizing my back window was down, I was already a mess. when I got it, I found out that you don't even have to put it in neutral or guide it through tracks or anything like that! you just have to put it in park and let the machines go around you. simple enough? I think not. don't ask me why (because I don't even know) but this is where the fear kicks in. I get this awful feeling that the windows will all go down and stay open and then the car wash will get stuck and the water will just keep filling up the car until we drown a slow and painful death. yeah, that's the last time I see a "Final Destination" trailer at the movies. so at this point, we are mid-way through the car wash and the water pressure is getting intense. my dad decides it would be funny to just yell (because he knows i'm freaking and hyperventilating in my head) and of course, he gets me to scream in absolute terror. if that wasn't enough, the car wash then starts making this really loud alarm sounding noise that almost makes me want to physically get out of the car and hide under it or something. whenever my parents used to go through car washes when I was little, they would give me something to distract me, like a snack or toy, to stop me from panicking. but there's nothing I can do when I am in the driver's seat! It was probably the most scared i've been in a long time. and that's saying something. IT'S A CAR WASH PEOPLE. now i'm just yelling at myself through my computer. oh well. obviously I survived the dreaded car wash as i'm typing this out for the world to see, so it wasn't that bad. however, if my car ever gets dirty again, you can count on me using a bucket and hose in the driveway. you discover something new everyday.

first things first, walking around Wal-Mart at 11pm tonight was not my idea of a fun time. let me tell you how this mess of a night started. I realized that I needed a calculator for my "Math of Finance" class tomorrow morning, and that the batteries in my current calculator were dead. my dad was going out and said he could find me some, which was appreciated. when he came home saying he couldn't find any, I started to freak out a little. by this time, it was 9:30 and I just figured I would go to the store tomorrow morning. a little after that I realized that my class was at 8am and there was no possible way anything was going to be open before that, so I had to go tonight. I first went to the store up the road, in which I bought the first batteries that looked like mine, and went back home only to realize they didn't fit in the calculator. I very hesitantly went back outside in the dark scary night (I don't like outside at night) and made my way back to the store. I actually paid attention to the numbers on the packages after returning the previous ones. when they didn't have any, I drove more down the road to Wal-Mart. the poor cashier made the mistake of approaching me and asking if he could help me find anything. he tried to help me find the batteries, but they didn't have them in stock or carried them at all. (okay, I can't be the only one thinking that these are some kind of weird, insane batteries at this point, right?) after admitting defeat and coming to the conclusion that I would just not be getting batteries tonight, I figured I would just buy a new calculator. this cashier is still following me around the store hoping that I will find what I need and leave the store (considering they closed in 10 minutes.) when we arrive at the calculators, I tell him that I  need a specific one, and guess what. they are completely sold out of all calculators except for the ones that cost over a hundred dollars. I'm not even kidding. I can't look at this sentence without getting beyond frustrated (which is why It's all crossed out.) I really don't know what the lesson is here, or why the world wanted to torture me on this particular night. all I know is that whoever is reading this is probably laughing at my misfortunes, and hopefully I can laugh along with them. (ps: I'm afraid to go to my class tomorrow with no calculator.) you discover something new everyday.

one of the many pros of my job is getting my own key to the office so I can come in and leave without having to make someone else wait for me. one of the many cons of Alisha is how forgetful I can be. I looked at my keys this morning before I left the house and I thought "don't forget those! you need them today!" and of course twenty minutes later when I was standing outside of the office door after getting dropped off, I realized that I would be staying outside for a while. the first thing I did was make sure that my keys weren't in the bottom of my purse. (they weren't). then, I tried to text people to see when they would be in the office, and so far, no one has responded. there are some perks however, which I'm not actually minding. 1) it's July so it is thankfully really nice out and not raining. 2) for once, I'm dressed for the weather and it's nice to get some fresh air. 3) and this one is probably the most important, I can connect to the office wi-fi so I am not just pacing around like a crazy person (of course this would be the morning I forgot my book too). with the wi-fi, at least I can check my emails, do some work, and blog about my misfortunes (like usual). we do have a staff meeting in just under an hour so I really do hope that someone comes soon. our office has a reputation of being nice, normal, and relatively sane, and I wouldn't want to be the one to change that. oh, who am I kidding, I've been sitting out here for ten minutes on the brick sidewalk outside of the door typing furiously on a keyboard. they already think i'm crazy. this is really just another day in the life of Alisha. you discover something new everyday.

we've had Netflix for a while now, and we have finally gotten our wi-fi to work on a regular basis. see, this is both an advantage and a disadvantage for me. it's an advantage because I can now use the internet without wanting to throw my computer off a cliff. it's a disadvantage because of the subject of this blog post; Netflix. this wonderful website has provided me with hundreds of new-to-me television shows and movies, all for a low cost per month. the issue here is that now watching Netflix is all I seem to be doing in my spare time. i'll find a show that I think is interesting, and the next four weeks later, I will have been through five seasons of a show and had no social interaction with anyone. it's a good thing I'm not in school right now because I can guarantee that I would be getting absolutely nothing accomplished. (which just means I have the summer to get through my list of shows because come september, I will have to break-up with Netflix.) it's really great because I can watch all these shows with no commercials and usually without having to wait a while before the next episode comes up. it's also great for when i'm babysitting and the kids have gone to bed. I typically have a couple hours that I will be just sitting on the couch, so unless I have a book to read (which is often) parents always seem to have Netflix I can watch part of a movie at one house, and finish it up at another house a couple weeks later. I also have the app on my phone (alright, maybe I do have a small addiction) and I can watch anything on the go. the only downside i'm currently experiencing is the fact that I have Canadian Netflix. There is a much wider selection of shows and movies (that I have specifically searched for, actually) that I would like to see on my side. but, I'm sure they will show up eventually and until then, I can just keep hanging around people who have American Netflix. ;) you discover something new everyday.