happylife

A speedy dentist in Vancouver

A phone call from a dentist waked me up late this morning. She told me that I could see her from now because her patient made a cancellation. As soon as I arrived at her, the treatment started after taking X-ray. I had two options about my treatment; one is to restore my dropped crown with some cement temporarily, and the other is to recreate a new crown after caring the decayed tooth. I chose the complete care because she said she could finish it within one hour. As I was closing my eyes all the time, I'm not sure what she was doing exactly. After getting a local anesthetic, all I could feel was rubber on my lips, vibration of dental device, and the pain around my jaw which was kept open all the time. Just as she had told me, her treatment finished after one hour and I retrieved my back tooth. I didn't have any pain or strange feeling around my new tooth. It is perfect for now.

This treatment looked even miracle for me because I was used to the Japanese dentist's slow treatment in which we have to see him or her every week for months; he takes pictures and examine on the first day, he cleans the decayed tooth and covers it with gum on the next week, he makes the cast of the new tooth and orders to a dental technician, he puts the new tooth on the patient a few weeks later, he adjusts the new tooth on the next week, and he does the final check on the last day. I hear that dentist's skills are excellent in Vancouver because they have to take skill check to keep up with brand-new technique. I think it's a good system and it should be adopted to Japanese dentists and doctors.

Die-cast chocolate

It was the day after Easter when chocolates are sold at off price all around the world. I found this huge die-cast chocolate was sold 50% off at Safeway. After a minute hesitation, I purchased it after all. I thought I could enjoy it for weeks, but my expectation was betrayed because it was empty!When I bit into it at first, I found that more than half of what I had expected to be chocolate was air. Simpson Jr. was made of just a thin sheet of chocolate, but I can't claim because it was half price.

Critical red

It was my second night flight lesson. I took off after nine with my instructor, because the daylight saving time has started and it doesn't get dark until this time in Vancouver. Our flight plan was CZBB - CYNJ - CBQ2 - CYCW and my instructor told me to divert to CYXX on the way. I made one critical mistake not in the air, but on the ground. I had been always drawing the course line with a red pen because it is conspicuous on the chart. Black is good, but I think red is better, because it doesn't hide any characters or symbols behind the line on the chart. However, at night, the red is the worst color because we use red light for night flight. Red color is said to be gentle to our eyes and therefore we usually use it for night flight. As you know, red line under red light equals to nothing. It was what happened for me tonight. Anyway, I felt that it is very hard to see the chart and the navigation log in the airplane at night. I thought it's more difficult to see the inside than the outside of the airplane.

Lint cleaner

This is a lint cleaner which I found on a shelf of Safeway. I got it because it was sold for a special price of $2. I got interested the fact that it is washable and reusable. The surface of the blue roller is made of adhesive gum-like material and it catches lint, hair and bread crumbs in the carpet just by rolling a few times. It's interesting and pleasant to find a lot of dust caught on the roller, which can be washed away easily. In the night I got this cleaner, I repeated rolling and washing it again and again. After repeating this enjoyable cycle more than fifty times, its adhesive power has been reduced a little, but I can still use it. I feel I can't almost stop using it forever. I wonder how much lint and hair remains in the carpet of my room.

A lost crown

When I was having dinner, a cup of steamed rice with Japanese seasoning, I felt something like a pebble in my mouth. I think this is one of the worst feeling we sometimes experience in our daily lives, because it suggests the following unhappy days. Of course it was that the crown of my back tooth came off, and it means that I have to see a dentist in a few days. Fortunately, or I should say unfortunately, it is Saturday and every dentist in Vancouver must be closed. I have more than one day before seeing doctor. I know that is meaningless, but I need time to prepare for starting the painful task. Except for the pain, I have another anxiety; my insurance doesn't cover any dental cares, and I'm now in Vancouver where the medical cost is super high. I wonder how much it costs without insurance.

Ukulele code

I sometimes play the ukulele when I'm thinking about something in my room. I often feel relax with this simple, light and easy instrument. It has four nylon strings tuned to GCEA. It is characteristic that the first G is usually raised one octave. Some people drop the first G one octave, which is called "Low-G tune," to spread the lower range, however, I prefer the normal tuning because it sounds more ukulelish. As I have been playing for years, I can play several songs, but I feel a little bit bored with the same songs. I'm now reading a ukulele code book because I hope to play whatever music I like with a melody and codes. The code theory looks interesting just like a puzzle. If I could fully understand the code theory and remember some finger patterns, I might be able to play ad-lib. If you think ukulele is a kind of toy instrument, I strongly recommend to see this video. You must change your opinion to this instrument.

Leftovers

I went to a Japanese restaurant in the suburb of Downtown with one of my friend. It was not a real Japanese restaurant but a Canadian Japanese restaurant. Although the taste of each menu item is so-so, the volume and the price are excellent. We ordered only three dishes for us two with a glass of beer, and when the first menu item came out, we realized that we had ordered too much. When we finished the first dish full of sushi, we were almost full and we still had two large dishes of okonomiyaki (Japanese seafood pancake) and pork kimchi fried rice. I asked the waitress to wrap the dishes to take out. With the heavy pack of leftovers, I can enjoy three more meals. I think this restaurant is more reasonable than a so-called all-you-can-eat restaurant because I can order dishes beyond my stomach capacity.

Sukiyaki

I have been cooking by myself these days. I like Japanese food which is too expensive to eat out every day in Vancouver. I found that Cooking by myself is the best way that I can enjoy Japanese food every day without wasting much money. Today I cooked Sukiyaki, which is one of the most popular Japanese beef dish in the world. Sukiyaki is considered to be rather a feast in Japan, because beef is expensive there. However, in Canada, beef is not so expensive that I can enjoy Sukiyaki for a reasonable price as long as I cook it by myself. I used a piece of grated ginger to get rid of the bad smell of beef, which worked well and I enjoyed the most delicious Sukiyaki I have ever had in Vancouver.

Too dirty

When I was preparing for casting off at the marina, the marina manager came up with me and told that I had better clean my boat. He is absolutely right; my boat is so dirty that it has become moss-grown. Garden stones with moss are tasty, but boats with moss are nothing but dirty, dangerous, and ugly. As I'm going to lift my boat up in the end of this month to do bottom painting, I have to clean the deck at that time too. Anyway, there are some people keep their boat, car, and motor cycle extremely clean. On the contrary, my boat, car and motorcycle are usually all dirty. I know a lot of Japanese people who keep their car only to wash and polish it. I can't understand what they are thinking about. I think it's better to enjoy them than to keep them clean without using them. Does this sound like an excuse?

Cherry trees in Queen Elizabeth Park

Today I visited Queen Elizabeth Park with my guest from Hong Kong to see cherry blossoms. I was thinking that most cherry blossoms had already finished in Vancouver, but I got to know from a local TV news, that they are full now. Different from most cherry trees in Downtown, they are almost the same kind as those in Japan. They have whiter blossoms and a black trunk. Some petals are falling slowly which is very beautiful. The number of trees is not large, but I think it is the best place in Vancouver to see Japanese cherry trees.