Yesterday we were jolted out of our daily humdrum of activities by a telephone call from one of Baggy’s colleagues. It came sooner than we expected. All of a sudden, we found ourselves staring again at the old familiar problem facing couples who are pursuing dual-careers. Careers, mind you, not work. We consider ourselves very, very lucky to be working in the same institute, practically seeing each other every day and eating lunch together at the cafeteria. Heck, we even take afternoon coffee breaks together – but I digress.

We know it’s too good to last, and we have wisely prepared ourselves for the inevitable. Sacrifices must be made in view of a higher goal, blah blah blah and all that crap. We know, though, that Baggy didn’t come all the way from Osaka to join us here in Tsukuba only to leave us again. We have to set a limit somewhere. Anywhere accessible by train within a two-hour commute is acceptable. That may be ludicrous for some people, but they probably haven’t tried riding the shinkansen from Tsukuba to Tokyo to Osaka, only to head back to Tsukuba within the same day because of a frantic call from an equally frantic wife because their daughter had to be rushed to the doctor. Never again.

I sometimes think of how much easier it would be if there was only one of us pursuing a career. What if I were the regular okaasan at home. Husband changes job and moves elsewhere – no problemo. Just pack up and leave. No ties to severe, no juggling of work duties, no hassles. Get pregnant every other year until menopause and raise a dozen rowdy kids.

Yes, how much easier it would be to just sit idly at home in between household chores and wait for the husband and kids to come home at the end of the day. I can watch tv for a change. I can knit and sew, watch my fat ass grow and bake cookies all day long. I can devote 24/7 attention to all of my children, no exceptions.

In my dreams, sure, but not in “this” lifetime.

As the old adage goes, there’s nothing constant except change, and the only inevitable thing is death. We gotta do what we gotta do while there’s breath left in us.

Life is so damn easy when you know all the answers. If you did, wouldn’t life be so boring?

I’m currently sitting inside the Top of the Hilton restaurant, which is, well, literally at the top of the Hilton hotel (what a no-brainer eh?). But at this height I have a magnificent view of the emerald blue Eliott Bay as well as downtown Seattle. The “full” American breakfast costs 12.95 dollars, but what the heck, I figured that it is only about 1,000 yen or so. For that amount I get three eggs cooked the way I want it, my choice of sausage, ham or bacon, orange juice, coffee, toast, and a piece of fruit. Mmm, hmm. All that grease is gonna get me high through my morning. Plus I get complimentary wireless internet. In Japan the most I could get is probably a piece of salmon, rice and miso soup with twice that amount. And I tell you, the way my tummy is sticking out, I’ve got more than my full share of breakfast for today. Enough to last me until dinner, I hope. I’ve got a poster presentation this afternoon, so I thought it would be a good idea to recharge my batteries while I have the chance.

That’s a full American breakfast indeed! Lots of grease and fat. Yummy.

Yesterday I attended the banquet, which supposedly costs 75 dollars per person. The registration fee (a whopping 695$) covers the banquet for a full conference participant like me, but the way the government system goes nowadays, I will not get the whole amount refunded because the banquet fee will be substracted from it (thanks a lot, bureaucrats!). I thought that it would be such a waste if I didn’t at least get my dinner’s worth. It was a little disappointing, though, that all we got for dinner was a piece of salmon (no pun intended), a piece of cheesecake, and lots of booze (which I didn’t really enjoy). I did my conversion again, and was aghast to realize that the whole affair costed me about 8400 yen.

I was also able to visit the famous Space Needle (I have an unobstructed view of it from my window here right now), paid 14 bucks to get to the top. Baggy told me that I would have had a free ride to the top if I had eaten at the revolving restaurant, for a lunch of about 30 dollars (3600 yen? No thank you.). But I’m the hopeless omiyage shopper, so I ended up splurging more than a hundred dollars on souvenir items at the gift shop at the bottom of the Space Needle.

Anyway, yesterday, like today’s, was perfect weather, you know, cloudless blue skies and the sun was out in full force. I have no plans of going anywhere else in Seattle, so I might as well have a taste of its famous landmark. The rest of the park in the Seattle center is blah. I thought I would be spending the rest of my morning there, but as it turned out, boredom got the better of me and I found myself back in my hotel room less than four hours later. And that includes an hour or so of walking!

Just 48 more hours to go, and I’ll be home sweet home.