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07.31.04
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We've been doing nothing but dealing
with
the purchase of the new house, and
it's still
not finalized yet. It's been a stressful
week.
So far, we've had the house and cottage inspected
and that turned out okay; the septic tank
checked and that turned out to be in terrible
shape, but because of the current dry season
lack of water it's kind of an involved procedure
to fix it right now; and we've had the well
water tested, and that's where we've run
into a snag. The well water failed the test
on the coliform bacteria count (bacteria
from plant matter). We don't care so much
about that because we can have the well sterilized
and we'll probably have a bottled water cooler
in the house anyway, but the bank doesn't
like it one bit. They won't issue a mortgage
to us until the water passes the test and
we can't closed the deal until we've got
the mortgage.
We've been trying to get the realtors and
current owner to sterilize the well all week,
but it's like Mexico North up there and it
seems next to impossible to get anything
done quickly. The owner couldn't be bothered
to take action; the listing agent is away
on her sailboat; the well guy that we asked
to sterilize the well got pissed off at one
of our agents over a telephone conversation
and initially refused to do the work; and
the septic company guy doesn't work with
wells and besides, as he said, he doesn't
like to make appointments because he doesn't
want people to "get disappointed if
he doesn't show up." So you just have
to keep trying on his cell phone and hope
to catch him with some free time.
We were in a big rush because the purchase
contract expires today so we'll have
to make
a new one with an extension, which
means
the seller can now back out of the
deal if
she wants to. Also, the lab tests take
a
few days to do and we're heading back
to
Japan next Thursday so we want to get
it
all wrapped up before then.
Anyhow, the well has been 'shocked', as they
say, and we got a new water sample and we're
running it up to the lab this afternoon.
We'll get the results on Tuesday. If all
goes well we'll finalize the mortgage on
Wednesday, fly out on Thursday, and be back
in Tokyo for the weekend.
I can't wait for this purchasing struggle
to be over so that I can get busy working
on the house and land, and start bringing
into reality this little dream country getaway
in the forest that we've been fantasizing
about for all of these years.
07.26.04
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Saturday the 24th was Jack's third birthday,
and he loved blowing out the candles on his
cake this year.
He got a lot of gifts, but I think that his
favourite was probably a tool set from my
parents. It came with a little plastic power
drill and he used it to go around and screw
in everyone's knees at the party.
There's a great satisfaction in seeing your
children grow up healthy and happy, and I
see now that birthday parties are as much
for the parents as they are for the kids.
Birthday parties afford parents an opportunity
to take a step back, pat themselves on the
back and say, "Well, I got him through
one more year in one piece, and he's looking
pretty good too."
Parental satisfaction was something that
I never really understood until I had children
of my own, which I suppose is like a lot
of things in life. It's amazing how wrapped
up in a child's life and well being you can
become.
Anyway, Jack doesn't care about any of these
things. He's just looking around for some
more knee caps to screw in.
07.22.04
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I feel like I'm coasting down a steep hill
on a bicycle--There's a scary kind of rush
as the world goes racing by, and I can see
only two things: The bottom of the hill in
intense, unwavering focus, and a quick succession
of blurry trees everywhere else.
The process of setting up our new life in
Canada has begun in earnest. There is a mind-numbingly
large number of things that need to be done
and details that need to be taken care of.
We bought a house last week, in a more-or-less
snap decision, and of course that in itself
has become a universe of busy work: forms
to fill out, people to meet, and inspections
to arrange. But the larger picture is much
more intimidating. This coming fall, when
we move, is going to be a memorable time
of change in our lives, I'm sure of that.
Not only will we be moving from Japan to
Canada, we will essentially be 'emigrating'
because we've been living in Japan for so
long that we've lost our Canadian residency
status. Add to that that we will also be
relocating our business, which is of course
based in our home. Then recall that Karen
will be seven months pregnant at that time
and will have our baby at the beginning our
December. Finally, squeeze all of that into
the realization that we will be moving from
the hyper-dense, urban megalopolis of Tokyo
into a remote and completely empty house
that sits in a forest on a mountain at the
edge of a small town in the sleepy Canadian
west, and you'll come to grasp some of the
enormity of the tasks that lay before us.
It's an exciting time for us. I've always
found that great shifts and changes in my
life are accompanied by rushing surges of
personal energy and the will to be active--does
that sound kind of flaky and gay? I hope
that this coming fall I'll be able to harness
some of that energy and direct it in a fruitful
direction.
07.17.04
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I'm not sure if you're going to believe
this,
but Karen and I just bought a house.
I can't
believe it myself--talk about a whirlwind
ride.
We went up to Roberts Creek on the Sunshine
Coast, north of Vancouver, to look at a few
places on Tuesday. There was one particular
place that we were really interested in from
the online listings. It had been on the market
for a long time, so we figured that there
must be something really wrong with it, but
when we got there it seemed perfect.
We were going to wait for a while before
purchasing, but the realtor applied a few
transparent pressure tactics and that's all
it took for Karen and I to rush in head first
and snap the place up.
So now we are the proud owners (once the
paperwork goes through, that is) of a four-bedroom
house, guest cottage, and 700-square-foot
workshop on five acres of heavily forested
and relatively remote land half way up the
base of a mountain. We've got an ocean view
to Vancouver Island, a well, a septic tank,
an old chicken coop, a small orchard, and
a tenant in the cottage. The property is
only about a 10 or 15 minute drive to either
of the two largest towns on the coast (Gibsons
and Sechelt), but because it's on the edge
of the settlement area at the base of the
mountains we'll get all the wildlife (i.e.,
bears and deer) roaming down onto our property.
I can't imagine a bigger change from the
pulse and the roar that is life in Tokyo.
There will be no more surging crowds, no
more neon canyons, and no more limitless
variety of all things purchasable. Instead,
there will be a tangible privacy; a great
distance between people. From the house area
there is nothing to see but trees and flowers
and ocean. Nothing is open in the area past
nine, and after dark it will be pitch black
and silent. We'll have to learn to entertain
ourselves. Actually, it's not quite as rustic
as it sounds because this part of the country
is relatively affluent and there is a big
emphasis on socializing and entertaining.
There will be many, many parties and day
trips.
I've gotten my banjo out of storage from
my father-in-law's garage and I'm going to
put some new strings on it. It's time for
the next stage in my topsy-turvy life to
unfold, and I'm really looking forward to
all of the new changes.
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Note: I didn't show any interior shots of
the house because it's kind of ugly right
now and I never really got any good pictures
on my tour. The previous owner must of had
a fetish for bad wall-to-wall carpeting and
country-kitchen style cabinetry because the
place is horribly dated and tacky. That's
one reason why it stayed on the market so
long. But we're going to be fixing it up
and you can look forward to some Bob Vila-esque
home improvement photo sequences next fall.
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