I ordered a fitness trampoline. First I ordered it through Amazon. My ordered day was April 5^th, and their expected shipping date was May 7^th. They put the note saying due to the excessive number of orders, they ship the high priority and urgent items first, and any other not-urgent times will be shipped late.

I didn’t want to wait that long for more than one month, so I canceled the order from Amazon.

I found the same item in other online store and purchased it. They shipped it on the next day of my order date, and my purchased items arrived four days after my ordered day. I am happy for it.

This morning the fitness trampoline arrived. According to the customers’ reviews, they mentioned about the toughness to install the bungee cables. But our product came with the bungee cables already installed. All we needed to do was to assemble six poles for the base and the three poles for the handle. It was not that difficult.

My daughter and I enjoyed exercising on the trampoline all afternoon. We went to bed with our sore calves and thighs. I like our new fitness trampoline.

***

As of April 17^th, the Japanese government changed their policy regarding the stimulus check. They previously planned to provide up to 300,000 JPY to the people who meet their certain conditions and apply for it. Now they changed it to provide 100,000 JPY to All Japanese citizens including foreigners who live in Japan. It includes babies and children. So if you are a family of five, you are qualified to receive 500,000 JPY. But the procedure stays the same. In order to receive it, you have to apply for it. I know my dad will not apply for it, because of his health condition. He is blind and cannot go here and there. It will be tough to write down in the application form and submit. Same as my dad, many people who are inconvenient for the application process might not be able to apply for it. I think it will be unfair. Why they cannot follow the procedure of America, which was automatically sent to all the qualified American citizens based on the previous tax return information. It was a good procedure for us to easily understand and we didn’t do anything to receive the check.

I ordered the takeout order from the Chinese restaurant. As always, my daughter distributed a fortune cookie to my husband, me, and her. I like her distributing, because she always selects the best fit fortune for everyone.

My fortune says:

An exciting new friendship will get you out of your rut.

I didn’t know the meaning of the word rut so I needed to look the meaning up. The online dictionary says the meaning of rut as “a habit or pattern of behavior that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change.”

I liked my fortune. Indeed, it is time for me to get out of my rut. I will stay open for a new exciting friendship to reveal to me.

I heard one shocking information through my husband’s coworker. It was his personal experience.

He went to the grocery store. While he was waiting in the long waiting line for the cashier, one grocery store worker yelled something toward the people waiting in line. At first he was not paying attention to the worker, so he could not her the worker clearly. The worker did the same again, then he noticed the worker was yelling straightforward at him. He looked around and noticed he was the only one who was not wearing a face mask.

The worker was yelling at him that anybody who is not wearing a facial mask is not allowed to purchase anything in the store.

Sadly he left the grocery store without any shopped items.

Before he left the store, he looked through the entrance door for any signs about a facial mask. It was none.

I never heard of the new rule of a mandatory face mask in the grocery store. In the different grocery stores, I have seen other customers without a face mask shopped without any issues. 

As many people have noticed, the biggest worry in this pandemic situation is the monster people who are eager to criticize or accuse somebody. In his case, the store worker could have explained him about the store’s new policy calmly and politely, instead of just yelling at him and kicking him out from the store.

I hope people will stay being civilized in this hectic situation.  

This morning we got the stimulus check came into our bank account. It was full amount of $2,900, $1,200 for 2 adults and $500 for 1 child. Some of my local friends and my husband’s coworkers also received it in their bank account.

I think America has been doing great to support the citizens in this emergency situation.

As for the stimulus check, the American government has set the clear rule on the qualification of receivers and the amount. Rich people who make more than $75,000 receive the reduced amount from the full amount of $1,200. Since the qualification is made by IRS, based on the previous two years’ tax return, many Americans do not need to apply for it. The check is automatically deposited to their bank account.

As for the meals for children during school closure, each state has different rules to support them. In my state, all the children aged 0 to 18 can receive the free meal packet of breakfast and lunch. The system had launched right away, without missing any day. Those two new policies are helpful for citizens.

On the other hand, as far as I read the Japanese news, the Japanese government has been taking their time to set the new policies and rules. Even though they have set the rule of the stimulus check, it is so complicated and confusing that many people don’t know who is qualified to receive on how much. The Japanese people who want to receive the stimulus check need to apply for it. I am sure my dad won’t apply for it, because he cannot walk around nor see the application form. Many elders who are having an inconvenient life won’t be able to apply for it neither. I don’t think their way is fair to all the citizens.

This morning I followed the local policeman’s advice. I went to the local dollar store which is located just a five-minute’ drive away this morning.

He was right. It was good to be there. I had a peaceful and comfortable shopping experience at the store. They restocked the items, and I could buy all the items in my shopping list. Other customers were calm and polite. The cashier woman was also polite and nice.

***

My husband went for work in the morning to check up with his customers. He came back with his good mood. He said everybody was nice and calm.

It was a quiet Sunday. In my morning walk, I run into the policeman in the police car patrolling our neighborhood. He was the one who supported the customers in the local dollar store on last Sunday morning. The policeman asked me if I was planning to go to the store again this morning. I was not planning to go. The policeman suggested to go shopping there tomorrow early morning instead of today. He shared the information with me. The store is expecting their delivery truck to be arrived in the early morning tomorrow so that their items will be nicely restocked. It was very nice of him. This is one of the benefits in living in a small town. We know each other and we are nice to each other.

***

In the afternoon my friend and I went for a long distance walk. We walked about five miles as always. Our walk had been good until toward the end when she said bad jokes about my family.

I knew it was her habit. She had gossiped and said bad jokes about her close people such as her family and coworkers. If they hear her saying that, they would definitely get hurt. I don’t enjoy hearing any gossips or mean teasing about people behind their back, even for the people whom I don’t personally know. 

She repeated the insulting jokes about my family several times. Even though she said she was joking, I got offended. I took a couple of deep breathing and calmed myself down. Then, I carefully selected the right words and gently asked her to stop saying bad jokes about my family.

In her reply, she said she would get back to her original routine, which is going for jogging alone. Her reply implied she would stop walking together with me anymore. I agreed with her suggestion. We both thanked each other for keeping a good company for these past 6.5 months.

It is good to get back to our own routine. In a way, I felt relieved that I don’t need to hear any gossips nor mean teasing anymore.

Since my recent birthday of 50 years old, I am committed myself to stay being myself. I only do what I want to do. Meaning, I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I only hang out with somebody whom I feel comfortable to stay with. Meaning, I don’t waste my time with anybody whom I don’t feel comfortable to stay with.   

In the morning my husband went to the grocery store in the next town where is located at a 20-minutes’ drive away.

Going to the grocery store is my job, but to be honest, I was a bit scared on how I would feel at the grocery store. On last week when I went there, there were a whole bunch of sad elder customers and I saw almost empty shelves here and there. I was overwhelmed by sad emotions. I am an empathy so that I got influenced took other people’s negative emotions

So this morning my husband offered to go shopping by himself. It was nice of him.

I gave him a shopping list. I didn’t want him to be lost in the store, so I made the list to the minimum. I gave up many items that I wanted to buy. From the store, he called me several times whenever he lost on which item to buy. I like the specific brand and size and memorize exactly where it should be located along with the price. So I could easily navigate him on the shopping.

After he came back home, he saw many guys shopping alone. They did exactly same as he did. They were holding a piece of paper which is most likely the shopping list that their wife or girlfriend made. On their other hand they were holding a cell phone calling their woman to ask specifically which one they wanted to buy.

When I heard this, I thought it nice that men are helping women for grocery shopping. If we didn’t have this Covid-19 situation, some of them might never experience the grocery shopping alone. I guess it is one of the benefits for us.

I read three manga comics written by Japanese married couple; 堀田あきお＆かよ.

親の介護、はじまりました。 (上)

親の介護、はじまりました。 (下)

親の介護、10年め日記。

The authors shared their personal experiences of nursing care of the wife’s elder parents. It was painful for me to read because they had the similar situation as my parents. Her dad was selfish and stubborn. He was not supportive for his wife at all. I feel sad for the author’s mom. My mom was the same way. Whenever my mom desperately needed supports from my dad, my dad was not supportive for my mom.

I don’t know if the author’s mom already graduated her physical life or not. I hope she already did, so that she is in the peaceful environment right now, just like my mom.

I really hope and pray for these people who had suffered at their last years from non-supportive spouses to be peaceful right now.

***

I still remember two to three days before my mom passed away. I was in America and she was in Japan, but I clearly heard her voice saying she was scared of death. She communicated with me through telepathy. I replied back to her through telepathy like this.

Dying should not be scary. When she is ready, her loved ones who already passed away before her will come to pick her soul up. All she needs is to follow their lead. All she needs is to let go. If she can let go of everything she is cringing on right now, it should be easy.

Then she departed.

After she left her body, she sent me the music tone of Ave Maria. I believe it was her answer to me telling dying was pretty easy.

We had two workers today at our house.

First one was a roof repair man. He came two days straight and patched up the roof shingles. He guaranteed we won’t get scared of roof shingles frying away even in a strong windy night.

The second one was a plumber to fix the shower handle. The plastic part of the shower handle was damaged. He went to the DIY store and came back. He found out the handle was not the right size. He needed to go back to the store again. I felt sorry for him that he needed to go to the store back and force twice and to wait in a long waiting line for the cashier and the customer service to exchange. Thanks to his effort, our shower handle was fixed.

***

We received a good notice from our auto insurance company. Considering the impact from the stay-home order of Covid-19, they decided to give their customers a 20% credit on two months of premiums. I was astonished to see the current situations of the main freeways in big cities. Somebody posted two pictures of before the Covid-10 and the current situation.

The gas price was drastically dropped. One month ago our local gas station had a $3.49 per gallon. Now their price is $2.15.

My cousin called me. He said he was on his way back home from visiting my dad. I appreciate him for still visiting my dad from time to time. I also appreciate him for still contacting me.

On my last visit I found out my cousin and I are not biologically connected as he is a step-son to my late aunt. Despite the truth, I really feel the strong connection with him as if he was my real brother.

Since my real brother doesn’t talk with me anymore, I appreciate my cousin to be someone whom I can express my honest feeling about my late mom. It is helpful for me to have someone who also misses my mom.

I consider my cousin as my brother in spirit.