Uhhh...

Lots of weird things happening lately. Almost all of them have been either entertaining or really good. I'll mention only a few so as not to bore you-- the first was the sudden snowstorm in Seattle where snow is very rare, and in November of all times. Here is a pic I stole from Diana of the Harbour Pointe sign near my house. Very nostalgic.
A second weird event was today at the supermarket. Potatoes were on sale for various (expensive) prices, and as usual I looked carefully at all the baskets to find the best deal. To my surprise, there was one with a rock-bottom price. A full (Japan-sized) bag for 68 yen. (60 cents)Unbelievably cheap. Disbelieving, I filled a bag and asked the lady at the register whether it was true. She ran to check, and returned with apologies, saying that it was a printing mistake and that the actual price was 68 yen PER tiny potato. Oh, wow. That's... expensive. But then she rushed on to say that because it was their mistake, they'll secretly let me have that bag of potatoes for 68 yen. Yes!! My mashed potatoes have now been confirmed for the potluck party this Saturday.
One last weird thing was yet another stupid piece of mail from the U.S. of A. This time a letter from the U.S. Election office, pushed through my mail slot on November 27th. Apparently I somehow forgot to sign the darn "purple envelope" (I swear I did it...duhhh), so would I mind signing the copy of my ballot on the back to officiate it? Whoops, sure! No problem! And would I mind returning it to their office no later than November 28th? Wait a minute... uhhh, that's tomorrow. I live in Japan, guys. Give me a little more notice, please. Sheesh.