As you may have noticed (if there even is a “you” as I doubt anyone reads this) last Friday there was no Friday 5 and this week is late. I have been moving. On the way to my new place I was seriously injured and now have a huge gash in my side that has to be tended to. Otherwise the move went relatively well. Yeah, just about everything that could go wrong did, but we are moved and basically in one piece. The new place is taking a little getting used to but we like it. Anyway, on to the 5 now…

1. Of television programs that aired before you were born, what’s your favorite? Hmmmm, only one? Mr. Ed is the first that pops into my head.
2. What person of historical significance was from your neighborhood or city? George E. Ohr, artist who broke new ground in the late 1890s with his experimental modern clay forms
3. What’s a story that’s often been told about someone in your family in the years before you came along? Oh my! There are so many! My family carries on a strong oral tradition so I was told many stories about my ancestors.
4. Which of previous generations’ dumb mistakes (in deed or thought) baffles you the most? The witch trials. How so many people could be so hateful, brutal, and stupid truly baffles me.
5. What aspect of life in the good old days would you love to see a return to? Courtships. I am a hopeless romantic and really wish I would have been around in the days when girls were asked to wear a boys pin and such.

Ages ago when I blogged on Xanga and such I used to do the Friday Five. That way I always had at least one post a week so everyone would know that I am still around. Anyway, I am going to start doing that again here. I am going to start with last Friday’s questions (July 11th) so that I can start now instead of waiting until Friday. The Friday Five I do are from Friday5.org but I may do some from some other sites too. If I do, I will post the site so you can find them

1. What are some recurring dreams you’ve had? Oh my! I have had many of them. I guess the oldest recurring dream I have had since I was a small child an still have now is about the “man with the honey-dipped teeth” chasing me.
   
2. What is the significance of dreams in telling you about yourself? I have a lot of dreams that help me solve things in my waking life. I have often dreamed of bits of code for my pages and such. I guess even in my sleep I am a problem solver. Hmm, is that actually the answer that question wanted? Oh well! ~lol~
3. How do you feel after you’ve had one of THOSE dreams? Those dreams? As in sex dreams? Hmmm, well I usually feel all warm and cozy I guess. I am a snuggeler, even in my dreams.
4. What was the last dream you remember? I usually remember my dreams every night.
5. When did you last dream about something that later happened as you dreamt it? I often have dreams that later happen, though it is always mundane things, bits of conversation, something I see on tv, just little things but it happens often.

Hmmm, I’m just kinda bored right now. I am trying to write more often so I figure I should post when I think about it. The problem with that is trying to find something to say that is not bento related. Oh, I recently found some great plushie tutorials on deviantart that I hope to try soon. Josh and Wendy are moving up soon, less than 2 weeks now. Things are getting stressful for Wendy and I can understand that. Once they get up here Josh is going to try to find ways to get me out more often and that will be great. ~lol~ I will have more to talk about then I hope.

Yup, it is true, I now have a blog just for bentos. You can find it at bento.raynesworld.net. Now I can focus this blog on all other aspects of my life.

We will be moving soon. We got a letter the other day telling us that this building will be torn down on August 1st. They are going to help us move and as soon as the new buildings are finished we will have first dibs on a new place. Mid-June Josh and Wendy will be moving up here so we are going to just look for a bigger house for all of us.

Well, that is all the non-bento news for now

I just got in 2 new bento sets from Ichiban Kan today plus some new accessories. I am going to wait until my next shipment on the 28th before I start taking pictures. I will bu putting them up soon. I have also found a place on eBay where I can get the Animal Click oshibori cloths so I will be getting those soon. I also ordered a green Hello Kitty bento today on eBay. I am trying to set up a more bento-centric blog on my other domain so I can keep my bento news separate from my other stuff as I am sure if there is anyone out there reading you may be getting sick of my bento posts. When I get that done I will post a link to there and then this will go back to being a standard blog with craft stuffs.

(I wrote this post 3 days ago but forgot to click publish. The actual post date should be May 21, 2008)

Well, I just got in another shipment from Ichiban Kan today. I just LOVE that store! Anyway, I got some furikake and some candies as well as some other things like 2 white boards, a face brush, a back scratcher, a cool CD pen for labeling disks, a pokemon bento bag, and other stuff I can’t remember. Anyway, on one of the things of candy, some strawberry hi-chew, there is a website that has a game where you can win wallpapers, backgrounds, and dividers. There is a code to put this game on your site so I figured I would share it here.

It is pretty much self explainitory. I do not read Japanese so I don’t go what all it says. Sometimes when you win it takes you to another game, and sometimes it takes you to where you can get a wallpaper or something. I’ve not had any problems with any of the downloads but use at your own risk. I feel safe with it, it is a well known company, but still, I am not responsible for any problems.

I just got in 2 more 2 tier bentos and 2 onigiri bentos, as well as the little utensil sets that fit in the top, some fishy sauce bottles, and 2 different onigiri molds, the traditional triangular kind and the tiny ones shaped like a heart, star, and bear. I also got these really cool straws from Japan. They are long enough to be used in a 20 oz bottle but they are bendy straws. They are even long enough to be used in the 32 oz Gatorade bottles. Anyway, still haven’t found my camera but as soon as I do I will post pictures.

Ok, I have gotten my very first bento. As soon as I can find my camera I will take a pic of it to post here. It is a small bento but I’ve found that amazingly it holds a decent amount of food, more than enough for a filling lunch. There is a store in San Fransisco that is opening an online store soon that has bento’s for $1.50! Granted you have to buy the bag and belt and any other accessory separately it is still a great deal. As soon as the shop goes online I will post more about it here. I have also placed an order with Asian Food Grocer and it should be in tomorrow (the 9th). On this first order I only ordered a few candies and some filled breads but if everything arrives safely I will order more because they have really good prices and a great selection. I really prefer to but from places that have a distribution point here in America as it saves TONS on shipping. I mean on the bento I ordered from Japan the shipping alone was over $11 which is quite a bit for such a small package where is the food from the Asian Food Grocer is being sent FedEx, is a rather large box, and it only cost less than $5 for shipping. With lower shipping I can buy more stuff and that makes me a happy Rayne! lol

Ok, my close friends know I now have a new obsession, bento boxes. For those who don’t know, a bento box is kinda like a Japanese lunch box. Here is a pic:

As you can imagine I will be posting more about my adventures in bento. So far all I have are 2 egg molds. It is a bit difficult for me to find affordable things here a most sellers are in Japan so the shipping is either very high or it takes sometimes up to 2 - 3 months to get something in. I love my egg molds, one is a teddy bear and one is a bunny. I used them for the first time today. I was not exactly successful, the eggs were too small and I tore one up a bit peeling it, but I can see that with just another try or 2 I’ll have it perfect.

For any other bento enthusiasts out there I came across something today. Collections Etc has silicone muffin cups that are heart shape on sale for $11.99. They ship for fairly cheap and are fast. Here is a pic:

These are great for use in your bento to keep moist or fragrant things seperated from your other food.

Anyway, this is all for now. I will be posting more later.

Since I’ve been home from the hospital I’ve been sick The fever is now gone but I’m still congested and stuff. They brought me a new head piece for my cpap machine. It looks like a horse harness except instead of having a bit that goes in the mouth this has a bit that goes in my nose. It makes me look funny but it keeps me from dying in my sleep or something.

For those who do not know what a cpap is, it is a machine that blows air and oxygen under a certain amount of pressure into the nasal area and throat. It is to keep that area from closing off in my sleep and stopping my breathing. When you stop breathing like that it is called sleep apnea.

Anyway, I’m off for now. I’ll post more later!