LaurelJRyan's Profile

@b77 It is still a charcoal grill, just a much shallower version than the ones typically used to grill steaks and burgers.

I'd add making sure you've packed your important documents or copies thereof. Never know when you need to whip out last year's taxes or a birth certificate.

Also, I would place extra emphasis on paring down. I watched a girl drag an entire case of Dr. Pepper with her to rural Japan, insisting that the stuff couldn't be found anywhere in the country. Sure it was tough to find, but not impossible. Moving countries is oftentimes about letting go of some creature comforts and finding new replacements.

I'm with Phalene. I'd love to see a post on triple and quadruple-duty rooms. I'm currently trying to make my apartment cohesive; it's completely furnished. When I write "furnished," of course I mean "came with everything the previous owner didn't take back to America, including picture frames, toiletries, musty rug, and mismatched everything." So that's a barrel of monkeys and then some fun.

I want Jamie Drake to come to my apartment immediately.

You've managed to incorporate my favorite shade of purple in your decorating; I'm envious! It looks uncluttered and a little whimsical all at once. Well done!

SBMODERN, I slept on one of those traditional mats for about eighteen months. Japanese and Korean futons are indeed pads that range from 6 to 12 cm in thickness, and are great at absorbing sweat and the like from the body. They can and will mold (oh, that makes one feel like such a slob), but a simple solution to that is to vacuum them once a week, or make like the Japanese and hang them out in the sun, then beat the dirt out of them.

Traditional futons wonderful in summer because they're so close the the ground; it keeps one near the cool floor. During the winter, that same issue makes life near unbearable (that, and the complete lack on insulation in Japanese housing). It is a great small space solution if you have a closet deep enough to store the futon and blanket. AT actually shows these in a Kyoto guest house tour: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/house-tour-sujiyacho-machiya-kyoto-japan-090125 And the picture above is definitely that kind of traditional futon.

Now tell me that a low mattress looks like "poor student." :)

I bought a bed, though, because in my part of Japan the cold season lasts longer than rainy season and summer. Despite the many bedding accoutrements for warming one's futon God bless you, Muji, for providing me with an affordable bed to keep me away from the bone-shaking cold. Plus, my apartment has no convenient place to hang my futon in the sunshine, and the suckers are kind of heavy to haul up one flight of stairs to hang over the railing. No lies, though, some days I miss being able to store my bed out of sight.

And is it just me, or are college students more likely to loft their beds in order to shove desks and Rubbermaid drawers underneath? I had to climb up to or take a running start to get into bed all through college. We all shoved so much storage under our beds that a low bed was an obvious waste of space.

For the record, during the 1800s it wasn't uncommon to find boys named after professions. There were plenty of Doctors and Lawyers running around who didn't live up to their namesakes. Frankly, it really is racist to play "guess my ethnicity" with unusually-spelled or "re-appropriated" words.

Besides, what is traditional? Sure, if you're caucasian and of Western European heritage, Emily and Margaret and Brian and Robert are perfectly normal names. Most of the Biblical names (stolen from Hebrew like Malikai, or Malachi) are also normal. However, if your cultural heritage stems from a country in which Moreblessing (yup, pronounced More Blessing) is normal, why not name your child something similar? Charity is a traditional name, right? So why isn't Precious? Many black Americans have Ghanian or Western African heritage. Names that end in -qua, -kai, or that begin with two consonants are common in the native languages. I'm currently teaching in Japan, working with girls named Mai (pronounced "my"), Nanami (nah-nah-mee) and boys Syuuto (shoo-toh) and Kouta (koh-ta). Again, what is normal? What is respectable?

As someone who has worked in day care and elementary schools for my entire career, I've seen name trends come and go. I can say for sure that they aren't limited to ethnicity or education. I've read Kevin Henke's Chrysanethmum to young children enough to hope that their parents are teaching them to look past a name. I think it's horrible to reject someone for their name only, when they cannot help with what they've been saddled by their parents.

In summary, it's odd and unmerited to believe that education leads to "normal names." If we are really as open to various cultures and ethnicities as we think, we wouldn't ask each other to stick to "traditional" names that are really just white European. It's classist, racist, and just as uneducated as naming your child after a European capital.

Simple test: Is London or DeShawn a classier name for a boy? If your first thought is London, and be honest with yourself, check your skin color. Now draw your own conclusions. After the indignation wears off, ask yourself what's cool about naming a child after a capital city, and if you'd ever name your child Warsaw or Abuja.

I don't disagree with a couple of things out of place, but perhaps that's because I'm naturally disorganized. I think that's more like eyeglasses left on the coffee table with the book I was reading earlier than draping a sweater over a chair. Nothing that will get in the way.

I like the baroque approach to symmetry—make it look symmetric at first glance. On second and third glance it becomes a game of One of These Things Is Not Like The Other.

My very first apartment after college was in a sketchy area five-minutes' drive from my work, which happened to be near a very convenient shopping area. My location was amazing but the apartment was crap. It had potential; a tiny studio converted from a hotel built in 1911, the original murphy bed frame (and what felt like the original mattress), and easygoing landlords who didn't mind a little paint here and there. However, it was dingy, had terribly carpet, no showerhead, concrete walls, burnt wood from when the last tenant accidentally set the place on fire, and very little natural light. And creepy neighbors. I lived there for six months until I moved to Japan. I would repeat the experience for the sake of convenience, but would have worked harder to fix up my living space.

LSUGrad03, I am in league with you. Some handy tricks from no-shoes-inside Japan for bare floors: wear slippers inside when it gets cold. Keep easily washable slippers in an entryway basket for guests. Use floor cushions to add texture and extra seating (a great small space solution).

White isn't a "trend," and neither is antiquing or shabby chic. I'm more likely to purchase my furnishings based on texture, so that cabinet on which rests the coffee bean bag filler doohickey would never work for me. My dream home looks nothing like this, but I think this home looks clean, bright, and still I wouldn't feel uncomfortable putting my feet on the coffee table. Without shoes, of course.