Introductions

Very often my morning dilemma is deciding to use my time to read blog friends' posts OR write my own post OR answer comments. When I get backed up a week at answering comments I usually give up on doing anything else. I love to do all three but that does mean one gets tied to the computer. I guess I try not to miss writing even a little bit on my own blog (Mrs. Goodneedle is always so concise. I tend to ramble) and then I answer personal e-mails and comments and finally I tour blogs (or sometimes make time in the evening.) How do you choose? What's your priority?



Yesterday, I had a mildly annoying thing happen. I had wired money to my bank account in the States through the Japanese post office. I do this at regular intervals so that I can send money from the American account to my kids' banks. The post office people know me. Last summer there was a slight glitch when so many American banks went under and bank hands changed but I have successfully wired money since then. I wired my money on Friday but on Tuesday night there was a message on the answering machine from the post office saying they needed to consult with me on a problem. Ah yes. Probably the bank name change etc.

Yesterday morning I went to the post office with paperwork in hand to show them that I really did have an account in the States and prove that it was possible to transfer money. BUT the problem wasn't about the bank name! The problem was about MY name!

My name is Tanya. In Japanese people use Japanese characters to write it ta-ni-ya. It doesn't matter to me how it is pronounced. I answer to both pronunciations. Many times Japanese will write my name with Roman letters as Taniya. I don't mind that either. That's the way it sounds to them. But officially I am Tanya and that is how I fill out forms in English and sign my name. The post office even gave me a pre-printed form with my name filled in as Tanya since I use their services so much.

For some DUMB reason, someone has noticed at this late date (6 years) that my printed name and the Japanese characters sound different. They wanted to know if I was really Tanya or if I was Taniya and maybe I'd been making a mistake for 30 years. I assured them I was Tanya (as the form said) and if they would look in their files for the past 6 years I have been wiring money through them that way. They politely thanked me for clearing that up.

It looks like my poor kids are not going to get any money for another week.

Hi. My name is Tanya. Taniya. Ta-nya. Tania. Any way is fine. Nice to meet you.