ellemarr

Ha, it's really interesting to read everyone's letters.
I have to figure out the age everyone's working with...I guess like 5-6 years old?

Dear young Elle,

The older you are, the harder it is to learn new things. So do yourself a favor: get off the sofa, take your nose out of those tween books, and start learning new things that will matter in the long run. Develop more talents. Try learning a foreign language. Never underestimate yourself. Your parents will surround you with exchange students from China and Japan in the next few years, try taking a strong interest in their language and culture and don't be such a jealous younger sister. Also, try to be more socially adept. You'll save yourself a world of anxiety if you could act a little more normal around other people. Don't share too many personal things with people you don't know for sure that you can trust (even your own mother), as this never fails to get you into trouble. Otherwise, know that you're a special person with many amazing moments ahead of you. Everything happens for a reason, even if you can't see it right away. Trust your gut when making life choices, but don't always listen to it when it comes to judging people, because it's very skeptical, shallow and fickle. Don't try and dress punk or goth or any other alternative clothing choice in high school just to fit in, because you'll be in drawn into the wrong kinds of crowds that will mean you harm. Instead, just be yourself. It'll get you further in life when you care more about your own well-being than what peers think of you.

Love,
Older Elle

I'm going to go try that futureme.org thing now...

After reading this I was thinking, "What other things drive me crazy when I'm driving?" Well I have a few:

people not using their signal lights to turn or to change lanes
people on cell phones (even bluetooth) and not paying attention to anyone else on the road
people not knowing how to merge into traffic and not knowing what to do when someone is merging into traffic

Michiko, are you sure you don't live somewhere near me? I ALWAYS run into drivers like that!

In addition to those (and everything else stated thus far), my big pet peeves are:

Stickers all over the back window (like stick figure families and glittery pink RIP whomever decals). How can the see the drivers behind them if that's covering their view?!
People who go 5-15 miles under the speed limit, and then slow down even further when you get really close behind them, just to make a statement that they don't feel like going the right speed.
People who have "pimped out rides" with really bad body work. They're spending money on fixing the wrong problems, and look like a road hazard.
Trucks who drive recklessly. They're the biggest things on the road and can easily kill anyone in a car, yet I've seen truckers run people off the road before (it happened to me twice actually: truckers ran me and my mother off the road and into construction zones).
Drunk (or any chemically influenced) drivers. This goes without needed explanation. I drove buzzed once, nearly hit a car with cm to spare, and learned my lesson NEVER to do that again.

The Kago part of the "Ginza no Haha" special is up on the tracker .
I fast forwarded through the re-enactment portion - too depressing and the actor playing Kago is too skinny .

The only part I did watch was the re-enactment, because I couldn't understand a word of the rest. Does anyone have a translation or summary of what they said, both the events and the palm-reading?