La Japoneisa: She's a Legend!...or About How I Almost Threw Up

This morning I stuffed my face with three pieces of lovely freshly baked bread toasted into a lovely toast with butter and yamamomo jam and honey, drank some soya milk and at half eight off i was to hitch a ride with Masao san to his soba restaurant Senkichi, where Bo had been working for the last few days, helping out during the time of Obon, with Wayne's support yesterday. So today it was my turn.
And so I depacked numerous packs of spring onions, filled little plates with grated daikon and wasabi and these onions chopped into little pieces, prepared onigiri and then washed and washed and carried and washed and placed the onigiri on plates and washed and placed some more onigiri on some more plates and carried and washed and carried and carried and washed and washed and washed util it was 5pm and Hana chan came to pick me and 33man Yen heavier kitty up. I was happy. And I knew we all will be happy with the kitty and the whole world. And then I sat in the back of the pajero with Hana and Keiko (a trial-perhaps-to-be-Japanese-Chiiori-staff) on the front seats and we headed for Oboke to buy eggs and pick up a guest from the train station.
I have heard myths and stories about Hana chan's driving abilities and after an approximately five minute ride I begged Keiko to let me sit on the front seat, I held the door handle and closed my eyes waiting for the pain to end and the belief that this would eventually happen kept me going and kept me from throwing up.
She's a legend!

Steve's email has been staring at me white from my Yahoo! inbox for days now. And I am determined not to open it. All the recent emails of his made me feel bad about myself, drained and exhausted, even physically sick. And so that's it and it is so sad. But it. Period.