akisu

The word in Japanese for a burglary is akisu (which literally means open nest). Apparently, the end of the year is a popular time for burglaries--probably all around the world?

With the recent break-in into our apartment, I've been cleaning. Somehow cleaning helps take my mind off of things while in a sense it was probably helping me "clean" out all the bad chi (energy).

The management guy came to fix the mail box on our door and said he will pass out flyers to the other residents to let them know about our break-in. He said it was the first time he's come across a burglary that entered through the mail box. They apparently stuck a pole through the hole from the broken mail box and used it to unlatch the lock. Since another apartment was recently vacated, he took their mail box and attached it to our door.

The locksmith came to put in another lock. I can't tell you how much relief I felt after having the lock put in.

In Hawaii, usually one lanai door is stationary, but in Japan, when unlocked, both doors move. We also put in some reinforcements for the lanai door. Though we live on the 3rd floor, you just never know...

So as we approach the end of the year, the bad elves are out in force waiting to ruin our holiday cheer. We just all have to keep an eye out for each other and try to keep the bad elves out of our castles.

Thanks for all of your words of support, they really helped me get back on track....back to the kitchen I go!

UPDATE (2/20/08): they indeed caught the burglars, 4 Chinese. They also had some items on them, so Satoshi will be going to the police to see if any of our items were found.