item #19: FREE! all the way from Japan...

Last year, my forever dream of visiting Japan came true. I shall always love the Slipknot camp for taking me there.

definitely some cool cats on that team, and it's great music to clean your house to.

I fell in love with the terrific attention to detail and the turn of phrase that the translation from Japanese to English often brought. I studied Mandarin in college but that sure didn't help me here...

Everything looked bright and new to me. I brought back so many little presents.

The food was, bar none, my favorite of the world, even down to the crazy convenience store eggs, cooked EXACTLY like I like them, I can't wait to go back.

is my visa still good?

to the person who tells me their favorite food of the world, in the comments, I will send this little Japanese note pad, which includes this quote of perfection:

How many do you know the beautiful language which conveys a feeling?

and I'll throw in a free Neverwear pen:

tomorrow: item #20 will be from HOUSE ON THE ROCK, for all my fellow American Gods fans....stay tuned!

item #10: a Neil Gaiman mug

I am a mug collector. I admit it.

I also admit I am fairly picky about what vessel I use for my hot beverages.

My favorite combo is dark on the outside and light on the inside, I believe it's so i can see if the mug is dirty or not. This one fills the bill perfectly, as my other condition is that it is big enough for my required quantity of said hot liquid.

We made these up for Christmas gifts this year and I have a few left over. This is a part of my "swallowing diamonds" project, of getting one thing a day out of the treehouse. So far, so good!

If this one does well, we may add it to the Neverwear line. Click here for the link to our ebay auction.

It's a quote from Neil Gaiman's amazing University of the Arts commencement speech from May 2012, which is up on line HERE.

In his speech, he advises that no matter what happens, make art out of the situation. And in making art, when mistakes are made, all the better. He describes a moment when he misspelled "Caroline" while typing, and that's how he came up with the title of his wonderful "CORALINE" book.

In fact, I made a conscious "*mistake" on this mug, as i couldn't fit the actual quote from NG, too many letters for the printer to wrap, so had to improvise, as much as I don't like to do that, I believe it contains the essence of his brilliant message, which is to take chances and be unafraid to do so.

to quote Queen:

"...and bad mistakes, I've made a few..."

This little reminder while I drink my morning tea makes me present and accountable. ( *editor's note: mug also works really well for coffee, but I have never seen Mr. Gaiman drink the stuff. He's a British tea man, more often he drinks green tea these days)

*I will throw in some chocolate dragon coins to sweeten the deal. they come in this little golden pouch which will be nestled in your new mug:

any questions, put them to me. The Ebay auction is for world-wide shipping, sorry that it costs so much to ship outside of the US, but them's the breaks, kids. I shipped one of these mugs as a present to friends over the seas and it cost 16+ bucks!

meanwhile, SPIDERMAN auction has four hours left! lots of watchers, no bids, so go get it!

I am one of the ebay good guys. Save my seller name: Kitty9thlife as there will be glorious, amazing mistakes ahead.

meanwhile, now I am off to LAX to pick up a friend (believe me, that's a favor in this town) and when I return, I will post the OCEAN card winners, and did I ever post the Linkin Park hat winner? ayyyyyyyyyy!