Happy Sea Day! Monday, July 19, is Sea Day, a national holiday when we are supposed to go out and enjoy the sea. But for me, this has not been a good year with the sea. First, on a yachting trip from Japan to Guam, the boat turned over in the Pacific Ocean and we had to be rescued. More recently, I sprained my ankle on my own boat while it was still sitting in the port. And I'm supposed to look forward to Sea Day? I'd rather book a flight to the desert, thank you.

So if you're like me and Sea Day doesn't happen to be a particularly happy day for you, then let's not say "Happy Sea Day!" to each other, just "Sea Day!" And, while we're on the subject, since I just entered my 40s last year, please don't tell me, "Happy birthday!" anymore. From now on, just "Birthday!" will do.

While a sprained ankle is not life-threatening, it is terribly inconvenient, especially when one lives on a small island. Apparently island people never sprain their ankles. I know this because when I went to the island doctor and explained my "sprained" ankle ("sprain" being a word only used for ankles, wrists and fingers, prompting me to believe that sprain is really a secret past tense of "spring," in which case we should be saying a "sprung ankle" or perhaps even a "spranged ankle," both of which sound closer to the truth), he said he couldn't X-ray it for me, as he no longer had an X-ray machine (wouldn't that make it an ex-ray machine?). When I asked him if I could borrow a set of "pine leaf sticks" ("matsu-ba-tsue," or crutches), he said he didn't have any. Now I know why they call them pine leaf sticks: in case you have to go out and make a pair yourself. Luckily we have lots of pine trees on the island.