Cell-Phone Email

So with new technology come new questions for me. I've never used an emailing function on a cell-phone before (much less to say using a phone regularly, as most of my friends know), so now that I am in Japan and my new friends are telling me their keitai (cell-phone) email addresses, I have to get used to the cell-phone email etiquette. Actually, I don't know if there is one, but it seems there is. I am still not sure what the rules are for sending people emails at night. Obviously I wouldn't think of calling anyone after 10 PM unless my call was expected or it was an emergency, but what about emails? I know some people have sound notifications for mail, actually most people seem to have that, but some other people say it's ok to send them emails at night. I also wonder about people who say it's ok, whether they are being polite or it's really ok, because some of my friends are pretty honest, but some of my friends are really polite. Actually, if I had sound notifications, I'd also say it's ok to send me mail late at night, I just won't pick up, like I do with late night calls, but then maybe it would be annoying to some people. Anyways, I don't know. For now I just try to avoid for the most part emailing people late, and I guess that means that late at night I have to be extra careful to make sure I know which email address stuff gets sent to before I hit "send".

Hehe, this really interferes with my late-night email-writing habits, but then again, maybe it's a good thing to leave your mail in your outbox until morning. I tend to write a lot of stupid stuff at night, and I include too many unnecessary details if I write after dark. Funny how it works, but it's true.

Living here has made me try harder to be more considerate towards other people, I guess, because it feels like living in Japan adds more social rules for interpersonal communication. Like I said before though, I really don't mind, I'd prefer to be more considerate to people, and I prefer it that people expect more courtesy from me, and that I can expect the same. I like courtesy, and of course I like when the same is shown to me.

On a separate note, I was thinking the other day: I wonder why it is that we all try to find differences as opposed to look for similarities. I spent the first few months here hunting for differences, so I can tell my friends back in Toronto about them. Now I try to do the opposite though. I have always believed that deep down people are all the same, and we just make too much of a big deal of our differences, that often are very cosmetic. We still, for the most part, share the same core values, love and hate each other just the same, and really being here is not that much different from Toronto. Obviously there are differences in terms of the outside things, like everyday routines (more biking around, more trains, more people on the streets, lots and lots of people at the train stations at rush hour, less sugar in sweets, more wind, lots of people suffering from hay fever, etc.). But when it comes to the core personal things, I think it's no different than anywhere else. And also, I think if you go out looking for differences, you will find them even if they weren't there originally, just like one of the social psychology theories state (it's name escapes me sorry, hence no reference). I think I had a very easy time adjusting here exactly because I make a conscious effort to not focus on the differences so much, but instead have no expectations and be open minded. It's not always easy, but I learned the really hard way in Canada that being closed-minded will result in a miserable life, so I've been trying my best, and I am really enjoying making new friends now.

Aaaanyways, it's great to procrastinate here on blogger, but I have to practice the piano now. I wonder why it is always a chore... I mean, it's really enjoyable during the lesson, but as soon as I get home, the motivation plummets and goes through the floor. I really need to do something about my motivation problem, especially now that I am going to take 3 lessons a month instead of 2.

*tries to drag herself away from the laptop*