February 17th through 23rd in 2016

I have no memory of anything that happened of note on Wednesday the 17th. Likely nothing of not happened.
February 18th was a pretty okay day. I went with Sam to Shibi elementary. It was a pretty nice time, to be honest. I’m amazed at how quiet and subdued he is in class. Very calm and passive. I felt bad for going in and dominating, but, such was life. Had fun with the kids, did some magic, good times were had by all. Well, that’s life. The school is closing in March, so, it was rather nice to get to go. I get to go once more, evidently, though why I’m going again I’m yet to figure out. The school itself is lovely. It’s old, but well cared for. It was the one which had had its roof ripped off during the typhoon in august. I’d gone there twice to help with maintainance, but, this was the first time that I actually taught there. Didn’t eat lunch, starving kept on. That night, I saw that I was expecting my kimono and hookah set in the mail, and I was afraid to head out. My brain was also operating at well under full capacity. I ended up waiting around forever and, by the time I got the stuff, it was too late to do anything I’d wanted to. Which was probably just going to Plasse.
The 19th I went with Sam to Satsuma Chu. It was fun. I helped to teach a few classes, which I enjoyed. Lunchtime was alright. I had some milk. The kids really liked me. I made one guy laugh so hard he sprayed food everywhere. Good times. Then, after classes, we watched a taiko maker demonstrate his skills and techniques. He’s really cool, but it was hard to follow and I was tired. And hungry. Were I a fluent speaker, I would have been transfixed.
Well, after that, I went home, and I wasted time somehow. Partly on Hookah. It kept sucking, and I wanted to get better at it. Well, finally, I decided that I should try eating, and I really REALLY wanted pizza, so I decided to go to the Italian restaurant, Wai Wai. On my way there, my phone informed me that I had tea ceremony, so I rushed into 7-11, bought some garbage, drove back home, donned my kimono, and rushed over to Sensei’s house. Sadly, as it turns out, I had the wrong day put in. No class. However, by that time, I’d eaten. So, no decent food. I went home, wasted time, and went to bed.
Saturday morning I couldn’t manage to sleep in. Then there was Pathfinder. The game is not going well and I’m not enjoying it very much at all. Very disappointing. When that was done, I actually went and got some Italian food, which was nice. Then off to Kimono class (no guitar).
Kimono class was really fun. The ladies really liked the kimono that I’d bought. However, my under kimono was too long, so they hemmed it for me, by hand, in class! I was so moved! Then we practiced getting me in and out of the thing repeatedly. The goal was for me to be able to do it on my own tomorrow (Sunday), which I managed to do! At the end, we did some origami/etiquette lessons. I love that part so much. I wish I had kimono classes weekly. It’s a different good feeling than guitar gives. I love them both, and I wish I could do both. Oh well. Maybe if sensei likes me enough I can pay her for private lessons.
After that, I went home, killed a bit more time, then had a haircut. The haircut did not go well. It was okay, but the front is too short and the sides are too long. The back is perfect, though. Anyway, after that, back to Italian food. Diet is not going so well, obviously. While there, a seemingly drunk guy came in. He was being loud and obnoxious. I helped to get him out of there and moving towards an izakaya. The owners were thankful. I teach their kid, and I spend money there, so they already like me. They also, evidently, made a mistake on my pizza, so I got a takeout pizza to go (the mistake one, which tasted amazing) and also got a real pizza. Either that or the pizza was just as a thank you. Still not entirely sure. Then, back home. I got a message from my monk friend that he wanted to go drinking. Man did I want to as well, but, it just wasn’t going to work. Between stomach, bad sleep, and the culture festival on Sunday . . . just nope.
The cultural festival on Sunday the 20th was different than I’d expected. Instead of a tea demonstration, one person at a time demonstrated tea, and the rest of us were running out bowls of tea and various sweets to the myriad of people who’d sit down. I think they said we served 300 people in two hours. Sounds excessive, but, not overly surprising. Sam and I were on tea serving duty, so there was no real need for me to have done any of the practice anyway. I did, however, get to make one bowl of tea for Kimono Sensei.
I was also selected to go with tea sensei to serve tea to the guest of honor for the event, some photographer or videographer guy. He spoke English like a Chinese bilingual announcer, which impressed me. Sadly I didn’t manage to stay for most of the event.
See, my stomach was really REALLY bad. I’d eaten a ton the day before, and nothing was happening, so to speak. So, I got some advice from a coworker, went to a pharmacy, and picked up some medicine. Some initial relief ensued, which was wonderful. I then tried to eat a ton of granola cereal which was less successful. I also had a huge nap. Okadome-san dropped by my house and left me a bunch of food, which was super sweet. I need to do something for her one of these days.
Anyway, I got to sleep at a reasonable time, but I keep waking up at night, which is miserable. Monday morning I got up and went off to the BOE. I got to teach at Sashi, which would have been lovely had I been feeling better. I took another dose of meds and was definitely feeling the impact, which made stuff a bit rough on the ol’ system. Anyway, in spite of itself, it was fun. I was kidnaped by the same kids who always kidnap me, and I played Japanese dodgeball at recess, which is very slow paced and dull (perfect for a guy who isn’t feeling well).
On a side note, there seem to be a LOT of people with disabilities in this town. A LOT. I wonder if it’s because of some old problems from the postwar reconstruction? Or maybe if it’s from the shallow gene pool? I don’t know.
Anyway, then I rushed to Eikaiwa and had a moderately decent time. After that, went home. I discovered that one reason my hookah sucked so severely was that I hadn’t actually bought hookah tobacco, I’d gotten some herbal crap. Which explains why it tasted like nothing and gave me no buzz. It also means that I’ve been nicotine free for over two weeks, which is a nice accomplishment. So, I killed time until 6, then got Italian food. A lot of the stuff is very healthy (other than the pasta and desert, but even that isn’t terrible). I hadn’t had lunch, so it was okayish. Then, I went home and ordered stuff on amazon. I bought the first Harry Potter book because I’m a nice guy and Courtney had better not forget it. I also ordered a large sized George Foreman grill because that way I can cook more food more quickly. Also, hopefully by spending the extra money, I’ll be sure to use it. Got to bed at a reasonable time, but, woke up at 3 and struggled to get back to sleep.
This morning not a great deal of note happened. I got in a fight with mum because she’s too scared to go to The Starlight and get my costumes. She wants to arrange it, but it’s hard for me to arrange things between mom, Tom, and an intermediary from Japan when Tom’s hard to talk to as it is. Expensive and very difficult things disappeared under her watch when she was there all the time. How things are now that she’s gone? No idea. And, of course, if she’d done this at any point in time prior to Tom changing the locks, we’d have no problem. Oh well. I just messaged Shayla and offered her $100 to bring my stuff out. We’ll see if she does it.
I’ve got Ebihara today, which means that I’ve probably got no classes today. I hope to get caught up on the letters that Lauren sent to me that I still haven’t replied to. I keep making excuses based on me not feeling well. However, it’s been nearly two months. No excuses anymore. I also hope to get at least mostly caught up on studying. Exercise is probably going to suffer today. So be it. I also need to get cleaning done because my house is now so filthy as to have become a danger to myself and others. It’s seriously gross and must be fixed.
I’ve been thinking a lot, lately, about reading. How, in high school, or before (or after), it was easy to sit down with a book and to shut out the world. Now, I’m always thinking of so many other things. There’s always something else I should be doing, or something else I’m waiting for. It’s easier to talk to six people at once than it is to just sit down and read a book. And, when nobody’s there, what I want to be doing is always something other than what I’m doing. There’s a certain solipsism that blesses the young with the ability to tune out everything. I miss that. I want that. So, how do I get that?
I think the thing to do is to get back into meditation, but, that’s easier done with a body that’s better functioning. I’ve slipped from the diet and exercise recently because of my health. Well, time to redouble my efforts. Time to go back and get this done, but as responsibly as is possible.
There’s more I want to say and more that’s been on my mind, but managing even this has been difficult. For whatever reason. It’s been good for me, but it hasn’t been easy. I suppose it’s just getting back into the swing of things.