30 Sept-4 Oct: Life Upgrades in 2016

The term references Chris-chan, whose life I’ve followed in WAY too much detail these days.
After teaching one class with Inori Sensei, I felt so sick I immediately went to the doctor. The muscle cramps/spasms were back, and standing was horrible because I kept needing to double over. I made it to Kyoko’s office, and then was shocked when she didn’t want to prescribe me medicine that had worked in the past. Apparently the stuff that my US doctor gave me isn’t popular in Japan. It was just as well, though. I took the meds, went home, and rested for a bit. Then, my stomach felt better, and I made it back to Miyachu. Unfortunately, I missed the two classes that I actually would have taught with Tateishi. Still, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I have no recollection of the night of the 30th. It probably consisted of video games.
I woke up early on the first. I hadn’t slept well, and it was miserable. So, I played some Civ, and then I went downstairs and readied myself for Pathfinder. I got there, Tris got there, and then Dave showed up, but Armand wasn’t going to be there (schedule conflict Tris had forgotten to inform us about), Matthew wasn’t going to be there (schedule conflict Tris had forgotten), and Scott and Calix . . . just didn’t show. Dave was cool about it, but I feel bad for him. He was hung over that morning, but he got up because he wanted to play. I really feel that we’re running out of steam. Hard core.
I took a nap on Saturday, and that and Civ took up most of the day. Finally, I decided that I’d make a run for Totori and see if my chair had arrived. A very long drive later, I found that it had, and I put it into my little pink Suzuki and puttered along to Rara, the Indian Restaurant that I love.
When I arrived, Nikita, the owner’s daughter, was having a great time with some little girl who informed me that she was half Japanese and half Filipino. That’s evidently a winning combination because she was one of the most remarkable children I’ve seen in Asia. I think that, in my old age, I’ve come to the conclusion that adorable little pasty big eyed kids (like Liisa who is half Estonian) may be cuter as outliers, but that kids in Asia are cuter on average. Anyway, the lovely little hafu (half: it’s what mixed race Japanese are usually called/call themselves) was so sweet and nice and was having so much fun with Nikita (the owner’s daughter: the whole family is from Nepal) that it was just adorable and fun to watch. They were playing on one of those two wheeled skate boards, and were joking around with me. I think that they’re in about fifth or sixth grade. It’s a fun age, for well behaved kids. If they still haven’t picked up on the annoying tendencies of adolescents, then they have childlike happiness and sweetness mixed with a young adult’s sufficient knowledge to manage a conversation. Anyway, I had fun chatting with them.
I then went upstairs and, unexpectedly, met my new acquaintance’s parents.
Rara was insanely busy. I’d never seen it like that. All of the tables in the main seating area were full, the raised tatami section was full, the single table next to the tatami, in front of the kitchen, was full, and the two and four tops from the window section had been pushed together to make a long . . . I could almost call it a trough. The owner, a man whom I adore but whose name always escapes me, greeted me, and I took a seat at the counter. It wasn’t long before a rather drunk man named Terawaki (whose name I had to look up in my phone just now) came over and chatted with me briefly. He came back a few times, and, after a bit, I walked over to the table and started talking with the old men. Then, somebody brought me a chair, and I sat down, and the party started.
We talked and laughed and had a great time together. I’ve been inducted into their old man club. I guess that they meet up on the first of every month, and that there will be a mochi making party that I’ll be going to on . . . the 28th? Anyway, it was amazing. Food was good, company was pleasant, and then things got even better. Among the people at the nearby giant party, there were members of a dance troupe who danced for us. Dinner, a show, good company, and a chair. It was a good night.
I got home and I intended to go to bed, but, unable to sleep, I assembled the desk and chair. I also already took a big ding out of my desk. Oh well, such is life. My apartment is now worse than it’s ever been. I’ve got to get going on that.
I slept in on Sunday, but not as much as I had expected. I got to sleep around three, so waking up at nine wasn’t that bad, considering. It was hot. Unreasonably hot. The temperature here is unseasonably hot and humid for October. I set up my office in my un-air-conditioned second upstairs tatami room. I didn’t think that it would be a problem until June. Well, it’s already a problem. After a while of puttering around on the computer, enjoying a desk and a chair, it was too hot to do anything. I couldn’t set up my stereo because it was just too hot to trust myself to not drop/sweat all over everything. So, I showered, dressed, etc., then headed off to K’s electronic store.
At K’s, I discovered just how much electric fans cost, and I was truly horrified. However, I got a good deal on two extension cords. I also wanted to get some more USB chargers, but I decided that I could avoid that for the moment. I was then amazed when I found the greatest chair in the history of mankind.
The thing . . . it engulfs you. I’ve never liked a let insert massage chair before, but these were amazing. It uses pneumatic pressure to readjust you within the chair, and it moves around actually stretching you. I was stretched. By a chair. While it massaged me. Apparently it’s monitoring your body data at all times to get you in the best positions. My back felt better after a five minute demo on that chair than it does after the doctor! The hand/arm massage function actually felt like a human, most of it did! It was a massage chair that felt like actually going to the doctor. It was, however, $5K or so. There’s a five year payment plan, and if I knew that I’d be in Kagoshima for six years, I’d do it. As it is, I can’t justify buying something that’s two and a half times the cost of my car because it might possibly help me. That’s just too uncertain.
I got KFC and Baskin Robbins for dinner. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds as I hadn’t had any food all day. Hadn’t really felt like any. While I was eating KFC, I saw Rara’s owner, which was nice. However, we didn’t talk because he didn’t see me, and I didn’t know his name to call out to him. Seriously need to learn that guy’s name. While at the store that contained the KFC, I bought some kind of spider barrier powder. Let’s hope I don’t get cancer. I drove over to Baskin Robbins, and it was pretty okay. I miss good ice cream, which is odd, because I’ve never usually eaten much of it.
I went home and spider proofed the house. Then, killed time doing heaven only knows what before getting to sleep midnightish.
I woke up at the scheduled time on Monday, but I didn’t exercise. I’m not exercising as I ought to, but I am at least getting up on time. It’ll make it easier when I go back to exercising.
On the plus side, there was a big dead spider outside near the barrier. Yay!
Monday was Miyachu, which was dull. I had some classes with Tateishi, and Inori had me do five minutes at the starts of her classes. While surfing the web, dreaming of my heaven chair, I found a thing talking about the possible health benefits of pneumatic massage on Restless Leg. However, after consulting with my doctor (over text) she wasn’t convinced that I should bother. I wish I could use one for a week and see if there was a difference. I also read about the benefit of hot/cold treatment, and I remembered that from Cats practice. So, I decided that I’d find an onsen with hot/cold baths. The one in town is not that hot or that cold.
I also had Eikaiwa. That was boring, but acceptably so. It was more boring than normal, however, which was disappointing. However, while there, Kazumi suggested that I go to either the Kannon onsen or the Abirukan. So, I determined to go to the Abirukan as she said it is more crowded, generally, so I thought that maybe I could socialize.
First, the plan was to get a shave, but the barber that I go to was closed. Probably takes Mondays off. So, I went home and killed time until it was time for dinner. I had planned on cleaning, but I was exhausted and I am still incredibly sore for my attempt at Yoga a week ago. Yeah. My muscles are so tense that moving is very painful. So, after killing time, I went to dinner. It ran very late. They appeared to be short staffed as it was only the owner. Part way through, one of the two ladies showed up. The owner was super busy making up takeout orders, it seems, and I have always told them not to worry on my account. I finished the Scott Adams self help book, which was nice. Then, it was off to the Abirukan.
The water wasn’t as hot as I’d hoped or as cold as I’d hoped. Still, it was a nice onsen. I couldn’t figure out a lot of the details on the various baths, though. There was a kind of . . . shower bath? It was something you sat in, and there was a big quarter sized stream of water falling down from the shower. Solid. Like a hose or something, except it was a pipe. Then there was the main bath which had three evident sections. There was a somewhat chilly (not chilly enough) “walking bath” from what I could figure out. It was a circle with a barrier in the middle, and you walked. Then there was the cold bath. There was another bath called an “Event” bath, but I have no idea what that signifies. It was the same temperature as the main bath. Then there were the outside baths, hot and cold, and the sauna. Within the main bath, there was general bathing, then if you walked straight, there were a few air jets. To the right, next to the barrier separating the main bath from the walking bath, there were two metal lawn chairs in the bath attached to the floor, with air jets. Finally, on the far side, by the walkway that lead outside and across from the waterfall bath, there was the electric bath, and THAT is what made the whole thing worth going to. I decided to try an experiment. I exposed my sore back to treatment, but both legs have been incredibly sore for a week. I held the right one in the current for a long time, and much closer than the left. Today (Tuesday the 4th) the right feels a lot better. I guess I know where I’ll be going for the next few days. I need to exercise again, but, I’m afraid of injuring myself further.
I went home after and I ate an entire cake thing that one of the Eikaiwa ladies gave me. It was one of those weird . . . wheel layered cakes. I have no idea what to call it or how to explain it very well. I was hungry. Lunch was awful and I declined to eat most of it on Tuesday. I felt pretty good, though, after the bath, and I got a decent night’s sleep for the first time in a long time.
This morning, Tuesday the 4th, I got up and still didn’t exercise. However, I did kill a spider. I was furious that it had escaped my barrier. Maybe it had been there for a while. It certainly has enough places to hide at present.
I’m waiting on several packages now. Two in particular are making me anxious. It’s a music book and a CD of practice tracks. I had to get them separately. They were supposed to be here a week ago, according to Amazon, but the website says fourteen business days. So it could be next week before I get them. I’m very anxious and, of course, there’s no tracking number. Blargh.
Today was dull. I had one class with Tateishi, I helped Inori with a dialogue for five minutes, and I graded a few papers. Beyond that, I had some Skype chatting, a lot of Civ (I need to uninstall it) and this entry. Lunch was horrible, so I skipped most of it.
Now, it’s 4:01 I think I’ll go home, change, maybe finish a little Civ, run to the barber, and then go to dinner and onsen. Let’s get me healed up. I think that maybe I should write a whole entry dedicated to the Scott Adams book. But that will be another day.