A weekend beginning in new year celebration with the karate club. We went to Sakura, a Japanese restaurant in Richmond. The food felt closer to common izakaya fare in Japan when compared to the “fashionable” izakayas like Zakkushi and Kingyo. Although I really like those places, the food is still given enough twist to be different and foreign.

I ate the onigiri to the right and it was yummy, as was everything else and the sake.

Then I woke up the next day and I was a year older. What do I think about that?

As usual, conflicted over the extent that I should acknowledge it. But in the end, it will never not be acknowledge so I shouldn’t try to hide from self-reflection. This year’s theme was of course the need to finish school and find a job. Then there was the consideration that a year from now my life will be completely different. That brings up a mixture of: fear - what will it be?, urgency - I need to make it something, and excitement - there are so many possibilities.

This morning I had a dream where I returned to Japan to continue work at NTT. The office room was darker, people were busy. I sat down at my desk and it was somewhat cleaned up since the time I left. I wished that I was wearing new clothes. I tried to work but couldn’t find the motivation. It actually felt like I was going backwards.

I woke up knowing I have to move forward.