In a New Box. » Mundane

grow mother of zillions, grow

Wed, 27 May 2009 05:43:07 +0000

Odd. Vanilla ice cream with black sesame powder tastes like reese’s pieces. Wonderful things like this cause late reporting.

Maybe 2 and a half weeks ago now I left the Kommune.

To start a new home on another side of town. This is the front porch:

When I first checked out the place I was standing where those white chairs are and was greeted by two cats: Bob and Pumpkin aka Tuna aka Crumbs. It was sunny outside and I was high on the realization that this was absolutely where I want to live.

So I moved in and hopefully I’ll have more pictures and home projects to share in the future. Right now things have been a bit crazy organizing and stocking all those important but missing pieces (can opener anyone?) It doesn’t help that I’ve been spending weekends practicing beaches and camping for Hawaii (omigosh I didn’t mention that yet…3 days!!!!)

For the time being, meet the mother-to-be:

Still tiny mother-of-millions plants that had a growth spurt after the move (maybe because it’s warmer now). The one on the top-right is winning. These plants will produce little “plantlets” that fall off to produce more plants. Probably why they are considered a weed in some parts but in my living room I cheer them on.

after 1

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:38:38 +0000

I enjoyed buying groceries, cleaning, doing laundry. I baked sour cream-maple bread and it turned out a bit crumbly, but moist and not too sweet. I picked out a book to read while eating soup and then I went to bed at 9pm. All done without the hot breath of guilt on my neck.

I slept 10 hours and woke up with a sore throat. A mix of feeling quite better and a lot worse. I went for a run to shake out a cold possibly coming along. Then I went to a job interview and the fact that I stayed engaged despite drowsiness and sore throat and even had ideas firing off in my head told me that it would potentially be a good position for me.

I came home and read again, enjoying Nabokov as I did before. His descriptions of things are still so satisfying. Then I slept more and more. I think I might be able to avoid that cold. And after a taste of freedom, I must return to the thesis and work on my defense presentation.

I I I I I

am feeling too self-absorbed and am looking forward to seeing girlfriends next week as they make me laugh so hard that I can’t think about myself for very long.

i didn’t explode!!!

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:08:24 +0000

I didn’t explode but what did I do?

rushed to finish work before going home for the holidays
got really sick on my final day in Vancouver and in fever flew home under a pile of airplane blankets and parka
saw much missed family and friends
drove to Humboldt, SK for a bitingly cold but beautiful white and shimmery day and a short night to see my grandmother
finished my thesis draft
ate some delicious meals made by my sister
went to two CrossFit classes with Kim
basked in excitement and anticipation of Kim’s upcoming wedding with the arrival of bridesmaid dresses and a wedding shower
got a new pair of running shoes and the Nike + iPod Sport Kit to jog into the new year with (it’s been great and motivational to track my runs)
came back to Vancouver before the new year and spent the eve on the couch
to wake up the next morning and have a super productive day
started karate practice again and I think my kata is getting a little better
watched a lot of Buffy
found a Book Off in Vancouver and felt like I was in Japan again
bought a textbook in intermediate Japanese, 星の王子さま (the Little Prince), and Murakami’s first book, 風の歌を聴け (Hear the Wind Sing) to motivate a return to my Japanese studies

Among other things, this is what I am remembering for now.

Why have I not been writing? I don’t really know.

But I have some ideas. There is so much that I want to do, that I need to be doing now that when I come to this Box, I feel like I can’t justify the time to write something. I’m also in a period of transition; I’m trying to ground myself and days are flying by. All the little things that I might comment on here slip away as I rush to the next thought of how I must proceed.

How am I proceeding?

This week I have finally started to really truly get my hands dirty in the job searching process.
I am finishing up my work at UBC from last fall so that by next week I can concentrate 60% on thesis revisions
The other 40% will go towards a conference submission due early February and applying for jobs
Break time involves karate, studying Japanese, testing my cooking skills, trying to get out more than in the fall, and watching the final season of the Buffy series

And…I should probably be writing more. I will try. And taking pictures.

But for now, back to work.

last times

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:36:03 +0000

Moving involves a series of things that are done for the last time. These are everyday things that will obtain new context and method in their transfer to the new place.

I notice myself ignoring the last minutes of things I enjoy. I focus on noting the last time I must do a less enjoyable task such as cleaning the floor drain in my washroom or wiping up water trapped in the tight space between my kitchen sink faucet and the wall.

They will come and take my Internet soon. I might write before leaving Japan. I might not. So if not – goodbye for now.

my roommate

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 16:05:25 +0000

This is my spider friend:

I think I told you about him. I’m trying to learn that spiders are good because they balance out insect ecosystems in homes. So he lives. Every morning for the past week he has come out of hiding while I get ready for work. He crawls along the same path on the wall over my desk. Hangs out by the keyboard for a bit and then some days makes it to the curtains. My questions:

What does he think of me and does he see me mostly or hear me?

What should his name be?

Why do I assume it is a male spider?

Will he grow?

Where does he go when I cannot see him?

While I am here – how is everyone in Vancouver doing with the trash deal? Is it…a bad situation?

the detailed weather

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 23:23:31 +0000

Now I can check the weather in the morning from a source other than my mobile. If I want details there I think I have to subscribe to something. So I checked the weather this morning and well, I’ve mentioned the laundry index before – the weather reports here include estimations of how long it takes to dry your laundry. That makes total sense. So does the umbrella index. Today it is 10 – it is okay not to bring an umbrella with you even though it is cloudy outside. My new finds this morning also make sense but they are still amusing.

The ice cream index. Today it is 60 – we should use ice cream to get over the heat. Tomorrow it is only 50. We only want to eat ice cream but whether or not it is necessary is questionable.

The sweat index. Today if you walk, you will gradually start to sweat.

I’m gonna be running (and sweating) to the bus stop at the rate I’m going here. Got out of bed in a weird way today. Probably because I was startled last night. I had fallen asleep for only a while when my mind decided to wake itself up with a spider hallucination/dream. This one seemed so real that I leapt off of my bed pulling my blankets with me. Good thing because even with the extra padding my hip was still bruised a little. I kind of wish I had it on camera. It was totally an action movie reflex.

lost shoes

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 19:29:33 +0000

I can’t believe this. After more than a year, since March of 2006, I am once again the proud owner of home Internet. They hooked me up this morning but I had no chance to try. Now, 18 hours later, I have plugged waffles in and she is really back.

What will this mean for the course of the next 2 months? I can write to you I really can. Because it is times like this, 4:30am after いろいろな drinks that it feels comfortable. Not jotted down and then written in a rush at work.

Last night there was a birthday party at an onsen (hot spring) / unagi restaurant. On the way home I spotted these shoes in Yokosuka-chuo. Nice shoes, abandonned, by a bicycle, not really around anything else. Do they belong to the rider of the bicycle? Is there a man walking around barefoot? Are they my size?

Mystery shoes they are.

woke up in kyoto this morning

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 06:17:31 +0000

waking up first thoughts:
- someone’s phone is ringing, no that’s my alarm
- wait a minute, I can’t leave this dream I wasn’t done that conversation
- my face feels greasy
- my teeth are wearing sweaters
- am I hot or cold?
- my mind is here my vision is not
- was I going to wake up today?
- is that really sunshine or is the day just happy to see me?
- how can I get coffee?
- have I changed position since I fell asleep?
- is someone expecting me?
- where am I?
- did I say bye before I left my dream?
- are there really bugs crawling on my ceiling or are those eye spots?
- where is food?
- this seems to be my reality. What if one day it is not?
- uuuuuuuuuuuuuggggh………

- (…)

Continue the list in the comments or share your related story.

logging

Mon, 28 May 2007 09:02:47 +0000

I guess this is how these things work. Cut and paste from a file on my desktop, thingsiforgot.txt:

I forgot…

M 05.21.2007 …to take out the PET bottle recycling in the morning
T 05.22.2007 …to bring my wallet downstairs at lunch in order to recharge my lunchcard and as a consequence I had to borrow money
Since 05.22.2007 …my thingsiforgot list

may’s potty talk

Wed, 09 May 2007 02:42:20 +0000

Just came back from the can on the 2nd floor and they have a new Toto apparatus installed. The controller for this one (for the bidet, massage, heated seat, etc.) indicates the time. I looked at that time…11:30am…and realized that I never see the time from the can. I not only do not see the time, I don’t think of it and in fact, I think of the bathroom/washroom as a timeless space.
Ok so maybe that doesn’t completely work because over the time the washroom is the room that becomes the most noticeably dirty (to me). It is the blue stripe on the toothbrush or that band on the battery telling you when time is up, something needs to be changed, cleaned, done.
But – we can put clocks in anything computer controlled so why not? It is cheap and it adds an extra function to advertise. But when is time an uninvited guest? Like in the bathroom stall where the time reminds me of the world outside almost like it is a person standing outside the door making sure that I come out in due time.