It seems as though Lulu and others have given up on "Somedays ate Tuesdays" posts, but I never was very good at keeping up with the popular kids, so here goes...
Somedays I am frustrated and bored with work and despair of improving or ever having a "career" as opposed just doing a job. But most days recently I have been loving work. I've been editing the proofs for the book (a Japanese translation of a collection of essays in English) we are publishing in the new year. It turns out that being anal has its positives too, and means that I enjoy and am actually pretty good at editing, even in Japanese! I'm not looking for or catching grammatical errors but have been checking for overall consistency (use of Arabic versus Chinese numbers, etc).
Somedays I regret that we won't be going back to Canada for Christmas this year. I'm going to miss seeing family and friends, the Christmasy atmosphere, buying clothes that fit at the Boxing day sales (this year I have to work Boxing day!!)... Most days, however, I'm excited about all the new traditions we will be creating and the Christmasy things we've been up to - like going to see the Tokyo International Players' production of "A Kabuki Christmas Carol" - which was actually really really good and U enjoyed it too!
Somedays I get to have a good nap during my morning commute. Most days recently, however, I've had the elbow of a puffy-coated old guy (never the same guy) in my side. I've discovered I really dislike being touched on my side. It isn't that I'm ticklish, but somehow it just seems way too intimate a place for a random stranger to be in contact with me. Since it happens all too often I should be used to it, but apparently not!
Somedays I go home after work and U and I have dinner together. We've been enjoying the cold weather and having plenty of nabe, stews, curry, etc. Most days this week, however, between end-of-year parties (Mon and Fri for me, Thurs for him) and his students suddenly realizing the year is coming to an end and they don't have the experiment results they need and thus wanting to stay late (Tues, and perhaps Wed too) one of us is late and we're eating on our own.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Sunday, 4 December 2011
... Christmas?!!
Yesterday I pulled out the box of decorations and got out the Christmas stuff. I started decorating and when U came home from work we went Christmas tree shopping. We quickly discovered it was both easier and more difficult than we had expected. Easier in that there were more stores selling trees than U had thought and more difficult because more choice made the actual choosing more difficult as we became very picky very quickly.
Height - We knew we wanted something big enough to be a focal point in the room and that could be surrounded by gifts - so at least 150 cm but ideally 180.
Shape - After turning down all the options available at Tokyu Hands we finally realized they were all "slim" trees. They just didn't seem right. I guess the slender trees take up less space and thus are better in small Japanese homes, but they just looked spindly - not in a pathetic Charlie Brown tree type way, just... wrong... But since your average Westerner is wider than their Japanese counterpart I suppose it makes sense? ;)
Fashion - Not only could we choose between ones with pine cones, or brown artfully mixed in among the green on the branches, but there was a "Great Canadian Pine" and little ones with glowing branches. Then there was the choice between a set or a "nude" tree. The idea of a tree that comes with all the decorations seems wrong to me as I remember my mum buying me a decoration every year and we still have the dry pasta angel I made in second grade and the baked clay wreath I made years before that! So nude it is.
And the verdict?
After tramping around the shopping mall for a few hours and looking at a couple dozen trees we couldn't make up our mind and decided we didn't like anything we saw. So we put it off until next week... but did buy a bunch of decorations and a few more Christmas gifts!
Height - We knew we wanted something big enough to be a focal point in the room and that could be surrounded by gifts - so at least 150 cm but ideally 180.
Shape - After turning down all the options available at Tokyu Hands we finally realized they were all "slim" trees. They just didn't seem right. I guess the slender trees take up less space and thus are better in small Japanese homes, but they just looked spindly - not in a pathetic Charlie Brown tree type way, just... wrong... But since your average Westerner is wider than their Japanese counterpart I suppose it makes sense? ;)
Fashion - Not only could we choose between ones with pine cones, or brown artfully mixed in among the green on the branches, but there was a "Great Canadian Pine" and little ones with glowing branches. Then there was the choice between a set or a "nude" tree. The idea of a tree that comes with all the decorations seems wrong to me as I remember my mum buying me a decoration every year and we still have the dry pasta angel I made in second grade and the baked clay wreath I made years before that! So nude it is.
And the verdict?
After tramping around the shopping mall for a few hours and looking at a couple dozen trees we couldn't make up our mind and decided we didn't like anything we saw. So we put it off until next week... but did buy a bunch of decorations and a few more Christmas gifts!
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Wheeeee!
Suddenly November is ending and December is almost here. The year-end parties start next week and my dad will be arriving in Japan not long after! This fall has gone by far too quickly, even though the fact that it was warmer longer than usual.
Reason 1, of course is the translation I finally finished it off and sent the last bits from Haneda Airport as I waited to check in to my flight to Belgium. (thanks to the free wifi and computer charge stations!)
Reason 2 was having a week of vacation in the middle of November. It was an amazing trip (and I will write about it, promise!) but I came back and had to be right back at things with a full week of work followed by Girl Scouts and a busy social schedule. Then I had a few very busy days of looking after two British guests for my advisor, and then work has gotten... not exactly busy but definitely exhausting.
And suddenly it is nearly December and Christmas needs to be thought about...! But things are going well. I finally have time to relax and have a social life, I'm loving the project I'm currently doing at work, my dad will be coming for a long visit soon as U and I will be hosting Christmas at our place for the first time, and... and I have finally decided what I want to do next. I still need to actually get there so I'm not quite ready to spill the beans, but everybody I've talked to about it has been super supportive and I'm really excited.
So there we go. Hopefully this all means I get my blogging mojo back.
Reason 1, of course is the translation I finally finished it off and sent the last bits from Haneda Airport as I waited to check in to my flight to Belgium. (thanks to the free wifi and computer charge stations!)
Reason 2 was having a week of vacation in the middle of November. It was an amazing trip (and I will write about it, promise!) but I came back and had to be right back at things with a full week of work followed by Girl Scouts and a busy social schedule. Then I had a few very busy days of looking after two British guests for my advisor, and then work has gotten... not exactly busy but definitely exhausting.
And suddenly it is nearly December and Christmas needs to be thought about...! But things are going well. I finally have time to relax and have a social life, I'm loving the project I'm currently doing at work, my dad will be coming for a long visit soon as U and I will be hosting Christmas at our place for the first time, and... and I have finally decided what I want to do next. I still need to actually get there so I'm not quite ready to spill the beans, but everybody I've talked to about it has been super supportive and I'm really excited.
So there we go. Hopefully this all means I get my blogging mojo back.
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Things I love Thursday
Between work being crazy busy and going away I've been neglecting my poor blog. So here goes a TILT post...
- Belgian (and British!!) chocolates filling the fridge and cupboard
- starting on a new project at work and being given the freedom to plan it from the start (sure I'll have to get my boss's okay before I actually do anything, but being given the freedom to plan it out on my own is exciting (and I'm sure good for my boss too, as it frees her up to do other things!)
- cuddling up in bed on cold nights
- having the time to cook dinner! (spicy meat and noodles on Monday, shoga-yaki on Tuesday, pumpkin pasta on Wednesday... nothing super fancy but just yummy and healthy meals with fresh ingredients)
- seeing friends happy (babies!)
- Belgian (and British!!) chocolates filling the fridge and cupboard
- starting on a new project at work and being given the freedom to plan it from the start (sure I'll have to get my boss's okay before I actually do anything, but being given the freedom to plan it out on my own is exciting (and I'm sure good for my boss too, as it frees her up to do other things!)
- cuddling up in bed on cold nights
- having the time to cook dinner! (spicy meat and noodles on Monday, shoga-yaki on Tuesday, pumpkin pasta on Wednesday... nothing super fancy but just yummy and healthy meals with fresh ingredients)
- seeing friends happy (babies!)
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Somedays are Tuesdays
I was holding off posting this as I was going to link to Lulu, but she doesn't appear to be doing a Somedays... Post today so...
Most days for the past two months have been all about work - either the major project nearing completion at my day job or the largesse gallery translation contract I've been working on in my "off" hours. Since I sent off the last major section on Saturday (actually a good number of hours into Sunday), however, hopefully the work-life balance should improve!
Most days for the past two months have been all about work - either the major project nearing completion at my day job or the largesse gallery translation contract I've been working on in my "off" hours. Since I sent off the last major section on Saturday (actually a good number of hours into Sunday), however, hopefully the work-life balance should improve!
Most days I have a morning coffee when I get to work - I drink it as I read through my email inbox and get started in the day's projects. Somedays, however, given the late nights spent working on the translation, I've needed another coffee in the afternoon, or even a "health drink." Unfortunately there have been too many of those "somedays" recently and my body has gotten used to the second dose of caffeine. That means caffeine withdrawal headaches that hit around 4 pm every afternoon. I'm trying to bear through them as I know from the past I can ween myself off, but it sure hasn't been making the evening commute much fun.
Most days the view out of my window at work is crows playing on the roof of the building next door, or perhaps a cleaning or drinks delivery truck. Somedays, however, I see people walking by and they do a double take at the white face looking out the window at them. Or, like today, a lost would-be visitor raps at the window and asks to be let in...!
Somedays U and I eat dinner together, but most days recently U has been kept at work late and had to drive his boss home, meaning he comes home nearly two hours later than normal and we have dinner separately. This too should change soon, however, as U's boss' house renovations (clogging up the driveway and meaning he has to leave his car at work) are set to end this week. In the meantime, however, I'm enjoying the yummy sweets he sent U home with yesterday nicer than the usual I went somewhere gift - sort of a peace offering I think!
Most days I no longer mind my long commute but somedays, like yesterday, when the line was stopped for a while and theb PACKED due to an "accident," I still wish I lived closer to work.
Most days recently I haven't written anything on my blog, but here's to hoping that now, somedays will be different!
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