In addition to the topical posts exploring everything I’m working on, I’m going to try to post some daily updates as often as I can. It likely won’t be every single day, as I’m not going to push myself on days when it would be conterproductive to my mental state, but I will post them as often as I can.
I’m still building the site, too, so while all the posts will appear in the same feed initially, I’ll eventually have it set up such that the daily posts and the topical posts can be filtered to make everything easier to navigate.
This evening I’m feeling stressed and scattered and worried about my visa renewal. I finally handed in my tax return this morning, and am hoping I can get the tax form I need for my visa from the tax office at the end of the week, but it’s unclear if I can or not. There’s also another form I need from my company, but nobody at the company seems to know quite what it is and it’s all stressful because I have so little time to sort everything out.
One last form is on its way from my old company, but three of the five that I need to mail by the end of the week are still up in the air.
I really don’t like the visa renewal process (who does?), but this time around it’s so much more complicated than last time and I can’t see any good reason for it.
But let me recount some good things, lest it all be negative. The more I deliberately make note of the positive, the more aware of it I become. So let’s have a list of some good things from today.
What was good today:
- My post for tomorrow on Somewhere in Japan is basically written and just needs to be edited. The photograph is done as well. I want to get ahead of the posting schedule again, but I can at least be happy not to be behind schedule. I have yet to miss a post or post late, nearly 3.5 months into the project, and I’m proud of that.
- Building this site is going pretty well, despite the difficulties associated with doing most of it from my iPad (my laptop mostly lives at home these days). I have lots of ideas for cool things I can do with it in the future, and am happy to already have it mostly functioning the way I want it to for now.
- My students today were really good, both the kindergarteners and the elementary students. We’re getting to know and understand each other much better, and that makes teaching a lot easier.
- I think I may have figured out why my cat has, for the last month, been pooping on the floor in front of the bathroom instead of in his box. Will follow up if it turns out to be an accurate hunch.
- Every day, my efforts mean that my apartment is getting a bit cleaner and more organized. The look of the apartment having totally imploded during a year of severe depression is lessening and it’s feeling more like home again.
- Mayumi, my partner, continues to be superbly helpful and kind and I appreciate her so much. When I stop to think about it, I find it amazing that she’s with me and that she likes me as much as she does. Hard to imagine why from my (admittedly not reliable) perspective on things, but so glad she does.
It is now about 21:40 and it’s time to go take a shower and wind down for the evening. Tonight’s reading will be from How to Travel With a Salmon: And Other Essays by Umberto Eco. I’ve only recently discovered Eco, and this book is a really, really fun read.
NB: I’m not editing or proofreading this post at all, and that’s on purpose. Gotta practice letting go sometimes.
