This week has been quite regrettably long.
I spent Monday working on writing projects that might pay me money, and Tuesday foundering through my return to work. Wednesday I spent with a friend looking at another writing project. Thursday I worked my job, then worked some more from home. Yesterday I was so exhausted that I fell asleep promptly at 8 pm (after leaving work at 7) and have done little but sleep since. I got a message back from an agent interested in my work, which has prompted furious editing of and old novel project she is interested in. Today I have eaten, read, slept, and not much else.
In other news, I heard from Victoria verifying that the days I was planning to stay with her are good. She’s actually going to be stateside soon, but she lives on the west coast so we won’t see each other until I land in Tokyo and somehow make my way to her house. I got my Railpass in the mail, or the slip for it I will need to show at the airport. The apartment is still horrid.
All in all a long week. I promise less rushed updates soon.
On Friday I made my last major pre-trip purchase. My JR Railpass cost me 718 dollars, but by all accounts it’s worth it. As long as I travel on JR lines, I will be able to go anywhere in Japan. I have unlimited train access for the entire 21 days I will be on Japanese soil. Exciting, yes?
In other news, I bought a rain cover for my pack this weekend but I unfortunately was too hasty and bought the wrong size. I can take it back of course but I’m a little bummed about it. Not that I mind going downtown again. Here are some pictures from yesterday!
I bought some gorgeous irises for three bucks and wandered around taking pictures. It was a gorgeous day before it started raining. This is the camera on my iPhone and I was testing it out. Good, yes?
Alright, time to go be productive!
1-18-12
It is not a town by the sea,
but, like all towns, it has
one in it. A quiet sussuration
of wishes that ebbs and flows
like the tides. A city really,
with spreading lights that extend
for miles. A cold wind blows if you
are uncareful, cascaded across the waves
to catch your hair, and so severe
it may startle you, for this city is warm.
It is warm the way the Atlantic is warm
which is not too far from here,
only a few hours, and salty with
the earth and the gulls hang thick
in the air and sing their gull songs.
It is green like the water and flat like the beach
until you reach the waves of mountains
rising up and up, unstoppable. What
I am saying is, this city, so full of breathing
minds, holds a thousand worlds, like a tidepool
or a deep, but I have found myself dreaming…
I am not going to miss working ridiculously late, I will be honest.
That being said, let’s take a moment to talk about job security. It’s nice to have a job. It’s nice to have a steady paycheck, and more than that, to have money left over to save. It’s one of the things that worries me about my return, even with the buffer I have in savings to keep me from being homeless and other such unfortunate things.
One of the things I am working on to guard against possibly using all of that money over the next few months is diversifying my income. I put a couple of ads up on the local Craigslist for copyediting and proofreading services, among other things. They’re things I know I could do for side cash, cash that might let me go out, save up, etc. I’ve also got a few feelers out for jobs that might be open around the time I’m coming back. A reporting position at the local newspaper opened up, for example, and I am going to try to apply for that. Everyone has to start somewhere.
And that’s a lot of what I plan on doing. I want to start, or restart in this case, adulthood. I am making good money at my current place of work, but I don’t particularly feel fulfilled. Too many spreadsheets, not enough meaning, I suppose. It’s hard for me to get worked up about things like cosmetics or self-preservation. Counter-intuitive, I know.
In a year I want to go back to school, too – well, a little over a year actually. I don’t really know what I want to do still, and if things work out with my writing career I might let that go for a bit longer. But at some point I would indeed like to study things. Maybe developmental economics, maybe fantastical literature. I can’t say for sure.
A lot of things are up in the air now, and I think for now that’s how I want them, job security or no.
We are seven weeks from take off, and my apartment is not even clean.
I know, I know, I said I would clean it. I said so! But I didn’t. I pondered it a lot. I successfully took out my trash this week even! But the apartment is not clean. The tub is clean now, but the apartment is not.
I decided it might help to start packing, since that’s something I need to do anyway. Accordingly, my goal for this Saturday, if I don’t end up doing another training hike, is packing up all non-necessary living room items. Wish me luck!
I decided today would be a good day to look back at my list, since we’re officially under the two month mark. That has been true for two weeks, but I decided today would be recap day.
So, to recap, please see the below.
– Inform my landlady that I will be leaving.
– Straighten up/Show my apartment to potential new residents.
– Acquire gear for my trip (including a backpack from which I will be living).
– Acquire a rail pass.
– Figure out what I am taking as gifts to those who are allowing me to sleep on their floor/couch.
– Inform my bosses that I will be leaving.
– Train my replacement.
– Pack up my apartment.
– Preferably find a potential new apartment.
– Acquire a 4G capable phone with data plan so I can travel Japan without being totally without phone/mapping capabilities.
How have I done so far?
Well, beginning at the top, we can check off talking to my landlady, informing my bosses…and that’s really it.
My apartment cleaning is a work in progress – more updates on that I’m sure – and acquiring the gear is also a multi-stage event. I got my pack, which is good, but I still need a raincover for it, possibly a cover for checking my pack, and power adapters. These will probably also require posts shortly. The rail pass should be purchased this week, which will knock out my biggest pre-Japan expenditure and insure my future mobility through the islands. Gifts and additional trip planning are still in progress, I currently have no replacement to train, and the hunt for a new apartment is slow going and honestly not that urgent to me since my boyfriend has promised I can crash in his bed when I get back if I need to. Not that squatting in my boyfriend’s apartment will be remotely healthy for our relationship in the long term, I am sure.
Today, my friend Evan and I journey to the Verizon store, since that is my service provider, there to acquire an as-yet-undetermined cellular device that will help me to keep this blog updated whenever my travels conveniently lead me to a wifi spot and keep my parents updated within the limits of my soon-to-be-purchased international service plan for the month of June. My goal has been to have a good $5k to rebuild my life when I come back, but I hypothesize that I’m going to have to skim a little off the top of that to get through the next week of purchases. Should be no big deal, as I hope to put it back with my next three paychecks.
Update complete! Over and out!
A friend turned me onto this site. Here is an article that I found on their front page today which basically speaks to my life right now. They have more tips and good information that I have yet to explore. Check it out!
This morning I finally told my boss(es) that I would be leaving. Unexpectedly, the process involved me crying a lot. I guess I had built the conversation up in my head, letting it become the object of most of my fear about the trip. I’m sure that I will find another object of fear, but at the moment I feel a great deal more excited and bouyant about the whole affair than I have for quite some time.
Later, my friend Evan and I went to lunch and he told me he thought I was acting much happier, so I guess I’m not the only one who thinks that I was freaking out about this a bit overmuch.
In other news, last night I found my scrubbing rag and set to cleaning my kitchen with a vengeance. I am only halfway done with the project, but it is in my opinion an auspicious beginning to a week of cleanliness. Pictures of my suddenly clean house soon!
japanogram 