Category Archives: Personal

Cake Around Midnight

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If it hadn’t been for the cake, I’d probably be asleep by now.

Yesterday was Hina Matsuri, the doll festival which celebrates/honors the girls in the family, and although we at the traditional sushi, which looks a lot like fried rice with a raw fish topping, we never managed to finish the cake. Everybody was so busy that even I got involved in baking the cake. (Granted, my part involved only waiting, removing and flipping the cake, and several burns.)

Today, though, we got to eat the cake, but as fate would have it, the cake wasn’t ready until after 10:00. (Long story.)

I ate a piece and that, on top of the coffee I’ve been consuming as I mark final exams, has me wide awake around 2:00 a.m. Unfortunately, because I’ve been marking exams, I don’t have much to report.

I’ll make this one a short one then. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have a few adventures to report.

Or maybe not.

 

Hobonichi Techo–Making the Book My Own

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It’s not bad; in fact I’m liking it a lot more than I thought I would. It just needed some extra lines. And then a couple more. Then a couple fewer.

To understand how finicky I am about calendars and planners you have to understand that every year I make my own monthly wall calendars and that for a couple years I was making my own Bible-sized inserts for my Filofax binder. (More on that in a future post.)

This year meets next year. #hobonichi #planner #planneraddict #hobonichitecho #penaddict

A photo posted by DL (@d.e.lively) on

After I decided to carry around the Hobonichi Techo as my planner, I immediately started modifying it. First, I decided to use a version of Mike Rhode’s Daily Planner Bar system, and that meant I had to add a couple lines to each page. I also added a line on the right which created space for comments and extra notes on what I had done (or not done). I used Fountain Pen Hospital’s exclusive Noodler’s Old Manhattan Bulletproof black ink to create lines that, in theory, wouldn’t smear (except during the creation process. Long story.)

The two months per page section became my general work overview and the month on two pages section become my blog outline (Sort of. Needs work. Long story.)

By the eighth day, though, I’d added a bar across the top to create a space for a short alert/to do list.

The lines and the pen they are added with. It contains Noodler’s Old Manhattan Bulletproof ink.

An example of how I was using it.

I add the lines every Saturday when I sit down in the evening to do my weekly review. After scribbling out everything I need to do on a notebook, I draw the lines with a ruler and my TWSBI Diamond 580 and then set about filling in the non-flexible part of the schedule. I then follow that with the elective part of the schedule.

However, as of today, I’ve modified it again. The extra lines at the top have been eliminated to give me more alert/to do list room.

The new look. It will last until the next look.

I like the size and portability of the TECHO which is why I opted to not get a cover for it. (Note: they sell at local stores as part of a TECHO plus cover set.) I supplement it with a calendar app that syncs across all my devices. Although I like having access to all my plans via the magic of the interwebs, I prefer writing details in the TECHO mostly because I find entering data in the online calendars to be annoying.

I also like the current system, at least this week. The current system will last until I decide to do something else. This will probably happen fairly soon because my system leaves a lot of unused space at the bottom of the page.

More Than Three Frogs

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A short one tonight as I need to get some rest and try to chase out the frogs.

This morning, during “my goodness, why are we still doing this to ourselves” prep-time conversations at the school where I work, one of my colleagues noted my hoarse voice and suggested I had a frog in my throat. I suggested it was at least three, if not more frogs.

This evening, when we finally celebrated our oldest’s birthday with cheesecake, there were definitely more than three frogs.

The start of the term is the worst time to lose your voice at the school where I work. Students have arrived from a short vacation and each grade is beginning to see itself as the next grade. First year junior high, especially, are developing an attitude as they suddenly imagine themselves as middle-classmen rather than lower-classmen.

I try to get them writing and then speaking, but that usually involves speaking. Tomorrow I start off with my worst class, followed by a class that’s suddenly competing for the second place title. That means that tonight I’m hoping a bunch of frogs die.

If they don’t, tomorrow could be really interesting.

A Pleasant Day, with Pain

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By all accounts, it was a perfect day, then it wasn’t, but it wasn’t that bad.

First I got a proper eight hours of sleep and woke up do gorgeous weather. (The Tokyo area, in general, has the Season of Static this time of year, but it’s still pretty awesome.)

Then, I met up with a friend I haven’t seen in two years and we immediately fell into old habits as if he hadn’t been away. Then I went down to Tokyo for my evening class and had a coffee before heading to the school.

On the way to the school I bought supper. Something didn’t feel right but I figured it was because I hadn’t had my traditional Train Nap (more on that in another post). Then, right as I say down to eat I got my migraine spot.

I popped a couple extra-strength something-or-other (the medicine’s scientific name) and drank more coffee. After pondering a short nap, I started class and as the medicine set in things went well. I was pleased to see my two shyest students rock their speeches, but that may have been a migraine medicine induced hallucination.

Luckily I caught the faster train home. Now it’s time for bed.

Planning Without Plans

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As She Who Must Be Obeyed and our youngest prepare for a trip to my in-laws’s house, I find myself trying to make plans as our oldest has plans and that will keep us from traveling at the same time as the others.

She Who Must Be Obeyed, with a certain sense of snarky triumph, declared that I’d be responsible for laundry. I didn’t have the heart to point out that 1) laundry’s not that hard and that I mostly don’t do it because I’m not considered competent (i.e. I don’t do it the way SWMBO thinks it should be done and that means she prefers to do it herself) and 2) even if I don’t do laundry, the clothes will still be here when we get back.

Mostly, I need to know when those of us left behind have to travel and which days I’m responsible for making sure meals get made.

I also have to decide how many chores out oldest will have time to do.

Messing Up the Lay Up

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the most difficult shot in basketball is a wide open lay-up.

The problem is that the instincts that got you out in the open fail you as you approach the basket. You start thinking and trying to count steps and then you take the shot and it bounces off the rim, goes over the basket, or bounces off the bottom of the backboard. I suspect this is why the dunk was invented. Don’t do a lay-up, just jump and drop the ball in the hoop.

As for me, most of my problems in basketball came from not thinking. Or, more specifically, thinking too much in the wrong direction.

When we lived in Hayden, Colorado, for reasons I don’t remember (probably my request) we put a basketball hoop and backboard on our house. I still couldn’t do a lay-up and that inspired me to improvise.

I stood on something (the bumper of my dad’s pick up?) and decided to attempt a dunk.

The first part went  well as I managed to dunk the ball. However, for reasons I don’t remember, I decided to try hanging on the rim.

The entire basket and backboard ripped out of the wall and we both fell to the ground. I somehow managed to remain uninjured, but the backstop got an impressive scrape.

After that, the basket got put back in place, but I never liked that it had a scrape, even though I caused it.

The Problem With Birthday Rulin’s

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That would be scann’d.

Was abnormally busy today and that has me repondering my suggestion for birthday rulin’s (aka new year’s resolutions done on your birthday).

The main hassle I have is that my birthday arrives at the start of the busy season at the school where I work. Exams must be written. Listening tests must be recorded. Souls must be crushed. On top of that, I have three other part time jobs (two that require travel and one that can be done at home) and those eat up time.

Because I didn’t rethink the rulin’s on Saturday when I had more time, even though I was actually working at home, I won’t be able to do them until next Saturday, and then only if I’ve finished my work at home work.

The advantage of the new year is that there’s a few days off and, with the proper balance of booze,  you might be able to hammer out some proper resolutions.

That said, I’m still working on my rulin’s and hope to get them posted on Wednesday when we have a national holiday.

Redoin’ and Rethinkin’ the Rulin’s

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Had a busy day today and wasn’t able to finish work on my new set of Rulin’s for the next year of my life. Why I’m doing my new Rulin’s now should be explained.

After much consideration I’ve decided that although I like the idea of new year’s resolutions, I don’t fully understand why they have to start on New Year’s Day. It makes more sense to me to start your resolutions on your birthday.

There are a couple problems with deciding your resolutions around the new year. 1) You’re probably drunk; 2) You will not admit you are as drunk as you actually are; 3) if you’re not drunk you’re hungover and life has no meaning beyond blissful death; and 4) You’re more worried about fighting through after Christmas/New Year’s sales than you are your future. (Which is probably why you got so drunk in the first place.)

Throw in the fact that, at least in my part of the Northern hemisphere, you’re locked in the dregs of winter and the short, dark days make you feel depressed and that makes you come up with resolutions such as “Find life purpose by February or set self on fire.”  (Something like that.)

If you’re resolution is to start going to the gym to exercise, you’re also competing for gym space with the thousands upon thousands of other people who’ve also resolved to start lifting weights and the veteran regulars who wish you’d hurry and set yourself on fire.

In my case, the new year is also complicated by annual trips to in-laws. I’m surrounded by people and probably more drunk than I’ll admit and probably more annoyed than I deserve to be.

Birthday’s seem more natural for this kind of planning.  As you celebrate the start of a new year of life, that’s the perfect time to sit down with your journal and review the previous year. What did you accomplish? What are you grateful for? What are you stuck in? What got put away? What needs to be set on fire and gotten rid of? Why did you buy THAT?

After looking over your year, you can make better decisions and set clearer goals. If you decide to exercise, you’re only competing for gym space with the fraction of the population born on or around your birthday.

Then again, some birthdays are depressing and may not be the best times to make decisions.

Closer to One-Hundred Than My Birth

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I didn’t think it would be this way, but it’s clear that your fiftieth birthday is a birthday you can’t ignore or pass off as “here we go again”. Turning 50 leaves marks.

I didn’t have much reaction to my thirtieth birthday, as I was actually kind of happy to reach thirty as it meant the symbolic end of the age 25-30 freak out that I and several of my friends went through. (Mine involved Albania, Mississippi, borderline stalking, a poet and moving to Japan. Long story.) (Note: the actual end of the freak out was a couple years later, although that is debatable.)

Turning forty was no big deal, although a few months after my birthday the physical switches started flipping off, starting with my eyesight, when I noticed I could no longer read the inscription on my wedding ring without a magnifying glass.

Fifty, though, won’t be ignored. I still don’t know how I feel about it, but saying “I’m in my fifties” resonates differently than “I’m in my forties.” There’s no way to say it where you can deny how old you are. Adding “early-” doesn’t seem to help that much. Being 50 also reminds you of all those childish things you haven’t put away even though you are hell and gone from being a child. (Note: I still spake, as a child, so to spake.)

Oddly, I could feel the stress of it coming, although I didn’t realize that’s what it was. I’ve been in diet/lifestyle change rebound, short-temper mode, and a state of drift that involves doing anything that’s not productive and doing it with great passion. My goal for most of November has been to accomplish as little as possible while spending as much energy as I can.

That said, I’m in reasonably good health. I’ve rebounded in weight some, but not disasterously so as my new clothes all still fit and now that the birthday’s come and gone, I can feel myself coming to terms with it, although the beer, Bordeaux and bourbon that’s been flowing the past couple days may explain that.

The next few days (more or less) of this blog will be devoted to New Year’s resolutions (or Rulin’s) which I now believe should be made on your birthday rather than in the dark recesses of winter (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) and one or two other fiftieth birthday related posts.

One-Thousand Bits of Blather

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If I could do math, I’d figure out how many years 1,000 posts is, but I can’t be bothered to do so. Instead, I’ll just admit I’m shocked I’m still doing this and shocked I intend to keep going.

I also have to keep in mind there were a couple days posted directly to Facebook because of technical difficulties with the site, which means I’ve probably already passed 1,000.

Either way, the blog has become a regular habit, for better and for worse, and the compulsion to produce something at all costs has led me to produce more than a few bits of filler. This is partly because my usual writing time (sometime after 10:00 p.m.) has become more of a chore than it used to be and I’m not always in the mood to produce something, but then I produce something.

I’ve resisted the urge to produce nothing, even when I have very little to say, mostly because I know how addictive that “after all, tomorrow is another day” habit can be.

Readership hasn’t climbed greatly, but that’s partly the fault of the random content and lack of self-promotion.

The goal from now on is more pen and stationery posts mixed with more personal history and random philosophical bits, tying it all together whenever possible. It’s fun doing the long-term pen and notebook reviews, but they take time, not only to use the item long-term, but also to assemble notes and to take and process photos. In general, if I haven’t done all that by 10:00, I end up with a filler post.

I continue to resist any kind of plan, but I also know I’m too dependent on random posts.

For those who’ve stuck around though, thanks, although I’m not sure why you are still  around. Thanks, though. I hope you’ll stick around.