meghan9436

I don't even know where to begin with this post. A lot has happened during this last week.

My aircon finally gave out completely as of yesterday, and it won't even turn on. I have a bathtub fulled with cool water that I periodically go and soak whenever I start feeling overheated. I want to say that it's been 35℃ or higher every day this week, and it hasn't been fun at all. A few days ago, the heat got so bad that it woke me up at 2:00 am. I desperately wanted to take a shower, but I thought it would be disrespectful to my neighbours to take one at that time. I made do with a frozen water bottle instead.

I finally broke down, and contacted my landlord by email to see if I can't get someone in this week to look at my unit. There's my motivation to get this apartment cleaned up from top to bottom, oops! lol...

On the way to work today, I got harassed by an ojii-chan on the train. You know how wearing headphones is the universal "don't talk to me" social cue? Yeah, that was completely out the window with this guy as he kept making wild hand gestures throughout the train ride. I tried my best to blend in with the social norms here to not make eye contact or engage with him in any way. I stayed focused on my phone even though I didn't have an internet connection, and I could see in my peripheral vision that his antics continued to the end of the train ride.

When my stop came and I saw that he also got up, my heart sank. I turned away, and then he tapped my shoulder to gesture me the "correct" exit doors. As soon as the announcement was made, I made a bee-line around a crowd of people and out a different door. I didn't check behind me to see if he was still following me, but I zig-zagged my way through the major commuter hub to make sure that I lost him. Due to the longer route I took, I missed my transfer, and the next train was late. I ended up getting a certificate from my final stop to inform my work that I was legitimately late.

Punctuality is a big deal in Japan. Many companies have a zero tolerance policy for tardiness. Being late even by one minute is unacceptable, and it is not unusual for companies to charge a penalty fee that is deducted from your salary. My work seems to be pretty laid back, but I thought it was better to have that certificate from JR than not.

The last time I had issues with someone on the train was back at the end of March. At that time, there was a guy sitting next to me who kept repeatedly banging his head on the window. Tf, dude? So anyway, I looked at a younger girl who was sitting across from me with her boyfriend. We kept exchanging glances. I smiled at her through my mask, and I kept giving her a look with my eyes to say, "OH MY GERD, can you believe this guy??" I kept pointing at him with my eyes. She returned the look to me, and it was a huge relief when he finally got off the train. There is so much non verbal communication here, and it is such a powerful tool to use once you get it. It took me longer to figure it out than I want to admit to. 😅

With how busy my work has been, and being focused on getting into the swing of things has left me with not a lot of time leftover. Because of this, I have been spending less time on art, and more time developing my guitar skill. With the practise every day, I am finally getting my head around Miss You Like Crazy. This song is coming along beautifully. Misery is coming along really well too. I want to reiterate here that I am grateful to my neighbours for not complaining about my practise.

I'm thinking for tomorrow, I will stream for my birthday and catch up on some Traveler's Notebook items that I have fallen behind on. My birthday will officially mark a year since I went to Kyoto for the first time, and it would be good to finish logging that trip, along with the follow up ones I took last year. I will also want to resume editing the 4K version of the Loft closure video that I recently posted.