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Writing a Lot About... Nothing!
Feb. 5th, 2024 10:35 amI have a pretty busy day today, so I'm going to see how far I can get with this entry this morning. Let's see...
Let's start with the weekend. I worked on Saturday morning, and I had the afternoon and evening to myself. I was feeling the itch to update my Traveler's Notebook in a café setting, but literally every one that I went to was completely full. I decided to go home after that.
On my way home, I ran into my neighbour. I mentioned to her that I still often hear her dog barking outside. She apologised again for the barking. But, I reminded her that I always think, "I want to meet the dog" whenever I hear it. Indeed, the dog serves as a great deterrent for the neighbourhood to keep the criminals away. She asked me what I did for my job, and I said that "I'm an English teacher, of course!" We both laughed because that's usually the case with foreigners who come to Japan.
My neighbour went on to mention that there are at least three stray cats running around, one of which is pregnant with a litter. I replied that I can hear these cats screaming at night. She said that she hears them too.
I mentioned seeing a racoon in the neighbourhood a few months back, and she mentioned that there are a lot of animals around here because of all the nature. Weasels have also been known to roam in the area. I said that in Canada, we have a problem with wolves sometimes coming into the city limits. But my pronunciation of オオカミ was not great, and she didn't understand what I was talking about at first.
Changing the subject, I asked her what her plans were at the moment, and she said that she was going shopping. I gave her the heads up that the malls were packed, and how I wasn't able to get a seat at any of the cafés.
After I got home, I realised that I never explored much of my neighbourhood in the nearly four years that I've lived here. There was another mall a short walk away from my house that I decided to check out. It was more or less the same as every other mall in Japan that I have been to, but it is nice to know that I have it as an option available to me. While I was there, I checked out another school to see if I can get some work closer to home.
I concluded the day by learning She, by Green Day on guitar. It's really too bad this song was never released as a single from the Dookie record. The song is more relevant to my life now than ever before because I'm able to look at it from a different perspective. I'll talk more about this later in a dedicated music update post, I think.
<Much of the following is transcribed from my TN.>
Yesterday was Sunday. I had some morning lessons, and I had the rest of the day to myself again. After work, I stopped by Nagoya Dome to go window shopping, and see what's new. The mall entrance had a new display for QUEEN from nico and..., featuring shirts that I saw from weeks ago.
Along the way, Gap had dwindling stock from their 90s collection, and the new items were just.,.. meh. I purchased some 70s/90s reissue jeans from them two weeks ago, because I have been waiting decades for these to come back into style. I loved the flared jeans from my high school years in the early 2000s. I modified these jeans to have the same aesthetic that Kurt Cobain wore during the In Utero era, but I will talk about this in said dedicated music post.
Nothing really stood out to me at Rodeo Crowns. nico and.. shifted their stock around, pushing the QUEEN and music merchandise to the front of the store. Spice Girls, The Beatles, and Sex Pistols merch was also displayed among the QUEEN items.
Gradiant/ombré pastel cartigans remain in the store with new styles being introduced. They also brought in new striped T-shirts. I noticed that one was quite similar to the one that Kurt wore in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video But the green/grey ratio wasn't quite right. Regardless, I still appreciate that the 90s style in retail continues.
I was happy to see that nico and.. was getting more Canadian designed/Canadian themed items in their stationery section. They had some business card size notebooks, vinyl decals, and stickers in the theme of camping/travel. There was one sticker that stood out to me in particular that read, California Beaver Lumber. Even though it is a reference to the US, I saw it more as a throwback to the old, defunct Canadian DIY company, Beaver Lumber. I really want to come back to these items at some point. But realistically, I should use up all my existing supplies before I get any more. At the same time, buying Canadian will encourage nico and... to bring in more.
While I was at the mall, I looked around at the gacha-gacha station and there was a violinist performing an instrumental version of I Was Born to Love You. Hearing this took me back to the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon episode, Act 29. During this episode, we meet the new villain, and the girls had a volleyball game during their gym class with the song playing in the background. I loved it a lot! Unfortunately, and undoubtedly due to music licensing restrictions, and limitations, the song was removed from the DVD release. It was replaced with some of the iconic action bgm from the show. It worked pretty well, but a lot of that original feeling was lost from the change. Too bad.
Seria, the 100 yen shop at this mall was busy, and the selection was not quite as good as other locations. I decided then, that it was time to leave. They had some kiosks set up immediately outside the entrance to the mall with binoculars and LED lights. I took the time to ask to find out who was playing, confirming that QUEEN was indeed performing in Nagoya last night. The staff member mentioned that the crowds might come.
LOL, of course the crowds will come. I recounted that I got caught in it a few times during the months of November and December. So, I was not going to stick around, and I was going home. The staff member laughed, and I wished him luck on his shift.
Staying home yesterday was the best decision ever. I got caught up a lot in my Traveler's Notebook, but I still have a long way to go. I even wrote a lot in this update, but I still feel like I have barely even scratched the surface of what has been happening in my life.
Since I started writing this, it started raining outside, ruining my laundry that I had drying out. I currently have my laundry drying out in my shower, but I'll have to rewash everything. What a waste.
Because it is supposed to rain all day and all night, this might actually change my plans for the day. And I may want to put off some things until tomorrow. Or, I might get these things done today. There's that saying that goes, rain or shine, or something like that.
The rain would just serve as more of an excuse to procrastinate more on things, so it would be better not to do that.
I hope to post another followup with more specifics about what has been happening in my life so far. I hope that the new year has been treating you well so far.
Let's start with the weekend. I worked on Saturday morning, and I had the afternoon and evening to myself. I was feeling the itch to update my Traveler's Notebook in a café setting, but literally every one that I went to was completely full. I decided to go home after that.
On my way home, I ran into my neighbour. I mentioned to her that I still often hear her dog barking outside. She apologised again for the barking. But, I reminded her that I always think, "I want to meet the dog" whenever I hear it. Indeed, the dog serves as a great deterrent for the neighbourhood to keep the criminals away. She asked me what I did for my job, and I said that "I'm an English teacher, of course!" We both laughed because that's usually the case with foreigners who come to Japan.
My neighbour went on to mention that there are at least three stray cats running around, one of which is pregnant with a litter. I replied that I can hear these cats screaming at night. She said that she hears them too.
I mentioned seeing a racoon in the neighbourhood a few months back, and she mentioned that there are a lot of animals around here because of all the nature. Weasels have also been known to roam in the area. I said that in Canada, we have a problem with wolves sometimes coming into the city limits. But my pronunciation of オオカミ was not great, and she didn't understand what I was talking about at first.
Changing the subject, I asked her what her plans were at the moment, and she said that she was going shopping. I gave her the heads up that the malls were packed, and how I wasn't able to get a seat at any of the cafés.
After I got home, I realised that I never explored much of my neighbourhood in the nearly four years that I've lived here. There was another mall a short walk away from my house that I decided to check out. It was more or less the same as every other mall in Japan that I have been to, but it is nice to know that I have it as an option available to me. While I was there, I checked out another school to see if I can get some work closer to home.
I concluded the day by learning She, by Green Day on guitar. It's really too bad this song was never released as a single from the Dookie record. The song is more relevant to my life now than ever before because I'm able to look at it from a different perspective. I'll talk more about this later in a dedicated music update post, I think.
<Much of the following is transcribed from my TN.>
Yesterday was Sunday. I had some morning lessons, and I had the rest of the day to myself again. After work, I stopped by Nagoya Dome to go window shopping, and see what's new. The mall entrance had a new display for QUEEN from nico and..., featuring shirts that I saw from weeks ago.
Along the way, Gap had dwindling stock from their 90s collection, and the new items were just.,.. meh. I purchased some 70s/90s reissue jeans from them two weeks ago, because I have been waiting decades for these to come back into style. I loved the flared jeans from my high school years in the early 2000s. I modified these jeans to have the same aesthetic that Kurt Cobain wore during the In Utero era, but I will talk about this in said dedicated music post.
Nothing really stood out to me at Rodeo Crowns. nico and.. shifted their stock around, pushing the QUEEN and music merchandise to the front of the store. Spice Girls, The Beatles, and Sex Pistols merch was also displayed among the QUEEN items.
Gradiant/ombré pastel cartigans remain in the store with new styles being introduced. They also brought in new striped T-shirts. I noticed that one was quite similar to the one that Kurt wore in the Smells Like Teen Spirit music video But the green/grey ratio wasn't quite right. Regardless, I still appreciate that the 90s style in retail continues.
I was happy to see that nico and.. was getting more Canadian designed/Canadian themed items in their stationery section. They had some business card size notebooks, vinyl decals, and stickers in the theme of camping/travel. There was one sticker that stood out to me in particular that read, California Beaver Lumber. Even though it is a reference to the US, I saw it more as a throwback to the old, defunct Canadian DIY company, Beaver Lumber. I really want to come back to these items at some point. But realistically, I should use up all my existing supplies before I get any more. At the same time, buying Canadian will encourage nico and... to bring in more.
While I was at the mall, I looked around at the gacha-gacha station and there was a violinist performing an instrumental version of I Was Born to Love You. Hearing this took me back to the live action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon episode, Act 29. During this episode, we meet the new villain, and the girls had a volleyball game during their gym class with the song playing in the background. I loved it a lot! Unfortunately, and undoubtedly due to music licensing restrictions, and limitations, the song was removed from the DVD release. It was replaced with some of the iconic action bgm from the show. It worked pretty well, but a lot of that original feeling was lost from the change. Too bad.
Seria, the 100 yen shop at this mall was busy, and the selection was not quite as good as other locations. I decided then, that it was time to leave. They had some kiosks set up immediately outside the entrance to the mall with binoculars and LED lights. I took the time to ask to find out who was playing, confirming that QUEEN was indeed performing in Nagoya last night. The staff member mentioned that the crowds might come.
LOL, of course the crowds will come. I recounted that I got caught in it a few times during the months of November and December. So, I was not going to stick around, and I was going home. The staff member laughed, and I wished him luck on his shift.
Staying home yesterday was the best decision ever. I got caught up a lot in my Traveler's Notebook, but I still have a long way to go. I even wrote a lot in this update, but I still feel like I have barely even scratched the surface of what has been happening in my life.
Since I started writing this, it started raining outside, ruining my laundry that I had drying out. I currently have my laundry drying out in my shower, but I'll have to rewash everything. What a waste.
Because it is supposed to rain all day and all night, this might actually change my plans for the day. And I may want to put off some things until tomorrow. Or, I might get these things done today. There's that saying that goes, rain or shine, or something like that.
The rain would just serve as more of an excuse to procrastinate more on things, so it would be better not to do that.
I hope to post another followup with more specifics about what has been happening in my life so far. I hope that the new year has been treating you well so far.
