autumn tactics

Today marks the first time I’ve had two consecutive days off in roughly two months. Though I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I have made a full recovery, my spirits are much higher and there’s a spring in my step that hasn’t been there for a while. I awaken with no difficulty, fatigue, or dread in my heart. I am happy to rise, and when walking down the street I am driven to song. As the bird says, “I’m not singing because I am happy, I’m happy because I sing”.

Yesterday I managed finally getting the winter coats and blankets into the vacuum compressed bags, as well as my grand recabling done. Dust bunnies have been relocated to the slums of Dubai and many a zip strip keeps the myriad of wires behind my AV setup manageable.

Today I will finish migration of my phone address book and tomorrow be rid of the accursed Willcom. I also will repair the steering column damage done to my green cruiser bicycle, in addition to finishing cleaning. I have prepared meals for myself two days in a row! I know this is your standard (well duh, you’re out of college, fool) terrority for those single age twenty-nine and over, but you have to understand how complete lethargy from overwork drives away all motivation to not only prepare food, but eat it as well.

Yesterday I had a three hard-boiled eggs and a bowl of natto rice for breakfast. Today I took the preparation a step further and made miso, carrot, and boned salmon soup from the last unfurried ingredients in the refridgerator. It was quite nice actually. And my rice got a power-up as well from today’s serving of white and brown with five grain mix added for good measure. I even brewed up a pot of my classic spearmint tea.

I am counting the days until I remove television from my life completely. Once I assemble a plan for a filing system for prints and negatives, I will make the switch and my dear Toshiba will be reallocated for resale/recycling. Huzzah for books and music.

Last night I also managed to visit the darkroom for the first time in about three months. I am getting better, in terms of technique. It’s more a matter of patience and thinking before moving on (duh), but still I am pleased to have far less pictures stuck together or developer burns from poor washing. It bothers my conscience how much water and chemicals are used for my hobby, however.

In any case, I would show you the prints but as you know the monitor is an inferior medium for displaying images when compared to paper, so you’ll just have to visit me and come see my albums.

Speaking of albums, I upgraded Gallery to 2.3, the only change you’ll really notice though are the slideshows are far nicer than before, thanks to Piclens. Now if only the Gallery integration worked with WordPress properly…

Now that my workstation is nearly set up, I can start the DAM workflow I’ve been planning for months. Remaining big ticket items are raising the monitors to my eye-level, and a 64-bit copy of Photoshop to go with Windows 7.

…slowly, but surely, growing.

Thinking about the events of the day, this was probably the most Japanese January 1st I’ve ever had. Starting into my sixth year (wow) of being in Nippon, things are off to a good start, forgetting the circumstances in which I’m living. Although I had to work until very late Christmas Eve, I did have off New Year’s. I watched Rocky II, among other things, but after it was over I went to Hikawa Shrine in Meguro for my first midnight hatsumode, or first shrine visit. After waiting about an hour in line to get up to the dias, I scored a cup of hot, sweet sake, which is the Japanese equivalent of egg nog. I burned my old shoukichi (little luck) fortune from 2006 and asked the gods to protect me in the new year, since things are a little rocky now in my private life. I returned to my previous form of getting the most prosperous fortune, daikichi, but in an interesting stroke of irony, when it comes to moving the gods say to isogana, or basically, “don’t hurry.” Easy for them to say, they have an eternal home.

Later in the day I had my hatsujearu, or first ride on a JR train. I took the Nambu line from Mizonokuchi to Tachikawa, and there I had some seriously nice traditional Japanese holiday cuisine, which made up for the utter lack of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner I had to endure due to work. I think that once I get settled, I’m going to make a bird anyway. I’m starting to worry if I even remember how to use my precious oven.

[Sorry about the template still being messed up. Being without an internet connection puts a damper on my CSS study.