twenty for 2012: half way

4. climb mt fuji with my parents
this is getting bumped to 2013. schedules just aren't working out this summer...but i will still climb at least once.

11. reread letters to a young poet and 6 other books
i'm in the middle of matt logelin's book (in japanese!).

14. do (make?) something for my mom's 60th birthday
seeing as it's in 5 days, maybe i should get on this one?  :/

15. do fourth of july (aka picnic party)
this one is in 7 days and i haven't done nor do i feel like doing anything. sigh.

18. do thanksgiving
i "called it" so this should be happening come fall.  :)

20. call/facetime my parents on a regular basis and always tell them i love them.
have been fairly good about facetiming. finding my parents have a busier social life than me!

things i love thursday

.texts that make you smile big.
.house guests = BEST cleaning motivator.
.bagels and blueberries on lazy saturdays.
.thanksgiving feasts in june.
.my new friend (getridofSoCalbutkeephis[nowmy]awesomefriend).
.being greeted each morning and night by my plants.
.catching up with old high school friends.
.licking the mixer beaters while baking.
.ed sheeran's "the city" (you'll have to youtube it).

quote of the day

"For all things and non-things that you may ever want, understand that sometimes the fastest way to get them is to forget them, and to focus instead on just being the most amazing human being you can be. At which point all of your heart's desires, spoken or unspoken, will be drawn to you more powerfully than a magnet is drawn to steel."

-the Universe



(still doesn't help me forget about the upcoming friday late night tv date...!!)

things i love thursday

.baking with girl friends.
.ravioli.
.surprise party planning.
.costco.
.gyoza cups.
.fresh basil from the front stoop.
.mt. fuji dreaming and scheming.
.skirt weather is here.
.post-typhoon blue skies.

saving yucca

when Ro and i split up, i walked away with a lot of "our" stuff. he was moving into a small one room apartment and i was moving into a "terrace house" with 2 bedrooms and an actual living room and kitchen (i clearly picked size over location this time). we both previously owned a lot of furniture that we brought into the shared apartment, but we also bought a lot of stuff together because our shared apartment was more than twice the size of each of our individual places and there were 6 times as many windows.

so when we moved out, we each took whatever was originally ours, but there was also the potentially awkward "who gets what" bargaining of the things we bought together. most of these were simply an i-don't-have-room-and-we'd-have-to-pay-to-get-it-taken-away issue that made it really easy for me to say i'd take it with me. but there were also a few "do you-want-____?" or "can-i-have-____?" conversations too. i got our bedroom curtains, our queen size mattress and frame, bed sheets/comforter, our kitchen table (LOVE), and our fridge. Ro took the Wii, the kitchen and living room curtains (which he ended up dumping at his parents' house - sigh), and our yucca plant.

we didn't talk about the plant until right near the very end. he brought her up, and after all that i was already "getting" i felt like i couldn't demand taking her too, and i figured i could just buy another one (4,000yen at ikea!) and start fresh.

four months later, i still haven't made it to ikea and Ro and i are civil and he texts every once in awhile. (as i write this, i wonder if he actually knows my blog or not. will try not to censor myself...) yesterday afternoon, he texted saying, "i know it's sudden but i'm going to costco tonight. do you want to come?" funny, i had been thinking about needing a costco run for the last couple weeks! if being pleasant and civil with him and sucking it up and "playing" nice just a little bit means costco every couple months, i am *totally* there.

as we pushed the cart up and down the aisles, he said, "i can't understand why you won't go to dinner with me but you will come to costco with me. to me, they are the same." maybe they are, and maybe they aren't, but regardless, i still don't have a strong desire to sit across the table from him and make small talk. at least costco has yummy things to keep me completely ADHD and purposeful.

on the way home, Ro mentions that the yucca plant isn't doing so well in his apartment. i think back to the photo i took on moving day of yucca, like i was leaving a pet or something, with her big bright green leaves shooting up and out and all over the place. and then i envision a couple wilted leaves and want to swoop in and save her. so he hints that maybe i should take her but that he didn't bring her in the car because he thought he should ask first and we can always get her next time. in mother-save-her-child-mode, i say, "well, we have the car today, so let's just stop by and get her? next time might be too late..."

i sit in the parking lot while he runs up to his apartment. he comes back with yucca, who has leaves that look like the hair on the Scarecrow from the wizard of oz!! she still has a handful of new-ish looking sprouts and the majority (but not all) of her trunks are still solid and hard. totally dehydrated (soil is bone dry) and looking pathetic, i put her between my feet in the front seat and watered her as soon as we unloaded her at my house.

and here, folks, is why we shouldn't let exes get pretty things:

fingers crossed that she perks up and is back to her spunky green self in a few months...!

things i love thursday

.batting cages and impressing baseballBoy.
.new plants (mint!) and digging in the dirt.
.anticipating mail from my penpal friend in nyc.
.cool postcards from london (thanks!).
.a good nose blow (tmi or not, it's true).
.skype.
.pancakes on my day off.
.long baths after long days.
.not having work until 11:15am on thursdays.

things i love thursday

ah, hello friday...



.after work drinks.
.unexpected dates (he's new and needs a blognickname).
.making ume-shu.
.finally decorating my living room.
.reading this book (and understanding it!).
.good and plenty (always remind me of my dad).
.lots of things planned for june (friends, food, fun).
.yummy smelling hair stuff (conditioner, mousse, etc.).
.another "weekend" starting NOW.

hai, NEXT.

wednesday i did something spontaneous and risky, knowing it had the possibility of going bad. it didn't exactly blow up in my face; it was more of a stifled explosion with lots of smoke. it confirmed all my fears and doubts about all this shit with SoCal and made it much easier to walk away. for weeks i have been telling myself i should, but i couldn't get my head (er, heart) around it well enough to actually do it.

interestingly enough, while stuff with SoCal was up in the air, an acquaintance of mine from four years ago was looking (and advertising the fact, on facebook) for someone to have coffee with as a final destination to his midnight drive into tokyo. i replied but it was late so we said let's do it another time and even talked about a mutual friend that we have. a week and a half later, friday night he messaged me asking if i wanted to get drinks on sunday. i immediately said i'd love to and asked about time, place, etc. we messaged back and forth a bit, but i couldn't tell if it was a (typical japanese) group thing or just us. i dressed cute anyway. just. in. case.

it was just us. he showed up in a polo shirt, athletic shorts and wet hair. he finished work early but i didn't answer my phone when he called so he went home and quickly showered before meeting up. we went to some sports bar (like the Hub but very much NOT the Hub) and sat in the back with absolutely no view of the tv, which was showing the end of the japanese men's soccer game. oh well, we laughed.

he's a nice guy, outgoing and athletic (hello mr. i played baseball at a private japanese school famous for its baseball team and then played all 4 years of college), yet really into growing vegetables on his balcony. we talked about our families, about ohio and my middle of nowhere college (we even google mapped it on his ipad), and about our jobs and what he's been doing for the last five years. he gave me garden growing tips, i learned a couple new japanese words and drank about 2 too many beers. well, it was only too many because he only drank Coke. i could drink this guy under the table with half a liver! ha.

we walked to the station in time for my last train and there was a semi-awkward high five (really, how old am i...!) and a mutual "let's go out again" goodbye.  he rode off on his bike and messaged me (typical japanese style) saying thanks for tonight and asking if i got home yet. i replied with the standard, "yeah, next stop. and thanks for tonight, it was fun! let's go out again."

i hate the dating game. mostly because i'm ridiculously impatient and a chronic overthinker. i just want to know and figure out and then make plans accordingly. already thinking about a next "something." am hoping he has a lefty glove and the weather stays nice for another week or so. he doesn't have weekends off, but waiting at least another full day. or until wednesday or thursday, if i can manage.

it might not even be ANYthing, but a little giddy anticipation never hurt ANYone, right?? ;)

things i love thursday

.this live version of a favorite ani song.
.sprite.
.evening weather perfect for jeans, sweatshirts and flipflops.
.all saturday afternoon picnics in yoyogi park.
.clean sheets, a fluffy comforter and a made bed.
.finally having a "weekend".
.girl talk (times a hundred).
.surprise party planning.
.throat coat hot tea.