🍎🧬📚 queenofthegods' "I passed N2 now what?" Study Log

[queenofthegods]

@mitrac

how embarrassing omg no wonder they think you’re illiterate if every kanji gets applauded

People seem very entrenched in the idea that foreigners can’t read or write Japanese and most English teachers do nothing but encourage that idea. Unfortunately I am not fantastic at writing kanji from memory but can write just about anything if I can see it.

One example of English teachers feeding the idea that foreigners are stupid and can’t read is the teacher had me close my eyes and the kids could write any kanji they want and I had to guess how many strokes the kanji had. Idk what this activity was, but making the ALT look like a moron is a favorite theme of some teachers. However, because I am not illiterate, I would just quickly count the strokes and got the answer correct every time, in a sense ruining her little game.

@mitrac

that sounds impossible, go you

It’s not that bad, I promise! Tohoku accents are just a little more slurred together and lower toned. That’s it! Quite simple in my opinion. However, Kansai-ben? You might as well be speaking another language. My Japanese becomes useless beyond Nagoya.

@soggyboy

Seems like a classic case of “back in my day people prayed properly at the shrines and now they only care about the goshuin!!”

Entirely possible. One interesting crossover I’ve noticed in goshuin collectors is a lot of motorcycle enthusiasts collect goshuin. Frequently when I am waiting in line, there will be some middle aged dude in full motorcycle gear waiting in line with me. Not exactly a combination I expected, but it makes sense if you think about it.

The crossover you never knew you needed. There are also multiple motorcycle shrines (this is not one of them lol)

[queenofthegods]

February 25th

300 reviews
appeased the owl
gossip circle

Plowed through as many reviews as I could throughout the day. Due to the truly insane influenza outbreak my school had, we had a grand total of 6 students and therefore only one class for me. My babies can write full sentences, I’m so proud of them. All of my current students I have taught since elementary school so we have gone from learning animals to writing about the environment. Big changes all around.

Since we have no students around to outsource labor to, myself and some other coworkers spent a couple hours making tissue paper flowers for graduation/entrance ceremony decorations. It’s fiddly stuff but more interesting than sitting at my desk. This also means lot of chatting and gossiping XD. Technically gossiping isn’t good, but there is something pretty universal about people gossiping in groups. Everyone knows everyone out here so there are no secrets basically. When it was down to just two of us making flowers I casually mentioned that people from English club have tried to come into my house many times, going so far as shaking the door. This has happened so many times it’s just funny now but she was horrified and asked if I’m okay. Like I thought all old people did this?!? Also one of said people kept showing up at the school so it’s not like her harassing me was an unknown thing that only happened at my house. Previously my coworker’s reactions to this have been “you are her いきがい” but still handing me over to her. Except the one time she called the school asking about my health and the nurse told her I was busy and to leave me alone lol.

There are two things I notice when I speak Japanese: I struggle more than I would like to believe I do and I say some really out of pocket stuff. Lately finding the right words has been difficult. This is due to grammar disuse and not using the words I learn in context often presumably? Inaka people are more likely to be honest and like a good laugh, but they find some of the stuff I say extra hilarious. Like we noticed the vice principal went to the post office (which is like 2-3min away) but was gone for close to an hour. My response to this was “maybe he went to the city post office.” In Japan you don’t necessarily say negative things about superiors, but this is just a funny observation/joke and my coworker laughed really hard. Maybe they wouldn’t personally say such a thing, but the humor is still acceptable enough to deem quite funny.

Updated the English board before I left and since it is officially graduation season, it is the annual graduation cap board. The sentences are mostly the same but the illustrations change year to year. This year I focused on decorating graduation caps. Many abroad know what graduation caps look like and that people sometimes throw them when they graduate, but probably do not know the wonderful world of hat decorations. Picked some school safe designs, despite my personal favorite being “done with this B.S.” (Bachelor of Science, what I got back in 2021, but didn’t decorate my cap because I wanted a clean look).

Apparently they have the caps for my university in Japan, but I don’t think they will let me decorate it lol.

Yours truly on graduation day lol. I never finished high school and graduation was initially canceled due to covid, so this was a pretty special day for me.

[mitrac]

@queenofthegods

but probably do not know the wonderful world of hat decorations

oh wow, that wasn’t a thing at my uni and I didn’t even know about. I love these boards you make

@queenofthegods

Yours truly on graduation day lol.

fantastic pic

[downtimes]

Oh best chance to use the recent word 房 I’ve seen yet. Do you also write the japanese kanji on top of the English words yourself ( they look great)? How do you decide which words to add kanji to? Do you let another teacher check it or did you happen to make embarrassing mistakes sometimes?

I find that board super interesting and wanted do ask last time as well.

[queenofthegods]

@downtimes

Do you also write the japanese kanji on top of the English words yourself ( they look great)?

Yes, I do. That has improved over the years lol.

@downtimes

How do you decide which words to add kanji to?

Because I am their teacher, I have a general idea of what words they do/should know, so I write Japanese above the words they don’t know. My aim is to make it first year/early second year level but nobody really reads it so it doesn’t exactly matter lol. However, one time I did see some students decide to try reading it and were pleased they could read the whole thing. Wow it’s not like I tailor these to the level of the students or anything LOL.

@downtimes

Do you let another teacher check it or did you happen to make embarrassing mistakes sometimes?

Teachers are busy so this is a personal project. However, I do have pretty good readership among the teachers so if I do make a mistake they will come tell me. Probably the worst/most hilarious is when I made a board about different cooking words and for “grill” I wrote 火事, because I thought it meant “fire.” Some teachers came and found me and were like “um, that means ‘bad fire’ like a house fire.” Somewhat embarrassing but also hilarious. The correct word is 直火, “direct flame.”

The English board is my best but unutilized project to improve English literacy in my school. For the first six months I changed it daily but after that it was once week, so I have a couple hundred boards now (I take pictures of every single one). Sometimes I repeat designs, like this one, but generally speaking every board is new.

[Belthazar]

@mitrac

oh wow, that wasn’t a thing at my uni and I didn’t even know about.

Yeah, ours are rented. The gowns too. If you decorate it (or throw it, for that matter), you’re buying it.

[queenofthegods]

@Belthazar

Yeah, ours are rented. The gowns too. If you decorate it (or throw it, for that matter), you’re buying it.

My year the school gave us the caps, actually. It was sort of a “sorry we can’t give you a proper graduation, so here’s a cap and fancy diploma case to make up for it.” The school did sell school crest branded regalia but it was like $70 plus whatever all the extras cost so I skipped it and just got a plain black gown online. Other people did the same or borrowed from friends who stuck around after graduation/strangers on reddit. Of the people who bought the full regalia, generally it was purchased by parents.

One thing to note is my school was a huge public school in Oregon*, so we never exactly get fancy hahaha. Many people just had t-shirts and shorts under their gowns and several had alcohol bottles in their pockets. Graduation is very much a free for all looks wise and quite literally took place in a stadium with only PhD students doing any walking around. Maybe not a typical graduation but definitely fit in to our school culture .
*a probably not well known fact about Oregon is we are extremely casual, like jeans and a flannel is our idea of dressing up.

[queenofthegods]

February 26th

157 reviews
appeased the owl
filled out my documents for real

A good portion of my classes are canceled due to influenza, so light day at work. However, there is one English teacher who hates me doing most anything so she interrupted me all day. She seems to want to be friends and brought me chocolate today, which I of course appreciate, but I can’t forget all the weird and stressful stuff she does. Like during lunch break I was reading articles and browsing reddit a bit looking for apartment design inspo because I suck at it and she was all over me looking at my screen and asking what I was doing. Like I get wanting to make conversation but being nosy about what is on someone’s screen multiple times is just too much. Also got all close and whispery asking when my work contract ends, clearly fishing for gossip. Just leave me alone, like sheesh, it’s my lunch break

Complaining aside, tomorrow is my designated day to go to Immigration and request they change my status of residence. First of all, I’m a little sad I’m losing my Halloween renewal date. It was fun and easy to remember. Second of all this is probably the biggest of all big “this is getting real” things. Like my residence card is the single most important document I have while existing in Japan, so changing it is a pretty big deal. There is the actually application form, plus supporting documents. In my experience, more is more when it comes to submitting documents in Japan. Technically all I need is the application, one document from the school, my passport, and residence card, but I’m also bringing everything from acceptance letters to bank records.

The other problem is it has been 10 days since I applied for the apartment that supposedly would take 2-3 days to process. This is becoming a real problem because I have supervisors at work, friends, and even immigration asking me when I’m moving and I simply don’t know. Like I don’t even know if I’ll get this apartment, but it sounds like the real estate company is moving ahead anyway, which is really helpful. It’s really intimidating to have to move forward with other serious stuff like moving out or surrendering my working permission when I still don’t even know if I have a place to land.

Despite my days being shockingly unproductive lately, I did achieve something: I think I have become a planner girl? Like I have tried on multiple occasions but it never lasted more than a week. However, I did manage to stick with it for a full month. The shortest month, but that’s quite good for building a new habit.

Okay now I actually have to go to bed and go back to 7-11 in the morning to print some last things for the application, like a new ID photo. Looking forward to lots of coffee hahahaha.

[GolyBidoof]

@queenofthegods

I have a yearly tradition of writing letters for all graduating students. The letters have all been essentially the same throughout the years, refined to my language ability. The first year I had so many students and low Japanese level so I wrote it once and photocopied the letter, but since then I have managed to write all the letters by hand, even if it takes multiple days.

AAAA THIS IS SO CUTE

im so envious they are so thoughtful and adorable ;___;

@queenofthegods

Technically gossiping isn’t good, but there is something pretty universal about people gossiping in groups. Everyone knows everyone out here so there are no secrets basically.

<looks around the room> xdd
There’s advantages of small communities and disadvantages of small communities xddd

@queenofthegods

My response to this was “maybe he went to the city post office.” In Japan you don’t necessarily say negative things about superiors, but this is just a funny observation/joke and my coworker laughed really hard.

it really does sound like brain gymnastics to me to be able to interpret this one as a “negative thing about a superior” ^^ xddd

@queenofthegods

Yours truly on graduation day lol. I never finished high school and graduation was initially canceled due to covid, so this was a pretty special day for me.

same, except that it was the university diploma. i still didn’t collect it, and it might be there at the university, im just one country away and it might be hard to motivate myself to collect myself, as the PhD career is looking less and less likely for me xdd

Very emotive picture though, you look like you’re owning the not-graduation C:

@queenofthegods

ironically this helps in the opposite direction, the illustrations are a universal method of teaching words, so this visualization works both ways xddd

@queenofthegods

Second of all this is probably the biggest of all big “this is getting real” things. Like my residence card is the single most important document I have while existing in Japan, so changing it is a pretty big deal.

Fingers crossed you manage to file it in properly! C:

@queenofthegods

The other problem is it has been 10 days since I applied for the apartment that supposedly would take 2-3 days to process.

OHHH THAT WOULD SEND ME INTO A SPIRAL

i pray thay they respond before too long

go grab your daily dose of caffeine, good luck with the printing xdd

[mitrac]

@queenofthegods

I’m losing my Halloween renewal date. It was fun and easy to remember

My condolences, having gone through immigration so many times I totally get how convenient that must have been.

I guess now you have a pre-sakura date? we need to think of something fun to memorialise this with!!!

I hope all that document gathering and processing and apartment approvaling goes well

[queenofthegods]

@GolyBidoof

xdd
There’s advantages of small communities and disadvantages of small communities xddd

Yeah like people will tell me about every foreigner they see and will investigate any stranger hanging out in the area, but lord help me if I go grocery shopping with Mr. Engineer. Sometimes I have to run away lol.

@GolyBidoof

i still didn’t collect it, and it might be there at the university, im just one country away and it might be hard to motivate myself to collect myself, as the PhD career is looking less and less likely for me xdd

Well, I didn’t get mine that day either. It got mailed to me a couple days later. My school has 30,000 students and we filled a stadium of graduates so it would have taken us a week to hand out everything lol. Hanging your diploma on the wall is fun, I recommend it. I never graduated high school so this is basically my only official proof that I completed any kind of schooling.

@GolyBidoof

i pray thay they respond before too long

The real estate company has been quite responsive and said the person is probably just busy, but this is stressing me out hahaha. Like did they lose my application?

@mitrac

I guess now you have a pre-sakura date? we need to think of something fun to memorialise this with!!!

Most likely it will be April 1st, because officially I quit my job March 31st and I can’t work full time while on the student visa. It’s also possible they will process it really fast and I have to quit earlier, but it’s a pretty small immigration office so hopefully I can explain myself and get the later date. Actually, last time I renewed in August and they still kept the October renewal date, so they do seem pretty chill in that sense.

@mitrac

I hope all that document gathering and processing and apartment approvaling goes well

Thank you. I wish they would hurry tf up lol.

[queenofthegods]

February 27th

100 reviews
appeased the owl
went to immigration

Guess who got approved for their apartment today

(I may or may not have threatened the company with finding a different apartment in the hopes they would call and get manager guy to hurry tf up lol)

Also new school year schedules are out and the gossip is getting hot . Like I am the gossip basically but myself and others are making our gaslighting plans to those we don’t like and managing the fallout for those staying here. Turns out another ALT got a job so is also leaving in March, so there are even more schools to cover. Back when I resigned, I purposely tried to get a new ALT for my schools because I know the other ALTs don’t like the drive (nearly an hour from town) and as I predicted, their plan failed because ALTs are refusing the drive. About half of my coworkers make the drive, but is within the rights of the other ALTs to refuse. As someone who lives here, of course I understand how annoying the drive is. What others don’t know is another ALT is waiting for a response on a job interview so they might actually be down three ALTs, not two. Honestly after how I got treated I am so happy that the government are getting an example(s) of what I could have done and maybe can see that I wasn’t being a jerk and was actually trying really hard to work with them.

I left work early and went to the mechanic’s shop on my way to immigration because I forgot yesterday. It usually takes 10min so that’s not an issue, but after 30min I was like wtf is happening did my car explode XD. The mechanic does take a long time when they change the tires, but it’s too early for that. Turns out they were changing the oil. At the end I walked up to them and told them I’m moving and want to end my lease, so we will see if that gossip spreads around quickly. Honestly I don’t care.

Immigration closes at 4pm so it was a bit tight to get there in time, even using the expressway (where a guy was driving exactly the speed limit the whole way so I actually paid money to drive slower than the highway). I brought out my more is more documents and the lady said (mitrac, you are going to love this) “where is your きょかしょう？” In my head I was like ”教科書（きょうかしょ）？Why would I need textbooks?” Then I thought maybe she wanted my student ID card, but that has ひょう in it and also, weirdly enough I still don’t have it. She then pointed at my acceptance letter asking about the magical 手続き basically. All the documents I received I had to send back to the school, so I was really baffled. Also dug through the folder of documents the school gave me last week, still no dice and ALSO that document was NOT on the official list! Like excuse me I brought everything on the list and more, wtf is happening. Anyway, she let me submit my documents and said she would see if it was okay. Having been accepted to an apartment literally hours before I wasn’t sure which address to write on the postcard, but eventually we landed on her taking a photocopy of my apartment listing print out and me writing my current address on the postcard in case it processes fast (a good sign I suppose). Eventually everything did get approved but she said I need to bring my 許可証 when I get it. No idea what this is, but Mr. Engineer said it’s something you get after 入学式, which is in April, and I need my residence changed before then, so idk what is going on.

Anywho I am very curious how Monday is going to go, as essentially all the chaos is about to come crashing down all at once. Overall today was a win and in a way another testament to us ALTs sticking together and helping one another.

[mitrac]

Congrats on the apartment, what a relief!

@queenofthegods

“where is your きょかしょう？” In my head I was like ”教科書（きょうかしょ）？Why would I need textbooks?”

omg the intended word sounds impossible to have understood

[queenofthegods]

February 28th/March 1st

13 reviews
missed one day, did the other

Very little studying was done this weekend, but it was pretty fun in a way. My first stop of the weekend was a shrine because their goshuin of the month was a cat goshuin for cat day (February 22nd) and this is what I saw when I showed up.

Omg she is so cute.

What was even cuter is when the worker came up and opened the door, the first thing the cat did was come up and sniff me. Had a double こんにちは situation lol. I have seen this cat before, but in the three years of coming here it is still a rare occurance. She must have known it was her month so she took it upon herself to sit where they usually put the items you buy. If I fits I sits after all.

After that I was late picking up my friend (who got a quick “sorry I’ll be late, petting a cat!” text lol) so we could go to Costco together. I didn’t exactly need anything (except more cheese) but getting out of the house is better than laying on the floor looking at my phone all day like the previous weekends. Also as much as I like The Black Prism, I wanted to hear my friend explain Game of Thrones lore lol. Actually the premise of both is really similar, down to the same seven kingdoms and one is the outcast and who is the real heir and extreme violence, but there are less kids and killing kings in The Black Prism. Not entirely sure why I am like this but there is something so enjoyable about listening to someone explain something they are very interested in. Like last time we went to Costco together my friend spend an hour explaining a TLDR of Game of Thrones so they could explain the fanfiction they are reading. Never intend to read or watch Game of Thrones but it was quite fun to listen to. On the drive to and from Costco I got another 2 hours of Game of Thrones plot because the storyline is really just that vast.

My travel mug came in the mail yesterday. Been wanting one since I got my coffee machine and haven’t had much luck with anything cute in store so I took to mercari. Stumbled upon this and just had to have it.

One of the only useful things I did on Sunday was use Canva to make a model of my future apartment (well, part of the apartment anyway). There is a kitchen and bathroom as well but the majority of the apartment is one big 4m x 4m room. I am not one for interior design but being able to see it like this helps a bit. There are some cool set ups for studio apartments but mine feels a little uninspired lol.

I feel like that corner by the box window (bay window?) will be the cat corner with a cat tree or something, but making it into a reading nook would also be nice. However it does make the most sense to put bookshelves along the only uninterrupted wall. Don’t currently own any bookshelves but I think tall Ikea bookshelves would be nice.

If anyone wants to take a crack at room arrangement ideas, this is the dimentions and my current furniture (minus the rug, which is 2m by 2m).

[Belthazar]

Here’s an idea:

[queenofthegods]

The apartment was listed as 多い猫 so this is a reasonable layout suggestion!

[queenofthegods]

March 2nd

95 reviews
appeased the owl
setting up utilities

Despite having only one class, did very little studying lol. Did have a nice chat with my desk neighbor, though. She is one of the only people who has been here longer than me and turns out she saw the English teacher schedule and knows I’m leaving (she also likely knows from seeing all the university web pages up on my screen lol). She seemed happy for me, but still kept it quiet. She is leaving too, so we have a little comradere.

What’s kind of crazy is I am STILL not allowed to tell anyone really, like the annoucements aren’t unil the 19th or so, and at that point I will basically come back twice for some cleaning and the leavers ceremony. After so many years at this school it feels kinda bad to just dip out with little to no goodbye. Just the Japanese way of schools I guess.

Look what came in the mail!

It’s up on my fridge now along with pictures of my coworker’s kids, student art, magazine cutouts about my students, pictures from English club, and important documents.

My apartment contract got approved so the management office called me to set up utilities. This was a first for me, as essentially everywhere else I have ever lived was a dormity. This was also the day I learned there is something more annoying than robot voice on the phone or hold music: a robot voice than gives the options and hangs up on your after the repeat . It took a couple tries to figure out exactly what the robot voice was saying and what to click, especially because I had to keep calling to listen multiple times as you find yourself doing when it is your second language. The first thing the guy asked me is “what is your phone number?” and after the first three numbers I drew a total blank. Turns out, I only know my phone number in English . Had to write down my phone number then read it back in Japanese, how embarassing lol. He also asked me “is the building new?” and that completely threw me for a loop. New to me? New building in general? Is this a refrence to my apartment being renovated? Why are you even asking me you are the management company that manages this apartment shouldn’t you know this information already? After a couple tries trying to figure out what he was actually asking he asked me “do you understand Japanese?” which is a bit funny considering we were speaking in Japanese this whole time. Did my best to explain that I knew the words but not the meaning (like the “I understand all of those words separately” meme) of what he was asking. He also asked if I can read and write Japanese, to which I replied I could. At this point I sensed danger a little because if I couldn’t make it through this phone call and convince the guy I can actually understand Japanese, I would probably lose the apartment . Had to lock in 110% head on desk eyes closed JLPT listening section style to do my best to 理解 everything this guy was saying and give him all the information he needed. Pretty sure I managed because he went through all the utilities and said he would send the paperwork to my current address.

Not to say you need a high level of Japanese to rent a place in Japan, but the unfortunate reality is you do need to prove yourself to the people who hand you a contract. When I did all this previously it was with my supervisor who did most of the talking and wrote my address for me, which is very different than the current situation. This is much harder but it seems that I know enough Japanese to stumble my way up thorugh the Japanese system not designed to accomodate foreigners like me. It’s suddenly making a lot more sense to me why so many ALTs who want to stay in Japan find themselves unable to, because while the local governments that hire ALTs are willing to be more lax on the rules and comprehension skills a non-related company is less likely to give you some slack/pick it up for you. There are of course services that cater to foreigners, even the widespread いい部屋ネット offers English language contracts. However, that can limit you to only big cities or only certain apartments, like none of the いい部屋ネット apartments in Niigata city were pet friendly. While that service was excellent for my friends who used it, it simply wasn’t an option for me for what I needed. I guess technically cat ownership and living a walkable distance from the school are wants not needs, but being able to scramble up the path that is a regular Japanese apartment rental has opened up more options for me.

As I wrote to my graduating students, “Foreign language isn’t just a goal, it’s a tool.” Hopefully I can manage my way using this tool into a better future.

Here’s to more tool use and a lot more paperwork!

[DaraM18]

おめでとうございます。

It’s always nice to get the official piece of paper!

[queenofthegods]

March 3rd

10 lessons and 360 reviews
appeased the owl
More phone calls?

Much more productive today

I definitely feel like this is one of the words my coworkers will see and say “why the heck are you learning that?” lol

Finally!

Some hard hitting words this time around..

I’m in a really weird place right now where I both do and don’t want to be at work. Like I wish I could be at home looking at IKEAhacks or at Daiso getting boxes or on Jimoty looking for used furniture, but at the same time there is a lot of comfort in going to work every day and sitting at my desk with the accumulated origami decorations and my long term coworkers. There is already a lot of paperwork and chaos happening so suddenly my desire went from “once classes are over, I’m taking all my PTO and not coming back” to “actually, I want to just sit in the office and chill for a couple days in the middle of spring break.” The chaos of my own apartment and life is driving me to be more interested in sitting at my desk with nothing to do, despite that same activity driving me insane just a couple weeks ago.

…however I will say nothing makes me want to leave more than the amount of coughing, sneezing, and barfing happening at my schools right now. Kids man lol.

Had some strange phone experiences today as well. At 6pm, the company that called me the previous day to set up utilities called me again, this time talking about a water server (water cooler?). This makes sense to try to sell me on and this isn’t my first time with some young guy caring more about getting his sales pitch across than the fact that I am foreign and may not understand him. What seemed a little strange to me is that in between his pitch when I was thinking or reading something, he asked me some questions like “how long have you been in Japan?” and “why are you moving?” and was impressed when I said I was going to graduate school lol. His tone seemed almost flirty? Is that normal for a sales guy on the phone lol. Like honestly I don’t mind but I guess he does know my address which isn’t great, but I am pro people of similar age flirting with each other for no reason (as long as nobody is uncomfortable) so I’m just going to assume it is harmless. In my time in Japan, I found the teen boys to be shamelessly flirty. Like I volunteered at a high school to help the kids practice English and about half the boys were just straight up flirting (they were like 16, I was 23 lol).

The other weird phone thing is I got woken up by a phone call at 3:45am. It was to my American phone number. It was listed as “spam risk” lol.

[queenofthegods]

March 4th

20 lessons and 268 reviews
appeased the owl
guide for next ALT
35m^2 apartment videos

End of the school year has essentially no English classes (I’ve had 1 so far this week), so I need something to fill my time. Decided to write my guide for the next ALT in my position, who will probably arrive sometime in July. Technically nobody has asked me to write it but it seems like a nice thing to do. It is nine pages long and probably too detailed but hopefully it can provide information on this funky little place I’ve called home for more than four years. Assuming all goes well I’ll still be around to answer questions, but hopefully they can get an idea themselves from the guide. It’s 9 pages right now which is probably overkill. Like how much should I tell them and how much should I let them figure out on their own?

For the past several months I have had my nails painted pretty much constantly. However, with graduation coming up this Friday, I decided to not repaint my nails so I can have a more “clean” appearance for graduation. As naked as I feel without painted nails, the day is about the students, not me. The more boring I look the more the students can stand out. Definitely rocking up to the leaver’s ceremony with painted nails though, because that one is about me. Probably going to paint them quite literally as soon as I get home after graduation. The big question is, black or iridescent?

Today was burnable garbage day so spent 15min petting and feeding kitties on the way back. It ended up making me late enough that I had to drive to work but I don’t have that much time left to play with the kitties so I have to make the most of it. Orange Boy was so friendly this morning. The urge to steal him is getting stronger lol. He’s such a goofy cuddle bug with me. The problem is he kinda belongs to the neighbor and I don’t know if he will actually adjust to indoor life. I’d like to think he has a special bond with me, when he gets a chance with the brain cell that is (there is a joke that all orange cats share one brain cell and are therefore stupid, and Orange Boy definitely fits that lol).

Moving feels both too soon and too far away. I don’t get the keys until the 20th so there’s not a lot I can do now and what I can do is mostly cleaning/organizing, my nemesis lol. My current place is a bit of a disaster so I hope to do better at my new place, so I ended up watching various videos about how other people in Japan set up their same size apartments and browsed Jimoty a lot. Learned some new words. Also, I swear the people in those videos have no belongings. Like they have a few fancy decorations but where is your hobby stuff??? Your clothes??? Your stuffed animal collection??? Your extra towels??? Where are you putting your clothes that aren’t dirty enough to wash but aren’t clean enough to go back in the closet??? I can’t possibly be the only person in this world who likes stuff. Stuff is one of the joys of being human, no matter how much people push minimalism or my parents tell me to just throw away things from my childhood. Now I am trying to be more mindful about my stuff these days, but I still like stuff. My pile of stuffed animals and mismatched blankets (horses, donuts, and hedgehogs respectively) bring so much comfort to my bed futon. Plain white bedding is ew (personal opinion, plus I’m sure every uterus owner understands the fear).