CY365: Week 2

I finally finished the set for week 2!

CY365: Week 1

Here's the first set of pictures from the CY365 project!

So that's how it works.

I mentioned before that I was going through some old photos from when I first came to Japan. While doing that, I came across pictures from a bit of a fiasco that my friend Marthe and I had. She and I had bought some egg molds and tried using them. Unfortunately we had no idea how to use them. At all. And my Japanese at that time was really bad, so we just guessed.  

We thought we needed to crack the egg open into the mold and then boil it. It seemed strange, but we couldn't come up with an other idea. There was no picture of the actual result, but Marthe's face said it all....

 Some years later, I came across molds again and with my developed Japanese reading skills, I decided to try again. (Let's be clear, my Japanese skills aren't amazing, but they were nearly non-existent when I first got here.)

 This time I boiled the egg, and after peeling the shell, I stuck it in the mold. Then I closed the mold and stuck it in the fridge. A little bit later, I went back, opened the mold, and...

 Success! 

Marthe, you should come back and try again now!

CY365 Photo Challenge: Intro

Every year I think about trying a photo challenge, and every year I end up failing at the start and then giving up. This year, I'm taking a completely different approach. Hopefully in the end, I'll stick with it more because of that.

Here's basically what's going on - I'll be using the daily prompts from Capture Your 365. I'll try to complete all the prompts but the timing is not in anyway strict. I'll try to accomplish each prompt within a month of it's day, but that's about it. I'll be loading the pictures on instagram, and then when I finish 6 or 7 consecutive prompts, I'll post them here.

I'm aware that most pictures won't be good - consider this a warning. I'm not really doing this in order to improve my photography skills. It's mainly for working on creativity. I tend to think very literally and logically, so I want to use this challenge to hopefully change that even just a little. So I hope that you'll keep checking back, but please don't expect brilliant works of art.

Anywho...

What did I get myself into?

This is something I've found myself saying more and more these days.What did I get myself into? It's alternates with "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Since deciding to tie the knot with my now fiance, things have been moving incredibly fast and slow at the same time. Not to sound cliche, but there really is a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in. 

It's not that there's not a lot of time. It's that there's not a lot of available and usable time. I'm off work, but he's not. Or we're free, but everything is closed. There's also a lot of waiting time - times where we can't make decisions about B until A is finished. Those sorts of things. 

I'm stressed just thinking about this year. That's my style. I tend to be a bit shorter focused than my partner. He thinks about the near future, but he tends to compound the stress by thinking about the more long-term as well. I don't know if that's wise or foolish. Maybe it's both. And since I tend to be so short-sighted, it's probably a really good thing for us. 

There's so much to think about right now: moving me and my stuff, getting things ready for the legal part of marriage, finding and moving into a new place, planning a wedding, planning for a honeymoon, getting ready for the whole "family" thing, and chasing (and catching!) career dreams. 

I can't even describe the stress I felt just typing that last paragraph. I suppose as soon as we get things more settled and determined, I'll be okay. Once we decided what to do about our current living situation, I felt much more relaxed. Granted, the execution of our plan is a far cry from a walk down easy street. But it's a plan. And it's in progress. 

There will probably be posts about updates or rants for the next few months to a year. It's a quick way for me to alleviate some amount of the tension I'm sure to be feeling from here on out. 

And just to put any worrying minds to rest - I regret nothing and I'm very excited for my future.

(Btw, Happy Belated Birthday to a very special man!)

Reflecting on 2014

It's the last day of the year and I'm sitting on the train thinking about this past year. As people are wont to do at this time of the year. 

There were a lot of terrible things that happened in the world. There were undoubtedly good things as well, but the news seldom broadcasts that. I found it too difficult for me to watch at times and I then found myself guiltily turning away and selfishly losing myself in my own happy world. 

And even though I felt guilty doing so, I wouldn't change it. I was so fortunate to have an amazing year. There were a few tough times and there were plenty of tears, but the love that I had around me carried me through those moments. 

I was surprised to learn all the different forms that love comes in. I am blessed with love from parents, family, non-blood sisters, friends, and at times colleagues and students. And this year I also had the new experience of love from a partner. 

This is the love I think about the most these days. As someone who never really liked romance, but still got "girly" at others' stories, I still can't really believe it. That kind of love is real?! I was so lucky to find or be found by my partner. He made my year and life unbelievably happy. And I'm looking forward to calling him my husband.

So, what started at a reflection on the past year quickly became a sappy note about how great my love life is. I used to hate when people did that, but now that I've joined the ラブラブ (lovey-dovey) ranks, I'll offer a semi-sincere apology and post this anyway. 

And then I'm going to go home and make some Toshikoshi soba to ring in 2015. 

How things change!

I've been trying to clean up my photos on Facebook recently. Why on earth do I have around 100 albums?! It's insane. Well I decided to clean up, get rid of, and combine photos and albums starting from the beginning chronologically speaking. 

Abandoned umbrellas were still surprising in 2008

Anyway, I was so amused and intrigued by how the photos I take now are so different than the photos I took before. I should mention that I've been in Japan since the end of 2008 and I'm talking about the difference in photos from then to now.

I had never seen so many bikes at a time before.

Nowadays in 2014, I take pictures of friends, animals, pretty flowers, and so on. These are the same kind of photos I took back in Texas by the way. Only now people are usually sober. But the last few months 2008 and the beginning of 2009 were all of the most mundane things - pictures of my bed, my washer, a bike parking lot, and other things I wouldn't think twice about now. 

I had to use youtube to figure out how to use this.

I definitely felt some nostalgia looking at those pictures, but I also felt some "okay, that can go" too.

Toilets with a tap? So usual!