Wife was teaching tea ceremony this morning, son was with grandparents for a bit…
They came home early afternoon, I stumbled out of bed ~ where I had folded laundry while watching Canucks win in a cool dark room.
Bit of lunch, back to sleep with headphones-in, listening to hypnosis.
Woke up, hearing people come to visit through the literally made of paper door (Monday comes estimate/proposal for adding a “caboose” to the cottage).
Everyone loves Ryoko and people have brought her Gifts for her birthday tomorrow. Yes tmrw.
Cake is ordered from a fancy bakery who deliver the cake to the most wonderful invention: a “cake box” // refrigerated lockers out front nearby grocery store.
Bakery send a code to unlock and voila, there’s her perfect cake.
Also sushi, there will be sushi (in-laws managing).
She is also going to tea ceremony.
{“Ceremony” is really a weird word for this… More like ritual salon to enjoy preparing and drinking matcha with all the right utensils, processes, movements and possibly outfits}
This is a big one at Korakuen with many *important* practitioners.
{As you may have surmised, she’s leveling up her skills, like many things, there is a test and certificate involved. Her sensei is 89 years old iirc so Ryoko is in line to carry on her traditions. But yeah a test and a certificate I don’t understand exactly but always support her}
I already gave her present, a sweet vintage Shure mic & heavy duty, perfect fit, black mic stand with round base (rather than tripod).
Hoping she can have more opportunities to keep singing – beyond her tea ceremony test as well as tree doctor test this year.
She’s been invited to sing “Mack the Knife” and another tune with a big band, like a really big band as in many instruments playing big band style… She would slay this.
The only problem is that – assuming she passes the first part of tree doctor test, then there is a week of classroom training/testing and a week of forest practical stuff in Ibaraki prefecture. The dates may or may not line up.
So, anyhow, we have great sketches & plan for this house addition – the caboose // Ichiro getting bigger and now we’re able to be more social at home [insert comment about public health situation] I really need a private “wing” of the house with bed, door, loft, loo & coffee station.
Plus a Dutch door to a back stone terrace with a café awning so I can sit outside to drink beverage in my pajamas and robe at 11 AM without the neighbors walking by and gawking at me :) just wild boars will look at me and go “what a slacker” because they don’t know about #MECFS.
Problem is, the cost for the plan keeps ratcheting up due to the vagaries of macro economics and freelance labor shortages // CAD $ = 144¥ !
{I could really use a certain company to have a certain liquidity event breaking on Monday’s news } ha right!
Anyhow, I came here to say: I woke up from a foggy dream with sleep hypnosis recordings in my ear to hear voices and laughter and forks in the next room and remember “oh right, I live in Japan, I’m not in a weird dream where I’m climbing a muddy mountain – in the midst of a clearcut – without boots, although I brought boots but they’re locked in the trunk of someone else’s car” (really last night’s dream).
And my awesome wife turns 40 tomorrow and she is courageous, strong, sweet, creative, multidisciplinary and just a week ago was our wedding anniversary and our kid is now saying words in French besides the obvious Japanese and English + i am so tired but we’ll have cake and sushi.
